WSP Global Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the WSP Global Inc. Fourth Quote and Fiscal 2024 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants will be in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to have the conference over to your first speaker, Konter Weber from Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining our call. Today, we will discuss our Q4 and fiscal 2024 performance, followed by a Q&A session. Alexandre Leveux, our president and CEO, and Alain Michaud, our CFO, are joining us this morning. Please note that this call is also accessible via webcast on the website. During the call, we will make 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 the MD&A for the year ended December 31st, 2024, which can be found on CDARplus and on the website. In addition, during the call, we may refer to specific non-IFRS measures. These measures are also defined in the MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2024. 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 condition and results of operations, as they provide additional critical 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 reported by other issuers and accordingly may not be comparable. These measures should not be considered as a substitute for the related financial information prepared by IFRS. With that, I will now turn the call over to Alexandre.

Thank you, Quentin, and good day, everyone. I am pleased to share our strong fourth quarter and full year performance, which exceeded the high end of our revised financial outlook that we provided in Q3 2024. We carried out positive momentum in Q4, delivering robust net revenue growth with continued elevated organic growth, enhanced profitability, and strong operational cash flows. We continue to enjoy a robust backlog and pipelines of opportunities demonstrating the strength of our global platform. Taking a closer look at the three key highlights of our solid Q4 and full year results. Our net revenues continue to grow significantly over our 2023 performance with a 23% increase for the quarter and a 12% increase for the full year. We maintain a high level of organic growth with 7.5% for the year, led by ongoing strong demand for our services, notably in the U.S. and Canada. Second, we significantly exceeded our expectations in Q4 and successfully met our yearly strategic target, delivering a 40 basis point increase in adjusted EBITDA margin, despite restructuring activities in Asia, which is not small in nature. And a total of 120 basis points during the last three years. And third, we ended the year in a strong cash position, with free cash flow more than doubling compared to last year. Our commitment to solid cash flow generation remains a top priority for us going forward. 2024 also marked a successful conclusion of our 2022-2024 strategic cycle, a period of remarkable achievements that have shaped WSP. As a leading compounder and value creator, we surpassed the ambitious financial targets we set three years ago drawing our net revenue by more than 55%, our EBITDA by 65%, and our net earnings per share by more than 60% versus 2021. During the three-year cycle, we enhanced our client experience, strengthened our platform, and completed 16 strategic acquisitions, notably Power Engineer, which we closed in October 2024. On that front, the integration is progressing well and is on plan. From day one, our key focus has been to bring our teams together, prioritizing our clients and projects. Based on our current pipeline, we now have over 120 opportunities in development together. We have now successfully secured many projects utilizing our combined expertise across multiple business lines. Additionally, we have multiple existing projects leveraging our combined capabilities to expand our current service offering for clients. Recent examples of key wins include two new multi-year framework agreements to provide engineering, design, and environmental planning and permitting for transmission, distribution, and substation-related assets for two major utilities in the Northeast. In short, we continue to see a significant level of revenue synergies opportunities. Today, our global talent pool has grown to approximately 73,000 talented professionals as we deepen our capabilities and footprint in key end markets and geographies. Our 2022-2024 accomplishments have further solidified our position. More than ever, we run a truly global and highly diversified business, primed to keep driving sustainable growth and leading financial performance. Before getting into our exciting developments from the start of 2025, I invite Alain to review our financial results in greater detail.