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DATE

Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chief Executive Officer — Mark A. Pytosh
  • Chief Financial Officer — Dane J. Neumann
  • Chief Operating Officer — Mike Wright
  • Managing Director, Investor Relations — Richard J. Roberts

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TAKEAWAYS

  • Net Sales -- $180 million, driven by increased ammonia sales volume and higher average selling prices for both UAN and ammonia.
  • Net Income -- $50 million, representing $4.72 per common unit for the quarter.
  • EBITDA -- $78 million, with year-over-year growth primarily from pricing improvements and higher ammonia sales volumes.
  • Distribution -- $4 per common unit, approved by the board for payment in May 2026.
  • Ammonia Plant Utilization -- 103%, with "both plants running well and experiencing minimal downtime during the quarter."
  • UAN Sales Volume -- Approximately 310 thousand tons sold at an average price of $343 per ton.
  • Ammonia Sales Volume -- Approximately 73 thousand tons sold at an average price of $687 per ton.
  • Average Price Changes -- UAN up approximately 34%, and ammonia up approximately 24% year over year.
  • Direct Operating Expenses -- $63 million; excluding inventory impacts, up by about $9 million due to natural gas, electricity, and maintenance cost increases.
  • Capital Expenditures (Capex) -- $14 million in the quarter, $8 million for maintenance; full-year 2026 capex projected at $60 million–$75 million with $35 million–$45 million earmarked for maintenance.
  • Liquidity -- $178 million, comprised of $128 million in cash and $50 million in ABL facility availability; includes $17 million in customer prepayments.
  • Ammonia Production -- 220 thousand gross tons produced, with 70 thousand net tons available for sale.
  • Future Production Targets -- Expected ammonia utilization rate at 95%-100%, and 2026 direct operating expenses projected between $57 million–$62 million, excluding inventory and turnaround impacts.
  • Strategic Projects -- The Coffeyville facility’s feedstock diversification and capacity expansion are now anticipated without requiring investment in hydrogen sourcing from the adjacent refinery, reducing project capital spend.
  • Capacity Expansion Potential -- Completion of brownfield expansion projects would raise consolidated ammonia production capacity by approximately 7%.
  • Global Supply Disruptions -- Management cited ongoing Middle East conflicts as amplifying fertilizer market tightness and driving recent price increases.

SUMMARY

Management confirmed that the tight global fertilizer market, exacerbated by Middle East conflicts, has driven significant pricing increases and shaped recent operational results. The company highlighted that repair timelines for damaged LNG infrastructure could sustain elevated international gas prices relative to U.S. levels and that structural supply challenges in Europe continue to benefit North American producers. Detailed expansion and debottlenecking projects remain on track, with capital drawn from legacy reserves, and completed projects are expected to improve operational reliability and financial performance in future periods.

  • The board chose to continue reserving capital in the quarter, explicitly stating an intent to "holding higher levels of cash related to these projects in the near term as we ramp up execution and spending."
  • Management noted that approximately 30% of global nitrogen fertilizer production typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting the strategic risk from regional instability.
  • Ongoing investments include water quality upgrades, DEF production, and additional load-out capacity enhancements at both production sites.
  • Natural gas prices in Europe are currently elevated at about $14 per MMBtu, whereas U.S. natural gas prices have fallen below $3 per MMBtu, creating a material cost advantage for domestic producers.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • UAN: Urea Ammonium Nitrate, a liquid nitrogen fertilizer product sold to agricultural and industrial customers.
  • DEF: Diesel Exhaust Fluid, a solution used to reduce emissions from diesel engines, produced as a value-added coproduct by nitrogen fertilizer plants.
  • ABL Facility: Asset-Based Lending facility, a revolving credit arrangement backed by inventory, receivables, or other company assets.
  • Brownfield Expansion: Capacity increase projects at existing production facilities, as opposed to building entirely new plants (“greenfield” expansion).

Full Conference Call Transcript

Richard J. Roberts: Good morning, everyone. We appreciate your participation in today's call. With me today are Mark A. Pytosh, our chief executive officer; Dane J. Neumann, our chief financial officer; Mike Wright, our chief operating officer; and other members of management. Prior to discussing our 2026 first quarter results, let me remind you that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements as that term is defined under federal securities laws. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. You are cautioned that these statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our latest earnings release.

