Cemtrex Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the CEMTREX first quarter 2023 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we begin the formal presentation, I would like to remind everyone that statements made on the call and webcasts may include predictions, estimates, or other information that might be considered forward-looking. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment on what the future holds, they are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Your caution not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation. Please keep in mind that we are not obligating ourselves to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information of future events. Throughout today's discussion, we will attempt to present some important factors relating to our business that may affect our predictions. You should also review our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for a more complete discussion of these factors and other risks, particularly under the heading Risk Factors. A press release detailing these results was issued today and is available on the Investor Relations section of our company's website, Semtricks.com. Your hosts today, Sagar Govil, Chief Executive Officer, and Paul Wyckoff, Chief Financial Officer. will present results of operations for the first quarter ended December 31st, 2022. At this time, I will turn the call over to CEMTREX Chief Executive Officer, Sagar Govel.

Please go ahead. Thank you, Operator.

And good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to welcome you to today's first quarter 2023 financial results conference call. The first quarter of fiscal year 2023 was highlighted by continued top-line growth as we grew sales by 27% year over year. Additionally, the different steps we have taken operationally have led to a gross margin improvement of 790 basis points to 42%. We expect to see continued increases in our gross margin over the next couple quarters as we drive improvements in our business. In November of 2022, we completed the divestiture of non-core assets to focus on accelerating our Vicon and advanced industrial services brands and reduced expenses at the Semtrex corporate level. This transformative business restructuring is now beginning to reflect more fully in our quarterly performance. Overall, operating income improved with the operating loss for the quarter declining by 41%, and we are pleased with the progress we are making to drive better financial results