Emera Incorporated (EMA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. My name is Jennifer Parker, Director of Corporate Communications at Emera. Thank you for joining us for Emera's 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Please note certain statements made in today's presentations and during the question-and-answer session afterwards may be forward-looking or may include non-GAAP financial measures and should be received with caution. For those in the room today, I would like to direct your attention to the exits. There are doors at the rear of the room that you entered through. And for those who are seated in the room, there are 2 exits located on the wall to your right. In the unlikely event we must exit during today's meeting, please make your way to the doors nearest you and then to the closest set of stairs and out of the building. Thank you. I will now turn the meeting over to Jackie Sheppard, Chair of the Emera Board of Directors.

Thank you, Jennifer. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Emera's 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are meeting today in Mi'kmaq, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people. Emera seeks to build deep and meaningful relationships with indigenous peoples and organizations across Mi'kmaq and in all other regions where we operate. At Emera, safety is our top priority. For those who have attended our Annual General Meeting, you'll know that we begin each AGM with a safety message, which is also how our employees, within each Emera -- each Emera meeting, begin their day. My safety message today relates to the pandemic. And I have to say, I certainly didn't expect to be delivering a message about COVID in 2022, but here we are. While circumstances are certainly far different now, COVID is still a consideration. Many of us are grateful to have seen an easing of restrictions in recent months. But even though things like proof of vaccination, social distancing and masking are no longer required, each of us can still choose to protect our own personal health and the health of others. This is why we are offering all shareholders the ability to participate today in the way that best suits them. Here in the room, we have put spaces between chairs and everyone is free to wear a mask. We are also providing the option to participate virtually by webcast. We invited you to vote in advance by proxy and many took advantage of that option. There will also be an opportunity to vote later in the meeting, either in person or virtually, and I will provide instructions. Thank you for exercising your voting rights, whichever method you have chosen. Participating in today's meeting are Scott Balfour, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Stephen Aftanas, Emera's Corporate Secretary. Several of the executive team are here in person as well. Now I'd like to introduce our director nominees in addition to Scott and myself. All are present in the room, and I would ask you to stand as I call your name. Biographies for each nominee can be found in our information circular. The director nominees are Jim Bertram, Calgary, Alberta; Henry Demone, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; Paula Gold-Williams, San Antonio, Texas; Kent Harvey, New York, New York; Lynn Loewen, Westmount, Quebec; Ian Robertson, Oakville, Ontario; Andrea Rosen, Toronto, Ontario; Rick Sergel, Boston, Massachusetts; Karen Sheriff, Toronto, Ontario; Jochen Tilk, Toronto, Ontario. Thank you to all the director nominees for your ongoing contribution and commitment to Emera. At this time, I would like to acknowledge John Ramil, who is stepping down from the Board this year. Unfortunately, due to a COVID exposure, John is not here in the room, but he is participating virtually. John joined the Emera Board in September 2016. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of TECO Energy. John had a distinguished 40-year career with TECO and retired as President and CEO after Emera acquired the company in July 2016. John served as a valued member of our Health, Safety and Environment Committee since May 2017, and brought significant business and utility sector experience to the Emera Board. His range and depth of skills has been a great asset to Emera. On behalf of the entire team, thank you, John, for your tremendous contributions. Before we begin the formal portion of the meeting, I want to take a moment to recognize the entire Emera team for their continued commitment to safely delivering cleaner, affordable, and reliable energy to our customers. Scott will have more to say on the company's 2021 performance shortly. But it's clear the Emera team continues to produce impressive results and deliver long-term value for our shareholders. Emera achieved a 5% increase in adjusted earnings per share in 2021. This was driven in large part by the continued strength of the company's regulated utilities. This is a continuation of our established record of providing predictable and sustainable growth in earnings for our shareholders. Over the last 10 years, Emera has achieved an 11.5% annualized total shareholder return. With our current capital plan of $8.4 billion to $9.4 billion over the next 3 years, we're forecasted to achieve a 7% to 8% rate base growth, which supports our forecasted dividend growth of 4% to 5%. Throughout the pandemic, Emera also advanced its environmental, social and governance commitments and has continued its efforts to build a strong sustainability function. In 2021, the Board of Directors Charter was amended to reflect that, Emera's values and oversight responsibility for ESG. We established and activated a Risk and Sustainability Committee of the Board and a Sustainability Management Committee made up of leaders from across the organization. Emera also continued to progress towards achieving its climate commitment announced last year. This commitment is a set of clear CO2 reduction goals on its path towards its vision to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. I think we can all be very proud of what the Emera team has achieved in 2021, and I want to offer my sincere thanks to my colleagues on the Board, the company's leadership team, and to all employees across the organization for your continued hard work and your many contributions to Emera's success. I will now call the meeting to order. In accordance with the company's articles, I will chair the meeting, and Stephen Aftanas will act as Secretary of the meeting. Representatives of TSX Trust Company, the company's registrar and transfer agent, will act as scrutineers, will report on shareholder participation, and will count the votes. The scrutineers have reported that a quorum is present. The Secretary has confirmed that proper notice of the meeting has been given and that the materials for the meeting were provided to common shareholders. With that, I now declare the meeting duly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. We have received the scrutineers' report on the number of shares represented at this meeting. Mr. Secretary, could you please read the report?

