SJI
#Thanks, <UNK>.
Good morning everyone.
Thanks for joining us.
Kicking off our discussion, year-to-date Economic Earnings totaled $55.8 million as compared with $72.8 million for the first nine months of 2014.
As you would expect, the majority of the variance year-over-year is the result of a write down of our investment in and the lack of operational contribution from the energy facility at Revel, which is responsible for approximately $11 million of this $17 million variance.
Other significant contributors to the variance are an increase in reserves and write-offs of uncollectable accounts in our utility; increases in post retirement benefit costs and lower contributions from investment tax credits.
The benefits realized in our commodity marketing business from the Polar Vortex that occurred in early 2014 also drove some of this variance.
For the third quarter, Economic Earnings reflects a loss of $5 million in 2015 as compared with a loss of $3.4 million in the prior year period.
Economic Earnings per share through September 30, 2015 were $0.81 as compared with $1.10 for the first nine months of 2014.
For the quarter, Economic EPS reflected a loss of $0.07 as compared with a loss of $0.05 in the prior year period.
Beyond the issues I just discussed, we still saw many positive contributors, including strong utility customer growth and much improved year-over-year contributions in our wholesale business and I'll review that as I detail the results for the specific areas of our business.
Starting with utility, South Jersey Gas' net income through September 30, 2015 was up 4.6% at $44.4 million as compared with $42.4 million through September 30, 2014.
For the quarter, utility net income reflected a loss of $3.4 million as compared with a net income contribution of $1 million in the third quarter of 2014.
As I mentioned previously, these results were produced largely by the increased write-off of uncollectible accounts.
The extreme conditions experienced in the last two winters produced significantly higher customer bills, higher than many customers were there for.
As noted last quarter, this resulted in increased receivables, increased aging at those receivables and ultimately increase reserves and write-offs for those receivables.
Compared to the prior year periods reserves and write-offs negatively impacted year-to-date and quarterly net income by $3 million and $1.8 million respectively.
We continue to educate customers on ways to reduce usage through access programs for assistance and to take advantage of different bill repayment options we offer.
Additionally, the quarters saw $700,000 impact to net income from increased costs associated with post-retirement benefits and a $1.1 million impact from higher depreciation and amortization.
Infrastructure investments under our accelerated programs totaled $48.8 million year-to-date and added an incremental $1.3 million to net income for the first half of 2015.
The planned investments are on target to reach roughly $70 million for 2015.
Our AIRP and SHARP programs are expected to add $2.5 million in incremental income for 2015 while continuing to reinforce our system for the replacement of bare steel and cast iron gas main and a replacement of low pressure gas main with high pressure main along the barrier islands.
Another major infrastructure system reinforcement pending is the pipeline to provide natural gas to the former BL England electric generating station.
Having received the certificate of filing from the Pinelands Commission's staff in August, we now await final approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and acceptance of BPUs determination by the Pineland Commission.
We remain optimistic that we will obtain final approval for this project before year-end and that construction will commence in mid to late 2016 pending any appeals to the decision that may arise.
Customer growth continues to be significant with our customers total up by nearly 6900 or 1.9% for the 12 month period ending September 30, 2015.
During the same time period, customer growth added $1.9 million incremental net income as compared with the prior year period.
We continue to achieve this type of growth as a result of low natural gas prices and targeted marketing efforts that maximize the reach of our infrastructure to capitalize on customer additions from those on or near existing main.
Shifting gears to the non-utility; our non-utility operations contributed a total of $11.5 million in Economic Earnings year-to-date through September 30 as compared with $30.4 million in the prior year period.
In the third quarter of 2015, this segment produced a loss of $1.5 million as compared with a loss of $4.4 million in the third quarter of 2014.
Our non-utility business is comprised of South Jersey Energy Services and South Jersey Energy Group.
Within the South Jersey Energy Services, year-to-date results really reflect the impact of the write-down at Revel with Economic Earnings of $5.4 million for the first nine months of 2015 as compared with $21.5 million for the same period in 2014.
The Revel related impact was the largest contributor to the overall variance within this business line along with a reduction in the amount contributed by investment tax credits year-to-date.
However, on a quarterly basis, Economic Earnings for Q3, 2015 match those of Q3, 2014 at $800,000.
These levels reflect the fact that neither the third quarter of 2014 nor the third quarter of 2015 saw noteworthy contributions from the Revel facility and both quarters also featured fairly moderate summer temperatures that requires less production from our portfolio of energy production facilities.
With that in mind, our CHP portfolio reflected a loss of $8.6 million for the first nine months of 2015 as compared with Economic Earnings of $2.7 million for the first nine months of 2014.
For the quarter, contributions from CHP reflect a loss of under $100,000 in 2015 as compared to a loss of $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2014.
Moving over to our solar activities, net income was $16.6 million for the first nine months of 2015 as compared with $21.1 million for the first nine months of 2014.
For the third quarter, solar contributed $1.5 million in 2015 as compared with $3.5 million in the third quarter of 2014.
Lower levels of investment tax credits produce the variance.
Although that variance is largely timing, as we expect to match 2014 solar investments by year-end, based on the robust queue of solar projects we have in construction.
