Educational Development Corporation

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Educational Development Corporation's financial and operating results for its fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 results. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. On the call today are Craig White, President and Chief Executive Officer, Heather Cobb, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, and Dan O'Keefe. Chief Financial Officer. After the market closed this afternoon, the company issued a press release announcing its results for the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 results. The release will be available today on the company's website at www.edcpop.com. Before turning to the prepared remarks, I would like to remind you that some of the statements made today will be forward-looking and are protected. under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied due to a variety of factors. We refer you to Educational Development Corporation's recent filings with the SEC for a more detailed discussion of the company's financial condition. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Craig White, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer Craig.

Thank you, Chloe, and welcome everyone to the call. We appreciate your continued interest. I will start today's call with some general comments regarding the quarter, then I will pass the call to Dan and Heather to run through the financials and provide an update on our sales and marketing. Finally, I will wrap up the call with an update on our progress of the cell leaf back of our headquarters, the Hilti Complex. and provide some comments on our strategy for fiscal 2026. During the fourth quarter, we experienced decreased sales compared to the same period last year. This was influenced in part by reduced number of active brand partners in our paper pie division. Across the broader marketplace, we continue to see fluctuations in consumer behavior driven by factors such as inflation and shifting discretionary spending among families with young children. These external pressures have impacted both customer purchasing habits, and the pace of new brand partner acquisition. That said, one of the unique strengths of the direct selling model is its ability to flex and adapt in response to changing economic conditions. We believe that by staying close to the field, listening to our community, and remaining agile in our approach, we are well positioned to navigate the current environment and build a more sustainable path forward. We believe another factor in the decrease in sales is the lack of new titles over the past year. Although we did not make any purchases during this quarter, we remain committed to doing so in a strategic and financially responsible manner. We continue to be presented with new content and product offerings and are excited for the opportunity to introduce those to our catalog soon. During the quarter, we continue to offer increased discounts to customers, which negatively impacted our gross margin and bottom line. our increased discounting has been a tactical decision to bolster sales and turn excess inventory into cash to be used to pay down our bank debt. We see this as a short-term strategy and will continue to offer discounts and promotions until the sale of our building and we pay back all of our borrowings. While we generated less sales during the quarter, our loss before taxes declined from last year. This reflects our continued focus on reducing expenses during this difficult environment. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Dan O'Keefe to provide a brief overview of the financials. Dan?

DAN O' Thank you, Craig. To our fourth quarter results compared to the prior year fourth quarter, net revenues were $6.6 million compared to $9 million. Average active paper pie brand partners totaled $9,400 compared to $15,500. Loss before income taxes totaled $1.5 million compared to a loss of $2.2 million in the fiscal fourth quarter last year. Net loss totaled 1.3 million compared to a loss of 1.6 million and loss per share for the quarter totaled 16 cents compared to a loss of 19 cents on a fully diluted basis. Now onto our fiscal 2025 summary compared to the prior year. Year to date net revenues totaled 34.2 million compared to 51 million Average active Paper Pie brand partners totaled $12,300 compared to $18,300 last year. Loss before income taxes totaled $6.9 million compared to income before taxes of $700,000. Net loss after taxes totaled $5.3 million compared to income of $500,000. Loss per share totaled $0.63 compared to earnings per share of $0.07 on a fully diluted basis. Now for an update on our working capital positions. Net inventories decreased 10.9 million from 55.6 million at February 28, 2024 to 44.7 million February 28, 2025. Borrowings on our working capital line of credit totaled 4.2 million at the end of February 2025 with $600,000 of availability at the end of the fourth quarter. That concludes the financial update. I will now turn the call over to Heather Cobb to talk about sales and marketing opportunities in further detail.