EZCORP, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to EC Corp's fourth quarter and full year 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 effects of foreign currency fluctuations and other discrete items. Joining us on the call today are EZ Corp's Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Gibbons, and Tim Judman's Chief Financial Officer. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Lockie Gibbons. Lockie?

Thanks, Jean, and good morning, everyone. Our team's consistent execution on our strategic plan has again yielded very strong operating and financial results for our stakeholders. As we conclude the current fiscal year and three-year strategic plan announced in November 2020, we will today begin with a review of our fourth quarter performance, and then we'll move to an overview of the strategic goals we set three years ago. and the associated accomplishments that have been achieved in that time. At the end of Q4, Pornloans Outstanding, the key driver of our business, hit a record $250 million, the highest level in EasyCorp history. Total Q4 revenue hit a record $261.4 million, driven by higher PSC and sales volumes across all of our regions. Merchandise sales gross margins remained within our targeted range of 36%, with strong inventory turns at 2.7 times. Beginning on slide three, we are a global leader in pawnbroking and pre-owned and recycled retail. We operate 1,231 stores in the US and Latin America, having added another 21 stores this quarter. The macroeconomic environment continues to be a challenge for our customer base, with inflationary pressure, increasing interest rates, high gas prices, and the tightening of credit from alternative lenders, increasing the demand for pawns. as consumers seek cash to satisfy their short-term needs. In addition, consumers seek value for money, households and other consumer goods by purchasing pre-owned products, which also represents a more environmentally responsible way to shop. We strive 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, people, porn and passion is our core operating theme. Our engaged team drives our success, so we are committed to investing in recruitment, retention, and incentivization to ensure our team members are highly engaged. We provide access to critical financial services in the hundreds of local communities in which we operate, offering customers instant cash for any item of value. And we promote the circular economy with a more affordable and sustainable shopping experience with outstanding customer service, an attractive and well-positioned store footprint, differentiate a digital platform, proprietary POS system, and an innovative loyalty program for our customers. Our balance sheet is very strong and liquid, enabling us to fund significant growth in our earning assets, build out of new de novo stores, opportunistic acquisitions from what continues to be a robust pipeline, and our share of purchase program. Slide five shows our progression this quarter on our three-year strategic goals. We believe we have the most passionate, productive, tenured and committed team in the industry and continue to find new ways to engage, motivate and retain them. The implementation of the Workday human capital management system globally during the quarter will further improve access to human capital data and enhance training, career development and recruitment processes. Our points-based loyalty program continues to be highly popular with our customers, growing 15% this quarter to 3.8 million members. We are now working on delivering a superior experience to these customers, including offering tailored products and services to help drive our growth. Turning to our key financial themes for Q4 on slide six. As mentioned, PLO, the most significant driver of revenue and earnings, hit an all-time high of $240.4 million, up 14%, with an associated 15% increase in PSC. Merchandise sales were up 9%, resulting in total revenue for the quarter of $261.4 million, up 12%, which was a record for Q4. Adjusted EBITDA was $31.2 million for the quarter, up 26%. Inventory turnover remained strong, with aged inventory increasing slightly year over year, but improved sequentially by 30 basis points. Cash on the balance sheet came down slightly on a sequential basis, primarily due to increases in PLO and inventories. On slide seven, we show year-over-year EBITDA growth of 14%, while keeping EBITDA margins flat at 13% in a highly inflationary environment. Slide eight focuses on our progress in strengthening our core PORN operations during the quarter, investing in people and technology to drive excellent operating and financial results. In addition to launching the Workday Human Capital Management System globally, we continue to upgrade pricing, point of sale system, and e-commerce capabilities to drive faster transaction times and deliver better customer experience. On slide nine, in the area of innovation and growth, as I've said, our Easy Plus loyalty program now has over 3.8 million members enrolled versus over 3.3 million last quarter. In the US, we collected $18 million in online payments, which was up $8.4 million, and we revamped the Core Mexico website to improve customer experience, and grow traffic materially, as we've done in the US over the last 12 months. Improving customer experience and growing the customer base remain key to our strategy. We increased global transacting customers by 5% this quarter, and grew visits to porn websites by 16% over Q3. We opened 19 de novo stores in Latin America, with 10 in Mexico, seven in Guatemala, and two in Honduras. And in the US, we acquired two stores this quarter. Slide 10 and 11 outline our ESG highlights for the 2023 fiscal year. We are a neighbourhood recycler and a compelling component of the local circular economy and have resold over 5.4 million pre-owned jewellery and general merchandise items this year. Importantly, we provide an essential, simple, regulated and transparent financial resource for those who are underserved by traditional sources. During the year, we recycled over 1.2 million pounds of paper in the US and have responsibly disposed end-of-life services, hard drives, computers, electronics, and accessories through sound recycling and e-waste processing practices in the US and Latin America. We successfully completed full migration of our data center physical services to cloud services through a multi-year effort, reducing our environmental footprint and greenhouse gas emissions and ensuring high quality services and availability for our customers. We have upgraded the lighting to LEDs in 78% of our U.S. stores, an increase of 8% from the previous year. Additionally, 60% of our Latin America stores now have LED lighting, a 21% increase from the prior year. We are committed to continuing this initiative to enhance energy efficiency across all of our stores. We have revamped the mission of the EasyCorp Foundation in the U.S. and have launched local giving strategies aimed at improving quality of life in the communities where we live and operate through supporting financial literacy, food security, and financial stability. Diversity and inclusion are a significant focus with several affinity groups and programs operating in the U.S. and Latin American segments. 66% of U.S. employees and 58% of U.S. management identify as an underrepresented minority. 52% of global employees and 49% of global management are female. We strive to continually improve the team member experience and engagement by enhancing store-based communication, scheduling and recognition programs. I would now like to turn the call over to Tim Judman, our CFO, to provide more details on our financial results. Tim.