Document


SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
 
FORM 8-K
 
Current Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934
  
 
Date of Report (Date of Earliest Event Reported) May 5, 2017
 
 
Pope Resources, A Delaware Limited Partnership
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
  
 
Delaware
(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)
91-1313292
(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
 
  
19550 Seventh Avenue NE, Poulsbo, Washington       98370
(Address of principal executive offices)                (ZIP Code)
 
 
Registrant's telephone number, including area code (360) 697-6626

 
 
NOT APPLICABLE
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)
 
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (SEE General Instruction A.2. below):
 
¨
Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
¨
Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
¨
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-(b))
¨
Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))





INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE REPORT
 
 
Item 2.02
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION
  

On May 5, 2017, the registrant issued a press release relating to its earnings for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. A copy of that press release is furnished herewith as Exhibit 99.1.
   
Item 9.01.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS

The information included in Exhibit 99.1 pursuant to Item 9.01 of this Current Report on Form 8-K shall not be deemed “filed” for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference into any filing made by the Company under the Exchange Act or Securities Act of 1933, as amended, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such a filing.
  
Exhibit No.
Description
 
 
99.1
Press release of the registrant dated May 5, 2017.
  
SIGNATURES 
 
Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized. 
 
 
POPE RESOURCES, A DELAWARE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
 
 
 
 
 
 
DATE: May 5, 2017
BY:  
/s/ John D. Lamb
 
 
John D. Lamb
 
 
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Pope Resources, A Delaware Limited Partnership, and Pope MGP, Inc., General Partner





Exhibit 99.1
Press Release of the Registrant dated May 5, 2017



Exhibit




https://cdn.kscope.io/42a2357282c21a6e2c4d21f1e772728a-popelogoa14.jpg
Contact: John Lamb
VP & CFO
360.697.6626
investors@orminc.com

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                             NASDAQ:POPE

POULSBO, Wash.
May 5, 2017

POPE RESOURCES REPORTS FIRST QUARTER INCOME OF $3.4 MILLION

Pope Resources (NASDAQ:POPE) reported net income attributable to unitholders of $3.4 million, or $0.77 per ownership unit, on revenue of $17.3 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2017. This compares to net loss attributable to unitholders of $1.0 million, or $0.25 per ownership unit, on revenue of $11.1 million for the first quarter of 2016.

Cash provided by operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 was $2.7 million, compared to cash used in operations of $2.0 million for the first quarter of 2016.

In January 2017, ORM Timber Fund II, Inc. (Fund II) sold a 6,500-acre parcel of timberland for $26.5 million, recognizing a gain on sale of $12.5 million, with $2.5 million of the gain attributable to Pope Resources’ unitholders based upon the Partnership’s 20% interest in Fund II.

“Our overall average log price realizations improved slightly compared to the previous quarter, with lower-valued species mix masking improvements in the markets for Douglas-fir and whitewood sawlogs,” said Tom Ringo, President and CEO. “We trace this improvement in log markets to reductions in log supply caused by unusual amounts of rain and snow in our Pacific Northwest operating region, combined with incremental demand due to market expectations of pending duties on Canadian lumber imports.”

First quarter highlights

Harvest volume was 27.3 MMBF in Q1 2017 compared to 15.6 MMBF in Q1 2016, a 75% increase. These harvest volume figures do not include timber deed sales of 0.3 MMBF in Q1 2017 sold by ORM Timber Fund III. The harvest volume and log price realization metrics cited below also exclude these timber deed sales, except as noted otherwise.
Average realized log price per thousand board feet (MBF) was $596 in Q1 2017 compared to $591 per MBF in Q1 2016, a 1% increase.
As a percentage of total harvest, volume sold to domestic markets in Q1 2017 decreased to 59% from 60% in Q1 2016, while the mix of volume sold to export markets was 22% in Q1 2017 compared to 18% in Q1 2016. Hardwood, cedar and pulpwood log sales make up the balance of harvest volume.
Fund II recognized a gain of $12.5 million on the sale of one of its tree farms in January 2017. This sale generated a $5.5 million distribution to the Partnership.

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The Partnership acquired 1,648 acres of timberland in western Washington for $5.0 million, or $3,004 per acre.

