Prepared remarks
Good day, everyone. And welcome to the Global Partners Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. With us from Global Partners are President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Eric S. Slifka; Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Gregory Hanson; Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mark A. Romaine; and Chief Legal Officer, Ms. Kristin Seabrook. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Ms. Seabrook for opening remarks. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today's call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including projections and expectations concerning the future financial and operational performance of Global Partners. No assurances can be given that these projections will be attained or that these expectations will be met. Our assumptions and future performance are subject to a wide range of business risks, uncertainties, and factors, including supply and demand, which could cause actual results to differ materially as described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Global Partners undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements. Now it is my pleasure to turn the call over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Eric S. Slifka. Eric?
Thank you, Kristin, and good morning, everyone. We delivered a strong second quarter with each of our operating segments contributing meaningfully and our teams executing at a high level across the business. These results underscore the strength of Global's integrated liquid energy platform and the advantage of operating across products, markets, and customers. That diversification is a competitive strength and allows us to capture value across changing market conditions and generate attractive returns. During the quarter, our gasoline distribution and station operations segment benefited from improved fuel margins, while our wholesale and commercial segment also delivered positive year-over-year growth. These results reinforce the resiliency of our model and the value of maintaining a portfolio of assets that can perform across a variety of operating environments. At the core of our business is predictability, delivering steady cash flow regardless of the market. On top of that foundation is our ability to capture additional value when markets are dynamic, and we pursue that upside within a disciplined framework that manages our exposures as conditions shift. Against that backdrop, refined product markets remain volatile with geopolitical developments contributing to elevated price swings, increased inventory risk, and tight inventory levels. Turning briefly to our distribution: last month, our board approved a quarterly cash distribution of $0.78 per common unit, or $3.12 on an annualized basis. The distribution will be paid on August 14th to unitholders of record as of August 12th. Now let me turn the call over to Gregory for the financial review. Gregory?
Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. As we review the numbers, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons will be with the second quarter of 2025. Net income in the second quarter of 2026 was $71 million versus $25.2 million in the prior year period. EBITDA was $146 million in the second quarter versus $95.7 million in 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was $148.2 million compared with $98.2 million. Distributable cash flow was $92.6 million in the second quarter of 2026 compared with $52 million, and adjusted DCF was $92.5 million versus $52.3 million. We continued to maintain healthy distribution coverage at quarter-end of 2.25x, or 2.19x after including distributions to our preferred unitholders. Moving to our segment details. GDSO segment product margin increased $37.3 million in the quarter to $245.2 million. Product margin from gasoline distribution increased $37.1 million to $175 million, primarily reflecting higher fuel margins year over year. On a cents-per-gallon basis, fuel margin increased by $0.14 to $0.50 in Q2 2026 from $0.36 in Q2 2025. Station operations product margin, which includes convenience store and prepared food sales, sundries, and rental income, increased $0.2 million to $70.2 million in the second quarter of 2026. At quarter-end, our GDSO portfolio of fueling stations and C-stores consisted of 1.5 thousand sites, exclusive of the 69 sites under our Spring Partners retail joint venture. Turning to our Wholesale segment: second quarter product margin increased $14.8 million to $106.5 million. Product margin from gasoline and gasoline blendstocks increased $19.6 million to $78.4 million, primarily reflecting more favorable market conditions in gasoline. Product margin from distillates and other oils decreased $4.8 million to $28.1 million, primarily due to less favorable market conditions in residual oil. Our Commercial segment product margin increased $4.4 million to $10.5 million, primarily reflecting more favorable market conditions in our bunkering group. As Eric mentioned, we are pleased with the results across our segments and our team's ability to capture value in a dynamic market environment. We continue to expect the current steep backwardation in the forward product pricing curve to increase the cost of carrying our hedged inventory in future periods. And we remain focused on disciplined inventory management, driving growth across our segments, and efficient operations. Operating expenses