AstroNova, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Astronova's Fiscal 2020 First Quarter Results Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. David Kaluzian from the company's investor relations firm, Sharon Merrill Associates. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Hosting this morning's call are Greg Woods, Astronova's President and CEO, and David Smith, the company's Chief Financial Officer. Greg will discuss the company's operating results David will take you through the financials, Greg will make some concluding comments, and then management will be happy to take your questions. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release that was issued today. If you do not have a copy, please go to the Investors section of the AstroNova website, www.astronovainc.com. Please note that statements made today during today's call that are not statements of historical facts are considered forward-looking statements within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that could involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially, except as required by law. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of today, June 5, 2019. The company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. For further information regarding the forward-looking statements and the factors that may cause differences, please see the risk factors in Astranova's annual report on Form 10-K and other filings the company makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I'll now turn the call over to Greg. Thank you, David.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on the call today. The new fiscal year is off to a strong start. Our first quarter performance reflects focused, consistent execution on our strategic plan and our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement driven by the AstraNova operating system. On a year-over-year basis, we delivered double-digit growth in bookings, revenue, operating income, and EPS, while driving a greater percentage of that growth to the bottom line. Our ability to realize increased efficiencies and leverage the standard tools and processes of the AstraNova operating system led to operating income growth of 95% or $1.2 million over the prior year's first quarter and an operating margin increase of 280 basis points. Revenue increased 15% for the quarter, highlighted by top and bottom line growth in both our product identification and test and measurement segments. In the test and measurement segment, revenue was up 9% with solid contributions from both our aerospace and data acquisition product lines. Looking at operational highlights, The integration of the Honeywell business is substantially complete, and the transition of remaining customer contracts to AstraNova should be wrapped up by year-end. We continue to expand our international aerospace business in Asia as well. Last month, we announced flight deck printer contracts with several major Asian commercial airlines and leasing companies. These multi-year deals, which range from four to eight years, further strengthen our position as a global leader in flight deck avionics in this key growth market. According to the International Air Transportation Association, the Asia-Pacific region will be the biggest driver of industrial growth over the next two decades, accounting for more than a total of half of the new passenger traffic in that area. To support this growth, we recently established an additional authorized repair station in Asia located in Singapore to support our expanding customer base throughout the Southeast Asia region. Before turning to the product identification segment, Let me first comment on the grounding of the Boeing 737 aircraft. While so far we have been largely unaffected by this event, we expect that the prolonged situation may result in a slight impact on our second quarter margins. We are in regular close contact with Boeing and are watching the developments closely. Whether or not any impact continues beyond the second quarter is dependent on when the aircraft is returned to service. Turning now to the product identification segment, Key drivers behind the segment's 18% growth included demand for our new five-color QL300 tabletop label printer. Just launched at the end of January, demand has been strong. The QL300 allows commercial printers and end users alike to expand their ability to produce high-quality, short-run specialty labels on a much broader range of label materials. Our Trojan label product line also enjoyed a strong quarter. reflecting growing order demand for the compact T2C as well as the Trojan T4 professional label printing and finishing system. The positive momentum of our product identification business has been helped by the ongoing expansion of our worldwide distribution network. Increasing the global penetration of our quick label and Trojan label brands is an important part of the growth strategy for the product identification segment. In support of that strategy, we are in the midst of a busy second quarter exhibiting at more than 25 trade shows around the world In addition, we're broadening our global reach by establishing innovation technology centers in key regions. We now have a total of eight ITCs in the U.S., Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico, and China. Before turning it over to David, I want to acknowledge the excellent work of our people around the world. Earlier, I talked about the way we've leveraged the SNOVA operating system to drive profitable growth. That wouldn't be possible without all 380 team members pulling in the same direction. From participating in Kaizen events to the work of our cross-functional teams, our dedicated team members are certainly the biggest factor in our success. Now let me turn it over to David.