Dynagas LNG Partners LP Reports Results for the Three Months and Year Ended December 31, 2022

ATHENS, Greece, March 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dynagas LNG Partners LP (NYSE: “DLNG”) (“the “Partnership”), an owner and operator of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) carriers, today announced its results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2022.


Year Highlights:

• Net Income and earnings per common unit (basic and diluted) of $54.0 million and $1.15, respectively;
• Adjusted Net Income⁽¹⁾ of $30.6 million and Adjusted Earnings⁽¹⁾ per common unit (basic and diluted) of $0.52;
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $89.5 million;
• 100% fleet utilization⁽²⁾;

Fourth Quarter Highlights:

• Net Income and earnings per common unit (basic and diluted) of $11.6 million and $0.24, respectively;
• Adjusted Net Income⁽¹⁾ of $7.0 million and Adjusted Earnings⁽¹⁾ per common unit (basic and diluted) of $0.11;
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $23.6 million;
• 100% fleet utilization⁽²⁾;
• Declared and paid cash distribution of $0.5625 per unit on its Series A Preferred Units (NYSE: “DLNG PR A”) for the period from August 12, 2022 to November 11, 2022 and $0.546875 per unit on the Series B Preferred Units (NYSE: “DLNG PR B”) for the period from August 22, 2022 to November 21, 2022;
• On October 12, 2022 and pursuant to the designation of Amsterdam Trade Bank (“ATB”) by the Office of Foreign Assets Control as a Specially Designated National, the Partnership, in agreement with all lenders of its $675 Credit Facility, made a voluntary prepayment of $18.73 million which was applied in prepayment of the entire participation of ATB to the $675 Million Credit Facility. An amount equal to the above- mentioned prepayment was released from the Cash Collateral Account in order to make the prepayment; and

• Entered into a new time charter party agreement with Equinor ASA ("Equinor") for the employment of our ice-class LNG carrier Arctic Aurora for a period of approximately three years. Under the new time charter agreement, the Arctic Aurora is expected to be delivered to Equinor in September 2023 in direct continuation of the current charter party with Equinor, meaning there will be no scheduled lapse of time between the current and the new time charter. The term ‘in direct continuation’ does not refer to the contracted income.
  

Subsequent Events:

• Declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.5625 on the Partnership’s Series A Preferred Units for the period from November 12, 2022 to February 11, 2023, which was paid on February 13, 2023 to all preferred Series A unit holders of record as of February 6, 2023; and
• Declared a quarterly cash distribution of $0.546875 on the Partnership’s Series B Preferred Units for the period from November 22, 2022 to February 21, 2023, which was paid on February 22, 2023 to all preferred Series B unit holders of record as of February 15, 2023.

⁽¹⁾ Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings per common unit and Adjusted EBITDA are not recognized measures under U.S. GAAP. Please refer to Appendix B of this press release for the definitions and reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and other related information.

⁽²⁾ Please refer to Appendix B for additional information on how we calculate fleet utilization.

CEO Commentary:

We are pleased to report the results for the three months and full year ended December 31, 2022.

For the fourth quarter of 2022, we reported Net Income of $11.6 million, earnings per common unit of $0.24, Adjusted Net Income of $7.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $23.6 million. While future results may vary, we are pleased to report 100% utilization for our fleet for the eleventh quarter in a row which is a testament to the fleet’s performance.

All six LNG carriers in our fleet are operating under their respective long-term charters with international gas companies with an average remaining contract term of 6.4 years. As of March 17, 2023, our estimated contracted revenue backlog¹ was $1.0 billion². The earliest contracted re-delivery date for any of our six LNG carriers is in the first quarter of 2026 (for the Clean Energy), subject to the terms of the applicable charter.

We were very pleased with the new 3-year charter of the Arctic Aurora to Equinor (formerly named Statoil), which has chartered the vessel since her delivery from the shipyard in 2013.

