Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. Q3 2026 Earnings Call - Margin Expansion Defies Volume Headwinds

Kevin, Conference Call Moderator, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ferrellgas Partners, L.P. Q3 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all listeners are in a listen-only mode. I would now like to turn the call over to Michelle Maggi, Vice President of Corporate Affairs. Please go ahead, Michelle.

Michelle Maggi, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. We released this morning pre-market our earnings, and if you haven’t seen it yet, please go to our website and you will find it under the investor relations tab at ferrellgas.com. With me today is Tamria Zertuche, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Nick Heimer, Ferrellgas’ Vice President and Controller. Today’s call includes prepared remarks where we will go over our third quarter results for fiscal 2026, concluding with responses to previously submitted questions. Please note that this call may contain forward-looking statements as determined by federal securities laws. For this purpose, any statements made during this call that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. These statements may be affected by important factors set forth in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our latest earnings release.

As a result, actual operations or results may differ materially from the results discussed in any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law. In addition, please refer to the 8-K earnings release to find disclosures and reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures that may be referenced on today’s call. This morning’s conference call is being webcast and is also available for replay via our website. With that, I will turn the call over to Tamria.

Tamria Zertuche, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thank you, Michelle. I want to begin where I always do, with our people. Our employee owners showed up this quarter the way they always do, prepared, adaptable, focused on what matters most for our customers and each other. The margin growth, the safety improvement, the retention progress, none of that happens by accident. It happens because we have people who hold themselves to a high standard and keep raising the bar. This quarter also called for some intentional choices, ones that traded near-term cost for lasting structural strength. We completed the Class B unit conversion, which simplifies our corporate structure for existing and prospective investors. It eliminates the Class B distribution obligation and allows for a redirect of future cash flows towards debt reduction, reinvestment in the company, and long-term value creation for our Class A holders.

What I want to highlight is how we got here, because I think it matters. The capital that made the conversion possible didn’t come from financial engineering. It didn’t come from selling assets or taking on new debt. It came from the work, from our people showing up every day and running the business the right way. Delivering propane safely and efficiently, holding the line on costs, retaining and growing the customer base, and protecting margins quarter after quarter. That kind of operational discipline is what builds financial flexibility. When you run a tight operation, you generate cash. We are a company that earned its way to a cleaner, stronger capital structure. With the future in mind, we made two board changes this quarter that reflect where the company is headed. Pamela Breuckmann was appointed as chair.

Pam has been a steady, thoughtful presence in our governance and succession planning work for some time, and this appointment reflects both the depth of her contributions and the kind of leadership we want shaping our future. She understands this business, where it’s been, where it’s going, and that continuity matters as we move into the next chapter. We also welcomed Andrew Safran to the board. Andy has been advising us for almost a year, and formalizing his role as a director is a natural next step. He brings more than three decades of investing and private equity experience, including direct M&A experience in the propane industry, a sector he knows well. He knows the competitive dynamics, the consolidation landscape, and the value that the right transactions could create.

That depth of expertise is exactly what we wanted at the table as we think about how to grow this business and strengthen the position of Ferrellgas. Together, these appointments reflect a board that is intentionally composed for what’s ahead. We have the governance expertise, the financial sophistication, and the strategic perspective to support the ambitions we have for this business. The performance of the company is directly tied to the support we have received and continue to receive from our board of directors. Now, I will address what we saw operationally this quarter. This quarter, our employee owners had to assess the weather they were experiencing and make operational decisions with what they were given. Flex up, flex down, or share resources to assist a busier region of the country. This quarter, they did exactly that. In the regions with normal winter conditions, our preparation paid off.

Where we didn’t have normal conditions, our teams pivoted and leaned into the strong growth and retention work that positions us well heading into 2027. That kind of untouchability comes from people who understand this business and take ownership of the outcome. Now, on the retail side, customer retention continued to improve. Regained accounts were meaningfully up versus the prior year, and our will-call service levels got better. Those aren’t weather-driven results. That’s disciplined execution by teams that stay focused on the customer regardless of what is happening outside. On the wholesale side, Q3 is when Blue Rhino, our tank exchange business, prepares for the summer grilling season and potential weather events. This quarter, they were also busy installing more than 1,000 new displays at customer locations across the country and planning the expansion of hundreds more at new sites.

