administrative fees, expenses, charges and costs, including accounting, engineering, legal, financial advisory, and other professional fees incurred in connection with the Trust
(Administrative Expenses) in 2020.
Pursuant to the indemnity provisions contained in Section 7.02 of the Trust Agreement,
the Trustee made a demand for indemnity and reimbursement of expenses upon HNS in the amount of $537,835, representing the Trusts unpaid expenses through December 18, 2020. HNS paid the requested funds to the Trustee on December 28,
2020, and the Trustee applied those funds to the Trusts unpaid expenses in accordance with the Trust Agreement.
During 2021, the
Trustee evaluated the adequacy of the cash reserve, the likelihood of the continued and regular receipts of revenues from the Royalty Interest in 2021 and beyond and the anticipated timing of termination of the Trust and determined at that time to
further increase the cash reserve to approximately $6,000,000.
Although the Trust received net revenues attributable to the quarters ended
June 30, September 30, and December 31, 2021 and each of the four quarters of 2022, the Trust did not receive net revenues attributable to any quarter in 2023 or the first, second or third quarters of 2024. Unless the net
revenues from the Royalty Interest for the quarter ended December 31, 2024 exceed $1.0 million, the Trust will terminate on December 31, 2024 in accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement, and the Trustee will commence the
process to wind-up the Trust effective as of January 1, 2025.
The Trustee intends to continue
to evaluate the adequacy of the cash reserve and may, at any time without notice to the Unit holders, increase or decrease the amount of the cash reserve due to the facts and circumstances prevailing from time to time. At this time, the Trustee
believes the cash reserve is sufficient to pay Trust fees and expenses for the next 12 months.
Cash held in reserve will be invested as
required by the Trust Agreement. Any cash reserved in excess of the amount necessary to pay or provide for the payment of future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities eventually will be distributed to Unit holders, together with
interest earned on the funds. Any amounts set aside for the cash reserve are invested by the Trustee in U.S. government or agency securities secured by the full faith and credit of the United States, or mutual funds investing in such securities.
The financial statements of the Trust are prepared on a modified cash basis and reflect the Trusts assets, liabilities, corpus, earnings,
and distributions, as follows:
|
a. |
Revenues are recorded when received (generally within 15 days of the end of the preceding quarter) and
distributions to Trust Unit holders are recorded when paid. |
|
b. |
Trust expenses (which include accounting, engineering, legal, and other professional fees, trustees fees,
and out-of-pocket expenses) are recorded on an accrual basis. |
|
c. |
Cash reserves may be established by the Trustee for certain contingencies that would not be recorded under
generally accepted accounting principles. |
While these statements differ from financial statements prepared in accordance
with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, the modified cash basis of reporting revenues and distributions is considered to be the most meaningful because quarterly distributions to the Trust Unit holders are
based on net cash receipts. These modified cash basis financial statements are unaudited but, in the opinion of the Trustee, include all adjustments necessary to present fairly the assets, liabilities and corpus of the Trust as of September 30,
2024 and December 31, 2023, and the modified cash basis of earnings and distributions and changes in Trust corpus for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2024 and 2023. The adjustments are of a normal recurring nature and
are, in the opinion of the Trustee, necessary to fairly present the results of operations.
As of September 30, 2024 and
December 31, 2023, cash equivalents which represent the cash reserve consist of a Morgan Stanley ILF Treasury Fund and U.S. Treasury Bills with original maturities of ninety days or less.
Estimates and assumptions are required to be made regarding assets, liabilities and changes in Trust corpus resulting from operations when
financial statements are prepared. Changes in the economic environment, financial markets and any other parameters used in determining these estimates could cause actual results to differ, and the difference could be material.
These unaudited financial statements should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes in the Trusts Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. The cash earnings and distributions for the interim periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the
full year.
At inception in February 1989, the Royalty Interest held by the Trust had a carrying value of $535,000,000. In accordance with generally
accepted accounting principles, the Trust amortized the value of the Royalty Interest based on the units of production
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