Madam Chair, the scrutineers have provided their preliminary report. There are present at the meeting in person or represented by proxy more than 126 million shares of the company. This represents over 48% of the outstanding shares. The final report will be kept on file with the record of this meeting.

Thank you. We will now move on to the items requiring shareholder approval, and I will explain the voting procedure. The mail out to shareholders provided notice that 4 items would be placed before this meeting for approval. Most shareholders submitted their votes by proxy in advance of this meeting. Shareholders here in the room, who have not already voted, and who want to vote at the meeting, were given a ballot at the registration desk by TSX Trust. Any shareholder in the room, who has not already voted and did not receive a ballot at the desk, please raise your hand now, and we will give you a ballot. In order for the ballots to count, please print your name on the ballot. Your ballot must be legible and must indicate your voting intention on each item. If a box is not marked with your voting intention, no vote will be counted on that item. The ballots will be collected after the items for approval have been presented to the meeting. For those shareholders participating in the meeting virtually, to vote today, simply make your selection on the screen. I will be indicating when the polls are open for voting. Confirmation of your voting choice will appear on your screen, confirming your vote has been counted. As I mentioned, there are 4 items for approval at today's meeting. I will ask the Secretary and the Chief Financial Officer to move and second the motions. The 4 items for approval now appear on your screen. They are the election of directors, the appointment of auditors, authorization for directors to establish the auditors' fees; and an advisory vote on executive compensation. I now declare the polls open on all motions. I would ask the secretary to make motions regarding these 4 items, Mr. Secretary?

Madam Chair, I am a shareholder, and I move that each of the nominees, as set out on Pages 12 to 23 of the information circular, be elected as directors of the company until the next annual meeting or until their successor is elected or appointed. Ernst & Young, LLP, chartered accountants, be appointed auditors of the company to hold office until the close of the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are appointed. The directors of the company be authorized to establish the auditor's fee for the current year in such amounts as they may in their discretion determine. The resolution set out on Page 10 of the information circular regarding the company's approach to executive compensation is approved.

Thank you, Stephen. I would now ask Greg Blunden, our Chief Financial Officer, to second these 4 motions.

Madam Chair, I am a shareholder, and I second all 4 motions.

Thank you, Greg. Do any shareholders, here in the room or participating virtually, wish to speak to any of the motions that are now before this meeting. I remind everyone that this is not the general question-and-answer period. That session will follow the business of the meeting and Scott's remarks.

Madam Chair, we have not received any questions on the motions in the online platform.

