Core Molding Technologies Inc

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Core Molding Technologies first quarter 2025 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will turn the call over to Sandy Martin, three-part advisors. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for the Core Molding Technologies conference call to review our first quarter 2025 results. Joining me on the call today are the company's president and CEO, Dave Duvall, Alex Panda, incoming CFO and vice president corporate controller, and EVP and CFO, John Zimmer, who will join us for Q&A. This call is being webcast and can be accessed through coremt.com via an audio link on the investor relations events and presentations page. Today's call including the Q&A session will be recorded. Please be advised that any time sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay or transcript reading. I would also like to remind you that statements made in today's discussion that are not historical fact, including statements or expectations or future events, or future financial performance are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation and Reform Act of 1995. By their nature, forward-looking statements are uncertain and outside the company's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Please refer to today's earnings press release for our disclosures on forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Form molding technologies assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Management will refer to non-GAAP measures, including adjusted EPS and adjusted EBITDA, debt-to-trailing 12-months EBITDA ratio, free cash flow, and return on capital employed. Reconciliations to the nearest gap measures can be found at the end of our earnings release. Earnings release has been submitted today to the SEC on Form 8K. Now I would like to turn the call over to the company's president and CEO, Dave Duvall.

Thank you, Sandy, and thank you all for joining us today. On May 1st, we had the honor of ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell. It was a significant milestone for core molding, and it was a moment of reflection on how far we've come from bank default just five years ago to a company with over $45 million in cash, a strong execution culture, and a clear focus on growth. I want to thank the entire core team for making this transformation possible, and although we're never done, we're proud when reflecting on our accomplishments. Over the past five years, we've delivered meaningful improvements in operations, profitability, and product lines, the result of our must-win battles. These efforts are evident in our ability to maintain and even expand gross margins during a difficult first quarter. Despite macroeconomic uncertainties affecting global manufacturing, we remain closely aligned with our customers and supply chain partners. Our ability to execute through challenging conditions positions us well to capitalize on opportunities in the current environment. We executed our strategy effectively in Q1, delivered solid gross margin expansion, profitability, and positive free cash flow, despite lower sales, which we previously anticipated. Notably, we achieved 99.3% on-time delivery and maintained a quality level under 100 PPM, parts per million, both industry-leading metrics. This year's must-win battle is focused on investing for growth. In Q1, we secured over $15 million in annual new business, including $10 million in the building product sector, and $5 million in the electric vehicle battery sector. The building product sector win stem from our focus on proprietary sheet molding compound, or SMC as we call it, which allows for shorter quote-to-cash cycles compared to traditional engineered solutions. We expect this opportunity to generate approximately $5 million in revenue in 2025, with demand beginning in Q2. Continued investment and operational improvements in our SMC compounding capabilities has enabled the growth. The electric vehicle battery wind is our second program with this customer and demonstrates how our voice of the customer efforts can drive expansion within current customers. In addition, we've invested in our top coat paint capabilities at our Matamoros facility to support customers in the mobile machinery sector. This investment enhances our value proposition by enabling us to offer a fully integrated solution from proprietary SMC formulation to molding, assembly, and painting all in one facility. This positions us as a complete solution provider for growing markets such as construction, industrial applications, and heavy equipment. Turning to Q1 financials, revenue was $61 million. Gross margin expanded to 19.2%. up 220 basis points year over year, and up 340 basis points sequentially. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 11.7%, and cash flow from operations exceeded $6 million. We expect tooling revenue to ramp up through 2025, and Alex will provide more detail on the evolving revenue mix there. Core's unique business model and execution discipline create a durable competitive advantage supporting margin stability and healthy cash generation, even in a challenging economic environment. Although John is on the call today to assist with certain investor questions during our CFO transition, I'm excited to be joined by Alex, who will cover the details of our first quarter financials. Alex?