As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except to the extent required by law. This call also includes various non-GAAP financial measures. Disclosures related to such non-GAAP measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, are included in our 2026 first quarter earnings release that we filed with the SEC for the period. Let me also remind you that we are a variable distribution MLP.

We will review our previously established reserves and current cash usage, evaluate future anticipated cash needs, and may reserve amounts for other future cash needs as determined by our general partner’s board. As a result, our distributions, if any, will vary from quarter to quarter due to several factors, including, but not limited to, operating performance, fluctuations in prices received for finished products, capital expenditures, and cash reserves deemed necessary or appropriate by the board of directors of our general partner. With that said, we will turn the call over to Mark A. Pytosh, our chief executive officer.

Mark A. Pytosh: Thank you, Richard. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for today's call. To summarize financial highlights for 2026, net sales were $180 million, net income was $50 million, EBITDA was $78 million, and the board of directors declared a first quarter distribution of $4 per common unit, which will be paid on May 18, 2026 to unitholders of record at the close of market on May 11, 2026. In 2026, our ammonia plant utilization was 103%, with both plants running well and experiencing minimal downtime during the quarter. We also saw an increase in ammonia sales volume relative to the prior-year period, along with increased sales prices for UAN and ammonia.

The tightness in the nitrogen fertilizer market that began in 2025 has only been amplified by the conflicts in the Middle East over the past two months, leading to higher prices for the spring. I will discuss further in my closing remarks. I will now turn the call over to Dane to discuss our financial results.

Dane J. Neumann: Thank you, Mark. Turning to our results for 2026, we reported net sales of $180 million and operating income of $58 million. Net income for the quarter was $50 million, or $4.72 per common unit, and EBITDA was $78 million. Relative to 2025, the increase in EBITDA was primarily due to a combination of higher UAN and ammonia sales pricing and higher ammonia sales volumes. Ammonia production for the first quarter was 220 thousand gross tons, of which 70 thousand net tons were available for sale. UAN production was 335 thousand tons.

During the quarter, we sold approximately 310 thousand tons of UAN at an average price of $343 per ton and approximately 73 thousand tons of ammonia at an average price of $687 per ton. Relative to 2025, total sales volumes were down slightly, primarily due to lower UAN production and sales volume as a result of some minor planned and unplanned outages at East Dubuque during the quarter. First quarter prices for UAN increased approximately 34%, and ammonia prices increased approximately 24% relative to the prior-year period. Direct operating expenses for the first quarter of 2026 were $63 million.

Excluding inventory impacts, direct operating expenses increased by approximately $9 million relative to 2025, primarily due to higher natural gas and electricity costs and repair and maintenance expenses. Capital spending for the first quarter was $14 million, of which $8 million was maintenance capital. We estimate total capital spending for 2026 to be approximately $60 million to $75 million, of which $35 million to $45 million is expected to be maintenance capital. We anticipate a significant portion of the profit and growth capital spending plan for 2026 will be funded through cash reserves taken over the past few years.

We ended the quarter with total liquidity of $178 million, which consisted of $128 million in cash and availability under the ABL facility of $50 million. Within our cash balance of $128 million, we had approximately $17 million related to customer prepayments for the future delivery of product. In assessing our cash available for distribution, we generated EBITDA of approximately $78 million and had net cash needs of $36 million for interest costs, maintenance capex, and other reserves. As a result, there was $42 million of cash available for distribution, and the board of directors of our general partner declared a distribution of $4 per common unit.

Looking ahead to 2026, we estimate our ammonia utilization rate to be between 95% and 100%, direct operating expenses, excluding inventory and turnaround impacts, to be between $57 million and $62 million, and total capital spending to be between $28 million and $32 million. With that, I will turn the call back over to Mark.

Mark A. Pytosh: Thanks, Dane. In summary, we had another strong quarter of operations with ammonia utilization over 100%, and the recent conflicts in the Middle East have caused prices to increase further for the spring. The spring planting season is underway, and it has gone well so far this year. The USDA is currently estimating approximately 95 million acres of corn will be planted in 2026. While this is a decline from the record levels of 2025, 95 million acres is well above the average level of corn plantings over the last five years. Yield estimates are approximately 183 bushels per acre, resulting in an inventory carryout level below 2025.