First quarter operating results

Fee Timber:
Fee Timber operating income for Q1 2017 was $16.6 million compared to $2.5 million for Q1 2016. Our Q1 2017 results reflect a $12.5 million gain on the sale of one of Fund II’s tree farms in northwestern Oregon, without which our Q1 2017 operating income would have been $4.1 million. Other than the gain on sale of the tree farm, the increase in operating income was driven primarily by the 75% increase in harvest volume as we had back-loaded our 2016 harvest to the fourth quarter during which we produced 44% of our annual harvest volume.

Timberland Investment Management:
Operating losses incurred by this segment for Q1 2017 and Q1 2016 totaled $966,000 and $666,000, respectively, after eliminating revenue earned from managing the Funds of $848,000 and $815,000 for Q1 2017 and Q1 2016, respectively. The increase in operating loss is primarily attributable to professional fees associated with the late 2016 launch of our fourth timber fund, as well as additional personnel costs to manage our expanding timber fund portfolio.
Real Estate:
Our Real Estate segment posted operating losses of $1.2 million and $1.0 million for Q1 2017 and Q1 2016, respectively. In Q1 2016, we closed on the sale of nine single-family lots from our Harbor Hill development as opposed to no land sales in Q1 2017.

General & Administrative (G&A):
G&A expenses were $1.7 million for Q1 2017 and $1.6 million for Q1 2016 with the increase primarily due to higher incentive compensation accruals driven by this year’s improvement in our unit trading price.

Outlook

Unlike 2016, our 2017 harvest volume should be distributed more evenly throughout the year. We expect our total 2017 harvest volume to be between 112 and 118 MMBF, including timber deed sales. In our Real Estate segment, we expect to close on the sale of up to 93 single-family lots from our Harbor Hill project, the majority of which we expect to occur in the fourth quarter, as well as a number of other potential land and conservation easement sales.

The financial schedules accompanying this earnings release provide detail on individual segment results and operating statistics.

About Pope Resources

Pope Resources, a publicly traded limited partnership, and its subsidiaries Olympic Resource Management and Olympic Property Group, own or manage 210,000 acres of timberland and development property in Washington, Oregon, and California. We also manage, co-invest in, and consolidate three private equity timber funds, for which we earn management fees. These funds provide an efficient means of investing our own capital in Pacific Northwest timberland and earning fee revenue from managing the funds for third-party investors. The Partnership and its predecessor companies have owned and managed timberlands and development properties for over 160 years. Additional information on the company can be found at

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www.poperesources.com. The contents of our website are not incorporated into this release or into our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains a number of projections and statements about our expected financial condition, operating results, business plans and objectives, and about management’s plans for future operations and strategies. These statements reflect management’s estimates based on current goals and its expectations about future developments. Because these statements describe our goals, objectives, and anticipated performance, they are inherently uncertain, and some or all of these statements may not come to pass. Accordingly, they should not be interpreted as promises of future management actions or financial performance. Our future actions and actual performance will vary from current expectations and under various circumstances the results of these variations may be material and adverse. Among those forward-looking statements contained in this report are statements about management’s expectations for future log prices, harvest volumes and markets, and statements about our expectations for future sales in our Real Estate segment. Readers, however, should note that all statements other than expressions of historical fact are forward-looking in nature. Some of the factors that may cause actual operating results and financial condition to fall short of expectations, or that may cause us to deviate from our current plans, include our ability to accurately predict fluctuations in log markets domestically and internationally, and to adjust our harvest volumes in a timely and appropriate manner; political sensitivities and events, including the reactions of foreign governments and international treaty organizations and similar bodies, that may affect the cost of competing products and demand for our products; our ability to anticipate and manage interest rate risk as it affects our borrowing costs; fluctuations in interest rates that affect the U.S. housing market and related demand for our products from that market; our ability to estimate the cost of ongoing and changing environmental remediation obligations, including our ability to anticipate and address the political and regulatory climate that impacts these obligations; our ability to consummate various pending and anticipated real estate transactions on the terms management expects; our ability to manage our timber funds and their assets in a manner that our investors consider acceptable, and to raise additional capital or establish new funds on terms that are advantageous to the Partnership; conditions in the housing construction and wood-products markets, both domestically and globally, that affect demand for our products; the effects of competition, particularly by larger and better-financed competitors; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates that affect both competition for sales of our products and our customers’ demand for them; the effect of current and potential treaties and other international agreements that affect the supply of logs in the United States and demand for logs overseas; conditions affecting credit markets as they affect the availability of capital and costs of borrowing; labor, equipment and transportation costs that affect our net income; our ability to anticipate and mitigate potential impacts of our operations on adjacent properties; the impacts of natural disasters on our timberlands and on surrounding areas; and our ability to discover and to accurately estimate other liabilities associated with our assets. Other factors are set forth in that part of our Annual Report on Form 10-K entitled “Risk Factors.”