Thank you. The voting is now open and the motion and voting options are displayed. For those in the room, please take a moment to mark your ballot for the 4 items. For those participating virtually, remember to scroll down the page to ensure you vote on all the motions. The polls will close shortly. And if you have not done so, please vote now. So we're going to take a little minute or 2 break to allow for the voting. [Voting]

Thank you. The polls are now closed. Please pass your completed ballots to the end of the row. They will be collected and counted by TSX Trust, along with the votes submitted by proxy prior to the meeting, and the votes cast virtually. And we'll now wait a moment to allow the ballots to be collected. While the scrutineers are tabulating the votes, Emera's President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Balfour, will say a few words about how we are advancing our strategy at Emera.

Thank you, Jackie. And on behalf of the entire Emera team, welcome to everyone for joining us at today's meeting, both virtually and here in Halifax. It's a pleasure to be hosting today's meeting at the Canadian Museum of Immigration. Between 1928 and 1971, nearly 1 million immigrants arrived in Canada right here at this national historic site at Pier 21. As the CEO of a company with deep roots in this community and with offices just around the corner, I'm struck by the idea that this is the spot where so many took their first steps on Canadian soil. Immigration continues to shape and enrich the communities in which we live and work. Our company is stronger because of the diverse, talented and experienced employees from around the world, who are part of the Emera team. In Nova Scotia, one of the ways we support and celebrate diversity in our community is through our collaboration with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia, or ISANS. Youth Explorer program was created through our partnership with ISANS to support youth, who are new to Canada and entering school or the workforce in Nova Scotia. This is just one of the community-based initiatives we've supported in year 1 of our 5-year $5 million Emera diversity, equity and inclusion fund. Our community partnerships like the one with ISANS, and so many others across the regions where we operate, are part of Emera's culture. We value strong relationships that enable us to do the right thing for our customers, our communities and the environment. Last year, we announced our climate commitment. It includes clear decarbonization goals and our vision to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. But we continue to be transparent in our characterization of a net-zero carbon future as a vision and not a concrete goal, because the reality is that the path to get there is not yet clear. Like many places around the world, we're in the midst of a very complex and costly energy transition in North America. At Emera, we have been, for many years, leading the way, with a balanced strategy that is reducing emissions and increasing renewables at a pace that does not sacrifice reliability or place an unfair cost burden on customers. Since 2005, we've reduced carbon emissions by 39% and the use of coal by 65%. We're incredibly proud of our track record, and we are making important and significant progress, but there's more to do. Governments here in Canada and in the U.S. continue to set ambitious climate targets. And the reality is that 2030 and even 2050 are not that far away given the planning horizons for the energy sector and given the new technology and infrastructure that will be required to achieve net zero. An already complex energy transition is further challenged by the expectation that with growth and electrification of other sectors, the demand for energy could double by 2050. And we're also experiencing more severe weather patterns that are challenging system reliability. And of course, in this current economic environment, costs are rising in virtually all areas. There are challenges ahead, but we also see tremendous opportunity. It's an exciting time in the energy sector, and Emera's future looks bright. That's because I believe that our proven strategy and our incredible team, position us well to continue to make progress and deliver for our customers. And by doing so, create growth and value for our shareholders. As I've said before, our strategy of safely delivering cleaner, reliable, affordable energy is as relevant today as it's ever been. Throughout 2021, our team continued to advance our strategy. And as Jackie mentioned earlier, our efforts translated into strong financial results. Our solid record of providing predictable earnings growth and long-term shareholder value continues. We reported our highest ever annual adjusted net income in 2021, $723 million, and at $2.81, our adjusted earnings per share for the year were up 4.9% compared to 2020. Over the last 15 years, the compound annual growth rate of our adjusted earnings per share has also been very strong at 6.2%. And, in 2021, we also raised our dividend by 4%, solidifying more than 15 years of sustainable dividend growth. And there's much more to come. We're on track to invest close to $3 billion in 2022. And as Jackie mentioned, we expect to invest between $8.4 billion