Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Emera Q3 Analyst Conference Call. After the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Instructions will be provided at that time. Please note that this call is being recorded, today, November 9, 2018, at 9.00 AM Eastern Time. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today’s call, Erin Power, Manager of Investor Relations for Emera. Please go ahead, Mrs. Power.

Thank you, Sharon, and thank you all for joining us this morning for Emera’s third quarter 2018 conference call and live webcast. Emera’s third quarter earnings release was distributed yesterday after market closed via newswire and the financial statements, management’s discussion and analysis and the presentation being referenced on this call are available on our Web site at emera.com. Speaking on the call today is Scott Balfour, Emera’s President and Chief Executive Officer; and Greg Blunden, Chief Financial Officer. Scott, Greg and other members of Emera’s management team will respond to your questions following their prepared remarks. This morning, Scott will begin with an update of the business and our strategic initiatives and Greg will follow with an overview of the financial results. We expect the prepared remarks to last about 15 minutes, after which we will be happy to take questions from analysts. I will take a moment to advise you that this conference call will contain forward-looking information and statements with respect to Emera. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Certain material factors or assumptions have been applied in drawing the conclusions contained in the forward-looking statements. Generally, these factors or assumptions are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Such risk factors or assumptions include, but are not limited to, regulation, operations and maintenance, energy prices, general economic conditions, weather, derivatives and hedging, capital resources, loss of service area, licenses and permits, environment, insurance, labor relations, human resources and liquidity risk. A number of factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. And now, I will turn things over to Scott.

Thank you, Erin, and good morning, everyone. I’m pleased to report that yesterday evening Emera announced strong quarter-over-quarter earnings increases across all of our operating companies, driving year-to-date increases and adjusted net earnings of 30%, adjusted earnings per share of 19% and operating cash flow of 29%. Our strong performance in the quarter was balanced across our affiliates and reflects the tremendous growth opportunities in our portfolio. Our quarterly earnings were further enhanced by our businesses’ ability to capitalize on weather-driven earnings opportunities. Our continued investment in our solar program in Tampa has boosted our 2018 financial results. The third quarter marked a significant milestone in the program as we placed 145 megawatts into service in September. The team in Tampa worked diligently to complete these projects on time and on budget. Now that these projects have been placed into service, customer rates have been increased in accordance with the solar base rate adjustment, or SoBRA, and Tampa Electric is now collecting revenues pursuant to this mechanism. Over the balance of 2018, higher customer base rates as a result of the SoBRA are expected to generate approximately $8 million in revenue. We’ve continued to make significant progress on our Tranche 2 projects and are on track to bring the next 260 megawatts online in early 2019. Late last month, the Florida Public Service Commission approved the SoBRA on Tranche 2 which will adjust customer rates for the full cost recovery as soon as these projects are placed into service. Because the SoBRA mechanism allows for an immediate cash recovery in customer rates, we’re able to quickly convert our AFUDC earnings into cash earnings. By the end of January of 2019, we will have commissioned over 65% of the total project which will generate an additional $70 million of revenue and…

Thank you, Scott, and thank you all for joining us today. In Q3 2018, Emera reported adjusted net income, which excludes mark-to-market adjustments, of $191 million and $0.82 per share compared with adjusted net income of $118 million and $0.55 per share in Q3 2017. For the year-to-date period, our adjusted net income was $504 million or $2.17 per share compared to $387 million or $1.82 per share for the same period in 2017. So very strong quarterly year-to-date performance which keeps us on track to deliver strong adjusted EPS and cash flow to our shareholders. We also reported significant increase in our year-to-date operating cash flow before changes in net working capital of $281 million or 29% to $1.2 billion. Operating cash flow is a key metric for our business because it is the basis upon which our credit metrics are calculated. This increase exceeded our forecast and as a result we expect our annual cash flow growth will exceed adjusted EPS growth. Weather continued to be a theme in Q3. Across many of our service territories we experienced unseasonably hot summer weather which created earnings opportunities, and our businesses were well positioned to capitalize on those opportunities. In the U.S. Northeast, hot and humid weather conditions provided earnings opportunities for both Emera Energy’s generation and marketing and trading businesses. These warm weather conditions strengthened energy pricing in the region which was positive for both the gas marketing and generation sides of the business. In addition to higher energy margins, the generation business continued to realize higher capacity revenues in the quarter as a result of the step up in capacity revenues that came into effect in June. In Nova Scotia, we also experienced an unseasonably hot summer which resulted in increased load. Nova Scotia Power was especially well…

Thank you, Greg. This concludes the presentation. And we’d now like to open the call to take questions from analysts.

