Daseke, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Baski's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2021, as well as Baski's 2022 outlook. With us today are Jonathan Shepko, CEO and board member, Jason Bates, EVP and CFO, and Tracy Graham, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. After their prepared remarks, The management team will take your questions. As a reminder, you may now download a PDF of the presentation slides that will accompany the remarks made on today's conference call, as indicated in the press release we issued earlier today. You may access these slides in the Investor Relations section of our website. Before we go further, I would like to turn the call over to Tracy Graham, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. who will read the company's safe harbor statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. That provides important cautions regarding forward-looking statements. Tracy, please go ahead.

Thanks, Victor. Please turn to slide two for a review of our safe harbor and non-GAAP statements. Today's presentation contains forward-looking statements as within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Projected financial information, including our guidance outlook, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements, including those with respect to revenues, earnings, performance, strategies, prospects, and other aspects of DASKI's business are based on management's current estimates, projections, and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. I encourage you to read our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of the risks that can affect our business and do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to revise our forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after today, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. During the call, there will also be a discussion of some items that do not conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAF, including, but not limited to, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating ratio, adjusted operating income, adjusted net income or loss, free cash flow, and net debt. With the exception of free cash flow and net debt, the company will discuss these measures on an ex-AVIDA basis. These measures exclude the impact of the AVIDA business. Although we ceased generating revenues from the AVIDA business and completed the wind down of our AVIDA operations in 2020, we continue to recognize income and expenses primarily related to workers' compensation claims and insurance proceeds from the AVIDA business in 2021. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the appendix to the investor presentation and press release issued this morning. both of which are available in the Investors tab of the DASI website, www.dasi.com. In terms of the structure of our call today, we will start by turning the call over to DASI's CEO, Jonathan Shepko, as who will review our business operations and the progress we are making as we execute against our key strategic priorities. Jason will then provide a financial review of the quarter and full year, as well as provide our 2022 outlook. at which point Jonathan will wrap up our remarks with a few closing comments before we open the line for your questions. With that, I will hand the call over to Mr. Jonathan Shevko. Jonathan?

Thank you, Tracy. Good morning, everyone. Let's turn to slide three, where I will speak briefly on some of the headline observations and key accomplishments DASCI made as we closed out a very successful fourth quarter and full year of 2021. I'm pleased to report that DASCI delivered another very strong quarter of operational financial performance, capping off a second consecutive year of record-adjusted EBITDA. In the fourth quarter, demand remains strong across the industrial end markets we serve, defying the normal extent of the seasonal deceleration. We continue to face ongoing capacity constraints in the equipment market due to disruptions in the global supply chain, though these disruptions have also worked to perpetuate the imbalance between supply and demand, which in turn has continued to support a very healthy rate environment. While this environment looks to have provided new floor-on rates, It is our proactive strategic deployment of assets against the most profitable pockets of the market that has allowed us to not only outperform the benchmark rate, but also extend our freight capture, as evidenced by the 17.5% increase in revenue this quarter. Dasky continues to focus on operational execution, driving a 25.9% improvement in our adjusted EBITDA of $49.6 million and a 360 basis point improvement in our adjusted operating ratio from 96% to 92.4%. Additionally, our quarterly adjusted net income was $13 million, and adjusted diluted earnings per common share of 18 cents were up 41.3% and 51% respectively, even when compared to our strong fourth quarter of 2020. Despite cost pressures on employee compensation, recruiting, and other operating line items, we delivered record results. Our diligent execution within our asset right business model enabled us to convert top-line growth into meaningful increased profitability for our shareholders. Before turning the call over to Jason to provide more detail around our financial performance and outlook, I'd like to take a few moments to discuss our continued commitment to both our operational execution and long-term strategic direction. Previously, we've highlighted the importance of our unique business model to our operational success. Throughout 2021, we leveraged this model to proactively identify the network optimization opportunities and accordingly reallocated our assets to better serve our customers within these markets in order to drive superior rates compared to the greater flatbed market. Further, we tapped our extensive network of owner-operators and third-party carriers to accommodate our customers' requests for additional capacity, thereby capturing incremental freight spend from our blue-chip shipper base. This dedication to customer service, operational efficiency, and business model flexibility are each mainstays to our success and our long-term strategic plan. Shifting from a trailer-centric view of our business to one of in-market leadership is a fundamental tenet of our strategic direction, positioning us for more profitable growth in the future as we begin to prioritize the marshaling of resources in support of these specific in-markets. Focused intensity targeted at such in-markets and sub-verticals that are best positioned to distinctly value our specialized knowledge and credentials, our differentiated asset profile, and our national footprint will give rise to opportunities to further expand our suite of services and reach to better service and engage these very customers. A key element to advancing our strategy is the fundamental shift from siloed, independent operations to a federated and harmonized platform, wherein the sharing of data, exchanging of best practices, and coordination and asset utilization will collectively provide the foundation for future growth and optimization. To accomplish this, there will be further operating company consolidations. there will be investments in technology, and there will be coordinated thoughtful standardization across our platform. Over the last few quarters, we focused on enhancing our plan to ensure these tactical transformational initiatives are executed in such a way so as to complement our long-term strategic direction. We will begin to share many more details around our transformation plan, as well as the longer-term strategic plan, over the coming quarters. With that, I will now turn the call over to Jason Bates to review the fourth quarter and four-year 2021 financial performance and 2022 outlook. Jason.