Cargojet Inc.

Good day and welcome to the CargoJet conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Pauline Dillon. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on this call today. With me on the call today are A.J. Vermani, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Jamie Porteus, our Chief Strategy Officer, and Sanjeev Mani, our Interim Chief Financial Officer. After opening remarks about the quarter, we will open the lines for questions. I would like to point out that certain statements made on this call, such as those relating to our forecasted revenues costs and strategic plans, are forward-looking within the meaning of the applicable securities laws. This call also includes reference to non-GAAP measures like adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Please refer to our most recent press release and MD&A for important assumptions and cautionary statements relating to forward-looking information and for reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to GAAP income. I would now like to turn the call over to AHA.

Thank you, Pauline, and thank you, everybody, for joining us this morning. It has been a really busy quarter for us, but we are very excited about these developments' mean for our future. As you know, the following. First, on March 29th, we announced new strategic partnership with DHL. This $2.3 billion deal over seven years is one of the largest single transactions in our history so far. We are very excited about the opportunity because it allows us to scale our business to the next level. And as we scale up, the economies of larger scale will benefit all of our customers. Number two, we are excited to announce a share purchase program under NCIB. Number three, we are also announcing a dividend increase of 10% effective our usual cycle starting June 2022 for all of our shareholders. And number four, we are also very pleased with our Q1 performance, which I will talk about later. Before I talk about Q1 results, I would like to share a few thoughts on how Carbidens positioned for the current environment. We are fully aware that there are a lot of uncertainties on the horizon. high inflation, high oil prices, rising interest rates, and lingering effects of COVID. However, at the same time, global supply chains remain very disrupted, and the future of passenger air travel and belly capacity on international lanes remains uncertain. These factors, on the other hand, have created a tailwind in opportunities for cargo jets. We have prudently diversified our business that does not rely on a single line of business. Our ACMI and all in-charter business are performing strongly. And our domestic network continues to support Canadian e-commerce growth. While there may be short-term volatility in the e-commerce trends, we believe the structural shift towards digitization will continue to be a tailwind for e-commerce in the longer term. Traditionally, the number one headwind for the airline industry has been the cost of servicing debt. Airlines are a highly capital-intensive business, so debt is part of the business model. But anticipating the inflationary pressures and the interest rate risk, we took a proactive step in January 2021 and made a strategic decision to de-risk our balance sheet. We did an equity raise and used the proceeds to pay down the majority of our debt. As a result, we have been maintaining a very low leverage and are now better protected against the cost of rising interest rates. Cargojet owns 93% of its fleet that has a fair market value of over $1 billion. These are unencumbered assets that are highly sought after given today's supply chain demands. Even our previously announced CapEx program, we do not expect our leverage debt to EBITDA ratio to exceed 2.5 times. This business continues to generate strong cash flows which are using to invest in our growth. We continue to manage our business prudently and are very aware of the uncertainties ahead. We are ensuring that all CapEx and OpEx is justified and well supported with real opportunities. Our ability to react to the changing environment was tested at the start of pandemic in early 2020. And as a nimble entrepreneurial company, we will continue to adapt to the changing environment. I make these points because we believe that in order to be competitive, we must have a strong balance. In the long run, only stronger companies will be able to maintain their leadership position. Now I'll turn the meeting over to Jamie Podias, our Chief Strategy Officer, to talk about Q1.