Earnings call transcript: SJW Q1 2025 beats EPS, stock rises 5.36%

SJW Corporation reported a strong first quarter for 2025, significantly surpassing earnings expectations. The water utility company posted an adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50, exceeding the forecasted $0.31. Revenue reached $167.6 million, also surpassing the anticipated $155.5 million. Following the earnings release, SJW’s stock price climbed 5.36%, closing at $53.51. According to InvestingPro data, SJW has maintained dividend payments for 54 consecutive years and raised them for 32 straight years, demonstrating remarkable financial stability. Based on InvestingPro’s Fair Value analysis, the stock currently appears overvalued relative to its fundamentals.

Key Takeaways

• SJW’s Q1 2025 EPS of $0.50 beat the forecast by 61%.
• Revenue increased by 12% year-over-year, reaching $167.6 million.
• The stock surged 5.36% in after-hours trading.
• The company affirmed its 2025 EPS guidance of $2.90 to $3.00.
• Significant investments in infrastructure and technology are underway.

Company Performance

SJW Corporation demonstrated robust performance in the first quarter of 2025, with a notable year-over-year revenue increase of 12%. The company’s strategic investments in infrastructure and technological advancements, such as the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project, are expected to drive further growth and operational efficiency. InvestingPro analysis reveals the company maintains a significant debt burden with a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, while its Financial Health Score stands at 2.27 (FAIR), suggesting balanced operational performance despite leverage concerns.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $167.6 million, a 12% increase from Q1 2024.
• GAAP Net Income: $16.6 million, up 41% from the previous year.
• Adjusted Net Income: $16.7 million, a 43% increase year-over-year.
• Diluted EPS: $0.49 (GAAP), $0.50 (Adjusted).

Earnings vs. Forecast

SJW’s adjusted EPS of $0.50 exceeded the forecasted $0.31 by approximately 61%. The revenue of $167.6 million also surpassed expectations by nearly 8%. This performance marks a significant positive surprise for investors, reflecting the company’s effective cost management and strategic investments.

Market Reaction

Following the release of the earnings report, SJW’s stock price increased by 5.36%, closing at $53.51. This movement highlights investor confidence in the company’s ability to exceed expectations and maintain a strong growth trajectory. The stock is trading near its 52-week high of $62.18, indicating positive market sentiment. InvestingPro data shows the stock trades at a P/E ratio of 19.55x, which appears high relative to its near-term earnings growth prospects. Want deeper insights? InvestingPro offers exclusive access to detailed valuation metrics and comprehensive financial analysis for over 1,400 US stocks.

Outlook & Guidance

SJW reaffirmed its 2025 EPS guidance of $2.90 to $3.00 and expects to achieve a 5-7% earnings growth rate through 2029. The company plans to invest $473 million in capital projects this year, with a five-year capital plan totaling $2 billion. These investments are aimed at enhancing infrastructure and operational efficiency. The company has demonstrated strong revenue growth with a 5-year CAGR of 12%, though InvestingPro analysis indicates current short-term obligations exceed liquid assets, with a current ratio of 0.66.

Executive Commentary

Eric Thornburg, CEO of SJW, emphasized the company’s commitment to safety and service, stating, "We continue to prioritize building a culture of safety, because protecting our people and the communities we serve is foundational to everything we do." Kristen Johnson, Senior Vice President, highlighted the strategic importance of technology advancements, noting, "These technology advancements aren’t just upgrades. They’re part of our broader strategy to drive efficiencies that translate directly into cost savings for customers and long-term system resilience."

Risks and Challenges

• Drought conditions in Texas could impact water supply and demand.
• Regulatory changes in key markets may affect operations.
• Potential supply chain disruptions could delay infrastructure projects.
• Economic downturns might impact consumer spending and utility usage.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about potential mergers and acquisitions, particularly in Texas, and the impact of drought conditions on business planning. Executives also discussed the potential earnings impact of the Water Quality and Treatment Adjustment (WQTA) mechanism being explored in Connecticut.

Full transcript - SJW Corp (SJW) Q1 2025:

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to SJW Group First Quarter twenty twenty five Financial Results Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you would need to press 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised.

Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would like now to turn the conference over to Ann Kelly, Chief Accounting Officer. Please go ahead.