Other issues that may have an adverse and material impact on our business, operating results, and financial condition include those risks and uncertainties discussed in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements in this release are made only as of the date shown above, and we cannot undertake to update these statements.




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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME (LOSS)
(all amounts in $000’s, except per unit amounts)
 
 
 
 
 
Quarter ended March 31,
 
2017
 
2016
 
 
 
 
Revenue
$
17,345

 
$
11,069

Cost of sales
(11,201
)
 
(7,140
)
Operating expenses
(5,963
)
 
(4,977
)
Gain on sale of timberland
12,503

 
226

Operating income (loss)
12,684

 
(822
)
Interest expense, net
(1,010
)
 
(658
)
Income (loss) before income taxes
11,674

 
(1,480
)
Income tax expense
(56
)
 
(50
)
Net income (loss)
11,618

 
(1,530
)
Net (income) loss attributable to noncontrolling interests
(8,248
)
 
496

Net income (loss) attributable to Pope Resources’ unitholders
$
3,370

 
$
(1,034
)
 
 
 
 
Basic and diluted weighted average units outstanding
4,325

 
4,311

 
 
 
 
Basic and diluted earnings (loss) per unit
$
0.77

 
$
(0.25
)


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CONDENSED CONSOLIDATING BALANCE SHEETS
(all amounts in $000’s)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
March 31, 2017
 
December 31, 2016
Assets:
Pope
 
ORM
Timber Funds
 
Consolidating Entries
 
 Consolidated
 
 
Cash
$
1,871

 
$
2,489

 
$

 
$
4,360

 
$
2,937

Land and timber held for sale
7,873

 

 


 
7,873

 
20,503

Other current assets
4,689

 
838

 
(669
)
 
4,858

 
8,766

  Total current assets
14,433

 
3,327

 
(669
)
 
17,091

 
32,206

Timber and roads, net
70,079

 
209,314

 


 
279,393

 
279,793

Timberland
19,026

 
36,127

 


 
55,153

 
54,369

Land held for development
24,674

 


 


 
24,674

 
24,390

Buildings and equipment, net
5,513

 
13

 


 
5,526

 
5,628

Investment in ORM Timber Funds
14,245

 


 
(14,245
)
 

 

Deferred tax and other assets
2,290

 


 


 
2,290

 
2,664

    Total assets
$
150,260

 
$
248,781

 
$
(14,914
)
 
$
384,127

 
$
399,050

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Liabilities and equity:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Current liabilities
$
4,632

 
$
1,941

 
$
(669
)
 
$
5,904

 
$
7,279

Current portion of long-term debt
5,120

 
 
 


 
5,120

 
5,119

Current portion of environmental remediation
5,520

 


 


 
5,520

 
8,650

  Total current liabilities
15,272

 
1,941

 
(669
)
 
16,544

 
21,048

Long-term debt
70,994

 
57,274

 


 
128,268

 
125,291

Environmental remediation and other long-term liabilities
4,038

 


 


 
4,038

 
4,247

  Total liabilities
90,304

 
59,215

 
(669
)
 
148,850

 
150,586

Partners’ capital
59,956

 
189,566

 
(189,566
)
 
59,956

 
59,133

Noncontrolling interests
 
 
 
 
175,321

 
175,321

 
189,331

    Total liabilities and equity
$
150,260

 
$
248,781

 
$
(14,914
)
 
$
384,127

 
$
399,050



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RECONCILIATION BETWEEN NET INCOME (LOSS) AND CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATIONS
(all amounts in $000’s)
 
 
 
 
 
Quarter ended March 31,
 
2017
 
2016
 
 
 
