Hill International, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to the Hill International fourth quarter 2021 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Devin Sullivan of the Equity Group. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Alex. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for Hill International's fourth quarter and full year 2021 financial results conference call. Our speakers for today's call are Raul Fugali, Chief Executive Officer, and Todd Weintraub, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that certain statements made during this call may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and and it is our intent that any such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby. Except for historical information, the matters set forth herein, including but not limited to any statements of belief or intent, any statements concerning financial projections, our plans, strategies, and objectives for future operations are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates, and assumptions, and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including the but not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the willingness and ability of governments and other clients to undertake and complete infrastructure projects, and our ability to maintain and support business development activities. Although we believe that the expectations, estimates, and assumptions reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed in any of our forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause Our actual results do differ materially from estimates or projections contained in our forward-looking statements are set forth in the risk factor section and elsewhere in the reports we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including that unfavorable global economic conditions may adversely impact our business, our backlog may not be fully realized as revenue, and our expenses may be higher than anticipated. We do not intend and undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement. We have prepared a slide presentation for today's call, which is available for your reference at our website, www.hillintl.com, in the events and presentation section. The safe harbor applies to the information contained in those slides. Those slides also include definitions of the non-GAAP measures that we will be discussing today. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Rauf Ghali, Hill's Chief Executive Officer. Rauf, please go ahead.

Thank you, Devin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today to discuss our 2021 financial results. We ended the year in very strong fashion across several metrics. Consultant fee revenue rose to $305 million from $297 million in 2020, achieving our previous guidance. CFR for 2021 was driven in large by infrastructure projects in the U.S., especially in roads and highways and transit program and projects. We believe that the COVID-related headwinds we experienced those past two years are beginning to subside, and that belief is validated by our success in business development during the year. Although we are still in early recovery, we do believe that Hill is well-positioned to capture significant growth opportunities in 2022 and beyond, driven by U.S. infrastructure investments and the commencement of new and delayed projects internationally. New contracts award for 2021 rose by 21% to $437 million from $335 million $61 million last year, producing a book-to-burn of 143 percent compared to 122 percent last year. These new awards covered multiple geographies and end markets, particularly in the U.S. and Europe. Backlog at December 31, 2021, rose 9 percent to $730 million from year-end 2020 and represented the highest backlog since 2019. We narrowed our net loss, improved EBITDA by more than 37%, and ended the year with an adjusted EBITDA of $16.3 million. Our adjusted EBITDA for the year was below our previous guidance due to a one-time unusual expenses related to our response to COVID-19 pandemic. Todd will provide additional details. However, I want to stress that these one-time costs were confined to 2021 and are not expected to repeat in 2022 or any future periods. Our 2021 fourth quarter results were also largely encouraging, with CFR rising 8% to $78 million from last year's fourth quarter, and new contracts increasing 95% to $162 million from $83 million. With respect to new awards in Q4 2021, our project wins encompassed each of our global regions and focused primarily on infrastructure projects and programs. They included serving as lead technical consultant for current and future Athens Metro and tramway projects in the Attica region in Greece, managing the delivery of John Hopkins Medicine and Health Systems' new 126,000 square foot health and care and surgery center project on the 138-acre site in Maryland. Selected as program management consultant for a five-year contract for the Texas Department of Transportation's alternate delivery program. Serving as owner's engineers for the development of the new power plant in eastern Macedonia and Thraki, Greece. and providing PMCM services for two new task orders under the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority's ongoing $6.5 billion capital program in California. We continue to expect that Hill's project management services will be in high demand by agencies and owners who will be securing funds associated with the infrastructure bill. For all of 2021, 45% of our total new awards were infrastructure related. We believe this success makes Hill an ideal partner. As we sit here today, our expectation is that we will begin to realize these awards in late 2022. We're also pleased to have made further progress in collecting our outstanding receivables from our client, the Organization for the Development of Administrative administrative centers, or ODAC, an agency of the Libyan national government. Earlier this month, we received $500,000 cash payment against our outstanding balance and expect more to come. Before turning things over to Todd, I want to address a question that we have been hearing regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. Hale has no exposure Two, and no operation in Ukraine or Russia. We do not plan on pursuing work in these regions. And of course, we are praying for a swift and peaceful resolution to this conflict. That said, thank you for your attention, and I will now turn things over to Todd Weintraub, Hill's Chief Financial Officer. Todd, please go ahead.