L.B. Foster Company

Welcome to the L.B. Foster Second Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-answer session. To ask a question during a session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded, and if you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Stephanie Listwalk, manager of investor relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to LB Foster's second quarter of 2021 earnings call. My name is Stephanie Listwalk, the company's investor relations manager. Our president and CEO, John Castle, and our Chief Financial Officer, Bill Tallman, will be presenting our second quarter operating results, market outlook, and business developments this morning. Bob Bauer, who recently stepped down as our CEO, and Jim Kempton, the company's corporate controller, are also joining us this morning. Bob will be making some opening comments, and then John will provide his perspective on the company's second quarter performance and will update you on significant business matters and market developments. Bill will then review the company's second quarter financial results. We will open the session up for questions at the conclusion of Bill's remarks. Today's slide presentation, along with our earnings release and financial disclosures, were posted on our website this morning and can be accessed on our investor relations page at lbfoster.com. Our comments this morning will follow the slides in the earnings presentation. Some statements we are making are forward-looking and represent our current view of markets and businesses today, including comments related to COVID-19. These forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revisions to these statements in light of new information, except as required by securities laws. For more detailed risks uncertainties, and assumptions relating to our forward-looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and presentation. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial metrics and encourage you to read our disclosures and reconciliation tables provided within today's earnings release and within our accompanying earnings presentation carefully as you consider these metrics. For the purpose of helping you understand the underlying performance of the company, we will be referring to adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted EPS, net debt, and net leverage ratio during the presentation today. While we did not have any adjustments to EBITDA, net income, or diluted EPS during the second quarter of 2021, historic periods referred to in the presentation today have been adjusted. as reflected in the reconciliation tables included in the appendix to the earnings presentation. Additionally, in September of 2020, we announced the equity sale of our IOS Test and Inspection Services division. As a result of this divestiture, we have presented the Test and Inspection Services business as a discontinued operation in the second quarter financial statement, including within the earnings release and presentation, and have recast prior periods to reflect this change. The comments today will be focused on our results from continuing operations. So, with that, let me turn the call over to Bob for some opening remarks.

Thanks, Stephanie. Well, I have the pleasure of co-hosting the call this quarter for the last time as we announced my retirement last month, along with the appointment of John Castle as the company's next CEO, which took effect two weeks ago. As we noted in the press release when we announced the change, this appointment follows a well-planned and thorough succession planning process that the Board and I worked on for some time. And it turned out exactly as we hoped it would. I'm really pleased with the outcome because I'm leaving with a really good management team in place. And I know I can speak for the Board of Directors when I say that the company's development and succession planning process is regarded as one of the most important business processes and that we're all very pleased with how it's helping us develop the next generation of leaders across the entire company. John's been with the company for 18 years and over the course of that time has managed all of our factory operations and eventually managed all of our business groups before being appointed COO in 2019. He's very familiar with all areas of the company and at one time or another has interfaced with our key suppliers, business partners, and many of our customers. He doesn't really need my help as he takes on the added responsibility, but I'll be available to John whenever he needs me until the end of the year when I officially retire from the company. And until then, my goal is to help him and the management team in any way that I can. I know John's eager to meet those of you that he hasn't met already. And of course, we would be happy to schedule an introductory call with anyone that would like to do so. Just reach out to Stephanie if you'd like to do that. But before I hand it off to John for his comments on highlights of the second quarter, I just want to say it's been an honor and a privilege to serve as the company's CEO for nearly a decade. And I'll look forward in the future to rooting for the company's success from a shareholder point of view. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to John for his first earnings call.