Good morning. My name is Sumita, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Chesapeake Utilities Second Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. Beth Cooper, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, you may begin your conference.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Chesapeake Utilities Second Quarter 2012 Earnings Conference Call. Before we begin, let me remind you that matters discussed in this conference call may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to the Safe Harbor for forward-looking statements in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The annual report on Form 10-K provides further information on the risks and uncertainties related to the company's forward-looking statements. Now I'll turn the call over to Mike McMasters, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Thanks, Beth, and good morning, everyone. Yesterday, we announced record-setting earnings for the second quarter of 2012, net income of $5.1 million and earnings per share of $0.52. These results represent an increase of $1.5 million in net income and $0.15 in earnings per share over the second quarter of 2011. The $0.52 in earnings per share for the second quarter of 2012 was an increase of 43% over the second quarter of last year. The single greatest factor contributing to this increase was $1 million of additional net income generated from the expansion of natural gas services on Delmarva and in Florida. The second quarter results reflect our employees' continuous efforts over the last 2 or 3 years to identify opportunities to expand our service to new areas and then turn those opportunities into real projects that generate tangible benefits for our customers, the communities we serve and our shareholders. we are continuing to develop the ideas and the opportunities while looking for still more. Now is a great time to be in the natural gas transmission distribution business. It is clean-burning, environmentally friendly and domestically abundant. But ultimately, it's our employees' relentless pursuit of these and other opportunities, coupled with the quality of service that they provide that makes the difference. Beth will provide a more detailed discussion of the financial results after I highlight some of the profitable growth opportunities that we see for the company going forward. We take a long-term, strategic approach toward extending our natural gas systems to customers and communities. This strategy has enabled us to successfully cultivate growth opportunities in the past, and we believe it will lead to continued growth in the future. Our strategy in the natural gas distribution business includes aggressively pursuing new commercial and industrial customers that are…

Thanks, Mike. As Mike indicated, the results from the second quarter of 2012 demonstrate the growth potential that we have in our businesses. The company's net income for the quarter was $5.1 million or $0.52 per share. This represents an increase of $1.5 million or $0.15 per share compared to the second quarter of 2011. These quarter-over-quarter increases represent 44% and 43% growth in terms of net income and earnings per share growth, respectively. For the quarter ended June, 2012, consolidated operating income increased by $2.7 million to $10.5 million largely due to growth in the company's Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution businesses and increased revenues from BravePoint, the company's advanced information services subsidiary. These improvements were partially offset by lower operating income from the Unregulated Energy segment, which was impacted by lower Delmarva propane volumes sold and retail margins per gallon. Detailed discussions of the changes in gross margin and operating expenses by business segment for the quarter and 6 months ended June 2012 are provided in our press release and Form 10-Q, which were issued yesterday. However, I will highlight the key accomplishments and results for the business segment during the second quarter of 2012. Chesapeake's Regulated Energy businesses, which include our Natural Gas Transmission and Distribution and Electric Distribution operations, generated operating income of $10.5 million for the second quarter of 2012, up from $7.8 million in 2011. Higher margin due to new gas transmission services generated $1.1 million in additional margin during the second quarter. This increased margin is a result of system expansions to bring natural gas to Lewes and Southern Delaware; Worcester County, Maryland; and Nassau County, Florida, as well as new transmission services for an existing industrial customer. Gross margin from distribution service to new large commercial and industrial customers as a result…

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of John Hanson with Praesidis.

Just a follow-up on the financing. Lots of good projects, lots of opportunities there. Just to make sure I heard it correctly. It sounded like you're looking to do most of that expansion with debt and existing cash flow, is that correct? Rather than new equity anytime in the near future?

Yes, John. As our balance sheet shows, we're pretty strong on the equity side right now, and so we believe our cash flow from operations coupled with our short-term debt, and then at some point potentially a long-term debt financing, will be the route that we'll choose to go.

We have no further questions at this time. I turn the call back over to the presenters.

Well, thanks, everyone, for listening in. And we'll look forward to talking to you next quarter. Thank you. Bye.

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.