Star Group LP (SGU) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Star Group fiscal 2025 third-quarter results conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

大家好，歡迎參加 Star Group 2025 財年第三季業績電話會議。（操作說明）請注意，本次活動正在錄影。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Witty, the Investor Relations Adviser. Please go ahead.

現在我將把會議交給投資人關係顧問克里斯·威蒂。請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning. With me on the call today are Jeff Woosnam, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Rich Ambury, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝，早安。今天和我一起參加電話會議的有總裁兼執行長 Jeff Woosnam，以及財務長 Rich Ambury。

I would now like to provide a brief Safe Harbor Statement. This conference call may include forward-looking statements that represent the company's expectations and beliefs concerning future events that involve risks and uncertainties and may cause the company's actual performance to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements.

現在我想提供一份簡短的安全港聲明。本次電話會議可能包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述代表了公司對未來事件的預期和信念，涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致公司的實際業績與此類陳述所表明或暗示的業績存在重大差異。

All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this conference call are forward-looking statements. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct.

本次電話會議中除歷史事實陳述外的所有陳述均為前瞻性陳述。雖然該公司認為此類前瞻性聲明中反映的預期是合理的，但無法保證這些預期最終會被證明是正確的。

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations are disclosed in this conference call, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2024, and the company's other filings with the SEC.

可能導致實際結果與公司預期存在重大差異的重要因素已在本次電話會議、公司截至 2024 年 9 月 30 日的財政年度的 10-K 表格年度報告以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件中披露。

All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements.

隨後所有歸因於公司或代表公司行事的人員的書面和口頭前瞻性陳述均受上述警示性聲明的完整約束。

Unless otherwise required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this conference call.

除非法律另有規定，否則本公司不承擔在本次電話會議日期之後，因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因而公開更新或修訂任何前瞻性聲明的義務。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Jeff Woosnam. Jeff?

現在我想把電話交給傑夫‧伍斯南。傑夫？

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss our third quarter and fiscal year-to-date results. While outside of our core heating season, the third quarter was still negatively impacted by lower volume due to slightly warmer temperatures than last year, along with net customer attrition and other factors.

謝謝克里斯，大家早安。感謝各位蒞臨本次研討會，共同探討我們第三季及本財年迄今的業績。雖然第三季不屬於我們的核心暖氣季，但由於氣溫比去年略高，加上淨客戶流失和其他因素，銷售量仍受到負面影響。

That said, we were pleased with our continued improvement in service and installation performance, and adjusted EBITDA from recent acquisitions positively contributed to the quarter as well as the year-to-date period. We believe we are on track for strong financial performance in fiscal 2025.

儘管如此，我們對服務和安裝性能的持續改進感到滿意，近期收購帶來的調整後 EBITDA 對本季度以及年初至今的業績均做出了積極貢獻。我們相信，我們在2025財年將取得強勁的財務表現。

As I've shared on previous calls, we are dedicated to providing our customers with superior service to improve retention and drive additional revenues. Consistent with that objective, we continue to look at ways to sell more value-added products and services to our existing customers while also expanding our HVAC offerings in select markets beyond our traditional heating oil and propane account base to gain access to a larger audience.

正如我在之前的電話會議中分享的那樣，我們致力於為客戶提供卓越的服務，以提高客戶留存率並增加收入。為了實現這一目標，我們不斷探索向現有客戶銷售更多增值產品和服務的方法，同時在特定市場擴大我們的暖通空調產品，超越我們傳統的燃油和丙烷客戶群，以接觸更廣泛的受眾。

To support this initiative, we have made an investment in additional training for our sales and technical teams. Fundamentally, Star is a service provider so any effort to improve what truly differentiates us from our competition is a sound investment. We are pleased with the way our team has responded to become engaged in what we are trying to accomplish. And although there is still much work to be done, I'm encouraged with our progress to date.

