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Fly Leasing Limited (FLY)
Q2Â 2020 Earnings Call
Aug 13, 2020, 9:00 a.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Fly Leasing Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call.
[Operator Instructions]
And I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Matt Dallas with Investor Relations. Thank you and please go ahead, sir.
Matt Dallas -- Investor Relations
Thank you and good afternoon and good morning -- good afternoon to our investors in the UK and good morning to our investors in the US. I am Matt Dallas with Investor Relations at Fly Leasing and I'd like to welcome everyone to our second quarter 2020 earnings conference call.
Fly Leasing, which we will refer to as FLY or the Company, issued it's second quarter earnings results press release earlier today, which is posted on our website at flyleasing.com. We have a slide presentation that accompanies today's call, which is available to participants on the webcast. If you are not accessing the webcast, you can find a copy of today's presentation in the Investor Relations section of our website on the Events and Presentations page. Representing the company today on this call will be Colm Barrington, our Chief Executive Officer and Julie Ruehl, our Chief Financial Officer.
This conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking Stevens include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the outlook for the company's future business and financial performance. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions of FLY's management, which are subject to uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially due to factors that are summarized in the earnings press release and are described more fully in the company's filings with the SEC. Please refer to these resources for additional information. An archived webcast of this call will be available for one year on the company's website.
With that, I would now like to hand the call over to Colm Barrington, the Chief Executive Officer of FLY. Colm?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Matt, and welcome everyone to this morning's call. Thank you all for joining us.
Well, I don't think I need to spend too much time on the continuing severe impact that COVID-19 is having on global aviation and indeed on every aspect of life throughout the world. The reductions in airline traffic, in airline operations, in airline profitability and liquidity are all well documented on a daily basis. As of the impact on aircraft and aero engine manufacturers resulting from the virtuous cessation of orders for new aircraft and deferrals and cancellations of previous equipment orders. There is an expectation that the impact of the pandemic will be with us for several years, but some forecasts suggest that air travel will now not return to its 2019 level until 2023 or beyond and even that being contingent on the development and broad production of an effective and acceptable vaccine against the virus. Until that happens, it seems likely the restrictions on travel will continue and the potential airline customers for both business and leisure would be reluctant to travel.
As a result, the progress toward recovery of global aviation is likely to be slow and the negative effects of the virus are likely to linger for several years. Fortunately, many governments are aware of the gravity of the situation and of the importance of aviation to national and global economic recovery and as a result, are providing significant financial assistance to airlines within the jurisdictions. Hopefully, this will allow many airlines to survive the current crisis and then ramp up their operations when restrictions are lifted and consumer interest and confidence return.
To date, the only brightness is the domestic travel has been increasing in many major markets. IATA reports that Chinese domestic traffic is turning toward normal, that is 2019 levels, but other major markets such as Europe, United States, Latin America and most international routes are still depressed. As an example, here we are in the middle of the summer vacation period and there is virtually no transatlantic traffic and very few transatlantic flights. Fortunately, FLY benefits from a robust business model, which provides us with a level of protection from the current adverse business conditions.
We have always focused our fleet in the most popular narrow-body aircraft types, in particular Airbus A320s and Boeing 737 Next Generations. These types comprise 86% of our fleet by number and 67% by net book value. We expect that the demand for relatively new and mid-life A320s and 737 NGs which, as I said, form the core of FLY's fleet, will be the first to recover as they satisfy domestic and regional airline operations. Demand for these types will likely also be strengthened by continuing lower fuel prices.
FLY also has good weighting of financially sound lessees, with 50% of our rents coming from flag carriers and US majors, and one of our largest lessee exposures is fully covered by a government guarantee. We've also maintained a strong balance sheet with significant levels of cash and unencumbered aircraft, long-dated financing and low leverage. Also, FLY has no significant debt maturities until the fourth quarter of 2021.
FLY's 2.1 times net debt-to-equity ratio at the end of June was a record low for the company and reflects our strategy of aggressively selling aircraft during the last two years, when markets for aircraft sales were strong. FLY has no aircraft orders from the manufacturers. FLY has consistently skewed making speculative aircraft orders on the basis that in our cyclical industry, we can't predict the demand and lease terms for aircraft that would be delivered several years out or the financing environment at the time of delivery. I believe that this strategy has been vindicated.
