WSP Global Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the WSP Global first quarter 2025 results conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you'll need to press star 1 and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear a message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised, today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Quentin Weber. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call today. We will discuss our Q1 2025 performance, followed by a Q&A session. Alexandre Lerue, our President and CEO, and Adam Michaud, our CFO, are joining us this morning. please know that this call is also accessible via webcast on our 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 NDNA for the quarter ended March 29th, 2025, which can be found on CDAR Plus and on the website. In addition, during the call, we may refer to specific non-IFRS measures. These measures are also defined in ID and DNA for the quarter ended March 29, 2025. Our MD&A 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 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. This has been an interesting start of 2025, and I'm eager to share the details of our solid performance for this quarter. Overall, we have showcased net revenue and EBITDA slightly ahead of our expectations, and let me provide you with additional insights into our performance. First, net revenue organic growth for the quarter came in at approximately 5.5% when adjusted for fewer billable days in the US compared to the same period last year. In Canada, we delivered 7% organic growth, and with the election now behind us, we are confident that this momentum will continue. In the US, which accounts for 40% of our net revenues, we delivered our fourth consecutive quarter of double digit organic growth when adjusted for the same number of billable days. This track record demonstrates continued robust level of activity in the first quarter. With respect to our recent acquisition of Power Engineers, the integration is progressing as planned and it continued to perform nicely throughout the quarter with 11% in organic growth and a significant revenue synergies opportunities. Our UK business delivered growth in line with expectation and market dynamics have improved from a year ago. In APAC, despite subpar performance, the outlook for the Australian New Zealand remained positive in the medium and longer terms, which is reflected in our backlog growth in the quarter. Of interest, Australia's water, power, and mining sectors each achieved strong organic growth this quarter, and the results from the recent federal election is positive. Turning to our profitability, we achieved a steady EBITDA margin performance of 16% for the quarter. We delivered sizable increases in Canada and the Americas, with our margin improving by 130 basis point and 60 basis point, respectively. In AMIA and APAC, we absorbed approximately $20 million of continued optimization and restructuring costs which impacted our overall margin by approximately 50 basis points. On cash, I am particularly pleased with our performance this quarter, building on our 2024 momentum. Free cash flow increased by $240 million versus last year, and our DSO stands at 70 days. The strong outcomes reflect our ongoing focus on working capital management and optimization under our new ERP platform. Lastly, we are reaffirming with confidence our previously disclosed financial outlook, which includes robust margin improvement and a compelling organic growth profile. Despite the current macro environment, we have a good backlog, which has increased organically by 3% since the beginning of the year. We are driven by a clear strategy, a diversified and resilient platform, and we are proactively taking actions where required, all of which provide confidence in our ability to deliver shoulder value. On that note, let me briefly expand on the dynamics across our four core market sectors. Our largest market sector, transport and infra continues to perform well with the exception of Asia Pacific at this time. It contributes meaningfully to our backlog which give us good visibility for the remainder of the year. While we are actively monitoring public and private spending priorities, our deep expertise and diverse range of services in this sector are resilient and positioned in TNI as a stable contributor to WSP's ongoing growth. The same holds true for our diversified client base. In the US, for example, our client portfolio spans local and state governmental entities as well as private clients with minimal exposure at the federal level. The Americas region led the way for transport infrastructure growth in Q1. Recent notable wins include LEED design services for Southwest 10th Street Connector and Broward County, Florida, and multidisciplinary engineering services to support the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. In Canada, strong urbanization trends continue to drive substantial investment in new and existing infrastructure. Bridges, highway, roads, land development and municipal engineering represent a meaningful portion of our current backlog. WSP is also strategically positioned to benefit from Hydro-Québec's plan to invest $10 billion to upgrade the aging transmission and distribution infrastructure required to meet current and future electricity needs. Investment in water infrastructure is also trending positively across most of our geographies. For instance, in the UK, we secured new mandates with United Utilities for commercial consultancies, estimation and project management services under the latest M8 funding cycle. Shifting to our property and buildings market sector, performance remains solid and forward momentum is building. Our businesses in Canada, the US, the UK, and the Middle East, which account for about half of our P&B revenues, are performing well. Our critical infrastructure and markets, including industrial, advanced manufacturing, data centers, and healthcare, continue to show strength. and we are confident in the growth opportunities ahead. Notably, data center demand has been a steady contributor. While many of our recent project wins are confidential, we secured another one gigawatt of data center developments in the first quarter from projects around the world. These projects cover everything from site acquisition and master planning to land development and building design. Moving on to power and energy, where market fundamentals remain favorable and momentum continues to build. In the first quarter, we recorded double digit organic growth in this sector, reflecting the sustained demand for our services. The underlying drivers of energy investment remain valid, including replacing aging infrastructure, hardening electrical systems against natural events, strengthening grid reliability and security and supporting growing energy demands as data centers, buildings, transportation, and manufacturing shift toward different energy sources. As I mentioned earlier, the integration of power engineers is progressing very well, and many of our larger global clients are already able to benefit from our expanded engineering capabilities following the acquisition. The backlog is healthy, and I'm pleased to note that we recorded two more months of backlog versus last year. We also have more than 200 projects in the pipeline that leverage the combined capabilities of power and WSP to deliver more efficient project execution for clients. Of these 200 projects, approximately 40% are with clients outside the power and energy sectors. Now to our earth environment sector, our teams continue to secure new projects globally. Water, critical elements, technology deployment, and defense amongst others are all areas where our services are high in demand. Defense in particular via our longstanding relationship with entities such as the US Navy, Air Force, and Army Corps of Engineers, and many other entities globally remain strong. Notably, we were recently appointed to a $1.5 billion 10-year program with the U.S. Air Force to support site remediation and environmental consulting across its global assets, a clear endorsement of our capabilities. This builds on our ongoing work at the former Peace Air Force Base in New Hampshire, where we support PFAS treatment and groundwater management. Taking together, our four market sectors continue to reflect our ability to anticipate and respond to the megatrend shaping our world, from decarbonization and electrification to urbanization and supply chain resilience. We remain confident and focus on attaining our financial targets for the year. I will now invite Alain to review our financial results in greater detail.