Willdan Group, Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Will Dan Group's second quarter 2023 financial results conference call. Our host for today's call is Al Kastchok. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to your host. Mr. Kastchok, you may begin.

Thank you, Morgan. Good afternoon, everyone. and welcome to Wildan Group's second quarter 2023 earnings call. Joining our call today are Tom Brisbane, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Kim Early, Chief Financial Officer, and Mike Beaver, President. The call today builds on our earnings release we issued after market closed today. You may find the earnings release and the Wildan investor report that accompanies today's call in the press release and stock information section of our investorization website. Management will review prepared remarks, and then we'll open the call up to your questions. Statements made in the course of today's conference call, including answers to your questions, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward statements involve certain risks and uncertainties And it's important to note that the company's futures results could differ materially from those in any such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially and other risk factors are listed from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including but not limited to the annual report on Form 10-K filed for the year ended December 30, 2022. The company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements made during the course of this conference call. Wildan disclaims any obligation and does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements made today. In addition to GAAP results, Wildan also provides non-GAAP financial measures that we believe enhance investors' ability to analyze the business trends and performance. Our non-GAAP measures include net revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EPS. I will now turn the call over to Tom Risen, Will Dam's chair and CEO.

Thanks, Al, and good afternoon, everyone. Our second quarter performance was strong. This continues the momentum we started last year. Net revenue grew 17% in the second quarter. For the first six months of this year, we grew net revenue by 20%. All of the growth was organic and across the entire company. The Wildan team is converting this net revenue growth to profit and cash flow. For the trailing 12 months and the June 30th EBITDA, it was $37.9 million, the highest level ever at Wildan. Our backlog is solid, and we are seeing many new opportunities. These opportunities replace the annual reduction we saw from the SCE contract. These new opportunities include $40 million with NYPA, that's the New York Power Authority, $120 million from one of the nation's largest school districts, $30 million plus from Southern California Edison, $20 million from PG&E in a program called CETA, and $10 million from the San Diego Gas and Electric. Our policy and planning group, E3, remains very strong. They provide energy consulting to the entire country, helping develop the framework for the clean energy transition. In addition, E3's asset valuation and market price forecasting practices are growing rapidly. Large private infrastructure funds are pivoting their portfolios to clean energy investments. These investments support Willian's other capabilities, such as city engineering. utility programs, grid distribution, data analytics, design, and construction management. Recently, we supported Blackstone Infrastructure Partners on their $2.15 billion equity investment in the Northern Indiana Public Service Company. Cross-sowing is working. We were recently selected by a major healthcare provider with over 1,200 facilities. The problem we are working on is how much of their capital budget is allocated to their decarbonization goals. To solve this problem, we're using our finance consulting services, E3, along with our utility energy efficiency programs and design construction services. This decarbonization project is very similar to the LL97 project. for New York City. There we created a $4 billion budget to help decarbonize over 4,000 buildings. Municipal engineering and financial services grew 16% year over year and continue to expand margins. Municipalities are an important customer for us, and we've served 90% of the cities and counties in California for nearly 60 years. We see cities starting to address decarbonization and exploring the use of IRA and infrastructure funds. In times of a recession, it's often cities that see the slowdown first, and our work with cities does not show any signs of a recession. Our broader municipal capabilities, combined with the labor shortage at cities, is creating opportunities for growth. We're successfully expanding our municipal engineering and financial services and to other states such as Arizona, Florida, Texas, to name a few. Overall, our portfolio of utility programs is performing well. Our San Diego gas and electric outreach program is on schedule. We're receiving change orders to expand work under our small business program. Given our PG&E public program success, we saw a $2 million contract increase for 2023 PG&E is in the process of extending the contract from 24 to 27, adding another $17 million to the contract. Our restructured SCE Southern California Edison contracts are delivering the modified SCE program goals. We are having encouraging implementation discussions, and the program has improved operating results. Our small business program for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power including our work for the Los Angeles Unified School District, is doing well. And the same goes for our utility programs around the country, such as Puget Sound Energy, Duke, and several New York utilities. Our software business is having a great year. Their pipeline is robust, and they are positioned for their best year. Strategically, we see the demand for electric vehicles, solar, battery, wind power, and electrification driving opportunities for both distribution grid planning and forecasting. Our software helps utilities plan and optimize their solutions. Further, we are collaborating across the organization by leveraging IA software with E3's consulting. Our performance engineering group is currently in their two strongest production quarters. They are beginning work for the sixth largest school district in the US and advancing production on five new California-based performing engineering contracts. These wins were based on collaboration with our municipal engineering, utility engineering efficiency, and new construction software capabilities. Our New York energy engineering business saw contract revenue up 16% over the 2022 period with an improvement in profitability. Given our work with the dormitory authority of the state of New York, DASNY, the New York City Housing Authority, NYCHA, and the New York Power Authority, NYPA, this group is on track for 50% organic growth in 2023. They're electrifying NYCHA housing to decarbonize the grid and provide better living for the residents. In closing, we expect to finish strong in 2023 and for these positive trends to continue next year. We're looking to resume acquisitions by late this year, early next year. With our earnings growth, strong backlog, and acquisitions, we expect greater than 15% annual growth for the next three years. As Kim will discuss, we have increased our 2023 guidance for all financial metrics. I want to thank our employees, customers, and stockholders for your support. I will now turn the call over to Kim will provide additional details on our financial results and our updated guidance. Kim?