SPAR Group, Inc.

Hello and welcome to the SPIRE Group fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad, and to withdraw from the queue, you may press star, then two. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call to Sandy Martin with three-part advisors. Sandy, please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for the SPAR Group, Inc.' 's conference call to review the 2023 fourth quarter and full-year results. Joining me on the call today are SPAR's Chief Executive Officer, Mike Matacunas, and the company's chief financial officer, Antonio Calistopato. 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 at investors.sparinc.com. The information recorded on this call speaks only as of today, so please be advised that any time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the date of any replay 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, expectations, future events, or future financial performance are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements by their nature are uncertain and outside of the company's control. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. Please refer to today's earnings press release for our disclosures 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 may also refer to non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures can be found at the end of our earnings release. SPAR Group assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements publicly. Finally, the earnings press release we issued earlier today is posted on the investor relations section of our website at sparinc.com. A release copy was also included in an AK submitted to the SEC. And now I would like to turn the call over to the company's CEO, Mike Matacunas. Mike?

Thank you, Sandy, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to share our fourth quarter and full year results. At the end of our prepared remarks today, we will open the line for questions from analysts and institutional investors. On a consolidated basis, our fourth quarter revenue was $65.1 million, up 0.7% over the prior year. Our gross profit rose by 11%, reflecting a 210 basis point improvement in profit percentage, and our EBITDA for the quarter was $3.1 million, compared to a $250,000 loss for the same period, last year. Our consolidated net income for the quarter was $795,000 compared to a loss of $1.84 million last year in the same quarter. In short, revenue was up, margins were up, EBITDA was up, and net income, the bottom line, was up materially. But the core of our revenue performance for the quarter was our U.S.-owned merchandising business that increased revenue 9%. Our Canada business was up 66%, and our small business in Japan that increased top line by 8%. This growth was offset by a decline in Brazil, South Africa, and our U.S. joint ventures. I will comment more on joint ventures later in this call. Within the United States, our remodel business began to recover nicely and our distribution services business had an excellent quarter as we provided services to one of the country's largest, most successful big box retailers and a large sortation center. Combined with our growth in merchandising in the U.S., I'm pleased with how quickly we pivoted and responded to client project delays in the fourth quarter and delivered strong top and bottom line results. While I'm pleased with the revenue, the compelling story of the fourth quarter is our profitability. Net results in cash improvement. We increased gross profit dollars by 11% with a 210 basis point improvement in gross profit percentage on a consolidated basis. We achieved gross margins of 22.8% by focusing on terms, rates, and productivity. This is a 430 basis points higher for the fourth quarter than two years ago, the fourth quarter of 2021. This, while many of our competitors have experienced declining margins. Our consolidated EBITDA was 4.8% of revenue or 3.1 million for the quarter. This included a one-time net loss on the sale of our joint ventures of $408,000. Year-over-year, our EBITDA improved by 61%, adjusting significantly. last year's numbers for the one-time goodwill impairment, and this year for the one-time loss on sale. I am pleased with these results. Net income attributable thus far for the fourth quarter was $2.13 million, or 3.3% of revenue. Again, I am pleased with the results, and I want to thank my team and our team members across all parts of our business for a great quarter and strong results. For the full year, our revenue was $262.7 million, up 0.6%. While this is modest top-line consolidated growth, the results in our core business are compelling. Our U.S. Merchandising Division revenue is $52.5 million, up 20% over 2022. I shared the continued double-digit growth of our merchandising business over the prior quarterly calls, and I am really pleased with the full-year performance. We developed more work with brands in grocery, specialty, and discount to drive these numbers. In addition, our distribution assembly and installation business was up more than 50%, and our Canadian business top line was up 52% in U.S. dollars. Especially in Canada, the launch of our remodel business in 2022 has delivered outstanding results. Our Canada remodel business is up 423% for the year, and we believe there is much more to come in this market. Our headwinds in revenue growth came from Australia, Japan, Mexico, India, South Africa, and China. Each of these international businesses declined in revenue. Our gross profit dollars for the full year were up 8.8% and our gross profit margin was up 160 basis points over 2022. As I've stated before, this is purposeful work and I continue to be pleased with those results. Our consolidated EBITDA for 2023 was 11.4 million compared to 7.4 million last year for a 54% improvement. And finally, Our net income attributable SPAR for 2023 was $3.9 million compared to a $732,000 loss last year. After Antonio covers more detailed financial results, I will come back and share additional thoughts and insights about the business. For that, I will turn the call over to Antonio to review our results.