TAC - TransAlta Corporation (TAC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-05-03 14:35:26 ET
TransAlta Corporation (TAC)
Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call
May 03, 2024 11:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Chiara Valentini - Vice President, Strategic Finance & Investor Relations
John Kousinioris - President & Chief Executive Officer
Todd Stack - Executive Vice President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer
Blain Van Melle - Executive Vice President, Commercial & Customer Relations
Conference Call Participants
Mark Jarvi - CIBC
John Mould - TD Securities
Ben Pham - BMO
Maurice Choy - RBC Capital Markets
Patrick Kenny - NBF
Chris Varcoe - Calgary Herald
Presentation
Operator
Good morning. My name is Carmen, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to TransAlta Corporation First Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you.
Ms. Valentini, you may begin your conference.
Chiara Valentini
Thank you, Carmen. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to TransAlta's first quarter 2024 conference call. With me today are John Kousinioris, President and Chief Executive Officer. As well, we have Todd Stack, VP Finance and Chief Financial Officer; and Blain Van Melle, EVP, Commercial and Customer Relations.
Today's call is being webcast, and I invite those listening on the phone lines to view the supporting slides that are posted on our website. A replay of the call will be available later today, and the transcript will be posted to our website shortly thereafter.
All the information provided during this conference call is subject to the forward-looking statement qualification set out here on slide 2, details further in our MD&A and incorporated in full for the purposes of today's call. All amounts referenced during the call are in Canadian currency unless otherwise noted. The non-IFRS terminology that we're using, including adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow are also reconciled in the MD&A for your reference.
On today's call, John and Todd will provide an overview of the quarterly results. And after these remarks, we will open the call for questions.
With that, let me turn the call over to John.
John Kousinioris
Thank you, Chiara. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our first quarter 2024 conference call. As part of our commitment towards reconciliation, I want to begin by acknowledging that TransAlta's Head Office, where we are today is located in the traditional territories of the people of Treaty 7, which include the black with confederacy, comprising the Siksika, the Piikani and the Kainai First Nation, the Tsuut'ina First Nation and the Stoney-Nakoda, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations. The city of Calgary is also home to Metis Nation of Alberta, Districts 5 and 6.
TransAlta had an excellent first quarter, which exceeded our expectations and is strongly in line with our stated outlook for the year. We delivered adjusted EBITDA of $328 million, free cash flow of $206 million or $0.67 per share and net earnings to shareholders of $222 million.
Our results stem from strong performance of our merchant fleet, the exceptional efforts of our optimization team, which managed our hedging strategies and our solid operations with improved fleet availability of 92.3%. We also benefited from stronger power prices and guidance, particularly during periods of market tightness in January....
TransAlta Corporation (TAC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript