Air Lease Corporation Announces First Quarter 2018 Results

LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (NYSE:AL) announces financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2018.

• Revenues:
  
  
  • $381 million for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of 5.8%
    
    
• Diluted earnings per share:
  
  
  • $1.00 for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of 28.2%
    
    
• Adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes:
  
  
  • $1.38 for the three months ended March 31, 2018, an increase of 3.8%
    
    
• Margin:
  
  
  • Pre-tax margin of 37.1% for the three months ended March 31, 2018
    
    
  • Adjusted pre-tax margin of 40.1% for the three months ended March 31, 2018
    
    
• Return on equity:
  
  
  • Pre-tax return on equity of 16.1% for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2018
    
    
  • Adjusted pre-tax return on equity of 17.3% for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2018

Highlights

• Took delivery of four aircraft from our order book and five incremental aircraft from the secondary market, representing $441 million in capital expenditures, ending the quarter with $13.6 billion in aircraft with a weighted average age of 3.9 years and a weighted average lease term remaining of 6.7 years.
  
  
• Our aircraft on order are 100% placed through 2019 and 81% placed through 2020 on long term leases.
  
  
• Signed a firm order with Boeing for an additional eight Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft with deliveries beginning in 2020 through 2022.
  
  
• Ended the quarter with $23.5 billion in committed minimum future rental payments consisting of $10.2 billion in contracted minimum rental payments on the aircraft in our existing fleet and $13.3 billion in minimum future rental payments related to aircraft delivering in the future.
  
  
• Issued $1.25 billion of unsecured senior notes including $550 million of 2.50% unsecured senior notes due 2021 and $700 million of 3.25% unsecured senior notes due 2025.
  
  
• In May 2018, completed an amendment to our Syndicated Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility, increasing the capacity to $4.5 billion and extending the final maturity to May 2022 with an interest rate of LIBOR plus 1.05%.
  
  
• Declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share on our outstanding common stock for the first quarter of 2018.  The dividend will be paid on July 10, 2018 to holders of record of our common stock as of June 5, 2018.

“We had another strong quarter of growth in revenues and earnings per share.  We were also able to add nine aircraft to our industry leading fleet and eight planes for future delivery.  Global passenger growth remains strong, as do our financial metrics and forward lease placements,” said John L. Plueger, Chief Executive Officer and President.

“The airline industry continues to perform well, with IATA forecasting another year of global industry profits in excess of $30 billion.  Supply chain delays and engine technical issues continue to have a short term impact on new aircraft deliveries.  As such, we continue to source aircraft opportunistically,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Executive Chairman of the Board.

The following table summarizes the results for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 (in thousands, except per share amounts and percentages):

(1)  Adjusted net income before income taxes and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes have been adjusted to exclude the effects of certain non-cash items, one-time or non-recurring items, that are not expected to continue in the future and certain other items. See note 1 under the Consolidated Statements of Income included in this earnings release for a discussion of the non-GAAP measures adjusted net income before income taxes and adjusted diluted EPS before income taxes and a reconciliation to their most comparable GAAP financial measures.

Flight Equipment Portfolio

Our fleet grew by 2.3% based on net book value of $13.6 billion as of March 31, 2018 compared to $13.3 billion as of December 31, 2017.  As of March 31, 2018, our fleet was comprised of 253 owned aircraft, with a weighted-average age and remaining lease term of 3.9 years and 6.7 years, respectively, and 49 managed aircraft.  We have a globally diversified customer base of 93 airlines in 56 countries.

During the quarter ended March 31, 2018, we took delivery of four aircraft from our order book and five incremental aircraft from the secondary market ending the quarter with 253 aircraft in our operating lease portfolio.

Below are the key portfolio metrics of our fleet:

(1)  Weighted-average fleet age and remaining lease term calculated based on net book value.

The following table details the region concentration of our fleet:

The following table details the composition of our fleet by aircraft type:

Debt Financing Activities

We ended the first quarter of 2018 with total debt financing, net of discounts and issuance costs, of $9.9 billion, resulting in a debt to equity ratio of 2.34:1.

Our debt financing was comprised of unsecured debt of $9.5 billion representing 95.0% of our debt portfolio as of March 31, 2018 as compared to 94.6% as of December 31, 2017.  Our fixed rate debt represented 91.1% of our debt portfolio as of March 31, 2018 as compared to 85.4% as of December 31, 2017.  Our composite cost of funds increased to 3.28% as of March 31, 2018 as compared to 3.20% as of December 31, 2017.

Our debt financing was comprised of the following at March 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (dollars in thousands):

(1)  This rate does not include the effect of upfront fees, undrawn fees or amortization of debt discounts and issuance costs.

Conference Call

In connection with this earnings release, Air Lease Corporation will host a conference call on May 10, 2018 at 4:30 PM Eastern Time to discuss the Company's financial results for the first quarter of 2018.

Investors can participate in the conference call by dialing (855) 308-8321 domestic or (330) 863-3465 international. The passcode for the call is 6995138.

