Atmos Energy Corporation

Thank you for standing by. My name is Amy and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Atmos Energy Corporation fiscal 2024 fourth quarter earnings 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. If you would like to ask a question during this time, Simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press the star and the number one. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Dan Mazur, Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasurer. You may begin.

Thank you, Amy. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer of and Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings release and conference call slide presentation, which we will reference in our prepared remarks, are available at atmosenergy.com under the Investor Relations tab. As we review our financial results and discuss future expectations, please keep in mind that some of our discussion might contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act. Our forward-looking statements could differ materially from actual results. The facts that could cause such material differences are outlined on slide 37 and are more fully described in our SEC filings. I will now turn the call over to Kevin.

Thank you, Dan, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Atmos Energy. As Monday is Veterans Day, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have served in our armed forces. Approximately 300 of our Atmos Energy teammates are a part of the more than 18 million Americans who bravely served our country. Thank you for your service, and thank you to those currently serving this great nation. Fiscal 24 marked Atmos Energy's 40th anniversary as an independent company. All 5,200 of us here at Atmos Energy proudly serve our customers and our communities as we continue to be guided by the simple values of our founding chairman, Charles K. Vaughn. of honesty, integrity, and good moral character. Yesterday, we reported earnings per share of $6.83, which represents the 22nd consecutive year of earnings per share growth. Fiscal 24 also represents the 40th consecutive year of dividend growth. Our fiscal year results reflect the focus and dedication of the entire Atlas Energy team and their continued successful execution of our proven strategy of operating safely and reliably while we modernize our natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage systems. Our fiscal 24 capital investment of over $2.9 billion supported the modernization of our systems through the replacement of over 850 miles of distribution and transmission pipe and replacement of more than 55,000 service lines. Additionally, we continue to enhance the safety reliability, versatility, and supply diversification of APT system by placing into service our line PC on the southern end of APT system, as well as phase one of the line WA loop to the west of Fort Worth, and phase three or four for line S2 to the east of the DFW Metroplex. And we've completed the well integrity inspections on our Bethel salt dome cavern number two, We expect base gas and working gas injections to be completed next month, providing the availability of all three salt dome caverns for this winter season. Our capital investment also supported natural gas service to fuel the strong economic development we continue to see across our service territories. In fiscal 24, we added over 59,000 new residential and commercial customers, with over 46,000 of those new customers located in Texas. The housing market in the DFW Metroplex remained strong. For the 12 months ended September 30th, new home closings set a record high with a nearly 1% increase over the prior 12-month period, driven by the strength of the Texas economy. And according to the Texas Workforce Commission, the state continued its streak of record employment. For the 12 months ended September, The seasonally adjusted number of employed reached a new record high at over 14.3 million. Texas again added jobs at a faster rate than the nation over the last 12 months, adding nearly 327,000 jobs from September 2023 to September 2024. In addition to this robust residential customer growth, we saw solid commercial and industrial growth. In fiscal 24, we added nearly 3,500 new commercial customers, a 19% increase over the prior fiscal year. And we added 39 industrial customers, which, when fully operational, are anticipated to consume approximately 8.4 BCF of gas annually. This usage is equivalent to adding over 160,000 residential customers on a volumetric basis. Over the last five years, we added nearly 300,000 residential and commercial customers. And over the last five years, we have added 225 industrial customers with an estimated annual load of 63 BCF when fully operational. Again, on a volumetric basis, this is equivalent to adding nearly 1.2 million residential customers. This growing natural gas demand from all customer classes continues to demonstrate the vital role natural gas has in economic development across our service territories. Our customer support associates and service technicians continue to be at their best and inspire trust with our customers and in our community through their exceptional customer service. They once again received a 98% satisfaction rating from our customers. And during the fiscal year, our customer advocacy team assisted over 57,000 customers in receiving almost $23 million in energy assistance funding. I'm very proud of our Atmos Energy team and their many accomplishments in fiscal 24. Their exceptional work has us well positioned for fiscal 25 and beyond. As you know, we operate in a diversified and growing service territory that is supportive of natural gas and our investment in natural gas infrastructure to supply the growing economy and meet the growing energy demand. As a reminder, 96% of our rate base is located in six of our eight states that have passed legislation in support of energy choice. To meet the expectations of our community, our customers, policymakers, and regulators, our five-year plan contemplates $24 billion of capital investment. That investment will support the continued modernization of our natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage systems, as well as support the growing natural gas demand across our jurisdictions, with over 80% of that investment focused on safety and reliability. And at APT, we will remain focused on safety, reliability, versatility, and supply diversification while fortifying our system to support the growth of the LDCs located behind our pipeline. This includes the completion of the final phase of our Line S2 project to the east of the DFW Metroplex, continuation of the Line WA Loop project to the west of the DFW Metro and adding capacity to move additional gas from our Bethel Salt Dome facility towards Central Texas. The strength of our balance sheet, available liquidity, and regulatory mechanisms will continue to support the vital role we play in every community of safely delivering reliable and efficient natural gas to homes, businesses, and industries to fuel our energy needs now and into the future. I will now turn the call over to Chris for some additional color around our fiscal 24 financial results, our fiscal 25 guidance, and our updated five-year plan through fiscal 29. And then we will open the call for questions. Chris?