We also remain on track for full year SREC production of 140,000 SRECs, which will continue driving improved operating performance.
To that end, the quarter reflected positive performance of approximately $200,000, a result that just not reflect the full value of our solar production in the second and third quarters of 2015 due to the timing of the certification of renewable energy certificates in Massachusetts, which can take up to six months.
We don't recognize income from those SRECs until after the certification process is completed.
We estimated that our 2015 Economic Earnings would have benefited by approximately $1 million had all SRECs produced been certified as of 9/30.
These earnings will be recognized over the next two quarters.
For the first nine months of 2015.
Our landfills produced a loss totaling $3.2 million as compared with a loss of $2.7 million in the prior year period.
For the third quarter, these projects lost $800,000 in 2015 as compared with $400,000 in the same period in 2014.
While we are just starting to see a slight uptick in performance from the sites, we are focused on improving.
We also experienced some unrelated maintenance costs in the quarter.
Addressing this issue is a high priority within SJI.
Turning to South Jersey Energy Group; we remain very optimistic about the future of this business.
Year-to-date, this area has added $6.1 million as compared to $8.8 million through September 30, 2014.
What's important to note is that the current year's performance was achieved without the benefit, but the extreme volatility the region experienced throughout the first quarter of 2014.
Volatility that drove the $18 million of Economic Earnings we experienced for the first quarter of 2014.
In the current quarter, this area improved by nearly $3 million as compared with the third quarter of 2014, reducing its quarterly loss from $5.1 million to $2.3 million.
This improvement was driven by the commencement of one fuel management contract in 2015 as well as improved performance of our marketing contracts.
I also want to reaffirm our expectation that this business will exceed the $30 million of Economic Earnings that produced in 2014 or 2015.
Finally, taking a look at the balance sheet, our equity to cap ratio was 41% at the end of the third quarter as compared to 43% in the third quarter of 2014.
We've used our dividend reinvestment plan to issue equity totaling $9.7 million through September and we expect to further employee this resource during the fourth quarter of the year in support of our capital programs.
We also maintain accumulated deferred tax benefits totaling $300 million related to our investments that we expect to realize between now and 2021 to help de-lever the balance sheet.
At this time, I'll turn the call over to <UNK>.
Thanks, <UNK>.
Good morning, everyone.
With three quarters already under our belt, 2015 has so far presented our business with a few challenges.
Certainly the write-down of our energy asset at the former Revel property had a significant impact on the current year.
Now however, our focus is on moving SJI forward with a strategy that will create exceptional growth, improve the quality of our earnings and strengthen our balance sheet.
From customer growth and infrastructure investment in our utility to a marked improvement our commodity marketing and fuel management business lines to our investment in the pipeline to supply a repowered B.
L.
England generating facility and our stake in the vital PennEast pipeline, we are well positioned to deliver on our goal of achieving Economic Earnings of $150 million by 2020.
Looking forward, steady contributions from recurring customer growth that far exceeds the industry average is expected to add nearly $12 million in Economic Earnings over the next five years and strong conversion effort continues to get a boost from access to an inexpensive and abundant supply of low cost natural gas.
Infrastructure programs that support accelerated replacement of bare steel and cast iron mains as well as low pressure services also remain a key contributor year-over-year, driving incremental net income growth that is expected to top $18 million by 2020.
In our non-utility businesses, our wholesale and retail commodity business lines are firmly positioned to drive low-risk repeatable income streams that are expected to contribute roughly 10% to 15% of Economic Earnings through 2020.
Fuel supply management contract as additional claims come online will ultimately represent between 5% and 10% of our projected $150 million in 2020.
And as we expand our organization to include a stake in PennEast, our 20% equity investment in this 105 mile Interstate transmission pipeline will be a boost to earnings as well as significant benefits to our customers, as some of the nation's lowest cost natural gas is delivered into our system.
We also look forward to the possibility of constructing a new headquarters in Atlantic City to support organizational growth that has pushed us over 700 employees.
We expect Atlantic City to remain a vital engine for economic development in Southern New Jersey and we look forward to being a central part of its resurgence.
The agility and versatility of our business combined with the talent commitment of our workforce has enabled SJI to identify many opportunities that make up our strategic path forward.
As a result, we expect to finish 2015 with earnings per share that meet our targeted range of $1.49 to $1.54.
More importantly, we are confident on our ability to achieve our key strategic objectives, Economic Earnings of at least $150 million by 2020; strengthening our balance sheet; maintaining a low to moderate risk profile and perhaps most importantly, improving earnings quality to ensure that the foundation of our business is built on regulated, repeatable and reliable income streams.
Now, I'll turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.
Thank you.
Before we conclude, as always, please feel free to contact Marissa Travaline, our Director overseeing Investor Relations or <UNK> <UNK>, our Treasurer for any follow-up on the items we discussed today.
Marissa can be reached at 609-561-9000 extension 4227 or by email at mtravaline@sjindustries.com.
<UNK> can be reached at extension 4143 or by email at aanthony@sjindustries.com.
Again thank you for joining us today.
