Revenue during the quarter grew 15.03 percent to $317.31 million from $275.86 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 371 basis points over the previous year period to 62.76 percent. Total expenses were 83.14 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 88.64 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 549 basis points in operating margin to 16.86 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $53.48 million, compared with $31.34 million in the previous year period.

However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $84.29 million compared with $67.19 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin improved 221 basis points in the quarter to 26.56 percent from 24.36 percent in the last year period.

In announcing these results, president and chief executive officer Michael A. Stivala said, "We are very pleased with our results for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 -- an increase of $17.1 million, or 25%, in Adjusted EBITDA compared to the prior year first quarter. The record warm temperatures from the fiscal 2016 heating season carried over into the first two months of the quarter, which created a slow start to the winter. However, when more seasonable and, in some areas, colder than normal, temperatures arrived throughout much of our service territories in mid- December, customer demand increased and our volumes responded strongly."