The Partnership has remained committed to its strategy of reducing debt and has since September 2019, until the end of December 2022 successfully repaid $175 million in debt. Since December 31, 2019 the Partnership reduced its net leverage from 6.6x to 4.7x, while also improving the book equity value by 35%, now standing at $423.9 million. Going forward, we believe the Partnership's continued efforts to deleverage will further enhance equity value through stable long-term cash flow visibility.

While we have seen a retraction of gas prices which is a positive development for the economic sustainability of consumers, term LNG shipping rates remain robust. The shipping rates are driven by a long-term demand for LNG shipping which is underpinned by long term SPAs and the importance to secure available emission friendly energy.

In light of these developments, we believe that the outlook for LNG Shipping and the Partnership remains positive.

_______________________

¹ The Partnership calculates its estimated contracted revenue backlog by multiplying the contractual daily hire rate by the expected number of days committed under the contracts (assuming earliest delivery and redelivery and excluding options to extend), assuming full utilization. The actual amount of revenues earned and the actual periods during which revenues are earned may differ from the amounts and periods disclosed due to, for example, dry-docking and/or special survey downtime, maintenance projects, off-hire downtime and other factors that result in lower revenues than the Partnership’s average contract backlog per day.

² The amount of $0.13 billion of the revenue backlog estimate relates to the estimated portion of the hire contained in certain time charter contracts with Yamal which represents the operating expenses of the respective vessels and is subject to yearly adjustments on the basis of the actual operating costs incurred within each year. The actual amount of revenues earned in respect of such variable hire rate may therefore differ from the amounts included in the revenue backlog estimate due to the yearly variations in the respective vessels’ operating costs.

Russian Sanctions Developments

Due to the ongoing Russian conflicts with Ukraine, the United States (“U.S.”), European Union (“E.U.”), Canada and other Western countries and organizations have announced and enacted numerous sanctions against Russia to impose severe economic pressure on the Russian economy and government.

As of today’s date:

• Current U.S. and E.U. sanctions regimes do not materially affect the business, operations or financial condition of the Partnership and, to the Partnership’s knowledge, its counterparties are currently performing their obligations under their respective time charters in compliance with applicable U.S. and E.U. rules and regulations; and
• Sanctions legislation has been changing and the Partnership continues to monitor such changes as applicable to the Partnership and its counterparties.

The full impact of the commercial and economic consequences of the Russian conflict with Ukraine is uncertain at this time. The Partnership cannot provide any assurance that any further development in sanctions, or escalation of the Ukraine situation more generally, will not have a significant impact on its business, financial condition or results of operations. Please see the section of this press release entitled “Forward Looking Statements”.



Financial Results Overview:

	Three Months Ended					Year Ended
(U.S. dollars in thousands, except per unit data)		December 31, 2022 (unaudited)		December 31, 2021 (unaudited)			December 31, 2022 (unaudited)		December 31, 2021 (unaudited)
Voyage revenues	$	35,064	$	35,678		$	131,657	$	137,746
Net Income	$	11,618	$	16,941		$	54,010	$	53,260
Adjusted Net Income (1)	$	6,984	$	11,386		$	30,615	$	43,879
Operating income	$	16,244	$	16,730		$	45,337	$	64,611
Adjusted EBITDA(1)	$	23,627	$	24,694		$	89,503	$	97,009
Earnings per common unit	$	0.24	$	0.38		$	1.15	$	1.14
Adjusted Earnings per common unit (1)	$	0.11	$	0.23		$	0.52	$	0.88

⁽¹⁾ Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Earnings per common unit are not recognized measures under U.S. GAAP. Please refer to Appendix B of this press release for the definitions and reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Three Months Ended December 31, 2022 and 2022 Financial Results

Net Income for the three months ended December 31, 2022 was $11.6 million as compared to a Net Income of $16.9 million for the corresponding period of 2021, which represents a decrease of $5.3 million, or 31.4%. The decrease in net income for the three months ended December 31, 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021, was mainly attributable to the decrease in the unrealized gain on our interest rate swap transaction (unrealized loss of $2.2 million incurred during this quarter against an unrealized gain of $5.9 earned during the corresponding period of 2021) which was partly offset by the gain on debt extinguishment recognized in this quarter further to the prepayment of the entire participation of ATB to the $675 Million Credit Facility on October 12, 2022 (see also below under “Liquidity/ Financing/ Cash Flow Coverage”). The realized gain on the interest rate swap transaction which was realized during the fourth quarter of 2022 amounted to $4,3 million (realized loss of $0.4 million paid during the corresponding period of 2021) which offset the increase in the interest and finance costs compared to the corresponding period of 2021.

