Genie Energy Ltd.

Good morning and welcome to Genie Energy's first quarter 2024 earnings call. All participants should be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. 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.

Thank you, Operator. With me today are Michael Stein, Genie Energy's CEO, and Avi Golden, 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, those discussed in the reports that we file periodically with the SEC. Jeannie 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 the 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 Jeannie.com IR page, includes a reconciliation of consolidated adjusted EBITDA to its nearest comparable gap measures, consolidated debt income and income from operations, for all periods presented. In addition, adjusted EBITDA for applicable segments are reconciled in the earnings release to their respective segments' income from operations for all periods presented. I will now turn the conference over to Michael Stein, GENIE's Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Brian. Welcome to GENIE Energy's first quarter 2024 earnings call. We reported a solid quarter this morning, with record first quarter revenue and gross profit. On top of our regular quarterly dividend, we repurchased 250,000 shares of common stock, which we believe is trading well below its fair value. At GRE, we ended the first quarter with 365,000 customers, up about 5%, and 348,000 RCEs, down about 1%, respectively, over the prior year. Within GRU, diversity had another very strong quarter, And at Genie Solar, we advanced several third-party-owned commercial projects into the construction phase, helping to drive a significant increase in segment revenue, quarterly gross profit, and adjusted EBITDA year-over-year. We also advanced several Genie-owned solar projects that are in development and added new projects to the pipeline, even as several others dropped out of our development plans due to lack of viability. This movement in and out of the pipeline is not uncommon for early stage solar opportunities. We are confident that the investments we've made to enhance our team and upgrade our operational capabilities should help us grow and optimize the pipeline while also moving existing projects through the pipeline more rapidly. As a reminder, our solar project development strategy is intended to be a long-term value driver for the company. Developing projects from site-right acquisitions through construction and into operations typically takes years. However, we are pursuing projects with robust ROI projections that we expect will provide growing recurring revenue streams to the company for years to come. Given the solid operational and financial start to the year, we remain on track to deliver $40 to $50 million in company-wide consolidated adjusted EBITDA for 2024. This range represents a significant increase from our pre-2022 normalized adjusted EBITDA range of $25 to $30 million, and includes significant ongoing investments in developing utility-scale solar projects at Group. Our upgraded expectations reflect our expanded customer base at GRE, our pivot away from international retail, and our focus on continuously enhancing our analytical and operational capabilities. Consistent with our 2024 projections, we expect to remain opportunistic with respect to potential new retail customer acquisitions, both organic and inorganic. This year at GRU, we will continue to move toward the completion of our Perry and Lansing solar farms, both in New York. Additionally, we expect our upgraded project development team to further expand our pipeline and move the viable projects through development process more quickly. Our diversity business continues to perform well, Diversity's revenue grew for the 10th straight quarter, and its gross profit reached its highest level ever for the fourth consecutive quarter. Overall, we expect that diversity will contribute to our enhanced growth and profitability in the coming years. To wrap up, we delivered another solid quarter, allocated capital to buy back shares at what we believe are deep value levels, and continue to make progress in our solar business. Now, I'll turn the call over to Avi for his discussion of our financial results.