Cardiff Lexingtn Corp

Good morning everyone and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Cardiff Lexington's financial results for the third quarter ended September 30th, 2025. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone requires operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Walter Frank of IMS Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. I would like to welcome everybody to the call. Hosting the call today are Cardiff Lexington's CEO, Alex Cunningham, and CFO, Matt Schaefer. I would like to take a moment to read the Safe Harbor Statement. This conference call contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933. as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements and terms such as anticipate, expect, intend, may, will, should, or other comparable terms involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief, or current expectations of Carter-Flexington and members of its management, as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in Carter-Flexington's periodic reports filed with the SEC, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, Carter-Flexington undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed conditions. I would now like to turn the call over to the CEO of Carter-Flexington, Alex Cunningham.

Thanks, Walter. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our conference call today to discuss our third quarter 2025 results. I will start by providing an overview of those third quarter results, our progress, and our strategy, before turning the call over to Matt Schaefer, our Chief Financial Officer, for a deeper dive into our financial results. We will then open the call for a brief Q&A. We delivered strong triple-digit revenue growth in the quarter with total revenue increasing to 3.1 million compared with 1.4 million in the third quarter of 2024. Revenue also increased on a sequential basis from 2.8 million in the second quarter of 2025. Our third quarter 2024 revenue included a change in accounting estimate of the billing settlement realization rate, which impacted our results for the quarter all the way down to our bottom line. Excluding this adjustment, revenue for the third quarter of 2024 would have been $3 million. Our margin profile improved in the quarter as well, demonstrated by gross margin in the quarter of 62.4%, compared with a gross margin of 26.2 percent in Q3 2024, representing an increase of over 3,600 basis points on a GAAP basis. Excluding the adjustment to revenue in the third quarter of 2024, gross margin would have been 66.7 percent. We recognized another consecutive period of adjusted EBITDA profitability in the quarter. and achieved $1.9 million in adjusted EBITDA for the nine months ended September 30, 2025. M&A remains a priority and represents a key strategic component of our growth plan. While we can't go into too much detail at this time, on a daily basis, we are actively engaged with several targets that we believe can transform our existing business by furthering our leverage and enhancing our position in this highly fragmented market. Just to recap for everyone, since this is only our second earnings call, 100% of our revenues are generated through our operating subsidiary, Nova Ortho and Spine, a provider of best-in-class orthopedic care, including primary care evaluations, care management, and interventional pain management to almost 200 patients per month. These patients come to us via a robust referral system that we built over the years of delivering quality care and building trust in our services. In this regard, the barriers to entry are very high, and Cardiff-Lexington has a clear advantage. Importantly, Nova Ortho and Spine also provides care to a severely underserved patient population, ones without access to health insurance and critical medical care. Because of this, payment is almost exclusively remitted through a combination of automotive insurance settlements, general liability carriers, and private payments with an industry-leading collection rate over 95%. This is a powerful and proven model with demonstrated results and a considerable runway for growth as all locations are currently operating on an average around 35% capacity. As you can see on slide five, our network of NOVA Ortho and Spine locations is strategically dispersed throughout rural population centers in Florida and Georgia, and we've been receiving strong demand for additional locations in the broader I-75 north-south corridor. We also recently expanded into Panama City Beach, Florida, and we'll be expanding into Panama City, Florida. We're energized by the demand that we're seeing in these locations as well. Our existing business is strong, and we're well positioned for considerable long-term growth as we continue to scale and expand. At the core of our business is a profitable and scalable healthcare platform with a demonstrated ability to drive revenue growth and consistent profitability in one of the fastest growing sectors of U.S. healthcare, orthopedics. Healthcare is also recession-resistant in that people need medical care and services regardless of economic environment, allowing our business to operate relatively efficiently in all economic cycles. As I mentioned briefly before, our patients also represent a severely underserved population that do not have access to health insurance or critical medical care. With payment collected through a combination of automotive insurance settlements, general liability carriers, and private payments, we're able to drive an industry-leading collection rate of over 95%. Pair these advantages with a high barrier to entry, a fragmented market that is primed for consolidation, And we believe we possess a profitable, credible, and scalable growth platform supported by seasoned management and a proven capital-efficient model that is positioned for considerable long-term growth and value creation. Cardiff Lexington has demonstrated proven ability to deploy capital at a very high rate of return. Our organic growth is supported and enhanced by our mergers and acquisitions efforts, which we view as a key strategic component to our regional growth plan. Underscoring our mergers and acquisitions strategy is a synergistic three-pillar approach that we believe ideally positions us to make accretive acquisitions and efficiently integrate them into our existing business. Our first pillar targets companies such as physician practices with strong core cash flows that we can acquire, integrate, and manage to drive improved recurring revenue and maximize operational efficiencies. Our second pillar is focused on acquiring assets that are accretive to our current model. By acquiring assets like real estate in the form of ambulatory surgery centers, orthopedic clinics, and MRI facilities, which are just a couple of examples we're able to meaningfully and cost-efficiently expand our geographical footprint while adding assets to our balance sheet. Our third and final pillar is driving long-term and sustainable profitability for Cardiff-Lexington. By deploying working capital to acquire and manage personal injury accounts receivable, instead of selling them off, we can capture valuable additional revenue and drive long-term income and sustain higher margins of profitability for our business. We're very encouraged by our progress in both the third quarter and year-to-date and believe that we are at a strategic inflection point well-positioned to accelerate growth through consistently enhanced organic results and strategic mergers and acquisitions activity. With that, I will now hand the call over to Chief Financial Officer Matt Schaefer to take a deeper dive into our financial results for the third quarter.

Matt Schaefer Thank you, Alex, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Turning to slide eight. Total revenue for the third quarter of 2025 was $3.1 million, compared with revenue of $1.4 million in the same quarter last year, an increase of 125.6%. As Alex mentioned, in the third quarter of 2024, we underwent a change in accounting estimate of the billing settlement realization rate, which reduced the revenue recognized in that period. Excluding this reduction, adjusted revenue in the third quarter of last year was $3 million. Now, the following remarks will include this one-time adjustment made to revenue in fiscal year 2024. Cost of sales increased 14.8% to 1.1 million in the third quarter, primarily related to surgical center and laboratory fees, physician and professional fees, salaries and wages, and medical supplies. Gross profit in the third quarter of 2025 was 1.9 million, or 62.4% of sales, compared to 355,000, or 26.2% of sales in the third quarter of 2024. Selling general and administrative expenses were $1.2 million, or 40% of revenue, in the third quarter of 2025, compared with $937,000, or 69.1% of revenue, in the third quarter of 2024. Income from continuing operations was $643,000, or 21% of total revenue, in the third quarter of 2025. compared with operating loss of $585,000, we're 43.2% of total revenue in the third quarter of 2024. Shifting to our profitability metrics, net loss in the third quarter of 2025 totaled $1.1 million, an improvement over a net loss of $2 million in the third quarter of 2024. Included in net loss in the quarter was interest expense of approximately $1.8 million compared to interest expense of approximately $1.4 million in the prior year period. The heightened interest expense in the quarter is related to the increase in initial and incremental fees charged on the number of existing purchases and claims under the line of credit for the three months ended September 30, 2025, compared to the prior year period. On a non-GAAP basis, we recognized adjusted EBITDA of $663,000 in the third quarter of 2025, compared with adjusted EBITDA of $1.1 million in the prior year period. Importantly, adjusted EBITDA does not include interest expense or the change in estimate for settlement realization rate that impacted our 2024 revenues. A detailed reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income is provided in our earnings press release that was issued this morning. Moving now to the balance sheet. Our total assets as of September 30th, 2025 were 27.6 million compared to 23.9 million at December 31, 2024. Current assets as of September 30th, 2025 included 232,000 in cash and 20.7 million of net accounts receivable, while current assets at December 31, 2024 included 1.2 million of cash and $15.9 million of net accounts receivable. Total liabilities as of September 30, 2025, were $22.6 million compared to $16.3 million at December 31, 2024. The increase in total liabilities is primarily related to our line of credit, which at September 30, 2025, had an outstanding balance of $14.7 million compared to $8.6 million at December 31, 2024. With that, I'll now turn the call back over to Alex.

Thanks, Matt. As we said before, we are very pleased with our progress, both in this third quarter and year to date, and we believe that we are well positioned to drive long-term growth and shareholder value. Looking ahead, our strategy is clear. We're targeting a strengthening working capital position to enhance the operating capacity of our NOBA ortho and spine locations, which have considerable runway for growth, being laser focused on driving growth through acquisitions. We're well established in our existing markets throughout Florida and into Georgia, where personal injury claim rates are some of the highest in the country. We're planning to aggressively expand into the broader mid-Atlantic and southeastern U.S. along the I-75 corridor from Florida to Michigan through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions to address the demand that we are seeing in these untapped and underserved markets. Mergers and acquisitions will continue to be a key strategic component driving our long-term growth. Our aim is to strategically deploy capital towards the execution of accretive mergers and acquisition deals to expand into contiguous businesses, including but not limited to MRI clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, orthopedic and spine clinics, and other related medical modalities. Carter Flexington is an established business with a proven model and demonstrated results, and we believe this strategy ideally positions us as we look forward into the 2026 for sustainable long-term growth and measurable shareholder value creation. With that, we can now open the call for questions.

Certainly. The floor is now open for questions. If you have any questions or comments, please press star 1 on your phone at this time. We ask that while posing your question, you please pick up your handset if listening on a speakerphone to provide optimum sound quality. please hold just a few moments while we poll for questions. Your first question is coming from Jeff Siegman with Siegman Capital Advisors. Please pose your question. Your line is live.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. So on the M&A front, is the goal to diversify your revenue model?

Well, thanks, Jeff. I guess my answer would be a qualified yes with some important context. You know, we are now and in the future will be a healthcare company, and our primary focus will always be orthopedics. Our current model, we think, is strong, and we see substantial opportunities for continued organic growth. That being said, though, part of our M&A strategy is to broaden and stabilize our revenue mix, and we want to integrate orthopedics with related practices that have more traditional pay or and complementary service lines so that we create a more diversified revenue base, strengthening our working capital, improving our cash flow, and supporting growth. So we'll be able to have a broader but always an orthopedic platform. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. That makes sense.

And another one. So You mentioned that NOVA Ortho and Spine is currently operating at just 35% capacity. Can you just give a little more color on why that is?

Sure, happy to do so. This is sometimes confusing and kind of relates to the last question as well. You know, we're seeing strong demand for our services across all our NOVA Ortho and Spine locations. However, we're currently held back by working capital limits and just frankly a lack of capitalization. because of the long gestation period of our related accounts receivable. That means from a cash flow business, we turn business away and our marketing efforts are frankly very limited, not due to capacity, but rather those cash flow requirements. Over time, as we expand our capital base and reduce our cost of capital, we should see a substantial growth in that operating capacity. So a key focus of our M&A strategy, as I said towards the last question, is to add more traditional pay or mix sourcing and complementary modalities so that we balance that cash flow and improve that working capital.

Got it. Got it. Okay. I think just, yeah, one more for me. So I guess you mentioned the company's at a strategic inflection point. Can you just, you know, explain a bit more kind of what you mean by that?

Well, the company is at a strategic inflection point. We have a proven business model. We now hold significant market share, and we're in a position based upon that track record to attract capital and accelerate growth by sourcing additional working capital to fund those operations and reduce debt, and as we talked about earlier, lower financing costs by pursuing acquisitions, changing that mix, and orthopedics is a very fragmented market. There's high barriers to entry. We think it's ideally positioned for a roll-up strategy at this point. With the access to growth capital, we can accelerate those acquisitions, expand our liquidity, capture market share, drive meaningful shareholder returns. I mean, in short, we're in the right place at the right time. We have rare opportunity a credible platform, a high growth market where we can combine downside protection with significant upside potential as we target a specific region of the country where there's opportunity for Carter-Flexington. Got it. Got it.

That's great. That's all for me. Thank you.

Once again, if you do have any remaining questions, Please press star one at this time to ask a question. Please hold a moment while we pull for questions. There are no additional questions in queue at this time. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Alex Cunningham for closing remarks.

Well, I'd like to thank everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to talking to you again after the first of the year as we review our year-end results for 2025. Everybody have a great day. Thanks.

Thank you, everyone. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.