EZCORP, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the EZ Corp second 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. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Jean Marie Young, investor relations with three part advisors. Please go ahead, Jean.

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 Easy Corp's Chief Executive Officer, Lockie Gibbon, and Tim Jugman's Chief Financial Officer. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Lockie Gibbon. Lockie?

Thanks, Jean, and good morning, everyone. Our team's consistent execution of our strategic plan has again yielded strong financial results, with record second quarter pawn loans outstanding and merchandise sales. PLO, the key driver of our business, was up 17%, $202.9 million, and merchandise sales were up 12%, 8% on a same-store basis. The macroeconomic environment continues to support increased core demand for our products and services, including providing environmentally conscious consumers with a more sustainable way to shop. Our team's relentless commitment to serving our customers with passion and respect and to excel operationally in all that we do continues to drive our strong operating and financial results. Beginning on slide three, we are a global leader in pawnbroking and pre-owned and recycled retail. We operate 1,199 stores in the US and Latin America with strategic investments in adjacent businesses, expanding our geographic footprint worldwide. The macroeconomic environment continues to be a challenge for our customer base, with inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty driving increased demand for pawnbrokers. Consumers are seeking value for money and environmentally responsible alternatives, driving increased demand for secondhand goods. We strive to be 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, our engaged team drives our success. So we are committed to investing in recruitment, retention, and incentivization. We provide outstanding customer service an attractive and well-positioned store footprint, a differentiated digital platform, a market-leading loyalty program, and a proprietary POS system so that we can offer the best options for our customers. Our strong balance sheet gives us ample liquidity to provide porn loans across the regions in which we operate through various economic cycles. Slide five shows how we've progressed on our three-year strategic goals. We believe we have the most passionate, productive, tenured and committed team in the industry, and we continue to find ways to motivate and retain them. Our team drives our success and our intense focus on employee training and recognition has resulted in store-level vacancies of less than 3% across all geographies. We continuously strive to improve both our team member and customer experience across all that we do. Customers continue to sign up for our points-based loyalty program, which has grown to 2.9 million customers. In Mexico, we are improving the retail showrooms to offer an even better shopping experience. Turning to our key financial themes in Q2 on slide six, PLO, the most significant driver of revenue and earnings, was up 17% year over year, which was a record for the second quarter, with an associated 19% increase in PSC. Tax season pay down was less than expected this year. Total revenue for the quarter was $253.8 million, up 17%. EBITDA was $33 million for the quarter, up 4%. We're focused on better execution in LATAM to bring down aged inventory and get closer to the level seen in the United States. Cash on the balance sheet increased over the first quarter due to increased merchandise sales and the expected pay down of PLO during tax season. On slide seven, EBITDA margin was 13% for the last 12 months ending March 2023, versus 12% in the last 12 months ending March 2022, with the US driving the growth. Recently, EBITDA margins flattened due to inflationary pressures. On slide eight, we talk about strengthening our core by focusing on people and technology to ultimately drive earnings. We are focused on recruitment, retention, inclusion and incentivization to ensure that our team is highly engaged. Implementing processes to improve the bench strength of our field team and improving recruiting strategies that resulted in a vacancy rate of less than 3%, as I mentioned earlier. We believe that we are leading the industry in technology and process efficiency. Our store network and system upgrades are complete and are improving stability and supporting our digital initiative. We continue to invest in technology and are building out our e-commerce capabilities. 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 2.9 million customers enrolled versus over 2.4 million last quarter, an increase of 19%. We also collected $12.7 million in online payments this quarter, up $6.5 million from the second quarter of fiscal 2022. Our one million-quiz giveaway promotion in the US aimed at acquiring and engaging EasyPlus loyalty members, so 27,000 entries and 200 winners. Improving the customer experience and growing the customer base remain key to our strategy. We have increased website visits to our core brands by 13% over the previous quarter. MaxPorn, our luxury porn website, saw an 86% increase in daily website visitors over the previous quarter. We opened 11 de novo stores in Latin America, with eight in Mexico and three in Guatemala. In the Las Vegas area, we opened two de novo stores, one Max Porn Store and one Easy Porn Store. Slide 10 outlines our ESG highlights for the fiscal second quarter. Our business, by its very nature, makes us a neighborhood recycler and a compelling component of the local circular economy. We are a significant recycler of secondhand goods in hundreds of local neighborhoods. We resold over 1.4 million pre-owned items in the quarter, including toxic consumer electronic items such as computers, TVs, and phones, as well as tools, musical instruments, household goods, and jewelry, saving them all from landfill. 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 our black empowerment affinity groups in the US and our women's empowerment affinity group in both the US and Latin America. In addition, we launched a working parents affinity group in Latin America during the quarter. We celebrated Employee Appreciation Day globally, and we have revamped the mission of our EasyCorp Foundation. Building on our core tenets of people, porn, and passion, our mission is to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and operate through supporting financial literacy, food security, and financial stability. I would now like to turn the call over to Tim Jugmans, our Chief Financial Officer, to provide more details on our financial results. Tim?