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from Nicholas Campanella with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open.

Hi, there. Good morning. Congrats on the strong quarter.

Thanks, Nicholas.

Thanks, Nick.

So I guess just curious when we think about deleveraging and the targets that the agencies want to get you to, can you maybe talk about where you need to be in order to maintain the IG metrics, your commitment to maintaining the Baa3 at Moody's specifically and kind of a sense of where you are on FFO to debt in '19 without the asset sales?

Yes, Nick, I think both agencies have been I think reasonably transparent in terms of expectations and thinking of it kind of in and around plus or minus 12% on a CFO or FFO to debt basis. Obviously as things evolve and there’s constant assessment of the overall risk profile of the business, some agencies would probably have a slightly different view on that than others. As well, as you’re well aware, Moody’s also has a strong lens through the holdco debt to total debt metric as well and something that we’re very sensitive to. So we’re on a path to meet the targets that they’ve established. They’re obviously insider, so they’re well aware of our plan and we think we’re tracking quite well with where they expect us to be.

I guess on the funding sources and uses side, the 20% to 30% you outlined and then the 0% to 10% that could potentially be mitigated with common equity. Have you outlined definitively what is for sale at this point and is it fair to say that includes assets in addition to the unregulated businesses?

Yes, Nicholas, this is Scott. So no, we haven’t been specific and we don’t at this juncture intend to be. I would say quite frankly we value all of our assets. We think our portfolio of assets represents something that’s really compelling, but market conditions are causing us to look at things through a different lens. And so with that, that’s formed the basis of our thinking as it relates to the asset sale program. We haven’t been specific and don’t intend to be specific as to exactly what we’re looking at. What I can tell you though is that clearly Nova Scotia is home base for us. It’s the foundation of Emera as it is today. That’s not going to change clearly. And also you can tell we’re investing heavily in the State of Florida and clearly that represents a significant portion of our forward-looking prospects. So beyond that, we’re not at a place where we’d comment at this point in time. But of course as our plan develops and unfolds, we will of course keep you apprised.

Thanks. Looking forward to seeing you at EI.

Thanks, Nick.

Next question comes from Linda Ezergailis with TD Securities. Your line is open.

Thank you. I realize there’s a limit to what you can share with us in terms of asset sales, but I’m wondering potentially if you can give us a sense of what the maximum value of potential assets that have been identified for sale relative to the target value. And also can you give us a sense of maybe how willing you might be to sell partial interest in businesses and other considerations?

Yes, so I think in terms of the value piece, Linda, I think the slide that Greg referenced gives you a pretty good sense of what we’re looking at and targeting there when you think about that against our CapEx profile, you can kind of get a sense of it. And as I said in answer to the earlier question, we’re fortunate to have a portfolio of great assets. And so we do have some optionality that allows us to have the degree of confidence that we do as it relates to that component of our funding plan. But it’s hard for me to say anything beyond that. Obviously, as we have something to announce, we’ll do that in a moment. But for the time being I think that’s guidance.

Linda, it’s Greg. Just to answer your second question, we haven’t made final conclusions on what I think you might have characterized as partial interest, but that wouldn’t be our area of focus at this point in time.

That’s helpful context. And your Slide 14 breakdown of percentages of sources of cash was helpful, but I’m just wondering can you give us the exact dollar-billion figure for your 2019 to 2021 capital requirements? I realize it’s north of – likely north of 6 billion but I don’t remember seeing it anywhere.

Yes, Linda, it’s Greg again. At our Investor Luncheon is generally where we unveil what our updated capital plans are. But I think as we roll forward and look at '19 through '21, we would expect this in aggregate to be materially different than the three years that we are currently showing.

That’s helpful context. And just one last operational follow-up question. Can you clarify for your year-over-year growth in Florida what the weather effect versus customer growth components would be?

Growth would be slightly less than 2% of the overall load on a year-over-year basis.

The customer growth impact in Tampa Electric right now is about 2%. I don’t know, Nancy, is there any additional color that you can provide.

I can. We sort of look at customer growth as about 1.7% around that, somewhat offset by reduced consumption, so probably closer let’s say to 1.5% or so in terms of overall growth.

And what does that translate to from a year-over-year income impact versus the weather dynamic?

Well, so probably around $14 million in bottom line impact.

That’s helpful. Thank you.

Okay.

Next question comes from Rob Hope with Scotiabank. Your line is open.