As regards to current situation of FLY, we can report that we have collected 84% of rents due in Q2. And there's only two low value aircraft that have been returned early due to airline restructurings. In fact, we're finding that the majority of airlines want to keep the leased aircraft and are prepared to work with us to find ways of doing this. This is reflected in the fact that since March, we have signed four lease extensions and two new leases. As a result, FLY has only five aircraft, representing 3% of our fleet, book value to be marked [Phonetic] between the remainder of this year and 10 aircraft representing 7% of our fleet book value in 2021.
We are also finding that there is continuing interest from certain parties in acquiring aircraft from us and we do expect to complete at least one sale in the coming months with consequent additional benefits to our liquidity position. We will continue to focus on enhancing liquidity through management of rent deferrals, pursuit of additional aircraft sales and opportunistic liability management.
As importantly, we will continue to ensure that our asset values are maintained by not sacrificing aircraft condition in the pursuit of maintaining current or generating future rentals. FLY is really fortunate to benefit from the experience of the BBAM team, which has 30 years experience and has managed aviation assets through several industry crisis.
BBAM is a full service global lease manager with strong and positive relationships, with most of the world's airlines and financing institutions. BBAM is a strong partner to help FLY navigate through the present situation and the alignment of interests of FLY and BBAM is greatly enhanced by the fact that BBAM's shareholders now own 23% of FLY's stock, by far the largest insider holding of any publicly traded aircraft leasing company. Like all lessors, we have received request for rent deferrals from most of our lessees and are working closely with our airline customers. We know that we will succeed only if our customer succeed also. We are expecting agreements for at least partial rent deferrals with our lessees, representing approximately 65% of our fleet. The average deferral period is seven months and the majority of the deferral months -- deferred months are due to be repaid by the end of 2021. Julie will give you a little more insight into these figures later.
In the second quarter, FLY produced satisfactory financial results based on total revenues of $18 million. It should be noted that our $11 million adjusted net income was without the benefit of any aircraft sales gains, which have recently been a significant contributor to our net income. Our adjusted EPS of $0.37 in the quarter contributed to increasing our book value per share to $29.46 at quarter end. Our strategy is to place FLY in a strong financial position to face the present challenges. At the end of June, FLY had cash and unencumbered assets of $887 million, including unrestricted cash of $289 million and unencumbered aircraft of $598 million.
At quarter end, our financial leverage equaled its all-time low of 2.1 times net debt-to-equity, a sharp and positive decline over the preceding 12 months. And our debt has an average term of 4.3 years with no near-term refinancing needs. While the future is certainly uncertain, FLY is well positioned to face adversity. We have a long-term debt with no near-term refinancing needs. We have zero CapEx commitments to aircraft manufacturers and no cash tied up in pre-delivery payments. And we have proven financing flexibility with a strong track record of diversified financing sources.
With that I will hand you over to Julie to take you through the Q2 financial results in detail. Julie?
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Colm.
FLY is reporting net income of $9.6 million or $0.32 per share for Q2 2020. We believe these are solid financial results during these challenging times. The quarter's financial results compare favorably to the year ago quarter, given the $45 million of combined end of lease income and gain on aircraft sales in Q2 2019, while in Q2 2020, there was very little end of lease income and no aircraft sales.
We continue to believe the quality of earnings is strong as demonstrated by FLY's net spread, which stands at a healthy 7.1% for the quarter. Overall, our Q2 results, keep FLY on sound financial footing with $289 million of unrestricted cash at quarter end and we will remain highly focused on liquidity as the recovery in air travel will develop.
While no aircraft sales were completed in Q2, we will consider opportunistic aircraft sales in the near term, which would further enhance FLY's liquidity position. In addition, the capital markets remain open, and we are receptive to financing or refinancing opportunities that may be available at attractive terms.
Turning to the revenue comparison to the prior year quarter, FLY's operating lease rental revenue in Q2 2020 decreased to $79.8 million, driven by the sale of 41 aircraft since the beginning of 2019. Rent deferrals largely did not impact revenue as we continue to accrue revenue where we believe collectability is reasonably assured. Total revenues for Q2 were $80 million, which includes a small amount of end of lease income from one scheduled lease expiration.
On the expense side, Q2 depreciation and interest expense both decreased as compared to the prior year quarter due to aircraft sales. In addition to the lower debt levels driven by aircraft sales, interest expense also declined as a result of a lower weighted average cost of debt.