為了支持這項計劃，我們已投資為銷售和技術團隊提供額外的培訓。從根本上講，Star 是一家服務供應商，因此任何旨在改進真正使我們有別於競爭對手的因素的努力都是一項合理的投資。我們對團隊的正面回應和投入感到滿意，他們積極參與我們正在努力實現的目標。儘管還有很多工作要做，但我對我們迄今為止的進展感到鼓舞。

As we pursue a strategy that includes growing our heating oil and propane customer base through acquisitions while at the same time improving service and installation profitability, we believe we are positioning Star as a fully diversified energy provider that over time will be more resilient and adaptable to varied weather conditions.

我們正在推行一項策略，該策略包括透過收購擴大我們的暖氣油和丙烷客戶群，同時提高服務和安裝的獲利能力，我們相信，我們正在將 Star 定位為一家完全多元化的能源供應商，隨著時間的推移，它將更具韌性，更能適應各種不同的天氣條件。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Rich to provide additional comments on the quarter's results. Rich?

接下來，我將把電話交給 Rich，讓他對本季業績作進一步評論。富有的？

Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. For the third quarter, our home heating oil and propane volume decreased by 1.5 million gallons or 3.8% to 36 million gallons as the additional volume provided from acquisitions was more than offset by warmer weather, net customer attrition and other factors.

謝謝你，傑夫，大家早安。第三季度，由於收購帶來的額外銷售被天氣變暖、客戶淨流失和其他因素抵消，我們的家用暖氣油和丙烷銷量減少了 150 萬加侖，降幅為 3.8%，至 3,600 萬加侖。

In terms of weather conditions, temperatures for the fiscal 2025 third quarter were 2% warmer than last year and almost 20% warmer than normal during this non-heating season period. Our product gross profit decreased by $3 million or 4% to $72 million due to both a lower home heating oil and propane volumes sold as well as lower per gallon margins driven in part by the mix of volume associated with recent acquisitions.

就天氣狀況而言，2025 財年第三季的氣溫比去年同期高出 2%，比非暖氣季節的正常氣溫高出近 20%。由於家用暖氣油和丙烷的銷量下降，以及每加侖利潤率下降（部分原因是近期收購帶來的銷售組合變化），我們的產品毛利潤減少了 300 萬美元，降幅為 4%，至 7,200 萬美元。

We realized a combined gross profit from service and installation of $14 million or $600,000 higher than the prior year's comparable quarter as we continued to focus on improving service and controlling expenses. Delivery, branch and G&A expenses increased by $4.3 million year-over-year, reflecting additional operating costs associated with acquisitions of $5.8 million, partially offset by lower costs in the base business of $1.5 million or approximately 1.6%.

由於我們持續專注於改善服務和控制費用，服務和安裝業務的毛利合計達到 1,400 萬美元，比去年同期成長了 60 萬美元。配送、分公司和一般及行政費用年增 430 萬美元，反映了與收購相關的額外營運成本 580 萬美元，部分被基礎業務成本降低 150 萬美元或約 1.6% 所抵銷。

Depreciation and amortization rose by $2 million, and net interest expense increased by about $1 million year-over-year. These changes were largely due to the impact of recent acquisitions. We posted a net loss of $16.6 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025 or $5.6 million more than the prior year period, reflecting a $6.5 million increase in our adjusted EBITDA loss, higher depreciation and amortization expense of $2 million and higher acquisition-related financing costs of $1 million, partially offset by a $2.3 million greater income tax benefit and a noncash favorable change in the fair value of derivative instruments of $1.6 million.

折舊和攤提增加了 200 萬美元，淨利息支出比去年同期增加了約 100 萬美元。這些變化主要是由於近期收購的影響所造成的。我們在 2025 財年第三季錄得淨虧損 1,660 萬美元，比上年同期增加 560 萬美元，這反映出我們調整後的 EBITDA 虧損增加了 650 萬美元，折舊和攤銷費用增加了 200 萬美元，收購相關融資成本增加了 100 萬美元，折舊和攤銷費用增加了 200 萬美元，收購相關融資成本增加了 100 萬美元，收益 230 萬萬美元所抵銷。

The adjusted EBITDA loss increased by $6.5 million to $10.6 million as the additional positive adjusted EBITDA from acquisitions and lower operating costs in the base business was more than offset by lower home heating oil and propane volumes in the base business and slightly lower per gallon home heating oil and propane per gallon margins. The positive adjusted EBITDA realized from acquisitions during this historical loss quarter was due in part to our recent propane acquisitions.

