Star Group L.P.

Good morning and welcome to Star Group fiscal 2020 fourth quarter earnings call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. If you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note that this event is being recorded. Now I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Chris Witty, Investor Relations Moderator. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. With me on the call today are Jeff Woosnam, Chief Executive Officer, and Rich Ambury, Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to provide a brief safe harbor statement. This conference call may include forward-looking statements that represent the company's expectations and beliefs concerning future events that involve risks and uncertainties and may cause the company's actual performance to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this conference call are forward-looking statements. and the company's other filings with the SEC. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements. Unless otherwise required by law, the company undertakes an obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date of this conference call. I now need to turn the call over to Jeff Woosnam. Jeff?

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our year-end conference call. It's amazing how time has flown even in the midst of a global pandemic. And here we are concluding our fiscal year and at the start of another heating season. I'm pleased to say that in the face of many economic uncertainties, Star Group finished fiscal 2020 with strong performance and is well positioned for the future. For the full year, adjusted EBIT arose 37% to $130.3 million, reflecting $46.3 million in lower operating expenses in our base business, and more. We believe these results in the middle of a health care crisis and nationwide recession clearly demonstrate the value of our products and services as well, of course, as the dedication of our high caliber team of employees. I appreciate everything that's going into Star's performance this year, which includes a significant reduction in net customer attrition as compared to fiscal 2019's higher levels. Although the first two months of fiscal 2021 have proven to be challenging, particularly as it relates to new customer additions, we remain confident in our strategy of reducing overhead costs, focusing on increased operating efficiencies, and reinvesting in areas that directly improve the customer experience and will continue to lead to improved long-term results. We've also taken some strategic actions to better position the company for future growth. Most notably, as part of our ongoing efforts to evaluate our initiatives and direct resources and capital, we have recently sold our propane operations in the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. As you may be aware, beginning around 2011, we began expanding our propane business in the Southeast through several small acquisitions and then attempted to accelerate our growth by opening a number of small startup locations in adjacent markets. Unfortunately, we were not successful in building the critical customer mass and related volume required in order to get these operations to a desired level of profitability. We felt it was best to divest ourselves of the associated assets and redirect our capital, time, and attention to areas that produce greater profitability and better, more consistent returns. Our long-term goal of expanding our heating oil and propane business both organically and through acquisitions remains unchanged. With everything we've done to improve service levels and streamline the business, I feel confident the company is prepared and can react appropriately to any new challenges as we begin fiscal 2021. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rich to provide additional comments on the quarter and year-end results. Rich?