and $9.4 billion through the end of 2024, with over 60% of that capital plan focused on cleaner and more reliable energy. Beyond 2024, we believe that the ongoing need for cleaner energy, infrastructure renewal, and grid modernization will continue to provide robust investment opportunity and growth for the business. Earlier this month, we released our first quarter results for 2022. We're off to a solid start this year, with $0.92 of adjusted earnings per share and a 42% increase in operating cash flow compared to the first quarter of 2021. Last year, our team advanced all of our major clean energy and reliability projects and successfully executed $2.4 billion of capital investment. Let me share a few highlights. Here in Atlantic Canada, clean, renewable energy from Muskrat Falls began flowing last year over the Maritime Link, a truly transformative project that our team delivered on time and on budget. And going forward, the Link will be a major contributor to achieving Nova Scotia's renewable energy target of 80% by 2030. In Florida, since acquiring Tampa Electric just over 5 years ago, we've increased solar from essentially 0% to 12% of our generation capacity and 6% of the energy we delivered to our customers last year, both of which we expect to double with the completion of the second wave -- second phase of solar investment that is already well advanced. We also completed the complex first phase of the Big Bend modernization project in Tampa, further reducing the use of coal. The next phase, which will include waste heat recovery to improve efficiency is on track for completion later this year. These projects and many others across the business, along with future projects like the Eastern Clean Energy initiative, which includes the Atlantic Loop, are critical to shaping our path to net zero. We also know that innovation and exploring emerging technologies will play an important role in the energy transition. For example, through Smart Grid Nova Scotia, we're testing the benefits of battery storage systems, electric vehicle smart chargers, and bidirectional chargers. As part of this project, we recently launched the province's first grid-connected community solar garden, giving access to solar energy to customers, who are not able to have, or who choose not to have their own solar installations. Emera Technology's Block Energy is another clear example of our commitment to innovation and our work to capitalize on customer trends. Block Energy demonstrates how utilities can enable and sponsor an even faster transition to decentralized energy, providing customers with more choice and more control. This technology enables a step change forward from what is possible today, both in terms of the amount of renewable energy and the level of reliability, all without customers needing to make the investment in rooftop solar, battery storage and backup generation themselves. It demonstrates how distributed energy can be good for customers and for the utilities that serve them. We know emerging technologies like these and many others, including the work the team is doing on floating solar, battery storage, renewable natural gas and hydrogen blending, will play an important part in achieving a net-zero future. ESG, or our environmental, social and governance commitments, are core to our strategy, our operations and our culture, and they have been for almost 2 decades. Delivering on our environmental commitments is essentially what we do at Emera. It's foundational to our strategy. The S or the social and the G or the governance really capture how we work, our values, our disciplines, our commitments to each other, our customers, our communities and our shareholders. I'm extremely proud of this company and this team. We have more than 7,000 dedicated employees across Emera working hard on behalf of customers, with 2,400 of us right here in Nova Scotia. Safety is the #1 priority for our team. We are strengthening our safety systems, and we are committed to sustaining a strong safety culture. Our goal is an Emera where no one gets hurt ever. While we continue to make important progress and consistently achieve safety performance levels better than that of the industry overall, the loss of any team member deeply impacts our entire organization and makes us more committed than ever to our safety journey. We're also committed to being good partners and investing in the places where we live and work, contributing more than $13 million to community-based initiatives in 2021 alone. You'll find more information about our ESG performance, including our community partnerships, updates on our safety journey, and our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and the progress we're making on our climate commitment, all in our annual sustainability report, which we will be releasing next month. Thank you to everyone on the Emera team for your continued commitment and extraordinary work on behalf of all of our stakeholders. To our Chair, Jackie Sheppard, and our Board of Directors, thank you for your continued insight and guidance and, of course, to our valued shareholders, thank you for your continuing confidence in Emera.

Thank you, Scott. The Secretary advises me that the preliminary voting results have been received. Mr. Secretary?