Adjusted Net Income (a non-GAAP financial measure) for the three months ended December 31, 2022 was $7.0 million compared to $11.4 million in the corresponding period of 2021, which represents a net decrease of $4.4 million or 38.6%. This decrease is mainly attributable to the increase of interest and finance costs compared to the corresponding period of 2021 which excludes the effect of the realized gain on our interest rate swap transaction mentioned above.

Voyage revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2022 were $35.1 million compared to $35.7 million for the corresponding period of 2021, which represents a net decrease of $0.6 million or 1.7%, mainly as a result of the lower variable hire revenues earned on the Lena River and the Yenisei River in the three months ended December 31, 2022 compared to the corresponding period in 2021.

The Partnership reported average daily hire gross of commissions⁽¹⁾ of approximately $62,700 per day per vessel in the three-month period ended December 31, 2022, compared to approximately $64,500 per day per vessel for the corresponding period of 2021. During both three-month periods ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, the Partnership’s vessels operated at 100% utilization.

Vessel operating expenses were $7.8 million, which corresponds to daily operating expenses per vessel of $14,060 in the three-month period ended December 31, 2022, as compared to $8.2 million, or daily operating expenses per vessel of $14,799 in the corresponding period in 2021. The decrease of $0.4 million, or 4.9%, was mainly attributable to the lower vessel maintenance costs of the Lena River and the Yenisei River in the three months ended December 31, 2022 compared to the corresponding period in 2021.

Adjusted EBITDA (a non-GAAP financial measure) for the three months ended December 31, 2022 was $23.6 million, as compared to $24.7 million for the corresponding period of 2021. The decrease of $1.1 million, or 4.5%, was mainly attributable to the effect of the decrease in voyage revenues as adjusted for the effects of the amortization of deferred revenue.

Interest and finance costs, net were $8.6 million in the three months ended December 31, 2022 as compared to $5.3 million in the corresponding period of 2021, which represents an increase of $3.3 million, or 62.3% due to the increase in the weighted average interest rate in the three months period ending December 31, 2022, compared to the corresponding period in 2021, which was partly counterbalanced by the reduction in interest bearing debt as compared to the corresponding period of 2021.

For the three months ended December 31, 2022, the Partnership reported basic and diluted earnings per common unit and Adjusted Earnings per common unit (a non-GAAP financial measure), of $0.24 and $0.11 respectively, after taking into account the distributions relating to the Series A Preferred Units and the Series B Preferred Units on the Partnership’s Net income/Adjusted Net Income. Earnings per common unit and Adjusted Earnings per common unit, basic and diluted, are calculated on the basis of a weighted average number of 36,802,247 common units outstanding during the period and in the case of Adjusted Earnings per common unit after reflecting the impact of the non-cash items presented in Appendix B of this press release.

Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Earnings per common unit are not recognized measures under U.S. GAAP. Please refer to Appendix B of this press release for the definitions and reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Amounts relating to variations in period–on–period comparisons shown in this section are derived from the unaudited condensed financial statements contained herein.

⁽¹⁾ Average daily hire gross of commissions represents voyage revenue excluding the non-cash time charter deferred revenue amortization, divided by the Available Days in the Partnership’s fleet as described in Appendix B.

Liquidity/ Financing/ Cash Flow Coverage

During the three months ended December 31, 2022, the Partnership generated net cash from operating activities of $13.4 million as compared to $21.0 million in the corresponding period of 2021, which represents a decrease of $7.6 million, or 36.2% mainly as a result of working capital changes.

