HireQuest, Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss HireQuest's financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Jennifer Belladeau of IMS Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Jenny. I would like to welcome everybody to the call today. Hosting the call today are HireQuest CEO Rick Hermans and CFO Steve Crane. I would like to take a moment to read the Safe Harbor Statement. This conference call contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements in terms such as anticipate, expect, intend, may, will, should, or other comparable terms involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief, or current expectations of higher request and members of its management, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in higher request periodic reports filed with the SEC, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, HireQuest undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed conditions. With that out of the way, I'd like to turn the call over to the CEO of HireQuest, Rick Hermans. Go ahead, Rick.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining our call today. Our first quarter results are reflective of the broader staffing industry, which continues to be impacted by macroeconomic headwinds that are causing employers to slow down or even suspend their hiring decisions as they wait out this uncertain market. As many of you know, this has been a trend for several quarters now, and despite this challenging environment, we continue to achieve solid margins and profitability, supported by the resiliency and strength of our franchise model. Expense management remains a key focus for us as well, and we continue to drive cost reduction initiatives across our business, and I'm pleased to report that we're making progress on our expense management goals supported by consistent reductions in SG&A expense on a year-over-year basis. We will continue to strategically reduce costs and reallocate capital in ways that position us for sustained long-term growth. Our M&A pipeline is strong, and we're encouraged by the many opportunities that we're seeing in the market. Acquisitions are a key part of our strategy and allow us to expand into new geographic regions and market verticals more quickly than we're typically able to through organic growth. With our visibility today, we believe that we are well positioned with a strong pipeline of potential deals and the resources needed to execute our strategy. While the industry as a whole experienced a challenging first quarter, we continue to see encouraging progress on the legislative front as more stringent immigration laws are enforced under the Trump administration. As we mentioned last quarter, relaxed immigration policies throughout the previous administration had a negative impact on our temporary and day labor offerings as employers frequently chose to hire undocumented workers at lower costs, therefore reducing demand for staffing services that comply with E-Verify regulations. Enhanced immigration enforcement by ICE is now requiring employers to hire documented workers, and as an E-Verify employer, we are ideally positioned to benefit from this increased demand. I'd like to take a moment to thank Steve Crane for his contributions as Chief Financial Officer of HireQuest. Steve has been a valuable member of our leadership team since he joined as CFO in November of 2023. We wish him well in his retirement. Steve will be succeeded by David Hartley, our current vice president of operational finance and corporate development, effective May 31st. David has extensive financial experience and a deep understanding of both our business and staffing industry, making him ideally suited to take over as CFO in a planned transition that follows multiple years of preparation and planning. Importantly, in his current role, David has served as the main architect of more than 15 acquisitions completed over the past several years, giving him the experience and knowledge needed to continue growth and shareholder value. To conclude, we're pleased to have delivered another quarter of profitability, and we're energized about what is on the horizon for our business. We believe that we are well positioned with a strong team and a flexible model to drive enhanced value for our shareholders in 2025. With that, I'll now turn over the call to Steve to provide a closer look at our first quarter financial results.