ATCO Ltd. (ACOX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 53rd Annual Meeting of Shareowners of ATCO Limited. And the first time, we have ever conducted our meeting virtually. Thank you all very much for joining us today to celebrate your company's achievements of last year and to discuss the road ahead, albeit in an unconventional format. Before we begin the formalities, I want to emphasize how deeply I regret not being able to be with you in person and to see and welcome you to our Annual General Meeting. Speaking on behalf of the entire ATCO team and our directors, this is one of the most favored events of the year for us for all to come together, but of course, your health and well-being are paramount to us. And so we have elected to hold our meeting online this year, allowing our owners to attend and participate no matter where they live with hopes that we will see you in person next year. And I would like to take just a couple of moments to welcome some long-standing shareowners and guests to the meeting today. First, Darrell Beaulieu, who's the CEO of Denendeh Investments and a Director of Northland Utilities; and Chief, Roy Whitney of the Tsuut'ina Nation. Welcome. We have a number of government representatives from Alberta's legislature, Stephanie Kunze, Shane Getson, Richard Gottfried, Whitney Isaac, and Mayor Peter Brown from the town of Airdrie. Also welcome the consulate members for the consulate of Mexico, [ Juana Maria and Jose ]. And some dear long shareholder friends, [ Emil Schribney ], Donna Wood, Linda Britton, Dale Richardson, [ Ann French ] and our Honorary Director, [ Baz French ]. I would also like to thank you for taking the time to join us. Before I move us on to the formal part of our meeting this morning, I would like to make some opening comments with regards to the world we currently find ourselves in. The pandemic has disrupted our daily lives in so many ways, and it is having a heartbreaking toll on the health and livelihoods of millions, if not billions of people around the world. To those of you joining us today, you have been affected by the virus, please know that our thoughts are with you. To those of you who are ill, we wish you a swift recovery. And to those of you who have lost loved ones to this terrible virus, please accept our deepest and most sincere sympathies. As the COVID health emergency has accelerated, so has its impact on commerce, the financial markets and local, national and international economies. Later on, the historic collapse in oil prices, and we face a perfect storm, particularly here in our home province of Alberta. Federal policymakers have unleashed extraordinary fiscal and monetary stimulus in response to the global lockdown that we are facing as has the Bank of Canada, and these were desperately and are desperately needed measures for which all Canadians are thankful. In Alberta, the provincial government has also committed to bold steps to support Albertans and industries. And on behalf of all Albertans, I want to thank and commend Premier Kenney and his cabinet for their sterling leadership, courage and resolve in a time of prodigious uncertainty. Now some of you may not recall what the name ATCO stands for. It is an acronym for Alberta Trailer Company. We could easily swap that for the Australian Trailer Company because Australia truly is our second home. However, I'm going to focus on Alberta, my home, and the home of my family for 5 generations. The home of our 1.4 million gas and electric customers, and home to over 5,000 of our employees, and home to many of you, the owners of our shares. From very humble beginnings in 1947, my father and grandfather took a big risk and started a little company with their life savings of $4,000. My mom and my grandmother pitched in, followed by a small but mighty handful of terrific individuals. They built and rented sleeper trailers for $10 a week. This simple innovation created a new industry known today as modular workforce housing. But in the beginning, it wasn't easy, and they had a loss of nearly $600 in that very first year. This new to the world company was born out of a need to accommodate the pioneers of another relatively new to Canada industry, the exploration and production of oil and gas. Today, over 70 years later, thanks to a cadre of extraordinary individuals, past and present, the little Alberta trailer company has grown into an international enterprise that has employed tens of thousands of people and created significant value for our customers, the communities where we live and work and our shareowners. We closed 2019 with over $20 billion in assets, and we invested over $1.3 billion, primarily here in our home province of Alberta. Now I wanted to remind and share this history of ATCO with you because our roots, our innovation and our success are just one really wonderful example of Canadian success stories across the country that would not be part of Canada's prosperity today without our petroleum industry. Valve manufacturers in Québec, health and safety equipment in Ontario, engineering firms in BC and the list goes on and on, selling products to the petroleum industry. The value that has been created is immense. And then there are the other benefits, often ignored or forgotten. These benefits our products derived from our hydrocarbon resources, primarily from here in Western Canada. And now more than ever, during this pandemic crisis, we should take a moment to think. How to look at the picture on your screen? Canada has been blessed with a vast amount of hydrocarbons that serve to make our lives better and indeed save lives, neonatal intensive care units, bags for blood, intravenous lines, monitors, hand sanitizers, gloves. And today, that most precious of life-saving tools, ventilators. These are all derived from petroleum products and they are just a few examples. So the next time you go to a hospital or are in an ambulance, heaven forbid, it will be the expertise of our wonderful health care workers. In addition to the products made from our oil and gas feedstocks, that actually save your life or the life of a loved one. And even if your medical procedure is to enhance your life like a knee or a hip replacement surgery, which are pretty common these days, I hope you will remember that they contain polyethylene liners to make the artificial joint work, another petroleum byproduct. Beyond the life-saving products and services that our abundant natural resources provide, they are also Canada's greatest GDP contributor. And it is my hope that rational thinking will prevail over the incessant criticism of our petroleum industry. For decades, the contributions of our oil and natural gas has far outstripped sectors such as automotive, manufacturing and aerospace. Albertans have been hard-working, courageous, generous and law-abiding citizens of Canada, just like the citizens of every other province and territory in this nation. In fact, just a few weeks ago, the province of Alberta announced it would send its surplus of ventilators and personal protective equipment to Québec, Ontario and British Columbia. The province is donating 750,000 N95 masks, 7 million procedural masks and 50 ventilators as well as gloves and face shields to these 3 provinces. Equalization payments have also been a part of Alberta's contribution to Canada, a total of $650 billion over the last 50 years, that's an average of $13 billion a year that Alberta has shared with the rest of Canada over and above the taxes we pay. So much of what we have the privilege to enjoy across this great country, over the past 50 years, is in no small part because of Alberta's sharing of the financial benefits from our natural resource industry. And make no mistake, Alberta is willing to do more and can do more. Decarbonization of the electric grid, investments in strategic reserves and security of supply, carbon capture and storage, clean hydrogen production and so much more. These projects that can put people back to work require collaboration, and they require time just like it took time for the little Alberta Trailer Company to become the ATCO that we know today. We must keep our natural resources strong, our industry strong and competitive while striving to achieve environmental balance. There is nothing in our world today that can replace the magnitude of benefits oil and gas delivers to Canada, indeed in the world, nothing. Innovation and technological advancements take time. As Canadians, we have a choice. We can continue to stress the very fabric of our federation and become reliant on foreign regimes to supply our energy and the products that we have come to expect, or we can work together, building a strong Canada and become global leaders in the supply of environmentally responsible energy and the products derived from that industry. My greatest fear is that the benefits and contributions from our natural resources stand to be greatly diminished, absent a change. I urge the leaders of our governments, our institutions our universities to be thoughtful, practical, measured and have rational discussions and stand up to those too irrational to understand the divisive destruction that rhetoric is doing to our country and our economy. To emerge from this crisis stronger and better prepared to compete and thrive in a reimagined global economy, we require now more than ever true moral courage from our leaders. It will not be enough to stimulate the growth of consumer demand in the short term, without also taking a much longer-term and holistic view of the future, including our policies, our tax structure and our regulatory systems. Our leaders must set aside partisan and territorial dispositions to address the critical dimensions of our economy that fall short of our global peers, and they must champion all of Canadian industry from east to west to north. Now is a time for great statesmanship, not partisanship. It is a time to create unity, not stoke regional inequality. And we must act swiftly, less the world passes by. Where might we be in 6 months, a year or 10 years from now? Well, my wish is that our Canada is vibrant and rich with opportunity for future generations. A long and uncertain road to recovery is ahead of us, but we cannot and should not forsake the wonderful resources we have been blessed with and which are the envy of the world. Thank you. I will now commence with today's formal meeting proceedings. Joining me today are Dennis DeChamplain, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Carol Gear, our Corporate Secretary. Our directors and other members of senior management are joining us on the webcast. We will conduct the formal business of the meeting, followed by presentations from Dennis and myself, after which, there will be a time for a question-and-answer period. I have asked Kurt Kadatz to act as moderator for our questions and comments. You may submit questions through messaging icon on your screen at any time during the meeting, and Kurt will read out your question for the meeting to hear. [Operator Instructions] Please indicate if your question relates to the formal business of the meeting, and we will answer your question when we reach that particular item. All other questions or comments will be answered during the question-and-answer period following management's presentations. An audio recording of the meeting will be available on the company's website following this meeting. And I now call the meeting to order. I will be your chair today, and Carol Gear will act as Secretary for this year's meeting. I will ask Nazim Nathoo and Kristine Calesso of AST Trust Company, our registrar and transfer agent to act as our scrutineers. Mailing of the notice of this annual meeting to all shareowners of record at March 26 was completed on April 6. The scrutineers have advised there is a quorum present, and therefore, I declare this meeting regularly constituted and properly called for the transaction of business. In order to expedite matters, I have asked employees, who own shares in the company to move and second motions. As you know, all shareowners and visitors are welcome to participate in this meeting by asking questions and joining our discussion. However, only the owners of the voting Class II shares and the holders of valid proxies of those shares are entitled to vote on the election of directors and the appointment of the auditor. We will conduct the votes on this -- on the matters before us through an online ballot, which will appear on the screen for those shareholders who are entitled to vote. The polls for all resolutions are now open, and you may vote at any time during the meeting until the polls are closed, after the last item of business has concluded. [Voting]

