8point3 Energy Partners Reports First Quarter 2017 Results

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- 8point3 Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:CAFD) today announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended February 28, 2017.

• Exceeded Q1 2017 revenue, net loss, Adjusted EBITDA and CAFD guidance
• Completed acquisition of minority stake in First Solar's Stateline project
• Declared Q1 2017 distribution of $0.2565 per share, an increase of 3.0 percent over the Q4 2016 distribution
• Forecasts Q2 2017 distribution of $0.2642per share, an increase of 3.0 percent compared to the Q1 2017 distribution
• 2017 financial guidance remains unchanged, reiterates fiscal year 2017 distribution growth of 12%

For the first quarter of fiscal 2017, 8point3 Energy Partners reported revenue of $9.9 million, net loss of $5.3 million, adjusted EBITDA of $13.1 million and cash available for distribution (CAFD) of $22.1 million.

"Our high-quality solar portfolio performed well as we exceeded our key financial metrics for the quarter while once again raising our quarterly distribution," said Chuck Boynton, 8point3 Energy Partners CEO. "As of the end of February, our portfolio consisted of interests in 945-megawatts (MW) of U.S. solar generating assets including the recent acquisition of First Solar's 34 percent minority interest in its 300-MW Stateline project.  The Stateline project is expected to generate approximately $32 million in annual cash distributions and has a 20 year contract life.  With this acquisition, our portfolio is now expected to generate annual CAFD of approximately $100 million in 2017." 

"We were pleased to achieve our financial goals for the quarter as we benefitted from the continued stable performance of our asset portfolio," said Bryan Schumaker, 8point3 Energy Partners chief financial officer.  "With the completion of our Stateline interest acquisition and the predictable cash flows from our other projects, we believe we will be able to reduce leverage and achieve our distribution growth rate target of 12 percent this year."

Also, First Solar, one of the Partnership's sponsors, has publicly announced and notified the general partner's Board of Directors of its intention to explore alternatives related to its interests in the Partnership.  Given First Solar's intention, SunPower, the Partnership's other sponsor, has likewise publicly announced and notified the general partner's Board of Directors that it is exploring alternatives related to its interests in the Partnership, including but not limited to, seeking a potential new joint venture partner in the Partnership.

The sponsors have stated that they will engage financial advisors to review their alternatives with respect to their interests in the Partnership and that they intend to coordinate their review process.  Although our sponsors have publicly announced their current intentions, there is no assurance that either or both of our sponsors will pursue or effect any particular alternative. The decision by the sponsors to consider their alternatives for their interests in the Partnership may result in interest from third parties about also acquiring the public ownership in the Partnership.  In such event, the Partnership would refer any such proposal to the Conflicts Committee of the Board of Directors of the Partnership's general partner for evaluation.  The Partnership does not intend to disclose further developments with respect to this evaluation process except as required by law or otherwise deemed appropriate.  The sponsor-appointed directors and officers of the general partner of the Partnership remain committed to prudently managing the partnership throughout this evaluation process.

"8point3's strong operating performance over the last two years has shown that owning a portfolio of high-quality solar assets can successfully generate long-term, stable cash flow growth for investors.  Despite the sponsors' review of alternatives with respect to their interests in the Partnership, I want to assure our investors that we do not expect this process to have an impact on our financial results for the year.  Given our cash flow profile, we are well positioned to achieve our guidance for the year as well as reach our 12 percent distribution growth rate for 2017," concluded Boynton.       

Additionally, the Conflicts Committee of the Board of Directors of the Partnership's general partner has agreed to waive the negotiation period with respect to First Solar's 179-MW Switch Station project, allowing for a potential third party sale.  Also, First Solar has formally offered its 280-MW California Flats and 40-MW Cuyama projects, currently included in the Right of First Offer (ROFO) portfolio, to the Partnership.  If the Partnership does not acquire these projects from First Solar, those projects are expected to be sold to third parties as permitted under our ROFO with First Solar. 

The Board of Directors of the Partnership's general partner also declared a cash distribution for its Class A shares of $0.2565 per share for the first quarter. The first quarter distribution will be paid on April 14, 2017 to shareholders of record as of April 4, 2017.

Additionally, the Partnership commenced a $125 million at-the-market (ATM) equity offering program during the quarter.  The Partnership did not utilize the facility during the first quarter of 2017.

Guidance
The Partnership's second quarter 2017 guidance is as follows: revenue of $14.0 million to $16.0 million, net income of $3.0 million to $5.0 million, adjusted EBITDA of $24.0 million to $26.5 million, CAFD of $15.0 million to $17.5 million and a distribution of $0.2642 per share, a forecasted increase of 3.0 percent compared to the Q1 2017 distribution. 

The Partnership's fiscal year 2017 guidance remains unchanged:  revenue of $63.3 million to $66.7 million, net income of $27.0 million to $32.6 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $106.5 million to $113.1 million and CAFD of $91.5 million to $101.0 million.  The Partnership also expects a distribution growth rate of 12 percent for fiscal year 2017. 

About 8point3 Energy Partners
8point3 Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:CAFD) is a growth-oriented limited partnership formed by First Solar, Inc. and SunPower Corporation to own, operate and acquire solar energy generation projects. 8point3 Energy Partners' primary objective is to generate predictable cash distributions that grow at a sustainable rate. The Partnership owns interests in projects in the United States that generate long-term contracted cash flows and serve utility, commercial and residential customers. For more information about 8point3 Energy Partners, please visit: www.8point3energypartners.com.

