Spire Inc (SR) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to the Spire year-end earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Spire 年終收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Scott Dudley with Spire Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給 Spire 投資者關係部門的 Scott Dudley。請繼續。

Good morning, and welcome to Spire's Fiscal 2023 Year-end Earnings Call. We issued an earnings release this morning, and you may access it on our website at spireenergy.com under Newsroom. There is a slide presentation that accompanies our webcast, and you may download it from either the webcast site or from our website under Investors and then Events & Presentations.

早安，歡迎參加 Spire 的 2023 財政年度年終收益電話會議。我們今天早上發布了收益報告，您可以在我們的網站 spireenergy.com 的 Newsroom 下存取該報告。我們的網路廣播附帶一個幻燈片簡報，您可以從網路廣播網站或我們網站的「投資者」和「活動與簡報」下載。

Before we begin, let me cover our safe harbor statement and the use of non-GAAP earnings measures. Today's call, including responses to questions, may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Though our forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, there are various uncertainties and risk factors that may cause future performance or results to be different than those anticipated. These risks and uncertainties are outlined in our quarterly annual filings with the SEC.

在開始之前，讓我先介紹一下我們的安全港聲明和非公認會計準則獲利指標的使用。今天的電話會議，包括對問題的答复，可能包含1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。儘管我們的前瞻性陳述基於合理的假設，但存在各種不確定性和風險因素，可能會導致未來的結果表現或結果與預期不同。我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的季度年度文件​​中概述了這些風險和不確定性。

In our comments, we will be discussing net economic earnings and contribution margin, which are both non-GAAP measures used by management in evaluating our performance and results of operations. Explanations and reconciliations of these measures to their GAAP counterparts are contained in both our news release and the slide presentation.

在我們的評論中，我們將討論淨經濟收益和邊際貢獻，這都是管理階層在評估我們的績效和經營績效時所使用的非公認會計原則衡量標準。我們的新聞稿和投影片簡報中都包含了這些措施與公認會計原則對應措施的解釋和調節。

Presenting on the call today is Steve Lindsey, President and CEO; Steve Rasche, Executive Vice President and CFO. Also in the room today is Adam Woodard, Vice President, Treasurer and CFO of our Gas Utilities. I also want to formally introduce Megan McPhail, recently joined Spire as Managing Director of Investor Relations. Megan brings 15 years of experience in the utility industry, including 5 years in Investor Relations. She is taking the reins as I will be retiring on March 1 of next year.

今天出席電話會議的是總裁兼執行長 Steve Lindsey； Steve Rasche，執行副總裁兼財務長。今天出席會議的還有我們天然氣公用事業公司副總裁、財務主管兼財務長 Adam Woodard。我還想正式介紹梅根麥克菲爾 (Megan McPhail)，她最近加入 Spire，擔任投資者關係董事總經理。 Megan 擁有 15 年公用事業行業經驗，其中 5 年從事投資者關係工作。她將接任我的職務，因為我將於明年 3 月 1 日退休。

With that, I will turn the call over to Steve Lindsey.

這樣，我會將電話轉給史蒂夫林賽。

Thank you, Scott, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to have this opportunity as CEO to update you on our performance for last year and outline our priorities, plans and outlook this year and beyond.

謝謝你，斯科特，大家早安。我很高興有機會作為執行長向您介紹我們去年的業績，並概述我們今年及未來的優先事項、計劃和展望。

I want to start by acknowledging the vision and leadership of Suzanne Sitherwood, our CEO over the last dozen years, who has driven the successful execution of our strategic priorities to grow and transform our company. With her stewardship, we attained the scale and foundation that positioned us to organically grow our gas utilities, expand our gas marketing operations and strategically invest in midstream.

首先，我要感謝我們的執行長蘇珊·西瑟伍德(Suzanne Sitherwood) 在過去十多年中的遠見卓識和領導力，她推動了我們戰略重點的成功執行，以實現我們公司的發展和轉型。在她的領導下，我們獲得了規模和基礎，使我們能夠有機發展天然氣公用事業、擴大天然氣行銷業務並策略性投資中游。

Today, Spire is a financially strong and expanding natural gas company that is well positioned as a leader in the industry. I'm honored to build on this strong foundation and lead Spire into the future. In doing so, I want to emphasize that our strategy will not change. We remain committed to the same priorities, growing our businesses, investing in infrastructure and driving continuous improvement and our focus on strong operations and successful execution of our plans remains.

如今，Spire 是一家財務實力雄厚且不斷擴張的天然氣公司，處於行業領先地位。我很榮幸能夠在這個堅實的基礎上再接再厲，帶領 Spire 走向未來。在此我想強調的是，我們的策略不會改變。我們仍然致力於相同的優先事項，發展我們的業務，投資基礎設施並推動持續改進，並且我們仍然專注於強大的營運和成功執行我們的計劃。

While FY '23 presented challenges and 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 also advanced our midstream segment, the announced acquisition of MoGas and the purchase of Salt Plains Storage facility.