The scrutineers will tabulate the electronic ballots for each motion, and the results will be announced at the end of the meeting. If you are a shareowner who submitted voting instructions in advance of the meeting, your vote has been registered with our transfer agent and will be included in the final count. The minutes of our Annual Meeting of Shareowners held May 15 last year, have been signed and filed in the corporation's minute book. If any shareholder wishes to receive a copy of these minutes, please contact our corporate secretary after the meeting. So first, I wish to table the consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report for the year ended December 31, 2019. Copies of the financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and the proxy circular have been mailed to all registered shareowners and the beneficial owners who requested a copy. And before we proceed with the next item on our agenda, I would like to take just a moment to acknowledge Norm Robertson, Director Emeritus, who passed away earlier this year. Norm first joined ATCO in 1962 as a sales representative and was a true champion for the ATCO heart and mind. Always striving for excellence and ensuring our products and services were well represented around the world. He was amongst the finest of young professionals the company has ever known. And he was a dear friend and an extraordinary mentor to so many of us. Norm was appointed a Director of ATCO in 1973 and a Director of Canadian Utilities in 1980, and he held those positions until his retirement in 1994. He was one of the founding inspirational leaders of ATCO, and he will be greatly missed. On behalf of the entire ATCO family and Board of Directors, we wish Dale and Norm's family peace in the memory of a great friend, husband, father and colleague. And we shall now proceed with the election of your directors as proposed in the management proxy circular. The 9 nominees being proposed for election are Robert Booth, Denis Ellard, Michael Rayfield, Robert Routs, Linda Southern-Heathcott, Roger Urwin, Susan Werth, Charles Wilson and myself, Nancy Southern. All the nominees are currently directors of the company, and their detailed biographies are contained in the management proxy circular. The meeting is now open to receive nominations for directors.

