Natural Resource Partners L.P. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results

Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NYSE:NRP) today reported fourth quarter and full year 2021 results as follows:

"Strong demand for metallurgical coal, thermal coal and soda ash in the fourth quarter produced one of the best quarters in terms of free cash flow generation in the Partnership’s history," stated Craig Nunez, NRP's President & Chief Operating Officer. "While COVID-19 remains a risk factor for the global economy, we expect to generate robust free cash flow in the months ahead and plan to continue using that cash to pay down debt, solidify our capital structure and maintain common unit distributions."

Mr. Nunez continued, "We also closed our first carbon sequestration transaction in the fourth quarter, receiving $13.8 million in exchange for agreeing to sequester 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide ("CO₂") in our West Virginia forestland. We announced our second carbon sequestration transaction earlier this quarter after granting Denbury the right to develop a world-class subsurface CO₂ sequestration project on 75,000 acres of underground pore space we control in southwest Alabama, which Denbury believes has the potential to store over 300 million tonnes of CO₂. We expect this project, if developed, to be the first of what will potentially be numerous subsurface carbon sequestration projects conducted on the approximately 3.5 million acres where we own the rights to sequester CO₂ underground across the United States. These projects have the potential to provide important benefits to the environment and add significant value to NRP over the coming years.”

NRP's liquidity was $235.5 million at December 31, 2021, consisting of $135.5 million of cash and $100.0 million of borrowing capacity available under its revolving credit facility.

NRP redeemed at par all 19,321 of its paid-in-kind 12.0% Class A Convertible Preferred Units for $19.6 million in cash in accordance with their terms and including accrued interest. Following the redemption, no paid-in-kind preferred units remain outstanding. Additionally, NRP declared a fourth quarter 2021 cash distribution of $0.45 per common unit and a $7.5 million cash distribution on the preferred units. Future distributions on NRP's common and preferred units will be determined on a quarterly basis by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors considers numerous factors each quarter in determining cash distributions, including profitability, cash flow, debt service obligations, market conditions and outlook, estimated unitholder income tax liability and the level of cash reserves that the Board determines is necessary for future operating and capital needs.

Segment Performance

Mineral Rights (segment formerly named Coal Royalty and Other)

NRP has changed the name of its Coal Royalty and Other business segment to Mineral Rights. This name change highlights NRP’s vast mineral ownership interests as well as its intensifying focus on leveraging the Partnership's asset footprint across the United States, including subsurface carbon sequestration rights, to become a key player in the transitional energy economy for the years to come. There has been no change to the composition of this reportable business segment or the structure of NRP's internal organization in connection with this name change.

Mineral Rights net income for the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 increased $38.1 million and $183.6 million, respectively, as compared to the prior year periods. Free cash flow for the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 increased $34.1 million and $35.1 million, respectively, as compared to the prior year periods. These increases were primarily due to stronger metallurgical coal demand and pricing in 2021 and $13.8 million of cash received in the fourth quarter of 2021 from the forestland carbon sequestration transaction. In addition, full year 2021 net income improved due to $130.8 million of higher asset impairments recorded in 2020. Approximately 75% of coal royalty revenues and approximately 55% of coal royalty sales volumes were derived from metallurgical coal in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Metallurgical coal markets have rebounded significantly from the lows seen in 2020 to record high pricing and the outlook remains strong as steel demand driven by global economic recovery is more than offsetting challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic and export thermal coal markets have also significantly improved from the lows seen in 2020, however NRP did not have meaningful sensitivity to thermal coal price movements in 2021 since the substantial majority of NRP's thermal cash flows were fixed pursuant to a contract with Foresight Energy that went into effect as it emerged from bankruptcy in 2020. That contract expired at the end of 2021 and NRP began receiving traditional royalty payments in January 2022. While NRP may benefit from improved thermal coal demand and pricing in the near term, thermal coal markets still face the long-term challenges presented by competition from natural gas and the secular shift to renewable energy.

