Pattern Energy Reports Third Quarter 2016 Financial Results

- Increases dividend to $0.408 per Class A common share for Q4 2016 -

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Pattern Energy Group Inc. (the "Company" or "Pattern Energy") (NASDAQ: PEGI) (TSX: PEG) today announced its financial results for the 2016 third quarter.

Highlights

(Comparisons made between fiscal Q3 2016 and fiscal Q3 2015 results, unless otherwise noted)

• Proportional GWh sold of 1,472 GWh, up 17%
• Net cash provided by operating activities of $36.4 million
• Cash available for distribution (CAFD) of $20.2 million, on track to meet full year guidance⁽¹⁾
• Net loss of $11.1 million, an improvement of 69%
• Adjusted EBITDA of $62.3 million, up 6%
• Revenue of $91.9 million, up 2%
• Declared a fourth quarter dividend of $0.408 per Class A common share or $1.632 on an annualized basis, subsequent to the end of the period, representing a 2.0% increase over the previous quarter's dividend
• Added 90 MW in owned capacity with the acquisition of the Armow Wind project (Armow), located in Ontario, from Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Development), subsequent to the end of the period, which brings the total portfolio owned capacity to 2,644 MW, including the Broadview Wind projects (Broadview) which Pattern Energy has agreed to acquire
• Reported construction progress is on schedule at Broadview, in which Pattern Energy has agreed to acquire a 272 MW owned capacity, and that the commencement of commercial operations is expected in early 2017
• Completed a follow-on equity offering of 11.3 million common shares for total net proceeds of $258.6 million 

"Our fleet of high quality wind assets continues to perform well. Production was in line with our long-term forecast for Q3 as we expected with the dissipation of El Niño. With our solid production performance, we are on track to achieve our cash available for distribution target for 2016⁽¹⁾," said Mike Garland, President and CEO of Pattern Energy.  "We successfully accessed the public capital markets during the quarter, raising approximately $286 million in growth capital to fund accretive new dropdowns. With that funding we have already acquired a 90 MW owned capacity in Armow from Pattern Development at a 9.5x to 10.5x average cash available for distribution multiple over five years.⁽¹⁾ With the addition of Broadview, which we expect will commence commercial operations late first quarter or early second quarter of 2017, our portfolio now totals 2,644 MW in owned interest. We also have clear visibility to 36% growth in total portfolio capacity from our identified ROFO list with Pattern Development. We have sufficient available liquidity to make additional dropdowns and we expect to grow the identified ROFO in the coming months as part of our plan to expand the portfolio to our target of 5 GW of owned capacity by the end of 2019."

(1) These forward looking measures of (a) 2016 full year cash available for distribution (CAFD) and (b) five-year average annual purchase price multiple of CAFD contribution from the Armow Wind project are non-GAAP measures that cannot be reconciled to net cash provided by operating activities as the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure without unreasonable effort primarily because of the uncertainties involved in estimating forward-looking changes in working capital balances which are added to earnings to arrive at cash provided by operations and subtracted therefrom to arrive at CAFD. A description of the adjustments to determine CAFD can be found within Item 2, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Key Metrics, of Pattern Energy's 2016 Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2016.

Financial and Operating Results

Pattern Energy sold 1,472,300 MWh of electricity on a proportional basis in the third quarter of 2016 compared to 1,260,385 MWh sold in the same period last year. Pattern Energy sold 4,988,621 MWh of electricity on a proportional basis for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 (YTD 2016) compared to 3,421,791 MWh sold in the same period last year. The increase for the quarterly period was primarily attributable to volume increases of 200,289 MWh from controlling interests in consolidated MWh primarily from projects which commenced operations since September 2015 and 11,626 MWh from unconsolidated investments. As expected, El Niño conditions subsided in the third quarter of 2016 which resulted in normalized production on a fleet basis at Pattern Energy's long-term average forecast.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $36.4 million for the third quarter of 2016 compared to $34.7 million for the same period last year. Net cash provided by operating activities was $105.4 million for YTD 2016 compared to $83.3 million for the same period last year. The change quarter over quarter is primarily due to higher revenues of $7.3 million (excluding unrealized loss on energy derivative and amortization of PPAs) from projects which were acquired since September 2015, as well as, to a lesser extent the timing of payments associated with accruals and other long term liabilities. These increases were partially offset by increases of $2.5 million in project expenses and $5.6 million in operating expenses.

Cash available for distribution was $20.2 million for the third quarter of 2016 compared to $22.3 million for the same period in the prior year. Cash available for distribution was $96.7 million for YTD 2016 compared to $59.6 million for the same period in the prior year. The $2.1 million decrease for the quarterly period was primarily due to the non-recurring partial refund of deposit associated with the Gulf Wind energy derivative of $5.4 million received in 2015 offset by a reduction in principal payments of $2.6 million. The $37.1 million increase in YTD 2016 was due to additional revenues of $51.4 million (excluding unrealized loss on energy derivative and amortization of PPAs) primarily from projects which were acquired since May 2015 or which commenced commercial operations in September 2015. Pattern Energy also received an increase of $16.6 million in cash distributions from its unconsolidated investments when compared to the same period last year due to a full period of operation at each of its unconsolidated investments in 2016. These increases were partially offset by increases in project expenses of $14.9 million and operating expenses of $10.9 million, primarily from projects which commenced commercial operations or were acquired during 2015, as well as, increased distributions to noncontrolling interests of $7.4 million.