My name is Carol Gear, and I'm a proud shareowner. I nominate for election as directors of the corporation; Robert Booth, Denis Ellard, Michael Rayfield, Robert Routs, Nancy Southern, Linda Southern-Heathcott, Roger Urwin, Susan Werth and Charles Wilson.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Gear. Kurt, are there any other nominations coming in online?

No other nominations have been received.

Thank you. I, therefore, declare the nominations closed. May I have a motion to elect those nominated as directors.

My name is Spencer Forgo, and I'm a proud shareowner. I move that the 9 persons nominated be individually elected as directors of the corporation until the next Annual Meeting of Shareowners or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Thank you very much. Mr. Forgo. May I have a seconder?

Good morning. My name is [ Carol Eisen ], and I've been with the corporation for 12 years, and I'm a proud shareowner. I second the motion.

Thank you very much, [ Ms. Eisen ]. Kurt, have you received any questions on this motion?

No questions have been received.

Thank you. We will continue with the next item on our agenda, which is the appointment of the corporation's auditors. May I have a motion to appoint the auditor, please?

My name is Spencer Forgo, and I move that PricewaterhouseCoopers, Chartered Accountants, be appointed auditor of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareowners.

Thank you, Mr. Forgo. May I have the seconder, please?

I'm [ Carol Eisen ], and I second the motion.

Thank you, [ Ms. Eisen ]. Now shareowners make sure that you have completed your online voting, please. Kurt, are there any questions regarding the appointment of the auditor or any other matters of business in the formal part of this meeting before the polls are closed?

No questions have been received.

Thank you. As there is no further business, I declare that the polls are closed. We shall now wait for the scrutineers to count the votes in their electronic digital fashion and declare the results. Our Corporate Secretary has now received the results from the scrutineers. I believe, Carol, is that correct?

