Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE:NWN) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 3, 2023 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Nikki Sparley - Director of IR and Treasury

David Anderson - CEO

Brody Wilson - CFO, VP, Treasurer, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer

Justin Palfreyman - SVP of Strategy and Business Development

Kimberly Heiting - SVP of Operations and CMO

Conference Call Participants

Julien Dumoulin-Smith - Bank of America

Selman Akyol - Stifel

Chris Ellinghaus - Siebert Williams Shank

Operator

Good morning or good afternoon all, and welcome to the Northwest Natural Holdings Company Q3 2023 Earnings Call. My name is Adam, and I'll be your operator for today. [Operator Instructions]

I will now hand the floor over to Nikki Sparley to begin. So, Nikki, please go ahead when you're ready.

Nikki Sparley

Thank you, Adam. Good morning and welcome to our third quarter 2023 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.

Speaking this morning are David Anderson, Chief Executive Officer; and Brody Wilson, CFO, Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer. David and Brody have prepared remarks and then we'll 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 thanks, Nikki and good morning everybody, welcome.

I'll start today with highlights from the quarter, and then turn it over to Brody to cover the financials. I'll wrap up the call with a few updates on our decarbonization initiatives and our gas utility and recent news at our water and renewable companies. The company continues to operate very well during the year and posted strong financial results.

We reported net income of $1.37 per share for the first nine months of 2023 or a 20% increase compared to $1.14 per share for the same period last year. New rates in Oregon drove results at the natural gas utility along with customer growth and lower pension expense.