Stella-Jones Inc.

good morning and thank you for standing by welcome to stella jones first quarter 2026 earnings call at this time all participants are in a listen-only mode following the presentation we will hold a question and answer session look you up for questions by phone please press star one if any experience if anyone and experience any difficulties For today's conference, please press star zero for the operator for assistance. I would like to remind everyone that this conference is being recorded on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. I will now turn it over to David Galison, Vice President, Investor Relations of Stella Jones.

Thank you, Vincent, and good morning, everyone. Earlier this morning, We issued our press release reporting of results for the first quarter of 2026. Along with our MD&A, it can be found in the investor relations section of our website at www.stella-jones.com, as well as on CDAR+. As a reminder, all figures expressed on today's call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. Please note that the comments made on today's call may contain forward-looking information and this information, by its nature, is subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from the views expressed today. For further information on these risks and uncertainties, please consult the company's relevant filings on CDER+. These documents are also available in the Investor Relations section of Stella Jones' website at www.stella-jones.com. Additionally, during this conference call, the company may refer to non-GAAP measures which have no standardized meaning under GAAP and are not likely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. For more information, please refer to the company's latest MD&A, available on Stella Jones' website and on CDAR+. Lastly, we have prepared a corresponding presentation, which we encourage you to follow along with during this call. I'll now hand the call over to Eric Bichon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Stella Jones, for a strategic business update, followed by Salvana Travolini, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Stella Jones, who will provide a more detailed financial overview. Eric, over to you.

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. 2026 is off to a solid start with results that highlight both the fundamental resilience of our business and our progress on key strategic priorities. The market dynamics we outlined in our Q4 call remains largely unchanged and our first quarter performance is consistent with those expectations. Our utility products business continues to be the primary growth driver, delivering over 10% growth. This was fueled by strong demand for wood utility poles and the profitable contribution of our steel structures and cross arms businesses. Meanwhile, our railway tie division demonstrated notable stability this quarter, effectively navigating a complex competitive landscape. While railway ties continue to deliver profitable sales, we're taking actions to further strengthen this business by optimizing our production network and aligning capacity with demand to ensure railway ties remains a cornerstone of our success. We are also advancing our growth initiatives with good momentum. The acquisition of Lockwell has provided us with an immediate platform for growth and our expected capacity expansion in Canada is well on its way to be fully allocated until the end of 2027. Our investment to double steel structure production capacity remains on schedule for completion by mid-2026 with a full ramp-up expected in the second half of the year. In the US, we have taken a significant step forward in building our manufacturing footprint for Steel Lattice Towers by selecting Fayetteville, Tennessee as a site for our new facility. This site has an existing newly constructed building that is suitable for our operations, which will help mitigate project risk. Its strategic location also offers access to a skilled labor pool and favorable proximity to key galvanizing partners. This approximately 500 million US dollar investment will add roughly 20,000 tons to our total production capacity. We continue to expect commissioning by late 2027 with a full production capacity by the end of 2028. Let's turn to a performance overview of our main product categories. Starting with utility products, we are encouraged by the business's continued strength, which remains a cornerstone of our growth. The purchasing momentum that began in the third quarter of last year carried into the first quarter of 2026, supporting double-digit volume growth for wood utility poles. Importantly, growth continued to be anchored in our contract-based business, which we have deliberately strengthened by partnering with customers who value long-term supply security. In terms of pricing, it was tempered this quarter by product mix fluctuations and continued pressures in the spot market. While spot pricing was below the levels realized in the first quarter of 2025, it remained broadly in line with pricing realized in the second half of 2025. Competition in the spot market remains intense, and we expect that dynamic to continue as additional capacity comes online later this year. Despite lower pricing, the strength of our volume performance help offset these near-term pricing pressures while we maintain our focus on long-term profitability. Turning to railway ties, results in the quarter were broadly in line with the market conditions we expected. While class one volumes remain under pressure from industry consolidation and a more competitive landscape, we maintain relatively stable sales by growing our commercial business. Combined with disciplined execution, this allowed us to preserve margins. At the same time, as part of our continuous improvement strategy, we're consolidating our production footprint by isolating a treating plant and a procurement yard and reallocating volumes to our most efficient facilities, ensuring our network remains aligned with the evolving needs of our customers. This strategic review work is ongoing, and we continue to evaluate network performance to optimize returns and position the railway-type business as a high-performing contributor to our infrastructure platform for years to come. In parallel with the network optimization work, we remain focused on growth. Through Class 1 contract renewals, we see meaningful potential to strengthen our position and expand higher-value offerings such as bridge, crossings, and pre-plate products. Additional discussions with Class 1s are opening opportunities to offer treating services. Beyond Class 1s, we continue to pursue growth in the commercial market with encouraging project opportunities ahead. Consistent with our long-term approach, we will also continue to evaluate selective organic and M&A opportunities that can further strengthen our network and reinforce our role as a trusted partner to the North American rail industry. Overall, our priority in railway ties is clear to reposition the business for stronger returns. Turning to residential lumber, the business faced softer demand this quarter. Despite this near-term backdrop, our confidence in the business and its long-term strategy remains unchanged. We continue to manage the business with discipline, leveraging our national distribution network and value added capabilities to maintain strong service levels for our customers. We remain confident that residential lumber's value-added business model will continue to be a meaningful contributor to our profitability across market cycles. Overall, our first quarter performance reflects the strength of our infrastructure platform. Utility products continue to drive growth, Railway ties remain resilient as we undertake our optimization initiatives, and residential lumber continued to be managed with discipline through a software market. Across our businesses, we remain focused on execution, customer service, and profitability. With that, I will now ask Sylvana to provide a more detailed overview of our first quarter financial results.