SPAR Group, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the SPAR Group first quarter 2024 results. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star then zero on your telephone keypad. 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. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Sandy Martin, three-part advisors. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for SPAR Group Inc.' 's conference call to review the first quarter 2024 results. Joining me on the call today are SPAR's Chief Executive Officer, Mike Matacunas, and the company's Chief Financial Officer, Antonio Calisto-Pato. 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, or 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. Now I would like to turn the call over to the company's CEO, Mike Manacunas.

Thank you, Sandy, and good morning. I am pleased to share our first quarter results and continued progress on SPAR's strategic transformation. At the end of our prepared remarks today, we will open the line for questions from analysts and institutional investors. For the first quarter, 2024, our consolidated revenue increased 6.7%. SG&A was down nearly 850,000 or 220 basis points of favorability as a percentage of revenue. We captured the financial benefit of the South Africa sale of 7.2 million. The resulting EBITDA is 10.1 million and net income attributable to SPAR for the quarter is 6.6 million or 28 cents earnings per share. This has compared the $0.04 of earnings per share last year for the same period. In addition, in subsequent events to the quarter, we announced the buyback of 1 million shares from one of our largest shareholders and a founder and acquired the balance of our Resource Plus U.S. joint venture, giving us full value for our shareholders of the U.S. business. You'll also hear from Antonio in a few minutes that our cash position at the end of the first quarter was strong and our balance sheet is in excellent shape. Within the consolidated results, our U.S. business, which is the combination of our own business in the first quarter plus our resource plus joint venture, grew by 17% compared to the same period last year, and Canada grew by 79%. As I noted in the last few calls, we expected the remodel business to recover, and it did not disappoint. The recovery of our U.S. remodel business accelerated in the first quarter and grew by 98% against the same quarter last year perhaps as exciting for us related to the u.s growth is that three of our top 10 clients in the u.s for the quarter are new clients to our business one of them moving us deeper into the grocery segment while we were busy delivering the quarter we also won business for future success our u.s and canada teams won more than 35 million dollars in new business in the first quarter including a multi-year deal valued at more than 12 million dollars per year with one of the U.S.' 's largest home improvement retailers. The one metric that is lower compared to the prior year is gross margin. I see this as a single quarter event and expect the margin to recover to recent levels over the balance of the year. One of the most significant weights on the gross margin in the quarter was the performance of South Africa. South Africa business delivered a 910 basis point drop in gross margin. South African revenue was also down year over year. In our view, we exited the business at the right time to preserve long-term value for our shareholders. While we still operate businesses in Japan, Mexico, and India, the demand for our services in the U.S. and Canada is strong. We have more work to capitalize on all of the opportunity in front of us, but I remain confident that we're set up for success. After Antonio covers more detailed financial results, I will share additional thoughts and insights about the business. Antonio.