Ann Kelly, Chief Accounting Officer, SJW Group: Thank you, Michelle. Welcome to the first quarter twenty twenty five financial results conference call for SJW Group. I will be presenting today with Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Walters, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Bruce Hawk, Chief Operating Officer and Kristen Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. For those who would like to follow along, slides accompanying our remarks are available on our website at sjwgroup.com. Before we begin today, I would like to remind you that this presentation and the related materials posted on our website can contain forward looking statements.

These statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by the company in light of its experience, historical trends, current conditions, and expected future results, as well as other factors that the company believes are appropriate under the circumstances. Many factors could cause the company’s actual results and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. For a description of some of the factors that could cause actual results to be different from the statements in this presentation, we refer you to the financial results press release and to our most recent Forms 10 ks, 10 Q, and eight ks filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained on our website. All forward looking statements are made as of today, and SJW Group disclaims any duty to update or revise such statements. You will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation.

This webcast is being recorded, and an archive of the webcast will be available until 07/21/2025. You can access the press release and the webcast at SJW Group’s website. In addition, some of the information discussed today includes the non GAAP financial measures of adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share that have not been calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in The United States, or GAAP. These non GAAP financial measures should be considered as a supplement to the financial information prepared on a GAAP basis rather than an alternative to the respective GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are presented in the table in the appendix of our presentation.

I will now turn the call over to Andrew.

Andrew Walters, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Incoming CEO, SJW Group: Thank you, Anne. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I am honored to serve as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of SJW Group. And I’m looking forward to becoming the Chief Executive Officer following Eric Thornburg’s planned and well deserved retirement on July 1. I want to add my sincere gratitude to Eric for his leadership and fellowship over the years.

I look forward to continued partnership with Bruce, Kristen, Anne, and Willie, and my colleagues at SJW Group as we chart our course for a journey of continuous improvement and excellence through servant leadership. I’m pleased to share that in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, we continued to meet drinking water and environmental regulations, deliver on our public health and environmental stewardship commitments, and provide high quality water and service to customers. We also delivered strong financial results, including a nearly 41 increase in net income from the first quarter of twenty twenty four on a GAAP basis. Our performance reflects our continued execution of our proven growth strategy, focused on investments in our infrastructure, in water systems across our national footprint, and constructive engagement and consensus building with key local stakeholders, all with an eye on affordability. Some highlights from the first quarter.

San Jose Water’s ’20 ’20 ’5 to 2027 general rate case was delivered on time and was effective on January 1. Connecticut Water’s Water Infrastructure and Conservation Adjustment and Water Revenue Adjustment filings were approved. Maine Water’s petition to unify our 10 different rate districts and our rate case for the Camden Rockland Division are progressing before the Maine Public Utility Commission. Texas Water’s second system improvement charge application is before the Public Utilities Commission of Texas. In quarter one, ’70 ’8 million dollars was invested in water and wastewater utility infrastructure across all four states, and we are on track to meet our 2025 capital plan.

Importantly, we continue to create long term shareholder value with earnings per diluted share of $0.49 and adjusted non GAAP earnings per diluted share of $0.50 in the first quarter. And as you will hear later, we remain laser focused on operating efficiency. And we recognize colleagues at each local operation for their contributions to our safety culture. As expected, 2025 looks to be a strong year for SJW Group as we build on our foundation for sustained growth and long term value creation. And I want to thank our talented team across the nation for making that happen.

The completion of successful general rate cases in our two largest jurisdictions in 2024 has reduced potential regulatory risk for the next couple of years. These two states generated 90% of our water utility services net income in 2024. Our 2025 capital plan is a 34% increase over 2024 actual spend. We don’t foresee any significant issues from current US economic conditions. The vast majority of our supplies are domestic, with some use components and materials from other countries.

The leadership transition Eric announced last quarter is progressing smoothly. Our new team is complete with the exception of a new Chief Accounting Officer to assume Anne’s duties as she becomes our new Chief Financial Officer effective July 1. Kristen will also share details about the newest impactful leader who just joined our team last week. Our long term growth strategy beyond 2025 will continue to focus on timely recovery of our robust $2,000,000,000.05 year capital plan that is needed to maintain reliable service and high quality water as well as solid regulatory relationships that are built on outcomes that serve customers and capital providers. While not in our baseline growth plan, we will continue to pursue opportunistic acquisitions that benefit our customers and make financial and strategic sense.

