Velan Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Volon Inc. Q1 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call has been recorded on Friday, July 11, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rishi Sharma, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our conference call.

Let's start by discussing the disclaimer from our related IR presentation, which is available on our website in the investor relations section. As usual, the first paragraph mentions that the presentation provides an analysis of our consolidated results for the first quarter ending May 31st, 2025. The board of directors approved these results yesterday, July 10th, 2025. The second paragraph refers to non-IFRS and supplementary financial measures, which are defined and reconciled at the end of the presentation. The last paragraph addresses forward-looking information, which is subject to risks and uncertainties that are not guaranteed to occur. Forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Finally, unless indicated otherwise, all amounts are expressed in US dollars And all financial metrics discussed are from continuing operations. I now turn the call over to Mr. Jim Manabek, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Ellen.

Thank you, Rishi. Good morning, good evening to everyone. Please turn to slide four for a general overview of the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Now, despite the turmoil in the global markets caused by tariff situations, Belong delivered a solid performance. in the quarter, growing sales by 18.6% year-over-year to 72.2 million, and increasing gross profit margin by 100 basis points to 28.6%. The double-digit sales growth notably reflects higher shipments from our Italian where we continue to execute on important orders for the oil and gas industry, and in particular, enabling continued growth in offshore production. Our operations in China, India, and Germany also delivered higher business volumes. Finally, we had a strong performance from maintenance, repair, and overhead activities, which we refer to as MRO. I'm also pleased to report our cash position exceeded $59 million at the end of the quarter, its highest level since the last five years. Following the closing of our much-discussed asbestos-related transaction sale of our franchise assets, the strong financial cushion will enable us to review our strategic options for the upcoming years, namely establishing a balance between supporting our long-term growth objectives and maximizing return to shareholders. In this regard, I'm pleased to report that the Board of Directors yesterday approved a change in our dividend policy, resulting in a significant increase in the quarterly dividend payment from 3 Canadian cents per share to 10 Canadian cents per share. The increase reflects our growing backlog and the Board's confidence in Belon's future financial performance and our ability to sustain strong cash flow generation. The next dividend will be paid by the end of August. Turning to slide five. Our order backlog reached 286.1 million at the end of the first quarter, up 4.1% from the beginning of the year as our booking activity exceeded two months during the period. At quarter end, 84.4% of the backlog, representing orders of 241.3 million, were deliverable within 12 months, compared to 90.5% at the end of Q1 last year. As anticipated, the shift in our delivery schedule was mainly due to an increasing number of large, long-term contracts for the nuclear and defense sectors. The sheer size of these deals and high margin profile benefit our overall business. Bookings totaled 78.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to 83 million a year ago. The decline is attributable to lower year-over-year bookings in Germany and North America as both were up against large orders received in last year's first quarter. These factors were partially offset by higher bookings from our Chinese and Portuguese operations, as well as an increase in MRO bookings. Moving to slide six. To further expand on China, we're pleased with heightened booking traction for our industrial valves. Traditional power development is booming in China. This is having a nice spillover effect on our business, and we're confident it will remain robust for some time. As for tariffs, although China has been hit by tariffs for its U.S.-bound products, most of our manufacturing output in our plant in China is sold domestically. Consequently, these products are not exposed to U.S. tariffs in a meaningful way. Another area poised for solid growth is the Middle East, which represents the largest market worldwide for oilfield valves. If you'll recall, I mentioned in the last conference call that we had established a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to strengthen our presence in the region and capture opportunities. Our activities in Saudi Arabia are steadily increasing, with the JV achieving important qualification standards, resulting in the war of its first significant production order, adding rapidly to a growing quotation funnel in Bangkok. Continuing on slide seven, A third growth area often unnoticed is our MRO activity. Given our unmatched installed base developed over 75 years across several industrial markets, we obtain a steady flow of orders that are connected and quickly converted into sales. For example, we have a 90% penetration rate at all oil refiners in North America, which supports a steady stream of repeat business, which was reflected in our bookings in the first quarter. Finally, I'll say a few words about our nuclear power business. We continue to work diligently with the key players to supply them with the most reliable valves in the industry, many of which are proprietary in design for standard and small modular reactors. Obviously, the revenue recognition cycle related to nuclear power projects is often longer term, which, as mentioned, will change the profile of our backlog over time. We expect to make announcements about expanding agreements with high-profile customers in the near future. As I highlighted at our annual meeting yesterday, we remain very bullish about the nuclear sector. Nuclear energy is increasingly being relied upon as a viable alternative to fossil fuels and electrification goals, which cannot be met without a prominent role for nuclear power. Before turning the call over to Rishi, I'd like to further address the tariff situation. I've already mentioned the minimal impact on our Chinese business. A substantial majority of our Canada-U.S. trade is made under the USMCA trade agreement. It's premature, though, to comment on the rest of our network since the situation continues to evolve, and as we see often daily. Nonetheless, we've reacted quickly to the changing tariff landscape thanks to our extensive and flexible global manufacturing and sourcing footprint. I'd like to thank our team and call out for their preemptive measures taken to reduce the impact of tariffs as much as possible on Bland's business. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and take appropriate actions to best position the company for the long term.

