UNITIL Corporation

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Q1 2021 Unitool Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press star then zero on your touchtone telephone. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Todd Diggins, Director of Finance. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us to discuss Unitil Corporation's first quarter 2021 financial results. Speaking on the call today will be Tom Meissner, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, and Bob Hebert, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. We will discuss financial and other information on this call. As we mentioned in the press release announcing this call, we have posted information including a presentation to the investor section of our website at www.unitil.com. We will refer to that information during this call. Moving to slide two, the comments made today about future operating results or future events are forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted. Statements made on this call should be considered together with cautionary statements and other information contained in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and other documents we have filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them. This presentation contains non-GAAP measures The accompanying supplemental information more fully describes these non-GAAP measures and includes a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP measure. The company believes these non-GAAP measures are useful in evaluating its performance. And with that, I now turn the call over to Chairman, President, and CEO, Tom Eisner.

Thanks, Todd, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to begin on slide four. Today we are pleased to announce net income of $18.9 million, or $1.26 per share, for the first quarter of 2021. This represents an increase of $3.7 million, or $0.24 per share, compared to 2020. I'm also pleased to note that on April 2nd, we filed a strategic multi-year rate plan at our New Hampshire Electric Utility, which, in addition to requesting a base rate increase, includes a number of proposals to support the evolving energy needs of our customers and stakeholders. Bob will discuss the details of this filing later in the call. Looking forward, we're encouraged by signs of economic growth in the states we serve. In fact, as of March, New Hampshire is now home to the two hottest housing markets, as well as two of the top ten emerging housing markets in the nation. Finally, we remain committed to our long-term guidance of five to seven percent growth in earnings per share. Our first quarter results reflect our ongoing operating and regulatory initiatives, as well as sustained customer growth that will help us to achieve strong results in the future. Now, moving on to slide five, I'll provide an update on some of the latest economic conditions in the areas we serve, which we view with growing optimism. It's hard to believe that the onset of this pandemic was just over a year ago, but I want to again mention how pleased I've been with the dedication, resilience, and sheer determination of our employees in responding to this crisis. It's been a trying time, but we're now seeing encouraging signs of an accelerating economic recovery across our service areas. Employment data has improved significantly since the onset of the pandemic, and with the ongoing rollout of vaccines, we expect continued improvement in the labor market. To date, over 60% of residents aged 18 and older in the states we serve have received at least one dose of the vaccine, outpacing the vast majority of states. Now, in the past, we've also talked about robust construction activity in our service areas. We expect this to continue as permitting of new projects accelerates. Construction employment has now almost fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels in the areas we serve. As you'd expect, here in the Northeast, many of us look forward to the summer season, and I expect this year will be no exception. Much of our service area is along the seacoast, and businesses are expecting a great summer. The New Hampshire governor recently announced that business restrictions, including on retail and restaurants, will be lifted as early as May 7th. Given the current outlook, we expect a return to normal within months, if not weeks. Now turning to slide six, on a related note, the pandemic has actually accelerated demand for housing in our service areas. Inventory is now at an all-time low and prices are on the rise, in turn supporting construction of new residential housing. The number of new building permits issued in Maine and New Hampshire have continued to rise with the first quarter of 2021 outpacing 2020, which in turn had outpaced 2019. We serve communities that are very desirable for both households and businesses. We continue to see the attractiveness of our service areas as important to our growth strategy. Now, with that, I'll turn it over to Bob, who will provide further detail on our first quarter results.