We will do that with a focus on financial discipline and a steadfast commitment to affordability. We are leveraging our scale, operational efficiencies, and technological advancements to manage costs while providing for our systems to remain robust, resilient, and reliable. As evidence of our financial discipline, S and P raised the credit outlook for SJW Group to stable. We will continue to focus on important credit metrics as we are committed to maintaining our a category credit rating. We will discuss all this in more detail later in the call, but for now, let me turn the call back to Ann to take you through our financial results.

Ann Kelly, Chief Accounting Officer, SJW Group: Thank you, Andrew. Yesterday, after the market closed, we released our first quarter operating results. As Andrew mentioned, we are pleased to report $0.49 of GAAP diluted EPS and $0.50 adjusted diluted EPS for the first quarter. With these strong first quarter results, we are affirming our 2025 guidance range of adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.9 to $3 We are also affirming SJW Group’s five percent to 7% earnings growth rate through 2029, and we expect to be in the top half of the range. Turning to slide nine.

In the first quarter, we reported revenue of $167,600,000 a 12% increase over the $149,400,000 reported in 2024, primarily reflecting the rate increases in California and Connecticut that Andrew referred to. This increase in sales, along with prudent cost management, resulted in GAAP net income of $16,600,000 which increased 41% over 2024, and adjusted net income was $16,700,000 a 43% increase over the prior year. We also reported a 39% increase in our adjusted diluted EPS of $0.50 The factors impacting 2024 earnings per share are shown on slide 10. At a high level, increased revenue from rates and usage drove a revenue increase of $0.41 The revenue increase was partially offset by higher water production expense of $0.16 other operating expense of $06 an increase in interest expense of $02 and an additional $02 due to an increase in the number of shares outstanding. Turning to the next slide, I’ll provide more detail on each of these areas.

As I mentioned earlier, our revenues increased 12% in the first quarter. Rate increases from the general rate cases in California and Connecticut, along with increases from our infrastructure mechanisms in Connecticut, Maine, and Texas, contributed $11,900,000 to the revenue increase. Dollars 5,300,000.0 is attributable to pass through water costs for our wholesalers as these costs continue to increase each year. Higher customer usage added another $1,000,000 as increased usage in California more than offset a reduction in Texas due to the increasing severity of the drought. And revenue increases associated with new customer growth was offset by a reduction in regulatory mechanisms.

With a new rate case in effect in California and lower authorized usage, we would expect regulatory mechanisms to be less pronounced in the current rate structure. Water production expenses increased 14% in the quarter and was primarily driven by an increased cost of $5,600,000 from our water wholesaler, however, these costs are largely offset in revenue, and $2,400,000 in expense associated with higher production volume. For the quarter, we reported a 4% increase in other operating expenses. General and administrative expenses increased $2,000,000 primarily driven by customer credit losses and insurance costs, along with an $800,000 increase in maintenance costs and $200,000 of other costs increase. On the financing side, in the first quarter we raised approximately $27,000,000 of our 120,000,000 to $140,000,000 expected annual equity proceeds through our At the Market Program, or ATM.

At the end of the quarter, we had $153,000,000 drawn on our $350,000,000 bank lines of credit, which left $197,000,000 available for short term financing of utility plant additions and operating activities. We were also pleased to see that the average borrowing rate for our line of credit advances in the first quarter was approximately 5.47% compared to 6.54% in the prior year. And on the tax front, consolidated income tax rates were pretty steady quarter over quarter, with a 1% increase in our effective tax rate, primarily due to higher pretax earnings. Turning to slide 15. In addition to affirming our long term growth rate and EPS guidance mentioned earlier on the call, we are also affirming equity issuances of 120,000,000 to $140,000,000 planned through our ATM, excluding any acquisition growth and our $473,000,000 capital plan in 2025.

We are now seeing construction activity pick up with a return of warmer weather, especially in Connecticut and Maine. And lastly, I’d like to take a moment to reiterate our long term targets. We are affirming our 5% to 7% long term growth rate and continue to expect to be in the top half of the range. We have established a robust five year two billion dollars capital plan. And we continue to focus on our credit metrics, with a target FFO to debt of 12% by 2028, which will give us 100 basis points of cushion over our 11% downgrade threshold from S and P.

And with that, I will turn the call over to Bruce to discuss the state updates.

Bruce Hawk, Chief Operating Officer, SJW Group: Thank you, Anne. As Andrew mentioned earlier, new rates went into effect for San Jose Water on 01/01/2025, as planned. The new rates support $450,000,000 in capital expenditures for the three years covered by this general rate case and $53,100,000 or 9.4% total revenue increase at the twenty five through ’20 ’7 authorized sales and customer forecast. We will also see greater revenue recovery through the service charge, now at 48%, and further alignment of authorized actual usage through a lower sales forecast. The approved 2025 rate increase is 21,300,000.0 or 3.91%.

