Star Equity Holdings, Inc.

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Start Equity Holdings, Inc.' 's fourth quarter 2022 results conference call. Please be advised that the discussions on today's call may include forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Please refer to Start Equity's most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings for a more complete description of risk factors that could affect these projections and assumptions. The company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please also note that on this call, management will reference non-GAAP financial measures including EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per share, which are all financial measures not recognized under U.S. GAAP. As required by SEC rules and regulations, these non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their most comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release issued this morning. If you did not receive a copy of the earnings release and would like one after the call, please contact Star Equity at 203-489-9500 or its investor relations representative, Lena Cathy, of the Equity Group at 212-836-9611. Also, this call is being broadcast live over the internet and may be accessed at StartEquity's website via www.startequity.com. Shortly after the call, a replay will also be available on the company's website.

It is now my pleasure to introduce Rick Coleman, Chief Executive Officer of StartEquity.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. On the call with me today are STARS Executive Chairman Jeff Everwine and our Chief Financial Officer Dave Noble. It's a pleasure to be speaking with you today and it's especially gratifying to report significantly improved results across both our construction and healthcare divisions. The strength of our fourth quarter 2022 Consolidated financial results comes from significantly better operating performance with improvements we made throughout the year now beginning to show through in our financial results. Our construction division delivered strong top and bottom line growth resulting in fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA more than double that of the prior year quarter. Our healthcare division also performed well in the fourth quarter with adjusted EBITDA up 79% year over year. Overall, we're beginning 2023 with a significantly improved operating portfolio. In addition, we continue to identify and investigate future acquisition opportunities, either to expand our existing businesses or enter new lines of business. Now I'll focus on the results of our healthcare division. In the fourth quarter, our healthcare division revenue was $14.5 million, or 6.7% lower than the prior year period. Our termination of two unprofitable product initiatives contributed to approximately one quarter of the total decline. In addition, two external factors contributed to lower total scanning revenue for the quarter. The first was the continuing national shortage of nuclear medical technologists, which we've discussed previously. And the second was an approximately six-week worldwide shortage of radiopharmaceutical doses caused by an offline nuclear reactor. In the second quarter this year, we undertook a disciplined restructuring of our entire healthcare business. In addition to tightening our cost controls, we realigned management responsibility to leverage the strengths of our most talented employees. These changes were significant and we're now seeing the results of our efforts in our financials. Those changes, along with increased higher margin camera sales and robust scanning service margins, were significant contributors to our strong fourth quarter gross profit, which increased by 23%. Additionally, our gross margin percentage increased by seven percentage points over the same period last year. Now I'll touch on the results of our construction division. Q4 construction revenue increased 26% to $17.6 million versus $14 million in Q4 of 2021. and gross margin improved to 31% versus 27% in the same period last year. The construction division revenue increase was driven primarily by increased output at our EBGL business. The increase in gross margin percentage was due to significantly increased pricing levels to offset higher input costs in both residential and commercial projects as well as better risk management around building materials price volatility at both EBGL and KVS. Despite macroeconomic uncertainty across the construction space at large, we're a relatively small specialized player with a unique position in the market. In particular, we're experiencing secular growth in the areas of workforce housing, affordable housing, educational dormitories and buildings, and environmentally sustainable housing. We have a robust pipeline for the first half of 2023 and are working on some exciting new business initiatives that we expect will continue to fuel our future growth. Now I'll turn the call over to Dave Noble, our CFO, who will provide additional fourth quarter consolidated financial highlights. Dave, please go ahead.