Q1 2023 Ferrellgas Partners LP Earnings Call

Speaker 2: Good day and welcome to the Feral Gas Partners first quarter fiscal 2023 earnings conference call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. I would now like to turn the call over to James Farrell, Chief Executive Officer and President of Feral Gas. You may begin.

Speaker 3: Welcome to our first quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call. My name is Jim Farrell, Chief Executive Officer and President of Farrell Gas.

Speaker 4: Before we go over the financial results for the quarter, I want to make a couple of points in terms of our performance over the last few months.

Speaker 5: You may get tired of hearing this.

Speaker 6: but I have to highlight the employees of our great company.

Speaker 7: While we are a remote workforce and better because of it, I see hundreds of our employees every week personally contributing on strategy zooms.

Speaker 8: making this company stronger than ever.

Speaker 9: Our successful performance this last quarter, despite the challenging economic environment, is directly correlated to the outstanding execution of the United States of America's

Speaker 10: by over 4,500 employee-owners scattered across the country.

Speaker 11: We believe in investing in our people, and the results, I believe, speak for themselves.

Speaker 12: We have also continued to build upon the strength of this great, clean energy we sell.

Speaker 13: and the good it brings to our thousands of customers.

Speaker 14: I will now turn the floor over to our VP of Accounting and Corporate Controller.

Speaker 15: Wendell Parks to present the results for the quarter.

Speaker 16: Thank you, Jim, and welcome to our first quarter fiscal year 2023 earnings call.

Speaker 17: I'd like to remind all of you that some statements made during this call may be considered forward-looking and that various risks, uncertainties, and other factors could cause actual performance to differ materially from anticipated performance.

Speaker 18: These factors are discussed in our Form 10-K filed on September 30, 2022, and other documents filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Speaker 19: Additionally, we note that the purpose of this call is to discuss the results of operations for the first fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2022.

Speaker 20: The company's growth strategy drove an increase of 1% in gallons sold in the first fiscal quarter.

Speaker 21: The growth was additionally aided by weather that was favorable compared to the prior year period.

Speaker 22: As a technology-enabled logistics company, Ferrel Gas continues to benefit from its nationwide footprint and focus on continuous improvement.

Speaker 23: Revenues increased $18.8 million, or 5% higher, for the first quarter.

Speaker 24: Cost of sales was favorable with a decrease of $6.3 million or 3% lower.

Speaker 25: Gross profit was favorable with an increase of $25.1 million or 15% higher for the first quarter.

Speaker 26: Margin per gallon increased by 14 cents or 13 percent higher compared to the prior year period.

Speaker 27: Operating income per gallon was 4 cents or 58% higher compared to the prior year period.

Speaker 28: Operating, general, and administrative expenses increased $15.2 million for the first quarter compared to the prior year period.

Speaker 29: The $13 million increase in operating costs was primarily attributable to higher fuel costs and fleet costs.

Speaker 30: General and administrative costs increased $2.2 million, primarily due to legal fees related to non-corp businesses.

Speaker 31: For the first quarter, the company reported a net loss attributable to Ferrel Gas Partners LP of $4.5 million compared to a net loss of $8.6 million in the prior year period.

Speaker 32: Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, increased by 12.4 million, or 33%, to 49.7 million compared to 37.3 million in a prior year period.

Adjusted EBITDA was favorably impacted by an increase of $7.4 million in operating income.

I will now turn it over to Tamria to review our operational and company highlights.

Thank you, Wendell.

Ferrel Gas welcomed its newest acquisitions to the Ferrel Gas family during the first fiscal quarter, Browns Gas in California and Dubin Gas in New York.

We announced the continuation of our partnership with Operation Warm, a national nonprofit for providing winter coats to families facing hardship. The collaboration is a perfect fit as Ferrel Gas seeks to support the families that we serve in communities across the country, providing warmth and comfort to those in need.

As a Category 4 hurricane tracked towards Florida this fall, we showcased our national logistics capabilities. Blue Rhino production facilities helped to flood the supply chain, staging extra Blue Rhino tanks in strategic areas.

The ferro gas supply team, they ensured an ample supply of propane was on hand.

Our drivers for both Blue Rhino and Ferrel Gas came in from other parts of the country to assist in the prep and in the recovery. As a result, once Hurricane Ian passed, our operations teams were able to serve the heavy demand of our customers without missing a beat.

Meanwhile, using propane donated and delivered by both Blue Rhino and Ferrel Gas, the non-profit organization Operation Barbecue Relief provided over 865,000 meals for people affected by Hurricane Ian.

At 38 days, it was their largest and longest deployment to date. We are proud to partner with them.

We celebrated our employees again this quarter in the areas of safety, customer service, innovation, and leadership, presenting Ferrel Gas Flame Awards to hundreds of Ferrel Gas employees who were nominated by their peers.

These employees, along with almost 4,500 other Ferrel gas employees, are directly responsible for the results that Jim, Wendell, and I have shared.

While Jim Wendell and I have the privilege to share these fantastic results today, we know that these results are entirely due to the efforts of our amazing employees. You know, as Jim opened this call today by acknowledging and thanking our employee owners, our results are very much an evidence of the investment that we have continued to make

benefits to our employees. As Jim stated again at the open of this call, we will continue to invest in the very best workforce in this industry.

Jim, back to you.

I'll now turn the call back to our moderator, but before I do that, as mentioned in the announcement for this call, any additional questions may be submitted via our Investor Relations email box.

at Investor relations at Ferro gas.com

Thank you for participating today. Bye. Okay.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does include the program and you may now disconnect. Everyone have a great day.