The annual step increases for 2026 and 2027 are 14,400,000 and $17,400,000 respectively. I also want to note that our ongoing advanced metering infrastructure project is separate from the GRC capital plan. AMI is a $100,000,000 project with the bulk of the spending planned for 2025 and 2026. Our spend for this project will be recovered via annual rate base offset filings with the California Public Utilities Commission to become effective on July 1. We anticipate filing for recovery in May 2025 for rates, effective July 2025, and I will share more details during the second quarter call.

Turning to Connecticut. Last month, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority authorized a $1,600,000 revenue increase in the company’s water infrastructure and conservation adjustment. The increase was effective on April 1. The cumulative WICAA surcharge is now 4.9%. PURA also approved Connecticut Water’s proposed annual reconciliation of the water revenue adjustment to collect the 2024 revenue shortfall.

The approved adjustment reconciled 2024 revenues as authorized in Connecticut Water’s June twenty twenty four general rate case and provides for recovery of an additional $627,000 as a result of achieving performance metrics established by PURA in the 2024 GRC decision. The amount is prorated and only covers the period between 07/01/2024 and 12/31/2024. The performance based revenue opportunity for a full year is approximately $1,100,000 Connecticut Water has applied for approximately $19,400,000 in drinking water state revolving fund loans that the company plans to use for water system improvements and a lead service line identification program. PURA issued a proposed final decision on 04/11/2025 approving our request. A final decision is forthcoming.

Taking advantage of lower interest loan programs when they make sense is another way we work to maintain affordability for customers. We are continuing to work with state lawmakers and regulators on a WICAA like mechanism called the Water Quality and Treatment Adjustment that would allow cost recovery for water treatment and remediation infrastructure between general rate cases. If enacted, it would help smooth rate impacts for PFAS compliance by distributing costs more predictably over time. The bill has been voted out of committee. We expect a decision on the WQTA by the time the Connecticut legislature adjourns on June 4.

In Maine, our petition to unify the company’s 10 different rate districts into a single tariff is pending before the Maine Public Utilities Commission. If approved, it would streamline general rate case and water infrastructure charge application, which are currently filed on a district by district basis. A decision is expected in the fourth quarter of this year. Our general rate case for the Camden Rockland division is also pending before the MPUC. We are requesting a revenue increase of $1,100,000 or 15.9% above current authorized revenue.

A decision is expected in this quarter. In our Texas service area, we have been experience experiencing significant and persistent drought. As we discussed on our last call, we have a multipronged approach to make our Texas water systems more resilient to weather extremes so that we can enhance system reliability and availability of water supply for our current customers. Our highest priority is bringing the 6,000 acre feet of water supply online from our KT Water acquisition to serve customers by the end of twenty twenty six. However, this is a multi phase, multi year project that requires approximately six miles of transmission main, storage, and pump stations.

This project represents a significant investment that is reflected in our capital budget. Turning to regulatory matters, Texas Water’s second system improvement charge application is pending before the Public Utilities Commission of Texas. We have requested $4,100,000 in revenue. A hearing was held on our application last month, and we could see a decision as early as this quarter. With that, I will turn the call over to Kristen.

Conference Operator: One moment, please. We are experiencing technical difficulties.

Kristen Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, SJW Group: Thank you, Bruce. Turning to slide 22. As Bruce mentioned, our capital investments are increasing to meet higher water quality standards and evolving customer expectations. At the same time, we know affordability is essential. Our customers don’t have unlimited resources, and we’re committed to ensuring every dollar we invest delivers maximum value.

That’s why we’re laser focused on efficiency, scrutinizing every aspect of our business to ensure we’re operating as effectively as possible. By leveraging our national scale and optimizing operations, we’re creating the financial flexibility needed to support these critical investments while helping to moderate future rate increases. One of the biggest opportunities to improve efficiency is through business transformation. As we continue to enhance our operations, we are investing in standardized enterprise wide platforms to drive efficiencies, improve service, and support long term growth. A key part of this effort is to transition to a unified customer service system, which will mean faster, more efficient service for customers, a more resilient workforce where employees can support operations across different locations, and ultimately improve service reliability.