At this point, I turn the call over to Rishi.

Thank you, Jim. Turning to our first quarter results on slide nine, sales totaled $72.2 million. $72.2 million, up 18.6% from a year ago. As previously mentioned, the growth was mainly driven by increased shipments from our Italian operations, along with higher volume at our businesses in China, India, and Germany. These factors were partially offset by lower sales in other international markets. North American sales, meanwhile, were relatively stable year over year as lower shipments to the defense industry were compensated by stronger MRO activity. By customer geographic location, North America accounted for 49% of total sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to 62% last year. Asia Pacific represented 41% of total revenues, reflecting strong sales activity in China and India, versus 12% a year ago. Europe, Africa, and Middle East, as well as South and Central America, accounted for the remaining 10% of sales. It should be noted that our regional revenue split has shifted away from Europe following the sale of our French assets. Moving to gross profit on slide 10, it amounted to $20.6 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to $16.8 million last year. The increase was primarily due to higher sales volume, which positively impacted the absorption of fixed production and overhead costs, and more favorable product mix compared to last year, as well as lower material cost. and reduced provisions for agent inventory. As a percentage of sales, close profit improved to 28.6% from 27.6% last year. Administration costs totaled $18.3 million or 25.4% of sales in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to $15.4 million or 25.2% of sales a year ago. The year-over-year variation reflects higher sales commissions and increased professional fees. We recorded restructuring expenses of $5.4 million during the quarter. These included $6.1 million in transaction-related costs, partially offset by the reversal of asbestos-related costs of $0.7 million. Excluding restructuring expenses, adjusted EBITDA amounted to $4 million, up from $2.8 million last year. The year-over-year improvement in adjusted EBITDA can be attributed to higher gross profit, partially offset by increased administration costs. As the company benefited from a $23 million tax recovery related to the sale of the French assets, net income from continuing operations totaled $17.8 million, or $0.83 per share, compared to a net loss of $2.2 million, or $0.10 per share, last year. Excluding restructuring expenses and the tax recovery, adjusted net income from continuing operations was $0.1 million versus $0.5 a year ago. As mentioned in the previous call, results from discontinued operations included a gain of $95.8 million on the sale of the French assets. The sale also triggered a recognition of a negative cumulative translation adjustment of $12.5 million. This adjustment reflects the impact of fluctuating exchange rates on assets and liabilities denominated to foreign currency, more specifically, the accumulated gains and losses from translating foreign currency financial statements into foreign companies reporting currency over time. Turning to cash flow from operating activities on slide 11, we used $15.5 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 before net changes in provisions, but including the payment of $6.1 million in transaction-related costs compared to generating $12 million a year ago. The unfavorable movement in cash was mainly due to negative changes in non-working capital items this year versus last, as this year had to had a lower short-term cost to their deposits, whereas last year showed an important cash inflow from their collection of receivables. Finally, as Jim mentioned earlier, our financial position improved substantially after closing the transactions. As at May 31, 2025, the company held cash and cash equivalents of $59.1 million and short-term investments of 0.1 million. Banking debt stood at $3.3 million, while long-term debt, including the current portion, amounted to $16.4 million. As you may recall, we entered into a new credit facility, making $35 million available over a three-year period. The facility was funded and operational in late June. With these available funds, our strong cash position, and a significant reduction in our business risk, we are very well positioned to further invest in our operations and consider strategic acquisitions to broaden our reach and sustainable profitable growth. I will now turn the call over to the operator for the Q&A session.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from Sebastian Charlin with Agave Capital. Your line is now open.

