Star Group, L.P. (SGU) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good day, and welcome to the Star Group Fiscal 2026 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Witty, the Investor Relations Adviser. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning. With me on the call today are Jeff Woosnam, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Rich Ambury, Chief Financial Officer. I would now like to provide a brief safe harbor statement. This conference call may include forward-looking statements that represent the company's expectations and beliefs concerning future events that involve risks and uncertainties and may cause the company's actual performance to be materially different from the performance indicated or implied by such statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this conference call are forward-looking statements. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations are disclosed in this conference call, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, and the company's other filings with the SEC. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to the company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements. Unless otherwise required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this conference call. I'd now like to turn the call over to Jeff Woosnam. Jeff?

Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss our second quarter and fiscal year-to-date results. The second quarter was, in many ways, a continuation of conditions experienced in the first. Temperatures across our operating footprint were 6.4% colder than last year and 2.8% colder than normal resulting in slightly higher volumes of products sold. However, the severe weather, including several very large snow events at times impacted our field productivity, thereby raising operating expenses. That said, we were still able to post adjusted EBITDA of $139 million, which represents a year-over-year improvement of $10.5 million. At the same time, we kept net customer attrition to 0.6% both of which are meaningful accomplishments for the company. Lastly, we closed on one small heating oil acquisition during the quarter and have several other opportunities under various stages of review. I've often talked on this call about the hard work and dedication of our loyal employees. Never has there been a more appropriate time to reflect on their value to our organization. With the added demand brought on by periods of near record low temperatures combined with significant snowfall, our team worked tirelessly, often through very difficult conditions to provide our customers with the level of service and responsiveness they have come to expect. I simply could not be more proud and appreciative of their efforts. We are also working to contain the impact from recent increases in wholesale product costs through the use of effective inventory controls, supply chain initiatives and active margin management. While higher prices can create certain challenges for us, the immediate impact of this current escalation has been somewhat muted by the fact that we are coming out of the heating season. Although there is still much work to be done, I'm very pleased with how Star has performed as we crossed the midpoint of the year. We believe we are well positioned for the remainder of fiscal 2026 and look forward to the opportunities that summer brings to further invest in our people and business development initiatives. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rich to provide additional comments on the quarter's results. Rich?

Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. In analyzing our results for the 3- and 6-month periods of fiscal 2026, please keep in mind that service costs and operating expenses were impacted by extreme weather conditions, including at times temperatures that were 25% colder than expected for a 3-week period and in some areas, experienced over 60 inches of snow, which obviously negatively affected our overall operational efficiency. For the second quarter, our home heating oil and propane volume rose by 600,000 gallons or [ 0.004% ] to 144.5 million gallons as the additional volume provided from acquisitions and colder weather more than offset the impact of net customer attrition and other factors. Temperatures for the fiscal 2026 second quarter were 6.4% colder than last year and 2.8% colder than normal. Our product gross profit increased by $19 million or 7% to $277 million due to a slight increase in home heating oil and propane volumes sold and higher home heating oil and propane per gallon margins. Colder weather conditions and numerous snowstorms increases the demand for service which led to higher service-related expenses, including greater labor and other costs, which increased our service loss by $3.4 million. Delivery, branch and G&A expenses increased by $5.4 million year-over-year. Delivery-related expenses rose by $4 million, largely due to the extreme weather conditions while insurance expense increased by $4 million as well as claims rose due to the severe weather. During the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the company did not recognize any benefit or expense under its weather hedge versus a $3.1 million expense recorded for the 3 months ending March 31, 2025. We have previously expensed a cap of about $5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 due to the cold weather. We posted net income of $108 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 or $22 million more than the prior year period reflecting a $10.5 million increase in adjusted EBITDA and the impact of a noncash favorable change in the fair value of derivative instruments of $21 million more than offsetting higher income tax expense of about $10 million and certain other factors. Adjusted EBITDA rose by $10.5 million to $139 million as an increase in home heating oil and propane per gallon margins more than offset higher operating expenses I just discussed. Now turning to the results for the first half of fiscal 2026. Our home heating oil and propane volume increased by 12 million gallons or 5.3% to 238 million gallons, again, reflecting colder temperatures and the additional volume provided from acquisitions, again, more than offsetting net customer attrition and other factors. Temperatures in Star's geographic areas of operations fiscal year-to-date were 11% colder than the prior year comparable period and 4.1% colder than normal. Our product gross profit increased by $48 million or 12% to $457 million due to an increase in the volume of home heating oil and propane sold and higher home heating oil and propane per gallon margins. As previously mentioned, colder weather conditions and numerous snow storms in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 increased the demand for service, which led to higher service-related expenses while installation gross profit increased by $1.5 million, the service gross loss rose by $6.1 million, again due to higher expenses and an increased demand for service as well as an increase in propane tank sets. Delivery, branch and G&A expenses rose by a little over $16 million year-over-year, of which $1.9 million was attributable to our weather hedging program. As I previously mentioned, in fiscal 2026, we recorded an expense of $5 million under our weather hedge compared to $3.1 million recorded in fiscal 2025, again, reflecting weather conditions in both periods. Recent acquisitions accounted for an increase of $3 million to delivery, branch and G&A expenses while costs associated with the base business rose by $11.3 million, reflecting a 2.7% increase in volume and the impact of the severe weather conditions on operating expenses, including insurance claims. We posted net income of $144 million for the first 6 months of fiscal 2026 or $25 million in the prior year period as an increase in adjusted EBITDA of $27 million and the impact of a favorable change in the fair value of derivatives of $10 million, more than offset higher income tax expense of $11 million and other factors. Adjusted EBITDA rose by $27 million to $207 million due to an increase in home heating oil and propane volumes sold in the base business and increase in adjusted EBITDA from acquisitions and higher home heating oil and propane per gallon margins, which more than offset higher operating expenses. Note that for fiscal 2027, we have put in place a $12.5 million weather hedge. And now I'll turn the call back over to Jeff.

Thanks, Rich. At this time, we're pleased to address any questions you may have. Operator, please open the phone lines for questions.

[Operator Instructions] At this point, there appear to be no callers in the queue, so I'll hand it back to Mr. Woosnam for any closing remarks.

Okay. Thank you for taking the time to join us today and your ongoing interest in Star Group. We look forward to sharing our 2026 fiscal third quarter results in August. Have a great summer.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may all disconnect.