As of December 31, 2022, the Partnership reported total cash of $79.9 million (including $31.3 million of restricted cash). On October 12, 2022 and pursuant to the designation of Amsterdam Trade Bank (“ATB”) by the Office of Foreign Assets Control as a Specially Designated National, the Partnership, in agreement with all lenders of the $675 Credit Facility, made a voluntary prepayment of $18.73 million which was applied in prepayment of the entire participation of ATB to the $675 Million Credit Facility less an agreed waived amount of $2.2 million. An amount equal to the above- mentioned prepayment was released from the Cash Collateral Account in order to make the prepayment. The Partnership’s outstanding indebtedness as of December 31, 2022 under the $675.0 Million Credit Facility amounted to $499.9 million, gross of unamortized deferred loan fees and including $48.0 million, which was repayable within one year.

As of December 31, 2022, the Partnership had unused availability of $30.0 million under its interest free $30.0 million revolving credit facility with its Sponsor, Dynagas Holding Ltd., which was extended on November 14, 2018, and is available to the Partnership at any time until November 2023.

Vessel Employment

As of March 17, 2023, the Partnership had estimated contracted time charter coverage⁽¹⁾ for 100% of its fleet estimated Available Days (as defined in Appendix B) for 2023, 2024 and 2025.

As of the same date, the Partnership’s estimated contracted revenue backlog ⁽²⁾ was $1.00 billion⁽³⁾, with an average remaining contract term of 6.4 years.

⁽¹⁾ Time charter coverage for the Partnership’s fleet is calculated by dividing the fleet contracted days on the basis of the earliest estimated delivery and redelivery dates prescribed in the Partnership’s current time charter contracts, net of scheduled class survey repairs by the number of expected Available Days during that period.

⁽²⁾ The Partnership calculates its estimated contracted revenue backlog by multiplying the contractual daily hire rate by the expected number of days committed under the contracts (assuming earliest delivery and redelivery and excluding options to extend), assuming full utilization. The actual amount of revenues earned and the actual periods during which revenues are earned may differ from the amounts and periods disclosed due to, for example, dry-docking and/or special survey downtime, maintenance projects, off-hire downtime and other factors that result in lower revenues than the Partnership’s average contract backlog per day.

⁽³⁾ The amount of $0.13 billion of the revenue backlog estimate relates to the estimated portion of the hire contained in certain time charter contracts with Yamal which represents the operating expenses of the respective vessels and is subject to yearly adjustments on the basis of the actual operating costs incurred within each year. The actual amount of revenues earned in respect of such variable hire rate may therefore differ from the amounts included in the revenue backlog estimate due to the yearly variations in the respective vessels’ operating costs.

Conference Call and Webcast:

As announced, the Partnership’s management team will host a conference call on March 17, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the Partnership’s financial results.

Conference Call details:

Participants should dial into the call 10 minutes before the scheduled time using the following numbers: 877-405-1226 / (US Toll Free Dial-In), or +1 201-689-7823 (US International Dial-In). To access the conference call, please reference call ID number 13737085 or "Dynagas" to the operator. For additional participant International Toll- Free access numbers, click here.

Alternatively, participants can register for the call using the call me option for a faster connection to join the conference call. You can enter your phone number and let the system call you right away. Click here for the call me option.

Audio Webcast - Slides Presentation:

There will be a live and then archived webcast of the conference call and accompanying slides, available through the Partnership’s website. To listen to the archived audio file, visit our website http://www.dynagaspartners.com and click on Webcast under our Investor Relations page. Participants to the live webcast should register on the website approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the webcast.

The slide presentation on the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022 financial results will be available in PDF format 10 minutes prior to the conference call and webcast, accessible on the Partnership’s website http://www.dynagaspartners.com on the webcast page. Participants to the webcast can download the PDF presentation.

About Dynagas LNG Partners LP

Dynagas LNG Partners LP. (NYSE: DLNG) is a master limited partnership which owns and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers employed on multi-year charters. The Partnership’s current fleet consists of six LNG carriers, with aggregate carrying capacity of approximately 914,000 cubic meters.