雖然23 財年面臨挑戰和阻力，包括監管結果、天氣、通貨膨脹、我們的商品成本和利率上升，但我們能夠滿足我們專注於天然氣公用事業的資本計劃，並且行銷處於有利地位，可以充分利用市場機會。我們也推動了中游業務，宣布收購 MoGas 並購買 Salt Plains 儲存設施。

We're positioned for success in FY '24 and beyond as we continue delivering on our growth strategy. We have a robust 10-year CapEx plan centered on pipeline upgrades and new business for our gas utilities. We remain squarely focused on the basics of strong execution, which includes driving greater efficiency through streamlining systems and processes, maintaining an unwavering commitment to operational excellence. At the same time, we'll work to further advance our marketing and midstream businesses, building on recent expansion and growth.

隨著我們繼續實施我們的成長策略，我們已做好準備，在 24 財年及以後取得成功。我們制定了穩健的 10 年資本支出計劃，重點關注天然氣公用事業的管道升級和新業務。我們仍然專注於強有力執行的基礎，其中包括透過簡化系統和流程來提高效率，保持對卓越營運的堅定承諾。同時，我們將在最近的擴張和成長的基礎上，努力進一步推進我們的行銷和中游業務。

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, cost-effective energy with excellent service while advancing our commitment to become carbon neutral company a mid-century.

我對我們為客戶、社區、員工和股東長期創造價值的能力充滿信心。我們將透過專注於提供安全、可靠、具成本效益的能源和優質服務來實現這一目標，同時推進我們在本世紀中葉成為碳中和公司的承諾。

For FY '23, we reported net economic earnings of $4.05 per share, reflecting higher earnings in gas marketing in midstream, offset by lower earnings from our gas utilities. Steve will discuss our financial results in more detail in a moment.

對於 23 財年，我們報告每股淨經濟收益為 4.05 美元，反映出中游天然氣行銷收益的增加，並被天然氣公用事業收益的下降所抵消。史蒂夫稍後將更詳細地討論我們的財務表現。

In FY '24, today, we're launching earnings guidance of $4.25 to $4.45 per share and reiterating our long-term annual earnings growth target of 5% to 7%. Base for that growth is the midpoint of our FY '24 guidance range of $4.35 per share. You know the long-term driver of our earnings growth is capital investment in our gas utilities.

今天，我們將在 24 財年推出每股 4.25 美元至 4.45 美元的獲利指引，並重申我們 5% 至 7% 的長期年度獲利成長目標。這一增長的基礎是我們 24 財年指導範圍每股 4.35 美元的中點。您知道我們獲利成長的長期驅動力是對天然氣公用事業的資本投資。

For FY '23, our capital investment totaled $663 million, with nearly 90% invested in our gas utilities. Of that amount, we invested $290 million in upgrades of our pipeline infrastructure, an additional $110 million to connect more homes and businesses to safe, reliable and affordable natural gas service.

23 財年，我們的資本投資總額為 6.63 億美元，其中近 90% 投資於天然氣公用事業。其中，我們投資了 2.9 億美元用於升級管道基礎設施，另外投資 1.1 億美元為更多家庭和企業提供安全、可靠和負擔得起的天然氣服務。

The midstream segment CapEx totaled $73 million, largely for the expansion of Spire Storage West. I would note that our cash spend in midstream came in below our forecast for the year due to timing. However, the project remains on schedule and on budget.

中游部分資本支出總計 7,300 萬美元，主要用於 Spire Storage West 的擴張。我要指出的是，由於時間安排，我們中游的現金支出低於我們今年的預測。然而，該項目仍然按計劃和預算進行。

Looking to FY '24, we expect to increase our utility capital investment to $660 million, reflecting increases in infrastructure and new business as well as further deployment of advanced meters. We'll also be making an initial investment in an RNG project, the Spire Missouri is developing in partnership with Kansas City Water Department. And 70% of our gas utility spend this year, we invested on system reliability and safety and another 16% dedicated to customer growth.

展望 24 財年，我們預計將公用事業資本投資增加至 6.6 億美元，反映基礎設施和新業務的成長以及先進電錶的進一步部署。我們還將對 RNG 項目進行初始投資，該項目是與堪薩斯城水務局合作開發的 Spire Missouri。今年，我們將天然氣公用事業支出的 70% 投資於系統可靠性和安全性，另外 16% 致力於客戶成長。

Midstream CapEx is expected to be $105 million, reflecting the timing in construction, equipment purchases for our storage expansion project that I just mentioned.

中游資本支出預計為 1.05 億美元，反映了我剛才提到的儲存擴展項目的建造和設備採購時間。

Recognizing our performance in 2023 as well as confidence in our long-term growth plans, our Board of Directors recently increased Spire's common dividend by 4.9% with an annualized rate of $3.02 per share. It was the 21st consecutive year of dividend increases, which we have continuously paid since 1946.

