Amtech Systems, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the Amtech Systems Fiscal First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Erica Mannion of Sapphire Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for Amtech Systems Fiscal First Quarter 2025 Conference Call. With me on the call today are Bob Daigle, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Wade Jenke, Chief Financial Officer. After close of market today, Amtech released its financial results for the fiscal first quarter of 2025. The earnings release is posted on the company's website at www.amtechsystems.com in the Investors section. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that the Safe Harbors disclaimer in our public filing covers this call and the webcast. Some of the comments to be made during this call today will contain forward-looking statements and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those contained in our SEC filings, all of which are posted within the investor section of our corporate website. The company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of today. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance, and actual results could differ materially from current expectations. Among the important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are changes in the technologies used by customers and competitors, change in the volatility and demand for products, the effect of changing worldwide political and economic conditions, including trade sanctions, the effect of overall market conditions, including the equity and credit markets, and market acceptance risks, ongoing logistics, supply chain, and labor challenges, and capital allocation plans. Other risk factors are detailed in our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Additionally, in today's conference call, we will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures as we discuss the fiscal first quarter results. You'll find a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to our actual GAAP results included in the press release issued today. Now, I will turn the call over to AMTEC's Chief Executive Officer, Bob Daigle.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today. I'm pleased to report that our first quarter results exceeded our guidance with revenue of $24.4 million and $1.9 million in adjusted EBITDA. While revenue remained muted on a year-over-year basis due to continued softness in the markets we serve, our profitability continued to improve, with year-over-year adjusted EBITDA increasing by $1.8 million. This performance underscores our ongoing focus on operational excellence and cost optimization. Over the past year, we have made significant progress restructuring our business to enhance our cost efficiency and improve our ability to adapt to market demand. These efforts are delivering tangible results. Our restructuring initiatives have yielded over $8 million in annualized cost savings to date, excluding one-time costs, and are expected to generate approximately $9 million in annualized savings by the end of the second fiscal quarter. The adoption of a semi-fabulous model for our capital equipment segment has further strengthened our operating leverage by enabling us to right-size the organization and reduce fixed costs. This transition has positioned us well to efficiently support production with varying levels of market demand. Additionally, over the past several quarters, we implemented pricing actions to offset inflationary pressures and enhance our product margin profiles. By the end of the second quarter, we will have shipped the majority of the low price, lower margin business in our backlog. Going forward, we will remain vigilant and adjust pricing as necessary to preserve profitability. Turning to our end markets, demand remains muted for equipment and consumables supporting mature node semiconductor production from markets such as industrial equipment and automotive. However, demand for our reflow equipment in leading edge applications such as AI infrastructure has continued to strengthen. While optimizing our cost structure remains a priority, given the macro backdrop, we are investing in growth initiatives in 2025 and have aligned our organization to better serve our customers. To that end, as we discussed last quarter, we have refined our business segments to provide greater clarity and focus. The semiconductor fabrication solutions business, previously known as the materials and substrate segment, includes Pierre Hoffman and IDI consumables and Trefix parts and services, as well as some front-end capital equipment used for semiconductor wafer and device fabrication. Meanwhile, the thermal process solutions business, formerly the semiconductor segment, focuses on reflow equipment for advanced chip packaging and surface mount assembly applications. as well as furnaces for power electronic device production and packaging. Within the semiconductor fabrication solutions business, our goal is to drive long-term, sustainable growth by expanding the reoccurring revenue streams such as consumables, parts, and services. These revenue streams not only provide higher margins, but also deliver more predictable, less cyclical revenue growth. To achieve this, we are working to broaden our footprint with existing customers, unlock new opportunities at additional sites, and are actively pursuing opportunities to introduce more of our products to new customers. Additionally, we are leveraging our proven solutions to address similar challenges for other applications. To support these initiatives, we have expanded our team by adding a new business leader for our semiconductor fabrication solutions business, as well as dedicated marketing and application development resources with deep industry knowledge. Although the near-term macro environment remains soft, we are confident about our future. Our restructuring efforts have strengthened our ability to navigate industry cycles, enabling us to generate profits during downturns while unlocking significant operating leverage as business scales. Looking forward, our long-term growth drivers remain robust. Investments in AI-related infrastructure and supply chain diversification are expected to drive a recovery in the capital equipment demand. While expectations for EV growth have moderated, we still anticipate double-digit expansion in this segment, which will continue to fuel demand for our silicon carbide-related consumables. In the medium term, we expect our focus on growing our consumables, parts, and services offerings will provide higher margins and improve stability. Meanwhile, growing momentum in advanced packaging is providing a tailwind to capital equipment demand. Together, we believe these strategic initiatives and industry dynamics position us well for sustained growth and long-term value creation in the years ahead. With that, I'll turn it over to Wade for further details on our financial results. Thank you, Bob.