Hammond Power Solutions Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Hammond Power Solutions 2023 Second Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. Certain statements that will be discussed in this conference call will constitute forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information and statements included in this discussion are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. Forward-looking statements will be based on current expectations estimates, and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated and described in the forward-looking statements. Such information and statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information and statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, such things as the impact of general industry conditions, fluctuations of commodity prices, industry competition, availability of qualified personnel and management, stock market volatility, and timely and cost effective access to sufficient capital from internal and external sources. The risks just outlined should not be construed as exhaustive. Although management of the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Accordingly, listeners should not place undue reliance upon any of the forward-looking information discussed in this call. I would now like to turn the call over to Bill Hammond, Chairman and CEO of Hammond Power Solutions. Please go ahead, Mr. Hammond.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Hammond Power Solutions' second quarter financial results conference call for 2023. Joining me today are Adrian Thomas, our chief executive officer, and Richard Vollering, our chief financial officer. Our second quarter of 2023 has been a noteworthy quarter for Hammond Power Solutions for several very upbeat reasons. Most importantly, we continue to deliver record financial results, and we are reinvesting in the expansion of our production capacities and improving our ability to service the needs of our distributors and customers. Secondly, we recorded the largest week of bookings in the history of HPS, which bodes well for continuing growth. Thirdly, we hired my successor as CEO, an electrical industry executive who has the credentials and experience to drive the future growth of our company. And finally, we launched a rebranding of HPS that will help position us better in the electrification of everything today and going forward. The strong momentum of top line growth and margin performance that started in 2021 is continuing as predicted well into 2023. This growth is coming from a diversified range of geography, markets, channels, and customers. Our sales are up significantly compared to a year ago in the US, Canada, Mexico, and India, driven by end markets like data centers, EV recharging systems, energy storage, reshoring of manufacturing facilities, hospitals, mining, and solar projects. In parallel, we continue to expand our network of distributors in both the United States as well as Mexico, which broadens our ability to serve our customers and participate in new opportunities. Given our positive cash flow, we are investing in a significant expansion of our North American operations, which will increase our output by almost $250 million over the next several years. This includes a new small products plant in Mexico, which will be up and running by mid 2024. This capital investment will expand our foundation and capabilities to support our growth to $1 billion in sales before the end of the decade. With our ongoing evolution and the expanding opportunities driven by the electrification of everything, we decided to improve our internal and external branding for the first time in more than 15 years. In the last five years, we've seen significant changes in the way we go to market, the industries we sell to, the products we offer, overall sales growth, and how we recruit and retain employees, to name a few. To reflect these changes, we needed to rebrand HPS beyond just a logo and tagline. Our new brand will message to the market and investors our product solutions offering, future focus direction, commitment to our employees, as well as positively impacting our commitment to social and environmental sustainability. All of this is creating excitement and optimism about the future decade for Hammond. We are indeed mindful about the possibility of a slowdown in certain interest rate sensitive markets going into 2024, but remain steadfastly optimistic about our future growth opportunities as the electrification of our world continues to expand. As announced during the quarter, we hired Adrian Thomas as the new CEO of Hammond Power Solutions. Adrian has a very strong background in the electrical industry previously working for companies like Schneider, TMEC, which is a joint venture of Toshiba and Mitsubishi, and General Electric. I look forward to working with him as I continue as executive chair, building on the strong foundation of our company and business model to reach a billion dollars in sales and beyond through his leadership and experience. I would now like to hand the call over to Adrian.

Thanks, Bill. It's an honor to join Hammond Power Solutions as your CEO. Having worked in the electrical industry for the past 20 years, I'm very familiar with the Hammond brand, the employees' passion for the electrical industry, and the dedication they have to dominating the dry-type transformer market. These qualities and the large opportunity in front of Hammond is an opportunity I had to jump at. I look forward to working closely with Bill, Richard, and the board of directors as we set our strategy for the foreseeable future. To our shareholders, I look forward to meeting you over the next few months and sharing our vision for Hammond Power Solutions. I will now hand the call over to Richard to provide details on our financial progress.