The conference call will also be broadcast live through a link on the Investor Relations page of the Air Lease Corporation website at www.airleasecorp.com. Please visit the website at least 15 minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the broadcast will be available on the Investor Relations page of the Air Lease Corporation website.

For your convenience, the conference call can be replayed in its entirety beginning at 7:30 PM ET on May 10, 2018 until 7:30 PM ET on May 17, 2018. If you wish to listen to the replay of this conference call, please dial (855) 859-2056 domestic or (404) 537-3406 international and enter passcode 6995138.

About Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL)

Air Lease Corporation is a leading aircraft leasing company based in Los Angeles, California that has airline customers throughout the world. ALC and its team of dedicated and experienced professionals are principally engaged in purchasing commercial aircraft and leasing them to its airline customers worldwide through customized aircraft leasing and financing solutions. For more information, visit ALC's website at www.airleasecorp.com.

Contact

Investors:
Mary Liz DePalma
Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations
Email: mdepalma@airleasecorp.com

Media:
Laura Woeste
Manager, Media and Investor Relations
Email: lwoeste@airleasecorp.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are hereby identified as “forward-looking statements,” including any statements about our expectations, beliefs, plans, predictions, forecasts, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as “anticipate,” “believes,” “can,” “could,” “may,” “predicts,” “potential,” “should,” “will,” “estimate,” “plans,” “projects,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expects,” “intends” and similar words or phrases. These statements are only predictions and involve estimates, known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such statements, including as a result of the following factors, among others:

• our inability to make acquisitions of, or lease, aircraft on favorable terms;
  
  
• our inability to sell aircraft on favorable terms;
  
  
• our inability to obtain additional financing on favorable terms, if required, to complete the acquisition of sufficient aircraft as currently contemplated or to fund the operations and growth of our business;
  
  
• our inability to effectively oversee our managed fleet;
  
  
• our inability to obtain refinancing prior to the time our debt matures;
  
  
• impaired financial condition and liquidity of our lessees;
  
  
• deterioration of economic conditions in the commercial aviation industry generally;
  
  
• increased maintenance, operating or other expenses or changes in the timing thereof;
  
  
• changes in the regulatory environment;
  
  
• unanticipated impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Tax Reform Act”), including as a result of changes in assumptions we make in our interpretation of the Tax Reform Act, guidance related to application of the Tax Reform Act that may be issued in the future, and actions that we may take as a result of our expected impact of the Tax Reform Act;
  
  
• potential natural disasters and terrorist attacks and the amount of our insurance coverage, if any, relating thereto; and
  
  
• the factors discussed under “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors,” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, and other SEC filings, including future SEC filings.

All forward-looking statements are necessarily only estimates of future results, and there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations. You are therefore cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. 

^{(1) Adjusted net income before income taxes (defined as net income excluding the effects of certain non-cash items, one-time or non-recurring items, that are not expected to continue in the future and certain other items), adjusted margin before income taxes (defined as adjusted net income before income taxes divided by total revenues), adjusted pre-tax return on equity (defined as adjusted net income before income taxes divided by average shareholders' equity) and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes (defined as adjusted net income before income taxes divided by the weighted average diluted common shares outstanding) are measures of operating performance that are not defined by GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, pre-tax profit margin, earnings per share, pre-tax return on equity, and diluted earnings per share, or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted net income before income taxes, adjusted margin before income taxes, adjusted pre-tax return on equity and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes, are presented as supplemental disclosure because management believes they provide useful information on our earnings from ongoing operations.}

^{Management and our board of directors use adjusted net income before income taxes, adjusted margin before income taxes, adjusted pre-tax return on equity and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes to assess our consolidated financial and operating performance.  Management believes these measures are helpful in evaluating the operating performance of our ongoing operations and identifying trends in our performance, because they remove the effects of certain non-cash items, one-time or non-recurring items that are not expected to continue in the future and certain other items from our operating results.  Adjusted net income before income taxes, adjusted margin before income taxes, adjusted pre-tax return on equity and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes, however, should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our operating results or cash flows as reported under GAAP. Adjusted net income before income taxes, adjusted margin before income taxes, adjusted pre-tax return on equity and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes do not reflect our cash expenditures or changes in our cash requirements for our working capital needs. In addition, our calculation of adjusted net income before income taxes, adjusted margin before income taxes, adjusted pre-tax return on equity and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes may differ from the adjusted net income before income taxes, adjusted margin before income taxes, adjusted pre-tax return on equity and adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes or analogous calculations of other companies in our industry, limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure.}

^{The following tables show the reconciliation of net income to adjusted net income before income taxes and adjusted margin before income taxes (in thousands, except percentages):}

^{(1)  Adjusted margin before income taxes is adjusted net income before income taxes divided by total revenues}

^{The following table shows the reconciliation of net income to adjusted diluted earnings per share before income taxes (in thousands, except share and per share amounts):}

^{The following table shows the reconciliation of net income to adjusted pre-tax return on equity (in thousands, except percentages):}