And as you heard earlier, we’re investing in advanced metering infrastructure in San Jose, and a majority of our customers in Texas are already experiencing the benefits of this technology. AMI will reduce operating costs, improve billing accuracy, enhance leak detection, and generate long term savings for both our customers and our company. We are currently considering the development of AMI in Connecticut and Maine. These technology advancements aren’t just upgrades. They’re part of our broader strategy to drive efficiencies that translate directly into cost savings for customers and long term system resilience.

A strong execution strategy requires strong leadership, and we continue to build a world class team. Last week, we welcomed another highly accomplished leader to SJW Group. Kay New is our new Chief Human Resources Officer. She joins us from Avangrid, where she recently served as Vice President of Rewards and Employee Experience. Kay brings deep expertise in human resources, and I know she’ll make a positive impact on our people and our culture.

And with that, I’ll turn the call over to Eric.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Thank you, Kristen. We continue to prioritize building a culture of safety, because protecting our people and the communities we serve is foundational to everything we do. Whether our employees are in the office, in the field, or at a construction site, we want them to return home safely each day. And we want the public to feel confident that the work we do is being done with care, integrity, and safety top of mind. Safety isn’t just a checklist, it’s really a mindset.

And when your team understands how essential water is to the health and strength of a community, it can be tempting to jump in and solve problems quickly. But we know that doing things the right way sometimes means slowing down, assessing risks, and putting safety first. In March, our state presidents and national leadership team recognized four employees whose actions protected coworkers, contractors, and community members alike. These included exercising stop work authority, requiring contractors to follow safety tail boards, and taking the time to educate others on the consequences of unsafe practices. As I close my final earnings remarks as CEO, I want to express how proud I am of this team.

The care you bring to your work each day, your integrity, your discipline, and your heart is what makes this company special. We talk often about our purpose, to protect what’s precious. That means water, yes, but it also means people, our employees, our customers, and the communities who count on us every single day. And now I’ll turn the call back over to Michelle for questions.

Conference Operator: Thank And the first question is going to come from Richard Sunderland with JPMorgan Securities. Your line is now open.

Richard Sunderland, Analyst, JPMorgan Securities: Hi, good morning. Can you hear me?

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Yes, we can, Richard. Thanks for joining us today.

Richard Sunderland, Analyst, JPMorgan Securities: Great. Thanks, Eric, and best of luck with the retirement here. I know it’s not quite the end for you yet, but the last earnings call, so best of luck.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Thank you, brother. Appreciate that very much.

Richard Sunderland, Analyst, JPMorgan Securities: So just trying to unpack the results a little bit and thinking about both the revenue uptick on the quarter and I guess the Texas drought impacts to the business as well. Are you able to frame kind of where you’re trending relative to guidance for the year? Is this a matter of kind of the rate impacts, particularly California and the fixed charge there? And is there any offset to Texas? Or are you trending kind of ahead in any areas?

Thank you.

Ann Kelly, Chief Accounting Officer, SJW Group: Yes, I’ll take that. Thanks. I would say we are trending right on plan for this year and in connection with our guidance. So still expect to be in the $2.9 to $3 A couple of things just to talk about this year versus maybe some other quarters. As you mentioned, we do have full year rate cases.

So for California and Connecticut, both have a full year starting in June 1. So that is helpful. We do have a little bit more front loading this year compared to previous years. The WCMA, which is the adjustment mechanism in San Jose, does have volatility with it. It doesn’t exactly follow the trend of our revenues, but we do expect it for the full year to come in line with plan.

And then when you think about 2023 and 2024, there were some variability the quarters, especially related to some tax adjustments for the tax accounting method change and some release of uncertain tax reserves. So you wouldn’t expect those to happen this year. So just to summarize, we’re on track and expect a great year.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: And Anne, as I recall, when we built the business plan for 2025, we did assume that Texas would remain in drought. Is that correct?

Ann Kelly, Chief Accounting Officer, SJW Group: We did assume some level of drought for this year. Yes, you’re right.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Great. Thank you. Thank you, Richard.

Richard Sunderland, Analyst, JPMorgan Securities: Understood. And then the WQTA opportunity, could you speak a little bit about what the earnings impact of that mechanism might be? It could impact regulatory strategy in the states, any other thoughts or considerations? Thank you.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Thank you, Richard. I’ll start with Bruce and then I’ll ask Anne to make some comments as well.