increased $1.1 million in the second quarter to $136.8 million, reflecting higher expenses associated with our GDSO operations, offset by lower expenses related to our terminal operations. SG&A increased $8.3 million to $83 million, primarily due to increases in discretionary incentive compensation, wages and benefits, and other expenses, partially offset by a decrease in professional fees. Interest expense decreased $1.4 million to $33.1 million, partly due to lower average balances on our credit facilities. CapEx in the second quarter was $35 million, consisting of maintenance CapEx of $15.9 million and expansion CapEx of $19.1 million, primarily related to investments in our gasoline station business. For the full year 2026, we continue to expect maintenance CapEx in the range of $60 million to $70 million and expansion CapEx excluding acquisitions in the range of $75 million to $85 million. Our current CapEx estimates depend in part on the timing of project completions, availability of equipment and labor, weather, and any unforeseen events or opportunities that require additional maintenance or investment. Our balance sheet remains strong. As of June 30, leverage as defined in our credit agreement, funded debt to EBITDA stood at 2.85x, and we had ample excess capacity in our credit facility. We had $174.6 million outstanding on our working capital revolving credit facility and $103.5 million outstanding on our revolving credit facility. I would also like to highlight that on July 30th, we redeemed all the outstanding Series B fixed-rate preferred units. This accretive transaction further simplifies our capital structure and enhances our financial flexibility going forward. Let me turn the call back to Eric for closing comments. Eric?
Thanks, Gregory. Looking ahead, we remain focused on executing our strategy, investing thoughtfully in the business, and allocating capital to the highest-return opportunities. I believe the quality of our asset base, the dedication of our team, and the strength of our balance sheet position Global well for the remainder of 2026 and beyond. We are committed to delivering attractive returns for our unitholders and building value that endures over time. With that, Gregory, Mark, and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator, please open the line for Q&A.
Questions and answers
We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, a confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. Our first question comes from the line of Gregory Brody with Bank of America. Please proceed with your question.
Good morning, guys.
Good morning, Gregory.
Would you mind just talking a little bit about consumer behavior—what you are seeing out there? Are higher prices affecting purchases at all?
Good morning, Gregory. It's Mark. I think we are seeing a little bit of that—some impact from inflation and higher prices. I think where that shows up is the average size of the fill-up is probably down a little bit, and customers could be trading down from 93 octane to 87 octane. From a store standpoint, our store sales are pretty good. Transactions may be down a shade, but I would not say anything material.
Yes. I do not see it in your numbers. It is interesting.
And yeah, that has continued through the first month of this quarter—same as Q2.
You are talking about July?
Yes, customer behavior in July has been good. I do not think you are seeing anything materially different here as we sit in the middle of Q3. I do not think we see anything different than we have seen for the better part of the year.
Just a decision to pay down the preferred. Historically you paid it down and refinanced it, but it sounds like that is a permanent decision. Is this just cost of capital, or is there a change in the way you are viewing your credit profile?
I mean, there are a couple of things. First, it was very accretive. It was a fixed rate at 9.5%. It was a nice piece of paper and we had used it for acquisitions as an equity component in the past. But like the Series A, after five years when you are callable, given where our cost of capital is right now and the fact that we have produced a significant amount of excess cash flow year to date, it made a lot of sense to simplify our capital structure and take it out on a very accretive basis overall. That does not mean we would not look to preferred equity or equity markets in the future for certain acquisitions, but given where we stand today—with a lot of excess capacity under our bank facilities and a very strong balance sheet—it made sense on an accretion basis to redeem it.
And just the last question for me: can you talk about the M&A environment today? What you are seeing out there and the opportunity set and the potential for you to be active?
Yeah. It has been busy, and there is a lot out there. As I have often said, we are going to look for the right assets. We should be the high bidder on assets that fit us, complement our existing asset base, and put us in a position to try and execute on some deals.
Thanks for the time, guys. That is it for me.
Thank you, Gregory.
We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. Mr. Slifka, I would like to turn the floor back over to you for closing comments.
Thank you again for your time today and for your continued interest in Global. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter and wish everyone a great weekend. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation, and have a wonderful day.