Korn Ferry

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Korn Ferry first quarter fiscal year 2024 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following their prepared remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. We have also made available in the investor relations section of our website at KornFerry.com a copy of the financial presentation that we will be reviewing with you today. Before I turn the call over to your host, Mr. Gary Burnison, let me first read a cautionary statement to investors. Certain statements made in the call today, such as those relating to future performance, plans, and goals, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, Investors are cautious not to place undue reliance on such statements. Actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected or desired because of a number of risks and uncertainties which are beyond the company's control. Additional information concerning such risks and uncertainties can be found in the release relating to this presentation and in the periodic and other reports filed by the company with the SEC including the company's annual report for fiscal year 2023 and the company's soon to be filed quarterly report for the quarter ended July 31st, 2023. Also some of the comments today may reference non-GAAP financial measures such as constant currency amount, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Additional information concerning these measures including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is contained in the financial presentation and earnings release relating to this call, both of which are posted in the investor relations section of the company's website at www.cornferry.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Burnison. Please go ahead, Mr. Burnison.

Okay, thank you, Greg, and good afternoon, everybody, and thanks for joining us. Our team is going to get into the numbers in a second, but I first wanted to say how incredibly proud I am. Proud of our firm, of our colleagues. And, you know, our diversification strategy is the right one. I mean, it continues to positively influence our results. You know, I would point out that clearly the market demand for perm placement talent acquisition has softened from post-pandemic highs to But the rest of the portfolio has performed absolutely as designed. I mean, our consulting and digital businesses have never been more meaningful, especially when you think about tomorrow's economy, when there's going to be continued demographic shortages, skill shifts all over the globe. As I step back and tap Google Earth, I think much of the business world is in the midst of a multi-quarter cyclical reset, not only in how we work, but also adapting to an interest rate environment that we haven't seen in almost two decades. This transitory period is going to bring about, I think, significant change and more importantly, opportunity for Korn Ferry. And we're going to seize that opportunity with a three-point strategy. Number one, optimize. Two, innovate. And three, consolidate. And Bob's going to get into that a little bit more in his remarks. And I would just conclude by saying, you know, while we're certainly not where we used to be, we're definitely on the road to where we want to be. the firm that enables people and organizations to be more than. Bob, I'll turn it over to you.

Great. Thanks, Gary, and good afternoon or good morning, depending on where you're calling in from. Listen, I echo Gary's comments in that we're pleased with the results from the first quarter of the fiscal year as our earnings and profitability remain sequentially stable despite, you know, the challenging macroeconomic backdrop as well as a seasonably slower fee revenue quarter. As I step back and put the quarter in context, I'm also pleased that our results are a clear demonstration that we continue to successfully execute our strategy. We built a company with a portfolio of core and integrated human capital solutions that are both highly relevant in the world today, as well as synergistic with respect to top line. In an environment where other employment services companies are seeing downward pressure on their top line, You know, as we've executed our strategy, our fee revenue was essentially flat year over year, as client demand around solutions such as workforce transformation, assessment succession, interim contract labor, offset the expected moderation in permanent placement talent acquisition. Now, you heard Gary speak about our strategic focus going forward, optimize, innovate, and consolidate. So let me start with optimize first, and we are going to continue to drive productivity by leveraging our cost base. In fact, if you take Q1 of FY24 and compare that to Q3 of FY20, that's a quarter right before the pandemic, our fee revenue per employee is up 18%. We will also continue to pursue opportunities in faster growing economies. with governments that are driving economic infrastructure and human capital initiatives, with our marquee and regional accounts, and with our cross-line of business referrals. Now, let me turn to Innovate. We will be at the forefront of talent and organizational data, ensuring that our IP is fit for purpose for the foreseeable future. We're going to continue to leverage new technologies as they emerge, such as generative AI, to drive greater client impact. We'll continue with our investment to monetize our intellectual property through our digital business and increase our emphasis and investment in our expansive and proprietary data. Last, I'll touch upon consolidate, where our efforts are going to be focused on continuing our investment in strategically aligned, less cyclical, faster growing, and larger addressable markets. We're going to continue to focus on building out a global executive and professional interim business, expanding our business in leadership and professional development, as well as our capabilities in leadership development outsourcing. And we'll continue to explore opportunities in strategic and operational consulting. Now, with that, let me turn the call over to Greg, who's going to take you through some of the overall company financial highlights.