Northern Technologies International Corporation (NASDAQ:NTIC) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call January 11, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Patrick Lynch - President and Chief Executive Officer

Matt Wolsfeld - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Tim Clarkson - Van Clemens & Company Inc.

Operator

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to NTIC First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

As part of the discussion today, the representatives from NTIC will be making certain forward-looking statements regarding NTIC's future financial and operating results, as well as their business plans, objectives and expectations. Please be advised that these forward-looking statements are covered under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and that NTIC decided to avail itself of the protections of the Safe Harbor for these statements.

Please also be advised that actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by the forward-looking statements due to certain risks and uncertainties, including those described in NTIC’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K, subsequently quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and recent press releases. Please read these reports and other future filings that NTIC will make with the SEC. NTIC disclaims any duty to update or revise its forward-looking statements.

I would now hand the conference over to your speaker today, Patrick Lynch, CEO. Please go ahead.

Patrick Lynch

Good morning. I'm Patrick Lynch, NTIC's CEO, and I'm here with Matt Wolsfeld, NTIC's CFO. Please note that a press release regarding our fiscal 2024 first quarter financial results was issued earlier this morning and is available at ntic.com. During today's call, we will review various key aspects of our fiscal 2024 first quarter financial results, provide a brief business update, and then conclude with a question-and-answer session.

I'm pleased with the strong start to fiscal 2024, highlighting stable demand across our ZERUST industrial and Natur-Tec markets. While the timing of certain orders did hold back ZERUST oil & gas sales, we experienced higher consolidated sales and a 78% increase in first quarter net income over the prior year's first quarter net income. I am particularly encouraged by the year-over-year improvement in our gross margin, demonstrating that our broad initiatives aimed at improving profitability are working as intended.