Earnings Labs

UGI Corporation (UGI)

Q1 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 5, 2015

$37.60

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, my name is Tiffany. And I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the UGI AmeriGas First Quarter 2015 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Thank you. Daniel Platt, Treasurer of UGI. You may begin your conference.

Daniel Platt

Analyst

Thank you, Tiffany. Good morning and thank you for joining us. As we begin, let me remind you that our comments today will include certain forward-looking statements, which management of UGI and AmeriGas believe to be reasonable as of today’s date only. Actual results may differ significantly because of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond management’s control. You should read our Annual Reports on Form 10-K for a more extensive list of factors that could affect results. But among them are adverse weather conditions, cost volatility and availability of our energy products, increased customer conservation measures, the impact of pending and future legal proceedings, domestic and international political, regulatory and economic conditions, currency exchange rate fluctuations, the timing of development of Marcellus Shale gas production, the timing and success of our commercial initiatives and investments to grow our business, and our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and achieve anticipated synergies. UGI and AmeriGas undertake no obligation to release revisions to the forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today. In addition, our remarks will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures that management believes provide useful information to investors to more effectively evaluate the year-over-year results of operations of the company. These, non-GAAP financial measures are not comparable to measures used by other companies and should be considered in conjunction with performance measures such as cash flow from operating activities. With me today are Hugh Gallagher, CFO of AmeriGas Propane, Kirk Oliver, CFO of UGI Corporation, Jerry Sheridan, President and CEO of AmeriGas Propane and your host President and CEO of UGI Corporation John Walsh. John?

John Walsh

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Thanks Dan. Good morning and welcome to our call. I trust that you’ve all had a chance to review our press releases reporting first quarter results for UGI and AmeriGas. It was a busy quarter for us and while weather was less favorable than Q1 of fiscal ’14, we saw strong underlying demand in many of the markets that we serve. I’ll comment on our key activities and market developments in the first quarter then turn it over to Kirk who will provide you with a detailed overview of UGI’s financial performance. Jerry will review Q1 for AmeriGas and I’ll wrap up with an update on our strategic initiatives. Our Q1 adjusted EPS was $0.66, compared to $0.71 for the first quarter of FY14. Due to the significant declines in commodity values over the past six months, we booked mark-to-market adjustments on unsettled hedges of $0.47 in the quarter. The largest adjustments were in AmeriGas and Midstream & Marketing. Our adjusted EPS reflected strong underlying performance despite weather that was warmer than prior year in all of our businesses. I should note that most of our mark-to-market adjustment relates to our normal business practice of hedging fixed price commitments from our customers. These volume commitments peak in Q1 and then decline quite significantly as we move through Q2. Kirk will comment in more detail on our first quarter performance in a few minutes. While the warmer than normal weather resulted in earnings that were a bit below our expectations, the underlying performance of our business was strong. The solid performance in the quarter results from robust demand in our natural gas businesses and the positive contributions from new investments that came on-stream in the past year. These contributions help us that the challenge of warmer weather in each business. Europe…

Kirk Oliver

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Thanks John. And good morning everybody. As John mentioned, adjusted results are $0.66 per share for the quarter versus $0.71 for the first quarter of last year. Adjusted results exclude the impact of mark-to-market changes and commodity hedging instruments for all of our businesses. And the effect of a change in the French tax log had impacted the first quarter of fiscal year 2014. I’d like to be sure to note that this is the first time that we’re reporting results since we elected to discontinue the use of hedge accounting for commodity derivatives across all of the businesses. As John mentioned earlier, this change in accounting combined with the recent decline in commodity prices resulted in the adjustment to GAAP earnings of $0.47 per share for the mark-to-market value of unrealized losses in the quarter. This change in account policy will result more volatility and GAAP earnings in the future as we continue with our business practice of using commodity derivatives to mitigate the risk associated with changes in commodity prices. As you can see from this slide, we experienced much warmer weather this winter, warmer than normal and warmer than last year in all of our businesses. AmeriGas experienced significantly warmer weather this quarter and still delivered $140 million of operating income with a cash distribution coverage ratio of about 1.1 times trailing 12-basis. The reported operating income of $140 million at AmeriGas is also a decrease of $40 million versus the first quarter of last year where we experienced colder than normal temperatures. Weather for this quarter was 9.6% warmer and the month of December was 18% warmer than last year. Total margin decreased by $37 million reflecting a 9.1% decrease in retail volumes sold. Operating expenses increased by $9.8 million due primarily to higher casualty and…

