CAE Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the CAE third 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. Mr. Arnovitz, you may now proceed.

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, February 14, 2024, 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 Exchange Commission on EDGAR. With the expected divestiture of our CAE's healthcare business, which is subject to closing conditions, including customary regulatory approvals, all comparative figures discussed here and our financial results have been reclassified to reflect discontinued operations. On the call with me this afternoon are Marc Perrin, SEAS President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sonia Branco, our Chief Financial Officer. After remarks from Marc and Sonia, we'll open the call to questions from financial analysts. At the conclusion of that segment, we'll open the lines to members of the media, should time permit. Marc, over to you.

Thank you, Andrew, and good afternoon, everyone joining us on the call. Our performance in the third quarter reflects the continued strong demand for our civil market solutions and points to the ongoing progress to transform our defense business. We generated strong free cash flow in the quarter, enabling us to further bolster our financial position in line with our leverage targets. We also made excellent progress to secure CA's future with nearly $1.3 billion in total order intake for an $11.7 billion backlog. In civil, we had strong financial performance that reflected the quarterly mix that we anticipated, with demand for commercial and business aviation training solutions continuing to be robust across all regions. Operationally, we delivered 13 full-flight simulators to customers during a quarter, and our average training center utilization was 76%, which is up from 73% last year. We booked $845 million of orders with customers worldwide for an impressive 1.36 times book-to-sales ratio, which is even more remarkable on revenue that's 20% higher than Q3 of last year. We also had strong order activity in our JVs this quarter, representing another approximate $135 million of training services orders, which are not included in the order intake figure but are reflected in the record $6.1 billion total civil backlog. We received orders for 20 full flight simulators in the quarter, bringing our tally for the first three quarters of fiscal year to 57. Notable wins, including penetrating more share of the existing market with long-term training services contracts with marquee airlines, including Air France KLM Group, and we renewed a flight services contract with Azul of Brazil. We continue to have very strong momentum in business aviation as well, with over $300 million of order intake in the quarter, driven primarily by training services agreements with US-based customers, including Solaris Aviation and Clay Lacey Aviation. The continued high level of order activity this quarter across all civil segments underscores our ability to win share in a large secular growth market which sees highly differentiated training and flight services solutions. In defense, our financial performance was consistent with our expectations at this point on our path toward being able to generate higher margins in the business. Defense performance was lower than the third quarter last year as we continued to retire risk on a group of distinct legacy contracts, which Sonia will describe in more detail in her section. We booked orders for $429 million for a 0.9 times book-to-sales ratio, giving us a $5.6 billion defense backlog, which is up from $5.1 billion in Q3 of last year. They include a maintenance contract with the United States Air Force for the F-16 training devices, and the continuation of training services on the C-138 transport and KC-135 tanker platforms. Defense orders also include an option exercise for the U.S. Army for fixed-wing flight training and support services at the C-8 Dothan Training Center. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Sonia, who'll provide you additional details about our financial performance. Sonia.