While we never want to see any community affected by a damaging storm, getting propane to our facilities and customer locations quickly and reliably during a storm event, that’s the commitment our wholesale team is ready to deliver on. Growth, like safety, is a relentless focus for our employee owners. It looks like new customer relations that generate volume for future years. It’s autogas locations that didn’t exist last quarter. It’s Blue Rhino exchange locations added to retail stores across the country. It’s national accounts. These are large multi-site customers who choose Ferrellgas because of our reliability, our service consistency, and our ability to perform at scale. What I want to underscore is that this growth is happening in parallel with everything else, the operational improvements, the safety performance, the expense plan. That’s not easy to do.

It requires a team that can hold multiple priorities at once and execute on all of them. Ours does exactly that. I will now turn the call over to Nick to walk through the financials.

Nick Heimer, Vice President and Controller, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thanks, Tamria. Like Tamria, I’m very proud of our employee owners’ efforts during the third quarter. Their continued focus on margin expansion and operational efficiency is what keeps us moving forward. Let me break it down. Overall gross profit was up $2.2 million, about 1% compared to last year. Propane prices at Mont Belvieu were down roughly 16% versus the prior year, which led to about a $36 million decline in revenue. Because our product cost came down even more by about $38 million, we more than offset that revenue pressure. Gallon volumes were down 2.8 million or 1% for the quarter. Retail was the main driver there, falling 4.4 million gallons or 3%. That was partially offset by wholesale growing 1.6 million gallons or 3%.

Margin per gallon increased approximately 2% as we continue to benefit from the operational efficiencies we’ve been building, better route productivity, improved delivery execution, and the ongoing contribution of our telematics platform. On diesel, elevated costs pressured our delivery expense this quarter, and I want to be direct about how we’re managing it. We’re working through route optimization, better load planning, and efficiency initiatives designed to reduce fuel consumption per gallon delivered. This is not a quarter-to-quarter reaction. It’s a structural effort to reduce our exposure to diesel volatility over time. Our technology investments are core to that strategy, and results are already showing up in our numbers. At the bottom line, net earnings decreased $31.1 million to $28 million. The primary driver was a $29 million increase in operating expense, largely related to resolution of legacy casualty claims.

These are legacy items we chose to resolve. Management does not expect these costs to recur at this level in future periods. Adjusted EBITDA decreased $12.7 million or about 11% to $102.1 million. Operating expenses increased by $16.7 million after adjusting for approximately $12 million related to some of the settlements mentioned previously and was partially offset by the gross profit improvement. Overall, it was a quarter where the business performed well at its core. Aside from the headwind of some one-time claims liability, gross profits grew, margins expanded. Our cost structure remains competitive. I will turn the call over to Michelle.

Michelle Maggi, Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thanks, Nick. I’d like to take a moment to highlight a few things from the corporate affairs side that occurred this quarter. We continued our long-standing partnership with Operation BBQ Relief, deploying employee owners to serve hot meals to families impacted by flooding in Milwaukee and tornado damage in Miami County, Kansas. Our teams also volunteered at local food pantries, supported veterans and first responder fundraisers, and marked Earth Day by visiting schools and cleaning up community spaces, using those moments to share the story of propane as a clean, efficient fuel. With regards to safety, the work we’ve been putting in is translating into real results. Our recordable incident rate continues to trend in the right direction, our CSA performance improved year-over-year across several key categories.

I’m particularly proud of what we’re seeing through our telematics platform, meaningful quarter-over-quarter improvement in driver safety indicators, including distracted driving, mobile usage, and seat belt compliance. We also remain deeply engaged with the National Propane Gas Association, the industry’s leading trade organization. As a former chair of the NPGA, it gives me great pride to announce that Ray Gallant, our vice president and head of retail operations, will be sworn in next week as incoming treasurer at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. With a career spanning more than 20 years, Ray has been a tireless advocate for both the propane industry and Ferrellgas. There is no one more deserving of this recognition at the national level. Congratulations, Ray. I will now hand the call back to Tamria for closing remarks.