Madam Chair, the scrutineer's report that all items voted upon at the meeting have received more than the number of votes required, and therefore, all items are passed. The final voting results will be posted online at www.sedar.com.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary. With these voting results, I now declare all 4 motions approved. With the business for the meeting now complete and with the consent of the meeting, I now declare the meeting terminated. We will proceed to the general question-and-answer period and take questions from shareholders. So that as many questions as possible are answered, shareholders and proxy holders are asked to be brief and concise, and to address only one topic per question. Questions from a multitude of shareholders that are on the same topic or otherwise related may be grouped, summarized and answered together. If your question is related to a personal matter, an Emera representative will contact you after the meeting. First, we will take comments and questions from shareholders here in the room, then from shareholders on the webcast, followed by those sent before the meeting. And I would ask Scott to come forward to help with questions today.

Any questions at this time?

Madam Chair, we have received a few questions from shareholders through the online platform.

Okay. You can proceed with the questions.

We have a question from a shareholder in Christchurch Barbados, who's asked the following, and actually, there's 3 questions from this shareholders. So I'll just do 1 at a time. The first is, will Emera Inc. be paying a special dividend to shareholders soon?

Do you want to answer that, Scott?

Sure.

The Board does decide that, but Scott, go ahead.

Yes. So Madam Chair starts out correctly. Of course, dividends are a decision by Directors. I can say that Emera hasn't really had a history of paying special dividends. Our focus is on continual dividend growth. And in that respect, we have a target -- a dividend growth target that we've established over the next 3 years to grow the dividend by 4% to 5%, between 4% and 5% each year over the next 3 years. Our management team continues to work very hard on that behalf. But again, ultimately, dividend decisions are made at the time by the Directors of the Board.

Okay. Thank you. Yes, go ahead.

The next question is, is Emera Inc. accelerating in its global business model, the real possibility of renewable energy replacing about 70% of fossil fuels and the cost effectiveness?

Yes. So thank you for your question. And the answer is yes. As I say, sort of our climate commitments are right in our strategy that you heard Madam Chair refer to, as I did as well, is delivering cleaner energy to our customers, but doing so on a basis that continues to ensure reliability and affordability as well. And so part of that journey, of course, is continuing to make investments to enable a transition from higher carbon to cleaner energy sources. And so that's very much our focus and the core part of our strategy.

And the final question from the shareholder is, would there be full commitment from Emera Inc. business model trajectory for acquisitions of other electricity power companies worldwide?

Again, thank you for the question. Look, we continue to look for opportunities for growth. But as we sit today, we're very happy with the portfolio of businesses that we have today and in Canada, in the U.S. and in the Caribbean. We continue to look for opportunities for growth beyond that, but there'd be no clear intentions at this point. We've -- we're fortunate to be in a position with very strong businesses where we can deliver growth to our shareholders by continuing to invest in the things that I spoke about before, investing in reliability, in cleaner energy and grid modernization.

We also received a comment online from a shareholder in Tampa. He says, first of all, I want to personally thank Mr. Scott Balfour for doing what he said he would and finding a qualified African-American person to serve on Emera's Board of Directors. He also shared an additional comment on behalf of a friend. Mrs. Twanda Bradley from Progress Village, Hillsboro County, has written to express concern about Tampa Electric's coal-burning operations. She demands that action be taken to stop the burning of coal and the production of coal ash ponds, remediate the current land and implement clean energy operations that do not endanger the lives of people. I will just note that we would plan to follow up with Mrs. Bradley to discuss this important issue after the meeting.

Thank you. And I think I'd just add that, we're aligned with Ms. Bradley. Our -- the investments that we're making in Florida, Tampa Electric today are very much aligned to that to progressively reduce the amount of coal generation, which we expect will be less than 5% of the generation at Tampa Electric in the next couple of years as we invest in solar and the Big Bend modernization project. So we're aligned with the need to progressively reduce the burning of coal for the generation of electricity.

Madam Chair, there are no further questions in the online platform at this time.

Okay. Thank you. And I think that includes questions received before the meeting, correct?

It does. Yes.

Thank you. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's meeting and for your continued support of Emera. If you have any follow-up questions or comments, we encourage you to reach out to us by e-mail, phone or mail. And thank you for attending, and have a good day.