Yes, I have. And with respect to the election of directors, the scrutineers have reported that shareholders voted 99% or more in favor of the election of each of the nominee directors.

I, therefore, declare the motion passed, and my congratulations to the directors. On behalf of all shareowners and myself, I want to thank each of you for your continued commitment and the hard work you do for this company.

With respect to the motion to reappoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's auditor for the ensuing year, the scrutineers have reported that shareholders voted 99% or more in favor of the motion.

Thank you, Ms. Gear. I, therefore, declare the motion carried and look forward to working with PricewaterhouseCoopers, our auditors, in this coming year. As that concludes the formal business to be conducted at this year's annual meeting, I declare the meeting closed. And it is my great pleasure to now call on your Chief Financial Officer, Dennis DeChamplain.

Thanks, Nancy, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's truly my pleasure to address this meeting as your Chief Financial Officer. My presentation today will address 3 main themes. The first theme is our continued strong financial performance in 2019. The second theme, I'd like to talk to you about today is our financial strength and how the actions we took in 2019 have improved our financial position -- I was muted apparently. Am I good now? My presentation today will address 3 main themes. It's easier the second time around. The first theme is our continued strong financial performance in 2019. The second theme I would like to talk to you about today is our financial strength and how the actions we took in 2019 have improved our financial position in the midst of the challenging economic global conditions. And my final theme for today is the incredible resiliency of your company, creating shareowner value over many economic and regulatory cycles. Let's begin with a review of 2019's financial results. In 2019, we generated $365 million in earnings, which was $10 million higher than in 2018. Our ability to grow our adjusted earnings during a period of significant political, economic and social change is a testament to many things: our long-term strategy, centered on providing essential services around the world; our diversified portfolio, anchored by stable infrastructure investments; our commitment to financial strength, operational excellence, growth, innovation and community involvement; and most importantly, our people, who exemplify agility, collaboration, integrity and caring. As you will see in a few minutes, 2018's earnings included over $30 million from nonrecurring events, making 2019's growth all the more impressive. I will touch on each of our major investments, starting with ATCO Structures and ATCO Frontec, where they achieved strong earnings growth in 2019. In fact, ATCO Structures and ATCO Frontec more than doubled their earnings from this past year from $15 million in 2018 to $37 million in 2019. The largest contributor to that earnings growth in 2019 was ATCO Structures' manufacturing, site construction and installation of the LNG Canada, Cedar Valley Lodge located near Kitimat, British Columbia. And we will remain busy on this major contract into next year. At the same time, ATCO Structures is successfully repositioning their business to capture new and diverse opportunities, all the while maintaining a consistent ability to win and execute large workforce housing projects, which has long been our hallmark. We continue to gain momentum in the permanent modular construction of schools, housing, and in 2019, we added hotels to our product offering. In 2019, we completed the manufacturing supply for a Marriott Fairfield Inn, located near Oakland, California. Manufacturing work for a second Marriott hotel in California is well underway and will be completed later this year. Nancy will tell you more about ATCO Structures product expansions and permanent modular construction in her presentation. So I will stop there for now. Higher earnings in 2019 were also due to the continued momentum generated by ATCO Frontec's, facility operations and maintenance and workforce lodging services. ATCO Frontec generated higher earnings in 2019 from additional North American camp services and maintenance contracts, which include the Tuscan Ridge contract in Chico, California; and BC Hydro's Site C, Two Rivers Lodge in Northern British Columbia. Frontec also continues to find success with various facilities, operations and maintenance contracts for government and military organizations. In 2019, we secured a contract extension with NATO and Bosnia and won a contract rebid with NATO in Kosovo. Turning now to Neltume Ports. In September of 2018, we acquired a 40% ownership interest in Neltume Ports, a diversified port operator and developer with multi-purpose bulk cargo and container terminals in Chile, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil. This acquisition, which provides exposure to the transportation and logistics sector, signaled our commitment to prudently execute our long-term global essential services strategy, while also growing our footprint in Latin America. Neltume's contribution to ATCO's earnings increased from $4 million in 2018 to $15 million in 2019, which was due to a full year of ownership interest in 2019. Neltume Ports continues to look for and capitalize on opportunities to expand its portfolio and grow earnings. Finally, earnings from our investment in Canadian Utilities were stable in 2019, when compared to 2018. This is quite an achievement considering 2018's adjusted earnings, included $30 million associated with non-reoccurring events in their electricity generation and Alberta PowerLine businesses. Canadian Utilities was able to overcome the earnings gap from these 2018 events, mainly due to the strength of its 5 utilities. In 2019, they completed more than $1 billion in construction projects with the highest safety record and embraced innovation to find more cost-effective ways of delivering products and services to their customers. Canadian Utilities continues to be a rock-solid contributor to ATCO's performance and provides a steady foundation of earnings and cash flows from which we can grow. Now I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss our commitment to financial strength. In August, DBRS completed its annual review of ATCO and confirmed it's A credit rating with a stable outlook. In September, Standard & Poor's completed its annual review and confirmed its A- credit rating, also with a stable outlook. Our commitment to sound fiscal stewardship remains the same and is supported by our conservative financial policies and prudent capital management. But financial strength isn't just about the credit rating, it's also about taking the necessary steps to refresh our business. We also take a disciplined approach to capital recycling. In 2019, Canadian Utilities realized over $1 billion in aggregate cash proceeds and removed $1.4 billion. That's a far cry from the $4,000, we started with in debt, through the sales of 90% of its electricity generation portfolio as well as its ownership interest in Alberta PowerLine. This significantly improved our financial strength and bolstered our consolidated cash and liquidity. By liquidity, I mean our overall access to cash. Our consolidated cash on hand, which includes CU's cash, increased from $700 million at the end of 2018 to $1.2 billion at the end of our first quarter in 2020. Our liquidity is also supported by $2.5 billion of readily available lines of credit. We do not, however, plan to use all of these lines of credit. It is important, though, to have these options available in place so that we can withstand any economic storm. And in today's global climate, with the impact of the pandemic and low oil prices facing many of our customers, we are in stormy times indeed. Maintaining our strong financial position during these turbulent times enables the company to sustain our operations and weather these economic cycles, which brings me to my third and final topic for today, the resiliency of ATCO. We have a long track record of earnings growth through various economic and regulatory cycles. Nancy mentioned, ATCO got its start in 1947. I'm just going to take you back 1993 and give you a few more recent examples of our earnings resiliency in challenging times. As you can see on this slide, in 2001, we had the dot-com boom and bust. Then there was the global financial crisis in 2008 and '09. And then 2015 brought a collapse in commodity prices and an unfortunate cost of capital decision in Canadian Utilities. We've sure had to deal with various cycles and adverse regulatory decisions along the way. But despite these bumps in the road, we have continually demonstrated our ability to be resilient and prosper through these economic cycles and headwinds. And by maintaining a steady course, ATCO has been able to increase its dividend every year for 27 years, including this year. So the streak is intact. We are very proud of our track record of dividend increases. Going forward, we expect to grow our dividends consistent with the sustainable earnings growth of our investments. In closing, over the past year, we've intensified our focus on strengthening our foundation and leveraging our entrepreneurship and operational excellence to grow and diversify our business in new markets. These efforts, combined with our conservative financial policies, were the basis for 2019's strong financial performance. With the COVID pandemic and the low oil price environment upon us, we are in the midst of an economic slowdown in 2020 and beyond. We've seen these economic cycles before many times. And we have continually demonstrated our ability to be resilient and create long-term shareowner value through these challenges, recognizing that things will look different in the coming few years as our economies begin their recoveries. And now, I'll turn the mic back over to your Chair and Chief Executive. Nancy?

