On Tuesday, Unitil (NYSE:UTL) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.
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The full earnings call is available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/8h4o5v9g/
Summary
Unitil reported adjusted net income of $33.8 million and adjusted earnings per share of $1.88 for Q1 2026, marking an 8% increase from Q1 2025.
The company completed the integration of Maine Natural Gas, contributing significantly to the adjusted gross gas margin, and is now the largest natural gas utility in Maine.
Unitil reaffirmed its 2026 earnings guidance of $3.20 to $3.36 per share, with a midpoint of $3.28, and projected long-term earnings growth of 5-7%.
The company reached a settlement agreement for temporary rates in New Hampshire for its Northern Utilities gas subsidiary, with permanent rates expected by April 2027.
Unitil plans to file a gas rate case in Maine by June 1 and continues to monitor regulatory approvals concerning a pending acquisition in the water sector, which is expected to complement its existing operations.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the first quarter 2026 UNITIL Earnings Conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker’s presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Chris Golding, Vice President of Finance and Regulatory. Please go ahead.
Chris Golding (Vice President, Finance and Regulatory)
Good afternoon and thank you for joining us to Discuss Unitil Corporation’s first quarter 2026 financial results. Speaking on the call today will be Tom Eisner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Dan Herstoch, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Also with us today are Bob Hebert, President and Chief Administrative Officer and Todd Diggins, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller. We will discuss financial and other information on this call. As we mentioned in the press release announcing today’s call, we have posted information including a presentation to the Investor section of our website@unitil.com. We will refer to that information during this call. Moving to Slide 2 the comments made today about future operating results or events are forward looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Forward looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted. Statements made on this call should be considered together with cautionary statements and other information contained in our most recent Annual report on Form 10-K and other documents we have filed with or furnished to the securities and Exchange Commission. Forward looking statements speak only as of today and we assume no obligation to update them. This presentation contains non Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial measures. The accompanying supplemental information more fully describes these non Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial measures and includes a reconciliation to the nearest Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial measures. The Company believes these non Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) financial measures are useful in evaluating its performance. With that, I will now turn the call over to Chairman and CEO Tom Eisner.
Tom Eisner (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)
Great. Thanks Chris. Good afternoon everyone and thanks for joining us today. I’ll begin on Slide 3 where today we announced adjusted net income excluding transaction related costs of 33.8 million and adjusted earnings per share of $1.88 for the first quarter of 2026. This represents an increase of $0.14 per share or 8% compared to the first quarter of 2025. We are fully earning our authorized returns on a trailing twelve month basis with a GAAP return on equity of 9.6%. We have several positive business updates to share this quarter. Integration work for our main gas acquisitions has proceeded as planned. Bangor Natural Gas Company was fully integrated last year and the integration of Maine Natural Gas is now substantially complete with most corporate services now being provided by Unitil Corporation. In other business, we recently received an order for our New Hampshire Electric rate case approving the settlement agreement in its entirety. We also recently filed a rate case for Northern Utilities gas subsidiary in New Hampshire. We expect to file a gas rate case for Northern Utilities in Maine on or about June 1st. Dan will provide additional details about these rate filings later during this call. Given the strong Results for the first quarter, we are reaffirming our 2026 guidance range of $3.20 to $3.36 per share with a midpoint of $3.28. We are also reaffirming our long term earnings growth of 5 to 7%. Turning to Slide 4, we are now the largest natural gas utility in Maine serving approximately 90% of all gas customers. The acquisitions of Bangor Natural Gas Company and Maine Natural Gas meaningfully increased our rate base and will be accretive to earnings over the long term. In the most recent quarter, Bangor Natural gas contributed 5.1 million and Maine natural gas contributed 6.1 million to adjusted gross gas margin, resulting in a combined 4.1 million of incremental net income before considering financing costs for Maine Natural Gas that are currently being incurred by Unitil Corporation in the short term. As I mentioned, all integration work for Bangor Natural Gas Company was completed last year and we recently completed the integration work for most corporate services for Maine Natural Gas. The success of these integration efforts was made possible by leveraging our experienced workforce and by our seasoned, locally managed operational framework. We continue to realize the operating and financial benefits of these transactions. Consistent with our original expectations, the next significant milestone for these companies will be to establish cost of service rates under Unitil’s ownership, with rate filings expected in the first half of 2027. Turning now to slide five we continue to monitor regulatory approvals in Connecticut pertaining to the sale of aquarium from Eversource Energy to the Aquarian …
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