Matson (MATX) Prelim. Q3 EPS Tops Consensus

Matson, Inc. ("Matson" or the "Company") (NYSE: MATX) today announces preliminary third quarter financial results, provides a business update and announces that its third quarter earnings call will be held on November 3, 2021.

"The strong economic and business trends we saw in the second quarter continued in the third quarter resulting in solid performance in both Ocean Transportation and Logistics," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Matt Cox. "Within Ocean Transportation, our China service continued to see significant demand for its expedited ocean services, including the new CCX service, as volume for e-commerce, garments and other goods remained elevated heading into the peak season. Continued strong demand for the China service was the primary driver of the increase in consolidated operating income year-over-year. Currently, supply chain congestion continues in the Transpacific tradelane with the combination of inventory restocking, peak season and ongoing elevated consumption trends. We expect these conditions to remain largely in place at least through mid-year 2022."

Mr. Cox added, "In our domestic ocean tradelanes, we continued to see strong demand with higher year-over-year volumes compared to the largely pandemic-reduced volumes in the third quarter of last year. In Hawaii, we experienced elevated westbound freight demand as the state's tourism and economy continued to rebound sharply from the pandemic lows, although towards the end of the quarter we experienced a modest negative impact in freight related to the state's efforts to address the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant. In Logistics, operating income increased year-over-year compared to the operating income achieved in the year ago period as we continued to see elevated goods consumption, inventory restocking and favorable supply and demand fundamentals in our core markets. As a result, Matson expects third quarter operating income for Ocean Transportation of $358.0 to $363.0 million and Logistics operating income of $15.0 to $16.0 million. We also expect third quarter 2021 net income and diluted EPS to be $277.3 to $285.5 million and $6.39 to $6.58, respectively."

(*Consensus sees Q3 EPS of $4.39)

Third Quarter Tradelane Volume (Forty-foot equivalent units (FEU)) (1)(2):

For the three months ended September 30, 2021 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2020 and on a FEU basis:

• Hawaii container volume increased 11.5 percent primarily due to higher retail and hospitality-related demand due to the continued rebound in tourism and the Hawaii economy compared to the volume in the year ago period, which was negatively impacted by the state's COVID-19 mitigation efforts, including restrictions on tourism;
• Alaska volume increased 10.7 percent due to the addition of volume from the Alaska-Asia Express, higher northbound volume primarily due to an additional sailing and higher retail-related demand, and higher southbound volume;
• China volume was 21.7 percent higher primarily due to CCX volume and volume from an extra loader. The total number of eastbound voyages in the China service increased by 6 year-over-year;
• Guam volume was 14.6 percent higher primarily due to higher retail-related demand compared to the volume in the year ago period; and
• Other containers volume increased 17.4 percent primarily due to higher volume in Okinawa.

Share Repurchase

During the third quarter of 2021, Matson repurchased approximately 1.5 million shares for a total cost of $115.7 million. As of September 30, 2021, the Company had approximately 1.5 million shares remaining in its share repurchase program.

A slide presentation that accompanies this press release is available on the Company's website at www.matson.com, under Investors.

Teleconference and Webcast

A conference call is scheduled on November 3, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. ET when Matt Cox, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Joel Wine, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss Matson's third quarter results.

The conference call will be broadcast live along with an additional slide presentation on the Company's website at www.matson.com, under Investors. A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the call through November 10, 2021 by dialing 1-855-859-2056 or 1-404-537-3406 and using the conference number 4158606. The slides and audio webcast of the conference call will be archived for one full quarter on the Company's website at www.matson.com, under Investors.

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