MDU Resources Group, Inc.

to prevent any backhoe loans. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer period. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star two on your telephone keypad. The webcast can be accessed at www.mdu.com under the Investor Settings. Select Events and Presentations and click Q1 2025 Earnings Conference Call. After the conclusion of the webcast, a replay will be available at the same location. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jason Vollmer, Chief Financial Officer of MDU Resources Group. Thank you, Mr. Vollmer. You may begin your conference.

Thank you, Operator, and I'd like to welcome everyone to our first quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. You can find our earnings release and supplemental materials for this call on our website at www.mdu.com under the Investors tab. Meeting today's discussion along with me is Nicole Cavisto, President and CEO of MDU Resources. During our call, we will make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. For more information about the risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to vary from any forward-looking statements, please refer to our most recent SEC filings. I'll provide consolidated financial results later during the call, but first we'll turn the call over to Nicole for her remarks. Nicole?

Thank you, Jason, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today and for your continued interest in IMME resources. We are off to a strong start in 2025. This morning we reported income from continuing operations of $82.5 million, or $0.40 per share, for the first quarter, a 10.4% increase compared to this time last year. Our pipeline and natural gas distribution segments grew earnings by 13.9% and 11.5%, respectively, year over year, driving our solid first quarter performance. I am extremely proud of our employees whose dedication to our core strategy continues to deliver exceptional performance and positions MDU resources with compelling long-term growth prospects. Our utility experienced 1.4% combined retail customer growth compared to a year ago, which is in line with our 1-2% annual projected growth rate. This growth reinforces our need to invest in our utility infrastructure to meet the demands of our growing customer base. At our electric segment, we signed a purchase agreement to acquire a 49% ownership interest in the Badger Wind Farm during the quarter, which equates to 122.5 megawatts of the project's total 258 megawatts of generation capacity. The purchase is contingent on certain regulatory approvals, and we have filed an advanced determination of prudence with the North Dakota Public Service Commission for this project. We also anticipate filing general rate cases in Montana and Wyoming at our electric segment yet this year. From a legislative perspective, wildfire prevention and liability limitation bills have passed in three of our four electric states, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana. While we remain focused on designing processes to prevent wildfires in our service territory, this legislation provides greater certainty going forward and limits liability. We continue to see data center opportunities, including the 580 megawatts of data center load we have under signed electric service agreements. Of that total, 180 megawatts is currently online, with an additional 100 megawatts expected to come online late this year, and the balance expected to continue through the next few years. Our current approach is to serve these large customer opportunities with a capital-light business model, which not only benefits our earnings and returns, but also provides cost savings to our other retail customers. At our natural gas distribution segment, rate relief was a strong contributor to the quarterly results. In Washington, we received a final order approving our multi-year rate case with year one rates effective March 5th, 2025 and year two rates effective March 1st, 2026. Subsequently, we did file a revision to decrease revenues slightly due to forecasted plant that was not placed in service by December 31st, 2024. In Montana, we received approval of interim rates effective February 1st and also filed a settlement agreement on April 3rd, 2025. In Wyoming, we have reached a settlement in principle in our rate case there and anticipate filing that settlement in the near term. We also anticipate filing a general rate case in Idaho yet in the second quarter. Moving on to our pipeline segment, we achieved record first quarter earnings up 13.9% from the first quarter of 2024. The segment is executing well on our core strategy and delivering strong results, driven by strategic expansion in increased demand for transportation and storage services. We remain committed to investing in future expansion projects to meet increasing customer demand for services. including strong interest from industrial customers and power generation projects. In January 2025, we completed a non-binding open season for our proposed Bakken East pipeline project that could run approximately 375 miles from the Bakken region to eastern North Dakota. This project would provide much-needed takeaway capacity to meet the forecasted natural gas production growth in the region and provide natural gas transportation service to industrial, power generation, and local distribution companies. Currently, we are engaged in planning and discussions with potential customers and landowners along the proposed route, and we are targeting an in-service date of late 2029 for the first phase of this project and late 2030 for the second phase. As a reminder, this project is not currently in our five-year capital forecast and would be incremental should we determine to proceed. Additionally, in April, we announced a binding open season for the Baker Storage Field Enhancement and Transportation Expansion Project. The proposed project could add 72 million cubic feet per day of new firm natural gas storage deliverability and transportation service. The open season runs through May 20, 2025. Looking at the full year for MD resources, we are affirming our earnings per share guidance in the range of 88 to 98 cents per share. This range reflects continued strong performance across our segments coming off a strong first quarter. As we look ahead, we are focused on our core strategy, which emphasizes customers and communities, operational excellence, returns focus, and employee driven. We believe we are well positioned for growth into the future with anticipated capital investment of $3.1 billion over the next five years, 7% to 8% compound annual utility rate-based growth, and customer growth expected in the 1% to 2% range annually. We also anticipate a long-term EPS growth rate of 6% to 8% while targeting a 60% to 70% annual dividend payout ratio. As always, MD Resources is committed to operating with integrity and with a focus on safety. We remain dedicated to delivering value as a leading energy provider and employer of choice. I will now turn the call back over to Jason for the financial update. Jason.