Good morning, everyone. Would like to stay on asset sales. So the 20% or 30% of your funding goal that you showed on Slide 14, just want to get a sense if you have price discovery on any of these and the status of any ongoing processes?

Yes, I don’t think we’ll get into the details of that now, Robert. I think we’ve got a pretty good sense of value, we would say that and a confidence level as to the value. I’d say we’re well advanced on portions of this and we would expect to be in a position to provide some clarity on at least a portion of that program by the end of the year.

All right, I appreciate that. And then I guess just as a follow up there. Just want to get a sense of how you’re thinking about the – your winter sales announcement is announced versus the path to closing whether or not an extended regulatory review of certain assets could be a possibility or are you looking for easier to monetize assets?

I’d say it depends – it really depends on the nature of the asset itself, Robert. So again, not something I want to get into here in the call. But certainly would say that we’d expect to have clarity on a good portion of the program by the end of this year and would expect reasonably to have the program either entirely clear or entirely done by the end of next.

Excellent. Thank you for the clarity.

Your next question comes from David Quezada with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Thanks. Good morning, guys. My first question is just on the CapEx outlook. I know obviously the Florida utilities have a lot of great opportunities right now. I’m wondering if you see anything on the horizon that might lift the outlook for some of the other subsidiaries.

Look, I think we’ve actually got pretty healthy growth prospects across a number of our businesses. I think the themes that – we talk a lot about the growth in Tampa Electric just because the numbers are large. But the investment that continues to occur in Nova Scotia, in New Mexico, across all of our businesses frankly continues to be quite robust. It just happens the numbers are bigger to Tampa and so we talk about those predominately. Obviously we’ve got some assets – some of our businesses are contributing positively to that average rate base growth profile that Greg and I spoke to. Other assets, like the Maritime Link of course, is now an accreting asset, so that obviously doesn’t contribute to it. So overall I think the themes though are the same and we continue to invest in providing cleaner, affordable, reliable energy to our customers. So we’re investing in things like AMI technology that’s not just a Florida investment opportunity, obviously both Tampa Electric and Nova Scotia Power are well advanced in terms of the implementation of that additional technology that is both good for the business and good for customers. So those things as well as continuing to clean generation and continuing to invest in our T&D assets would be the driving forces in the electric utilities while the gas utilities are continuing to add infrastructure to support customer growth and replacing aged infrastructure which is contributing to the growth profile there. So I think the theme is actually pretty consistent across the portfolio.

Okay. That’s good context. Thank you. And then just one more I guess specific question. I realize smaller part of the business but Emera Newfoundland I see in the capital forecast by affiliate, it goes down to virtually nil in 2019 and then is almost 10% of the total in 2020. Is there a specific opportunity that’s driving that delta?

David, it’s Greg. As part of our overall agreement with Nalcor on the transmission, there’s a true-up on the overall transmission investment that happens in 2020. And based on where we are today versus our transmission investments and theirs, we have an opportunity to invest another $190 million is our estimate at this point that will take place in 2020 in the Labrador Island Link.

Okay, great. Thanks. I’ll get back in the queue.

Thanks, David.

Your next question comes from Robert Catellier with CIBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Hi. Good morning. I think I’ll try on the asset sales again. I’m just curious to know how specifically business risk profile plays into the determination on selection of which assets might be sold?

Yes, Robert, I think it’s a natural – as we went through the process, we think about things that are mentioned in terms of the marketability and the value of the asset but we’re also looking at the strategic things as well. And so sure, business risk was certainly a factor in our consideration.

And so what are the relative implications for Emera Energy then?

Emera Energy is still an important business for us and it’s been a part of Emera for a long period of time and frankly I think it helps parts of our business as we continue to grow. The commercial expertise within Emera Energy is an important part of that for us and don’t see that changing. But there’s a lot of different parts of all of our businesses and beyond that I really don’t want to start to comment on particulars again about what assets that we may be looking at.

Okay. The last question for me then, it looks like the guidance for Emera Maine was somewhat stepped down a little it. I’m wondering if there was anything specific there or if that’s related to the recent transmission orders from FERC.

Robert, I wouldn’t read too much into it. We were and still hopeful we’re going to be in a position of flat, maybe slightly above but we felt given the three quarters had gone by and because of weather load and other external things like decisions coming out of the regulatory rate case for transmission that our expectations are just slightly muted. But we’re talking relatively modest numbers.

Okay. Thanks for that, Greg.

Your next question comes from Ben Pham with BMO. Your line is open.

