CTS Corporation

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Good day, and welcome to the CTS Corporation first quarter 2021 earnings call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Kieran O'Sullivan. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Olivia. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today, and welcome to CTS's first quarter 2021 conference call. Sales in the first quarter were 128 million, up 25% compared to the same period in 2020. While customer demand has been robust, we have been challenged by supply chain disruptions, including the impact of semiconductor and resin shortages, customer shutdowns, and increasing logistic costs due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We are also seeing increases in raw material pricing, which have been significant in some cases, we expect some of the supply chain challenges to persist through the second quarter with the potential to improve from that point forward. First quarter gross margin was 33.2%, up 130 basis points from 31.9% in the same period last year. Our gross margin performance was negatively impacted by the supply chain challenges already mentioned, and pricing pressure, which is increasing across several commodities this year. EBITDA margin of 20% is up 500 basis points from 15% in the first quarter of 2020. All our plants are operational and functioning at approximately 100% capacity, despite the pandemic challenges impacting our European and Mexican operations. First quarter adjusted earnings per share of 46 cents were up 142% from $0.19 in the first quarter of 2020. New business awards of $156 million were up from $105 million in the same period last year. Operating cash flow was $20 million, up from $12 million in the first quarter of 2020. Ashish Agarwal, our CFO, is with me for today's call and will take us through the Safe Harbor Statement. Ashish.