Suburban Propane Partners, L.P.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Suburban Propane Partners, L.P., fiscal 2020 second quarter results conference call. At this point, all the participant lines are in a listen-only mode. However, there will be an opportunity for your questions and instructions will be given at that time. If you should require any assistance during the call, please press star zero and an operator will assist you offline. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. And again, this conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended relating to the partnership's future business expectations and predictions and financial conditions of operations. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. The partnership has listed some of the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. from those discussed in such forward-looking statements, which are referred to as cautionary statements in its earnings press release, which can be viewed on the company's website. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the partnership or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by such cautionary statements. With that, I'll turn the call now to Mr. Davin D'Ambrosio, Vice President and Treasurer. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, John. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning for our fiscal 2020 second quarter earnings conference call. Joining me this morning are Mike Stivala, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Kuglin, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Accounting Officer, and Steve Boyd, our Chief Operating Officer. This morning, we will review our second quarter financial results along with our current outlook for the business. As usual, once we've concluded our prepared remarks, we open the session to questions. Our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2019, and Form 10-Q for the period ended March 28, 2020, will be filed by the end of business today. Both contain additional disclosures regarding forward-looking statements and risk factors. Copies may be obtained by contacting the Partnership or the SEC. Certain non-GAAP measures will be discussed on this call. We have provided a description of those measures as well as a discussion of why we believe this information to be useful in our Form 8-K, which was furnished to the SEC this morning. Form 8-K will be available through a link in the investor relations section of our website at suburbanpropane.com. At this point, I will turn the call over to Mike Stivala for some opening remarks.

Thanks, Devin. Good morning and thank you all for joining us today. Let me start by saying that I hope you and your families are safe and healthy and coping well with the unprecedented environment that we have all faced over the past two months. Our hearts go out to those that have lost loved ones or are suffering as a result of the unprecedented health crisis that has plagued our entire nation. And to the frontline healthcare workers and first responders that are working tirelessly to help save lives, I thank you. At Suburban Propane, we have adapted our business practices with the health and safety of our employees, our customers, and local communities as our number one priority. Our business is considered an essential critical service in all of the states in which we operate, and I am so proud of the resiliency and commitment of the more than 3,400 employees of Suburban Propane for their efforts to continue serving customers and local communities throughout this crisis. and in particular, there have been countless proud moments for Team Suburban Propane in which our employees have been called upon to support frontline activities by providing vital temporary heat and power generation for makeshift testing tents, hospital sites, shelters and food distribution centers throughout our operating territory, including taking extraordinary steps to meet a request by FEMA to make propane deliveries into New York City at the Jacob Javits Center and at the USNS Comfort to provide power to the RVs that housed FEMA workers as they worked around the clock. This unprecedented health crisis has obviously had a profound impact on jobs and the economy as a whole, as federal, state, and local governments have all instituted dramatic measures to help control the spread of COVID-19. Our business is certainly not immune to the challenges presented by this dramatic at this time the areas that may be the most susceptible to the effects include the temporary suspension of business operations by certain of our commercial and industrial customers which has already resulted in lower demand in these customer segments and we could see additional demand softness from businesses that are unable to recover or that experience generally lower activity levels for a prolonged period of time. We could see customer conservation efforts across all customer types if there is prolonged economic softness or a recession. We may experience a slowdown in the rate of cash collections or a higher amount of write-offs which could affect earnings and cash flows. And the industry may experience disruptions in the propane supply chain resulting from the challenges in the crude market that are impacting production, storage, and logistics. This would likely be limited to regional constraints and highly dependent on the severity of weather in next year's heating season. For suburban propane, given our infrastructure, supplier relations, and long history of success in managing our supply through many different challenging times, we are not concerned about the surety of supply. Much will depend on the length and depth of this economic slowdown across our operating territories. or the possibility of a prolonged economic recession as a consequence of these actions. Nevertheless, while there is significant uncertainty related to the future impact of this unprecedented health and economic crisis, the fundamentals of our business remain strong and our efficient and flexible business model leaves us well positioned to manage through this crisis and come out even stronger. In a moment, I will provide some additional thoughts on our outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2020 and share some steps we are taking to adapt to the current uncertainties and planning for a new heating season in fiscal 2021. But first, let me also provide some commentary on our results for the second quarter of fiscal 2020. The unseasonably warm temperatures that started at the end of the first quarter, and in particular the month of December, continued throughout the entire second quarter in virtually every one of our operating territories. The warm temperatures in the fiscal 2020 heating season have been reported to be on par with the previous record warm winters of fiscal years 2017 and 2016, thus having an adverse effect on customer demand and our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. Nonetheless, we're proud of the way our operating personnel have managed through the challenging environment maintaining their focus on our high standards for safety and exceptional customer service, effectively managing costs, and importantly, continuing to execute on our customer-based growth and retention initiatives, not to mention the extraordinary efforts to adapt to the changing business circumstances resulting from COVID-19. At this point, I'll turn it over to Mike Kuglin to take you through the details of our performance for the second quarter.