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WGL Holdings’ (WGL) CEO Terry D. McCallister on Q3 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

WGL Holdings (NYSE: WGL ) Q3 2015 Earnings Conference Call August 6, 2015, 10:30 AM ET Executives Douglas Bonawitz – Head of Investor Relations Terry D. McCallister – Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of Executive Committee, Chairman of Washington Gas Light Company and Chief Executive Officer of Washington Gas Light Company Vincent L. Ammann – Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer of Washington Gas Light Company and Senior Vice President of Washington Gas Light Company Adrian P. Chapman – President, Chief Operating Officer, President of Washington Gas Light Company and Chief Operating Officer of Washington Gas Light Company Gautam Chandra – Senior Vice President of Strategy, Business Development and Non-Utility Operations Analysts Operator Good morning, and welcome to the WGL Holdings’ Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2015 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, I would like to inform you that this conference is being recorded and that all participants are in a listen-only mode. We will open the conference call for questions and answers after the presentation. The call will be available for rebroadcast today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, running through August 13, 2015. You may access the replay by dealing 1 (855) 859-2056 and entering pin number 91131626. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Doug Bonawitz. Sir, you may begin. Douglas Bonawitz Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. Before we begin, I would like to point out that this conference call will include forward-looking statements under the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those predicted in such forward-looking statements. Statements made on this conference 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 SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of today and we assume no duty to update them. This morning’s comments will reference a slide presentation. Our earnings release and earnings presentation are available on our website. To access these materials, please visit wgl.com. The slide presentation highlights the results for our third quarter of fiscal year 2015 and the drivers of those results. On today’s call, we’ll make reference to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including operating earnings of WGL Holdings on a consolidated basis and adjusted EBIT of our operating segments. A reconciliation of these financial measures to the nearest comparable measures reported in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or GAAP is provided as an attachment to our press release and is available in the Quarterly Results section of our website. This morning, Terry McCallister, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer will provide some opening comments. Following that, Vince Ammann, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer will review the quarterly results. Adrian Chapman, President and Chief Operating Officer, will discuss key issues affecting our business and the status of some of our principal initiatives. In addition, Gautam Chandra, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Business Development and Non-utility Operations, is also with us this morning to answer questions. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Terry McCallister. Terry D. McCallister Thanks Doug, and good morning, everybody. I am pleased to be able to report to you that WGL is on track to deliver strong results and record earnings per share in fiscal year 2015. Our non-GAAP operating earnings for the first quarter is shown on Slide 3 in our presentation were $10.7 million or $0.22 per share compared to $0.8 million or $0.02 per share in the third quarter of 2014. On a non-GAAP basis, consolidated operating earnings for the first nine months were $159.8 million or $3.39 per share. This compares to $147.8 million in the prior year or $2.85 per share. The increase in operating earnings in the third quarter were driven primarily by strong results in our retail energy-marketing segment as shown on Slide 5. Our commercial energy systems and midstream energy services segments also reported improved results year-over-year. At the utility, our customer base continued to grow as average active customer meters increased by approximately 13,000 meters year-over-year for the third quarter representing a 1.2% growth rate. Regulated utility and its customers benefited from asset optimization results in the quarter. We also saw increased earnings in the segments from rate recovery related to our accelerated pipe replacement programs. On the utility regulatory front we received positive news regarding our recent filings to expand both our Maryland STRIDE and Virginia SAVE accelerated pipe replacement plan. We’re also excited about our announcement in May regarding an investment in gas reserves, serve our utility customers in Virginia. Adrian will talk more about these developments shortly. On the non-utility side of the business, as previously mentioned, our retail energy-marketing business performed well. With electric margins significantly higher than third quarter of last year. Here we have continued to execute plans that we’ve laid out on past call, we’re focused on large commercial and government accounts where longer term strategic relationships could provide additional value. Also, our pricing practices now include managing the risk of higher PJM cost. We forecasted at the end of 2014 that business has continued on the path back to historical levels of profitability. The result in this segment during fiscal year 2015 has exceeded our expectations and partly reflect specific market opportunities unique to this fiscal year. Over the long term, we’re still targeting adjusted EBIT for the retail marketing segment in the range of $50 million to $55 million per year. Given our results through the first nine months and our earnings outlook for the remainder of the year, we are raising our consolidated non-GAAP earnings guidance by $0.20 per share, to a range of $2.90, to $3.10 per share for fiscal year 2015. I’m now going to turn the call over to Vince, who will review our third quarter results by segment. Vincent L. Ammann Thank you, Terry. First, I would like to remind you that beginning with the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, we’ve made a change to our practice of discussing earning results at the segment level. While we continue to use operating earnings per share at a consolidated level, we are now using non-GAAP adjusted earnings before interest and taxes or adjusted EBIT to discuss results at the segment level. This change provides more clarity by allowing us to discuss the performance of each business unit, prior to the impact of interest expense, taxes and accretion and dilution. Turning first to our utility segment. Adjusted EBIT for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 was $6.5 million, a decrease of $1.4 million compared to the same period last year. The drivers of this change are detailed on Slide 6. Higher results from our asset optimization program added $5.2 million in adjusted EBIT. Higher revenues from our accelerated pipe replacement programs added about $1.2 million in adjusted EBIT. The favorable effect of changes in natural gas consumption patterns in the District of Columbia added $1.5 million in adjusted EBIT. These items were offset by higher O&M expenses driven primarily by higher labour, marketing and employee incentives cost, partially mitigated by lower employee benefit cost. These impacts collectively reduced adjusted EBIT by $6 million. Higher appreciation expense also reduced adjusted EBIT by $1.9 million, reflecting growth in our investment and utility plan. Other miscellaneous items reduced adjusted EBIT by $1.9 million. Turning to the retail energy-marketing segment adjusted EBTI for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 was $18.7 million, an increase of $13.7 million compared to the same period last year. On Slide 7, you will see that the increase was driven primarily by higher electric gross margins with higher natural gas gross margin also contributing. Electric margins increased by $9.9 million, mostly driven by lower capacity charges from the regional power grid operator PJM as well as slightly higher sales volumes. These positive benefits were slightly offset by increased PJM capacity costs that took effect in June 2015, which impacted the timing of margin recognition for fixed price retail contracts. Electric volumes increased 4% in the third quarter versus the prior year, primarily due to warmer weather and the recent growth in our large commercial market. As Terry discussed earlier, our retail energy marketing business, has increased its focus on large commercial and government account relationships. In the natural gas business, gross margins were $4.4 million higher, due to lower natural gas purchase cost and favorable gas supply and pricing opportunities. Natural gas volumes decreased 3% in the third quarter versus the prior year, primarily due to a decline in the mass market customers. This decline is also related to our increased focus on commercial and government account relationships. Next, I’ll move to the commercial energy systems segment. Adjusted EBIT for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 was $7.8 million compared to $5.7 million in the same period last year. The increase reflects growth in distributed generation assets in service, partially offset by higher operating expenses. During the third quarter, our commercial distribution generation assets generated over 45,000 megawatt hours of clean electricity which was sold to customers through our purchase agreements. We remain on track to invest at least $150 million from commercial solar and other distributed generation projects during fiscal year 2015 with a potential to exceed that amount by 10% based on the timing of the projects in the pipeline. Next, I’ll move to the midstream energy services segment. Results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2015 reflect an adjusted EBIT loss of $1.4 million, compared to an adjusted EBIT loss of $4 million in the same period last year. The improvement is associated with storage transactions that occurred in this quarter. Results for our other non-utility activities reflecting adjusted EBIT loss of $1 million compared to a loss of $1.9 million, the same period of prior fiscal year. Improvement is primarily related to lower business development expenses in the current period. I’ll now move to discuss the interest expense on a consolidated basis to the third quarter. Interest expense increased to $13.1 million, during the third quarter compared to $9.5 million in the prior period. The increase was primarily driven by increased long term debt issued by both Washington Gas and WGL. As Terry stated earlier, we are increasing our consolidated non-GAAP operating earnings estimate as shown on Slide 8. We are forecasting non-GAAP earnings in the range of $2.90 to $3.10 per share. The increase is primarily due to strong performance at our utility and retail energy marketing businesses. Utility results are higher than expected, primarily due to asset optimization opportunities. On the non-utility side, we anticipate that excellent results on the retail energy marketing business will offset lower earnings from our midstream energy services business. I’ll now turn the call over to Adrian for his comments. Adrian P. Chapman Thank you, Vince and good morning, everyone. I’m pleased to provide you with an update on our operations and regulatory initiatives. In Maryland, we filed an application with the public service commission for approval of an amendment that expands our currently approved STRIDE plan. Washington Gas requested approval to add one additional program applicable to gas distribution system replacement and four additional programs applicable to transmission system replacements at an incremental investment of $31 million over the remaining four years of the STRIDE plan. This was our first inclusion of transmission pipe related replacement. On May 27, the chief public utility law judge issued a proposed order approving with modification the proposed amendment. Proposed order allowed accelerated recovery of cost related to transmission system replacements, located in Maryland, but excluded from the accelerated recovery program costs related to transmission system replacements, physically located outside of Maryland. This decision was contrary to how common transmission related costs have been recovered in rate case. Washington Gas appealed that portion of the decision to the full commission. On July 2nd, the PSC affirmed the proposed order, which approves an incremental capital expenditure of $18 million over the remaining four years of the plan. On July 30th, Washington Gas filed an appeal with the circuit court of Montgomery County to challenge the PSC decision to deny recovery through the surcharge mechanism of cost related to transmission system replacement projects located outside of Maryland. Notwithstanding the transmission related cost under appeal, we do have approval to spend an additional $4 million to $5 million per year on distribution and transmission replacements through 2018. In Virginia, we submitted an application to the state corporation commission in February, requesting approval to amend our current save plan to expand the scope of some existing programs to include new distribution facility replacement programs and to add new programs to replace transmission facilities similar to those proposed in Maryland. Washington Gas proposed investing an additional $75 million to replace, eligible infrastructure. The Company requested approval for the amended SAVE plan through December 31, 2017, which is the expiration date of the previously approved SAVE plan. On June 5th, the SEC approved the amended SAVE plan, however the commission excluded a small portion of the proposal to replace transmission facilities and the portion of the proposal to include new distribution facilities in the accelerated replacement program. The SEC in Virginia approved an incremental capital expenditure of $66 million through 2017, the new incremental billing factor which put in place on August 1st. Also in Virginia, a new law allows local distribution companies to recover a return of and a return on investments in physical gas reserves that benefit customers by reducing cost, price volatility or supply risk. On May 6th, Washington Gas entered into a 20-year agreement with Energy Corporation of America to acquire natural gas reserves through non-operating working interest in 25 producing wells located in Pennsylvania for $126 million. The purchase of the reserves is conditional upon approval by the Virginia SEC. Washington Gas filed an application with the SEC on May 12th for approval of the gas reserves purchase agreement, this part for the natural gas supply investment plan. Under the procedural schedule established to consider the application testimony from the Virginia SEC staff is due on August 26 and a public hearing is scheduled on September 30. Under the law, the SEC must issue a final decision of the application within 180 days or by November 8. Finally, I’m also pleased to announce that we’ve recently reached a new five-year collective bargaining agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 96, that was effective June 1st and will continue through 2020. This contract, which covers approximately 520 employees strengthens our ability to work together with our unions to achieve excellence for our customers, investors and employees. I would like to now turn the call back to Terry for his closing comments. Terry D. McCallister Thank you, Adrian. I’d like to now highlight a few recent developments and provide an update over the status of our midstream and distributed generation investments. First, an update on our investments in the Constitution Pipeline project. We continue to wait for a permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. We remain optimistic that construction can begin in the next few months. As of June 6, WGL Midstream, had invested approximately $26 million on the Constitution Pipeline project. Next, I’ll turn to our investment in the Central Penn line. The Central Penn line is a greenfield pipeline segment of Transco’s Atlantic Sunrise Project. This project is on track and the development activities are proceeding as expected. The Central Penn line has a projected in service date in the second half of calendar year 2017. WGL Midstream will invest approximately $412 million in the Central Penn line project. As of June 30, our subsidiaries had invested approximately $22 million. Next I’ll provide an update on our investment in the Mountain Valley pipeline project. Mountain Valley pipeline is a 300 mile pipeline in West Virginia and Virginia, and will help meet the increasing demand for natural gas in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast markets. The project is on track and development activities are proceeding as expected. Mountain Valley pipeline has a projected in service date in the second half of calendar year 2018. WGL Midstream will investment between $230 million and $245 million on the Mountain Valley pipeline project. As of June 30, WGL Midstream has invested approximately $6 million. Finally, an update on additional opportunity to invest in infrastructure that we first announced last December. As we discussed with you previously, we have an option for a 30% interest in a $400 million plus gathering system in West Virginia. This gathering system will help move gas out of production field to West Virginia to an interstate pipeline system where transportation to the mid-Atlantic region. The anticipated in-service date is now late 2015 or early 2016. We continue to evaluate additional midstream opportunities similar to the projects announced to date as we pursue our strategy to provide infrastructure solutions to move gas from producing areas to consuming areas. Turning to our commercial energy systems business, we continue to add our portfolio of distributed generation assets. As of June 30, we have 115 megawatts of installed distributed generation. We also have an additional 40 megawatt currently under contract or in construction. In total, these projects represent over $520 million in capital investment and we continue to see a robust pipeline of future projects. I want to highlight one solar project in particular this quarter as it represents our first project in the State of Colorado. WGL Energy Systems recently signed an agreement to build and operate a 1 megawatt solar project in Fort Collins, Colorado. The project is expected to be in service by December 2015 and WGL Energy Systems will own and operate the solar project for 20 [ph] years as per our agreement. In July, Washington Gas celebrated the opening of the first of three plans public CNG fuelling stations for compressed natural gas vehicles. The new station located at Washington Gas facility in Frederick, Maryland will be operated and maintained by Trillium CNG. Later this summer Washington Gas and Trillium expect to open a second public fuelling station in Forestville, Maryland and a third station is being planned for the District of Columbia. We’re proud to add this service to the spectrum of energy answers we offer at WGL. In addition, WGL Energy Services, recently teamed up with SolarCity to offer our residential customers in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia the opportunity to choose clean, renewable energy by installing a custom-designed solar energy system. Through this innovative marketing partnership our customers in these areas may now choose to install a SolarCity solar system at no upfront cost and pay less than traditional electric utility bills. This residential solar option will complement our existing operating business segment which includes wind power for electricity and carbon offsets matched to natural gas usage. We will provide detailed fiscal year 2016 guidance during our year-end conference call in November. However, based on the progress we’ve made in a number of important areas we feel confident and we’re on track to deliver the earnings growth goal in our long-range financial plan. That concludes the prepared remarks and we’ll now be happy to answer your questions. Question-and-Answer Session Operator And our first question comes from the line of Michael Gallagher. Michael Gallagher Congrats on the really strong quarter. I’ve only got two questions. First, the performance from retail marketing was impressive. Just wondering, how we should think about fiscal 2016. Are these results sustainable or are they a potential headwind next year? Vincent L. Ammann Michael this is Vince. We’ve provided some guidance there, that there were some market opportunities that we saw this year that allowed us to really exceed our expected results, probably even exceeding the long term goal of $50 million to $55 million certainly at the high end of that range. So, we’re probably looking at a 2016 that will be slightly less than what we’re able to achieve this year. Gautam, if you have anything more to add? Gautam Chandra Yeah Michael, I will just add, I think we’re still looking at what we initially kind of projected. And a couple of years ago, we’ll bring this headwind back to its historical level, the $50 million to $55 million, we still see that as very achievable, going into next year, but probably not. I wouldn’t forecast the additional margins we would realize this year into next year. Michael Gallagher Then on Central Penn, I’m wondering if you’ve determined yet where the interconnect is going to be in Southern Pennsylvania. Vincent L. Ammann I think we have a pretty good idea, but I don’t think the partners have announced that yet. Terry D. McCallister Yeah, I don’t think that’s public information yet. Michael Gallagher Okay, that’s all I had gentlemen. Thanks. Operator [Operator Instructions] Again, I would like to remind everyone that you can listen to a rebroadcast of this conference call at 1 p.m. Eastern Time today, running through August 13, 2015. You may access the replay by dealing 1 (855) 859-2056 and entering your pin number 91131626. Douglas Bonawitz Thanks everyone for joining us this morning. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to call me. It’s Doug Bonawitz at (202) 624-6129. Have a great day.

Alliant Energy’s (LNT) CEO Pat Kampling on Q2 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Alliant Energy Corporation (NYSE: LNT ) Q2 2015 Earnings Conference Call August 6, 2015, 10:00 am ET Executives Susan Gille – Manager, IR Pat Kampling – Chairman, President & CEO Tom Hanson – SVP & CFO Analysts Andrew Weisel – Macquarie Capital Paul Patterson – Glenrock Associates Operator Thank you for holding, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Alliant Energy’s Second Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Today’s conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Susan Gille, Manager of Investor Relations at Alliant Energy. Susan Gille Good morning. I would like to thank you on the call and the webcast for joining us today. We appreciate your participation. With me here today are Pat Kampling, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer; Tom Hanson, Senior Vice President and CFO; and Robert Durian, Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller; as well as other members of the senior management team. Following prepared remarks by Pat and Tom, we will have time to take questions from the investment community. We issued a news release last night announcing Alliant Energy’s second quarter 2015 earnings and reaffirmed 2015 earnings guidance. This release as well as supplemental slides that will be referenced during today’s call are available on the Investors Page of our Website at www.alliantenergy.com. Before we begin, I need to remind you that the remarks we make on this call and our answers to your questions include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different. Those risks include, among others, matters discussed in Alliant Energy’s press release issued last night and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward looking statements. In addition, this presentation contains non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation between non-GAAP and GAAP measures are provided in the supplemental slides which are available on our website at www.alliantenergy.com. At this point, I will turn the call over to Pat. Pat Kampling Thanks, Sue. Good morning and thank you for joining us today. I am pleased to report that we had another solid quarter with second quarter 2015 earnings in line with our expectations. Tom will discuss the financial details of the quarter. I am pleased to let you know for the first time in years temperatures did not have a significant impact on earnings per share for the first seven months of 2015. Therefore our year end earnings guidance is trending toward the midpoint of our guidance issued in November 2014. Environmental regulations are in the news again and it is very important to step back for a moment and review the orderly transition of our generating fleet during the past six years. We have been planning for sweeping environmental rules that would impact our industry and developed a strategic plan that would position us and our customers well for that future. We completed many components of that plan, including installing of our 500 megawatts of wind, spending over $1 billion related [ph] emissions controls to our largest and most efficient generating stations and have decided to either close or convert to natural gas several older less efficient coal generating stations. To further diversify our generating fleet, we added natural gas fired generation with the purchase of the 675 megawatts Riverside Energy Center and have another 650 megawatts under construction in Marshalltown, Iowa. And in Wisconsin, we are proposing to build another 650 megawatt natural gas fired generating station. We’ve had a very deliberate plan that transformed our generating fleet to one that is diversified, flexible, has lower emissions but ensuring that we continue to deliver reliable affordable energy to our customers. 2015 is a significant year for our industry in how we utilize and dispatch our generating fleet. We experienced some remarkable performance at our Riverside and Emery combined-cycle natural gas generating stations. During the first half of the year, they achieved capacity factors averaging approximately 45% which is about doubled they experienced in the first half of 2014. Also, our wind generation has remained consistent with capacity factors for the first half of 2015 averaging over 35%. Lastly, our coal units have operated well with the recently installed environmental controls. We have a robust capital expenditure plan for 2015 which totals over $1 billion. Approximately 35% of this year’s capital budget is for improvement and expansion of our electric and gas distribution systems, including bringing natural gas to underserved communities. Approximately 30% of this year’s capital budget is to improve the efficiency and environmental profile of our generating units. Also, approximately 30% of this year’s capital budget is for the construction of the Marshalltown Generating Station. Now let me update you on our large construction projects. In Wisconsin, the installation of a scrubber and baghouse at Edgewater Unit 5 is approximately 65% complete. It’s expected to be in service in the second quarter of 2016. Capital expenditures forecasted for this project are approximately $300 million. At Columbia, comprehensive asset management program to improve the efficiency of the units started with the installation of two new cooling towers completed in 2014 and the remaining projects are expected to be completed by the end of 2017. WPL’s share of the total estimated capital expenditure for these projects is approximately $60 million. We also expect to start construction of the PSCW approved Columbia Unit 2 SCR during the first quarter of 2016. Our estimated capital expenditure for the SCR is approximately $70 million. In Iowa, the Lansing Generating Station dry scrubber has been placed in service at a capital expenditure of approximately $55. As we previously announced, in order to replace retiring facilities and further increase the amount of natural gas fired generation, we are constructing the Marshalltown Generating Station and have proposed the Riverside Energy Center expansion. In Iowa, site construction is well underway at IPL 650 megawatt combined cycle natural gas fired Marshalltown generating station as you can see on Slide 2. Lehmans [ph] delivered the first combustion turbine in June and we expect delivery of the second CT this month. We plan to complete the construction of the gas pipeline to the facility this month and the transmission upgrades are underway. The transition upgrades for Marshalltown are projected to cost less than $25 million. So we now expect the total project to come in over $100 million below the $920 million cost cap. The reduced cost for the transition upgrades will not have an impact on our capital expenditure or rate base forecast since ITC will be funding the transmission. Marshalltown is expected to be in service by the second quarter of 2017. In 2013, WPL announced that it would require several older coal facilities and natural gas peakers. The forecasted accredited capacity loss from this retirement is approximately 640 megawatts. As a consequence, WPL evaluated a wide range of alternatives to meet the long-term energy and capacity needs for its customers. In June 2014, WPL issued an RFP from market-based options. After evaluating all of our options, we concluded that expanding the Riverside Energy Center was in the best interest of our customers. The proposed Riverside Energy Center expansion located at our existing Riverside site near Beloit, Wisconsin is approximately 650 MW highly efficient natural gas generating facility at an estimated cost of $750 million, excluding AFUDC and transmission. This past April, WPL applied for a certificate of public convenience and necessity or CPCN with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin for the proposed expansion. During a recent prehearing conference, questions arose over Wisconsin Electric Power Company’s intervention and whether WEPCo will be allowed to propose for the first time a short-term PPA as an alternative to Riverside. Later this morning, the commission will decide WEPCo’s intervention request. Our competitive RFP and alternative analysis with diligence, and we believe Riverside is and will be found to be in the best long-term interest of our customers. The current procedural schedule for the CPCN is provided on Slide 3. The proposed Riverside Energy expansion includes an approximate 2 MW solar on the properties. We also have several other solar projects under development. We’re doing them for us to gain valuable experience on how to best integrate solar on a cost-effective manner into our electric system. We will own and operate the solar panels at the Indian Creek Nature Center in Iowa as well as our Madison Corporate Headquarters which are our two projects currently under development. These solar projects were part of the capital expenditure guidance we provided in November 2014. In July, IPL announced a settlement with EPA, the Sierra Club in the state of Iowa and Linn County in Iowa to resolve potential Clean Air Act claims and to avoid unnecessary delays and ongoing uncertainty associated with litigation. The terms negotiated in the settlement were consistent with our long-term plan for cleaner energy and most of the projects included in the settlement have already been completed or at plan. The EPA meetings earlier this week issued its final rule to reduce carbon emissions from electric utilities. This rule is widely referred to as the Clean Power Plan. We understand that this is just one more step on what will be a long process that includes legal challenges and the development of compliance plans. As we work with our state regulators to develop strategies to comply we will continue to take the approach of doing what was best for our customers. We are fortunate that we operate in states that have a long history of energy efficiency programs, environmental stewardship and support for renewable energy. How we spend our capital dollars and the pace of our capital spend is focused on ensuring we manage costs, use our resources responsibly while providing energy services and solutions to our customers. As we plan for future rate cases and work with stakeholders in developing the state clean power plants, these goals will be top of mind. Let me summarize the key messages for today. We had a solid first half of the year and are well-positioned to deliver on this year’s financial and operating objectives. Our plan continues to provide for a 5% to 7% annual earnings growth objective and a 60% to 70% common dividend payout target. Our targeted 2015 dividend increased by 8% over the 2014 dividends paid. And we continue to successfully execute on our capital plans, completing projects on time and at or below budget. We will continue to work with our regulators, consumer advocates, environmental groups and customers in a collaborative manner. We will continue to manage the company to strike a balance between capital investment, operational and financial discipline and cost impact to customers. And finally, I must acknowledge and give thanks again to our dedicated workforce which not only provides reliable energy to our customers but also delivers the financial results we are discussing today. At this time, I will turn the call over to Tom. Tom Hanson Good morning everyone. We released second-quarter earnings last evening with our adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $0.67 per share. Second-quarter 2015 adjusted earnings are $0.11 higher than second quarter 2014. Comparisons between second quarter 2015 and 2014 earnings-per-share are detailed on Slides 4, 5, and 6. The adjusted or non-GAAP second-quarter earnings from continuing operations exclude a charge of $0.06 per share from the sales of IPL, Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets. The premium over the property, plant and equipment book value was more than offset by the elimination of the applicable tax related regulatory assets resulting in the charge recorded in the second quarter. We estimate the second quarter 2015 temperature impact on sales when compared to normal temperatures resulted in lower earnings of $0.03 per share. This was $0.05 lower than second quarter 2014 temperature impact of a positive $0.02 per share. On a temperature normalized basis, Alliant energy’s residential electric sales were flat whereas commercial and industrial sales increased approximately 1% quarter over quarter. Taking into consideration the first half results, we are currently forecasting modest increase in temperature normalized sales of approximately 1% for IPL and WP&L when compared to 2014. The 2015 EPS guidance range factors in retail rate based settlements at IPL and WP&L. These settlements reflect rate-based increases at both utilities, offset by a reduction of energy efficiency cost recovery amortization at WPL and the elimination of the Duane Arnold Purchase Power capacity payments at IPL. IPL will credit customer bills by approximately $25 million ratably over 2015. By comparison, the billing credits in 2014 were approximately $70 million and occurred from May through December. Also included in WP&L’s rate settlement was an increase in transmission costs related primarily to the anticipated allocation of SSR costs. As a result of a FERC order issued after the settlement, the amount of the transmission costs billed to WP&L in 2015 will be lower than what was reflected in the settlement since the PSC approved escrow accounting treatment for transmission costs. The difference between the actual transmission costs billed to WP&L and those reflected in settlement will accumulate in a regulatory liability. We estimate that this regulatory liability will have a balance of approximately $40 million at the end of 2016. We view this regulatory reliability as another mechanism we can use to minimize future rate increases for our Wisconsin retail electric customers. During 2015 IPL will provide tax benefit rider billing credits to electric and gas customers of approximately $72 million compared to $82 million in 2014. As in prior years, the tax benefit riders have a quarterly timing impact but are not anticipated to impact full year 2015 results. The IUB has approved a second tax benefit rider. Like the first tax benefit rider, we will accumulate benefits from two accounting method changes and a regulatory reliability which will then be passed through to customers as billing credits. The total expected billing credits are approximately $75 million. These accounting method changes are still subject to final IRS approval. We propose a credit customer bills with the second tax benefit rider after 2016 which is when the regulatory reliability related to the first tax benefit rider is expected to be fully utilized, and when we expect to file our next electric rate case in Iowa. Drivers to the difference between the statutory tax rates for IPL, WP&L and AEC, and the 2014 actual and 2015 forecast effective tax rates are provided on Slide 7. The consolidated AEC effective tax rate for 2015 is forecasted to be 16%. Turning to our 2015 financing plan. Cash flows from operations are expected to be strong given the earnings generated by the business. We also expect to benefit from not making any material income tax payments in 2015 and 2016. These strong cash flows will be partially reduced by IPL tax benefit riders and customer billing credits. In our 2015 financing plan, we anticipated issuing approximately $150 million of new common equity. In March and April of this year, we issued approximately 2.2 million shares of new common equity with proceeds to $135 million through the at-the-market offering. We plan to issue the remaining approximately $15 million of new common equity through our shareowner direct plan throughout the remainder of the year. In June, IPL retired $150 million of long term debt. The 2015 financing plan assumes we are issuing up to $300 million of long-term debt at IPL. We may adjust our financing plan as deemed prudent, if market conditions warrant and as our debt and equity needs continue to be reassessed. We believe that with our strong cash flows and financing plans, we will maintain the appropriate targeted liquidity, capitalization ratios and credit metrics. The 2015 financing plan assumed the sales of our Minnesota electric and gas distribution assets which were completed last month with proceeds of approximately $145 million, including working capital adjustments and a $2 million promissory note. Turning now to the ROE complaint filed against MISO transmission owners. In December 2014, FERC ordered formal proceedings to begin. To-date, various parties have filed testimony with FERC. A final decision from FERC on the complaint is currently expected in 2016. Year-to-date impact of the anticipated reduction to APC’s authorized ROE has lowered earnings by $0.02 per share. We have summarized our planned regulatory dockets of notes on Slide 8. In Wisconsin, we anticipate receiving a decision on the 2016 fuel monitoring level in the fourth quarter of this year and we anticipate receiving a decision on the Riverside expansion CPCN in the second quarter next year. We very much appreciate your continued support of our company and look forward to meeting with you throughout the year. At this time I’ll turn the call back over to the operator to facilitate the question and answer session. Question-and-Answer Session Operator [Operator Instructions] We’ll go first to Andrew Weisel of Macquarie Capital. Andrew Weisel Good morning guys. Couple questions on the generation fleet. First, I know the governor of Wisconsin is certainly making a claim against the EPA as part of his presidential bid. Any thoughts on how the CPP might impact your specific portfolio and CapEx plans? Pat Kampling Good morning, Andrew. This is Pat. The CPP rule is very different than the one that was originally proposed. So we’re still analyzing this and I can’t speak on behalf of our governor of course but we come from a state that has had always very good environmental rules, renewable and energy efficiency standards. So we will work with our states to make sure that we get implementation plans that work for us but right now we really need to spend the time understanding this new rule because it’s very different than the proposed rule. Andrew Weisel Then the second question is on coal to gas switching, I mean in the short term, not the long term, I understand your gas plants have been running very efficiently at very high capacity factors year to date. What kind of impact does that have in terms of the near term and longer term dispatch plans and financials? Pat Kampling No, it really doesn’t impact anything whatsoever. As you are aware, the transition on our smaller coal fleet to natural gas and keep in mind we actually had natural gas already located at those sites. It’s really a transition for us to get us through the next few years as we talked about. That’s not a long-term solution. The long-term solution is to add new combined cycle generating facility to our fleet. Andrew Weisel Then one other question on the load growth, I appreciate the high level of detail but maybe just an update on the trends in your local economies, especially the Wisconsin industrial side. Tom Hanson Andrew, this is Tom. If we kind of look at it more broad-based we continue to see a modest number of additional residential customers being added to our system but recognizing we are seeing residential use each go down. But we are seeing some expansion in the industrial sector of our business. So that gives you kind of a sense of where we’re at. So as I stated, we are anticipating about a 1% increase in sales year-over-year. Operator [Operator Instructions] We’ll go next to Paul Patterson of Paul Patterson of Glenrock Associates. Paul Patterson Just sort of circle back on Riverside. I guess what the question I sort of had is first of all, I mean this is more of a question for Wisconsin electric. But with the merger, it seems that they are saying that they are now coming up with a lot of extra capacity and that – as you indicated previously in the call, that they can replace Riverside. But I guess what my question is – what is it in Wisconsin that prevents utilities who were not merged from engaging this kind of what would seem to be a savings methodology, do you follow what I am saying? I mean this could have been done without a merger and I am wondering just in general how we should think about that. Pat Kampling Paul, we’ve been very deliberate in our process to make sure we have the lowest cost long-term solution for our customers. And I cannot speak on what WEnergy is thinking right now. And all we really know is what they filed at the Wisconsin Commission, believing that they have a short-term solution to offer to us which we have not seen, where they provided no details. So this is just a very new news and we’ve got to work through the process here and Wisconsin Commission is going to rule later this morning on if they’re allowed to be involved in the case with another proposal. Paul Patterson I mean I guess, basically get interviewed in the cases [ph] I wouldn’t – I mean is that fair to give a utility in the neighborhood – I mean how much of a gating factor should we look at that being in terms of what their proposal is. I don’t get it. I mean that means that their proposal is unlikely to – but I mean in general though, I mean assuming that they are giving it, how should we think about that? Pat Kampling Yes, and Paul, it’s common that other utilities get interviewed in the status in the cases, that’s just very common as you follow the cases. So that’s not unusual. The unusual thing here is that at the 11th hour they want to provide another proposal and they were not part of the RFP process, they did not reply to any — they did not provide any offers when we did the RFP. So this is a little unique. Paul Patterson Now you said that you’ve – just to clarify this. You did say that basically you looked at all these things and this is the cheapest cost. What about this idea of combining with the utilities I guess is what I am sort of wondering here now, like it seems kind of that Wisconsin with the merger with WPL was able to come up with some savings. I am just wondering, is there something that doesn’t allow utilities to cooperate in that manner without a merger? Pat Kampling Paul, just to be clear they merged with WPS. Paul Patterson I am sorry, WPS. I apologize. Pat Kampling That’s okay. No but they were – and again I prefer that you address this with WEnergy but we are not part of their IRP planning process. Paul Patterson But I am just wondering – generically, I am sorry to harp on this. I am just speaking generically. Is that something that you guys look at and when these plans are put forward, the idea of partnering with – Pat Kampling Now our IRP relates to our Wisconsin customers, Paul. We’ll talk to you later on this if you want to follow up. End of Q&A Operator Ms. Gille, there are no further questions at this time. Susan Gille With no more questions this concludes our call. A replay will be available through August 13, 2015 at 888-203-1112 for US and Canada, or 719-457-0820 for international. Callers should reference conference ID 8244179. In addition, an archive of the conference call and a script of the prepared remarks made on the call will be available on the Investors section of the company’s website later today. We thank you for your continued support of Alliant Energy. And feel free to contact me with any follow-up question. Thanks. 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Laclede Group’s (LG) CEO Suzanne Sitherwood on Q3 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

Laclede Group, Inc. (NYSE: LG ) Q3 2015 Earnings Conference Call August 5, 2015 9:00 AM ET Executives Scott Dudley – Director-Investor Relations Suzanne Sitherwood – President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Rasche – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Analysts Dan Eggers – Credit Suisse Spencer Joyce – Hilliard Lyons Selman Akyol – Stifel Operator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. And welcome to the Laclede Group’s Third Quarter Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I will now turn the call over to Scott Dudley, Managing Director, Investor Relations. You may begin your conference. Scott Dudley Thank you and good morning, welcome to the Laclede Group earnings conference call for the third quarter of fiscal 2015. We announced our financial results this morning and you may access the news release on our website at thelacledegroup.com, and you can find that under the News Releases tab. Today’s call is scheduled for up to an hour and will include discussion of our results, and question-and-answer session. Prior to opening up the call for questions, the operator will provide instructions on how you may join the queue to ask a question. Presenting on our call today are Suzanne Sitherwood, President and CEO; and Steve Rasche, Executive Vice President and CFO. Also in the room with us is, Steve Lindsey, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Distribution Operations. Before we start, let me cover our Safe Harbor statement and discussion of our use of non-GAAP earnings measures. Today’s earnings conference call, including responses during the Q&A session, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of today and we assume no duty to update them. Although our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, various uncertainties and risk factors may cause future performance or results to be different than those anticipated. A description of the uncertainties and risk factors can be found in our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which will be filed later today. In our comments, we will be discussing financial results in terms of net economic earnings and operating margin, which are non-GAAP measures used by management when evaluating the company’s performance. Net economic earnings exclude from net income, the after-tax impacts of fair value accounting and timing adjustments associated with energy-related transactions, as well as the impacts related to acquisition, divestiture and restructuring activities, including costs related to the acquisition and integration of Missouri Gas Energy and Alabama Gas Corporation. Operating margin adjusts operating income to include only those costs that are directly passed on to customers and collected through revenues, which are the wholesale cost of natural gas and propane, as well as gross receipts taxes. A full explanation of the adjustments and a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their GAAP counterparts are contained in the news release we issued this morning. So with that, I’ll turn the call now over to Suzanne. Suzanne Sitherwood Thank you, Scott, and welcome everyone. I’m proud to report we turned in another quarter of solid performance, as we continue to execute on our growth initiative. I’ll begin with the quick summary of our results and then I will provide an update of other items related to achieving our strategic objectives. Steve Rasche will follow me with a more detailed discussion of our operating results and financial position, as well as some commentary on our outlook. This morning, we reported net economic earnings at $0.25 per share for the third quarter and $3.56 [ph] per share for the nine-month period. Steve will discuss the details in a moment, but I’m pleased to note that these results are in line with our expectations and we remain on track to achieve our growth target for the year. At the AGA Financial Forum in May, we had an opportunity to meet with many of you to discuss our achievements relative to our strategic growth initiatives. I like to spend a few minutes recapping that discussion and providing a few updates. We remain focused on transforming our business and continuing to deliver long-term growth by executing on the four pillars of our strategy. First, we are growing our core Gas Utility business through investment and further pipeline infrastructure upgrades and organic growth initiatives. Second, as we demonstrated, we are growing to acquire another gas utility and successfully integrating them to create value for investors, customers and the communities we serve. Third, we are working to further leverage our natural gas industry expertise to optimize our current and future investments in natural gas transportation, source and supply assets across both our regulated gas facilities and our gas marketing business. And fourth, we are investing in innovation and emerging market. I’ll start with our initiatives to grow our Gas Utility business. As you know, a significant driver of growth for our Gas Utility businesses is capital investment, particularly for upgrade to our distribution infrastructure. In 2015, we have continued to ramp up our pipeline replacement efforts across both Missouri and Alabama. Our commitment to prudent investment in our infrastructure is designed to improve safety and reliability, while lowering operating cost. As far this year, we have invested more than $200 million in capital and we remain on track for approximately $300 million we spent for the full year with a little more than half of this total dedicated to infrastructure upgrade. Our 2015 plan in perspective, for fiscal 2014, our capital expenditures were about $170 million and the very [ph] the Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharge or ISRS provides us with a more timely regulatory recovery of our prudent infrastructure investment. Effective May 22, the Missouri Public Service Commission approved an annual increase in ISRS of $5.4 million for Laclede Gas and $2.8 million for MGE. On Monday of this week we filed for additional ISRS to cover our investments for the period running from March 1 to August 31. The filing requests $4.3 million from a fleet gas and $1.8 million for MGE. We expect that approved amount to be effective later this calendar year. We are also seeing results from our organic growth initiative, targeting increasing revenue and margins while also improving our cost efficiency. We have been testing the growth potential on the various markets we serve, starting with St. Louis and Kansas City, and learning from Alagasco’s experiences. In LA, we are getting back to the basics [ph] of understanding our customers and their energy needs and identifying opportunities to better serve them. In doing that we are striving to grow our customer base and [indiscernible] and improve the retention of existing customers in both traditional and creative ways. Our initial focus area has been to deal commercial and industrial loans conversion from alternate fuel. While I can’t state to specific customer, I’m proud to say we are running success in converting several industrial customers to natural gas, representing a meaningful amount of incremental margin. And I would note that we are seeing modest customer growth across our entire gas facility footprints. We are also now pursuing service extensions within our franchising areas and acquiring integrating gas facility. As we work to grow revenues and margins, we are offset for greater cost efficiency and how we serve our customers. We are deploying enhanced technology and communications tool to improve the quality of the interactions we have with our customers and to ultimately deliver service more effectively. We are also leveraging our shared services model and looking for and stocking process improvement across our organization. These initiatives are tied in part to our integration efforts for MGE and Alagasco. As I mentioned last quarter, we’re nearly complete with the integration at MGE with final item, system implementation next month and our integration work at Alagasco is well under way. Now let me turn to optimizing gas supply assets. As I narrated last quarter, we have undertaken a thorough evaluation of our mix with natural gas stores, transportation, and supply assets to ensure we have diversity to access to gas supply from various states and transportation sources. Due to the introduction of Shell Gas, such an evaluation should improve diversity and the liability for years to come. We started this effort in Eastern Missouri evaluating access to Shell Gas in the Northeast supply basin and Western Missouri and Alabama are earlier in the process. However, by the end of the calendar year, we expect to be in a position to outline some initial step we will take to realize value both for our customers and shareholders. Now, I’d like to close on positive merits. Last week, Laclede Board of Directors declared a common stock dividend of $0.46 per share, payable October 2. This is the same quarterly rate declared since the annualized dividend was increased 4.5%, effective January 2. We are proud of our track record applied in consecutive years, I mean keeping dividend, as we continue to make good on commitments to deliver a shareholder value. With that, now let me turn the call over to Steve Rasche to review our third quarter results. Steve? Steve Rasche Thanks, Suzanne. Good morning, everyone. We announced three quarter earnings earlier this morning that came in to the top end of our expectations, due to timing and a slight improvement in our income tax rate. Let me take a few minutes to review those results with you and talk a little bit about the rest of this year and 2016. Starting with the third quarter results, total operating revenues were just over $275 million, up 14% from last year. Operating margins or earnings contribution after gas cost and gross receipt taxes of $177 million was 36% higher than last year. Our business segment, Gas Utility margins of $173 million were up $50 million from last year, as the addition of Alagasco contributed $54 million in margin, while the operating margin of our Missouri utilities, declined by $4 million. This decline reflects interest revenues that were higher in the quarter, but they were more than offset by the change in Missouri Gas Energy’s rate design. As we noted in previous quarters, MGE’s rates now include a variable user space component, which has shifted the margin into the first and second quarters of the fiscal year and decreased margins in the third and fourth quarters. Gas marketing delivery operating margins of $3.1 million down from $6.5 million last year, this decline reflects the return of normal weather and market conditions in the Midwest, as compared to the higher volatility and wider price differentials prevalent in the prior year. Remember that last year the overall market was recovering from the record cold winter of 2014 and the market dynamics were still working to return to the new normal, so to speak, that we are seeing again this year. Returning to the income statement, other operations and maintenance expenses of just under $91 million include the benefit of $7.6 million nonrecurring gain on sale of utility’s property, related to the consolidation of our St. Louis offices. Excluding that gain, run rate operating and maintenance expenses of approximately $98 million or $25 million higher than last year, reflecting; first, the addition of Alagasco, which added roughly $36.5 million to O&M cost and second, lower expenses at Missouri utilities, driven by lower bad debt expense, lower labor costs, offset in part by higher integration expenses. Depreciation and amortization of $32 million was up $14 million from last year, with $12 million attributable to the addition of Alagasco and the remainder reflecting the higher level of capital spent in the last 12 months. Taxes other than income of $26 million were up $4 million, reflecting mainly the addition of Alagasco, offset in part by lower Missouri gross receipt taxes. Interest expense for the quarter of $18 million was higher year-on-year by just under $7 million and reflects the debt assumed and issued in conjunction with the Alagasco acquisition. Income tax expense was $4.6 million, compared to a net tax benefit in 2014. The effective rate for the current year now stands at 31.6%. And the provision for the quarter reflects the year-to-date change to that new run rate. During the quarter we filed our annual income tax returns and recognized the onetime benefit associated with the retroactive components of the tax extenders that were passed in late 2014. We anticipate our full-year effective tax rate to remain close to this run rate. The resulting GAAP net income for the quarter was approximately $14 million or $0.33 per diluted share. Net economic earnings for the quarter were $11.1 million, down from $14.5 million last year. As noted in our press release, our net economic earnings this quarter, excludes that gain on sale of property and after tax benefit of $4.7 million, to provide a truer picture of our run rate earnings. Looking at the earnings by segment the Gas Utility segment delivered net economic earnings of $16.5 million, compared to $13.3 million, a year ago. This increase reflects the additional earnings from Alagasco and the increase in [indiscernible] revenues offset in part by the impact of MGE’s rate design change. Gas marketing earnings are $0.5 million, down from $1.9 million last year reflect the change in market conditions I noted a minute ago. Other net cost in 2015 of $5.9 million reflect primarily the interest cost associated with the lead group debt issued to finance the portion of the Alagasco acquisition. On a per share basis, third quarter net economic earnings were $0.25 per diluted share, compared to $0.44 per share last year. This comparison reflects the change in the quarterly distribution of earnings, as well as the weighted average impact of the additional 10.4 million shares issued to finance the Alagasco acquisition, last year. Let me turn briefly to our year-to-date results. Overall net economic earnings for the first nine months of our fiscal year were just over $154 million or $3.56 per share. This compares to the prior year earnings of $102 million or $3.12 per share. This increase of nearly $52 million is due to growth in our Gas Utilities segment reflecting not only the addition of Alagasco, but also growth of our Missouri Utilities. Gas marketing earnings were lower than the last prior year period due to more favorable weather and market conditions in the prior year. Switching to cash flow statement, cash provided by operating activities for the first nine months of 2015 essentially doubled from a year ago to $366 million. Alagasco added $120 million of that operating cash flow and the remainder reflects favorable timing of collections the Missouri cost under our purchase gas adjustment cost, as well as lower inventory values. And as Suzanne mentioned, year-to-date capital expense was nearly $203 million up more than $93 million from last year with approximately $57 million of that increase attributable to Alagasco and we remain on track for our targeted capital spend $300 million this year. Our balance sheet at June 30 remains very strong with solid long-term capitalization of 51% equity and 49% debt. And short-term borrowings were approximately $211 million down from last quarter, reflecting our ongoing plans delever the business. Our liquidity remains excellent and we have ample capacity in our credit facilities and commercial paper program. During the quarter, we finalized our private placement of two tranches of Alagasco senior notes. These notes will fund later this calendar year to better match our seasonal cash dues [ph] with $35 million in ten-year notes with an effective interest rate of 3.2% funding on September 15, essentially replacing a similar north of high rate notes that we called in January of this year. In addition, we will plan $80 million in 30-year notes and an effective rate of 4.1% on December 1, and current with the maturity of life amount of debt that carries an interest rate of approximately 5.4%. In both instances our customers in Alabama will benefit from the lower interest rates since interest expenses recovered currently and trued up quarterly. Looking out to the rest of the year, our results continue to demonstrate the success of our growth strategies and we remain on track to meet our full year 2015 earnings targets. As a reminder, due to the change in MGE’s rate design, and the acquisition of Alagasco, our distribution of earnings becomes more seasonal and as a result we anticipate an operating loss in the fourth quarter, hot summer season in our service territories. We anticipate our fourth quarter loss being higher than last year and a little above the top end of the 9% to 11% range of full year net economic earnings per share we first introduced last fall. These expectations reflect the adjustments I noted earlier for a slightly lower effective tax rate and the timing of operating and maintenance expenses in the fourth quarter. Again, putting all this together, we remain on track for meeting our commitment of growth in 2015 above 6% after moving last year’s gas marketing weather benefit. And we’re already well into preparing for fiscal 2016, especially our budget and long range of plan. All are on track with our long-term EPS growth target up 4% to 6% and the expectation that 2016 will again be above that range. I would also note that as part of that detailed planning process we are assessing the launch of more formal, annual earnings guidance. More later as we complete the hard work internal with our team to get our 2016 plans in place. Now, let me turn it back over to you Suzanne. Suzanne Sitherwood Thanks, Steve. So summarize, we continue to execute on our strategy and delivered results in line with our expectations, including our earnings per share growth target. We are executing well and we continue to transform Laclede to effectively integrating and bringing together our utility companies and improving the business models of our non-regulated businesses. This transformation includes the shift in our corporate culture to reflect where we are today, a larger, growing company, to serve gas utility customers across two states and provide other gas services across the Midwest and other parts of the country. We continue work to build stronger connections and communications at all of our constituencies, sharing our changes and our plans. Our recent AGA presentation had simplified they’re reflected truly are the company. The slide depicts the community with a description, the description is energy exists to help to live their lives, relative businesses, advance the community. This is simple idea that had won the heart of our business. In that spirit I offer things are more than 3,000 employees for their commitments through our simple idea. And months ahead, you can expect that we will continue our efforts to focus and solidify our emerging messages to our stakeholders, and continue to deliver on our product. Operator, we are now ready to take questions. Thank you. Question-and-Answer Session Operator [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Dan Eggers with Credit Suisse. Dan Eggers Hey, good morning guys. Hey, good morning, sorry about that. Just a couple of questions, Suzanne you’ve made mentioned to the Muni system acquisitions or something about Muni’s in your prepared remarks. I just wanted if you could just, maybe elaborate a little bit more on that or tell me if I just misheard you? Suzanne Sitherwood Here I’ve given a little bit more expansion regarding organic growth. We’ve shared just a couple of calls ago, we had hired our Vice President of Organic Growth, and he’s done a lot of preliminary work in terms of areas that we should be focused on. And one of those areas on the resistible [ph] and also with the acquisition of Alagasco, there’s several municipals [ph] on that scale, as well as even some in Missouri too. We are just focused right now on understanding who they are and we also think about it in terms of all the pipeline regulations and Steve Lindsey is at the table and he can talk a little bit more that if you’d like but some of these municipals are actually reaching out to gas company because they have a stronger need in understanding what [indiscernible] and Steve if you want to add. Steve Rasche I think we’re [indiscernible] exactly where we’re really seeing a trend nationally that has enhanced pipeline safety regulation moving at the place. Some of these near to operators are looking for business either in the operation or exist in more perhaps concluding divesting our existing system. So we are out in market, we’re making ourselves available to have discussions with those long [indiscernible] and we do these as part of our organic growth. Dan Eggers Again we’ve in the water space where it makes tremendous amount of sense for the communities probably to be selling their systems because of the capital obligations and operational challenges, yet they seem not to show a whole lot of willingness to do it. As you guys are kind of looking into this, are you seeing interest either from the communities [ph] or the people in the communities would suggest, this is something you guys get yourself more actively involved in? Steve Rasche Well, yes, I think again as you mentioned some of the operational characteristics of the system have changed, as well as leadership looking at different municipalities. So I think again, our overall work right now is to evaluate where those opportunities to exist, have those discussions, and if those opportunities present themselves be ready and take a little bit more of a proactive approach that we have in the plans. Suzanne Sitherwood And you know what are the plans is, capital constrains, some of the communities have, especially coming out of the sort of the 2008 recession period and then you layer on this additional on Federal regulation. I still have the volume capacity and other capital resources to terms to you. So that’s part of what’s driving interest to your point. Steve Lindsey Do you think this is – is there an opportunity to kind of be a manager of their systems instead you get paid in a little capital way, you pay their management fee effectively to run it for them without having to do a lot of balance sheet work necessarily? Suzanne Sitherwood I guess I repeat we keep our mind open to you what the interest about, if we go to municipalities and for the Public Service Commission. I think if you will the commission really transactions in different way that we will keep our minds regardless taking the liabilities to the help of that system and our ability to evaluate with the extremely important. And then, secondly how we work with the regulators to get the – it’s a right way to transition that principle into the gas company that works for customers and our shareholders, and there [indiscernible], but we’ve done a lot of homework and we feel pretty confident about our approach. Dan Eggers This is Andy, I think this is the fiscal year 2016 event where we’ll start to see something converter how long [indiscernible] take to make sense of this from our perspective? Suzanne Sitherwood I think the few line items on organic growth, I’m trying to give into the [indiscernible] in terms of mix evaluation clearly wanted to the pillars and we’ve done a lot of analysis regarding to municipals that are in Missouri as well as Alabama and we have – they are working out in the field. So, I guess, time will tell that definitely something that we studied well and we are out looking. Dan Eggers And I guess, probably on the organic front you made mention of kind of looking at your share for shale related infrastructure and that sort of thing. Can you just maybe explain a little bit what the thought process is there? And I guess the timing is you give an update at the end of next quarter’s call up your fiscal year end? Suzanne Sitherwood It’s correctly. You did hear that correctly. So we embarked under my guide by heart leadership as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Strategy. We started evaluating all the upstream asset that are prior actually to closing Alagasco for our considering utility and we were looking at the historical supply, transportation and stores contracts and sources for serving our customers. So we started evaluation process on how long they service regarding the liability for our customers on the short term and the long-term. As you know again with the introduction of shell gas in the various basement and there is attributes for these basements. As you know that changed the market, as well as the pipeline respond to those supply basements. So I believe and my colleagues believe the responsibility for us to embark on this evaluation, we started in eastern part of the state and we split up for a lot of the modeling therefore physical and logical modeling are now starting to same sort of western side of the state in Alabama and because we’ve started earlier with eastern side in more sophisticated, I mean reliability and then you layer on commercial availability you want some of their supply transportation services pipeline and go forward it. And that some of what you will hear an update for the end of next quarter. Dan Eggers Okay, great. Thank you guys. Suzanne Sitherwood Thank you. Operator Your next question comes from the line of Spencer Joyce with Hilliard Lyons. Spencer Joyce Steve, Suzanne, and Scott good morning, how are you? Steve Lindsey [Indiscernible]. Suzanne Sitherwood Good morning. Spencer Joyce Steve. I like that teaser on the guidance. We are all eagerly weighted queue for now. Steve Lindsey [Indiscernible]. Spencer Joyce Just a quick one here. Steve refreshes on the timing for that reallocation of the earnings kind of across the quarters, those rate structure changes will have anniversary like as of Q4, is that right. So we should have a pretty clean year kind of in the rear view mirror as of next quarter. Steve Lindsey We should but Alagasco will not have been in the mix last year cause you might recall close on that at the end of August. So we kept it out of our net earnings for the full year or so, if that and Alagasco is more seasonal due mainly to the fact of the geographies that it’s providing a natural gas. And so the fourth quarter will still be a little bit kinky, what I would suggest, Spencer is go back to the guidance that we talked about earlier in the year and I did talk about on the call and talk about on the call and we kind of give ranges of the earnings by quarter and that range that we gave for the fourth quarter was a loss of between 9% and 11%. And as I just mentioned, we expect to be a little bit above that range. So a little bit higher than 11%, I mean the loss for the quarter and that’s really timing of expenses as much as it is the change in the seasonality. But I would say that once we get beyond this year that I think we should have a reasonable cadence to work through, as you look at 2016 and beyond. Spencer Joyce Okay, great. So maybe one more kind of noisy or kinky quarter there and that we should be pretty clean? Steve Lindsey Yes, it is real hard. Not to make it noisy and comfortable for you. So – Spencer Joyce Yes, well, I know you all did a great job closing those acquisitions right at the end of the year, which made it nice to work with. Turning up to the income statement, the gain on sale from this quarter was that baked into the O&M line, was that a offset O&M expense or was that in the other income line? Steve Lindsey That was in the O&M expense line and you’d want to take out that $7.6 million essentially reduction in operating expenses in order to get to a better run rate. Spencer Joyce Okay, perfect that’s – and I think that was in the release. I just want to make sure I was understanding that right, that’s kind of a large item. Finally for me, on the corporate overhead and sort of the other unallocated expense or earnings line, we’ve obviously seen some wider losses this year, but I’m assuming that should peak somewhat for full year fiscal 2015, and then perhaps draw down a little bit moving forward. Is that kind of, I guess qualitatively the right way to think about those, the other segment, if you will? Steve Lindsey Yes, the other – the magical all other categories is everything that doesn’t set it nice and uniquely into a segment. And you’re right, the vast majority of those expenses are interest expense on the Group debt that we should financially, Alagasco transactions. So, and those are all, mostly at fixed rate some at variable rate, but short-term variable rate, so I until we start retiring that debt, that will be a fairly static number by quarter-to-quarter basis. There is a small amount of what I’ll call unallocated corporate costs that would also fall in that category. Those don’t generally vary much on a quarter-to-quarter basis, a little bit more this quarter because of some integration costs but we would pull those out for an economic earnings purposes. So, I think over time Spencer, as we start delivering the business and we know that in 2017, we delever the business with the – unit mandatory’s, liquidating at least the equity forward component those liquidating. That will definitely see change and the interest component in that other category. Aside from that is probably has a bit more flattish going into 2016. Spencer Joyce Okay. Perfect. So now – a potential drawdown talking point in 2017, but before that you’re looking kind of flattish. Steve Lindsey Yes. Spencer Joyce All right. Nice quarter, that’s all I have. Steve Lindsey Thanks, Spencer. Operator Your next question comes from the line of Selman Akyol with Stifel. Selman Akyol Thank you, good morning. Suzanne Sitherwood Hey, good morning. Selman Akyol A couple of quick questions. On your acquisition related expenses from Alagasco, how much longer do you expect those to be running through? Should we expect to see this continue to bleeding to 2016 as well? Steve Lindsey Yes, we do. We typically look on a broad brush Selman, when we look at integration. It’s generally a two to three-year program, if we look at MGE and that’s a really good marker to take a look at. We do anticipate there being some cost next year which would be the third year of that acquisition. Remember, we’re only coming up on the first anniversary of Alagasco. And as Suzan mentioned in our prepared remarks, we are now implementing the integration plans. So, we would clearly expect those integration cost to continue through 2016 and then perhaps some into 2017 at Alagasco. At that point, probably not much from MGE going forward. Selman Akyol All right. And then I think you said before that MGE was a good marker and maybe up to $20 million of integration expenses there, am I remembering that correctly? Steve Lindsey You are, and that was our original transaction cost guidance and we came in well underneath that. Our integration costs for MGE are running at a level significantly below that. In fact, if you give me just a second here because we do disclose that information every quarter, I’m not sure if I’m going to get it to – I will get it to you separately if I could – Selman Akyol Okay, we can follow-up offline Steve Lindsey Yes. Selman Akyol But so I’m just taking back 2016 in terms of Alagasco, should we expect sort of similar run rates to 2015 or is the bulk behind that is very just kind of quantify that? Steve Lindsey I would suspect that just as with MGE, you’re going to see a fairly consistent run of cost, they run into different categories, depending upon what’s driving them. So I would suspect we’ll see a similar level as we go through 2016 and that embraced our tailing off as we get to 2017. Selman Akyol Great, I appreciate that. And then just looking at the CapEx expenses, I clearly understand what’s being spent in Missouri, can you go through with the $56 million, where that’s being spent for Alagasco? Steve Lindsey Over a half of it was pipeline replacement and that’s clearly what our goal is in fact if you look into 2016 and beyond, we would expect that number to even go a little bit higher. So in terms of the fully 50 – 30 or almost two-thirds of that amount is either pipeline replacement or other things that would be directly associated with pipes or new customers. And then this year, and we see the same thing happening in St Louis or in Missouri, as we do have some facilities costs that are coming in this year, that’s about $10 million at Alagasco this year which we wouldn’t expect to recur next year. From our pipeline replacement perspective, all the three utilities will be at or above the level they were at last year. So we are managing holistically and at Alagasco, there is one large infrastructure expansion and as a surprise or improvement that this year, so that in other major pieces, what’s going on in 2015 Selman Akyol All right. Last one for me on still on the CapEx, $300 million for this year, roughly split two-thirds between Missouri and one-third for Alagasco? Steve Lindsey Yes, sir. Selman Akyol Got it. All right. Thank you very much. Suzanne Sitherwood Thanks, Selman. Steve Lindsey Thanks, Selman. [Operator Instructions] At this time we have no further questions. Management, I’m turning this back to you for closing remarks. Scott Scott Dudley Great, thank you all for joining us and will be available throughout the day for any follow-ups. Thanks for joining us. Operator This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.