SG&A expense decreased $2.3 million in Q2 2020 as compared to Q2 2019, due to the smaller fleet as well as lower legal costs related to leasing and other fleet activity. Also in the current quarter, we established an allowance for uncollectible operating lease receivables of $2 million. FLY has been fortunate to this point, to have only been minimally affected by airline bankruptcies and restructurings. However, we felt it was prudent to record an allowance in the quarter when our accounts receivable have risen, largely due to aircraft -- due to rent deferrals.
Also in Q2 2020, FLY recognized an unrealized loss of $1.1 million to write down marketable securities to estimated fair value. This expense item relates to FLY's investment in the equity tranche of Aviation ABS vehicles commonly referred to E-notes. Following this write down, FLY's investment in E-notes is $5.6 million as of June 30. These securities are required to be marked to fair value each quarter which may result in future income statement volatility.
I'll now take you through some information regarding FLY's rent deferrals. In Q2, FLY collected 84% of rent due after giving effect to executed and expected lease deferral arrangements. To put cash collections in terms of pre-deferred -- pre-deferral contracted rent, the percentage was 47% for the quarter.
Through the first half of 2020, FLY had approximately $40 million of rent deferrals, which is included in rent receivables at June 30. Estimated deferrals for the second half of the year are $30 million to $35 million or approximately 20% of operating lease rental revenue. The table on Slide 15 provides the details by period of rent deferrals and repayments that we currently anticipate. FLY continues to work with lessees to complete deferral arrangements and as a result, these amounts may shift over time.
Based on our current expectations, rent deferrals will decline in Q3 and again in Q4 2020 and the majority of deferrals are slated to be repaid by the end of 2021.
I'll turn it back to Colm now for his closing remarks.
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Julie.
Well in summary, FLY has many defenses against the current difficult industry conditions. We have ample liquidity in unencumbered assets together totaling nearly $900 million. We have extremely low financial leverage of 2.1 times net debt-to-equity, long-dated financing with an average term of 4.3 years and no near-term refinancing requirements.
We have no near-term capital expenditure requirements, no commitments to aircraft manufacturers and no pre-delivery payments tied up with them. We have a strong customer base, of which 50% is made up of flag carriers in US major Airlines. We have a modern fleet comprised predominantly the most popular narrow-body aircraft types. And we have a world-leading aircraft to lease management from BBAM with its global scale of airline and financing relationships.
We will undoubtedly face turbulence over the coming months, but believe that FLY is well equipped to fly through this difficult period and benefit from the smother conditions beyond. We will now take your questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
Thank you.
[Operator Instructions]
And our first question comes from the line of Catherine O'Brien with Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.
Catherine O'Brien -- Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- Analyst
Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for the time. So, maybe just a couple on your deferrals first. So, I think last quarter you had mentioned you expected deferrals to reach $90 million to $95 million, but today you're calling out $82 million [Phonetic] in cumulative deferrals. I guess, first, do you still expect to see deferrals getting to that $90 million range or are you now expecting a lower cumulative amount and what's driving that. And then also, of your remaining customers representing 35% of the fleet without the deferral agreement currently, are you expecting the majority of those to seek out an agreement with you and maybe drive that $82 million [Phonetic] higher, or are those airline communicating to you they will not need deferrals, and I'll stop there and ask my follow-up after. Thanks.
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Catherine. Julie, would you like to take that one?
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Yes, yes, I will. Hi, Katy. Good morning. On your first question on the -- what the number we gave last quarter $90 million to $95 million and why that's come down, that was a conservative estimate we gave last quarter based on kind of initial requests that airlines had, I think at the very kind of beginning of the crisis, pretty much every airline said -- just raised their hand they want a deferral. So, a few have, I guess, now decided they don't need them. So, I think our cumulative number is in the $80 million to $85 million range now.
And at this point, we have signed up about 14 of our lessees, 14 to 15 have actual signed agreements. And I think we're looking to sign six to seven more and that we have agreed on some level of terms with at this point. And I think at this point, we've gotten the requests at least it's kind of standing still in terms of what request we have in and we're not expecting that number to really grow -- the $83 million number to grow at this point.
Catherine O'Brien -- Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- Analyst
Okay, understood. Very clear. And then, I guess on your cash collection rate. First, thanks a lot for sharing what that was versus pre-COVID expectations. And then I was wondering if you can just give us some color on how that's trended over the last couple of months. And when do you expect cash collection to bottom based on your current deferral agreements. And then, maybe just one more kind of in the same vein, have you already received from the $7 million in deferral payments you're expecting this quarter?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Julie, would you like to go on on this?
