The Southern Company Q4 FY2021 Earnings Call

· Earnings call transcript and AI-powered summary

Key Financial Results

  • Full-year 2021 adjusted EPS was $3.41, up $0.16 versus 2020 and $0.06 above the top end of original 2021 guidance.
  • Weather negatively impacted results by $0.05 vs. 2020 and $0.14 vs. normal weather.
  • Weather-adjusted retail electric sales grew 2.4% vs. 2020, about 1% above forecast. Residential sales exceeded expectations by 2.7% due to strong customer growth and hybrid work trends.
  • Customer growth remained strong: nearly 55,000 new residential electric and 30,000 new natural gas customers added annually over the past two years.
  • 2022 adjusted EPS guidance: $3.50–$3.60 (midpoint $3.55 implies ~7.5% growth vs. 2021 original guidance midpoint).
  • Long-term EPS growth outlook reaffirmed at 5%–7% annually, targeting $4.00–$4.30 EPS in 2024.
  • No equity needs anticipated through the five-year plan.

Capital Investment & Liquidity

  • $41 billion base capital plan through 2025 (excludes Vogtle Units 3 & 4). This is a $2 billion increase from last year’s plan.
  • Potential additional $3 billion allocation to Southern Power over the next five years, not included in the base plan.
  • Expected FFO-to-debt improvement of 200–300 basis points by 2024.
  • Credit quality remains a priority; company expects strong improvement once Vogtle construction risk subsides.

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Operator: Good afternoon. My name is Chris and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I’d like to welcome everyone to The Southern Company Fourth Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Scott Gammill, Investor Relations Director. Please go ahead, sir. Scott Gammill: Thank you, Chris. Good afternoon and welcome to Southern Company’s year-end 2021 earnings call. Joining me today are Tom Fanning, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Company, and Dan Tucker, Chief Financial Officer. Let me remind you, we’ll be making forward-looking statements today in addition to providing historical information. Various important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements, including those discussed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs and subsequent filings. In addition, we will present non-GAAP financial information on this call. Reconciliations to the applicable GAAP measure, are included in the financial information we released this morning as well as the slides for this conference call, which are both available on our Investor Relations website at investor.southerncompany.com. At this time, I’ll turn the call over to Tom. Tom Fanning: Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon and thank you for joining us

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