Jerry Sheridan

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Thanks Kirk. For AmeriGas, adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $189 million adjusted from mark-to-market hedge effects as compared to $230 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. The decrease in earnings in principally the result of volume which decreased 34 million gallons or 9% on weather that was 10% warmer than last year, in fact, the very mild December was 18% warmer than last year and you’ll recall there are nearly as many degree days in December than October and November combined. Of course the big story in the quarter is the precipitous drop in cost for both crude oil and propane. And Belleview [ph] cost decreased from $1.06 on October 1/20/14 to $0.48 on December 31, 2014 or 55%. You may have seen in our GAAP numbers, a large mark-to-market loss although this is a required disclosure in accordance with GAAP, it’s important to point out that this is a non-cash charge resulting from our out-of-the money positions on hedges that are not associated with current period transactions but are associated with future transactions. Prior to last April, the volatility resulting from the rapid decline in propane prices would have been run through our balance sheet but starting on April 2014, we changed our designation of hedges. Although we have had this accounting for several quarters, this is the first quarter to reflect a significant charge and I wanted to specifically point this out so there would be no confusion or concerns about the accounting treatment. Despite these significant decreases in stock cost of propane, our average cost in Q1 was flat to our cost in Q4 of 2014. In an effort to ensure ample customer supply this winter following the propane shortage last year, we increased our inventory storage going into the winter and have not…

John Walsh

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Thanks Jerry. As noted which I kicked-off this call, we were pleased with the solid financial performance in Q1, as well as the significant progress we’re making on the strategic investments that are critical to UGI’s future growth and performance. The PennEast pipeline project is progressing through the FERC pre-approval process. Our team is working closely with our partners as we reach out to the communities and constituencies that will be impacted by this $1 billion-investment in critical new Nat-Gas infrastructure to serve increasing demand in the mid-Atlantic region. The PennEast partners have held a series of outreach meetings in the local communities along the route and these are being followed with local meetings held by the FERC. The feedback from these meetings will provide input as we finalize our FERC filing. The project is expected to be on-stream late in 2017. Our proposed acquisition of Total’s LPG distribution business in France is currently in the regulatory view-phase with the ADLC, the French Competition Authority. While the closing date will be largely determined by the regulatory process, we remain hopeful that the closing will occur during the first half of calendar 2015. Our Acquisition of Total’s LPG distribution business in Hungary is also proceeding as expected. We recently received conformation at the EU as delegated responsibility for the regulatory view to the authority in Hungary. That process has been initiated. And we’re hopeful that closing will occur within the next six months. During this interim period leading up to closing, our teams have been hard at work. They’re focused on developing their project plans that will be executed once we have completed the regulatory review processes. Our GET Gas program at the utility continues to be extremely well received by local communities in our service territories that are currently un-served…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from the line of Ben Brownlow with Raymond James. Your line is open.

Ben Brownlow

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Given the comments on the higher cost inventory on propane, is it fair to say that the second, in the March quarter, you’re looking for kind of a high single-digit or fairly decent decline in adjusted EBITDA for the March quarter relative to the second half of the fiscal year?

Kirk Oliver

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Usually we don’t comment on quarterly guidance, just the full-year guidance is really all we’re comfortable with discussing.

Ben Brownlow

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Okay, great. And on the wholesale volume, can you give some color there on the decline year-over-year?

Kirk Oliver

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Yes, our wholesale business is not a big contributor to our profitability. But last year during the shortage, we had to redirect certain propane away from our wholesale customers toward our retail customers. And as a result, our sign-ups this year did go down. But for the quarter, the total EBITDA effect of that was less than $1 million.

John Walsh

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

This is John, I would just comment as well. I think we do across the business in Europe as well, similar to what Jerry hinted at AmeriGas. You look at your channels to market and make sure you can optimize in your supply infrastructure. And Europe as well we’ve kind of assessed that channel and our, making some changes with regard to sort of the wholesale segment, it’s not a crucial segment that you just want to make sure your supply infrastructure is setup to serve your, primarily your direct customers. So that’s a continuous process for us to make sure so that supply infrastructure is well aligned to meet any demand from our customer base particularly during peak periods.

Ben Brownlow

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

That’s helpful. Thanks for the color. And just, when I look at the guidance, went back to the guidance, is there any color you can give on the OpEx and the Admin outlook there? I mean, should we look for kind of a similar 3% to 5% year-over-year growth going forward or just any inside into what’s baked into the guidance?

Kirk Oliver

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Yes, again, I think our comfort is not going line item by line item. But we feel comfortable to full year guidance on EBITDA.

Ben Brownlow

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Okay. And just a housekeeping question, do you have the wholesale revenue dollars that you could give?

Kirk Oliver

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

I’m sure we do. This is wholesale revenue.

John Walsh

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Well Jerry is?

Kirk Oliver

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

$13 million.

John Walsh

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

One comment I would make with regard to the remainder of the year is, and this is true particularly both the LPG business is, you’re in a much better position as you go into the second quarter to assess and address OpEx in that, first quarter you’re largely gearing up for the peak season. And obviously this year, we’ve seen weaker demand because of weather. So you then begin to address that as you move through Q2. And you can take actions that would favorably impact OpEx as you move through Q2 and obviously you get beyond the winter. But first quarter is a challenge because a lot of the quarters spent for gearing up to serve the peak demand. In Q2 you can start to take some actions.

Jerry Sheridan

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Yes, we do that, we have a pretty decent seasonal workforce that if you got to keep them on staff until the likes of the odds of spring.

Ben Brownlow

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

That makes sense. Thank you so much for the color.

John Walsh

Analyst · Raymond James. Your line is open

Okay, thanks Ben.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. There are no further questions in queue at this time.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.