In addition, NRP continues to identify alternative revenue sources across its large portfolio of land, mineral and timber assets. The types of opportunities include the sequestration of carbon dioxide underground and in standing forests, and the generation of electricity using geothermal, solar and wind energy. While the timing and likelihood of additional cash flows being realized from further activities is uncertain, NRP believes its large ownership footprint throughout the United States will provide additional opportunities to create value in this regard with minimal capital investment.

Soda Ash

In December, a publicly-traded Turkish conglomerate, Sisecam, acquired a majority stake in the managing partner of Sisecam Wyoming LLC, the business formerly known as Ciner Wyoming LLC. Sisecam brings extensive experience and knowledge to NRP's soda ash partnership given its soda ash operating experience in Turkey, Bulgaria and Europe, as well as its container and flat glass manufacturing around the world. NRP looks forward to working with Sisecam to build on the significant value realized by the soda ash partnership with the Ciner Group, which continues to own a minority stake in the partnership.

Soda ash net income in the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 increased $5.1 million and $11.2 million, respectively, as compared to the prior year period as demand and pricing for soda ash continues to improve globally from the lows caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the soda ash segment's improved performance, Sisecam Wyoming reinstated regular quarterly cash distributions in the fourth quarter of 2021, which were previously suspended since the third quarter of 2020. Accordingly, free cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2021 increased $7.3 million as compared to the prior year period, but decreased $2.9 million for the full year of 2021 as compared to the prior year due to the regular quarterly cash distributions being suspended until the fourth quarter of 2021.

Corporate and Financing

Corporate and financing costs in the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 increased by $2.2 million and $1.0 million, respectively, as compared to the prior year periods, primarily due to an increase in incentive compensation as a result of significantly improved operating results in 2021, partially offset by lower interest expense as a result of less debt outstanding. Free cash flow in the fourth quarter and full year of 2021 improved $0.4 million and $2.1 million, respectively, as compared to prior year periods primarily due to lower cash paid for interest as a result of less debt outstanding in 2021.

As noted earlier, NRP declared a fourth quarter 2021 cash distribution of $0.45 per common unit of NRP and a $7.5 million cash distribution on the preferred units. NRP's consolidated leverage ratio fell from 4.6x at December 31, 2020 to 2.7x at December 31, 2021 and expects its leverage ratio to continue to decline for the foreseeable future.

Conference Call

A conference call will be held today at 9:00 a.m. ET. To register for the conference call, please use this link: https://conferencingportals.com/event/kfJdSHYP. After registering a confirmation will be sent via email, including dial in details and unique conference call codes for entry. Registration is open through the live call, however, to ensure you are connected for the full call we suggest registering at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. Investors may also listen to the call via the Investor Relations section of the NRP website at www.nrplp.com. To access the replay, please visit the Investor Relations section of NRP’s website.

Company Profile

Natural Resource Partners L.P., a master limited partnership headquartered in Houston, TX, is a diversified natural resource company that owns, manages and leases a diversified portfolio of properties in the United States including coal, industrial minerals and other natural resources, as well as rights to conduct carbon sequestration and renewable energy activities. NRP also owns an equity investment in Sisecam Wyoming LLC, one of the world’s lowest-cost producers of soda ash.

For additional information, please contact Tiffany Sammis at 713-751-7515 or tsammis@nrplp.com. Further information about NRP is available on the Partnership’s website at http://www.nrplp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Partnership expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on certain assumptions made by the Partnership based on its experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Partnership. These risks include, among other things, statements regarding: the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic; future distributions on the Partnership’s common and preferred units; the Partnership's business strategy; its liquidity and access to capital and financing sources; its financial strategy; prices of and demand for coal, trona and soda ash, and other natural resources; estimated revenues, expenses and results of operations; projected future performance by the Partnership's lessees, including Foresight Energy; Ciner Wyoming LLC’s trona mining and soda ash refinery operations; distributions from the soda ash joint venture; the impact of governmental policies, laws and regulations, as well as regulatory and legal proceedings involving the Partnership, and of scheduled or potential regulatory or legal changes; global and U.S. economic conditions; and other factors detailed in Natural Resource Partners’ Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Natural Resource Partners L.P. has no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

