EZCORP, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the EC Corp First Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call may be recorded. Allow me to turn the conference over to Jane Marine Yang, Investor Relations with Free Parts Advisors. Please go ahead, Jane.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. During our prepared remarks, we will be referring to slides which are available for viewing or download from our website at investors.easycorp.com. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call, as well as the presentation slides, contain certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed due to a number of risks or other factors that are discussed in our annual, quarterly, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And as noted in our presentation materials, and unless otherwise identified, results are presented on an adjusted basis to remove the effect of foreign currency fluctuations and other discrete items. Joining us on the call today are EZ Corp's Chief Executive Officer, Lockie Gibbons, and Tim Jugman's Chief Financial Officer. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Lachie Gibbons. Lachie?

Thanks, Jean, and good morning, everyone. Our team continues to consistently execute on the three-year strategic plan put in place at the end of fiscal 2020. We began fiscal 2023 with an excellent first quarter. I want to thank our passionate, engaged, and highly productive team members for their continued focus on operational excellence. which continues to drive our very strong financial results. Porn Loans Outstanding, the key driver of our business, was $208.6 million a quarter end, an 18% year-over-year increase, and our highest ever result, the Q1. And merchandise sales were up 14% to $161.9 million, our highest ever quarterly sales result. Beginning on slide three, we had a global leader in porn broking and pre-owned and recycled retail, We operate 1,186 stores in the US and Latin America with strategic investments in adjacent businesses which expand our geographic footprint worldwide. Because our diverse store base, we offer two core products to our consumers. We make porn loans and we sell second-hand goods. The macroeconomic environment continues to be a challenge for our customer base. Inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty drive increased demand for porn loans. The demand for second-hand goods also increases. as consumers increasingly seek value for money and environmentally responsible alternatives. Our goal is to provide the best, most convenient experience for our customers through continuous innovation, while positively impacting the environment and the communities in which we serve. Moving on to slide four, we continue to embrace people, porn and passion as our core operating team. We know that our engaged team drives our success, so we are committed to investing in recruitment, retention, and incentivization. We strive to be the best option for our customers by providing outstanding customer service and attractive and well-positioned store footprint, a differentiated digital platform, a proprietary POS system, and importantly, ample liquidity from our balance sheet to provide corn loans across all of the regions in which we operate. Slide five shows our progression towards our three-year strategic goals. I believe we have the most passionate, productive, and committed team in the industry, and we continue to find new ways to motivate and retain them. In the U.S., we implemented no-cost team member health insurance, and in Mexico, we reinstituted the employee savings program. This has been extremely well received by our operating teams. We are also committed to enhancing our customers' experience by growing and improving our points-based loyalty program. Turning to our key financial themes for Q4 on slide 6. As mentioned, PLO, the most significant driver of revenue and earnings, was up 18% year over year, with an associated 21% increase in PSC. Total revenue for the quarter was $261.6 million, up 18%. EBITDA was $37.9 million for the quarter, up 22%. PLO on a same-store basis continues to remain strong above pre-COVID fiscal year 2019 models, and same-store sales and merchandise sales gross profit are at record levels. We have seen aged inventory increase in LATAM and are focused on better execution in that region to address this issue. The slight increase in cash on the balance sheet was a result of the net cash proceeds from the convertible debt refinancing, offset by an increase in earning assets, acquisitions of new stores, strategic investments, and share repurchases. Slide 7, EBITDA margin was 13% for the last 12 months ending December 2022, versus 11% in the last 12 months ending December 2021, with the US driving the growth. Recently, EBITDA margin has flattened due to inflationary pressure affecting the business. On slide 8, we talk about strengthening our core. with a primary focus on people and systems. We are focused on recruitment, attention, inclusion, and incentivization to ensure that the team remains highly engaged. Improving the bench strength of our field team continues to amaze Warren. In addition, we continue to invest in technology and believe we are leading the industry in this area. All in-house applications have been transitioned from co-location data centers to the cloud. Our technology and digital initiatives are improving our operational efficiency at the store level and the ease of use of our products and services for our customers. We have now deployed store network and system upgrades in 80% of our stores to improve the stability and support digital initiatives. With MaxPorn, our first venture into the luxury porn-broking business, we enhanced e-commerce capabilities by migrating to a secure, mobile-ready and user-friendly platform and have a full e-commerce offering being tested in our business. On slide nine, innovation and growth is the third pillar of our three-year strategy, and we continue to execute our plan. Our EasyPlus loyalty program has over 2.4 million customers enrolled, versus over 1.9 million last quarter, showing an increase of 26%. We also collected $11.8 million in online payments this quarter, $6.6 million from the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Adding points earned, balance, and account QR to physical receipts and bonus points, campaigns increased visibility, enrollment, and transactions. We received more than 15,000 Google reviews this quarter, averaging 4.9 stars in the US and Latin America. Website visits for the main brands are up to 35% over the previous quarter. and we believe we are attracting new customers by making shopping more convenient. From an inorganic perspective, we acquired nine stores in the Houston area. We bought the country's leading luxury porn store in Las Vegas and opened a second store there this week. Both of these acquisitions have started very well from an operating and financial perspective. We also invested an additional $15 million in preferred equity and $15 million in debt into Founders, which purchased additional ownership in SMG. This capital was used by SMG to complete the 100% acquisition of La Pavilion Pond, which operates 53 stores in Florida and Puerto Rico, where it is the market leader. In addition, we opened two Denogo stores in Latin America. We continue to be disciplined in evaluating acquisition opportunities, and the pipeline remains robust. we increased our stake in CCB from 41.6% to 43.7% during the quarter. After receiving a cash dividend from CCB for $1.8 million, our net cash outlay was $300,000. Slide 10 outlines our ESG highlights for the fiscal first quarter. Our business, by its very nature, makes us a neighbourhood recycler and a compelling component of the local circular economy. We are a significant recycler of second-hand goods in hundreds of local neighborhoods. We sold over 1.6 million pre-owned items in the quarter, including toxic consumer electronic items such as computers, TVs, phones, as well as tools, musical instruments, household goods, and jewelry, saving them all from landfills. We use sound recycling and e-waste processing in the US. We do not use factories, distribution facilities, or heavy trucking. Importantly, we provide an essential, simple, regulated and transparent financial resource for those who are underserved by traditional sources. Diversity and inclusion are a significant focus and we continue to have excellent engagement in both our black empowerment and women's empowerment affinity groups. In addition to the previously mentioned no-cost health insurance for team members in the US, we have also implemented paid parental leave and enhanced voluntary paid time off to support our team members at home and in the communities where they live. I would now like to turn over the call to Tim Juglands, our CFO, to provide more details on our financial results. Tim.