Thank you very much, Dennis. And as you've heard from Dennis, 2019 was a very good year for our company, notwithstanding the challenges of the global economy that we faced. And this year, as COVID-19 rears its ugly head, we will continue to strive to bring and create ongoing shareowner value as has been, of course, over the past 7 decades. Our future is based upon long-term perspective, one that we can -- one that can weather global headwinds, no matter how fierce. Our objective remains the same to create truly sustainable intergenerational prosperity for our shareowners, our customers and the people of our company. Our long-term focus underpins our strategy, delivering enduring essential services required for a thriving global economy to make life better for our customers and the communities we serve, housing, logistics, transportation, energy, real estate, water and agriculture. The products and services ATCO provides are foundational to economic continuity and recovery. Today, I would like to share some of the terrific work the people of ATCO performed in 2019 and the extraordinary steps they are taking to support the global response to COVID today. First, in housing. In 2019, we executed a variety of diverse projects that demonstrate our ability to rapidly deliver turnkey solutions like no other company in the world. Over the last year, ATCO has provided premier workforce housing to several of the world's most ambitious projects. And here in Canada, as Dennis mentioned, through our joint ventures with Bird Construction and the Haisla Nation, ATCO Structures has made excellent progress on LNG Canada's 3-story, Cedar Valley Lodge. Manufacturing is now complete, while installation work will continue into 2021. The LNG Canada Lodge will stand as the largest workforce accommodation center ever built in Canada, housing 4,500 people, with floor space of more than 1.2 million square feet, comparable to about 21 football fields. We also continue to provide workforce housing to major resource projects in Australia, along with camps and office complexes in support of the Chilean resource sector. Across our global operations, we've also continued -- we also continued to see growing demand for our fleet of space rental units. We have grown our rental fleet in some of the world's most dynamic markets. In February 2019, we announced the acquisition and launch of ATCO Espaciomovil, making ATCO the largest manufacturer of modular products in Mexico, with the second largest fleet of rental assets in the country. We also continued to generate substantial momentum, growing our permanent modular business, capitalizing on growing customer expectations with respect to cost, performance, competitiveness, and productivity. Last year, we completed a variety of innovative projects that Dennis mentioned, including apartment complexes, hotels and schools. But more recently, we've seen growing demand for our expertise in designing modular medical facilities to diagnose and treat victims of COVID-19. Just a few weeks ago, we announced an agreement to provide several mobile respiratory care units to the Government of Canada. These facilities can be rapidly mobilized to support provincial and indigenous health authorities in urban, rural and remote environments across the country as they may be required. Globally, we have mobilized dozens of our modular structures in the U.S., Mexico and Australia to ease the growing strain on hospital resources. In fact, just last week, we marked the opening of a temporary hospital in Tijuana, Mexico, built in just 14 days to help the city in its fight against the virus. But perhaps nothing brings me greater pride than the close bonds we have forged over decades with our brave men and women in uniform and the project we concluded last year for them. Supporting those who stand on guard for democracy and peace is a foundational value for the people of ATCO, a profound responsibility that we honor to this day. In October, we celebrated the grand opening of the ATCO Homes for Heroes, a village of 15 tiny homes in Calgary, Alberta, for transitioning homeless veterans of the Canadian armed forces. We leveraged our expertise in modular housing design, built, manufacturing, and we delivered our homes for heroes. Nearly 250 man-hours were spent carefully building each home. And every unit is enhanced with energy efficiency and environmental performance to minimize operating costs for the residents. But above all else, they are designed as a community, a place of safety, comfort and fellowship. And we have a brief video to share the community, Homes for Heroes that we hope you will see has such an exceptional impact on homeless veterans. [Presentation]

