Asensus Surgical, Inc.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Ascensus Surgical Incorporated second quarter financial and opening operating results call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star followed by zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on August 13th, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Klosner from Westwick Partners. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Ascensus Surgical Second Quarter Financial Update Conference Call. On the call with me today are Anthony Fernando, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Shamiz Rampertab, Chief Financial Officer. In addition to the financial updates, we are also going to provide an up-to-date proposed merger with Carl Storz. Before we begin, I would like to caution listeners that certain information discussed by management during this conference call, including any guided forward-looking statements, cover under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by our forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the companies, including statements about the company's pursuit of stockholder approval for the merger agreement and merger, and whether the company will be successful in securing the requisite vote of its stockholders, or meet all of the other required closing conditions and the actual consummation of the merger. The company undertakes no obligation to update information provided on this call. For discussion of risks and uncertainties with the Ascensus Surgical Business, I encourage you to review the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the 2023 Form 10-K, filed in March 2024, and the Form 10-Q, expected to be filed later today, and any other filings we make with the SEC. call, we will also present certain non-GAAP financial information related to adjusted net loss attributable to common stockholders and the adjusted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders. Management believes non-GAAP financial measures, taking in conjunction with U.S. GAAP financial measures, provide useful information for both management and investors by excluding certain non-cash and other expenses that are not indicative of incorporating results. Management uses non-GAAP financial measures to compare our performance relative to forecast and strategic plans, to benchmark our performance externally against competitors, and for certain compensation decisions. Reconciliations from U.S. GAAP to non-GAAP results are presented in the tables accompanying our earnings release, which can be found in the investor relations section of our website. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Ascensus Surgical's President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Fernando.

Thank you, Mark. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. On today's call, Shamice will begin by reviewing our second quarter financials. I'd then like to focus my discussion on the status of our proposed merger with Carl Storz. This potential transaction is significant, and I want to walk you through the key aspects of this proposal and the potential impacts on our company's future. Given where we are in the merger process, we will not be taking questions at the end of today's call. Samir?