 
Net income (loss)
$
11,618

 
$
(1,530
)
Add back (deduct):
 
 
 
Depletion
4,922

 
2,330

Equity-based compensation
605

 
416

Real estate project expenditures
(1,825
)
 
(569
)
Depreciation and amortization
110

 
184

Deferred taxes
65

 

Cost of land sold
230

 
904

Gain on sale of timberland
(12,503
)
 
(226
)
Gain on disposal of property and equipment
(1
)
 
(13
)
Change in environmental remediation liability
(3,329
)
 
(3,222
)
Change in other operating accounts
2,832

 
(234
)
Cash provided by (used in) operations
$
2,724

 
$
(1,960
)

SEGMENT INFORMATION
(all amounts in $000’s)
 
 
 
 
 
Quarter ended March 31,
 
2017
 
2016
 
 
 
 
Revenue:
 
 
 
Partnership Fee Timber
$
9,106

 
$
4,390

Funds Fee Timber
7,706

 
5,362

    Total Fee Timber
16,812

 
9,752

Timberland Investment Management

 
8

Real Estate
533

 
1,309

    Total
$
17,345

 
$
11,069

Operating income (loss):
 
 
 
Fee Timber
$
16,568

 
$
2,484

Timberland Investment Management
(966
)
 
(666
)
Real Estate
(1,217
)
 
(1,036
)
General & Administrative
(1,701
)
 
(1,604
)
    Total
$
12,684

 
$
(822
)


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SELECTED STATISTICS
 
 
 
 
 
Quarter ended March 31,
 
2017
 
2016
Log sale volumes by species (million board feet):
 
 
 
Sawlogs
 
 
 
Douglas-fir
16.0

 
8.6

Whitewood
5.5

 
2.7

Cedar
0.7

 
0.9

Hardwood
0.5

 
0.6

Pulpwood - all species
4.6

 
2.8

Total
27.3

 
15.6

 
 
 
 
Log sale volumes by destination (million board feet):
 
 
 
Domestic
16.1

 
9.4

Export
6.1

 
2.8

Hardwood
0.5

 
0.6

Pulpwood
4.6

 
2.8

Subtotal log sale volumes
27.3

 
15.6

Timber deed sale
0.3

 

Total
27.6

 
15.6


Average price realizations by species (per thousand board feet):
Quarter ended March 31,
 
2017
 
2016
Sawlogs
 
 
 
Douglas-fir
$
663

 
$
620

Whitewood
548

 
490

Cedar
1,369

 
1,514

Hardwood
615

 
539

Pulpwood - all species
290

 
312

Overall
596

 
591

 
 
 
 
Average price realizations by destination (per thousand board feet):
 
 
 
Domestic
$
653

 
$
653

Export
670

 
669

Hardwood
615

 
539

Pulpwood
290

 
312

Overall log sales
596

 
591

Timber deed sale
229

 

 
 
 
 
Timberland acres owned by the Partnership
120,000

 
111,000

Timberland acres owned by Funds
88,000

 
94,000

Depletion expense per MBF - Partnership tree farms
$
72

 
$
43

Depletion expense per MBF - Fund tree farms
$
289

 
$
221

Capital and development expenditures ($000’s)
$
2,183

 
$
941


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PERIOD TO PERIOD COMPARISONS
(Amounts in $000’s except per unit data)
 
 
 
Q1 2017 vs.
 
Q1 2016
Net income (loss) attributable to Pope Resources’ unitholders:
 
1st Quarter 2017
$
3,370

1st Quarter 2016
(1,034
)
   Variance
$
4,404

 
 
Detail of earnings variance:
 
Fee Timber
 
Log volumes (A)
$
6,915

Log price realizations (B)
137

Gain on sale of timberland
12,277

Timber deed sale
72

Production costs
(2,150
)
Depletion
(2,592
)
Other Fee Timber
(575
)
Timberland Investment Management
(300
)
Real Estate
 
Land sales
(85
)
Other Real Estate
(96
)
General & Administrative costs
(97
)
Net interest expense
(352
)
Income taxes
(6
)
Noncontrolling interest
(8,744
)
Total variance
$
4,404


(A) Volume variance calculated by extending change in sales volume by the average log sales price for the comparison period.
(B) Price variance calculated by extending the change in average realized price by current period volume.


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