Truly, our armed forces and its veterans are an institution that inspires pride in all of us. Our modular structures business is renowned also for its ability to swiftly deploy facilities to where they are most needed in any environment. In the U.S., following the devastating wildfires in Paradise, California in late 2018, we rapidly mobilized the Tuscan Ridge Lodge, a turnkey solution of workforce housing and comprehensives lodging services within just 50 days. We delivered 1,500 beds, 2 kitchens, 2 recreation facilities and 2 office complexes, a security system and IT networks to house first responders and allow them to focus on the critical task at hand. ATCO Frontec provided the cap support services at Tuscan Ridge, including the food services, housekeeping, waste management, janitorial maintenance and security. Deploying goods, services and people swiftly and effectively has long been ATCO's hallmark. Over the past 18 months, ATCO Frontec has seen strong and growing demand for disaster response and emergency management support. Frontec was on the ground shortly after Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas in September of last year, causing catastrophic damage and killing at least 70 people. Frontec was 1 of only 2 private entities accredited by the United Nations and the National Emergency Management Agency to support the response efforts by coordinating logistics and identifying critical infrastructure requirements. But we don't just respond to emergencies, we help our customers prepare for them. And never has this been more critical than it is today. Here in Alberta, ATCO Frontec has been working closely with the Tsuut'ina Nation to create a unique and culturally-sensitive emergency management curriculum that enables indigenous communities to prepare, respond and recover from disasters. In response to the pandemic, our team has been embedded directly within Tsuut'ina Emergency Management, with individuals living in the community and providing 24-hour, 7-day-a-week support in their emergency coordination center. Now the newest acquisition in the ATCO family is Neltume. With 16 port operations throughout South America, Neltume delivers a variety of critical goods to global markets. In 2019 alone, we handled more than 46 million tons of product, including copper, forestry and agriculture products. Since our acquisition of our 40% interest in 2018 and despite significant uncertainty with respect to trade, Neltume Ports continues to perform very well, maintaining operational continuity and a high level of service for our customers. In September 2019, we won an important 25-year contract to load copper concentrate at Puerto Mejillones in the Atacama Desert Coast of Chile. And in January of this year, we entered into a joint venture partnership to build and operate a roll-on, roll-off automobile terminal in Alabama. This will be our first North American port and a strategic foothold in the world's largest consumer market. To give you a sense of the scale and complexity of our port operations, we have a short video to show you. [Presentation]

