HPK - HighPeak Energy Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial and Operational Results

FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HighPeak Energy, Inc. (“HighPeak Energy” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: HPK), today announced operating and financial results for the third quarter 2020.

Third Quarter 2020 Highlights

• Consummated the business combination with the HighPeak Funds on August 21, 2020 and raised an additional $102 million by issuing new equity through the business combination and the forward purchase agreement resulting in approximately 91.5 million shares outstanding.
• Brought back online the majority of our horizonal production beginning in late July 2020, which was previously curtailed in mid-April due to low commodity prices. Production returned as expected with all wells producing at or above pre-shut-in rates within a few weeks of bringing the wells back online.
• Initiated completion activities on twelve (12) drilled uncompleted wells (“DUCs”), including four (4) wells which had been drilled and completed prior to the closing of our business combination and eight (8) DUCs. Two (2) of the wells were turned online by quarter end.
• Commenced a one-rig drilling program in late September. Drilled one (1) horizontal Ellenburger salt-water disposal well in Howard County and plan to spud approximately five (5) oil wells by year end.
• Began constructing a company owned water disposal system in our Flat Top operating area providing future disposal and recycling opportunities.
  

“We raised over $100 million of equity at the closing of our business combination in an extremely challenging market which exemplifies the quality and upside potential of our asset base. We are excited and fortunate to be able to fund our initial development program with cash on our balance sheet and no debt. Our initial focus following the closing of the business combination is completing and turning online our drilled uncompleted well inventory and commencing a one-rig drilling program. In September we drilled the first horizontal saltwater disposal well in the Ellenburger formation in Howard County, which speaks to the ingenuity and skill set of our top tier technical team,” stated Jack Hightower, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Third Quarter 2020 Operational and Financial Results

• Net loss for the period from August 22, 2020 through September 30, 2020 (the “Successor Period”) was $11.5 million, or $0.13 per diluted share. Net income for the Successor Period, excluding $14.5 million of non-cash stock-based compensation, was $540,000, or $0.01 per diluted share.
• Production averaged 3,200 barrels of oil equivalent (“BOE”) per day including 3,104 barrels of oil per day, or 97% of the production stream, for the Successor Period.
• Lease operating expense per BOE and production and ad valorem taxes per BOE averaged $5.24 and $2.01, respectively, for the Successor Period. General and administrative expenses for the Successor Period were approximately $0.8 million.
• EBITDAX (a non-GAAP financial measure) for the Successor Period was $3.1 million. See Reconciliation of Net Income to EBITDAX below.

• Cash flows provided by operating activities for the Successor Period were $1.2 million.
• Cash on the balance sheet at the end of the quarter was $54.9 million with no debt.

Michael Hollis, HighPeak Energy President, said, “Due to low oil prices, we paused our development plan and shut in the production of all of our horizontal wells in April. The wells were returned to production starting in late July and quickly returned to their pre-shut-in rates. As we continue to bring our DUC’s online through the fourth quarter, we expect production to exceed 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in early 2021. Our current total well costs including drilling, completion, equipping and facilities (“D,C,E&F”) are approximately $500/foot which provide for attractive rates of return in this low commodity price environment. HighPeak has made the decision to implement the necessary infrastructure investments that will allow us to deliver best-in-class capital efficiency, realized pricing, and production expenses. I could not be prouder for what our organization has accomplished in such a short time and how they have leaned into the challenges brought on by this unprecedented pandemic considering how much it has affected our industry.”

Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q

HighPeak Energy’s financial statements and related footnotes will be available in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2020, which is expected to be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on November 12, 2020.

About HighPeak Energy, Inc.

HighPeak Energy, Inc. is a publicly traded independent oil and natural gas company, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and exploitation of unconventional oil and natural gas reserves in the Midland Basin in West Texas. For more information, please visit our website at www.highpeakenergy.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. When used in this document, the words "believes," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "intends," "continue," "may," "will," "could," "should," "future," "potential," "estimate" or the negative of such terms and similar expressions as they relate to HighPeak Energy, Inc. ("HighPeak Energy," the "Company" or the “Successor”) are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. The forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about the Company and the industry in which the Company operates. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, they involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, in many cases, beyond the Company's control.

These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, volatility of commodity prices, product supply and demand, the impact of a widespread outbreak of an illness, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) pandemic, on global and U.S. economic activity, competition, the ability to obtain environmental and other permits and the timing thereof, other government regulation or action, the ability to obtain approvals from third parties and negotiate agreements with third parties on mutually acceptable terms, litigation, the costs and results of drilling and operations, availability of equipment, services, resources and personnel required to perform the Company's drilling and operating activities, access to and availability of transportation, processing, fractionation, refining and storage facilities, HighPeak Energy's ability to replace reserves, implement its business plans or complete its development activities as scheduled, access to and cost of capital, the financial strength of counterparties to any credit facility and derivative contracts entered into by HighPeak Energy, if any, and purchasers of HighPeak Energy's oil, natural gas liquid and natural gas production, uncertainties about estimates of reserves, identification of drilling locations and the ability to add proved reserves in the future, the assumptions underlying forecasts, including forecasts of production, expenses, cash flow from sales of oil and gas and tax rates, quality of technical data, environmental and weather risks, including the possible impacts of climate change, cybersecurity risks and acts of war or terrorism. These and other risks are described in the Company's combined Registration Statement on Form S-4 and Form S-1, declared effective by the SEC on August 7, 2020 and initially filed with the SEC on December 2, 2019 (File No. 333-235313) (the “Registration Statement”), this and other filings with the SEC. In addition, the Company may be subject to currently unforeseen risks that may have a materially adverse effect on it. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that the actual events and results will not be materially different than the anticipated results described in the forward-looking statements. See "Part I, Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations," "Part I, Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk" and "Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2020 and "Risk Factors,” “Business,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk” in the Registration Statement for a description of various factors that could materially affect the ability of HighPeak Energy to achieve the anticipated results described in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no duty to publicly update these statements except as required by law.

Investor Contact:

Ryan Hightower
Vice President, Business Development
817.850.9204
rhightower@highpeakenergy.com

Source: HighPeak Energy, Inc.

Reconciliation of Net Income to EBITDAX

EBITDAX is a supplemental non-GAAP financial measure that is used by management and external users of our consolidated financial statements, such as industry analysts, investors, lenders and rating agencies. We define EBITDAX as net income before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation, depletion and amortization, exploration and other expenses, impairment and abandonment expenses, non-cash gains or losses on derivatives, stock-based compensation, gain on exchange of debt, gains and losses from the sale of assets, transaction costs and nonrecurring workforce reduction severance payments. EBITDAX is not a measure of net income as determined by GAAP.

Our management believes EBITDAX is useful as it allows them to more effectively evaluate our operating performance and compare the results of our operations from period to period and against our peers without regard to our financing methods or capital structure. We exclude the items listed above from net income in arriving at EBITDAX because these amounts can vary substantially from company to company within our industry depending upon accounting methods and book values of assets, capital structures and the method by which the assets were acquired. EBITDAX should not be considered as an alternative to, or more meaningful than, net income as determined in accordance with GAAP or as an indicator of our operating performance or liquidity. Certain items excluded from EBITDAX are significant components in understanding and assessing a company’s financial performance, such as a company’s cost of capital and tax structure, as well as the historic costs of depreciable assets, none of which are components of EBITDAX. Our presentation of EBITDAX should not be construed as an inference that our results will be unaffected by unusual or nonrecurring items. Our computations of EBITDAX may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies.

The following table presents a reconciliation of EBITDAX to net income, our most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP: