Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| Statement |
|---|
| We're positioned for success in FY ‘24 and beyond as we continue delivering on our growth strategy |
| Today Spire is a financially strong and expanding natural gas company that is well positioned as a leader in the industry |
| We have a really solid collection program |
| We are well positioned to deliver both operationally and financially |
| So we were very pleased with the initial open season that we had |
| I'm honored to build on this strong foundation and lead Spire into the future |
| Marketing contribution margin was also higher as they created significant value from the transportation and storage positions as a result of favorable market conditions |
| Midstream delivered earnings of $14 million, up $3 million from last year, reflecting our growing scale and optimization |
| This storage business is performing well against our expectation |
| We have no planned issuance beyond the refinancing of maturing debt in fiscal years ‘25 and ‘26 and remain well positioned relative to future interest rates |
| We anticipate our gas utilities to earn between $230 million and $240 million next year, reflecting the combined benefits of a full-year of new Missouri rates as well as ISRS filings, new Alabama rates and lower interest expense and cost management |
| As marketing was well positioned to take advantage of commodity price volatility last winter and posted earnings of just under $48 million, an increase of more than 75%, compared to last year |
| I'm confident in our ability to deliver value over the long term for customers, communities, employees and shareholders |
| We'll achieve this through our strong focus on providing safe, reliable, as-effective energy with excellent service while advancing our commitment to become carbon neutral company by mid-century |
| So our cost control isn't just at the operating businesses, , it's really how we manage at the shared services level, and we're seeing some great benefits there |
| So I think all those things together really strong foundation for managing, you know, our expenses not only in the near-term, but really more for the long-term |
| In fiscal '23, we delivered solid financial and operating performance, including strong results for Spire Market |
| Revenues were up 21% this year with our gas utility revenues up $511 million, reflecting higher gas costs, including both the higher commodity costs from last winter, as well as deferred gas costs than the previous year |
| For fiscal year ended September 30, 2023, we reported net economic earnings of $228 million, 5.5% ahead of last year |
| On a per share basis, our earnings of $4.05 were $0.19 ahead of last year |
| As a reminder, Gas costs are passed through on our customer build and netting out those costs, the gas utility contribution margin grew by 8%, reflecting principally new rates in Missouri and Alabama, including ISRS filings in Missouri |
| Midstream margin was up $13 million, reflecting our growing operations and optimization of injection and withdrawal commitments |
| Under her stewardship, we attained the scale and foundation have positioned us to organically grow our gas utilities, expand our gas marketing operations and strategically invest in midstream |
| So I think we're set up well to do that, as well as really starting to reap the benefits of the capital investments that we've been making on infrastructure |
| While FY ‘23 presented challenges in headwinds, including regulatory outcomes, weather, inflation our commodity costs and rising interest rates, we were able to meet our capital plan focused on our gas utilities and marketing was well positioned to take advantage of market opportunities |
| We remain squarely focused the basics of strong execution, which includes driving greater efficiency through streamlining systems and processes, maintaining an unwavering commitment to operational excellence |
| We got a lot of strong interest there |
| It was the 21st consecutive year of dividend increases, which we have continuously paid since 1946 |
| Gas marketing is anticipated to earn $19 million to $23 million, a slight increase in our baseline expectations driven by customer growth |
| But we feel -- obviously, we feel pretty good about our sensitivity to rates in the front year, but we do see the deferred balances declining throughout the year, as Steve mentioned, and really getting to kind of a more normalized deferral state by the end of the winter |
| Statement |
|---|
| Our guest utilities are just over $200 million, down 1% from last year as new customer rates in both Missouri and Alabama were more than offset by higher interest expense and the impacts of warm weather |
| These full-year results incorporate our fourth quarter loss of $38 million or $0.78 per share, reflecting the seasonality of our business |
| If you think about one of the metrics that we follow very closely our leach for thousands system is down over 60% over the last five years |
| I would note that our cash spend in midstream came in below our forecast for the year due to timing |
| And you know that there were a lot of headwinds in third-party costs this year |
| I don't suspect given where commodity costs are now, that we'll see that as an adverse move |
| Obviously, there are some challenges as you get into winter in terms of what you can do, but we're actually going to be doing some things inside some facilities to continue to work forward on that |
| And we've seen that swing negative in ‘22 |
| And then, Rich, you had asked a question on the other line which was coming down pretty dramatically |
| And so it's a little -- it gets a little obscured, but we didn't get to where we initially wanted to be this year in the utility lot of that, you know, some of that is just a pull-through both in Alabama and Missouri |
| Corporate and Other, principally interest cost is anticipated to be in the range of negative $18 million to negative $22 million, down significantly from last year based upon lower corporate costs and lower interest costs, including the impacts of interest rate hedging |
| In addition, see the earnings pull-through in the back half of fiscal year ‘24 as we begin operating the first tranche of new storage capacity at Spire Storage West |
| And finally, higher interest expense and corporate costs |
| Obviously, we came out of back to bad cases in Missouri |
| If you kind of run down the big movers, bad debt was one that traded against us last year |
| So you see a little volatility there |
| Interest expense came in a little bit hotter as you might recall |
| So some of that activity, which we considered in the construction season that was the summer actually leaked over into the next fiscal year |
| And so we had to offset that |
| Just curious about that |
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