Global Partners LP

Good day, and welcome to the Global Partners Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. With us from Global Partners are President and Chief Executive Officer Eric Slipka, Chief Financial Officer Mr. Gregory Hansen, Chief Operating Officer Mr. Mark Romain, and Acting General Counsel, Secretary and Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions Mr. Sean Geary. Now let me turn the call over to Mr. Geary. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this morning we will be making forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements may include, but are not limited to, projections, beliefs, goals, and estimates concerning the future financial and operational performance of global partners. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding market conditions, such as the crude oil market, business cycles, demand for petroleum products, including gasoline and gasoline blend stocks and renewable fuels, utilization of assets and facilities, weather, credit markets, demand for convenience store operators, the regulatory and permitting environment, and the forward product pricing curve, which could influence quarterly financial results. These statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond the partnership's control, including without limitation the impact and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainty around the timing of the economic recovery in the United States, which will impact the demand for the products we sell and the services we provide, uncertainty around the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to our counterparties and our customers and their corresponding ability to perform their obligations and or utilize the products we sell and or the services we provide, and uncertainty around the impact of the duration of federal, state, municipal regulations and directives related to the COVID-19 pandemic and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from the partnership's historical experience and present expectations or projections. We believe these assumptions are reasonable given currently available information. Our assumptions and future performance are subject to a wide range of business risks and uncertainties. In addition, such performance is subject to risk factors, including but not limited to those described in our files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Global Partners undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to any forward-looking statements that may be made during today's conference call. With Regulation FD in effect, it is our policy that any material comments concerning future results of operations will be communicated through news releases, publicly announced conference calls, or other means that will constitute public disclosure for the purposes of Regulation FD. Now, it is my pleasure to turn over the call to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Eric Sliska.

Thank you, Sean. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. By every measure, Q3 was a strong quarter for global partners as we posted margin gains across all three segments of our business. Our Q3 performance was driven by a variety of factors, all connected by a unifying theme. The resilience of our integrated business model, the way we create value through our strategically located terminal network, diverse portfolio of liquid energy products, and our retail fuel and convenience market locations. Our GDSO segment sustained its strong momentum in the third quarter. With COVID-19 restrictions eased, the demand environment improved markedly from the third quarter of 2020. Margins and volume in our GDSO segment posted double-digit percentage growth in the quarter despite a significant increase in wholesale fuel prices year over year. We saw not only more cars at the pumps, but also a nice uptick in activity across our convenience market portfolio. On a year-over-year basis, our wholesale segment benefited from favorable market conditions in gasoline and distillates in Q3, while our commercial segment saw improved volumes and margins. Consistent with our M&A strategy, we completed the acquisition of 14 convenience stores and Citgo-branded gas stations, predominantly in Vermont. With respect to our planned acquisition of Consumers Petroleum of Connecticut, we are still in the process of finalizing regulatory approvals and envision a closing by year end. Our Q3 performance underscores our role as a critical infrastructure company. Every day we provide the essential products and services people need to fuel their vehicles, heat their homes, run their businesses, and add convenience to their lives. Like other businesses, we encountered spot supply chain disruptions and labor shortages. We were able to mitigate these issues where possible, minimizing impacts, and our third quarter results were strong. Turning to our distribution, last week the Board declared a quarterly cash distribution of $57.50 per common unit, or $2.30 on an annualized basis, on all outstanding units for the period from July 1st to September 30th, 2021. The distribution will be paid November 12th to unit holders of record as of November 8th. We continue to play an active role in advocating and planning for the expansion of liquid renewable fuels in our markets. We are in the process of upgrading five terminals for expanded biofuel capacity and are finishing the installation of our first microgrid. The microgrid is being installed at our all-town fresh location in Ayer, Massachusetts. With that, now let me turn the call over to Greg for his financial review. Greg?