Good day, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the the Natural Grocers' First Quarter Fiscal 2020 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.I'd now like to turn the conference over to Mr. David Colson, Vice President and Treasurer for Natural Grocers. Mr. Colson, you may begin.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage first quarter fiscal year 2020 earnings conference call. On the call with me today are Kemper Isely, Co-President; and Todd Dissinger, Chief Financial Officer.As a reminder, all statements made on this conference call other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including the risks detailed in the company's most recently filed forms 10-Q and 10-K. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Today's press release is available on the company's Web site and recording of this call will be available on the Web site at investors.naturalgrocers.com.Now I will turn the call over to Kemper.

Thank you, David, and good afternoon everyone. We're pleased to report another quarter of continued daily average comparable store sales growth, reflecting our ongoing focus on our customer service and marketing initiatives, while staying true to our founding principles. We're also proud to open our first store in Louisiana, putting us in 20 states. We have steadily maintained store growth, bringing our count at the end of the quarter to 155 stores.Through the first quarter, we're on track to meet our 2020 guidance for comps, new stores, margins and earnings per share. We saw gains across most product categories during the first quarter, including a 3.4% daily average comparable store sales increase in supplements, accelerating from the fourth quarter. As we indicated on our last earnings call, we see the supplement product category as an opportunity and an area of focus in fiscal 2020.The comp gain in supplements is attributable to several initiatives in our in-store nutritional education programs. Our {N}power program continues to drive loyalty and support our marketing initiatives. With enrollment growth and increased {N}power penetration contributing to our positive comp in the quarter. As of the first quarter, {N}power enrollment increased by 37% year-over-year and sales penetration increased to 69% of total sales. Our newly implemented personalized {N}power promotions continue to prove effective, adding to our efforts to leverage {N}power to enhance the customer experience with personalized offers, recipes, and coupons.We have also recently rolled out new Billboard and Outdoor Creative Advertising and expanded our marketing coverage. Our partnership with Steamboat and Winter Park Resorts that started during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 has also contributed to our marketing reach as the impact of this partnership ramped up during the ski season.During the quarter, we reported a 40 basis point decline in gross margin on a year-over-year basis. As Todd will discuss, approximately half of the year-over-year decline simply reflects the change in the lease accounting standard that went into effect at the beginning of the fiscal year, and the remainder of the decrease reflected product mix.In comparison to the second-half of fiscal 2019, we saw a meaningful improvement in gross margin trends. We continue to see a relatively stable competitive market, and remain confident in our price positioning. As always, we continue to focus on our in-store customer experience to drive sales and build customer loyalty. We pride ourselves in making our customers feel welcomed and valued by providing world-class customer service and quality. Our everyday affordable prices, unparalleled nutrition education, and superior customer service are some of the foundations of the Natural Grocers' competitive advantage.We will remain focused on driving growth through new store openings in both existing and new markets, driving consistent comp store sales growth and controlling costs to deliver enhanced profitability, cash flow in return to our valued shareholders with our quarterly cash dividend.With that, let me turn the call over to Todd to discuss our financial results and guidance.

Thank you, Kemper, and good afternoon everyone. We are pleased with a solid start to fiscal 2020. In the first quarter, we continued our trend of driving revenue growth with another positive comp of 1.9%, and executing on our new store growth plans. We continue to see a favorable response to our marketing initiatives, and importantly, we are seeing accelerated growth in our nutritional supplements offering. As Kemper mentioned, we are on track with our 2020 goals through the first quarter and remain confident with our outlook.Turning to our financial results, during the first quarter, net sales increased 3.8% to $230 million. Daily average comp store sales increased 1.9%, and mature store comp increased 0.8%. On a two-year stack basis, daily average comp store sales were up 7.4%, and mature comps were up 4.4%. The first quarter comp increase was driven by a 2.5% increase in average transaction size, partially offset by 0.6% decrease in daily average transaction count, compared with the first quarter of last year. While traffic was down modestly in the quarter, note the traffic was up 1.7% on a two-year stock basis, as we were comparing to a strong first quarter a year ago.As Kemper noted, while the environment continues to be competitive, it also remains relatively stable, and inflation remains low at about 1%. Gross profit margin during the first quarter was 26.3% compared to 26.7% in the prior year, and up sequentially over the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019. Approximately half of the gross margin decline in the first quarter reflected an increase in occupancy costs that directly relates to our adoption of the new lease accounting standard. The remainder of the decrease reflected a continued shift in sales mix. As we discussed last quarter, the adoption of the new lease accounting standard has…

We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question today comes from Greg Badishkanian from Citi. Please go ahead.

Hi, this is actually an Abigail Lake on for Greg. So, comp payment this quarter at 1.9%, which is above the midpoint of your follow your guidance, which is 0.5% to 2.5%. You have easier comps in the back half of the year, so why not tightening that guidance range, given this on performance this quarter?

I think it would be more prudent to wait until after this quarter to do that.

Okay. Is there anything one time we should think about this quarter?

No, I think that we're trending fairly similar to how we trended last quarter, but I think if we keep on that term, then of course will cope with tight guidance at the end of this quarter.

Okay, great. And then, just on the competitive environment, have you seen any acceleration or deceleration of the motion, and are there any categories you've been more or less promotional?

No I wouldn't say that promotions have been too significant, any acceleration or deceleration in promotions, I think that pricing has gotten slightly more competitive, particularly in organic produced part of the business.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Kemper Isely for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much for joining us to discuss our first quarter results. We remain confident in our long history of being as leader in providing natural and organic groceries to consumers. We look forward to speaking with you on our next call to review our second quarter 2020 results. Have a great day. Bye.

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.