Overland Park-based propane business chills with warmer weather

Ferrellgas Partners L.P. reported lower revenues and a smaller loss in its seasonally slow months of August, September and October.

The propane distributor lost $43.1 million, or 44 cents per publicly traded partnership unit, compared with $79.8 million, or 79 cents per unit in the same months of 2015. Its year-ago loss included a $29.3 million charge to write down the value of the company’s midstream water solutions operations and an expected loss on trucks it planned to sell.

Revenues in the quarter, which is the first in the company’s fiscal year, reached $379.5 million, down 19.4 percent from a year earlier.

“While unusually warm weather conditions — including temperatures during our first quarter that were 35 percent higher than normal — continued to negatively impact our propane revenue, we are taking aggressive actions to position Ferrellgas for long-term growth and profitability,” interim chief executive James Farrell said in the company’s announcement.

These include cost cuts that reduced operating expenses by 9 percent for the quarter.

Ferrellgas recently lost a significant customer in its oil logistics business, which delivers oil that refineries and others businesses buy from other companies.

Its chief executive officer Stephen L. Wambold resigned in September when the company took a $628.8 million charge to write down the value of its oil logistics business. Ferrell is serving in the post while a search for a new executive continues.

This story was originally published December 9, 2016 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Overland Park-based propane business chills with warmer weather."