CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This prospectus and the documents we incorporate by reference herein and therein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act or Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements other than statements of historical fact included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s and Southwest’s plans, objectives, goals, intentions, projections, strategies, future events or performance, negotiations, and underlying assumptions. The words “may,” “if,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “continue,” “forecast,” “intend,” “endeavor,” “promote,” “seek,” “pursue,” and similar words and expressions are generally used and intended to identify forward-looking statements. For example, statements regarding plans to refinance near-term maturities, plans to separate from Centuri by means of one or more disposition transactions, including by way of a pro rata distribution to our stockholders, one or more distributions in exchange for our common stock or other securities, a sell-down of shares of our common stock or any combination thereof, or an initial public offering by Centuri followed by one or more disposition transactions, the intended tax treatment of any separation of Centuri, those regarding operating margin patterns, customer growth, the composition of our customer base, price volatility, seasonal patterns, the ability to pay debt, Southwest’s company-owned life insurance (“COLI”) strategy, the magnitude of future acquisition or divestiture purchase price true-ups or post-closing payments and related impairments or losses related thereto, replacement market and new construction market, impacts from pandemics, including on our employees, customers, business, financial position, earnings, bad debt expense, work deployment and related uncertainties, expected impacts of valuation adjustments associated with any redeemable noncontrolling interests, the profitability of storm work, mix of work, or absorption of fixed costs by larger infrastructure services customers (including Southwest), the impacts of U.S. tax reform, including disposition in any regulatory proceeding and bonus depreciation tax deductions, the impact of recent Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rulemaking, the amounts and timing for completion of estimated future construction expenditures, plans to pursue infrastructure programs or programs under SB 151 legislation, forecasted operating cash flows and results of operations, net earnings impacts or recovery of costs from gas infrastructure replacement and Vintage Steel Pipe programs and surcharges, funding sources of cash requirements, amounts generally expected to be reflected in future period revenues from regulatory rate proceedings including amounts requested or settled from recent and ongoing general rate cases or other regulatory proceedings, rates and surcharges, Purchased Gas Account (“PGA”) administration, recovery and timing, and other rate adjustments, sufficiency of working capital and current credit facilities or the ability to cure negative working capital balances, bank lending practices, the Company’s views regarding its liquidity position, ability to raise funds and receive external financing capacity and the intent and ability to issue various financing instruments and stock under an at-the-market equity program or otherwise, future dividends or increases and the board of directors’ current payout strategy, pension and postretirement benefits, certain impacts of tax acts, the effect of any other rate changes or regulatory proceedings, contract or construction change order negotiations, impacts of accounting standard updates, statements regarding future gas prices, gas purchase contracts and pipeline imbalance charges or claims related thereto, recoverability of regulatory assets, the impact of certain legal proceedings or claims, and the timing and results of future rate hearings, including any ongoing or future general rate cases and other proceedings, statements regarding any strategic review, optimization opportunity identification, benchmarking, and assessment, including the timing and costs of any such processes, and statements regarding pending approvals are forward-looking statements.
A number of important factors affecting the business and financial results of the Company and Southwest could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, customer growth rates, conditions in the housing market, inflation, interest rates and related government actions, sufficiency of labor markets and ability to timely hire qualified employees or similar resources, acquisition and divestiture decisions including prices paid or received, adjustments, indemnifications, or commitments related thereto, and their impacts to impairments, write-downs, or losses or expenses generally, the impacts of pandemics including that which may result from a restriction by government
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