NanoXplore Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the third quarter 2024 NanoExplorer earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Pierre Therese, VP of Corporate Development. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining this discussion of NanoExport Financial and Operating Resolve for Third Quarter Fiscal 2024. The press release reporting this result was published yesterday after market closed and can also be found on our website along with our financial statement and MD&E. These documents are also available on CEDAR+. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that today's remark, including management's outlook and answer to question, contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our expectation as of today, May 15, 2024, and are accordingly subject to change. Such statements are based on assumptions that may not materialize and are subject to risk and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially, and listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The description of the risk factor that may affect future results is contained in the Manual Explorer Annual Information Form, available on our corporate website, and in our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrator on CEDAR+. On the call with me this morning, we have Solange Nazarpo, NanoExport founder and chief executive officer, and Pedro Azevedo, our chief financial officer. After a remark from Sush and Pedro, we'll open the call to questions from financial analysts. Let me now turn the call over to Sush.

Thank you, PY, and good morning to everyone joining us on the call. We'll first start with the review of the economy and the impact on our business. I will then expand on our capital allocation plan, and I will end my remarks with an update on Volta Explore. As the central banks, mainly Canada and Europe, are making progress towards interest rate cuts, the previously mentioned increased activities with our customers are continuing, especially in transportation markets. Our customers' forecasts are robust and demand remains strong. The North American economy continues to show resilience which is giving confidence to our customers. Furthermore, industry headwinds from the supply shortages, inflationary cost pressures, and type label markets continue to improve and are impacting positively on our business. In this environment, we achieved record results in the third quarter, with revenues and adjusted EBITDA in the advanced materials segment of around $34 million and $1.3 million, respectively. Steps taken to improve our efficiency are bearing fruits with gross margin at an all-time high of around 21%. These results demonstrate the strength of our business model, our expanding market share, and the value creation of our vertically integrated model. I'm very pleased with the performance of Nanoexplore's team. We continue to perform at a high level and we're executing on our capital allocation priorities. We foresee this momentum continuing into fourth quarter and the next fiscal year. Now turning to our operation for our graphene-enhanced composite products, demand continues to be very strong, and our current capacity is almost fully utilized. We have made investments in the new equipment and will continue to invest more as a part of our five-year strategic plan. A large part of these investments will be in the United States and are supported by booked contracts with existing and new customers. In regards to our direct graph in-sales activities, validation and testing are ongoing with new customers while we continue to supply existing ones. Drilling fluid, foam, and battery material market continue to show promise, especially following our recent announcement related to financing of our graphene and anode material facility. We are continuing discussions with an off-state partner for our upcoming facility and have already signed a letter of intent with the construction company to build our facility. In fact, we have underestimated the demand for our battery material, and one of our potential customers has asked if we could accelerate our expansion and move the build-out timeframe forward. The increase in demand for battery material is a result of the Inflation Reduction Act and the need for battery supply chain market participants to be compliant. Again, we want to remind investors and analysts that we are executing this expansion without issuing equity. Turning to Volta Explore, and as discussed before, we have a potential strategic investor presently in its due diligence process. Given the slowdown in the EV space, we believe having a strategic investor is essential for Volta Explore's success. This strategic investor will bring resources, know-how, and end market diversification to the project. With that in mind, and given the growth we see with Nano-Explore, we believe that it's more prudent to only start the Volta-Explore Vino Factory project if and when we close the deal with this partner. In the meantime, we're continuing with validation of our graphene-enhanced batteries, along with developing more advanced production methods such as tablet designs, and further developing new generations of our graphene-enhanced silicon-anode additives. Taking this approach, even though it pushes out the start of production, ensures long-term success, and reduces risks related to the market on ZNT. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Pedro, who will provide details about our financial performance.