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Yes, sure. So, in terms of the trend, I think it's been pretty consistent month to month and what we're seeing so far in July is roughly consistent with what we've seen in prior -- in the first few months. In terms of the bottom of the deferrals, I think Q2 is the high point, the peak of deferrals and it should only go down from there as we move through time. And then lastly on the expected repayments in Q3 of $7 million, those are more weighted toward the back end of the quarter. And so, it's a little bit early on those to report on how that's trending.
Catherine O'Brien -- Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- Analyst
Okay, great. Thanks for the time.
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Catherine.
Operator
And our next question comes from the line of Jamie Baker with J.P. Morgan. Your line is now open.
Abdul Tambal -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst
Good morning, everyone. This is Abdul Tambal on behalf of Jamie Baker and Mark Streeter. Could you just walk us through how you're thinking about impairments? What would you have to see in your markets to start thinking about that?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Julie, again, I think that's another one for you.
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Thanks for the question. Yeah. So, no impairment charge in the quarter, as I am sure you've noted, we went through our typical quarterly rigorous process of our impairment tests. And as a reminder, impairment exists when the undiscounted cash flows from an asset are less than book value.
To this point, we haven't really been affected by a lot of airline bankruptcies or aircraft retirements when the airlines are announcing their downsizing their fleets. So, those are the types of things that could potentially trigger an impairment in the future, if there is a bankruptcy or restructuring, we don't have the type of aircraft in our fleets that the airlines are generally retiring. So, I don't see that being a risk, but it's just -- it's going to depend largely -- it's aircraft specific, and therefore very lessee specific. So, it will depend on what level of restructuring and bankruptcies we see down the road.
Abdul Tambal -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst
Understood. Just another quick one for me. So, how do you plan to refinance the $325 million in bonds coming due in October next year. There just seems to be some concern in the market as you can see this 15% yield and the other trading prices well below par?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Julie, do you want to handle that one too, the bond deal?
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Sure, yeah. So, we still have over a year before the maturity date. We're continuing to evaluate our options there. We're encouraged by what we've seen our peers do in a unsecured market. So, we will continue to monitor that. As you mentioned air trading at a discount, we would consider potentially buying some of those back at some point, but we're just at this point considering -- continuing to evaluate our options.
Abdul Tambal -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst
Thank you.
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
And I think just I will add to that, no, we have very significant liquidity in the company nearly $900 million of cash and unencumbered assets as mentioned in our presentation. So, with the rent collections, we have, we feel quite comfortable about our ability to refinance those bonds.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Helane Becker with Cowen. Your line is now open.
Helane Becker -- Cowen -- Analyst
Thanks very much. Hi everybody and thanks for the time here. So actually, you have quite a lot of cash available to you and a lot of unencumbered assets. Could you just talk about how you're thinking about where we are in this cycle and whether or not it makes sense to make some long-dated commitments, as this point in time, given that things are probably available at a discount?
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Yeah, Helane. I mean, I think our current focus is really very much on liquidity and maintaining liquidity and ensuring that we can meet all our obligations. If we did come across some sale leaseback opportunities -- sorry, as we have done, we will certainly examine them closely. I think they'd have to be the right aircraft type. They'd have to be an airline -- to an airline with good medium-term prospects. And I think probably as importantly, we'd have to be able to finance the assets at a relatively high level and at attractive rates.
And so, we're certainly looking at opportunities and we'll will continue to look at opportunities, but we will be very stringent in our criteria before we would enter into anything.
Helane Becker -- Cowen -- Analyst
Okay. And then, my other question is, have any -- has anybody who came to early on for lease deferrals come back to you and ask for further extensions?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
I'm not aware of that. Julie, have you anything to add to that?
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
We have had a few. I think, a quarter ago we had given some statistics that the average deferral term was four months and now the average deferral term is seven months, again, based on what we currently expect. So, I think we have had a couple come back and ask for an additional period as the recovery is maybe a bit slower than we thought it would be a quarter ago.
Helane Becker -- Cowen -- Analyst
Got you. And then, the only other question I have is, when you maintain your watch list, have you moved anybody from like yellow status to red status or where you've gone to them and said, maybe we'll take back our aircraft sooner rather than later because of concerns about their liquidity?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Look we don't comment, Helane, on any specific airlines. But as I think we said in our prepared remarks, I mean, the aviation industry and the airline industry is in severe difficulty worldwide. So, there are a lot of airlines that we are concerned about and I think everybody should be concerned about them. And -- but we will continue to work with them. If our customers work, then we work. If our customers survive, we survive. So, we'll certainly continue to work with every airline that's a customer to try and help ensure their success and which will lead to our success in the long run.
