Cadre Holdings, Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the CADRE Holdings third quarter ended September 30th, 2022 conference call. Today's call is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute. If you would like to ask a question at the end of the prepared remarks, please press the star key, then the number one on your touchtone phone. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Matt Berkowitz of the IGB Group for introductions and the reading of the Safe Harbor Statement. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, and welcome to CADRE Holdings' third quarter 2022 conference call. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during today's call, we will be making several forward-looking statements, and we make these statements under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect our best estimates and assumptions based on our understanding of information known to us today. These forward-looking statements are subject to the risks and uncertainties that face CADRE and the industries and markets in which we operate. More information on potential factors that could affect CADRE's financial results is included from time to time in CADRE's public reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please also note that we have posted presentation materials on our website at www.cadre-holdings.com, which supplement our comments this evening and include a reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures. I would like to remind everyone that this call will be available for replay through November 24, 2022, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight. A webcast replay will also be available via the link provided in today's press release, as well as on CADRE's website. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to CADRE's chairman and CEO, Warren Kanders.

Thank you, Matt. Good afternoon and thank you for joining CADRE's earnings call to discuss our results for the third quarter of 2022. I'm joined today by our President Brad Williams and Chief Financial Officer Blaine Browers. In our first year as a public company, we have made significant progress capitalizing on the attractive long-term tailwinds driving demand for our mission-critical safety and survivability equipment. We are delivering on our M&A strategy, while generating significant free cash flow, expanding margins, and exceeding our 1% pricing growth target above material inflation. Our operating model has been resilient in a challenging macro environment, and we are pleased to reaffirm 2022 guidance. Looking ahead, we are excited about our long-term outlook. Our business model benefits from strong cash flow generation, and our balance sheet is solid. So we believe we are well positioned to take advantage of a robust M&A pipeline. Executing on this element of our strategy is something that we as a team and I personally spend a substantial amount of time focusing on. In addition to acquiring businesses that complement our core, we are pursuing diversification plays consistent with our focus on safety and survivability. and we have seen some evidence that these types of businesses will be actionable in the short to medium term. As you can see from the presentation, we incurred transaction expenses in the third quarter and expect to incur additional transaction expenses in the fourth quarter, which shows that we are actively engaged in this activity and will continue to be thorough, disciplined, and thoughtful about our approach as we evaluate deals. It is worth spending a few minutes discussing the macro environment and how we believe it impacts our M&A objectives. First, the capital markets are generally challenging. The equity markets have been volatile, with some sectors up and others down, largely reflecting the performance of the underlying sectors. At the same time as the Fed and other central banks have raised interest rates and switched from quantitative easing to quantitative tightening, the credit markets have tightened. increasing the cost of borrowing for everyone and impacting the ability to get credit at all in some cases, regardless of the cost. We hedged the substantial portion of our current borrowings in the beginning of the year, so we are in good shape there. Our net leverage as of the end of the quarter was 1.7 times net debt to EBITDA, and we expect to further delever through the end of the year. We are also in constant communication with our bank syndicates and are highly confident of our ability to organize additional capital on attractive terms in spite of the overall climate should a compelling opportunity crystallize. Considering the financial markets, our tailwinds, and favorable industry macros, we believe we have solid organic drivers for our businesses that create the foundation to continue pursuing accretive acquisitions. With that, thank you for being with us today, and I will turn the call over to Brad. Brad, over to you.