Earnings Labs

Genie Energy Ltd. (GNE)

Q4 2023 Earnings Call· Mon, Mar 11, 2024

$14.12

+2.39%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-7.29%

1 Week

-3.62%

1 Month

-10.55%

vs S&P

-11.87%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning and welcome to Genie Energy's Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2023 Earnings Call. Until the Q&A portion of the call, all participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] After today's presentation by Genie Energy's management, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Brian Siegel of Hayden IR.

Brian Siegel

Analyst

Thank you, operator. With me today are Michael Stein, Genie Energy's CEO; and Avi Goldin, Genie Energy's CFO, who will discuss operational and financial results. Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call, whether general or specific in nature, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, both discussed in the reports that we filed periodically with the SEC. Genie assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements that we have made or may make or to update the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we forecast. During their remarks, management makes reference to adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure. Management believes that its measure of adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to both management and investors that supplement our core operating results. Our earnings release, which is posted on the genie.com IR page includes a reconciliation of consolidated adjusted EBITDA to its nearest comparable GAAP measures, consolidated net income and income from operations for all periods presented. In addition, adjusted EBITDA for applicable segments are reconciled in the earnings release through their respective segment's income from operations for all periods presented. I will now turn the conference over to Michael Stein, Genie's Chief Executive Officer.

Michael Stein

Analyst

Thank you, Brian. Welcome to Genie Energy's fourth quarter earnings call. I'm happy that we achieved record revenue for the fourth quarter and full year 2023 while exceeding our adjusted EBITDA guidance with $57 million for the full year. This achievement was a result of the extraordinary efforts of our team and several strategic moves we made over the course of 2022 and 2023 that took advantage of the volatility in global energy markets. We are extremely pleased with the performance of the company as we accomplished our 2023 goal of materially growing the size of our customer book while establishing a new baseline of financial performance. At GRE, we ended the year with 361,000 customers and 350,000 RCEs, representing increases of 31% and 34%, respectively, over the prior year-end. Our success in aggressively growing our customer base in the early part of the year, drove record levels of annual consumption, enabling record revenues. Sequentially, our customer counts decreased somewhat reflecting the expiration of a customer aggregation deal in Massachusetts. At GREW, we closed on the acquisition of a 9.4 megawatt operating portfolio during the quarter, our first acquisition of its kind. The IRR in this transaction was especially attractive for an operating portfolio and we felt it moved our strategy forward. Note that as we grow out this business, we intend to be opportunistic about potential acquisitions at all stages of the development cycle, including operating assets. With regards to our development pipeline, we advanced on our projects in development and saw the addition of new projects, while others dropped out due to lack of liability. This is not uncommon given that many pipeline projects are early-stage opportunities where we are still in the process of acquiring site rights. However, we recently invested in our team and capabilities here,…

Avi Goldin

Analyst

Thank you, Michael, and thanks to everyone on the call for joining us this morning. My remarks today cover our financial results for the three and 12 months ended December 31st, 2023. Throughout my remarks, when I discuss the quarterly results, I will compare the fourth quarter of 2023 to the fourth quarter of 2022 to remove consideration of the seasonal factors that impact our Retail Energy business. The fourth quarter is typically characterized by seasonally reduced levels of per meter electricity and gas consumption as it falls between the third quarter's peak cooling months and the first quarter's peak heating months. Genie's strong fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results were highlighted by record revenue, solid adjusted EBITDA generation and significant further strengthening of our balance sheet, all while continuing to return value to our common stockholders through our quarterly dividend. Before we turn to the quarter and full year results, please note that as we previously disclosed, we recorded a noncash charge of $45.1 million in the fourth quarter, reflecting a loss reserve by our new captive insurance subsidiary. The charge didn't impact adjusted EBITDA, but is reflected in our GAAP income from operations and bottom line results. To provide investors with a consistent perspective on the underlying performance of our business, we are providing non-GAAP earnings and earnings per share that excludes the impact of the loss reserve. Now let's look at the results. Fourth quarter consolidated revenue jumped 29% to $105 million from $81 million a year earlier. At GRE, fourth quarter revenue increased by 28% to $98 million from $77 million a year ago, also a fourth quarter record. The increases were driven by the powerful year-over-year growth in our meter base that Michael discussed as well as increased consumption per meter. Resulting increase…

Operator

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] There were no questions. And that does conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and thank you for your participation. End of Q&A: