Doran N. Schwartz - MDU Resources Group, Inc. David L. Goodin - MDU Resources Group, Inc.

Good morning. My name is Brent, and I will be your conference facilitator. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the MDU Resources Group 2017 First Quarter Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer period. This call will be available for replay beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern today through 11:59 p.m. Eastern on May 18. The conference ID number for the replay is 92678257. Again, the conference ID number for the replay is 92678257. The number to dial for the replay is 1-855-859-2056 or 404-537-3406. I would now like to turn the conference over to Doran Schwartz, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of MDU Resources Group. Thank you. Mr. Schwartz, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, and welcome to our first quarter earnings release conference call. This conference call is being broadcast live to the public over the Internet and slides will accompany our remarks. If you would like to view the slides, please go to our website at www.mdu.com and follow the link to the conference call. Our earnings release is also available on our website. During the course of this presentation, we will make certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although the company believes that its expectations and beliefs are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially. For a discussion of factors that may cause actual results to differ, refer to Item 1A, Risk Factors, in our most recent Form 10-K. Our format today will include formal remarks from Dave Goodin, President and CEO of MDU Resources, followed by a Q&A session. Other members of our management team who will be available to answer questions during the Q&A session of the conference call today are, Dave Barney, President and CEO of Knife River Corporation; Jeff Thiede, President and CEO of MDU Construction Services Group; and Nicole Kivisto, President and CEO of Montana-Dakota, Great Plains Natural Gas, Cascade Natural Gas and Intermountain Gas; Martin Fritz, President and CEO of WBI Energy; and Jason Vollmer, Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer for MDU Resources. And with that, I'll turn the presentation over to Dave for his formal remarks. Dave?

Thank you, Doran, and good morning. We appreciate your interest in MDU Resources, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our first quarter results. We are pleased with our company's first quarter performance, and we're positive about the long-term growth potential of our two primary business lines, Regulated Energy Delivery and Construction Materials and Services. These businesses delivered strong results for the first quarter of 2017. Consolidated earnings from continuing operations were $35.5 million or $0.18 per share, a 12% increase compared to the $31.6 million or $0.16 per share for the first quarter of 2016. Including the discontinued operations of the exploration and production and refining businesses, we had earnings of $37.2 million or $0.19 per share. Now turning to our individual business unit performance. Starting with the Regulated Energy Delivery companies, our utility business reported earnings of $42.2 million for the quarter, up some 16% from the prior year. Here, our regulatory staff has been pursuing recovery of our investments which were made to safely serve our growing customer base. Since January 1 of 2015, the utility has implemented some $100.7 million in final and interim rate relief, which includes $39.1 million in interim rates. The electric utility earnings were $14.3 million this quarter, up $3.2 million or 29% from 2016. This was primarily due to higher retail sales margins, which includes recovery of investment in a MISO project, final and interim rate increases and increased retail sales volumes of 6% quarter-over-quarter. At our natural gas utility business, we had earnings of $27.9 million compared to $25.2 million in 2016. This earnings increase was largely the result of higher natural gas retail sales margins due to 21% higher natural gas retail sales volumes across all customer classes, customer growth and colder weather in those jurisdictions where…

This call will be available for replay beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern today through 11:59 p.m. Eastern on May 18. The conference ID number for the replay is 92678257. Again, the conference ID number for the replay is 92678257. And at this time, there are no further questions. I'd now like to turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

Thank you, Brent. As noted earlier in my comments, our continuing operations delivered strong results for the first quarter of 2017. We're committed to building a strong America, and are optimistic about our opportunities in 2017 and beyond. We appreciate your participation on the call today, and we'll keep you posted as we progress throughout the year. Thank you again for your continued interest in MDU Resources. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Brent.

Thank you. This concludes today's MDU Resources Group conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.