Applied UV, Inc.

Good day. I would like to welcome everyone to the Q4 and full year 2021 Applied UV Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Brett Moss, Investor Relations from Hayden IR. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you. Once again, welcome to AppliedUV's fourth quarter full year 2021 earnings call. With me on the call are Mike Riccio, Chief Financial Officer, and Mark LeBeau, who has recently joined the company helping formulate business strategy. As a reminder, all materials for today's live presentation are available on the company's website at AppliedUV.com. Before we begin, please take a moment to read the forward-looking statements in our earnings press release. During today's call, we'll make certain predictive statements that reflect our current views about future performance and financial results. We base these statements and certain assumptions and expectations on future events that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our most recent form 10-K and 10-Q lists some of the most important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from our predictions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mark LeBeau. Mark, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Brett, and good morning, everyone. Pleasure to be with you this morning to review the highlights of our most recent quarter and full year. 2021 was a year of significant accomplishments centered around the closing and integration of three strategic acquisitions that diversified our business to create an air and surface pathogen elimination platform that is well positioned to capitalize on increasing market demand, safer environments born out of the devastating impact of the pandemic, as well as the most recently announced U.S. government EPA and CMS policy initiatives all aim to improve indoor air quality. We are well positioned to serve a global market that's expected to reach $24 billion by 2030 as a leading provider of oxygen elimination offerings to protect businesses, facilities, and the people who move through them. Simply put, we're in the business of providing solutions that address the growing demand cleaner, safer air in any environment where people live, work, and play. Throughout the course of 2021, we invested nearly $15 million in three acquisitions to build out our portfolio of disinfection assets. Specifically, early in 2021, we acquired substantially all the assets of Akita Holdings, which folded its airside systems of air purification technologies into our mixed equity transactions. Akita's 2020 revenue was $4.7 million. Later in that same year in 2021, actually in September, we acquired substantially all the assets of Kes Science for approximately $6.3 million in cash and equity transactions. Kes's revenue for the 12 months ended October 31st, 2020 was approximately $4.5 million. These two acquisitions provide us with all the rights, title, and interest to the airside system of the air purification technologies. And finally, on the acquisition front in 2021, we acquired substantially all the assets of Scientific Air Management Partners, which own the line of air purification technologies labeled and sold as Scientific Air, and a cash and equity transaction. At the time of that closing, the transaction was valued at approximately $11.5 million. With these acquisitions completed and integrated, we have set the stage for organic growth driven by a large and targeted marketing program kicking off in the mid-Q2, and we expect to drive and expand market share in 2022 and beyond. We begin to see positive and emerging shifts, excuse me, an energizing shift in the electrification market as we exit 2021, displacing uncertainty that was an overhang for much of the last quarter of 2021 and into Q1 2022, as end users awaited key policy decisions and funding allocation. Globally, scientists and health care experts have been advocating for improving air quality to control the transmission of airborne pathogens for quite a while. And the pandemic that struck in 2020 further heightened the importance of clean air for our personal health and for the health of the global economy. And back after 2021 and early 2022, there was much uncertainty as to how and when governments would respond to scientists' call for action for policy changes and if funding would be made available to comply with those changes. Since then, government initiatives and commitments to funding by governmental agencies, including the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others, have reignited market activity and were increasingly encouraged by these developments and the advancement in new business opportunities toward contract awarding. Over one straw market headwinds have shifted to market tailwinds that are propelling opportunities forward. More specifically, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare announced a meeting with stakeholders in February of this year that mobile air cleaners installed in long-term care facilities held to ease visitation restrictions are now reimbursable for up to $3,000. So we're already getting to see interest and demand from our exclusive U.S. distribution partner, Medline. Likewise, as part of the President's Clean Air Agenda recently announced, the EPA has recently launched a Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, which is a call to action and a concise set of guiding principles and actions to assist building owners and operators in reducing risk from airborne viruses and other contaminants indoors. We have two best-of-class tools available in what the government detailed and announced as potential tools in a consumer and business toolbox. Together as part of the American Rescue Plan, the Emergency Assistance for Nonpublic Schools Program, better known as the ANF, the government has made available over $3.5 million in funding to address the educational and business disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes improving ventilation systems, including mobile and air, fixed air purification systems to ensure healthy air in non-public schools and workplaces. Across the competitive landscape, the air purification market remains highly fragmented, and we are well positioned to attack it head on. As a note, iRobot's Q4 2021 acquisition of Swiss Air Base Paris $72 million in a cash transaction that effectively adds air purification capabilities to its suite of Oakland products. This market transaction, in our opinion, affirms the opportunity in the space and further validates our business plan and model. Over the course of the last year, we had a number of high-profile installations in large venues and facilities that serve as prime examples of our capabilities that we hold up as referenceable accounts. These wins included the pallets that were sized, which held 20,000 visitors in over 700 rooms, the Tennessee Department of Corrections, which houses tens of thousands of inmates, the Armed Forces Research Institute, the U.S. Army Army Improving Grounds, and the list goes on. Clearly, our solutions are scalable, and the list of opportunities for further awards is continually endless. We consider all the venues globally of varying sizes, seeking ways to keep patriots safe from contagion and return to pre-pandemic levels of operation. Our sales pipeline is building as we continue to identify attractive opportunities for new businesses, and we believe we'll provide a positive contribution to our financials and build on our 2021 accomplishments. Importantly, we've expanded our network of international distributors to increase sales channels and product throughput. Our distribution channels include global leaders such as 360 Viral Pharma in Africa, Planted Division covering Scandinavia, and Lutabata and Water for the Middle East, among others. We close out 2021 with a global distribution base of 52 distributors and dealers and now have presence in more than 52 countries. Our domestic and international distributors and dealers are key to the company expanding our global market share and reach a clear differentiation between our company and our competition. From a marketing perspective in 2022, we're preparing to launch a number of targeted initiatives that include digital, radio, social media campaigns, all aimed at the following verticals, including cannabis, long-term care, schools, dental, and other healthcare facilities, and the hospitality sector. Operationally, we are also analyzing each of the points in our supply chain to tighten integration, to optimize inventory, improve quality control, and mitigate against supply chain disruptions that are so prevalent in our world today. including exploring the use of large globally recognized contract OEMs and leasing companies for our product and users. From a strategic transaction perspective, we're also currently exploring joint venture and other airside product placement pilot programs with established leaders in the long-term care, floral, veterans administration, and hospitality verticals to further increase market penetration and adoption of our air purification products. We will also continue to seek out low-cost opportunities to bolster our legacy hospitality business, such as the recent VisionMark acquisition that we completed in late March of this year. This acquisition expands our reach into the luxury hospitality space of new construction and remodeling of hotels beyond our core MunnWorks mirror business, while also potentially contributing to our top-line business. I'd like to provide you all with a brief update on our senior executive search. We're pleased to state that an announcement regarding our permanent CEO is forthcoming, and we're also interviewing other senior executives who we expect to join the team, further strengthening the bench. Next, I'd like to turn the call over to Mike Riccio, our Chief Financial Officer, for a review of our financials. Mike.