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 and answers to questions, contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations as of today, August 9, 2023, 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 risk factors and assumptions that may affect future results is contained in CA's annual MD&A, available on our corporate website and in 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 is Marc Parent, SEAS President and Chief Executive Officer. Sonia Branco, our Chief Financial Officer, is unfortunately under the weather today, so I'll be covering off her remarks. Also on hand with us is Constantino Malatesta, our Corporate Controller. After remarks from Mark and me, we'll open the call to questions from financial analysts, and at the conclusion of that segment, we'll open the line to 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. We're off to a strong start to the fiscal year with first quarter results driven by double-digit year-over-year growth in civil, continued strengthening and transformation in defense, and increased profitability in healthcare. We've made excellent progress to secure CEE's future growth with over a billion dollars in total order intake for a record $11.2 billion backlog. We also further bolstered our financial position and we're on track to meet our leverage targets by mid-fiscal year. In civil, our markets are thriving and we're addressing a greater share of our customers' training and operational needs as evidenced by our long-term training services agreements that now include nearly every major U.S. airline. We booked $730 million of orders with customers worldwide for a 1.35 times book-to-sales ratio, including 22 full-flight simulator sales and a range of multi-year training contracts in commercial and business aviation. We delivered six full-flight simulators during the quarter, and average training center utilization was 77%, up from 71% last year. As this increase suggests, commercial and business aviation train demand was strong across all regions, particularly as customers got their required training sessions done ahead of the busy summer travel period. While airlines in Asia Pacific are still not yet back to full capacity on international routes, they continued to make rapid progress to restore their operations to 2019 levels and beyond. During a recent Paris Airshow, several of our airline partners inked sizable aircraft orders to be able to execute on their growth plans and were excited to be in a position to serve their needs over the next several years. Also significant during the airshow was our announcement of a strategic alliance with Boeing whereby CA will become a Boeing-authorized training provider and the first to offer its competency-based training and assessment curriculum. With this arrangement, Boeing and CA will expand accessibility to high-quality, innovative flight training to commercial aviation customers worldwide. We're immensely proud of this collaboration with Boeing, first and foremost in our mission to advance safety by bringing forth solutions that will revolutionize the future of training. As you can imagine, we welcome any and all opportunities to help advance the industry forward. We also use the occasion of the Paris Airshow to release our 2023 Aviation Talent Forecast, which anticipates the global need for 1.3 million new aviation professionals to join the industry as pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians, and cabin crew over the next 10 years to support the expected growth of the commercial and business aviation markets. In defense, performance was in line with our expectations, and we're making excellent progress to transform our business, as particularly demonstrated by our recent large strategic program wins and record $5.4 billion defense backlog. These involve larger and more profitable opportunities that we now have the capabilities to bid and win. This quarter, we booked the orders across multiple domains for training and mission support solutions, with the funded Porschup orders valued at $238 billion, 4.5 times booked to sales. Given the large size and number of major program wins in the U.S. this quarter, the unfunded Porschup contracts awarded was even more significant and more than three times the funded Porschup. In total, These represent an additional $779 million contribution to adjusted backlog. Notable awards include the contracts we announced in May to support FSTSS at Fort Novosel, Alabama, and the U.S. Air Force IFTR contract for initial helicopter flight training out of our existing training center in Dalton, Alabama. Both programs involve delivering simulation and training solutions that are very similar to what we offer in commercial aviation, except, of course, for defense customers instead of airlines. Additionally, defense was recently awarded a contract in the land domain that is critical to the U.S. Army's mission, namely phase two of their rapid prototyping effort supporting the soldier virtual trainer program for the replacement of 800-plus legacy training systems. Since the end of the quarter, Defense has continued to leverage DOLTHIN Training Center and our industry's leading business aviation training expertise to provide mission-critical solutions for the U.S. Army with a contract for simulation-based training for the Army's key next-generation ISR system called HADES, meaning the High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System, which is based on the Bombardier Global 6500 business jet, a platform for which we are the global authorized training provider in civil aviation. At the end of July, the Government of Canada announced the selection of Skyline, a partnership between CAE and KF Aerospace, as the preferred bidder for the Future Aircrew Training Program, or FACT, to provide next-generation pilot training and aircrew training for the Royal Canadian Air Force. This is a major development for CAE and underscores my excitement for our future in this space. We're now entering discussions with the Canadian government and our partners, and the award is anticipated in 2024. In context of securing CAE's future growth, we expect the FACT program to become our largest contract win to date, representing a multi-billion dollar generational training opportunity that will ensure work for CAE over the next quarter century. Turning now to healthcare, we continue to gain share in the simulation market, delivering above-market revenue growth and higher profitability with our dynamic team and highly innovative solutions. We had notable contract awards for our Learning Space Center management solution for the Thomas F. Frist Junior College of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, and a contract from the University of North Dakota for a multi-SIM sale to outfit their simulation and motion mobile education system. And by leveraging our technology and subject matter expertise, healthcare delivered or entered an agreement with Abbott Laboratories to develop a training program to support the launch of a new commercial pay space. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Andrew who will provide additional details about our financial performance. Andrew?