Net loss was $11.1 million in the third quarter of 2016, compared to $35.3 million for the same period last year. Net loss was $55.7 million for YTD 2016 compared to $51.7 million in the same period last year. The improvement in the quarterly period of $24.3 million was primarily attributable to a $38.8 million decrease in other expense related to an increase in earnings from unconsolidated investments, expenses in 2015 for the early extinguishment of debt and termination of designated interest rate derivatives and increased total revenues, partially offset by $7.6 million increase in cost of revenue associated with project related expenses and increased depreciation expense primarily for projects that became commercially operable since September 2015 and a $5.6 million increase in operating expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA was $62.3 million for the third quarter of 2016 compared to $58.7 million for the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA was $219.0 million for YTD 2016 compared to $172.3 million for the same period last year. The increase for the quarterly period was primarily attributable to projects which commenced commercial operations since September 2015.

2016 Financial Guidance

Pattern Energy is narrowing its targeted annual cash available for distribution for 2016 to a range of $130 million to $140 million, representing an increase of 46% at the midpoint of the range, compared to cash available for distribution in 2015. As noted above, forward-looking cash available for distribution is a non-GAAP measure that cannot be reconciled to net cash provided by operating activities as the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure without unreasonable effort.

Quarterly Dividend

Pattern Energy declared an increased dividend for the fourth quarter 2016, payable on January 31, 2017, to holders of record on December 30, 2016 in the amount of $0.408 per Class A common share, which represents $1.632 on an annualized basis. This is a 2.0% increase from the third quarter 2016 dividend of $0.40.

Construction Pipeline

The table below outlines the Broadview projects that Pattern Energy has agreed to acquire, which are currently in construction, the capacity owned and the projects' anticipated commencement date for commercial operation.

Acquisitions

In October 2016, Pattern Energy acquired 90 MW of owned capacity in the 179 MW Armow project from Pattern Development for approximately US $133.0 million. The purchase price was funded from cash available and draws under the Company's revolving credit facility on October 17, 2016.

Located in Kincardine, Ontario, Armow consists of 91 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines and is jointly owned by Pattern Energy and Samsung Renewable Energy, Inc. The facility reached commercial operation in December 2015 and operates under a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in Ontario.

Acquisition Pipeline

Pattern Energy has the Right of First Offer (ROFO) on a pipeline of acquisition opportunities from Pattern Development. The identified ROFO list stands at 962 MW of total owned capacity. This list of identified ROFO projects represents a portion of Pattern Development's 5,900 MW pipeline of development projects, all of which are subject to Pattern Energy's ROFO.

Since its IPO, Pattern Energy has purchased 1,194 MW, including one project it has agreed to acquire, from Pattern Development and in aggregate grown the identified ROFO list from 746 MW to a total of 2,156 MW. The table below sets forth the current list of identified ROFO projects:

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As discussed in the Company's Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2016, under Item 4, Controls and Procedures, management believes that the Company's internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of September 30, 2016, due to the aggregation of internal control deficiencies related to the implementation, design, maintenance and operating effectiveness of various transaction, process level, and monitoring controls. These deficiencies largely have arisen during fiscal 2016 because of growth of the Company, increases in employee headcount to support growth, and frequent changes in organizational structure were not adequately supported by elements of its internal control over financial reporting. However, management has concluded that the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the Company's financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods disclosed in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).  Management has developed a plan to remediate the material weaknesses. Management expects the remediation plan to extend over multiple financial reporting periods; therefore, the Company will receive an adverse opinion on its internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2016.

Cash Available for Distribution and Adjusted EBITDA Non-GAAP Reconciliations

The following tables reconcile non-GAAP net cash provided by operating activities to cash available for distribution and net loss to adjusted EBITDA, respectively, for the periods presented (in thousands):

Conference Call and Webcast

Pattern Energy will host a conference call and webcast to discuss these results at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, November 7, 2016. Mike Garland, President and CEO, and Mike Lyon, CFO, will co-chair the call. Participants should call (888) 231-8191 or (647) 427-7450 and ask an operator for the Pattern Energy earnings call. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the call to secure a line. A replay will be available shortly after the call. To access the replay, please dial (855) 859-2056 or (416) 849-0833 and enter access code 5607011. The replay recording will be available until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, November 21, 2016.

A live webcast of the conference call will be also available on the events page in the investor section of Pattern Energy's website at www.patternenergy.com. An archived webcast will be available for one year.

About Pattern Energy

Pattern Energy Group Inc. (Pattern Energy) is an independent power company listed on The NASDAQ Global Select Market and Toronto Stock Exchange. Pattern Energy has a portfolio of 18 wind power facilities, including one it has agreed to acquire, with a total owned interest of 2,644 MW in the United States, Canada and Chile that use proven, best-in-class technology. Pattern Energy's wind power facilities generate stable long-term cash flows in attractive markets and provide a solid foundation for the continued growth of the business. For more information, visit www.patternenergy.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, including statements regarding the ability to consummate the agreement to acquire Broadview, the ability to achieve the 2016 cash available for distribution target, the date of commercial operations of the Broadview projects, the ability to achieve targeted owned capacity by the end of 2019, the time period required to remediate the material weakness in internal control over financial reporting, and the type of opinion the Company will receive on its internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2016. These forward-looking statements represent the Company's expectations or beliefs concerning future events, and it is possible that the results described in this press release will not be achieved. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements.

Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all such factors. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K and any quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The risk factors and other factors noted therein could cause actual events or the Company's actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.

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SOURCE Pattern Energy Group Inc.