認識到我們 2023 年的業績以及對長期成長計畫的信心，我們的董事會最近將 Spire 的普通股息增加了 4.9%，年化利率為每股 3.02 美元。這是我們自 1946 年以來連續支付股利的連續 21 年。

With that, I'll turn it over to Steve Rasche for a financial review and update on our guidance and outlook. Steve?

這樣，我將把它交給 Steve Rasche 進行財務審查並更新我們的指導和前景。史蒂夫？

Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone. Let's start with a brief review of results, and then I'll share our expectations as we look into 2024 and beyond.

謝謝史蒂夫，大家早安。讓我們先簡單回顧一下結果，然後我將分享我們對 2024 年及以後的展望。

For our 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. These full year results incorporate our fourth quarter loss of $38 million or $0.78 per share, reflecting the seasonality of our business. Full analysis of our quarter is included in the appendix to this presentation, and I will focus on our remarks today on the full fiscal year.

截至 2023 年 9 月 30 日的財年，我們公佈的淨經濟收入為 2.28 億美元，比去年增長 5.5%。以每股計算，我們的收益為 4.05 美元，比去年增加了 0.19 美元。這些全年業績包含我們第四季虧損 3,800 萬美元或每股 0.78 美元，反映了我們業務的季節性。對我們季度的全面分析包含在本簡報的附錄中，我將重點討論我們今天對整個財年的評論。

Looking at our business segments, our gas 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. 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. Midstream delivered earnings of $14 million, up $3 million from last year, reflecting our growing scale and optimization. And finally, higher interest expense and corporate costs.

看看我們的業務部門，我們的天然氣公用事業費用略高於2 億美元，比去年下降1%，因為密蘇裡州和阿拉巴馬州的新客戶費率被較高的利息支出和溫暖天氣的影響所抵消。去年冬天，Marketing 充分利用了大宗商品價格波動的優勢，實現了近 4,800 萬美元的盈利，與去年相比增長了 75% 以上。 Midstream 實現盈利 1400 萬美元，比去年增加 300 萬美元，反映出我們不斷擴大的規模和優化。最後，更高的利息支出和企業成本。

Looking a bit deeper into our results, starting with revenues and margins here on Slide 7. 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. As a reminder, gas costs are passed through on our customer bill 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. Marketing contribution margin was also higher as they created significant value from the transportation and storage positions as a result of favorable market conditions.

更深入了解我們的業績，從幻燈片7 上的收入和利潤率開始。今年收入成長了21%，其中我們的天然氣公用事業收入增加了5.11 億美元，反映出天然氣成本上升，包括去年冬天上漲的商品成本與前一年相比遞延的天然氣成本。提醒一下，天然氣成本已轉嫁給我們的客戶帳單，扣除這些成本後，天然氣公用事業貢獻利潤率增加了8%，主要反映了密蘇裡州和阿拉巴馬州的新費率，包括密蘇裡州的ISRS 備案。行銷貢獻率也較高，因為由於有利的市場條件，他們從運輸和儲存位置創造了巨大的價值。

Midstream margin was up $13 million, reflecting our growing operations and optimization of injection and withdrawal commitments. This increase also reflects the addition of Salt Plains in our fiscal third quarter. This storage business is performing well against our expectation. And while its revenues and margins are included here in this analysis based on GAAP financials, its earnings are excluded from the consolidated net economic earnings in fiscal year '23. As I touch on shortly, Salt Plains will be fully included in our net economic earnings in fiscal '24 and beyond.

中游利潤成長了 1300 萬美元，反映了我們不斷成長的業務以及注資和提款承諾的優化。這一增長也反映了我們第三財季鹽平原的增加。該存儲業務的表現超出我們的預期。雖然其收入和利潤率包含在基於 GAAP 財務數據的分析中，但其收益不包括在 23 財年的合併淨經濟收益中。正如我稍後提到的，鹽平原將完全納入我們 24 財年及以後的淨經濟收入。

Moving on a couple of other key variances on the next slide and focusing on the net variance column. Gas utility operations and maintenance expenses reflect higher bad debts and the $24 million of Missouri overhead costs that were expensed in '23 deferred in '22. The remaining run rate expenses were up just over $10 million or 2.5% as our cost controls helped offset higher nonpayroll expenses. O&M costs for our marketing and midstream segments reflect growth in those businesses. Corporate costs were higher this year, primarily due to onetime consulting and professional services fees not anticipated to recur in 2024.