Well, Neltume has been a valuable contributor to ATCO's portfolio of investments, which brings me to perhaps the most important of our investments and our largest Canadian Utilities. Last year around this time, I announced the appointment of Siegfried Kiefer as President and Chief Executive Officer of Canadian Utilities. And I am so proud of the sterling leadership he has provided to see you, continuing to build long-term value, while ensuring that we contribute to a better quality of life for our customers. One of the key strategies is for Canadian Utilities to play a critical role in decarbonizing our gas and electric delivery systems. This requires that we reexamine our traditional business models and capitalize on the evolution of the utility industry by using adaptive technologies, artificial intelligence and digital innovation. This strategy is already progressing, with the implementation of remote monitoring technologies, digitized high-pressure natural gas stations, virtual customer service interfaces, and we are in the process of implementing workforce and asset management systems. These investments are delivering immense value during the pandemic, allowing us to provide continuous service, even as much as the rest of the world has been disrupted. While we recognize at the same time, the tremendous potential of improved technology, we remain focused on maintaining our long track record of operational excellence. In Alberta, we have achieved a 30% improvement in our electric distribution reliability since 2014, outperforming both our regulators' targets as well as our peer group, while at the same time, reducing distribution O&M costs per kilometer of line by 20% over the same period. In our natural gas distribution and transmission system, our O&M costs are 60% better than the industry average. And at the same time, we have improved our speed to install new gas services by 60%. To give you a sense of our ongoing commitment to our customers, even now during the gravest public health crisis of our time, we captured a recent outage to share with you. [Presentation]

It was a terrific effort and true testament to the care, dedication and professionalism of the people of your company. But perhaps no individual project or achievement better exemplifies our desire to contribute to a better quality of life than Alberta PowerLine. It is a true Canadian success story, an example for the world on how the industry and indigenous communities can work together. Throughout this project, we conducted extensive community engagement, entailing more than 3,000 face-to-face meetings and discussions with 27 indigenous communities. We also implemented a comprehensive indigenous contracting strategy, which totaled $85 million. And it helped us complete the state-of-the-art transmission line ahead of schedule, on budget and with an impeccable safety record in March of 2019. In June 2019, we announced the sale of Alberta PowerLine and the opportunity for indigenous communities along the route to obtain an equity stake in this essential piece of Canadian energy infrastructure. With the close of the sale in December, 7 communities in Alberta now have a combined 40% ownership in the transmission line. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, the Bigstone Cree Nation, Gunn Métis Local 55, Mikisew Cree First Nation, Paul First Nation, Sawridge First Nation and Sucker Creek First Nation. Congratulations and to all of those involved in this exceptional project, I am deeply appreciative of the collaboration and commitment that you provided to us along the line. Your Century's old culture, histories and knowledge helped us in shaping the route and taught us so much about the migratory paths of our wildlife. While the pioneering spirit of Alberta is woven into the very fabric of our company, we are increasingly focused on global prospects for growth, and on finding new methods by which we can help society achieve it's net 0 emissions -- ambitions. Last July, we officially opened our Clean Energy Innovation Hub at our Jandakot operations center in Western Australia. The hub is a testbed for hybrid energy solutions that leverages the benefits of renewable energy sources, natural gas, battery storage and 0 emissions hydrogen. Building on the early success of this project, we've been awarded funding from the state government to conduct a feasibility study into the development of a commercial-scale hydrogen production plant, the results of which I'm very much looking forward to sharing with you next year. And we believe that Alberta is in a unique position to be a world leader in low cost, non-emitting hydrogen production in the near future. We have also continued to grow and diversify our retail business, introducing new products and services designed to provide the best, most complete homeowner experience. ATCO Energy, our retail energy business has grown its market share to nearly 12% in just a few short years. And in fact, just a few weeks ago, we welcomed our 100,000 customer, a terrific achievement in Alberta's highly competitive and dynamic retail energy market. Last year, we also celebrated the 90th anniversary of our ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen. So much has changed since [Hesperia Lee Ellsworth] started the First Blue Flame Kitchen in 1929. What began as simple natural gas appliance demonstrations, and cooking schools for homemakers has become a comprehensive global resource for adults and children alike, featuring world-class cafés, state-of-the-art learning and event spaces and virtually inexhaustible library of recipes and how-to guides developed for the digital age. But most importantly, the Blue Flame Kitchen has become a bastion for the ATCO brand, a tangible symbol of our commitment to enriching the lives in our communities. Of course, in the age of COVID, even our Blue Flame Kitchen teams have needed to evolve. The way they work and engage with our customers, it's no small task for a team that takes such immense pride in their day-to-day interactions with the people they serve. So with our cafés closed and our cooking classes postponed, the Blue Flame Kitchen team has found new ways to make an impact, and I'm about to show you how. [Presentation]

