Laureate Education, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2022 Laureate Education, Inc. Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised this call is recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin.

Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance, you may begin. Our express release is available on the investor relations section of our website at laureate.net. We have also posted a supplementary presentation to the website, which we'll be referring to during today's call. The call is being webcast, and a complete recording will be available after the call. I'd like to remind you that some of the information we are providing today, including but not limited to our financial and operational guidance, constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may change at any time, and therefore, our actual results may differ materially from those we expected. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, our 10-Q filed earlier this morning, as well as other filings made with the SEC. In addition, all forward-looking statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this conference call, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Furthermore, non-GAAP measures that we discuss, including, and among others, adjusted EBITDA and its related margin, total cash net of debt, and free cash flow, are also detailed and reconciled to their GAAP counterparts in our press release or supplementary presentation. Let me now turn the call over to Ayla.

Thank you, Adam, and good morning, everyone. We recently completed our enrollment intake for the first quarter, which includes the primary intake cycle for Peru and a smaller intake for Mexico. I'm very pleased to report that 2022 is off to a great start. New enrollments increased 9% year-over-year, and total enrollments were up 11%, continuing the solid momentum for the growth agenda that we initiated last year. Our first quarter results were ahead of expectations and very encouraging. On the strength of our Q1 performance, we are increasing our full year 2022 guidance, with top-line revenue now expected to grow double digits. We continue to benefit from the COVID recovery in Mexico and Peru and are seeing positive results from our investments in new programs as well as digital offerings. Growth in digital learning in Mexico and Peru is driven by increased student demand, new instruction methodologies designed for the online medium, and growing employer and regulatory acceptance of degrees obtained through online and hybrid modalities. Going forward, we expect to provide between 40 and 60% of our taught hours online across our five institutions, which we believe will allow us to continue to grow in a more capital light manner as greater numbers of students can be accommodated in our existing physical campus space. As the core of our growth agenda is our mission, which is to deliver affordable, high-quality education to prepare students for successful careers and lifelong achievement. Our strong brands and highly reputable institutions in Mexico and Peru uniquely position us to deliver on that promise. A few recent examples that I'd like to highlight are as follows. First, UBC has been recognized as the university with the best reputation in all of Peru for 2021, according to a recent study conducted by Mercer Reputation Ranking. UPC ranked first in the education sector and was ranked number 17 overall among all organizations across Peru. This incredible achievement is the result of the tireless work done by our teachers, academic leaders, deans, and staff. and I wish to congratulate them all. Secondly, we have active applied research at all of our institutions. This month, we will inaugurate our first outdoor clean energy laboratory at one of our UVM campuses in Mexico. In addition, through our internally developed set of algorithms and scientific sensors, UVM is playing a leading role in a water leak detection project that will be launched in Mexico later this year. We continue to invest in our institutions to ensure that we provide high-quality education. Our institutions and programs regularly earn some of the highest accreditations available in our markets. As a result, the Laureate brands are highly differentiated and position us for continued success in Mexico and Peru. In addition to driving our growth agenda, we continue to prioritize return of capital. We have been active with our stock buyback program this year. Through the first four months of 2022, we repurchased approximately 14 million shares at what we believe to be very accretive levels for our shareholders. We currently have approximately $40 million of remaining share purchase authorization from our board and we expect to utilize this capacity during the remaining 2022. And as a reminder, we also plan to distribute the remaining net proceeds from the Walden sale in the second half of this year once these amounts are released from the escrow. Our cash-equated business model, as well as our strong balance sheet, provides us with a lot of flexibility as we continue to think about return of capital going forward, and shareholder value optimization efforts. That concludes my prepared remarks, and I will now turn the call over to Rick Boskirk for a more detailed financial overview of the first quarter 2022 performance, as well as further details on our improved 2022 full-year outlook. Rick?