HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. Will the meeting please come to order? My name is Rick Hermanns, and I am the CEO and Chairman of the Board of HireQuest, Inc. Welcome to the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Stockholders. This meeting is being webcast live, and the webcast will be posted on our website after the meeting. An agenda that outlines the order of business is available on the website under Meeting Information. The matters on which the stockholders at the meeting are voting on are: one, the election of 6 directors; the ratification of the appointment of Forvis Mazars, LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm; and three, the nonbinding advisory vote on approval of the compensation of the company's named executive officers. After we complete the voting process, there will be time for questions and answers. You can submit your questions via the online annual meeting website during the meeting. If we do not get all of the questions, we will provide answers to all questions that are relevant to stockholders after the meeting on our website. I would like to begin the meeting by introducing the current members of the company's Board of Directors. They are They are Rimmy Malhotra, Larry Hagenbuch, Ed Jackson, Kathleen Shanahan and Jack Olmstead. We also have a number of company officers and management here with us. Joining me today are Cory Smith, Chief Accounting Officer; and John McAnnar, Chief Legal Officer. John will serve as the Secretary of the meeting and record the proceedings. He has obtained the affidavit of Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company as to the proper mailing of the notice of this meeting to stockholders. This affidavit is available if any stockholder wishes to examine it and will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. The Board of Directors has appointed Vito Cerone, a representative of our transfer agent, as inspector of the elections for this meeting. Vito has signed an oath to act as inspector, and this oath will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. The inspector of the stockholder list of the company -- the inspector has the stockholder list of the company as of the record date, April 28, 2026, which shows the stockholders and their respective numbers of shares entitled to vote at this meeting. The list is available to any stockholder who wishes to examine it. John has advised us that a quorum is present at the meeting, and so I declare the meeting duly and lawfully convened. The meeting is now open and ready for business. The first item of business is the election of 6 directors of the company. The proxy statement sent to you earlier and available on the meeting website under Meeting Documents lists the company's nominees for director. The following individuals are the nominees: Richard F. Hermanns, Rimmy Malhotra, Ed Jackson, Larry Hagenbuch, Kathleen Shanahan and Jack Olmstead. No notices of intent to nominate candidates for director were received from any stockholder. Therefore, I declare that the nominations for directors be closed. A motion to elect the 6 nominees is now in order.

I move that each of the nominees be elected as directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Does anyone second the motion?

I second the motion.

The polls are now open to vote on the motion. Any stockholder who has not voted by proxy or who wishes to change their vote should do so now. The polls will remain open until we reach the question-and-answer portion of the agenda. The next item of business is to ratify the appointment of Forvis Mazars as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2026. A motion to ratify the auditor appointment as described in the proxy statement is now in order.

I move that the appointment of Forvis Mazars, LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm be ratified.

Does anyone second the motion?

I second the motion.

I call the question and declare the polls open to vote on the motion. Any stockholders who have not already voted or wish to change their vote should do so at this time. The next item of business is to approve, on an advisory basis, the 2025 compensation plan of the company's named executive officers. A motion to vote on the compensation as described in the proxy statement is now in order.

I move that the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement be approved.

Does anyone second the motion?

I second the motion.

I call the question and declare the polls open to vote on the motion. Any stockholders desiring to vote should do so at this time. We will leave the polls open for another minute to allow the final votes to be registered. [Voting]

The polls are now closed on the motions. Thank you for all those who voted. While the inspector of election is reviewing the votes, I would like to open the meeting to any questions that stockholders may have. You may submit your questions online via the annual meeting website. John is able to see the questions and will read them aloud.

We currently don't have any questions.

All right. I understand that the votes have been counted and the preliminary report of the Inspector of Election has been delivered to the company. John, will you please announce the results of the stockholders' vote?

Absolutely. The preliminary report of the Inspector of Elections indicates that Richard Hermanns, Rimmy Malhotra, Kathleen Shanahan, Larry Hagenbuch, Edward Jackson and Jack Olmstead have been elected as directors by the stockholders. Each candidate received a sufficient number of the votes cast at the meeting. Ratification of the appointment of Forvis Mazars, LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2026, has been approved by the stockholders. And the compensation of the company's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement has also been approved by the stockholders.

I request that the final report of the Inspector of Election be filed with the minutes of this meeting. You have now heard the results of the voting, and this completes the business to be conducted at this meeting. Since there are no other matters to come before the meeting, a motion to adjourn the meeting is now in order.

I move that this meeting be adjourned.

Does anyone second the motion?

I second the motion.

Without objection, I declare this meeting adjourned. I would like to thank you for your interest and attendance.