在下一張投影片上繼續討論其他幾個關鍵差異，並專注於淨差異列。天然氣公用事業營運和維護費用反映了較高的壞帳和密蘇裡州2,400萬美元的管理費用，這些費用在23年被推遲到了22年。由於我們的成本控制幫助抵消了較高的非工資支出，剩餘的營運費用增加了 1000 萬美元多一點，即 2.5%。我們的行銷和中游部門的營運和維護成本反映了這些業務的成長。今年的企業成本較高，主要是因為預計 2024 年不會再產生一次性諮詢和專業服務費用。

Interest expense for the year was up nearly $66 million, driven equally by 2 factors: first, long-term debt balances that were higher by approximately $475 million net of refinancings. Second, higher short-term interest rates, up roughly 390 basis points over last year. We continue to make progress in collecting our deferred gas cost balances and expect to substantially recover them by the end of the heating season. Other income reflects the investment income from our benefit plans, plus roughly $14 million in higher Missouri carrying cost credits.

今年的利息支出增加了近 6,600 萬美元，主要受到兩個因素的推動：首先，扣除再融資後的長期債務餘額增加了約 4.75 億美元。其次，短期利率上升，比去年上升約390個基點。我們在收取遞延天然氣成本餘額方面繼續取得進展，並預計在暖氣季結束前大幅收回這些成本。其他收入反映了我們福利計劃的投資收入，加上約 1400 萬美元的較高密蘇裡州持有成本信貸。

Now turning to our outlook. We anticipate our net economic earnings per share for fiscal year '24 to be between $4.25 and $4.45 per share, as Steve mentioned. We're also reconfirming our long-term earnings per share growth target beyond 2024 of 5% to 7% using the midpoint of our fiscal year '24 range of $4.35 as base. As a reminder, our long-term target is calibrated around safety, reliability and affordability with our cost of capital and recovery mechanisms. As Steve mentioned earlier, we've updated and extended our capital spend plan for fiscal year '33 and raised the target to $7.2 billion.

現在轉向我們的展望。正如史蒂夫所提到的，我們預計 24 財年的每股淨經濟收益將在每股 4.25 美元至 4.45 美元之間。我們也以 2024 財年中點 4.35 美元為基礎，再次確認 2024 年後每股收益成長 5% 至 7% 的長期目標。提醒一下，我們的長期目標是圍繞安全性、可靠性和可負擔性以及我們的資本成本和回收機制進行調整的。正如 Steve 之前提到的，我們更新並擴展了 33 財年的資本支出計劃，並將目標提高到 72 億美元。

Turning to Slide 10. Here are our business unit earnings ranges for fiscal year '24. Let me hit on a few points. 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. Gas marketing is anticipated to earn $19 million to $23 million, a slight increase in our baseline expectations driven by customer growth. Midstream expects to earn between $21 million and $27 million, reflecting the addition of Salt Plains and the expected closing of the MoGas acquisition.

轉向幻燈片 10。以下是我們的業務部門 24 財年的獲利範圍。讓我談談幾點。我們預計天然氣公用事業公司明年的收入將在2.3 億至2.4 億美元之間，這反映了密蘇裡州全年新費率以及ISRS 備案、阿拉巴馬州新費率以及較低的利息支出和成本管理的綜合效益。天然氣行銷預計將賺取 1,900 萬至 2,300 萬美元的收入，在客戶成長的推動下，我們的基準預期略有增加。 Midstream 預計獲利 2,100 萬至 2,700 萬美元，反映了 Salt Plains 的增加以及 MoGas 收購的預期完成。

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. Corporate and other, principally interest cost is anticipated to be in the range of negative $18 million to negative $22 million, bounced significantly from last year based upon lower corporate costs and lower interest costs, including the impacts of interest rate hedging.

此外，隨著我們開始在 Spire Storage West 運營第一批新儲存容量，我們將在 24 財年下半年看到盈利的拉升。企業和其他主要利息成本預計將在負 1,800 萬美元至負 2,200 萬美元之間，由於企業成本下降和利息成本下降（包括利率對沖的影響），該成本較去年大幅反彈。

Speaking of interest and financing, we've also updated our 3-year financing plan as outlined here on Slide 11. I'm pleased to say that we have locked in approximately 80% of our equity needs for fiscal year '24. This includes the forward sales agreement from earlier this year of roughly $113 million, that's expected to settle by the end of the calendar year. It also reflects the $175 million conversion of equity units on March 1. We'll look to our ATM program for the remaining equities in fiscal year '24, and we expect very modest equity needs in 2025 and 2026.

說到利息和融資，我們還更新了幻燈片 11 中概述的 3 年融資計劃。我很高興地說，我們已經鎖定了 24 財年約 80% 的股權需求。其中包括今年稍早簽訂的約 1.13 億美元的遠期銷售協議，預計今年底結算。它也反映了 3 月 1 日 1.75 億美元的股權單位轉換。我們將在 24 財年關注 ATM 計畫中的剩餘股權，預計 2025 年和 2026 年的股權需求將非常溫和。

Turning to debt financing. We expect to refinance $150 million debt maturity at Spire Inc. as well as complete the remarketing of the debt component of our equity units. In addition, we expect to issue an incremental $50 million to $100 million of new long-term debt to support the MoGas acquisition. 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 continue to target FFO to debt at 15% to 16% on a consolidated basis and expect to be in this range in 2025.

轉向債務融資。我們預計將為 Spire Inc. 的 1.5 億美元債務到期再融資，並完成我們股權單位債務部分的再行銷。此外，我們預計將發行增加 5,000 萬至 1 億美元的新長期債務，以支持 MoGas 收購。除了 25 和 26 財年到期債務的再融資之外，我們沒有計劃發行債券。並相對於未來利率維持有利地位。我們繼續將合併基礎上的 FFO 債務目標定為 15% 至 16%，並預計 2025 年將保持在此範圍內。

In summary, we're executing in line with our plans as we turn the page to fiscal year '24. We're well positioned to deliver both operationally and financially.

總之，當我們翻到第 24 財年時，我們正在按照我們的計畫執行。我們在營運和財務方面都處於有利地位。

With that, let me turn it back over to you, Steve.

那麼，讓我把它轉回給你，史蒂夫。

Thanks, Steve. In fiscal '23, we delivered solid financial and operating performance, including strong results for Spire Market. We're going to execute on our capital investment plan, supporting the growth of our gas utilities and the expansion of Spire Storage.

謝謝，史蒂夫。在 23 財年，我們實現了穩健的財務和營運業績，包括 Spire Market 的強勁業績。我們將執行我們的資本投資計劃，支持我們的天然氣公用事業的成長和 Spire Storage 的擴張。

Holding on this momentum, we're squarely focused on executing to achieve our performance targets for FY '24 and beyond. We look forward to updating you on our performance and progress throughout the year. Thank you for joining us today, and now we're ready to take questions.

保持這一勢頭，我們將專注於執行以實現 24 財年及以後的績效目標。我們期待向您通報我們全年的表現和進展。感謝您今天加入我們，現在我們準備好回答問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Richard Sunderland with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的理查德桑德蘭。

Am I coming through clearly?

我說得清楚嗎？

You are.

你是。

Great. Can you unpack 2023 relative to the 3Q outlook particularly what landed in utility results versus plan? I'm curious if anyone of this is worked to derisk 2024 that's showing up as expenses of 23.

偉大的。您能否相對於第三季展望來分析 2023 年，特別是公用事業業績與計畫的比較？我很好奇是否有人致力於消除 2024 年支出為 23 的風險。

Yes, Rich, this is Steve. Let me take a shot and I'm sure that Adam or Steve would want to weigh in. Yes, if you look at our Q4 against our guidance, interest expense came in a little bit hotter as you might recall. Short-term rates went up a little bit beyond what the market -- including your firm had predicted. And so -- but we had to offset that. And then it really was corporate cost. A lot of those are one-off professional fees and things that we don't expect to recur, which is why you see the corporate costs coming back in line next year. Those were really the big drivers. Everybody else came in reasonably in line with the plan that we would have expected.

是的，里奇，這是史蒂夫。讓我試一試，我確信亞當或史蒂夫會想參與其中。是的，如果您根據我們的指導來查看我們的第四季度，您可能還記得，利息支出有點高。短期利率的上升幅度略高於市場（包括貴公司的預測）。所以——但我們必須抵銷這一點。然後這確實是企業成本。其中許多都是一次性的專業費用以及我們預計不會重複發生的費用，這就是為什麼您會看到明年企業成本恢復正常。這些確實是重要的推動因素。其他人的表現都與我們預期的計劃相當一致。

Got it. Understood. And then you touched on this a little bit to the previous question, but what are you assuming in 2024 cost management? I'm curious where those efforts stand in your overall line of sight to 2024 expenses, I guess, mostly the utilities that you talked about the corporate on-offs.

知道了。明白了。然後您在上一個問題中稍微提到了這一點，但是您對 2024 年成本管理有何假設？我很好奇這些努力在您對 2024 年支出的整體視野中處於什麼位置，我猜，主要是您談到的公司停工的公用事業。

Yes. Let me start on the cost management, which you saw in the back half of this last fiscal year, and it shouldn't be lost on anyone that we started the year as many folks did pretty hot in the run rate of expenses, and we ended up bringing those back down to below the 4% that we had guided after you pull out bad debt. So the efforts that we continue to have in place, which start with how we operate efficiently involving technology and innovation really are continuing into next year.

是的。讓我從成本管理開始，你在上個財年的後半段看到了這一點，任何人都不應該忽視我們今年開始的成本管理，因為許多人在費用運行率方面做得非常好，我們最終，在你提取壞帳後，這些比率又回到了我們指導的4% 以下。因此，我們持續做出的努力，從我們如何有效地運作、涉及技術和創新開始，確實會持續到明年。

We've got a number of initiatives that get us off on the right foot starting out. If you kind of run down the big movers, bad debt was one that traded against us last year. That was more reflective of the higher commodity costs last year, which is flushing through. We have a really solid collection program. I don't suspect given where commodity costs are now, that we'll see that as an adverse move. It probably moves back in the right direction.

我們採取了許多舉措，使我們能夠順利起步。如果你看一下那些大的推動者，你會發現壞帳是去年對我們不利的。這更反映了去年商品成本上漲的情況，這一點正在迅速顯現。我們有一個非常可靠的收集計劃。考慮到目前的大宗商品成本，我不認為我們會認為這是一個不利的舉動。它可能會回到正確的方向。

And we continue to manage not only our -- the cost that we can control in a big way, which would be the cost that we incur operating the businesses, but also our third-party cost. And you know that there were a lot of headwinds in third-party costs this year. And it's not just us. You've heard it from the industry on the cost of locates, some professional fees. And we see those moderating as we've seen overall inflation rates coming back down to a more reasonable level. So those would be some of the key items that we're working on.

我們不僅繼續管理我們可以在很大程度上控制的成本，這將是我們經營業務所產生的成本，而且還管理我們的第三方成本。你知道，今年第三方成本面臨許多阻力。不僅僅是我們。您已經從業界聽說過關於場地成本和一些專業費用的說法。我們看到這些因素正在放緩，因為我們看到整體通膨率回落到更合理的水平。因此，這些將是我們正在研究的一些關鍵項目。

And thanks, this is Steve Lindsey. And I think just to follow up on that, what we're really looking to do going forward, and it started this year, like Steve mentioned, is really drive value throughout the utilities. We're on common platforms now, which makes a lot of difference when you think about it from a logistics perspective, whether it's around managing the people, managing the materials from a supply chain perspective or the fleets. 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.

謝謝，我是史蒂夫林賽。我認為，為了跟進這一點，我們真正希望繼續做的事情是從今年開始的，就像史蒂夫提到的那樣，真正推動整個公用事業公司的價值。我們現在處於通用平台上，當您從物流角度考慮時，無論是從管理人員、從供應鏈角度還是從車隊角度管理材料，這都會產生很大的差異。因此，我認為我們已經做好了充分準備，可以做到這一點，並真正開始從我們在基礎設施上進行的資本投資中獲益。

If you think about one of the metrics that we follow very closely, our leaks for 1,000 system mile is down over 60% over the last 5 years. Those are O&M costs that in the future will not occur. So I think all those things together really give us a strong foundation for managing our expenses not only in the near term, but really more for the long term.

如果您考慮我們密切關注的一項指標，您會發現在過去 5 年裡，我們 1,000 系統英里的洩漏量下降了 60% 以上。這些都是未來不會發生的維運成本。因此，我認為所有這些事情加在一起確實為我們提供了堅實的基礎，不僅可以在短期內管理我們的支出，而且可以從長遠來看。

Yes. And then, Rich, you had asked a question on the other line, which is coming down pretty dramatically. The biggest mover there is going to be interest rates. We've -- our level of borrowing is down and we're managing interest rates. As you know, we're fairly active in interest rate hedging, which provides benefits going forward.

是的。然後，里奇，你在另一條線上問了一個問題，這個問題的進展非常顯著。最大的推動因素將是利率。我們的借貸水準已經下降，我們正在管理利率。如您所知，我們在利率對沖方面相當活躍，這為未來帶來了好處。

So we actually see interest cost at the holdco level, which is what comes up in corporate and other down from the run rate that we've seen in '23. And then those one-off costs aren't going to recur. 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.

因此，我們實際上看到了控股公司層級的利息成本，這與我們在 23 年看到的營運利率相比，在企業和其他方面出現了下降。然後這些一次性成本就不會再發生。因此，我們的成本控制不僅針對營運業務，還涉及我們在共享服務層級的管理方式，並且我們在那裡看到了一些巨大的好處。

Our next question comes from Gabe Moreen with Mizuho.

我們的下一個問題來自 Mizuho 的 Gabe Moreen。

Maybe if I can just keep on the gas cost and slashed interest expense outlook. Can you just talk about maybe starting with the latter, the interest expense hedges and the lack of sensitivity to short-term rates in '24. Were those hedges you had entered into a while ago? Are those relatively recent? And then also on the gas cost, maybe you can just talk about, I guess, is this just a question of the forward curve? Are you making your own assumptions on gas costs? Just curious about that.

也許如果我能繼續維持天然氣成本和削減利息支出的前景。您能否從後者開始談談24年的利息支出對沖和對短期利率缺乏敏感度。那些樹籬是你不久前進入的嗎？這些是相對較新的嗎？然後還有關於天然氣成本，也許你可以談談，我想，這只是遠期曲線的問題嗎？您是否對天然氣成本做出自己的假設？只是對此感到好奇。

Yes. So we're -- we actively are hedging gas costs as well for the benefit of the customer. But the interest rate program is ongoing. So we're -- it is more of a dynamic program. So I'm not -- I wouldn't speak to any specific aging of hedges. 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.

