Star Group L.P.

Good morning and welcome to the Star Group third quarter 2021 results conference call. All participants will 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, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Witty, Investor Relations Advisor. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. With me on the call today are Jeff Woosnam, President and 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 on historical facts included in this conference call are forward-looking statements. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors that could cause extra results to differ materially from the company's expectations are disclosed in this conference call, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2020, 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 no obligations to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether it is a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date of this conference call. I now like to turn the call over to Jeff Woosnam. Jeff?

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss our third quarter report. and fiscal year-to-date results. While summer is typically a less active time for STAR than the heating season, a mix of factors, both positive and negative, impacted results versus the prior year period. The volume of home heating oil and propane fell 26% as a result of significantly warmer temperatures compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2020, which was the second coldest on record over the last 50 years within the New York metropolitan area. However, as areas previously impacted by the pandemic have begun to normalize, we benefited from increased HVAC equipment installation revenue and related gross profit, along with higher sales of other petroleum products. Our service revenues also increased year over year, but this positive development was more than offset by the additional expense associated with returning to a more traditional off-season workload, as well as a more normal level of heating system maintenance. We also took the opportunity to invest in additional technical training for our field staff, all of which had been somewhat paused in the third quarter of fiscal 2020. Given all of these factors, our performance came in largely as anticipated and more in line with historical levels. Although we did not complete any new acquisitions in the quarter, the businesses we acquired earlier in the year are performing well in aggregate, and we are currently working on several additional Attractives Tuckinac Opportunities. Our acquisition program remains an important part of our growth strategy. Through the first nine months of the fiscal year, adjusted EBIT had decreased by $2.4 million versus the same period in 2020. As fiscal 2021 winds down, we are pleased with our overall performance as a business, particularly in the face of slightly warmer temperatures, certain rising inflationary costs, and a $6.7 million reduction in weather insurance proceeds due to the seasonal timing of three days. I remain confident that the steps we are taking through the third and fourth quarters will help start well positioned and prepared for next heating season and whatever challenges and opportunities are presented. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rich for additional comments on the quarter. Rich?