Celestica, Inc.

Celestica Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Tuesday, January 30, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Craig Oberg, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on Seleska's fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. On the call today are Rob Mayones, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mandeep Chawla, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, during this call, we will make forward-looking statements within the meanings of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations forecasts, and assumptions, which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from conclusions, forecasts, or projections expressed in such statements. For identification and discussion of such factors and assumptions, as well as further information concerning forward-looking statements, please refer to yesterday's press release, including the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements therein, our most recent annual report on Form 20F, and our other public filings, which can be accessed at sec.gov and cdarplus.com. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. In addition, during this call, we will refer to various non-IFRS financial measures, including ratios based on non-IFRS financial measures consisting of non-IFRS operating margin, adjusted gross margin, adjusted return on invested capital or adjusted ROIC, adjusted free cash flow, gross debt to non-IFRS trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA leverage ratio, adjusted earnings per share or adjusted EPS, adjusted SG&A expense, adjusted effective tax rates, and operating earnings. Listeners should be cautioned that references to any of the foregoing measures during this call denote non-IFRS financial measures, whether or not specifically designated as such. These non-IFRS financial measures do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other public companies that report under IFRS or who report under US GAAP and use non-GAAP financial measures to describe similar operating metrics. We refer you to yesterday's press release and our Q4 2023 earnings presentation, which are available at Seleska.com under the Investor Relations tab for more information about these and certain other non-IFRS measures. including a reconciliation of historical non-IFRS financial measures to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures from our financial statements, and a description of recent modifications to specified non-IFRS financial measures. Unless otherwise specified, all references to dollars on this call are to U.S. dollars, and per share information is based on diluted shares outstanding. Let me now turn the call over to Rob.

Thank you, Craig. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. We ended the year with a very strong fourth quarter, achieving revenue of $2.14 billion, which was towards the high end of our guidance range, while a non-IFRS adjusted EPS came in at 76 cents, exceeding the high end of our guidance range. A non-IFRS operating margin was 6%, exceeding the midpoint of our revenue and non-IFRS adjusted EPS guidance ranges. The outperformance in the fourth quarter relative to our guidance was driven by continued strength in our CCS segment, supported by the sustained growth of our hyperscaler portfolio. We continue to see the benefit of improved mix on our CCS segment margin, which reached yet another new high of 6.7% in the fourth quarter. In our ETS segment, revenues were down slightly year-to-year as incremental demand softness in our industrial business and continued demand headwinds in our capital equipment business, more than offset strong growth in our A&D business. Our solo performance in the fourth quarter capped a stellar year in 2023. Throughout this past year, we continued to execute on our strategic plan, enhanced our competitive presence in key markets, and consistently delivered on our financial objectives. In 2023, our business generated revenue of approximately $8 billion, 10% higher than 2022, driven by strong growth in both our CCS and APS segments. Our non-IFRS adjusted EPS of $2.43 was up 28% versus the prior year, while non-IFRS operating margin of 5.6% was higher by 70 basis points. with both results marking the highest in the company's history. Our strong profitability and working capital management allowed us to generate non-IFRS adjusted free cash flow of $194 million, exceeding our full-year target of $150 million. Before I provide an update on the market outlook for each of our businesses, I would now like to turn the call over to Mandeep, who will provide further details on our fourth quarter financial performance and our guidance for the first quarter of 2024. Mandeep, over to you.