Evergy, Inc. (EVRG) CEO David A. Campbell on Q1 2022 Results - Earnings Call Transcript

Evergy, Inc. (NASDAQ:EVRG) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2022 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

David A. Campbell – President and Chief Executive Officer

Kirkland Andrews – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Lori Wright – Vice President Investor Relations and Treasurer

Conference Call Participants

Michael Sullivan – Wolfe Research

Michael Lapides – Goldman Sachs

Darius Anderson – Bank of America

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the First Quarter 2022 Evergy Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Lori Wright, Vice President Investor Relations and Treasurer. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Lori Wright

Thank you, Blue. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Evergy's first quarter call. Thank you for joining us this morning. Today's discussion will include forward-looking information, slide 2 and the disclosure in our SEC filings containing list of some of the factors that could cause future results to differ materially from our expectations, and include additional information on non - GAAP financial measures. The releases issued this morning, along with today's webcast slides and supplemental financial information for the quarter, are available on the main page of our website at investors. evergy.com. On the call today, we have David Campbell, Evergy's President and Chief Executive Officer and Kirk Andrews, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

David will cover our first quarter highlights, our regulatory and legislative priorities, and our enhanced ESG profile. Kirk will cover in more detail the first quarter results, the latest on sales and customers, and our financial outlook. Other members of management are with us and will be available during the question-and-answer portion of the call. I will now turn the call over to David.

David A. Campbell

Thanks, Lori, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin on Slide 5. I'm pleased to report that we had a solid first quarter as we delivered adjusted earnings per share of $0.58 compared to $0.55 in 2021. The increase in adjusted earnings over last year was driven primarily by higher transmission margin and lower operating expenses partially offset by an increase in depreciation and amortization and higher income tax expense. Kirk will discuss these first-quarter drivers in more detail. One of our objectives is to become widely recognized for operational excellence, which includes safety. Our strong safety culture drives both discipline and consistency of performance as well as cost management. During the first quarter, our employees participated in a safety roadshow that included presentations at 70 sessions throughout our service territory. This continued focus on safety has contributed to a 68% reduction in OSHA recordable safety events relative to the first quarter of 2021.