Acuren Corporation

Hello and welcome to the Akron Corporation first quarter earnings and merger announcement call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Should anyone require operator assistance during the conference, please press star then zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Dan Scott, Investor Relations with ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. Given the news this morning of the signed definitive merger agreement with NV5, today's call will include a first quarter 2025 earnings update, as well as a presentation of the transaction from Acurin and NV5's leadership. Joining me on the call today are Tal Paise, Acurin's President and CEO, Kristen Schultes, Acurin's Chief Financial Officer, and Robbie Franklin and Sir Martin Franklin, Acurin's co-chairman. We also have on the line with us Dickerson Wright, the founder and executive chairman of NV5, along with Ben Haroud, the CEO of NV5. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain statements in the company's earnings press release announcement and on this call are forward-looking statements, which are based on expectations, intentions, and projections regarding the company's future performance, anticipated events or trends, and other matters that are not historical facts. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In our press release and filings with the SEC, we detailed material risks that may cause our future results to differ from our expectations. Our statements are as of today, May 15, 2025, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements we may make except as required by law. As a reminder, we have posted a presentation detailing our first quarter financial performance on the Investor Relations page of our website, as well as the presentation of the transaction with NV5. Our comments today will also include non-GAAP financial measures and other key operating metrics. The required reconciliations of non-GAAP financial metrics can be found in our press release, and on our presentation. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to Tal.

Thank you, Dan, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for your interest in our company. Welcome to Accurate's first quarter earnings call and deal announcement presentation. We will begin the call with a review of our earnings before transitioning to a discussion of the transaction with NV5. As you may have seen yesterday, we're excited to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange this coming Monday, May 19. It's a proud moment for our entire team to bring the accurate story to an even wider audience. I am pleased to report that the year has started off in line with our expectations and that the team delivered healthy results in what is traditionally our slowest quarter of the year. I want to start by sharing our perspective on the current market environment and Accurance Performance. There are four key takeaways I want to emphasize today. First, we've delivered 7% organic growth in the first quarter, performing ahead of our expectations despite macroeconomic volatility coupled with tariff uncertainty. Second, our business continues to grow and deliver meaningful results in our recurring revenue base, supplemented by share gains through service line expansion and the addition of new sites. Third, we're maintaining disciplined pricing strategies, carefully selecting opportunities that align with our objectives. And fourth, our results for the quarter, which historically is our slowest, being the first quarter, were in line with our expectations and keep us on track to deliver on our full year guidance. Our Q1 performance was achieved amid cautious economic conditions influenced primarily by political uncertainty in Canada and back and forth tariff rhetoric in the United States. However, I want to emphasize that our customers continue to operate their facilities, driving demand for our essential asset integrity services, which continue uninterrupted. Let me highlight two of our core service offerings within our non-destructive testing activities, run and maintain work and call out work. Our run and maintain services, which we estimate represent over 40% of our business, delivered strong growth this quarter, particularly in Canada. This category contributes greatly to the foundation of our stable revenue and earnings profile. It also underscores our reliability and positions us well to be a preferred vendor for higher margin assignments. It's one of the ways we prove that we are the right team for the job, with a proven track record of executing and delivering for our customers. As we look at macroeconomic volatility and its impact on the end markets we serve, run and maintain work remains robust. Our call-out services, which address urgent customer needs and command the pricing premium with stronger margins, performed as expected this quarter. These services can show some variability as compared to run and maintain work, but they do remain a core component of our balanced portfolio. We do know that certain customers have deferred some sustaining maintenance capital investments to future periods, primarily affecting scope and timing of scheduled outages and turnarounds. The result is a shift to the right of some higher margin work and some downsizing of the scope of those services. What has not changed is our market leading position, strong connection with customers, and ability to grow wallet share, and our overall outlook for 2025. Regarding any indirect, or sorry, regarding any direct impact from tariffs, Akurin's operational exposure is expected to be minimal. With local labor as our primary cost input, and our relatively low exposure to materials and non-labor expenses, we believe we are largely insulated from direct tariff impact and near-term tariff volatility. We are a relatively safe harbor in an unpredictable yet seemingly calming tariff storm. The critical infrastructure assets we service through North America's energy and industrial sectors will continue to be requiring our expertise to help extend the operational lives well beyond original design parameters. At Accuryn, our commitment to a higher level of reliability resonates strongly with customers who depend on us to protect and extend their critical assets life cycles. Through our differentiated service offerings, exceptional customer focus, and efficient operating model, we believe we deliver significant value to shareholders. Before turning to our financial results, I want to express my gratitude to our dedicated team members across North America and the UK who consistently deliver exceptional service while maintaining our unwavering commitment to safety. With that overview, I'll now hand the call over to Kristen to discuss our financial performance in greater detail.