由於收購帶來的額外正向調整後 EBITDA 和基礎業務運營成本的降低，被基礎業務中家用取暖油和丙烷銷量的下降以及每加侖家用取暖油和丙烷利潤率的略微下降所抵消，調整後 EBITDA 虧損增加了 650 萬美元，達到 1060 萬美元。本季收購帶來的正調整 EBITDA 部分歸功於我們近期對丙烷的收購。

Now turning to the results for the first 9 months of fiscal 2025. Our home heating oil and propane volume increased by 28 million gallons or 12% to 263 million gallons, reflecting colder temperatures and the additional volume provided from acquisitions more than offsetting net customer attrition and other factors. Temperatures in our geographic areas of operation fiscal year-to-date were 8% colder than the prior year period, but still 8% warmer than normal.

現在來看2025財年前9個月的業績。我們的家用暖氣油和丙烷銷量增加了 2,800 萬加侖，增幅達 12%，達到 2.63 億加侖，這反映出氣溫降低以及收購帶來的額外銷量超過了淨客戶流失和其他因素的影響。本財年至今，我們營運所在地區的氣溫比去年同期低 8%，但仍比正常高 8%。

Our product gross profit rose by $55 million or 13% to $480 million due to an increase in the volume of home heating oil and propane sold, higher home heating oil and propane per gallon margins and a slight increase in gross profit from other petroleum products.

由於家用暖氣油和丙烷的銷量增加、家用暖氣油和丙烷每加侖利潤率提高以及其他石油產品毛利略有增長，我們的產品毛利潤增長了 5500 萬美元，增幅達 13%，達到 4.8 億美元。

As previously mentioned on prior calls, we've successfully improved our service and installation business, which contributed to an increase in gross profit of $4.8 million year-to-date with $2.7 million attributable to acquisitions and $2.1 million due to initiatives in the base business.

正如先前電話會議中提到的，我們已成功改進了服務和安裝業務，這使得今年迄今為止的毛利增加了 480 萬美元，其中 270 萬美元歸因於收購，210 萬美元歸因於基礎業務的舉措。

Delivery, branch and G&A expenses rose by $31.5 million year-over-year, of which $10.6 million was attributable to our weather hedging program. As a reminder, in fiscal 2025, we recorded an expense of $3.1 million under our weather hedge compared to a benefit of $7.5 million recorded in fiscal 2024, reflecting weather conditions in both periods.

配送、分公司和一般及行政費用年增 3,150 萬美元，其中 1,060 萬美元歸因於我們的天氣避險計劃。提醒一下，在 2025 財年，我們在天氣對沖方面記錄了 310 萬美元的支出，而 2024 財年則記錄了 750 萬美元的收益，這反映了這兩個時期的天氣狀況。

Aside from this, recent acquisitions accounted for an increase in expenses of $18.7 million year-over-year while expenses in the base business rose by just $2.2 million or 0.7%. Depreciation and amortization rose by $2.6 million, and net interest expense increased by $1.4 million. These changes were largely attributable to the impact of recent acquisitions.

除此之外，近期收購導致支出較去年同期成長 1,870 萬美元，而基礎業務的支出僅成長了 220 萬美元，即 0.7%。折舊和攤銷增加了 260 萬美元，淨利息支出增加了 140 萬美元。這些變化主要歸因於近期收購的影響。

We posted net income of $102 million year-to-date or $32 million more than the prior year period, largely due to an increase in adjusted EBITDA of $28 million and a noncash favorable change in the fair value of derivative instruments of $20 million, more than offsetting higher income tax expense of $12 million and other factors.

今年迄今為止，我們實現淨利潤 1.02 億美元，比上年同期增加 3200 萬美元，這主要是由於調整後 EBITDA 增加 2800 萬美元，以及衍生工具公允價值的非現金有利變動 2000 萬美元，足以抵消 1200 萬美元的所得稅支出增加和其他因素。

Adjusted EBITDA rose by $28 million to $170 million, primarily due to a $21 million increase in adjusted EBITDA in the base business and a $17 million increase in adjusted EBITDA from acquisitions, partially offsetting a $10.6 million increase in expense relating to the company's weather hedge contracts, which apply to both the base business and the recent acquisitions, as I just previously discussed.