Tamria Zertuche, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thanks, Michelle. We end this quarter with more clarity than we’ve had before. The Class B conversion is complete. The legacy liabilities are largely behind us. The investments we’ve made in telematics, route optimization, and analytics are compounding to provide future expense savings. Our focus into the Q4 is straightforward: tank set growth, customer base expansion, wholesale location installations, continued safety performance, and a capital structure improvement. Looking further out, we are not just managing for the next quarter. We are building a company with a simpler capital structure, a leaner cost base, and technology that compounds in value the longer it’s deployed. The telematics data we capture today will make our routing smarter tomorrow. The customer relationships we go today, including national accounts, generate volume for years to come, and the expense savings create structural advantages that become harder to replicate over time.

I’m proud of what this team has built, and I’m confident in what they’ll do with it. Thank you for joining our call today and for your continued interest and support of Ferrellgas. We will now move to some previously submitted questions. First question, margin per gallon was up despite volume pressure and elevated diesel costs. What’s driving that, and is it sustainable? Nick?

Nick Heimer, Vice President and Controller, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Sure. I think the clearest way to see it is at a regional level. We felt it was important to provide a regional breakdown in our earnings release to showcase how we capitalize on opportunity. Where weather cooperated and we had cold days, our teams delivered the volume and protected margins. Where it didn’t, we pulled back on delivery activity and redirected that energy toward new customer acquisition and retention. That ability to flex up when conditions favor it and flex down when they don’t and stay disciplined either way is exactly what kept margins intact. It’s not a one-quarter story, it’s how we’re running the business.

Tamria Zertuche, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thanks, Nick. The next question is around operating expense. Specifically, can you walk us through the drivers behind the operating expense? Nick, I’ll let you take that one as well.

Nick Heimer, Vice President and Controller, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Yeah, absolutely. As we spoke about on the call, we made a deliberate decision to resolve several legacy casualty cases that had been pending for a number of years. This was a focused, one-time effort to clean up our case portfolio, not something we expect to recur in future quarters. The remainder of the increase was tied to higher diesel costs, which were a considerably smaller contributor. Given the timing of those fuel cost fluctuations, we aren’t always positioned to fully pass them through in the near term.

Tamria Zertuche, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: The next question is what’s driving the growth momentum you’re seeing, and what does a three-year outlook look like? On the call today, you heard me speak about the work that the company has undertaken as we build for the future. From board composition to cleaning up any drag on future EBITDA performance, through to our continued investment in building the right customer base, all supported by best-in-class technology, our outlook is based on a really solid foundation. Specifically, there’s several areas I want to highlight. I know they’re in our earnings release, and they’re in this call, but I want to make sure that we can double-click on them. On the retail side, autogas and power generation are meaningful contributors, and we’re seeing a growing number of fleet operators make the switch from diesel to propane.

This is driven by lower fuel and maintenance costs and ultimately a cleaner emissions profile. At Blue Rhino, we’ve really been focused on making the cylinder exchange experience much more convenient through home delivery and vending, and that’s generating new customers and expanded locations with existing retail partners. A recent win for Blue Rhino was a large regional convenience store chain in the Eastern U.S. Combined with location expansions from our existing national retail partners will add new gallons, and it strengthens that counter-seasonal going forward. Finally, our supply acumen has allowed us to continue to grow on our wholesale supply opportunities. That’s the foundation and a little bit into our growth areas. The next question we receive many times, and that’s just what’s next in terms of the capital structure. With the Class conversion now complete, what’s the plan for the preferred units?

As we’ve said before, we have a strong and constructive relationship with our stakeholders, Ares and Prudential. They’ve been very supportive of Ferrellgas, and we maintain regular dialogue with them about potential options, much as we did throughout the Class B process. We’ll continue to evaluate scenarios related to the preferreds as part of our broader view of the overall capital structure. Nick, I’m going to let you take this one. We received this one many times as well. Given the movement with your capital structure, is it your plan to relist?

Nick Heimer, Vice President and Controller, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: The simple answer is yes. Relisting on a national security exchange is absolutely part of the plan. We hope to be in a position to make that happen in the near future.

Tamria Zertuche, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: All right. I think those questions cover the types of questions that were submitted today. We truly thank you for your support and the questions. With that, I will now hand the call back to our moderator, Kevin.

Kevin, Conference Call Moderator, Ferrellgas Partners, L.P.: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today’s presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.