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Text: Ron Bernstein, Senior Advisor to Liggett Vector Brands, will join us during the Q&A.
Like many other companies, we are operating in the context of important and long overdue changes.
Recent events have demonstrated that systemic racism and social injustice continue to exist today.
We all have significant work ahead of us, as meaningful actions bring meaningful change.
We will hold ourselves accountable, and accountability is a priority for our company.
Now, to our second quarter results.
Nick will then summarize the performance of the tobacco business.
As of June 30, 2020, Vector Group maintained significant liquidity with cash and cash equivalents of $540 million, including cash of $61 million at Douglas Elliman and $218 million at Liggett, and investment securities and investment partnerships with a fair market value of $137 million.
The cash balances at Liggett include $132 million of deferred federal excise tax payments, which will be paid in the third quarter.
During the second quarter, our liquidity increased by $53 million from the issuance of 5 million shares of common stock.
We will be strategic with our liquidity and believe the current economic environment will present opportunities for investments yielding above-market returns.
Now, turning to Vector Group's operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020.
Vector Group's revenues for the three months ended June 30, 2020 were $445.8 million compared to $534.8 million in the 2019 period.
Our tobacco segment reported an increase of $18 million in revenues due to price increases and increased unit volume.
However, our real estate segment reported a significant decline in revenues due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an unusual year-over-year comparison because of the acceleration of real estate closings in New York City in the 2019 second quarter.
This acceleration occurred in anticipation of the increase in New York State Mansion Tax on residential real estate on July 1, 2019.
Net income attributed to Vector Group for the second quarter of 2020 was $25.8 million or $0.16 per diluted share compared to net income of $39.3 million or $0.25 per diluted common share in the second quarter of 2019.
The Company recorded adjusted EBITDA of $76.5 million compared to $83.5 million in the prior year.
Adjusted net income was $28.7 million or $0.19 per share diluted compared to $43.2 million or $0.28 per diluted share in the 2019 period.
For the six months ended June 30, 2020, Vector Group's revenues were $900.2 million compared to $959.4 million in the 2019 period.
Our tobacco segment reported an increase of $48.3 million in revenues.
This contrasted with a decline in revenues in our real estate segment.
Net income attributed to Vector Group for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was $22.5 million or $0.14 per diluted share compared to net income of $54.3 million or $0.03 per diluted common share for the six months ended June 30, 2019.
The Company recorded adjusted EBITDA of $136.7 million compared to $133.2 million in the prior year.
Adjusted net income was $68.6 million or $0.45 per diluted share compared to $56.1 million or $0.36 per diluted share in the 2019 period.
For the six months ended June 30, 2020, Douglas Elliman reported $298.5 million in revenues, a net loss of $74.1 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $8.8 million compared to $404.8 million in revenues, net income of $4.7 million and adjusted EBITDA of $7.7 million in the first six months of 2019.
Douglas Elliman's net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2020 included pre-tax and non-cash impairment charges of $58.3 million and pre-tax restructuring charges of $3 million.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a profound effect on the economy.
In response to the pandemic, state and local governments instituted restrictions on individuals and on the type of business that can operate, which directly impacted Douglas Elliman's and others' ability to do business in New York and its other markets.
As a result, in the second quarter of 2020, Douglas Elliman's revenues in the New York metropolitan area declined by 52% from the second quarter of 2019.
To address the impact of COVID-19, Douglas Elliman implemented a reduction of personnel by 25% in April 2020 and began consolidating offices and reducing other administrative expenses.
These expense reduction initiatives resulted in a decline in Douglas Elliman's second quarter 2020 operating and administrative expenses by approximately $20 million from the second quarter in 2019.
Third quarter cash receipts to date have shown improvement from the second quarter in all markets.
We believe the changes implemented at Douglas Elliman will provide long-term upside to the stockholders of Vector Group.
As Howard mentioned, Liggett performed exceptionally well in the second quarter despite the continued impact on the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Year-over-year volume and market share increased during the second quarter, contributing to a 14.5% increase in tobacco adjusted operating income.
