WSP Global Inc.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the WSP's second quarter 2023 results conference call. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Quentin Weber, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Weber.

Good morning. We hope that you're doing well and thank you for joining our call. Today, we will be discussing our Q2 2023 performance, followed by a Q&A session. Joining us this morning are Alexandre Lerue, our President and CEO, and Alain Michaud, our CFO. please note that this call is also accessible on our website via webcam. 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 quarter that ended July 1st, 2023, which can be found on CDAR and on our website. In addition, during the call, we may refer to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures are also defined in RMDNA for the quarter that ended July 1, 2023. RMDNA 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 condition and results of operation as they provide additional 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 a similarly lean 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 the call over to Alexandre.

Thank you, Quentin, and good morning, everyone. To start, I want to highlight the following three points. I am very pleased with our strong performance in the first half of 2023. Second, based on our results to date, backlog, expanding platform, and the volume of opportunities we are witnessing in the market, we are significantly increasing our financial outlook for the remainder of the year in comparison to the previously disclosed midpoint. Lastly, we are at the midpoint of our 2022-2024 strategic cycle and I am very proud of our accomplishments so far. I will expand on this later, but for now, let's get back to our results. Since the beginning of the year, our organic growth has continued to surpass expectations and was driven by strong tailwinds across our markets. All our key regions and sectors are contributing to and benefiting from this dynamic. With our global reach, multidisciplinary expertise, discipline and focus, WSP is uniquely positioned to deliver the work required that will lead to a more sustainable and resilient world. Given our strong organic growth and the contribution of recent acquisitions, revenue increased by approximately 30% in the first half of the year as compared to the same period last year and represent $1.6 billion of additional revenue. We expect that our prospects for the rest of 2023 and beyond will remain equally strong. Our order intake in Q2 was the highest recorded in a single quarter with more than $4 billion and our pipeline of opportunities remains strong. Our backlog stands at more than $14 billion despite consuming a significant portion of our order book through high revenues. This is a record high level for WSB. Since the beginning of 2023, in the US specifically, we recorded an increase of over 20% in contract awards not yet included in our backlog, which we commonly refer to as our soft backlog. Year over year, the increase represents 40% and reflects a rising need for improved infrastructure and for our expertise which is a similar trend we see globally. Before covering the key highlights of the last quarter, I will turn it over to Alain, who will provide further details on our increased outlook.