For 8point3 Energy Partners Investors
This press release includes various "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements expressing management's expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. You can identify our forward-looking statements by words such as "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "forecast", "goals", "objectives", "outlook", "intend", "plan", "predict", "project", "risks", "schedule", "seek", "target", "could", "may", "will", "should" or "would" or other similar expressions that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. In accordance with "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, these statements are accompanied by cautionary language identifying important factors, though not necessarily all such factors, which could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in forward-looking statements. In particular, expressed or implied statements concerning the sponsors' ownership interest in the Partnership, expectations of plans, strategies, objectives and growth and anticipated financial and operational performance of the Partnership and its subsidiaries, including guidance regarding the Partnership's revenue, Adjusted EBITDA, cash available for distribution and distributions, other future actions, conditions or events such as the projected commercial operation dates of projects, future operating results or the ability to generate sales, income or cash flow or to make distributions are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future actions, conditions or events and future results of operations may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, April 5, 2017, and we disclaim any obligation to update such statements for any reason, except as required by law. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this paragraph. Many of the factors that will determine these results are beyond our ability to control or predict. These factors include the risk factors described under "Risk Factors" in the Partnership's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended November 30, 2016, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2017. If any of those risks occur, it could cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Because of these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement.

Non-GAAP Financial Information
This earnings release includes certain financial measures that are not defined under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), including Adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution. Such non-GAAP financial measures should be considered only as supplemental to, and not as superior to, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. We reconcile these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable financial measure prepared in accordance with GAAP in the tables that accompany this release. In the introduction to such reconciliation tables that accompany this release, we disclose the reasons why we believe our use of the non-GAAP financial measures in this release provides useful information. Please read "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for further details on our use of non-GAAP financial measures. 

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Our management uses a variety of financial metrics to analyze our performance. The key financial metrics we evaluate are Adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution.

Adjusted EBITDA. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) plus interest expense, net of interest income, income tax provision, depreciation, amortization and accretion, including our proportionate share of net interest expense, income taxes and depreciation, amortization and accretion from our unconsolidated affiliates that are accounted for under the equity method, and share-based compensation and transaction costs incurred for our acquisitions of projects; and excluding the effect of certain other non-cash or non-recurring items that we do not consider to be indicative of our ongoing operating performance such as, but not limited to, mark to market adjustments to the fair value of derivatives related to our interest rate hedges. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-U.S. GAAP financial measure. This measurement is not recognized in accordance with U.S. GAAP and should not be viewed as an alternative to U.S. GAAP measures of performance. The U.S. GAAP measure most directly comparable to Adjusted EBITDA is net income (loss). The presentation of Adjusted EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items.

We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance because securities analysts and other interested parties use such calculations as a measure of financial performance and borrowers' ability to service debt. In addition, Adjusted EBITDA is used by our management for internal planning purposes including certain aspects of our consolidated operating budget and capital expenditures. It is also used by investors to assess the ability of our assets to generate sufficient cash flows to make distributions to our Class A shareholders.

However, Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool because it does not reflect our cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments, does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, working capital, does not reflect significant interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our outstanding debt or cash distributions on tax equity, does not reflect payments made or future requirements for income taxes, and excludes the effect of certain other cash flow items, all of which could have a material effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-U.S. GAAP measure and should not be considered an alternative to net income (loss) or any other performance measure determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, nor is it indicative of funds available to fund our cash needs. In addition, our calculations of Adjusted EBITDA are not necessarily comparable to EBITDA as calculated by other companies. Investors should not rely on these measures as a substitute for any U.S. GAAP measure, including net income (loss).

Cash Available for Distribution. We use cash available for distribution, which we define as Adjusted EBITDA less equity in earnings of unconsolidated affiliates, cash interest paid, cash income taxes paid, maintenance capital expenditures, cash distributions to noncontrolling interests and principal amortization of indebtedness plus cash distributions from unconsolidated affiliates, indemnity payments and working capital loans from Sponsors, test electricity generation, cash proceeds from sales-type residential leases, state and local rebates and cash proceeds for reimbursable network upgrade costs. Our cash flow is generated from distributions we receive from OpCo each quarter. OpCo's cash flow is generated primarily from distributions from the Project Entities. As a result, our ability to make distributions to our Class A shareholders depends primarily on the ability of the Project Entities to make cash distributions to OpCo and the ability of OpCo to make cash distributions to its unitholders.

We believe cash available for distribution is useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance because securities analysts and other interested parties use such calculations as a measure of our ability to make our distributions. In addition, cash available for distribution is used by our management team for determining future acquisitions and managing our growth. The U.S. GAAP measure most directly comparable to cash available for distribution is net income (loss).

However, cash available for distribution has limitations as an analytical tool because it does not capture the level of capital expenditures necessary to maintain the operating performance of our projects, does not include changes in operating assets and liabilities and excludes the effect of certain other cash flow items, all of which could have a material effect on our financial condition and results from operations. Cash available for distribution is a non-U.S. GAAP measure and should not be considered an alternative to net income (loss) or any other performance measure determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, nor is it indicative of funds available to fund our cash needs. In addition, our calculations of cash available for distribution are not necessarily comparable to cash available for distribution as calculated by other companies. Investors should not rely on these measures as a substitute for any U.S. GAAP measure, including net income (loss).

The following table presents a reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA and cash available for distribution for the three months ended February 28, 2017, November 30, 2016 and February 29, 2016:

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SOURCE 8point3 Energy Partners LP