Helane Becker -- Cowen -- Analyst
That's very helpful. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And our next question comes from the line of Koosh Patel with Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open.
Koosh Patel -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Hey, good morning guys. Just a couple for my end. As a part of any of the deferrals or restructurings that you guys have participated and have you been able to negotiate for any leased extensions in conjunction with any of these?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Yes, Koosh. I mean, I think we reported that we've arranged, I think four lease extension since the end of March. So, lease extensions would be part of our discussions with any airlines seeking a deferral.
Koosh Patel -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Okay. And then, with the 15 aircraft you have to remarket between now and the end of 2021, could you just give us maybe a little bit more about the mix of these assets and maybe what your expectations are around the lease rates based on some of the discussions we've been having with airlines right now?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah, look. First of all, they're all narrow bodies. So, we're comfortable about that, which is good. Look, it's hard to judge. I mean, it's a question of how long is a piece of string. Aircraft get a little older every time you release them, interest rates change. So, there are a lot of variables in the market. Certainly, the supply demand relationships today are not as good as they might have been a year ago. And so, we would expect that there will be some diminution in lease rates, but these are not A380s, not 747s, not MDACs. They are all good quality aircraft and we expect that domestic and regional operations will recover more quickly than everything else. So, we think there'll be a continuing good demand for A320s and 737 Next Gens, again, supported by lower fuel prices over the coming years.
Koosh Patel -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
I understand. And then finally, as the OEMs have kind of slowed down production across the board both from Airbus and Boeing, how does this impact the option that you have with Airbus. Does this give you additional time to make decisions on those or would that not have any impact on that?
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
While we don't expect to take delivery of any of the option aircraft this year and as you know AirAsia has already said it's not going to take any Airbus deliveries this year. So, we'll continue to work with AirAsia. The whole situation is quite fluid. But we'll continue to work with them to support them as they and we adapt to market conditions. So, this will include working with AirAsia as they reprofile their order book with Airbus. So I think it's a little bit early to comment on any specifics of that at the moment, Koosh.
Koosh Patel -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Okay, thanks a lot guys.
Operator
Thank you. And we do have a follow-up, which is our last question from the line of Catherine O'Brien with Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open.
Catherine O'Brien -- Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- Analyst
Hey, thanks for the extra time. So just on the new leases you've signed over the last couple of months, what are the terms look like on those deals versus what you would have expected pre-COVID and what the discussions on the new leases already started before the impact of COVID or did these agreements come up recently? And then maybe just as you're -- and then separately as you're assessing deals in the sale leaseback market, what are terms there looks like maybe compared to a year ago? I'm assuming more favorable for the leasing community, but maybe I'm wrong. Thanks.
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Well, look, as I said earlier, aircraft age interest rates change. So, a lot of factors change and certainly market conditions are a bit looser now than they were a year ago. So, these rates are certainly not as good as they would have been this time last year. But we are comfortable with the rates we've got. As I said, interest rates are lower. So, our cost of debt are lower. So, we're comfortable with the rates we've got and then looking forward, we're just not quite sure what's going to happen of the whole industry in the coming year.
But so far, we are finding airlines want to keep the aircraft they have. They don't want to give back the leased aircraft if at all possible. And so, we're comfortable that we will be able to get those aircraft away at reasonable rates, of course, fully supported by the whole BBAM engine, the BBAM machine, which -- with its global spread of the airline contacts and experience of over 30 years. So -- and I think we're comfortable enough with the rates we're going to get for those aircraft over the coming year and a half.
Koosh Patel -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
Okay, great. Thank you.
Operator
Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call back to Matt Dallas for any closing remarks.
Matt Dallas -- Investor Relations
Thank you everyone for joining us for today's call. We look forward to updating you again next quarter. Bye now.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 32 minutes
Call participants:
Matt Dallas -- Investor Relations
Colm Barrington -- Chief Executive Officer
Julie Ruehl -- Chief Financial Officer
Catherine O'Brien -- Goldman, Sachs & Co. -- Analyst
Abdul Tambal -- J.P. Morgan -- Analyst
Helane Becker -- Cowen -- Analyst
Koosh Patel -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst
