Construction Partners, Inc.

partner's first quarter 2024 results 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 on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Rick Black of Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for the construction partners call to review first quarter results for fiscal 2024. This call is also being webcast and can be accessed through the audio link on the events and presentations page of the investor relations section of constructionpartners.net. Information recorded on this call speaks only as of today, February 9th, 2024. Please be advised that any time sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay listening or transcript reading. I would also like to remind you that the statements made in today's discussion that are not historical facts, including statements of expectations or future events or future financial performance, are considered forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We will be making forward-looking statements as part of today's call, that by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results may differ materially. Please refer to our earnings press release for our disclosure on forward-looking statements. These factors and other risks and uncertainties are described in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management will also refer to non-GAAP measures, including adjusted EBITDA. Reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures can be found at the end of our earnings press release. Construction Partners assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. And now I would like to turn the call over to Construction Partners CEO, Jewel Smith. Jewel?

Thank you, Rick, and good morning, everyone. Joining me on the call today are Greg Hoffman, our Chief Financial Officer, and Ned Fleming, our Executive Chairman. We are off to a good start to our fiscal year. And I'd first like to thank our 4,400 employees throughout the Southeast for their hard work and professionalism that contributed to a successful first quarter. Revenue, net income, earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA were all up significantly compared to Q1 last year. We are pleased to report a record backlog of $1.62 billion as of quarter end, reflecting a demand environment that remains strong for both public and private work. This first quarter we experienced typical seasonal weather, with October and November a bit drier than usual, while December was a bit wetter than usual. Our crews and teams were productive and delivered excellent results this quarter. Focusing more on the demand environment for construction services, there continues to be elevated demand for road repair, maintenance and expansion projects across our markets as a result of our country's continued migration south. Each of our six states are well-funded for this work, with the federal government's IIJA funding further supporting infrastructure investments, from road projects to airports to ports and rail lines. Because of the migration to the Sun Belt of both new residents and businesses, the commercial economic activity in our markets has remained steady with an active bidding environment. We anticipate that our work mix for FY24 will remain very similar to last year and typical for CPI, with approximately 63% public projects and 37% private projects. Turning now to CPI's strategic growth model. In this fiscal year, we've so far completed four strategic acquisitions, entering new markets, expanding market share in existing markets, and adding capacity, services, and talented new team members to the CPI family. Most recently, we announced on January 3rd the acquisitions of SJ&L General Contractor, a hot mix asphalt and site work company headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, and Littlefield Construction Company, a soil-based surface treatment and site work company headquartered in Waycross, Georgia. As we discussed in detail during our analyst day, a key component of our growth strategy is to actively expand our relative market share and service capabilities within existing markets. Both the SJ&L and Littlefield acquisitions expand our service offerings in existing markets while also adding valuable crews and equipment. In the case of SJ&L in Huntsville, Alabama, we are integrating this team with our existing platform company in the state, Wiregrass Construction Company. The greater Huntsville metro area and Interstate 65 corridor continue to experience tremendous growth. And as a combined organization, we can now offer turnkey services expanding the construction value chain on both private and public project opportunities within this market. Likewise, our Georgia platform company, the Scruggs Company, entered the Waycross market just a few months ago through the establishment of a greenfield hot mix asphalt plant. Now having acquired Littlefield, we are even better positioned to capitalize on the market that reaches from the Port of Brunswick into South Central Georgia. We are pleased to expand our presence in these crucial growth markets and proud to welcome the employees of SJ&L and Littlefield into our continually growing CPI family. We continue to have numerous and active conversations with potential sellers both inside and outside of our current states. The universe of potential opportunities in our highly fragmented industry is substantial. However, we remain patient and focused on finding the best strategic acquisitions that expand our footprint, increase capacity, grow relative market share, and fit well within our CPI culture. We believe CPI is seen as the buyer of choice for many owners in the Southeast due to our reputation for treating sellers fairly, providing attractive career opportunities for their employees, and our track record for successfully integrating and growing companies. As we continually discuss with the market, CPI's founding strategy has three main components. First, to operate a high relative market share business in local markets, building low risk, high margin projects for repeat customers and generating strong free cash flow. Second, to capitalize on the need for the nation and our states to invest in catching up on deferred infrastructure maintenance and capacity. And third, as our industry goes through a generational consolidation, to be the leader in building a scalable business by acquiring businesses in our industry. Our five-year strategic plan that we call Roadmap 2027 simply outlines our plan to continue implementing CPI strategy with growth targets that represent annual revenue growth of 15% to 20% and EBITDA margins in the range of 13% to 14% by 2027. The foundation of our strategic plan remains our people. We plan to continue building a competitive advantage through our workforce, maintaining our organizational culture as a family of companies, and providing superior benefits and career opportunities which attract and retain the best construction professionals. At CPI, we are dedicated to building better lives and to building the infrastructure that keeps our communities connected. In summary, We are pleased after Q1 to be right on track with our plan as we enter the second quarter of our seasonal business, where we are hard at work, maintaining our fleet and asphalt plants, and preparing for the busy work season ahead in the spring and the summer. I'd now like to turn the call over to Greg.