"Adjusted EBITDA" is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net income (loss) less equity earnings from unconsolidated investment, net income attributable to non-controlling interest and gain on reserve swap; plus total distributions from unconsolidated investment, interest expense, net, debt modification expense, loss on extinguishment of debt, depreciation, depletion and amortization and asset impairments. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income or loss, net income or loss attributable to partners, operating income or loss, cash flows from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with GAAP as measures of operating performance, liquidity or ability to service debt obligations. There are significant limitations to using Adjusted EBITDA as a measure of performance, including the inability to analyze the effect of certain recurring items that materially affect our net income, the lack of comparability of results of operations of different companies and the different methods of calculating Adjusted EBITDA reported by different companies. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA presented below is not calculated or presented on the same basis as Consolidated EBITDA as defined in our partnership agreement or Consolidated EBITDDA as defined in Opco's debt agreements. Adjusted EBITDA is a supplemental performance measure used by our management and by external users of our financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others to assess the financial performance of our assets without regard to financing methods, capital structure or historical cost basis.

“Distributable cash flow” or "DCF" is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities of continuing operations plus distributions from unconsolidated investment in excess of cumulative earnings, proceeds from asset sales and disposals, including sales of discontinued operations, and return of long-term contract receivable; less maintenance capital expenditures and distributions to non-controlling interest. DCF is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities. DCF may not be calculated the same for us as for other companies. In addition, distributable cash flow is not calculated or presented on the same basis as distributable cash flow as defined in our partnership agreement, which is used as a metric to determine whether we are able to increase quarterly distributions to our common unitholders. Distributable cash flow is a supplemental liquidity measure used by our management and by external users of our financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others to assess our ability to make cash distributions and repay debt.

“Free cash flow” or "FCF" is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities of continuing operations plus distributions from unconsolidated investment in excess of cumulative earnings and return of long-term contract receivable; less maintenance and expansion capital expenditures, cash flow used in acquisition costs classified as investing or financing activities and distributions to non-controlling interest. FCF is calculated before mandatory debt repayments. Free cash flow is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities. Free cash flow may not be calculated the same for us as for other companies. Free cash flow is a supplemental liquidity measure used by our management and by external users of our financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks, research analysts and others to assess our ability to make cash distributions and repay debt.

"Cash flow cushion" is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as free cash flow less one-time beneficial items, mandatory Opco debt repayments, preferred unit distributions and redemption of PIK units, common unit distributions and warrant cash settlements. Cash flow cushion is not a measure of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities. Cash flow cushion is a supplemental liquidity measure used by our management to assess the Partnership's ability to make or raise cash distributions to our common and preferred unitholders and our general partner and repay debt or redeem preferred units.

"Return on capital employed" or "ROCE" is a non-GAAP financial measure that we define as net income (loss) operations plus financing costs (interest expense plus loss on extinguishment of debt) divided by the sum of equity excluding equity of discontinued operations, and debt. Return on capital employed should not be considered an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income or loss, net income or loss attributable to partners, operating income or loss, cash flows from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance presented in accordance with GAAP as measures of operating performance, liquidity or ability to service debt obligations. Return on capital employed is a supplemental performance measure used by our management team that measures our profitability and efficiency with which our capital is employed. The measure provides an indication of operating performance before the impact of leverage in the capital structure.

-Financial Tables and Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures Follow-

Natural Resource Partners L.P.

Financial Tables

(Unaudited)

The following tables present NRP's unaudited business results by segment for the three months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 and September 30, 2021:

Natural Resource Partners L.P.

Financial Tables

(Unaudited)

The following table presents NRP's unaudited business results by segment for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020: