ESCO Technologies Inc.

Good day and welcome to the Q2 2020 ESCO Technologies Conference call. Today's call is being recorded. With us today are Vic Ritchie, Chairman and CEO, Gary Monster, Vice President and CFO, and now to present the forward-looking statement, I would like to turn the call over to Kaye Lowry, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. We issued a press release earlier today that will be referenced during the prepared remarks from this call. You can find a copy of our press release and our safe harbor statement regarding forward-looking statements made during this call in the Investor Center of ESCO's website at www.escotechnologies.com. During this call, the company may make forward-looking statements which are inherently subject to risk and uncertainty, particularly given the unknown impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the company's response to these evolving circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements, and the company does not assume any duty to update forward-looking statements. Please refer to the company's press release for risk factors which may impact any forward-looking statements and for a reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP measures. Now I'll turn the call over to Vic.

Thanks, Kate. Before I hand it over to Gary to discuss the second quarter financials, I'll make a few comments on the current state of the company. as well as our outlook for the future in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Given how much the world has changed since our last earnings call three months ago, I think it's important to share with you the details of how we're managing the business through this interesting time. As the pandemic spread across the globe during February and March, as economic impacts started being felt in some of our businesses, we did what we do best. We took decisive action. The actions we've taken have a clear and precise focus, which is to protect our strong financial condition, to secure the financial well-being of the company, and to support business continuity. These measures will allow us to weather the storm while continuing to support our long-term strategy for profitable growth. In the past, we've shown our operational excellence and our ability to effectively manage costs to meet challenging market demands. The challenging time will be no different as we are actively addressing today's business pressures by using all the tools at our disposal. The beauty of these current cost reduction initiatives is they're being done and implemented with minimal cost to achieve, thereby maintaining our flexibility to ramp up quickly should demand increases, customers, communities, and countries reopen their economies. Bottom line, we're controlling what is within our control and focusing on the near term without losing our vision for the future. I hope our comments today will leave investors with three clear messages about ESCO going forward. Our diverse portfolio of strong, durable businesses serving a wide range of non-discretionary end markets provides us with the strength and resilience to continue to support our long-term growth outlook. Number two, our strong balance sheet and significant financial liquidity will allow us to effectively manage through this crisis and maintain the company's financial health and well-being. And finally, our deep and experienced leadership team has managed through and overcome many challenges in our 30-year history, and I'm confident it will emerge from this extraordinary time as an even stronger company. Today, we have very clearly defined priorities. First and foremost is the health and safety of our employees and their families, followed by a commitment to meet the needs of our customers and suppliers. Both of these will help support the business today and secure our future during this uncertain time. Esco will benefit from the fact that we have developed leading positions in various niche markets with a set of unique and highly technical products and solutions specifically designed to meet our customers' needs, which makes it difficult to be replaced by alternative sources. Our continued investment in new products across all three segments and our staff of highly skilled engineering talent will continue to create new opportunities to provide value to our customers, which will drive our long-term growth. I firmly believe that our future will arise as our customers' communities recover and spending returns to more normal levels. To close out my comments before I hand it over to Gary, as we face the immediate and ensuing economic fallout of COVID-19, I believe we are well positioned to navigate the short-term challenges in front of us. I'm confident that our fundamental approach to operating our business and our solid liquidity will be the cornerstone of our continued long-term success. Our employees are our most important asset, and I want to say thank you to our manufacturing employees, leadership teams, and staff around the world for their hard work and dedication during this trying time. As you have all demonstrated, an extraordinary commitment to the success of ESCO. Now I'll turn it over to Gary.