I'm so very proud of our Blue flame kitchen team and all of our employees who are contributing in so many ways, often unrecognized to support our friends and neighbors in these difficult times. Now just as our operations have grown around the world, so has our community support in good times and in bad. And earlier this year, it seems like so long ago now. I watched as the people of ATCO mobilized to support communities in Australia, devastated by the 2019 bushfires, now commonly known as Australia's Black Summer. While our people and operations were spared, we knew that many of our employees, friends and families were not so fortunate. And with 6 decades of operations in the country, we recognize that we must do our part, and we must do it quickly. Led by our incredible ATCO Structures Australia team and joined by employees throughout ATCO, we began collecting and matching donations for charities, working in 3 critical areas: families, farmers and wildlife. And we raised more than $100,000 in just over 1 month. We also deployed 13 of our modular structures to the heritage community of Mogo in New South Wales as part of the business council of Australia's terrific BizRebuild initiative. Our structures are now serving as a pop-up mall for businesses that lost everything in the catastrophic fires in order to reinvigorate Mogo's tourism-dependent economy. Finally, we contributed an additional $1 million to BizRebuild to support local businesses impacted by the bushfires and to help kickstart regional economies. Our support in Australia is just one example of ATCO employees participating in communities are ATCO EPIC, long-standing employee-led program that relies -- sorry, that rallies the spirit of our people all over the world, combining volunteerism, fundraising events and individual donations. The people of ATCO are truly our greatest advantage, and these same people are charting a bold course for our future. The road ahead will not be easy, and it will require truly adept and bold leadership from governments, businesses and civil society to build a shared course back to global growth. And while the immediate outlook is uncertain, there is much room for hope and much to be thankful for. Providing hope and creating opportunity has been the bedrock of ATCO success for more than 7 decades. Throughout our history, ATCO has built its reputation on being there for our communities in the most critical of times from wildfires to floods, hurricanes and military conflict. And now amidst the gravest health crisis of our time, the people of ATCO continue to deliver safe, reliable products and services to our customers around the world. In the process, they are facing risks that are unparalleled in our history. And I would like to thank them on your behalf. They are the unsung frontline heroes of ATCO, who are energizing our hospitals, keeping our lights on, our factories open, our kitchens open, our homes warm, supply chains moving and the community at large, safe. We are, ATCO, always there, anywhere. And I would now like to close my remarks by once again thanking our directors for their expertise and guidance throughout the past year and for their support during this very challenging time. And to each of you, the owners of our company thank you for your trust, your investment and your support in ATCO and its future. To the people of our company, thank you, you are terrific. And I am so proud to be among you. And now I will open the floor to questions and answers from all of you online.

At this time, we have no questions in the queue, on our phones or on the webcast. [Operator Instructions] And I'll just remind attendees while we leave the Q&A open here for a little bit that the presentations from today will be available on the ATCO Investor page of our website. We'll give it another few seconds for questions, but none have come in at this time.

Well, unlike our in-person meetings, where it feels a lot more intimate, I'm sure that many are intimidated by this new virtual format, I know that I have been. But thank you very much for your patience, and thank you very much for your attention. Next year, we will be sure that you receive the annual cover poster of our annual report, and you'll also receive this year's wildlife poster as well as the upcoming new one. And if there are no more -- no questions on the lines, then I will conclude the meeting. And thank you all once again for joining us, and I look forward to seeing you in person next year. Thank you.