ImmunoPrecise Antibodies Ltd.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us today for IPA's earnings call covering the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. I am Julianne, and I have the privilege of hosting this call. Before we commence, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that our discussion today may include forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we express or imply. We strongly encourage you to review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a comprehensive discussion of these risks and uncertainties. IPA remains committed to complying with legal requirements and will update forward-looking statements only as mandated by law. During today's conference call, as well as in the accompanying presentation slides, we will be employing non-GAAP financial measures to assist investors and analysts in comprehending IPA's business performance. Adjusted EBITDA, in particular, allows for meaningful comparisons and analysis of trends in our business over different periods. For a detailed explanation and reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures, please refer to management's discussion and analysis section of our filings on EDGAR and CDAR. Now, without further ado, I would like to pass the floor over to IPA's CEO, Dr. Jennifer Bath, who will provide an overview of our quarterly results.

Great. Thank you, Julianne. And good morning, everyone. I'd like to extend a heartfelt welcome to all of you for joining us this morning on our earnings call. Your time and your interest, as always, in immunoprecise antibodies is deeply valued. The past two quarters have posed significant challenges for our company, our management, and our investors. Despite these hurdles, we have initiated transformative changes that will be pivotal in driving our growth. These aren't merely temporary adjustments, they mark profound resurgence as we evolve to be more resilient with a unified strategy. The unwavering strengths and support from our diverse and expanding team have chartered a renewed path for IPA. This direction is as defining to our legacy as the inception of our BSEL platform, our strategic acquisitions, and our transition to the NASDAQ global market. As we turn the page on a significant chapter in IPA's history, we are poised to embark on a unified vision of modernization, technological transformation, and unwavering commitment to excellence. We are elated to announce the esteemed edition of Chris Busey, Dr. Barry Springer, and Dirk Witters to our board of directors as of September 5th. Chris Busey, renowned for his pivotal roles in companies like Inventiva, Helorus Pharmaceuticals, brings a wealth of experience in capital raising endeavors. His insights will fortify our financial strategies, no doubt, anchoring us firmly on the path to enduring growth. Dr. Barry Springer, a distinguished figure with notable affiliations at Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Abbott, is the driving force behind Springer Biotech Consulting. His tenure as former Vice President of Janssen Strategy, Operations, and Innovation has equipped him with unparalleled expertise in therapeutic antibody discovery and development. Furthermore, his leadership role in shaping Janssen Biotherapeutics' platform technology strategy, and licensing showcases his depth of knowledge and vision. Dr. Springer's extensive background in drug and technology and licensing will play a crucial role in refining our strategic direction. Dirk Witters, the visionary founder of Contanti Consult, not only boasts over two decades of experience with KVC Group in corporate and investment banking, but also exemplified leadership as the CEO of KBC France. His profound knowledge in capital raising, acquisitions, and executive leadership will be instrumental in propelling immunoprecise antibodies to greater heights. With the combined acumen and foresight of our new board members, we are invigorated about the boundless growth potential of immunoprecise antibody. Their collective expertise promises to amplify our trajectory, ensuring we are not only we not only surmount upcoming challenges, but we also harness the vast opportunity that is awaiting us. Despite the challenges we have faced, I'm pleased to report that we had a very positive financial quarter, demonstrating our second back-to-back quarter of record revenue and establishing a new record for quarterly revenue. To be specific, our consolidated revenue grew 21.3% year over year. In addition, we saw our protein manufacturing facility make strategic use of its newly expanded facilities, demonstrating an impressive growth of 44% year-over-year. As we will expand on shortly, our record revenue was met with significantly higher net income before taxes when compared to Q1 of last year, a difference of approximately $6 million, another positive back-to-back quarter trend. Lastly, we are happy to state that our quarterly burn slowed to 1.6 million Canadian dollars in this first quarter. These results mark continued growth in the face of headwinds that have presented challenges within the life sciences market in general. We believe that our success in this quarter is a testament to the resilience and dedication of our management team, as well as the robustness of our contract research services. We remain committed to delivering value to our shareholders and are hopeful about the opportunities that now lie ahead. We are excited to update our valued shareholders on two significant developments that are integral to the new and promising strategic vision being drafted by our new board members and management. First, we have filed an S3 form with the SEC, a move that allows us to register securities for a shelf offering, a move that makes it easier for us to attract U.S. investors and access U.S. capital markets. This strategic action is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen our financial position and set the stage for the successful implementation of our unified strategic vision. We believe these steps will greatly benefit IPA and our shareholders as we embark on this new invigorated journey. Thank you once again for joining us today. We look forward to sharing more details about our performance and our plans during this call. I'll now turn the microphone over to Dr. Barry Duplantis, for updates on client relations and business development.

Yes, thank you, Jennifer. As discussed during our recent 2023 fiscal year end earnings call, the diligent efforts of our fiscal year 23 sales initiatives are now bearing fruit in fiscal 24's revenue figures. We're delighted to report a remarkable 21.3% year-over-year Q1 growth in revenue. And once again, this growth has been predominantly propelled by exceptional performance of our protein expression services, and our industry-leading B-Cell Select platform. Moreover, our focus on sales orders, which is a recurring highlight of our earnings discussions, has yielded exceptional results once again. We have observed a significant year-over-year Q1 increase of 59%, primarily attributed to an outstanding sales performance in the month of June, which stands as the highest in IPA history. In specific terms, June sales orders of 3.51 million represented an impressive 125% surge compared to June of fiscal year 23. The positive trend continued into July, with sales orders reaching 1.56 million, marking a substantial 64% increase over July of fiscal year 23. I'd also like to remind the audience that sales orders are primarily composed of antibody discovery programs, as the majority of our protein expression revenue bypassed this financial step. We maintain a high level of confidence in our future prospects driven by the combined momentum of new BioStrand based fee for service discovery programs and our upcoming participation in fall conferences. These conferences will provide an excellent platform to showcase our seamlessly integrated wet lab and silico capabilities. This strategic alignment positions us well to sustain this robust growth trajectory. As discussed during our previous earning calls, the partnership between BioStrand and BriaCell is in its final phase. compromising wet lab evaluation of the output of the in silico work. We completed the wet lab analysis and are currently compiling the data for reporting to BriaCell. And with that, I would like to hand it over to our chief scientific officer.