Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NYSE:NRP) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2022 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Tiffany Sammis - Manager, IR

Craig Nunez - President and COO

Chris Zolas - CFO

Kevin Craig - EVP

Conference Call Participants

Sean Farinaccio - Rosen Equities

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Natural Resource Partners LP First Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Tiffany Sammis, Manager of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Tiffany Sammis

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Natural Resource Partners' first quarter 2022 conference call. Today's call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on our website. Joining me today are Craig Nunez, President and Chief Operating Officer; Chris Zolas, Chief Financial Officer; and Kevin Craig, Executive Vice President.

Some of our comments today may include forward-looking statements reflecting NRP's views about future events. These matters involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our forward-looking statements. These risks are discussed in NRP's Form 10-K and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.

Our comments today also include non-GAAP financial measures. Additional details and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in our first quarter press release, which can be found on our website.

I would like to remind everyone that we do not intend to discuss the operations or outlook for any particular co-lessee or detailed market fundamentals. In addition, I refer you to Sisecam Resources' public disclosures and commentary for specific questions regarding our Soda Ash business segment.

Now I would like to turn the call over to Craig Nunez, our President and Chief Operating Officer.

Craig Nunez

Thank you, Tiffany, and good morning, everyone.

We generated $52 million of free cash flow in the first quarter, which is one of the best quarterly performances in the history of the partnership. And as representative of the run rate, we expect our consolidated business to deliver for the foreseeable future.

We plan to take advantage of the improved financial performance we anticipate this year to accelerate our deleveraging and return additional cash to common unitholders. As a result, we announced today a 67% increase in our quarterly distribution from $0.45 per unit to $0.75.