Air Lease Corporation Announces First Quarter 2013 Results

LOS ANGELES—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Air Lease Corporation (ALC) (NYSE: AL) announced today the results of its operations for the three months ended March 31, 2013.

Highlights

Air Lease Corporation reports another consecutive quarter of fleet, revenue, profitability and financing growth:

Diluted EPS increased by 46% to $0.38 per share for the three months ended March 31, 2013 from $0.26 per share for the three months ended March 31, 2012
Revenues increased 45% to $192 million for the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to $133 million for the three months ended March 31, 2012
Income before taxes increased 48% to $62 million with a pretax margin of 32% for the three months ended March 31, 2013 compared to income before taxes of $42 million with a pretax margin of 31% for the three months ended March 31, 2012
Received a corporate credit rating of A- from Kroll Bond Rating Agency
Acquired seven aircraft (including five aircraft from our order book and two incremental aircraft), growing our fleet to 162 aircraft spread across a diverse and balanced customer base of 71 airlines in 41 countries
Asia/Pacific carriers now represent the largest regional concentration of our fleet at 39.2% based on net book value as of March 31, 2013
On May 7, 2013, we amended our Syndicated Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility increasing the aggregate principal amount by $607 million to $1.7 billion, reducing the interest rate to LIBOR plus a margin of 1.45% from LIBOR plus 1.75% and extending the term from three to four years
Increased our bank group to 40 financial institutions
Issued our first bond guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States for $77 million at a fixed rate of 1.6% for 12 years
Issued a $400 million senior unsecured notes offering due in 2020 at a rate of 4.75%
Our Board of Directors declared ALC’s second quarterly cash dividend of $0.025 per share on our outstanding common stock

“During the first quarter we continued to execute our strategic plan for future growth, increasing our fully diluted EPS by 46% compared to Q1 of 2012. Although macro-economic indicators remain mixed, we continue to see strong global growth of passenger traffic led by the emerging markets, which drives demand for new aircraft. We see that strength continuing for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, we increased our order positions to meet that demand. Financing markets remain open and investors and institutions have been very receptive to ALC’s strong credit metrics. Our recent corporate credit rating of A- from Kroll further broadens our access to attractively priced capital,” said Steven F. Udvar-Házy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Lease Corporation.

“The results of our first quarter reflect ALC’s strong core leasing business that continues to yield attractive lease and operating margins. Asia/Pacific has now surpassed Europe as ALC’s largest region as measured by percentage of net book value of our fleet. We see this trend continuing. We see further pockets of opportunity emerging with quality airlines in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Our overall lease placements are tracking as expected, including placement of our recently announced orders, and we have no significant customer credit concerns,” said John L. Plueger, President and Chief Operating Officer of Air Lease Corporation.

Fleet Growth

Building on our base of 155 aircraft at December 31, 2012, we increased our fleet by seven aircraft during the first quarter of 2013 and ended the first quarter with 162 aircraft spread across a broad customer base of 71 airlines across 41 countries.

Over 90% of our aircraft are operated internationally. The following table sets forth the percentage of net book value of our aircraft portfolio in the indicated regions as of March 31, 2013 and December 31, 2012:

Debt Financing Activities

During the first quarter of 2013 and through May 9, 2013, the Company entered into additional debt facilities aggregating $1.2 billion, which included a $607.0 million addition to our Syndicated Unsecured Revolving Credit Facility, $400.0 million in senior unsecured notes due 2020 bearing interest at a rate of 4.75% per annum, $76.5 million of secured notes due 2024 bearing interest at a rate of 1.6% and are guaranteed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (“Ex-Im Bank”) and additional facilities aggregating $75.0 million. We ended the first quarter of 2013 with total unsecured debt outstanding of $3.0 billion. The Company’s unsecured debt as a percentage of total debt increased to 61.8% as of March 31, 2013 from 60.2% as of December 31, 2012. The Company’s fixed-rate debt as a percentage of total debt increased to 58.0% as of March 31, 2013 from 53.9% as of December 31, 2012. We ended the first quarter of 2013 with a conservative balance sheet with a low residual value risk profile and ample liquidity of $1.3 billion.

Our financing plan remains focused on raising unsecured debt in the global bank and capital markets, reinvesting cash flow from operations, and limited utilization of export credit financing. In May 2013, the Company received a corporate credit rating of A- from Kroll Bond Ratings which further broadens our access to attractively priced capital.