PriceSmart, Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Price Smart, Inc.' 's earnings release conference call for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, which ended on November 30, 2022. After remarks from our company's representatives, Robert Price, Chairman, and Michael McCleary, Chief Financial Officer, you will be given an opportunity to ask questions as time permits. As a reminder, this conference call is limited to one hour and is being recorded today. Tuesday, January 10, 2023. A digital replay will be available following the conclusion of today's conference call through January 17, 2023 by dialing 1-877-344-7529 for domestic callers or 1-412-317-0088 for international callers and by entering the replay access code 603-2359. For opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Pricemart's Chief Financial Officer, Michael McCleary. Please proceed, sir.

Thank you, operator, and welcome to the Pricemart earnings call for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 that ended on November 30th, 2022. We will be discussing the information that we provided in our earnings press release and R10Q, which were both released yesterday afternoon, January 9th, 2023. You can find these documents on our investor relations website at investors.pricemart.com, where you can also sign up for email alerts. As a reminder, all statements made on this conference call other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements concerning the company's anticipated plans, revenues, and related matters. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements containing the words expect, believe, plan, will, may, should, estimate, and some other expressions. All forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions as of today, January 10th, 2023. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks detailed in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K. The quarterly report filed on Form 10-Q yesterday and other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. These risks may be updated from time to time. The company undertakes no obligations to update forward-looking statements made during this call. Now, I will turn the call over to Robert Price, Pricemart's Chairman of the Board.

Robert Price Thank you, Michael. Hello, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter of fiscal 2023 earnings call. On behalf of myself and our board of directors, I would like to express our appreciation to Sherry Barambegi for her leadership during the past four years. Sherry's performance as CEO during some of the most challenging years in the history of Pricemark has been marked by record revenues and profits, as well as membership growth, club growth, and the launch of online shopping. Our company is poised to build on Sherry's accomplishments. Sherry will remain on Pricemart's board of directors, where she will continue to make important contributions to Pricemart's future success. I am excited about re-engaging more directly in our company's day-to-day business affairs. I have a very personal passion for Pricemart. Our business takes place in countries that have significant economic and political challenges. Since our company's beginning in 1996, we have been committed to operating our business at the highest standards related to our buildings and equipment, our merchandise, and most importantly, to providing an outstanding working environment for our over 10,000 Price Mart employees, serving our members in the 12 countries and one U.S. territory in which we do business. You as PriceSmart stockholders can be proud of the investment you have made in our company. Now I will turn the call back over to Michael.