CAE Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the CAE first quarter conference call. Please be advised that this call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Andrew Arnovitz. You may now proceed, Mr. Arnovitz.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that today's remarks, including management's outlook for fiscal year 22, and answers to questions contained forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations as of today, August 11, 2021, and accordingly are subject to change. Such statements are based on assumptions that may not materialize and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially, and listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. A description of the risks, factors, and assumptions that may affect future results is contained in CEE's annual MD&A, available on our corporate website and on our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators on CDAR and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR. On the call with me this afternoon are Marc Perrin, CEE's President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sonia Brenko, our Chief Financial Officer. After the remarks from Marc and Sonia, we'll take questions from financial analysts and institutional investors and following the conclusion of that Q&A period, we'll open the call to questions from members of the media. Let me now turn the call over to Mark.

Thank you, Andrew, and good afternoon to everyone joining us on the call. Our positive momentum continued into the new fiscal year, and I'm pleased with our strong first quarter performance. Even in the midst of a pandemic, we've been able to drive results by being adaptive and agile through some of the most rapidly changing circumstances. We reported top and bottom line growth across all three business units during the quarter, and on a consolidated basis, we generated 37% year-over-year growth and 19 cents of adjusted earnings per share. In civil, first quarter average training center utilization was 56%, which is 1% higher than last quarter, and much higher than the 33% in the first quarter last year. We also delivered 11 full-flight simulators to customers around the world. On the orders front, we signed training solutions contracts valued at $338 million, including five full-flight simulator sales, new four-year business aviation training agreements with Journey Aviation and Gamma Aviation, and a three-year business aviation training agreement with Apcon Jet. We also succeeded to penetrate more share of the traditionally insourced airline training market with two new 10-year exclusive aviation training agreements with Scandinavian Airlines, SAS, and WestJet. We were also selected as partner of choice to aircraft OEMs in the emergent advanced air mobility market. We're leading the design and development of the Jaunt Aircraft Systems Integration Lab for the company's new all-electric vertical takeoff and landing, or EVTOL aircraft, the Journey aircraft. And just at the end of the quarter, we announced a strategic partnership with Volocopter to develop, certify, and deploy an innovative pilot training program and courseware development for EVTOL operations. On the M&A front, we expanded our position in civil maintenance training with the acquisition of Global Jet Services, a proven leader in aviation maintenance training. This tuck-in acquisition expands our capabilities with increased addressability of business aircraft and helicopter platforms for maintenance training through world-class regulatory-approved training programs. By leveraging our experience in pilot training, we expect this to enable rapid growth for CA in the maintenance training market. In defense, we booked orders for $152 million including newly awarded contracts to the United States Army to provide a new and upgraded maritime integrated training system and the SOSEC Consortium to design and develop the initial prototype HH-60W virtual mixed reality air crew trainer for the United States Air Force. Other notable contracts include continuing to provide upgrades and updates on C-130J training systems for the U.S. Air Force, as well as KDC-130J training systems for the U.S. Marine Corps, continuing to provide a range of in-service support solutions for the Royal Canadian Air Force's CF-18 aircraft, and continuing to provide management and support of Royal Australian Air Force aerospace simulators. Defense also received an order to provide a new part-task trainer, a range of updates, and additional training support services for the PC-21 ground-based training system supporting pilot training for the French Air Force. I'm especially pleased with the speed at which the team concluded right after the end of the quarter our acquisition of L3 Harris military training, having obtained all regulatory approvals and meeting all other closing conditions. We're excited to welcome some 1,600 members of the L3 Harris military training team and to leverage our combined expertise to support the mission of our defense and security customers. Our combined teams are now squarely focused on integration efforts and seizing on our expanded market opportunities. As testimony to how our position has already been substantially augmented by L3 Harris military training, since the end of the quarter, defense won key positions on three major IDIQs, and two noteworthy prime contracts that together significantly expand SEAS customer base and market reach. Specifically, we won the largest IDI2 contract in SEAS history with our prime position on the U.S. General Service Administration, or GSA, ASTRAL IDI2 vehicle for data operations, aircraft, development, and systems integration support and training pools. We gained access to four of the five pools because of the three L3 Harris military training acquisitions, which in total represents a budget of several billions of dollars over a 10-year period. We also won a prime contract on the Multiple Award Task Order Contract, or MATOC, IDIQ, to provide mission support services for the United States Army Futures Command. Defense also won a position in an important growth domain as a key partner to small businesses, on the National Cyber Range Complex, IDIQ. Furthermore, Defense won a competitive prime contract with expected lifecycle value of $90 million U.S. over eight years to develop simulators and training for the U.S. Air Force Joint Terminal Attack Controllers. And in another first for CA, Defense won a three-letter agency prime contract with the GSA, expanding our market penetration into synthetic environment enhanced multi-domain operational support and training. In healthcare, I'm encouraged by the double-digit year-over-year growth that we have in the quarter, which is driven by our core healthcare simulation and training business. We continue to bring highly innovative solutions to market with the release of CE Vimix 3.2, an advanced software technology that makes our platform the industry's first ultrasound simulator with 3D, 4D ultrasonography, and multi-planar reconstruction for improved fidelity and realism. We also launched CAICCU, which is a digital portfolio of learning solutions targeting critical care clinicians for ultrasound education. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Sonia who will provide additional details about our financial performance, and I'll return at the end of the call to comment on our outlook. Sonia?