UNITIL Corporation

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q2 2021 Unitil Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Todd Diggins, Director of Finance. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us to discuss Unitil Corporation's second quarter 2021 financial results. Speaking on the call today will be Tom Eisner, 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.unital.com. We will refer to that information during this call. Moving to slide two, the comments made today about future operating results or 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 financial measures. The accompanying supplemental information more fully describes these non-GAAP financial measures and includes a reconciliation to the nearest GAAP financial measures. The company believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating its performance. And with that, I will turn the call over to Chairman, President, and CEO, Tom Meissen.

Thanks, Todd, and good morning, everyone. I'm going to begin on slide four today. So today we're pleased to announce net income of $2.7 million, or 18 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2021. For the first half of 2021, net income was $21.6 million, or $1.44 per share. This represents an increase of 21 cents per share over the same six-month period of 2020 and reflects higher electric and gas adjusted gross margins. Next, I'd like to quickly review a few high-level themes. First, we reiterate our long-term guidance of 5 to 7 percent growth in earnings per share, with 2021 earnings expected to be somewhat above the higher end of the range relative to 2020. Second, the company recently announced a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. This announcement is a major step for the company and reflects our commitment to environmental stewardship and corporate responsibility. Finally, I would also like to note the filing of another strategic rate case in New Hampshire for our gas utility, Northern Utilities. Combined, the pending rate applications for Unitil Energy Systems and Northern Utilities request a nearly $20 million increase in base distribution revenues. Bob will discuss the details of these filings later in the call. Moving to slide five, as I noted earlier, on June 21st, we announced our goal to reduce company-wide direct greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 relative to 2019 levels and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. These goals are part of our overall commitment to environmental stewardship, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. As I've said before, our vision is to transform the way people meet their evolving energy needs to create a clean and sustainable future. We will continue to work with customers, policymakers, and industry leaders to reduce emissions from the energy supply delivered to our customers. With that, I'll now pass it over to Bob, who will provide further detail on our financial results.