Good morning. Solid quarter. Bravo. Thank you. My first question is regarding the MRO activity we've been seeing an uptick in recent quarters. Is it mostly regionally in North America, or is it fair to expect more in the rest of the world as well?

Good question.

In the quarter, most of the MRO activity that we saw the increase was in North America. However, we're starting to see an uptick in Europe as well. We have a significant install base in the Middle East as well as throughout the rest of the world and we're starting to see a recovery there too. Part of the Middle East recovery in MRO sales we think attributable to the joint venture. The presence in that part of the world is But as I said in the first quarter, most of the activity that we referenced was in North America.

Got it. I was looking at customer deposits, and it seems they fluctuate a little more significantly than bookings. I'm wondering, does that have to do with the sort of sales mix between MRO and product, or is it more of an industry, oil and gas, nuclear? What's influencing the mix for the deposits?

It's really industry, so if you look at longer-term nuclear and defense, you would have more substantial advances. For MRO activity, for example, our standard project would not have so much. Last year, in the first quarter, if you recall, we had quite a bit of order intake on nuclear and defense, so that broke at the end of this year.

Underscoring the point, Rich is absolutely right. It is a lot about industry-specific. It's important to note on long-term contracts, whether it's in defense or nuclear or with our ABV operation in oil and gas, we work very hard to structure these contractual relationships to stay ahead of the working capital curve as well. We're happy to take on the risk on major projects, but we do it in a way that's prudent in terms of protecting the shareholders' interest too over time.

Perfect. Regarding the perhaps slower bookings in North America, and slower might not be the right word because you had, as we just talked about, a large comp from last year. Is it reasonable to assume that the turmoil that has happened during Q2, whether it is tariffs or the trade war, or there was also a Canadian election, sometimes we forget, could this have somewhat affected at least the procurement side? of bookings in North America?

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. There's no doubt that the continued turmoil in the United States with the ever-changing tariff landscape is having an effect. You know, so what we're seeing is some end customers of delaying projects or MRO activity. On the other hand, we're also seeing some indication of a return to North American source product as opposed to Chinese product, just to address the potential outlook on tariffs as people see that, as well as the ongoing in terms of Chinese source material. As I mentioned in my comments from our Chinese facility, we export a small number of finished product into the U.S., but we're not subject to most of the tariff. turmoil in that regard. But still, to your point, at the end customer base, it's having a significant effect as people kind of wait out to see what the final resolution is from this tariffs. And hopefully that happens in less than four years.

Yes, that's great color. And perhaps the last one for me before I join back the queue. I read I was rereading the circular last night, and regarding a special comedy, I know they were incentivized, especially in the French sale which closed during the quarter. And that was awesome. I'm wondering, the special committee as led by Mr. Desjardins, is it still in continuation, or is it paused, or how has its role evolved since the closing, if at all?

Yeah, to clarify, the special committee is comprised of our independent directors who are not specifically, they're not specifically incented for any outcome. Their job is to look over the options, strategic options available to the company and advise the board. And as a consequence, me as the chairman and CEO of the company and the rest of our executive staff. But that fine point aside, the special committee is still functional and operational. And like every board, you know, we're charged with always looking at strategic options to maximize outcome for the stakeholders.

Got it. Apologies if I misread that. the circular. That's it for me for now and great job again. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate your questions.

Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, should you have a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Alex Ciaranelli with SM Investors. Your line is now open.

