Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE:NWN) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2022 11:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Nikki Sparley - Director, Investor Relations

David Anderson - President and Chief Executive Officer

Frank Burkhartsmeyer - Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Justin Palfreyman - VP Strategy and Business Development

Conference Call Participants

Kody Clark - Bank of America

Selman Akyol - Stifel

Operator

00:00 Hello and welcome to NW Natural Holding Company Q1 2022 Earnings Call. My name is Alex and I will be coordinating the call today. [Operator Instructions]

00:24 I will now hand over to your host Nikki Sparley, Director of Investor Relations. Over to you, Nikki.

Nikki Sparley

00:31Thank you, Alex. Good morning and welcome to our first 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-Q 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.

01:22 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.

01:39 With that, I will turn it over to David.

David Anderson

01:41 Thanks, Nikki. And good morning, everybody and welcome. We started off the year strong and in line with our expectations. Our financial results were solid and we continue to make progress on all key objectives. We reported net income today of $1.80 per share in the first quarter compared to net income of $1.94 per share for the same period last year.

02:01 Results for 2021 include a $0.09 per share benefit related to severe cold weather event in February last year. Setting that aside, financial results in 2022 were driven by new rates in Washington and customer growth, as well as continued growth in expenses as we invest in our natural gas utility system.