是的。因此，為了客戶的利益，我們也積極對沖天然氣成本。但利率計劃仍在進行中。所以我們——它更像是一個動態計劃。所以我不會談論任何具體的對沖老化。但我們感覺——顯然，我們對前一年利率的敏感度感覺很好。但正如史蒂夫所提到的那樣，我們確實看到全年的遞延餘額正在下降，並且到冬季末真正達到一種更正常化的遞延狀態。

Okay. And then maybe if I can ask about the storage project and some of the CapEx slippage. Is there -- can you just talk a little bit about -- more that about -- talk a little bit about that more. Is it just a question of timing? Is there any cost inflation? Any specifics on what the slippage is around there?

好的。然後也許我可以詢問儲存項目和一些資本支出下滑的情況。能多談談嗎？再多談談這一點。這只是時間問題嗎？是否存在成本膨脹？有什麼具體的滑點狀況嗎？

Gabe, it's Steve Lindsey here, and thanks for that question. And it is timing. Some of it is raw materials, some of it is around equipment. We continue to project that for the full life of the project that we will be on time and on budget. 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.

加布，我是史蒂夫林賽，謝謝你的提問。這是時機。有些是原料，有些是設備。我們繼續預計，在專案的整個生命週期中，我們將按時、按預算完成任務。顯然，當你進入冬季時，你可以做什麼方面會遇到一些挑戰，但我們實際上將在一些設施內做一些事情，以繼續推進這項工作。

So we were very pleased with the initial open season that we had. We got a lot of strong interest there. We anticipate the same with the next open season. And so from the overall project perspective, I would just anchor back to you we're on time and on budget.

所以我們對最初的開放賽季非常滿意。我們對此產生了濃厚的興趣。我們預計下一個開放賽季也會如此。因此，從整個專案的角度來看，我只想告訴您，我們按時按預算完成。

And Gabe, if you look at our longer-term forecast, you can see that $20 million or $30 million move from -- it actually happened in '23 to '24 and '25. That's more a cash spend on the project.

Gabe，如果你看一下我們的長期預測，你會發現 2000 萬或 3000 萬美元的資金從 23 年轉移到了 24 年和 25 年。這更多的是該項目的現金支出。

As you know, construction season is now largely over in Wyoming with the beginning of the snow, but that we were -- we benefited from the weather in October, and so we were going head long. So some of that activity, which we considered in the construction season that was the summer actually leaked over into the next fiscal year. But you shouldn't read anything more into that and then just fine-tuning how the cash is actually going up.

如您所知，隨著降雪的開始，懷俄明州的施工季節現在已基本結束，但我們受益於 10 月的天氣，所以我們要繼續前進。因此，我們在夏季施工季節考慮的一些活動實際上已經滲透到了下一個財政年度。但你不應該對此進行更多的解讀，然後只是微調現金的實際成長方式。

If I could just squeeze in one last one on pension expense and the assumptions. I think last year it was a benefit. What you're assuming for next year? And to the degree, it's a swing factor in your '24 guidance.

如果我能擠進最後一項關於退休金支出和假設的話。我認為去年這是一個好處。你對明年有什麼假設？從某種程度上來說，這是你們 24 年指導方針中的一個搖擺因素。

I would not -- Gabe, I would not characterize it as a swing factor in our '24 guidance. I'd have to go -- the K will be out here in a couple of hours, but I'd have to go back to take a look at the exact assumptions. There are several that go into that. But......

我不會——Gabe，我不會將其描述為我們 24 年指導中的一個搖擺因素。我得走了——幾個小時後 K 就會到這裡，但我必須回去看看確切的假設。有幾個涉及到這一點。但......

Yes. And Gabe, if you're focusing on the miscellaneous income line, we do have some nonqualified benefits where the funds that we've used to fund those programs to -- are subject to market returns. And we've seen that swing negative in '22. It was positive in '23. Our expectation is always kind of benign in terms of just reasonable, but not excessive market returns. But we'll continue to report on that every quarter. So you see a little volatility there. It was masked this year because of the $14 million of interest rate credits that we got as part of our recovery in Missouri for the short-term interest cost.

是的。加布，如果你關注的是雜項收入線，我們確實有一些不合格的福利，我們用來資助這些項目的資金取決於市場回報。我們在 22 年就看到了這種負面波動。 23 年的情況是正面的。我們的預期始終是合理的，但不是過高的市場回報。但我們將繼續每季對此進行報告。所以你會看到那裡有一點波動。今年它被掩蓋了，因為我們在密蘇裡州恢復短期利息成本的過程中獲得了 1,400 萬美元的利率信貸。

Our next question comes from Julien Dumoulin-Smith with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Julien Dumoulin-Smith。

This is Tanner on for Julien. Can you further disaggregate your midstream guide for fiscal year '24 between the individual pieces there and kind of share your expectations for how we should look at run rate growth across each?