Hi. Thanks. A couple of questions on the funding pie. The profit component 5%, why is it lower than that the 10%? I know that’s the prior different percentage than how you think about – why isn’t there more prep in the mix there?

Yes, Ben, I don’t want you to read into that that we’re targeting 5% of our overall capital structure in terms of capital raise over the next three years given where we’re currently at or perhaps slightly higher than 10% of our overall capital program. We really only see probably doing one additional prep issue roughly the same size than we did earlier this year. And then keep in mind there’s thresholds from a regulatory or from a credit rating agency perspective to as the total amount of preps. We probably have a little bit more capacity in preps. That’s a flexibility that we can exercise some point in the future. But as we look forward for the next three years, I think you should be thinking about probably a single prep issue comparable to what we did earlier this year.

Okay. So it sounds like there’s probably room beyond that wedge there. It’s just that you don’t want to be hitting up the upper balance of that 15% or what it is that you can get there?

Yes, correct. 15%, yes.

Okay. And can I ask you if – there’s probably different iterations you’re running and how do you guys think about your payout, how it changes over time in sale assets? You could see some temporary pressure on the payouts. Curious how high you will note the payout would go? And with that, how do you guys balance the dividend growth in that mix?

Yes, so nothing has changed from our perspective, Ben. We look over the '19-'21 period and frankly including '18 in that and thinking of '17 is probably the base. We still expect rate base growth to continue at 6% plus. Our dividend growth will be less than that. Some years will be higher, like '18. Some years will likely not be at the 6%. But we see earnings per share growth kind of in line with rate base growth and dividend growth slightly less than that. That will improve that metric over time. And that’s all been incorporated into our financial forecasting when we made decisions around the dividend growth and the payout ratio, we’ll certainly be higher than our targeted payout ratio for this period as we previously indicated.

Yes, I think just to anchor the point that Greg made, Ben. So if you think about – and I think this was a question on the Q2 call, we think about our rate base growth profile as a bit of proxy for EPS growth. EPS growth could be lumpy, of course, and so we’ll see some years that are higher and some years are lower. And you’ve heard us talk about 2018 as likely outperforming that reference point. But if you think about 2017 as the anchor year for us, we remain confident that even with the asset sale program that we have that all of the disclosure and context that we provided previously about EPS growth and our dividend growth profile remains unchanged. So dividend growth in the 4% to 5% range. We’d expect EPS growth to be a little bit higher than that using 2017 as an anchor year as we work through the next few years in front of us.

And maybe can I – lastly, to clarify that 4 to 5, is there a situation where you got a year where all your assets roll off and then your payout goes to – I’m just trying a number 90% and you just grow the dividend a little bit lower than that 4 to 5, but then you pick it up in next year. Is that consistent with the dividend guidance that you’ve laid out?

No.

No. Okay.

No, Ben. I think we wouldn’t see that we would pivot off our dividend growth guidance in a particular year just because our payout ratio might be slightly higher nor would we necessarily increase it substantially in the year where our payout ratio might be lower. So we’re thinking of this more over a longer period of time.

Okay, that clarifies it. Thanks a lot, everybody.

Okay. Thanks, Ben.

Your next question comes from Andrew Kuske with Credit Suisse. Your line is open.

Thank you. Good morning. Maybe a conceptual question that drills into some of the funding issues, but when you think about the public, private market divide that exists on valuation on certain assets, can you capitalize from that by selling down part of an asset but then you might have a bit more structural complexity? How do you think about that versus selling an asset base like let’s just say Emera Energy or part of Emera Energy that probably results in an overall portfolio of high grading for corporate valuation? How do you think about the dynamic between those options?

Yes, Andrew, so I think again without commenting about specific assets but I think as Greg mentioned earlier, while we recognize that there may be a market opportunity to sell minority interest in some assets but that really isn’t part of our focus at the moment. As you say, that’s some structural complexity. And so as I say that’s not our focus at the moment.

Okay. Thank you. And then maybe just looking ahead to opportunities you see for reversing some of the pipes that you own and repurposing them and just the longer-term opportunities for LNG out of Atlantic Canada.

Yes, so frankly that’s still a puzzle as to the long-term solution to natural gas supply in Atlantic Canada with the reality of the status of Deep Panuke and Sable. And we continue to be an active participant in that market of course with our minority interest in Maritimes & Northeast Pipe and our ownership of Emera Brunswick Pipe. But there does remain to be a market solution that is required for which one hasn’t yet been found. It’s interesting to note that the new government in New Brunswick is talking about the potential of shale gas and fracking. Whether that comes to pass or not, we don’t know. But obviously something like that could dramatically change the market. We know that there is a talk of LNG export out of Nova Scotia. We don’t have any particular lens on the status or activity of that, but are certainly keenly observing.

