WSP Global Inc.

Bonjour, Mesdames et Messieurs. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Bienvenue à la conférence téléphonique sur les résultats financiers du quatrième trimestre de l'exercice 2022 de WSP. Welcome to WSP's fourth quarter and fiscal 2022 results conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Quentin Webber, Investor Relations. A vous la parole. Please go ahead, Mr. Webber.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. We hope you are all doing well, and thank you for joining our call today. We will be discussing our Q4 and fiscal 2022 performance, followed by a Q&A session. Joining us today are Alexandre Lerue, our president and CEO, and Alain Michaud, our CFO. Please note that this call is also accessible on our website via webcast. During the call, we will be making some forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ from those expressed or implied. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. Relevant factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements are listed in our MD&A for the year ended December 31st, 2022, which can be found on CDAR and on our website. In addition, during this call, we may refer to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures are also defined in our MD&A for the year ended December 31st, 2022. Our MD&E includes reconciliations of non-IFRS measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measures. Management believes that these non-IFRS measures provide useful information to investors regarding the corporation's financial conditions and results of operation as they provide additional key metrics of its performance. These non-IFRS measures are not recognized under IFRS, do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and may differ from similarly named measures as reported by other issuers. and accordingly may not be comparable. These measures should not be viewed as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. I will now turn over the call to Alexandre.

Thank you, Quentin, and good morning, everyone. Early last year, we launched our 2022-2024 Global Strategic Action Plan, guiding the next phase of our journey to becoming the undisputed leader of our industry. Today, I'm very pleased to share our fourth quarter and year-end results and the progress we have made in the first year of our strategic cycle. Before reviewing the full year, let me say a few words on our fourth quarter results. We recorded a very solid Q4 performance. Organically, our net revenues grew by approximately 10%, adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 70 basis points, and we have continued to experiment good market conditions. Reflecting on 2022, I'm very proud of our team. We maintain strong momentum throughout the year, continue to strengthen our platform with strategic acquisitions in key geographies, reinforce our ESG and sustainability commitments, onboarded an impressive number of professionals, all of this while elevating our game and executing on our strategic ambitions. We delivered strong 2022 results ahead of expectations, including the highest organic growth in net revenues for the last decade and an increase in adjusted EBITDA margin in line with our strategic ambitions. We ended 2022 in the position of strength, and our healthy backlog is indicative of the high demand for our services and the trust our clients have in us. As we enter 2023, we have the right level of workforce and skill sets to deliver on our clients' projects around the globe, and our balance sheet remains strong. In summary, we cannot have hoped for a better start of 2022-2024 strategic cycle. Let's now review our recent acquisitions. First off, let me say that I'm particularly pleased with the progress we have made in 2022 in becoming the undisputed leader of our industry. We have continued to be active and disciplined on the acquisition front and completed six transactions, adding key expertise in high growth sectors, such as environment and water, while expanding our offering to clients in the government space amongst others. We welcome approximately 7,400 new employees throughout these acquisitions. In January 2023, we completed the previously announced acquisition of BG Consulting Engineering then struck as one of switzerland's leading engineering consulting firms bg offers consulting engineering and project management services in the infrastructure building water environment and energy sectors this transactions reinforces our foothold in europe by adding 700 professionals based primarily in switzerland and france I'm pleased that Pierre Hippard, former CEO of BG, will be assuming the newly created role of CEO of WSB's Western European region, effective April 1st, and I am confident this region will do well under his leadership. Our second acquisition of 2023 and Struct is a 75-employee structural engineering firm known for designing and delivering quality building projects. This transaction strengthens our structural business in Sydney. It also provides relevant structural engineering capabilities that strategically tie in, I'm sorry, with our Australian properties and building strategic submissions. The integration of recent acquisitions is progressing according to plan, including the integration of VNI for the environment and infrastructure business of John Wood Group PLC, our largest transaction in 2022. Of interest, we are already benefiting from revenue synergies and global collaboration as we successfully combine our major client teams upon closing. All in all, 2022 was a very active year on the M&A front. Next, I would like to share some recent highlights. First, we are thrilled to have been recognized for our leadership in corporate transparency and performance on climate change by global environmental nonprofit CDP securing a place with the highest rating possible along two other Canadian companies. This recognition reaffirms our commitments to embedding climate-related considerations into our operations. We strive to lead the world's green transition through proven scientific approaches, innovation, and smart engineering to future-proof our cities and our environment. Transparency is critical to achieving our goals. Just prior to our participation in COP15 in December, we unveiled our Biodiversity Statement, which is a new set of guiding principles aimed at enabling us to engage with our clients to protect, restore, and enhance ecosystems, helping us to make a positive impact on nature. During the same period, we also confirm our $700,000 donation to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to support initiatives aimed at protecting biodiversity, which is a natural extension of our commitment to mitigating climate change. Transitioning over to the reason we exist, I would like to showcase some recent projects. Thanks to our future-ready approach, we continue to win work focused on long-term resilience and adaptability, delivering exciting projects with lasting positive impacts. In the energy space, momentum to decarbonize the electricity grid in Australia is stimulating the offshore wind energy market, providing us with long-term multidiscipline opportunities. One example is the Star of the South, currently positioned to be Australia's first offshore wind farm, where we have provided owner's engineer services since 2020. In December 2022, the Australian government cemented its commitment by declaring the first offshore wind zone in Victoria. This has inspired significant additional activity, and WSP is now providing a range of services to major global clients to support their early development. These projects provide an attractive long-term pipeline of work. We were also awarded the opportunity to reimagine the iconic Boulevard La Croisette in Cannes. Our successful design for the promenade integrates future mobility, resources, climate, biodiversity, society, and digital opportunities. Designed for today's hotter summers, locals and visitors will enjoy the shading furniture and the vegetation selected to reinforce biodiversity. The redesigned boulevard will increase green mobility for cyclists and pedestrians with secured crossing and create a universally accessible area, which fosters social interaction and enhances well-being. Moving on to the U.S., we have designed one of the world's first all-electric hospital at the University of California. This hospital is being delivered with the contribution of recently acquired TK1SC. Our mandate was to reduce natural gas usage as much as possible, and our solution eliminated the use of fossil fuels entirely, breaking new ground within the all-electric approach. We also overcame other complexities related to patient safety in this earthquake zone, as well as California's undersized electrical grid. Through our innovative design, we have helped create a world-class hospital that is leading the way and its commitment to a decarbonized future. With approximately 150,000 active projects in a variety of sectors, it is our responsibility to deliver work that will promote a sustainable and resilient society. We are proud to play a leadership role in contributing to a low-carbon world and accelerating the green transition. I will now turn the call over to Alain to review our financial results in detail in addition to covering our 2023 outlook. Alain?