Stingray Group Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Stingray Group INC Third Quarter 2022 Results 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 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require an operator assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to Matthew Felaquin. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Bon matin. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Stingray's conference call for third quarter results, ended December 31, 2021. Today, Eric Boyko, President, CEO, and Jean-Pierre Trin, CFO, will be presenting Stingray's financial and operational highlights. Our press release reporting Stingray's third quarter results for fiscal 2022 was issued yesterday after the market closed. Our press release, MD&A, and financial statements for the quarter are available on our investor website at stingray.com and also on CEDR. I will now give you the customary caution that today's discussion of the corporation's performance and its future prospects may include forward-looking statements. The corporation's future operations and performance are subject to risk and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the risk factors identified in Stingray's Annual Information Form, dated June 2, 2021, which is available on CEDR. The corporation specifically disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law. Accordingly, you are advised not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Also, please be reminded that some of the financial measures discussed over the course of this conference call are non-IFRS. Please refer to Stingrays MD&A for a complete definition and reconciliation of such measures to IFRS financial measures. Finally, let me remind you that all amounts on this call are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated. With that, let me turn the call over to Eric.

Merci, Mathieu. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our third quarter results conference call for fiscal 2022. I'm pleased with our financial performance in the third quarter as the ongoing return to normal commercial operations combined with increased advertising revenues generate revenue growth of 4.8% to 76 million. Our key KPI, organic growth, improved to 5% in broadcast and recurring commercial music revenues, including an impressive 28% in the United States. Our investments in the U.S. markets, which are reaching nearly a million per quarter, are beginning to pay off, with consistent double-digit growth in this key market. In terms of our bottom line, adjusted EBITDA decreased by 16 percent to $28.5 million in the third quarter. Adjusted EBITDA decreased year-over-year mainly due to one-time gain from a settlement with SOCA in the third quarter last year and significant incremental investment this quarter to support strategic growth initiatives in the U.S. and to accelerate the pivot to the digital streaming, with results expected to be materialized over the next few quarters. From a pure operational standpoint, adjusted EBITDA would have been stable compared to the same pair last year with higher revenues of 4.8%, mostly offsetting lower margin caused by increased investment in the US and difference in product mix. During the third quarter of 2022, broadcasting commercial music revenues grew by 2.3% to 41 million due mainly to higher advertising. As you know, Stingray is in the process of pivoting the business from traditional sources of revenues to high growth strategic digital revenues. This transformation will allow Stingray to deliver increased possible growth and ultimately improves the company's valuation base on higher margin profile of our growing digital business. One of the key assets that will enable us to achieve our goal is the recent acquisition of in-store audio network. the largest retail audio network in the U.S. and in the world, reaching 16,000 pharmacies and grocery stores. This acquisition, our second largest in the company's history, with a total consideration of nearly 60 million, complements our existing retail media network in Canada, with signed 2,300 locations, with a positive outlook to double in the next quarter. By combining this strategic asset with our existing platform, Stingray Retail Media Network is well positioned to tap into the adjustable market of 250,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The benefit of in-store audio advertising offers quantifiable and compelling value to consumer product companies. In-store audio network, for example, plays audio ads from Pfizer across the digital platform and network helping pharmaceutical companies capture additional market share during the COVID-19 pandemic. Closely tied to the success of in-store advertising is charter research, our insight AI-driven SaaS solution that uses SMS messages with non-purchasers and purchasers alike to provide better insight to retailers. During the last six months, we have secured contracts with several leading global brands, including Pink, Victoria's Secret, Driven Brands, and Nike. We also hired seasoned executives to bolster Chatter's go-to-market strategy and sell initiatives dedicated to customer experience and management. As a result, we are offering retailers a compelling value proposition for their digital media assets. In other words, we're telling CMOs that the retail companies will take care of all your music, digital ads, and consumer insight needs with a one-stop shop at Stingray. Another important segment driving our digital transformation is our SBOD, Subscribers increased to 692,000 in this quarter, adding 80,000 subscribers, an increase of 34% with the same period last year. On bundle rollout, Amazon channels in Canada, Brazil, and Mexico contributed significantly to subscriber growth in the third quarter. Additional deployment of our SBOT strategy is going to happen in the northern countries, Australia, and India, stated in Q4 2022. Looking ahead, we expect to hit our 1 million subscription goal within the next four to eight quarters. Turning our radio business. Revenues improved 8% year-over-year to $35 million in the third quarter of 2022. This revenue growth, which outperformed radio peers in Canada, represents our strongest quality performance in the last two years. The outlook for our radio business remains favorable with end market recovery, still not having reached pre-pandemic levels. In closing, our pivot towards strategic digital revenues is in full motion and gaining traction with the accelerated growth in new revenue streams, outpacing the drop of our traditional source of revenue. We expect continued progress on all our growth KPIs in the coming quarters as we further leverage our content and new channels, our digital insight, our advertising offering, and our worldwide relationship with top enterprise brands. With this, I will pass you to our friend Jean-Pierre.