ADENTRA Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Adentra's first quarter 2023 results conference call. At this time, our lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Friday, May 12, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ian Tharp, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Lara, and good morning to those joining today as we discuss Adentra's financial results for the first quarter of 2023. With me on the call today are Rob Brown, Adentra's president and CEO, and Fez Karmali, vice president and CFO. Adentra's Q1 2023 earnings release, financial statements, and MD&A are available on the investors section of our website at www.adentragroup.com. These statements have also been filed on a dentist's profile on CDAR at www.cdar.com. I want to remind listeners that management's comments during this call may include forward-looking statements. These statements involve various known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Actual results could differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements. Please refer to the text in Edentra's earnings press release and financial filings for discussion of the risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements. All dollar figures referred to today are in U.S. dollars unless stated otherwise. I'd now like to turn the call over to Rob Brown. Rob?

Thanks, Ian. Good morning, everyone. I am pleased to speak with you this morning as we report Edentra's financial and operating results. for the first quarter of 2023. I'll start with our key financial and business highlights for the quarter. Fez Carmeli, our CFO, will then provide details of our Q1 financial results. I'll finish off today's prepared remarks with our outlook for 2023. We generated $580 million in sales, $43 million in adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings per share of $0.48, and 70 million of cash flow from operating activities in the quarter. As described in our previous outlook, rising interest rates were expected to reduce demand for architectural building products in the near term. We anticipated reduced financial performance in 2023 as compared to the record setting levels achieved in 2022. First quarter results were in line with this expectation. Organic sales decreased year on year by 13.8%, primarily driven by lower volume demand as compared to the record-setting pace in 2022. Lower organic volume demand was partially offset by a 4% sales increase contributed by acquired businesses, such that total sales were down by a lesser 10%. Gross profit percentage also performed as expected, coming in at just over 20% for the quarter. were well controlled despite continued general cost inflation that persists in the economy. Despite the impact softer demand conditions had on sales and bottom line earnings, cash flow from operations was strong and increased by 100 million year over year. We demonstrated the business's ability to generate significant cash flows during periods of reduced economic activity. Cash flow generation came from both the predictable conversion of adjusted EBITDA to operating cash flow before changes in working capital, and from the release of working capital. We put the substantial cash flow generated during the quarter to work, financing the purchase of Roho distributors, repurchasing almost 2% of our outstanding shares, announcing a quarterly dividend of 13 cents Canadian per share, and paying down net bank debt by $43 million in the first quarter. As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor changing economic conditions and the impacts of recent inflation, rising interest rates and other factors that can have an effect on our business. I'll return to speak more on our outlook later on, but I'll now pass the call to Fez to review the Q1 2023 financial results in more detail. Fez?