Canadian Utilities Limited

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the second quarter 2024 results conference call and webcast for Canadian Utilities Limited. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star then 1 on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing the star button and the number zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Colin Jackson, Senior Vice President of Financial Operations. Please go ahead, Mr. Jackson.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased you could join us for Canadian Utilities' second quarter 2024 conference call. With me today, we have Katie Patrick, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Canadian Utilities. Wayne Stensby, Chief Operating Officer of Akko Energy Systems. Clint Workington, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Investment Officer of Akko Energy Systems. Bob Miles, Chief Operating Officer at Akko Empower. And Greg Stevenson, Chief Financial Officer of Akko Empower. Before we move on with today's remarks, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the numerous traditional territories and homelands on which our global facilities are located. Today, we are speaking to you from our Akko Park head office in Calgary, which is located in Treaty 7 region. This is the ancestral territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy, comprised of the Siksika, the Kainai, and the Pagani Nations, the Tsitsinu Nation, and the Stony Nakota Nations. which includes the Chukniki, Bears Paw, and Good Stony First Nations. I also want to recognize that the City of Calgary is home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Districts 5 and 6. During our second quarter, we proudly celebrated National Indigenous History Month, a time to honor the stories, achievements, and resilience of Indigenous peoples. We carry this message beyond the month of June and respect the diverse history, languages, ceremonies, and cultures of the Indigenous peoples who call these areas home. We will first hear from Katie, who will deliver opening comments on our financial results and recent company developments, followed by an update from Wayne and Bob on their respective business segments. Following today's remarks, the Canadian Utilities team will then take questions from the investment community We ask that you limit questions to two per analyst, and if you have additional questions, please re-enter the queue. For any detailed modeling questions, please follow up with the investor relations team after today's call. Please note that a replay of the conference call, a short supplemental presentation, and today's transcript will be available on our website at canadianutilities.com following the call. The materials can be found in the investor section under events and presentations. Today's remarks will include forward-looking statements that are subject to important risks and uncertainties. For more information on these risks and uncertainties, please refer to our filings with the Canadian securities regulators. During today's presentation, we may refer to certain non-GAAP and other financial measures, such as total of segment measures, adjusted earnings, adjusted earnings per share, and capital investment. Beginning in this quarter, we have also provided adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or adjusted EBITDA, for ACCO Empower. These non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS, And as a result, they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. Now, I'll turn the call over to Katie for her opening remarks.

Thanks, Colin, and good morning, everyone. Thank you all very much for joining us today. This quarter's results highlight our continued focus on operational execution and demonstrate the momentum we are building towards our strategic growth plans. Canadian utilities delivered another strong quarter with adjusted earnings of $117 million in the second quarter of 2024, up 17% from the same period last year. This translates to adjusted earnings per share of $0.43. Atco Energy Systems delivered adjusted earnings of $112 million, an increase of 14% from Q2 of last year. Results were mainly driven by our electric transmission business, which benefited from rate-based growth and higher allowed ROE in 2023. Wayne will dive into the energy systems results later on this call. ATCO Empower delivered adjusted earnings of $18 million in the quarter, up $10 million from the same period last year. Electricity Generation recorded adjusted earnings of $8 million in Q2 2024, up from $5 million last year. These results benefit from a settlement with a major supplier related to wind turbine availability in 2023 and an increase of 24% in generation, the details of which are provided in the MD&A. Over to the energy side, adjusted earnings doubled year over year to $10 million. This business is performing very well and continues to drive growth amid strong spreads and high demand for natural gas and liquid storage. Bob will provide additional commentary on the NPower results later on today's call. ASCO Australia delivered adjusted earnings of $17 million in the second quarter, consistent with the same period last year. Australia benefited from favourable changes to PPA power pricing and cost efficiencies. This was offset by lower CPI expectations, which fell from roughly 4.5% in 2023 to approximately 3% this year. During the quarter, we submitted our revised Sixth Access Arrangement, or AA6 plan, to the Australian regulator. Our response included additional supporting material for demand and expenditure forecasts, our updated IT strategy, as well as modelling for accelerated depreciation. We were actively engaged with the Australian regulator on the review of the additional information provided. We believe alignment is achievable and expect to finalise the AA6 plan in November of this year. Finally, we continue to make progress on our growth priorities in Australia. We installed over 3,600 new customer connections during the quarter and over 7,100 new customers year-to-date. Beginning in July, we began work on a sell-down process for the Central West Pump Hydro Initiative, and we are busy evaluating next steps for this project. On the South Australian Government Hydrogen Jobs Plan, we continue to work alongside our partners to bring this initiative to markets. During the quarter and as part of our ongoing drive for operational efficiencies, we took steps to streamline our cost structure. We took a hard look at our corporate overhead and business units to ensure our teams are fit for purpose and aligned to our renewed growth ambitions. Heading into the second half of the year, the Canadian Utilities team is refreshed, nimble and laser focused on executing our project pipeline. Stepping back and looking at Canadian Utilities as a whole, Cash flow from operations was $471 million in the quarter, which supported our operations, capital program, and normal course financial commitments. Currently, our portfolio of operating assets generates enough cash flow to fund our development pipeline, and we do not anticipate the need for additional equity financing in the near term. With that, let's dive into each segment in more detail. I will now turn the call over to Wayne to discuss the Atco Energy Systems results.