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AmeriGas Partners Reports First Quarter Results
VALLEY FORGE, Pa.-(Business Wire)-January 30, 2008 - AmeriGas Propane, Inc., general partner of AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (NYSE:APU), reported net income for the first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2007 of $54.3 million compared to $55.6 million for the same period last year. The Partnership's earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $93.1 million for the first quarter of 2008, unchanged from the first quarter of fiscal 2007.
For the three months ended December 31, 2007, retail propane volumes sold declined 1.3% to 279.1 million gallons from 282.9 million gallons sold in the prior year period. Weather was 7.2% warmer than normal compared to weather that was 8.6% warmer than normal in the prior year period, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Eugene V. N. Bissell, chief executive officer of AmeriGas, said "Significant increases in propane sales prices caused by extraordinarily high propane costs resulted in customer conservation that more than offset higher volumes sold in the quarter from businesses we acquired last year. The average wholesale propane cost at Mt. Belvieu, Texas for the quarter increased 58% over the same period last year. In spite of the challenging environment of warm weather and high product cost, we continued to execute our strategies to build long term value for unitholders."
Revenues for the quarter increased to $748.2 million from $616.6 million in the prior year period, reflecting higher average selling prices due to significantly higher propane product costs. Total margin increased $13.9 million mainly due to higher average retail propane unit margins and slightly higher ancillary income. Operating and administrative expenses rose primarily as a result of expenses associated with acquisitions, increased compensation and benefits costs and higher vehicle expenses. Although EBITDA was unchanged from the prior year, operating income decreased to $74.0 million from $75.3 million in the fiscal 2007 quarter, reflecting higher depreciation and amortization costs.
Separately, AmeriGas Partners announced that for the three-year period ended December 31, 2007, the compound annual total return on Partnership units was 15%, exceeding a significant number of the companies in its peer group of 19 publicly-traded master limited partnerships. As a result, employees who received performance-contingent unit awards in early 2005 in accordance with the Partnership's long-term compensation plan will receive a portion of the payout under the plan in Partnership units and will be deemed to have sold a portion of the units to AmeriGas Partners for cash to pay income taxes. The appropriate disclosures on Form 4 will be filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
AmeriGas Partners is the nation's largest retail propane marketer, serving nearly 1.3 million customers from over 600 locations in 46 states. UGI Corporation (NYSE:UGI), through subsidiaries, owns 44% of the Partnership and individual unitholders own the remaining 56%.
AmeriGas Partners, L.P. will host its first quarter FY 2008 earnings conference call on Wednesday, January 30, 2008, at 4:00 PM ET. Interested parties may listen to a live audio webcast of the conference call at http://www.shareholder.com/ugi/APU/medialist.cfm. A telephonic replay of the call can be accessed approximately one hour after the completion of the call at 1-888-203-1112; International replay 1-719-457-0820; passcode 6871439, through February 1, 2008.
The financial table appended to this news release can be viewed directly at http://www.shareholder.com/ugi/APU/1Q08FinancialTable.pdf.
Comprehensive information about AmeriGas is available on the Internet at www.amerigas.com.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements which management believes to be reasonable as of today's date only. Actual results may differ significantly because of risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond management's control. You should read the Partnership's Annual Report on Form 10-K for a more extensive list of factors that could affect results. Among them are adverse weather conditions, cost volatility and availability of propane, increased customer conservation measures due to high energy prices, the capacity to transport propane to our market areas and political, economic and regulatory conditions in the U. S. and abroad. The Partnership undertakes no obligation to release revisions to its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today.