Soybean planted acreage is expected to be approximately 85 million acres with a yield estimate of 53 bushels per acre, resulting in an inventory carryout roughly in line with 2025. December corn prices are approximately $4.75 per bushel, and soybeans are approximately $11.90 per bushel. The Trump administration and congressional leaders continue to discuss potential subsidy programs for farmers to help offset lower grain prices and higher input costs. As a reminder, the U.S. is a net importer of nitrogen fertilizers, resulting in domestic fertilizer prices being heavily influenced by changes in global fertilizer prices. Europe, Brazil, and India all compete with the U.S. for global fertilizer production.

Geopolitical conflicts have impacted the global fertilizer industry for the past few years, beginning with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The recent conflicts in the Middle East have caused further disruptions to global supply, with roughly 30% of nitrogen fertilizer production typically transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. In addition, multiple nitrogen fertilizer production facilities across the Middle East have been damaged or have curtailed production over the past few months due to limited natural gas supplies.

Unfortunately, these events occurred at a critical time for farmers needing to secure crop inputs ahead of the spring planting season, as fertilizer inventory levels were already tight across the industry following the large planting seasons in the U.S. and Brazil in 2025. While it remains unclear how long these issues in the Middle East and Russia will persist, we will continue to focus on safely and reliably running our plants at high utilization levels to meet the needs of our customers during this challenging time in our industry. Natural gas prices in Europe have also increased amid the recent Middle East conflicts, currently trading around $14 per MMBtu, while U.S. prices have once again fallen below $3 per MMBtu.

Damage sustained at LNG production facilities could take several years to repair, which would likely keep upward pressure on international gas prices relative to U.S. prices. The cost to produce ammonia in Europe has remained durably at the high end of the global cost curve, and production remains below historical levels, which has created sales opportunities for U.S. Gulf Coast producers to export ammonia to Europe for upgrade. We continue to believe Europe faces structural natural gas supply issues that will likely remain in effect through the next few years. The conflicts over the past few years in Ukraine and now Iran are a reminder of the value of U.S. production with adequate and secure feedstock availability.

At our Coffeyville facility, we continue to work on a detailed design and construction plan intended to allow the plant to utilize natural gas as an alternative feedstock to third-party pet coke, in addition to increasing ammonia production capacity by up to 8%. We now believe we can achieve the feedstock diversification and capacity expansion of this project without investing the capital to source hydrogen from the adjacent Coffeyville refinery, which should significantly reduce the total capital spend associated with that scope of the project. We also continue to execute certain debottlenecking projects at both plants that are expected to improve reliability and production rates.

These include the brownfield capacity expansion at East Dubuque that we intend to complete during the upcoming turnaround, in addition to water quality upgrade projects at both plants and the expansion of our DEF production and load-out capacity. The goal of these projects is to support our target of operating the plants at utilization rates above 95% of nameplate capacity, excluding the impact of turnarounds. If the two brownfield expansion projects are completed, we estimate our consolidated ammonia production capacity would increase by approximately 7%. The funds needed for these projects are coming from the reserves taken over the last few years, and the board elected to continue reserving capital in the first quarter.

While the board looks at reserves every quarter, I would expect them to continue to elect to reserve some capital, and we anticipate holding higher levels of cash related to these projects in the near term as we ramp up execution and spending. We believe unitholders will see the benefits of these investments in the coming years as these projects are completed and brought online, improving reliability and performance.

In the quarter, we executed on all the critical elements of our business plan, which include safely and reliably operating our plants with a keen focus on the health and safety of our employees, contractors, and communities; prudently managing costs; being judicious with capital; maximizing our marketing and logistics capabilities; and targeting opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint. In closing, I would like to thank our employees for their excellent execution, safely achieving a 103% ammonia utilization, and the solid delivery on our marketing and logistics plans, resulting in a distribution of $4 per common unit for the quarter. With that, we are ready to answer any questions.

Operator: At this time, if you would like to ask a question, press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If your question has been answered and you would like to remove yourself from the queue, press star followed by the number one. Again, as a reminder, to ask a question, press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. At this time, there are no questions. I will now hand the call back over to the presenters for any closing remarks.

Mark A. Pytosh: Thank you, everybody. We appreciate you joining the call today, and we look forward to discussing our second quarter results in late July. Thank you very much, and have a good day.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your line.