Hi, good morning. Congratulations on the results. I have a couple of questions. The first one, and I apologize for my ignorance here, how does it work? So your preferred supplier in the GEH, SMR, BWRX 300. And I'm asking this because of the news that I read about the UK, where the Rolls-Royce won their project there, and they emphasize that they want local suppliers. So let's assume that GEH wins other projects around the world. being the preferred supplier means you're locked in. That's it. If they win, you're part of it, or do you have to go through a proposal again and they will have to choose you again? How will that work? But in that vein, going back to the UK one, did you apply for a proposal there? Will you apply with Rolls-Royce and see how that works or not? So that's the first one.

Okay, so there's a couple of questions. First off is, you're right, Chief Hitachi and Vaughn announced last year that they had selected us as the preferred supplier. However, every contract is subject to bid and qualification. You should also note, though, that as we disclosed in the past, much of our technology, especially in critical applications, is proprietary. So obviously we have a leg up. It doesn't mean that you have certainty of outcome, but certainly have a leg up on anybody else who can't provide the same product as we can feature quality, so on and so forth. With respect to Rolls-Royce, it's a broader issue and question and opportunity in terms of any SMR development or legacy or even life extension involves just an unbelievable number of suppliers in the outcome. We work with all of the majors around the world in providing nuclear outcomes, including Rolls-Royce. So, you know, whether – and we've talked about this in the past, too, as I think about it, Alex. And when we think about nuclear development and proliferation around the world and power, you know, what we like about our position is we have longstanding relationships with every provider. So in that way, we kind of hedge our bets.

That's great. And then the second one, which you really touched on in your preferred remarks, In the press release, you talk about volume growth in the core in China, India, and Germany. China, you gave the call, but I don't know if you can give some call about the verticals in India and Germany as well.

So India is a bit of a mix between the local market in India and some of the export that we consume. I mentioned at the beginning or the mid part of last year, a large contract that we secured in India, which was a shared delivery between our Indian operations and our North American operations with the ultimate end customer in India. So we're seeing that pick up along with the activity. Germany for us is more of a, you know, we'll call it distribution. So they tailor to a bit of the European markets and the Middle Eastern markets. So we've seen quite a bit of activity there. in terms of quotations and orders that we won last year that are being shipped in this quarter and obviously throughout this year.

Adding a bit more to the German situation, we've identified this as a major geographic expansion opportunity for us, and so we've invested duration of inventory positioning and quick serve the market. So more to come on Germany, we believe, in the coming quarters. We're quite comfortable with our leadership in Germany as it goes after the opportunity in the region. And again, as Rishi talked about in coming, looking back to the presence in the Middle East, Our ability to service that market, which is closely coordinated with what we do on the continent in Europe, we think is the right step for us as well.

Thank you. And then lastly, this is a small question, but we sometimes just forget it. But what is your opportunity in mining? So actually, future opportunity, how do you see that with everything going on in that sector? And for region, how do you look at South America? Thanks.

So we'll talk about South America first. Another, what we feel is a very significant growth opportunity. In fact, the investment that we talked about, I talked about just a moment ago in Europe, making similar investments in LATAM to add inside sales and quotation activity. We think we're already heavily in LATAM, but mostly LATAM. through export from other parts of the world, Canada and Europe. But we think we have significant growth opportunity there. As far as mining specifically, it's the applications that we go after in mining are like, where you'll find land virtually everywhere around the world, the most demanding of applications. And as you know, whether it's for processing or transit or slurry, very, very demanding applications in the mining industry. And our uniquely designed valves are a beautiful match for this part of the market. Mining isn't, as you know, specific only to LATAM, but also throughout Asia, Euro-Asia. as well. So, you know, we see that as a growth market, significant opportunity upside at the copper situation notwithstanding at the moment.

Well, thank you so much. That's it for me. Yeah, good to hear from you. Thanks, Alex.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Jim for closing remarks.

All right.

Thank you, operator. Appreciate it. We certainly have been pleased with the outcome of the quarter, and we look forward to talking with you guys at the end of the second quarter and updating you on what we believe to be continued good progress with the company. Again, a call out to my colleagues within the land, throughout the world, appreciate the effort and the excitement that they generate every day within our business. So everyone have a great day and a great weekend, and we'll talk to you at the end of the second quarter. Thanks for now.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.