Ocean Power Technologies, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Ocean Power Technologies second quarter of fiscal year 2024 earnings conference call. A webcast of this call is also available and can be accessed by a link on the company's website at www.oceanpowertechnologies.com. This conference call is being recorded and will be available for replay shortly after its completion. On the call today are Dr. Philip Stratman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bob Powers, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Joseph DiPietro, Controller, Treasurer, and Principal Accounting Officer. Following the prepared remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Now, I am pleased to introduce Joseph DiPietro.

Thank you and good morning. After the market closed yesterday, we issued our earnings press release and filed our report on Form 10Q for the quarter ended October 31st, 2023. Our public filings are available on the SEC website and within the investor relations section of the OPT website. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements that are within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may include financial projections or other statements of the company's plans, objectives, expectations, or intentions. These statements are based on assumptions made by management regarding future circumstances over which the company may have little or no control and involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Additional information about these risks and uncertainties can be found in the company's Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC. The company disclaims any obligation or intention to update the forward-looking statements made on this call. Finally, we posted an updated investor presentation on our IR website. Please take a moment to review it as it provides a nice overview of our company and strategy. Now I am pleased to introduce Dr. Philip Stratman.

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. We're pleased to have you join us on this call, and your continued support is greatly valued. Before we delve into the numbers, I'd like to highlight that I'm pleased with our quarterly results and our continued positive momentum. The market demand is clear. Our customers are procuring autonomous resident and roaming assets that protect marine environments, collect essential ocean data, and enhance national security. We continue building our pipeline and are converting opportunities into backlog and revenues, as seen with wins like the recently announced multi-buoy and multi-vessel contracts. We believe we're well positioned to translate this momentum into profitable growth in the next 15 to 18 months and deliver value for our shareholders. Let's talk about some recent developments. In November 2023, we announced that we have substantially completed our research and development phase and are primarily focused on commercial activities. We've built a suite of products and solutions that we believe will be the basis for our current and future commercial success, resulting in meaningful progress in backlog, revenue, and profitability. With contracted backlog increasing from $3.1 million at July 31st, 2023, to $4.5 million at October 31st, 2023. This pivot to commercial and operational activities has enabled a reduction and reallocation of headcount, the divestiture of our 3Dent, and the material reduction in third-party expenditures. As a result, the majority of our employees are now dedicated to customer delivery. We expect that recent meaningful contract wins, which I will describe more fully in a moment, the growth in our commercial pipeline, and the expense savings noted, would enable us to reach profitability during calendar year 2025 using current capital resources. This expectation does not account for extraordinary expenses, such as those related to the Paragon litigation that could cause OPT to seek additional capital from financing sources. In December 2023, we secured our first multi-buoy letter contract. This is a subcontract with a US-based crime contractor a $6.5 million ceiling to deliver maritime domain-aware solutions for U.S. government agencies. This contract exemplifies our commitment to innovation and underscores the crucial role our technology plays in bolstering maritime national security and providing state-of-the-art solutions, including multi-buoy arrays that contribute to a safer maritime environment. In October 2023, we were awarded our first multi-vessel 1V order. a volume order from Samara, a prominent player in offshore services. The order, valued at $1.6 million, underscores the recognition by customers of our ability to provide innovative and sustainable solutions for the offshore industry. Due to demand, production is already underway to fulfill the order and will allow for revenue recognition this fiscal year. We recently retained Rear Admiral Victorino Vic Mercado as a Special Advisor to the company's Board of Directors. We plan to leverage Vic's experience, expertise, and networks as we build on our momentum in providing intelligent maritime solutions to the U.S. government and defense and security sectors, and carefully navigate the challenges of securing access to and protecting highly sensitive and confidential information. Finally, we recently appointed Matt Berdini to the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer. Matt will report directly to me, and we will leverage Matt's vast experience to drive the next phase of our growth. and the commercialization of our cutting edge products, particularly for the national security and defense markets. In short, unlike the increased commercial and operational activity levels I'm seeing throughout the organization, we continue to position the company well within the industries we serve. Our opportunity pipeline continues to grow. In addition to the orders I just discussed, we've also continued to add to the top of the pipeline. Pipeline of October 31st, 2023 is approximately $93 million. for a net gain of approximately $26 million during the first half of the fiscal year. We are continuing to grow our revenues and our gross profit margins are increasing. Our strategy is working and we see additional opportunities for multi-system orders on the horizon. Now, before we dive into the financial highlights, I'd like to introduce our CFO, Bob Powers. Bob will provide you with more detailed information about our financial performance in Q2 fiscal 24. Thanks, Philip.