Bruce Hawk, Chief Operating Officer, SJW Group: Thank you, Richard. The WQTA, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, made it out of committee and we’re hopeful that that’ll be settled June 4 of the year. That mechanism is going to be very much like our existing WCA like mechanism in Connecticut. However, it is designated for those environmental incremental improvements that we need to make from a capital standpoint for recovery. So if you put that in perspective, we had 130,000,000 plus, I believe in Connecticut and another 110 in California.

So we would expect that that 130,000,000 would be recovered in future filings that would be considered WQTA filings. So when you look at the entire capital picture, it really improves the regulatory lag that would have may have existed with that type of investment that we didn’t have a vehicle other than a general rate case to recover. So it actually streamlines the improvements, streamlines the recovery and enhances our regulatory capabilities for return in terms of timeliness of recovery.

Ann Kelly, Chief Accounting Officer, SJW Group: And I don’t expect that that would have a impact on 2025, but rather reducing the regulatory lag in the outer years.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Bruce, can you refresh my memory on that? Is there a percent cap on the bill currently

Bruce Hawk, Chief Operating Officer, SJW Group: anticipated? I don’t recall. There was a cap set at 15%. Obviously, can change in a regulatory process, but we are hopeful that that will continue to go through as was approved through committee. To put that in perspective, our WICA mechanism has a 10% cap.

Conference Operator: Please stand by. We are experiencing a technical issue.

Andrew Walters, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Incoming CEO, SJW Group: Operator, this is Andrew. I’m still on the line.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Operator, are there any other questions for the leadership team here?

Conference Operator: Yes. One moment, please, for the next question. And that comes from Angie Storozynski with Seaport. Your line is open.

Angie Storozynski, Analyst, Seaport: Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations, Eric. And well to all of you guys actually. So just one question.

So Andrew, you keep talking about potential M and A or you’re willing to acquire assets. And I’m just wondering, do you have any state in mind? It’s not actually easy to find sizable water or wastewater assets that would be available for sale in your core states.

Andrew Walters, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Incoming CEO, SJW Group: Angie, it’s an excellent question. And I would start off by saying that there are opportunities within the states that we operate in. And particularly, the state of Texas is a place that we have had a number of successful acquisitions close with a very positive impact on our business. So that is a prime area that I would expect to see continued activity. In addition to that, we are expanding our views in California.

Connecticut may be more restrained on certainly the big opportunities, but there are some additional smaller opportunities that we will continue to work on as well as Maine. As for other states, we always remain open to other states. As you as you highlight, it’s not like you just go to the grocery store and you pick a a water company off the shelf. They are something that, comes by from time to time. But that being said, there are still a number of solid opportunities out there for a company our size to be able to look at and engage in.

And I would expect us to continue to do that as time goes on. So I think the key that we stay focused on though, Angie, is making sure that we deliver the financial results and that the, accretion happens at the time frame as well as the, leverage does not go beyond what our stated goals are.

Angie Storozynski, Analyst, Seaport: Very good. That’s all I have. Thank you.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Thank you. Thank you, Andy.

Conference Operator: I show no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Eric Thornburg for closing remarks.

Eric Thornburg, Chair of the Board, President and CEO (Retiring), SJW Group: Thank you again for joining us today. The first quarter was really strong for SJW Group and we have even more to look forward to in the rest of 2025. We remain committed to investing in infrastructure and exploring solutions to maintain affordability as capital needs continue to grow in the water industry. SJW Group proudly leverages our national platform to support our distinct local operations, all united by a shared mission, delivering reliable service and high quality water to 1,600,000 people across four states. At the same time, we continue executing our growth strategy and delivering shareholder value, including our unwavering commitment to the dividend, which we paid for more than eighty consecutive years.

Our success is built on a culture of service to our customers, communities, the environment and shareholders. And I couldn’t be prouder of our team whose dedication makes it all possible. This is my last financial results call as President and CEO of SJW Group. It’s been an honor of my lifetime to serve in this industry for more than forty three years. And I’ve been blessed with a very talented group of people surrounding me here at SJW Group.

I have great confidence that Andrew, Bruce, Kristen and Anne and the rest of the highly motivated and passionate teams across the country will build on the solid foundation that we’ve laid to continue delivering for customers, employees, communities, shareholders and the environment. Andrew, Bruce, Kristen and Anne are always available for follow-up. As for me, I’ll be around until June 30. We appreciate your interest and trust in SJW Group. God bless.

Conference Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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