CGI Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to CGI's second quarter fiscal 2024 conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr. Kevin Linder, SVP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Linder.

Thank you, Joelle, and good morning. With me to discuss CGI's second quarter fiscal 2024 results are George Schindler, our president and CEO, and Steve Perron, executive vice president and CFO. This call is being broadcast on cgi.com and recorded live at 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Supplemental slides, as well as a press release we issued earlier this morning, are available for download, along with our Q2 MD&A, financial statements, and accompanying notes, all of which have been filed with both Cedar Plus and Edgar. Please note that some statements made on the call may be forward-looking. actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied and cgi 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 in both our mdna and press release as well as on cgi.com we recommend our investors read it in its entirety We're reporting our financial results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS. As always, 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. All of the dollar figures expressed on this call are Canadian, unless otherwise noted. I'll now turn it over to Steve to review our Q2 financials, and then George will comment on our business and market outlook.

Steve. Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to share with you the results of our second quarter of fiscal 2024. In Q2, we delivered $3.7 billion of revenue, up 0.7% year-over-year, or stable when excluding the impact of foreign exchange. The strongest CGI segments were UK and Australia at 5.1% constant currency growth, Asia-Pacific at 5%. Northwest and Central East Europe with 4.2%. And U.S. commercial and state government at 4.1%. From an industry perspective, we had the highest growth in government with 5.7% constant currency growth while we continue to experience softness in industries more sensitive to interest rates, particularly in the banking subsectors. In addition, the majority of our geographies were negatively impacted by one less billable day in the quarter. IP as a percentage of total revenue was 22% in the quarter. Our IP continues to resonate with clients with vast majority contracted as longer term recurring engagements with over 60% delivered as software as a service. Our overall bookings in the quarter were $3.8 billion for a book-to-bill ratio of 100% and 113% on a trailing 12-month basis. Booking ratios for the quarter were led by Finland, Poland, and Baltics at 127%, Western and Southern Europe at 115%, and UK and Australia at 109%. Global backlog reached $26.8 billion, or 1.9 times revenue, helping to support our overall business resilience. Turning to profitability, we continue to manage with discipline despite the current macro environment, delivering solid year-over-year improvements. Earnings before income taxes were $577 million for a margin of 15.4%, up 20 basis points year over year. Adjusted EBIT in the quarter was $628 million, up $28 million year over year. This represents a margin of 16.8%, up 60 basis points year over year, mainly as a result of a larger proportion of IP-based revenues and benefits being realized from our previously announced cost optimization program. This program, which was primarily focused on SG&A, has now concluded as planned. We delivered strong margin geographically as follows. Asia Pacific at 31%. North America at 17%, and Europe at 14%. Our effective tax rate in the quarter was 26.1%, and we expect our tax rate for future quarters to be in the range of 25 to 26.5%. Net earnings were $427 million for a margin of 11.4%, up 10 basis points year over year. Diluted EPS was $1.83, representing an increase of 4% year-over-year when compared to $1.76 in Q2 last year. When excluding specific items, net earnings improved to $459 million, up $24 million when compared to Q2 last year, for a margin of 12.3%, up 60 basis points. Specific items for the quarter were mainly expenses associated with the cost optimization program. On the same basis, saluted EPS was $1.97, an accretion of 8.2% when compared to Q2 last year. In the quarter, Cash provided by operating activities was $502 million, up 7% year-over-year, representing 13.4% of total revenue. On a trading 12-month basis, cash provided by operating activities was $2.1 billion, also up 7% year-over-year, representing 14.6% of total revenue. DSO was 40 days in the quarter, five days better than our target, mainly due to quality delivery and our mix of business. As a reminder, Q2 generally produces the lowest DSO each year due to a higher volume of IP maintenance payments from clients. In Q2, We used our cash to invest $103 million into our business, including in AI, and invest $260 million to buy back our stock. In the quarter, we continued to deliver a strong return on invested capital at 15.9%, up 30 basis points year-over-year, demonstrating our proficiency and discipline on deployment of capital. Looking ahead, with $2.8 billion of cash readily available and access to more if needed, our capital allocation priorities are, first, investing in our business. Second, pursuing and closing accretive acquisitions. By leveraging CGI's strong balance sheet, evidenced by a leverage ratio of 1.1, and a net debt to capitalization ratio of 16.4. Finally, as appropriate, cash will be used to repurchase our stock and or sink down our debt. Now, I will turn the call over to George to further discuss the insights on the quarter and outlook for our business and markets. George?