Visit the Partnership’s website at www.dynagaspartners.com. The Partnership’s website and its contents are not incorporated into and do not form a part of this release.

Contact Information:

Dynagas LNG Partners LP

Attention: Michael Gregos

Tel. +30 210 8917960

Email: management@dynagaspartners.com

Investor Relations / Financial Media:

Nicolas Bornozis

Markella Kara

Capital Link, Inc.

230 Park Avenue, Suite 1540

New York, NY 10169

Tel. (212) 661-7566

E-mail: dynagas@capitallink.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Partnership desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words “believe,” “anticipate,” “intends,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “project,” “plan,” “potential,” “project,” “will,” “may,” “should,” “expect,” “expected,” “pending”

and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward -looking are not intended to give any assurance as to future results and should not be relied upon.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions and estimates, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, examination by the Partnership’s management of historical operating trends, data contained in its records and other data available from third parties. Although the Partnership believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies which are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Partnership’s control, the Partnership cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Partnership’s view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed, expressed or implied, in the forward- looking statements include, but are not limited to, the strength of world economies and currency fluctuations, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates, ownership days, and vessel values, changes in supply and demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping capacity, changes in the Partnership’s operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Partnership’s vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental laws, rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, economic, regulatory, political and governmental conditions that affect the shipping and the LNG industry, potential liability from pending or future litigation, and potential costs due to environmental damage and vessel collisions, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns, instances of off-hires, the length and severity of epidemics and pandemics, including COVID-19, the impact of public health threats and outbreaks of other highly communicable diseases, the impact of the expected discontinuance of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or, LIBOR, after June 30, 2023 on any of our debt referencing LIBOR in the interest rate, the amount of cash available for distribution, and other factors. Due to the ongoing Russian conflicts with Ukraine, the United States, the European Union, Canada and other Western countries and organizations have announced and enacted numerous sanctions against Russia to impose severe economic pressure on the Russian economy and government. The full impact of the commercial and economic consequences of the Russian conflict with Ukraine are uncertain at this time. Potential consequences of the sanctions that could impact the Partnership’s business in the future include but are not limited to: (1) limiting and/or banning the use of the SWIFT financial and payment system that would negatively affect payments under the Partnership’s existing vessel charters; (2) the Partnership’s counterparties being potentially limited by sanctions from performing under its agreements; and (3) a general deterioration of the Russian economy. In addition, the Partnership may have greater difficulties raising capital in the future, which could potentially reduce the level of future investment into its expansion and operations. The Partnership cannot provide any assurance that any further development in sanctions, or escalation of the Ukraine situation more generally, will not have a significant impact on its business, financial condition or results of operations.

Please see the Partnership’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and the Partnership disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.




APPENDIX A

DYNAGAS LNG PARTNERS LP

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income

(In thousands of U.S. dollars except units and per unit data)		Three Months Ended December 31,						Year Ended December 31,
		2022 (unaudited)			2021 (unaudited)			2022 (unaudited)			2021 (unaudited)
REVENUES
Voyage revenues	$	35,064		$	35,678		$	131,657		$	137,746
EXPENSES
Voyage expenses (including related party)		(708	)		(560	)		(2,960	)		(2,657	)
Vessel operating expenses		(7,761	)		(8,169	)		(29,773	)		(29,640	)
Dry-docking and special survey costs		—			—			(12,791	)		—
General and administrative expenses (including related party)		(748	)		(708	)		(2,787	)		(3,105	)
Management fees -related party		(1,563	)		(1,518	)		(6,203	)		(6,023	)
Depreciation		(8,040	)		(7,993	)		(31,806	)		(31,710	)
Operating income		16,244			16,730			45,337			64,611
Interest and finance costs, net		(8,603	)		(5,315	)		(27,082	)		(21,420	)
Gain on Debt Extinguishment		2,072			—			2,072			—
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