這是坦納為朱利安主持的節目。您能否進一步將 24 財年的中游指南細分為各個部分，並分享您對我們應如何看待每個部分的運行率成長的期望？

Yes. We set up the midstream segment this year so we could actually isolate what's going to be a growing piece of our business, just recognizing the investments that we've already made. So when you think about what's happening as you go from '23 to '24 at the midpoint of the range, it really is the recognition of Salt Plains and no, we're not going to get into the individual property details. It was a $47 million acquisition, but we had every expectation of above utility rate returns and we're, as we mentioned in our prepared remarks, seeing those.

是的。我們今年設立了中游部門，這樣我們就可以真正隔離出我們業務中將成長的部分，只需認識到我們已經進行的投資即可。因此，當您考慮從 23 世紀到 24 世紀的中點發生的事情時，這確實是對鹽平原的認可，不，我們不會深入討論個別財產的詳細資訊。這是一筆 4700 萬美元的收購，但我們對高於公用事業回報率抱有充分的期望，正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的那樣，我們正在看到這些。

We also expect that the MoGas acquisition will close early in the next calendar year, our fiscal Q2, and we're seeing that earnings pull through as we go through the balance of the year.

我們也預計，對 MoGas 的收購將在下一個日曆年（即我們的第二財季）年初完成，並且我們看到，隨著今年剩餘時間的推移，利潤將會實現成長。

And then lastly, we do see a little bit of pull through at the margin line on Spire Storage West, and we've talked about this when we launched the project that we're seeing some of that, which is offsetting the financing cost. It doesn't get to a full run rate until '25, but it does add a bit to the earnings really offsetting the earnings drag that we willingly took on in the last fiscal year as we were investing to expand that facility. That would be, as you think about the storage side of the business and a little bit of pipeline from MoGas perspective, Spire STL Pipeline just continues to operate. And we would expect that with a pretty narrow range as with most pipelines unless there's some expansion project and we're not speaking to anything at this point. It's just going to continue to drive the kind of earnings that we've seen in prior years. Hopefully, that helps.

最後，我們確實看到 Spire Storage West 的利潤線有所改善，我們在啟動該專案時已經討論過這一點，我們看到了其中的一些，這正在抵消融資成本。直到 25 年才達到滿載運行，但它確實增加了一點收益，真正抵消了我們在上一財年投資擴大該設施時自願承擔的收益拖累。也就是說，當您從 MoGas 的角度考慮業務的儲存方面和一點管道時，Spire STL Pipeline 將繼續運作。我們預計，與大多數管道一樣，範圍相當窄，除非有一些擴建項目，而且我們目前沒有談論任何事情。它只會繼續推動我們前幾年看到的那種獲利。希望這會有所幫助。

No, it does. And then on the utility, your initial 2023 net economic earnings guidance was about $230 million at the midpoint. And this year for FY '24, you're guiding to the midpoint of $235 million. Taking each one is normalized, that implies something like low single-digit growth year-over-year. Is there some conservatism built into that estimate? Or are you perhaps seeing lag stiffen in Missouri? Just wanted some color there, if you could provide it.

不，確實如此。然後在公用事業方面，您最初的 2023 年淨經濟收入指引中位數約為 2.3 億美元。今年 24 財年，您的目標是 2.35 億美元的中位數。將每一項都標準化，這意味著同比增長率較低。這項估計是否帶有一定的保守性？或者您看到密蘇裡州的滯後加劇？只是想要一些顏色，如果你能提供的話。

Yes, Tanner, this is Adam. I would look back to '22 and see the pull-through over a couple of years. Obviously, we came out of back-to-back cases in Missouri. 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 and lot of that -- some of that is just a pull-through both in Alabama and Missouri. But we do see that on a 2-year basis, looking like it was -- would meet our expectations. But I wouldn't characterize it as conservative or aggressive.

是的，坦納，這是亞當。我會回顧 22 年，看到幾年後的轉變。顯然，我們已經擺脫了密蘇裡州連續發生的案件。所以它有點 - 它變得有點模糊，但我們今年沒有達到我們最初想要在公用事業方面達到的目標，其中很多 - 其中一些只是阿拉巴馬州和密蘇裡州。但我們確實看到，從兩年的角度來看，看起來會滿足我們的期望。但我不會將其描述為保守或激進。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions. I would like to turn the conference back over to Scott Dudley for any closing remarks.

（操作員說明）沒有其他問題。我想將會議轉回斯科特·達德利 (Scott Dudley) 發表閉幕詞。

Thank you all for joining us. We'll be around for the rest of the day for any follow-ups. Thanks for being with us.

感謝大家加入我們。我們將在當天剩餘的時間內進行任何後續行動。感謝您與我們同在。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連線。