Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE:NWN) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 24, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Nikki Sparley – Director- Investor Relations

David Anderson - President & Chief Executive Officer

Frank Burkhartsmeyer - Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Operator

Hello, and welcome to today's Northwest Natural Holding Company Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Call. My name is Bailey, and I'll be the moderator for today's call. All lines will be muted during the presentation portion of the call with an opportunity for questions-and-answers at the end. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Nikki Sparley, Director of Investor Relations. Nikki, please go ahead.

Nikki Sparley

Thank you, Bailey. Good morning, and welcome to our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call. As a reminder, some things that will be said this morning contain forward-looking statements. They are based on management's assumptions, which may or may not occur. For a complete list of cautionary statements, refer to the language at the end of our press release. We expect to file our 10-K later today.

As mentioned, this teleconference is being recorded and will be available on our website following the call. Please note, these calls are designed for the financial community. If you are an investor and have additional questions after the call, please contact me directly at 503-721-2530. News media may contact David Roy at 503-610-7157.

Speaking this morning are David Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Frank Burkhartsmeyer, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. David and Frank have prepared remarks and then will be available, along with other members of our executive team to answer your questions.

With that, I will turn it over to David.

David Anderson

Well, thank you, Nikki, and good morning, and welcome everybody. 2022 was a transformative year on many fronts. We grew our gas and water utilities. We began operation of our first renewable natural gas facility under the landmark Oregon Senate Bill 98 legislation, which is now producing RNG on behalf of our gas utility customers.

We closed our largest water and wastewater acquisition to-date and construction began on the first of the facilities that we're investing in through our competitive renewable natural gas business. We also increased dividends for the 67th year and were recognized by Ethisphere as one of the 2022s world's most ethical companies.

For 2022, we reported net income of $86.3 million or $2.54 per share. That's an increase of $7.6 million or around 10% compared to net income of $78.7 million or $2.56 per share in 2021. Higher revenues in Oregon drove results at the natural gas utility, along with solid customer growth.