MIND Technology, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to the MIND Technology fiscal 2023 first quarter conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero from your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ken Denard.

Ken, you may now begin. Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Mine Technology Fiscal 2023 First Quarter Conference Call. We appreciate all of you joining us today. With me are Rob Capps, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Cox, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before I turn the call over to Rob, I have a normal housekeeping details to run through. If you'd like to listen to a replay of today's call, it'll be available for 90 days via webcast going to the company's investor relations section, and that's mind-technology.com, or via telephonic recorded instant reply till June 16th. And information on how to access the replay was provided in yesterday's earnings release. Information reported on this call speaks only as of today, Thursday, June 9th, 2022, and therefore you're advised that the time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain statements made by management during this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and include known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which the company is unable to predict or control that may cause the company's actual future results or performance to materially differ from any future results or performance expressed or implied by those statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk factors disclosed by the company from time to time in its filings with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 31st, 2022. As we start this call, please also refer to the statement regarding forward-looking statements incorporated in our press release issued yesterday, and please note that the contents of our conference call this morning are covered by these statements. Now, with that behind me, I'd like to turn the call over to Rob Capps. Rob.

Okay. Thanks, Ken. So, I'd like to begin by first making some observations on the market environment and our progress to date before Mark discusses the financials in detail. I'll then wrap things up with some final remarks. As we've noted on recent calls, we've been pleased with the improvement that we're seeing in the underlying market conditions that surround our business. We think this uptick in customer interest is largely indicative of the general economic and geopolitical trends that serve as a stimulant for much of our business. We believe that the sustained higher global energy prices are a positive development for our marine seismic contractors. On the other side of that coin, Higher energy prices have caused others to pursue investments in renewable energy, particularly offshore wind farms, and this is a positive development for our marine survey business. Maybe more importantly, the global geopolitical and security situation, not only in Europe but also the rest of the world, has highlighted the need for maritime security technology. Some of our recent and pending orders are a direct result of this. These macroeconomic trends and increasing levels of activity are evidence that the effects of the global pandemic are abating. This increases our optimism that we are well-positioned to grow in the coming periods. Significant increase in revenue we saw this quarter is, we believe, a strong indication of the benefit of these trends. Looking at our first quarter results, consolidated revenues were over $9 million, up approximately 5.3 million, or 142%, quarter over quarter. I just said, We think this increase is an important milestone and an indication of things to come. As we discussed on our last call, approximately $2 million worth of orders were pushed from the fourth quarter and were delivered in this quarter. As you'll recall, these orders had been completed, but due to logistical challenges, our customers could not accept delivery and we could not recognize revenue. While the first quarter benefited from these items, We had a similar situation this quarter, with orders totaling approximately the same $2 million deferred from the quarter due to customer delivery restraints. It remains important to note that issues such as these are issues of timing, not lost opportunities. While it's not ideal, it's just the nature of the beast. These won't be the last challenges that we encounter. Our backlog as of April 30, 2022, was approximately $13.4 million. If you consider our backlog and other highly confident orders, which includes anticipated orders received after the end of the quarter and orders from RFQs that specify our products, our book of business totals for approximately $23 million. We expect to deliver all of these orders as well as others that we're pursuing in this fiscal year. Although we're pleased with this book of business and the traction that our product lines continue to achieve, we are by no means content. We're continuing to pursue other opportunities and are confident we'll be successful on many. We're optimistic that this will be reflected by improving results in the coming periods. Our strategy to develop innovative technology and to find new applications for existing technology remains important. These activities include passive sonar arrays, automated target recognition, synthetic aperture sonar, and systems for unmanned platforms. Our programs to bring these technologies and related products to market continue to progress. Our focus continues to be on operational excellence and on executing our business strategy to maximize our near-term results. As also mentioned in our last call, we've taken certain steps to control cost. Although we have not yet seen the impact of these actions, we think they will be seen in coming periods. We will concentrate our efforts in areas where we are seeing immediate demand, and as the global backdrop continues its recovery, we will look to expand our capabilities to meet the growing needs of customers. And with that, let me turn things over to Mark and let him walk you through our first quarter results before I make a few summarizing comments. Mark.