As I mentioned during our previous earnings call, we made various adjustments during the first quarter to address the health and safety of our employees and those with whom we do business.
These changes will remain in place throughout the second quarter.
I'm pleased to report, our tobacco business operations remain largely unaffected by the pandemic.
As the pandemic unfolded in March, there were some anticipatory wholesale, retail and consumer buying related to early concerns of the ongoing availability of cigarettes.
Those concerns proved to be unfounded, and we continued to ship product as usual throughout the second quarter.
The entire supply chain has operated normally to this point.
And importantly, our underlying year-over-year retail sales trends are strong.
As noted on previous calls, we are well into the income growth phase of our EAGLE 20's business strategy, and I'm very pleased with the results we have achieved so far.
We began increasing prices on EAGLE 20's in late 2018 and have grown volume, share and profit since then.
Our market programs and promotions have proven successful, and we remain optimistic about EAGLE 20's continued growth going forward.
I will now turn to the combined tobacco financials for Liggett Group and Vector Tobacco.
For the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, Liggett revenues were $312.5 million and $599.6 million respectively, compared to $294.5 million and $551.3 million for the corresponding 2019 periods.
Tobacco operating income for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 was $79.3 million and $148.5 million respectively, compared to $68.7 million and $128.8 million respectively.
Tobacco adjusted operating income for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 was $79.4 million and $148.5 million respectively, compared to $69.3 million and $129.5 million for the corresponding periods a year ago.
Liggett's higher year-over-year earnings resulted primarily from increased unit volumes and higher net pricing.
According to Management Science Associates, overall industry wholesale shipments for the second quarter were down 4.5%, while Liggett's wholesale shipments increased 1% versus the prior year quarter.
As we rightly [Phonetic] note, we believe retail shipments are a better indicator of industry trends than wholesale shipments, as various actions by manufacturers and wholesalers can impact trade volumes.
These effects are typically less pronounced with retail shipments.
For the second quarter, Liggett's retail shipments increased 0.2% over the prior year quarter, while industry retail shipments decreased 2.2% during the same period.
Liggett's retail share for the second quarter increased 11 basis points to 4.3%.
EAGLE 20's retail volume for the second quarter grew by nearly 7% compared to the prior year period, and it remains the third largest discount brand in the US.
EAGLE 20's is now sold in approximately 78,000 stores nationwide, and its growth continues to provide an effective volume and profit complement to PYRAMID and other Liggett brands.
Despite managed and anticipated volume declines, we remain pleased with the performance of PYRAMID.
The brand continues to deliver substantial profit and market presence for the company, has strong distribution and is currently sold in approximately 100,000 stores nationwide.
While our second quarter 2020 results had limited impact from smaller deep discount-focused companies, this market segment remains the industry's most active.
Various smaller companies create pricing pressure as they seek to undercut the market in targeted geographies.
Liggett has marketplace advantages relative to these companies, including the broad base of our distribution, our consumer-focused promotional programs and the executional capabilities of our sales force.
We are very pleased with our second quarter 2020 performance, particularly in light of the current macroeconomic environment.
Our results continue to validate our market strategy.
And as we look ahead, we remain focused on generating operating income from the strong sales and distribution base of PYRAMID, while delivering volume, share and profit growth from EAGLE 20's.
As mentioned earlier, we have implemented workplace protocols to meet or exceed state and federal guidelines, including employee health evaluations and social distancing.
We have in place protocols for rapid mitigation of any issues that may arise in connection with COVID-19 and are confident that we are well equipped to manage contingencies.
Finally, while we are always subject to industry and general market risks, we remain confident that we have effective programs to keep our business operating efficiently, while supporting market share and profit growth.
Vector Group has strong cash reserves, has consistently increased its tobacco unit volume and profits, and has taken the necessary steps to position its real estate business for future success.
We are pleased with our long-standing history of paying a quarterly cash dividend.
It remains an important component of our capital allocation strategy.
While we continue to evaluate our dividend policy each quarter, it is our expectation that the policy will continue well into the future.

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compname reports q2 revenue $445.8 million.
q2 earnings per share $0.16.
q2 revenue $445.8 million.

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