Converge Technology Solutions Corp.

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the conference earnings call for the first quarter of 2024. As a reminder, all participants are in a listen-only mode. And the conference is being recorded. After the call, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To join the question queue, you may press star to number one on your telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to Loren Gorber. Converge Investor Relations, please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning. Joining me to discuss Converge's Q1 2024 results are Sean Main, Group CEO, Greg Berard, Converge Chief Executive Officer, and Abhijit Kamboj, Chief Financial Officer. This call is being recorded live at 8 a.m. Eastern Time on May 9, 2024. The press release we issued earlier this morning is available for download, along with our Q1 MD&A financial statements and accompanying notes, all of which have been filed and are available to investors on CDAR+. Please note that some statements made on this morning's call may be forward-looking. Actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied, and Converge disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. The complete safe harbor statement is available both in our MD&A and press release. We encourage our investors to read it in its entirety. We are reporting our financial results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS. As usual, we will also discuss non-GAAP performance measures, which should be viewed as supplemental. The MD&A contains definitions of each one used in our reporting. Finally, all the dollar figures expressed on this call are Canadian and less otherwise noted. So with that, I'll turn it over to Sean Main for opening remarks. Sean?

Thanks, Lauren. Good morning and good afternoon to those of you joining from overseas. Welcome to our first quarter 2024 results call. I will provide a high-level summary of the industry and quarter before Greg Berard, Converge's CEO, focuses on the business. and Avjit Tamboj, our CFO, provides more details on the financials. The reason investors like the IT services industry is because of its combination of growth with cash generation. Converge continued to display these characteristics in the first quarter of 2024. You may recall on our fiscal year 2023 results call, we highlighted Converge's performance in the latter half of the year, reporting record consecutive billion-dollar quarters in gross sales. Today we are pleased to announce that the momentum continued into the first quarter, reporting another billion dollar in gross sales, marking this the third consecutive quarter. 1.01 billion in gross sales represents an increase of 41 million, and gross sales organic growth increased by 4.2% year over year. Our gross profit increased by 2.1% to 175.3 million, and an adjusted EBITDA of 42.2 million, up 2.9% from last year. In Q1, we also demonstrated a continuation of our cash generation by producing $110.9 million in cash from operating activities, a considerable 286% growth year over year. Our substantial cash generation continues to strengthen our existing robust balance sheet, closing the first quarter in 2024 with a net debt reduction of $190 million year over year and by $79 million compared to Q4 2023, bringing a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.8, a vast and impressive improvement from 2.1% year over year. In the past, we have targeted a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2. In a high interest rate environment, we will be targeting a ratio of 1. Now that we have surpassed our target, we will focus more on providing returns to shareholders. Subsequent to Q1, we have increased share buyback through our NCIB and now have less than 200 million shares outstanding. After introducing a regular dividend of 1 cent per share per quarter or 4 cents per share annually a year ago, today we are raising this dividend to 1.5 cents per share per quarter or 6 cents per share annually, a 50% increase. On previous calls, we have noted that we are pausing acquisitions until the go-live of our new ERP system later this year, as we focus on internal efficiencies and streamlining our existing operations. When we do get back to acquisitions, these will be fewer in number and focus on capabilities and enhancing organic growth. The previous focus on capabilities has allowed the current advise, implement, manage, or aim strategy that allows us to be trusted business partners with our customers and provide industry leading solutions around AI, advanced analytics, cybersecurity, and cloud that has helped us outgrow the market. In addition to M&A, Converge will continue to organically invest in new experienced sellers, new capabilities such as our IP4G solutions, and IP around emerging solutions in AI. As mentioned in previous calls, these capabilities have resulted in us attracting more large enterprise customers, which in turn are consuming our high-end services and capabilities. As we continue to meet growing demand with our comprehensive set of solutions and diverse customer matrix, Converge is honored to be recognized as a leading IT solution provider through various awards and features from top industry partners and channels. To expand further on our recent achievements, I would like to turn the call to Greg Berard to dive into our partner relationships and operational highlights. Greg?