Spire Inc.

Good day and welcome to the SPIRE Q3 earnings 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 touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Dudley. Please go ahead.

Good morning everyone and welcome to our third quarter earnings call. We issued our earnings news release this morning and you may access it on our website at Spire Energy. There's a slide presentation that accompanies our webcast and you may download it either from the webcast site or from our website under investors and then events and presentations. Presenting on the call today are Suzanne Sutherwood, President and CEO Steve Lindsey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Steve Rasche, Executive Vice President and CFO. Before we begin, let me briefly cover our safe harbor statement and use of non-GAAP earnings measures. Today's call, including responses to questions, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, There are various uncertainties and risk factors that may cause future performance or results to be different than those anticipated. These risks and uncertainties are outlined in our quarterly and annual filings with the SEC. In our comments, we will be discussing net economic earnings, contribution margin, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted long-term capitalization, which among others are non-GAAP measures used by management when evaluating our performance and results of operations. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to their GAAP counterparts are contained in our news release and in the slide presentation. So with that, I will turn the call over to Suzanne.

Thank you, Scott, and good morning to everyone joining us for our third quarter update. First, I'd like to say that I hope you are safe and healthy. So many of us, as well as our family members, friends, and colleagues, are working through new challenges and adapting to those challenges each and every day. With a global pandemic that's not over yet and racial and social justice on our hearts and minds, it's important to have perspective and pay attention to the world around us. It's also important during difficult times to look inward, reflecting on our own beliefs, values, and behaviors, everything that makes us who we are. because it's these moments of self-reflection that inspire outward action. As Spire, knowing who we are helped us answer the many challenges of a quickly changing work environment while still delivering safe, reliable energy to the people and communities who count on us. For example, in the midst of ongoing changes related to the coronavirus, it's why we did the most Spire-like thing imaginable. We stopped and asked ourselves, How can we immediately show we care for each other and care for the communities we serve? So, we quickly got to work to adjust and focus on current needs. I'd like to provide you just a few examples. We expanded employee communications, including creating a mobile internet channel dedicated to coronavirus news, gifted to work from home environment wherever possible, and offer coronavirus-specific leave for all Spire Field employees. Held ongoing educational calls for Spire leaders on business operations, safety guidelines and how to keep teams connected. Covered shifts for each other to ensure seamless service for our customers. Temporarily suspended late fees and disconnection for customers. Match new and increased donations to our Dollar Help program that provides bill assistance for customers struggling to make ends meet. Donated through the Aspire Foundation to fund local food relief programs across five states. And Aspire employees have been volunteering their time to help the communities we serve through our Day for Good program. Then, when the world shifted again and calls for justice echoed throughout our communities, further elevated our inclusion work, gathering all SPIRE leaders in a virtual forum to focus on closing the distance between people while creating an inclusive environment for all. We did all this because our beliefs, values, and behaviors, our culture is clearly defined, and no matter what, we always know who we are. As an essential service designated by government authorities, we're part of our nation's vital energy infrastructure. and that comes with a certain level of responsibility whether we safely and reliably delivering energy to homes and businesses are doing our part in preventing the spread of virus. Through it all, I'm proud to say that our incredible Spire employees have stepped up and made the adjustments necessary to ensure that our customers and communities are being well served, supported and kept safe and healthy as possible. They've done this while actively embracing safety guidelines that add extra layers to an already full schedule. And they've done this while also staying uber-focused on delivering business results. With many thanks to our employees, I'll now turn to our third quarter results. Our net economic earnings were 7 cents per share, as higher gas utility earnings and better contributions from our midstream business were offset by lower results from gas marketing. I'm pleased to note that we're ready to provide earning guidance for fiscal 2020 now that we have clarity on the Missouri Pipeline Replacement Program. We expect our net economic earnings this year to be in the range of $370 to $375 per share, reflecting our year-to-date results and the impact of coronavirus and interest settlements. Steve Rasche will have more to say about our earnings guidance range for this year. With that, I'll turn the call over to Steve Lindsey for an update on several important topics. First, he'll speak to regulatory and legislative initiatives in Missouri regarding interest. Then, the revisions to our SPIRE storage development plan. And finally, the continued acceleration of our capital investment program, which provides even safer, more reliable systems while also resulting in better environmental performance. Steve?