DBA Sempra

Good day and welcome to SEMPRA's third quarter earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Glenn Donovan. Please go ahead.

Good morning and welcome to SEMPRA's third quarter 2023 earnings call. A live webcast of this teleconference and slide presentation are available on our website under our events and presentations section. We have several members of our management team with us today, including Jeff Martin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Trevor Mihalik, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Kevin Segarra, Executive Vice President and Group President. Justin Byrd, Chief Executive Officer of Sempra Infrastructure. Alan Nye, Chief Executive Officer of Encore. Peter Wall, Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer. and other members of our senior management team. Before starting, I'd like to remind everyone that we'll be discussing forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement we make today. The factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially are discussed in the company's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC. Earnings per share amounts in our presentation are shown on a diluted basis and we'll be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the presentation slides that accompany this call for reconciliation to gap measures. We also encourage you to review our 10Q for the quarter ended September 30th, 2023. Please note that all share and per share amounts reflect the two for one split of our common stock in the form of a 100% stock dividend that we announced on the second quarter call and distributed in August. I'd also like to mention that the forward-looking statements contained in this presentation speak only of today, November 3rd, 2023, and it's important to note that the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise any of these forward-looking statements in the future. With that, please turn to slide four and let me hand the call over to Jeff.

Thank you all for joining us today. We're pleased with the strength of our third quarter results, which sets the stage for our company's continued growth. Given current geopolitical tensions, countries around the world are looking to ensure they are not dependent on supply chains that are subject to disruption and uncertainty. Increasingly, they want to source essential goods, whether food, liquefied natural gas, or microchips, closer to home or from dependable allies. With this trend toward deglobalization, we see North America as one of the principal beneficiaries. We also believe these trends support important new growth in Mexico, where in the first half of 2023, foreign direct investment has risen sharply by approximately 40% over the prior year comparable period. Just this year, Mexico has also surpassed China as America's largest trading partner. As these trends continue, new higher levels of investment in North America's energy grid will be critical to supporting continued economic expansion. That's why at Sempra we're really excited about our mission to build this continent's premier energy infrastructure company. As part of that mission, we focused significant time and effort on building a high-performing culture where we invest for the long term in our business and our employees. And in combination, this has helped us achieve strong financial and operating results. Our strategy focuses on what we believe are the most attractive markets in North America with strong economic growth and constructive regulation. Combined with capital discipline, this positions Sempra to deliver competitive, long-term returns for our owners. Also, our business is expected to benefit from secular tailwinds that support our five-year capital plan of approximately $40 billion. You will recall I've spoken before about the opportunities that lie ahead for Encore and the possibility of doubling their rate base over the next five to six years. While we're still early in our fall planning process, we expect to increase our $40 billion capital plan by 10% to 20% when we update our five-year plan on our fourth quarter call. This increase is expected to be anchored by regulated utility investments and primarily driven by Encore. Overall, we continue to see significant growth in multiple areas of Encore's service territory, and with Alan here today, he will speak to some of those opportunities later on today's call. Turning to the quarter, we believe our results demonstrate the strength of our business and our ability to continue producing strong earnings growth. Earlier today, we reported third quarter 2023 adjusted earnings per share of $1.08 and year-to-date 2023 adjusted earnings per share of $3.48. given our year-to-date success we're expecting to be at or above the high end of our 2023 adjusted eps guidance range and we're affirming our 2024 eps guidance range and projected long-term eps growth rate of six to eight percent Finally, let me take a moment to speak about Kevin Segarra, who will be retiring next month after nearly 30 years of service at Sempra and its predecessor companies. Kevin was instrumental in the 1998 transaction that originally formed Sempra when the parent companies of SDG&E and SoCalGas merged. He has held many leadership positions across our companies, including CEO of Semper Renewables, CEO of San Diego Gas and Electric, as well as his recent role as group president over our California utilities. He's had a really amazing career here and made significant contributions to our success and will be greatly missed. Now let me turn the call over to Alan Nye, who will take us through business developments in Texas.