經調整的 EBITDA 增長了 2800 萬美元，達到 1.7 億美元，這主要是由於基礎業務經調整的 EBITDA 增加了 2100 萬美元，以及收購帶來的經調整的 EBITDA 增加了 1700 萬美元，部分抵消了與公司天氣套期保值相關的 1060 萬美元

And with that, I'd like to turn the call back to Jeff.

那麼，接下來我想把電話轉回給傑夫。

Thanks, Rich. This time, we're pleased to address any questions you may have. Chad, please open the phone lines for questions.

謝謝你，里奇。這次，我們很樂意解答您可能提出的任何問題。查德，請開通電話線路接受提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Michael Prouting, 10K Capital.

邁克爾·普羅廷，10K Capital。

Hey, morning guys. Just a couple of questions. Firstly, Jeff, I was wondering if you could update us on the acquisition pipeline. And then secondly, I just thought I'd have to ask the question, but curious as to whether you see any applications for AI in the business. It seems like the obvious would be customer service, but just kind of curious to get your feedback on that.

嘿，各位早安。幾個問題。傑夫，首先我想請你向我們報告收購計畫的最新進展。其次，我覺得我必須問一下，我很好奇您是否認為人工智慧在商業領域有任何應用。客戶服務似乎是最顯而易見的，但我很好奇想聽聽你們的看法。

You bet, Michael. So in terms of acquisitions, obviously, we've closed on four transactions so far this fiscal year. Our last one in April. The team remains very busy with opportunities. You never know how that's going to end up coming out, but we're extremely pleased with what we've had in our pipeline, what we've been able to close, particularly over the last 14 months, some sizable deals. And again, we just continue to push forward and there's plenty of activity in the marketplace right now.

當然，邁克爾。因此，就收購而言，顯然，本財年到目前為止，我們已經完成了四筆交易。我們最後一次是在四月。團隊仍然有很多機會，工作非常繁忙。你永遠無法預測最終結果會如何，但我們對我們目前的專案儲備和已經完成的專案感到非常滿意，尤其是在過去 14 個月裡，我們達成了一些可觀的交易。我們繼續努力向前，目前市場非常活躍。

And in terms of AI, yes, we have certainly instituted some of that technology into our customer interface. The one thing we always want to keep in mind is we want to remember that we're a service business first and to the degree that AI can assist with that and allow us to serve our customers in a way that they prefer.

至於人工智慧方面，是的，我們確實已經將一些相關技術應用到我們的客戶介面中。我們始終要牢記的一點是，我們首先是一家服務型企業，人工智慧可以在多大程度上幫助我們做到這一點，讓我們能夠以客戶喜歡的方式為他們提供服務。

But we always like and prefer that personal touch and allowing them to be able to talk to an employee that can provide them appropriate assistance and a comfort level that we're going to react and respond as they need us to. So we always have to kind of strike that balance, but there's certainly opportunity there for us in the future.

但我們始終喜歡並更傾向於這種人性化的服務，讓他們能夠與可以為他們提供適當幫助的員工交談，並讓他們感到安心，相信我們會根據他們的需求做出反應和回應。所以我們總是需要努力找到這種平衡，但未來這方面肯定存在著機會。

Okay. Yeah, thanks for the updates and I definitely hear what you're saying as far as the human touch.

好的。是的，謝謝你的更新，我完全明白你說的「人情味」的重要性。

Yeah.

是的。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

And at this time, there appears to be no further questions. So I'd like to return the conference to Mr. Woosnam for any closing remarks.

目前看來，似乎沒有其他問題了。所以，我想把會議交還給伍斯南先生，請他作總結發言。

Well, thank you for taking the time to join us today and for your ongoing interest in Star Group. We look forward to sharing our 2025 fiscal fourth quarter results in December. Thanks, everyone.

非常感謝您今天抽出時間參加我們的活動，也感謝您一直以來對星光集團的關注。我們期待在 12 月與大家分享 2025 財年第四季業績。謝謝大家。

And thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for joining today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

謝謝您，先生。會議已經結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線了。