Okay. That’s great. Thank you.

The next question comes from Robert Kwan with RBC Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Good morning. Just on the funding plan, if I can just tie up a bit of a loose end. What you put forward is 2019 to 2021. Are you still sticking to the statement that you don’t need any common equity outside of the DRIP for the remainder of 2018?

That’s correct.

Okay. Just generally on the plan you mentioned that you’ve been in discussions with the rating agencies, is that just the normal rating agency update or have you also engaged the rating services or had enough feedback from the rating agencies that what you’re kind of putting forward here and presumably similar to the investor event, did that get --?

Sorry, Robert, didn’t mean to cut you off. No, I’d say it’s been normal course. We haven’t gone through any evaluation services or anything like that or even advisory services. It’s just in the normal course. We have been obviously on a regular basis providing them updates of things we’re doing but I would call it normal course business, maybe a little bit more proactive communication with them than normal. But I wouldn’t consider it as a norm.

Do you feel you’ve got enough feedback that you’re going to meet either the metrics that they put forward but as well any metric that they might be thinking of changing?

Well, if they’re planning to change something, we wouldn’t necessarily have insight into that. But certainly and look we can’t speak for them, but we find in conversations they have been constructive.

Okay, understood. And if I can just finish on just any additional color on the Florida tax change – a little less what ran through corporate, but is there an ongoing benefit just given the change in the way you’re allocating between the state?

Yes, it’s relatively modest, Robert. It’s somewhat of a technical thing and you’re right as you speculated last evening that it’s non-cash and nonrecurring. It does mean that ultimately we’ll pay slightly less taxes each and every year over the next number of years. But it’s like $1 million or less. It’s not an overly material amount.

Okay. That’s great. Thank you.

Thanks, Robert.

Your next question comes from Nicholas Campanella with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Your line is open.

Hi. Sorry, I might have missed it but just one follow up. Presumably 20% to 30% plus the 0% to 10% means let’s call it 40% of your plan is funded with potential asset sales that allows you to maintain your current dividend trajectory.

So I think the way to think of it, Nick, is the 20% to 30% and 0% to 10% would put you in a combination of 30% not 40%, and that certainly has been included in our financial forecasting when we made determinations around what our dividend growth should be over that period.

Thanks.

You’re welcome.

Your next question comes from Jeremy Rosenfield with Industrial Alliance. Your line is open.

Yes, most of the questions have been answered. Just wanted to clean one up on New Mexico Gas. I’m wondering if you have the number in terms of the rate base that’s being specified in the settlement agreement. If you don’t have it, I’m sure we could dig it but just curious.

I don’t have it in front of me. Ryan Shell who’s our President of New Mexico Gas I think is on the phone. Ryan, do you have it up?

I don’t have the exact number in front of me but it’s probably above $500 million [ph] and $25 million.

Okay, that’s perfect. That’s all I had. Thank you, guys.

[Indiscernible] Jeremy and we’ll circle back if it turns out to be something different than what we represented.

[Operator Instructions]. We have a question from Patrick Kenny with National Bank. Your line is open.

How are you guys? Just wondering if there was any update on the regulatory process for the Big Bend modernization and whether or not that process has any influence on the timing of executing the asset sales?

Hi. It’s Nancy, Patrick. We are still pursuing the same path we talked about when we made the announcement which is – of course we’re earning AFUDC as we build the Big Bend modernization. And we will get that in rates the next time we go in for a general rate application.

Okay. And then just to circle back on I guess the commentary around equity investors resetting their required returns. I guess one could argue that fixed income investors are also resetting their expectations on leverage and whatnot. So just wanted to get a sense as to whether or not there was any internal discussion on recalibrating some of your longer-term capital structure targets, whether it’s taking down the 55% debt or bumping up the FFO to debt ratio longer term?

Patrick, it’s Greg. We still believe that our targeted capital structure is the right structure for us over the long term. Certainly there’s been I think a recalibration in the equity markets – to be quite frank we’re not seeing the same recalibration in the fixed income markets.

Okay. That’s great. Thanks, guys.

[Operator Instructions]. We do not have any questions over the phone line at this time. I will turn the call over to the presenters.

Great. Thank you everybody for joining us. And we look forward to speaking with you more in a couple of weeks at our Investor Luncheon.