HireQuest, Inc (NASDAQ:HQI) Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call November 8, 2023 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

John Nesbett - Investor Relations

Rick Hermanns - Chief Executive Officer

David Burnett - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Mike Baker - D.A. Davidson

Kevin Steinke - Barrington Research

Operator

Greetings and welcome to the HireQuest Inc. Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. John Nesbett of IMS Relations. Sir, you may begin.

John Nesbett

Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. I’d like to welcome everybody to the call. Hosting the call today are HireQuest’s Chief Executive Officer, Rick Hermanns; and Chief Financial Officer, David Burnett.

I’d like to take a moment to read the Safe Harbor statement. This conference call contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. These forward-looking statements and terms such as anticipate, expect, intend, may, will, should and other comparable terms, involve risks and uncertainties, because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. These statements include statements regarding the intent, belief and current expectations of HireQuest and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based.

Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in HireQuest periodic reports filed with the SEC and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Except as required by federal securities law, HireQuest undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed conditions.

I would now like to turn the call over to the Chief Executive Officer of HireQuest, Rick Hermanns. Go ahead, Rick.

Rick Hermanns

Thank you everyone for joining today’s call. I’ll begin by providing an overview of our financial and strategic highlights from the third quarter, and then I’ll turn the call over to David, who will share more details around our third quarter results. The third quarter of 2023 was highlighted by increased revenue growth and healthy profitability primarily related to our acquisition of MRINetwork, which has driven increases in franchise royalties and underlying system-wide sales. Our total revenue in the third quarter grew 18.1% to $9.3 million, and franchise royalties increased 19.9% to $8.9 million compared to $7.4 million in the prior year period.