NOVATO, Calif., July 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Willis Lease Finance Corporation (NASDAQ:WLFC), the premier independent jet engine lessor in the commercial finance sector, today reported that following a $3.1 million non-cash write-down related to the part-out of a wide-body aircraft engine, its second quarter 2015 net loss was $0.5 million, or $0.06 per share, compared to net income of $2.2 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2014, and net income of $2.3 million, or $0.29 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2015. For the first six months of 2015, net income was $1.8 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared to $6.5 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, for the first half of 2014.

“The second quarter loss, following the $3.1 million non-cash write-down, overshadowed several other very positive performance results,” said Charles F. Willis, Chairman and CEO. "During the second quarter, we continued to improve our portfolio utilization rate. We began the quarter at 83%, and by the end of the quarter the rate had increased to 87%. Since most of the new lease activity occurred in the latter part of the quarter, we didn’t pick up the full financial impact of our improving utilization rate in the period. Demand for leased engines is strong across all major engine types. The oversupply issues for certain engine types that had existed in the market over the last several years seem to have largely abated.

“In addition to successfully putting our assets back to work, we are actively purchasing assets for the lease portfolio and selling assets to generate gains on sale,” added Willis. “In the second quarter, we purchased 7 engines and 3 aircraft totaling $71.1 million, which was one of the highest quarterly capital investment totals in the company’s history. We also sold 6 engines and registered a gain on sale of $3.2 million. Of the 6 engines sold, 4 engines were marketed to a third party for which we will continue to manage the engines for a servicing fee. This transaction increases the number of engines we manage on behalf of third parties to 44 as of June 30, 2015, from 39 engines a year ago. We expect to continue to grow the third-party management component of our business. We also expect to continue to purchase more aircraft as a means of sourcing less expensive engines, both for our engine lease portfolio and for part-out.”

Second Quarter 2015 Highlights (at or for the three-month periods ended June 30, 2015, compared to June 30, 2014, and March 31, 2015):

Tangible book value per share increased 1.5% to $26.51 at June 30, 2015, compared to $26.13 a year ago.
A total of 69,966 shares of common stock were repurchased in the quarter for $1.3 million under the Company’s five-year repurchase plan authorized in October 2012 and reapproved in April 2015.
Average utilization in the current quarter increased significantly to 84%, compared to 81% in both the first quarter of 2015 and second quarter of 2014.
Utilization was 87% at quarter end, compared to 83% at the end of 1Q15 and 82% a year ago.
Lease rent revenues totaled $25.8 million, compared to $25.1 million from the preceding quarter and $24.8 million in the year ago quarter, reflecting a growing lease portfolio and improving utilization.
Maintenance reserve revenues declined to $10.5 million in the second quarter, from $14.1 million in the preceding quarter and $14.6 million from the year ago period, as fewer long-term leases terminated in the quarter.
Willis Aero, our spare parts, supply chain and ‘end-of-life’ solutions business, added $2.9 million to second quarter revenues, a 74% increase over the year ago period. Second quarter gross margin on part sales increased to $0.7 million compared to $29,000 in the year ago period.
Total revenues increased 1.0% to $43.2 million in the current quarter from $42.8 million in the preceding quarter, and decreased 1.5% from $43.9 million in the second quarter of 2014, reflecting lower maintenance reserve revenue and other revenue, which was partially offset by increases in lease rent revenue, gain on sale of leased equipment and spare parts sales.
Liquidity under the revolving credit facility was $205 million at quarter end, down from $357 million a year ago, primarily reflecting higher debt levels due to growth in the lease portfolio and investment in our engine leasing joint ventures. The upsizing of the revolver in the second quarter of 2014 contributed to the significant excess debt capacity available a year ago.
“During the last six months we have made tremendous progress toward improving our utilization rate,” said Donald A. Nunemaker, President. “At December 31, 2014, our utilization rate was 79%. Since then our utilization rate has improved in 5 out of the last 6 months. We achieved the 87% utilization rate at the end of June despite the sale of 4 on-lease engines during the quarter, as well as the purchase of a new off-lease engine on the last day of the quarter. Also, during the quarter we purchased a new GEnx engine which powers the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This engine is the most expensive engine in our portfolio and was off-lease at the end of the quarter, reducing our utilization percentage by roughly 2.5%. The engine was subsequently placed on lease on July 15, 2015.”

Balance Sheet

As of June 30, 2015, Willis Lease had 200 commercial aircraft engines, 5 aircraft parts packages, 8 aircraft and other engine-related equipment in its lease portfolio, with a net book value of $1.064 billion, compared to 196 commercial aircraft engines, 5 aircraft parts packages, 4 aircraft and other engine-related equipment in its lease portfolio, with a net book value of $1.017 billion, a year ago. The Company’s funded debt-to-equity ratio was 3.95 to 1 at quarter end, compared to 3.84 to 1 at March 31, 2015, and 3.44 to 1 a year ago.