The Andersons, Inc.

As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I will now hand the presentation to your host for today, Mr. Mike Holter, Vice President, Corporate Controller, and Investor Relations. Please proceed, sir.

Thanks, Rocco. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Anderson's Fourth Quarter Earnings Call. We have provided a slide presentation that will enhance today's discussion. If you are viewing this presentation on our webcast, the slides and commentary will be in sync. This webcast is being recorded, and the recording and supporting slides will be made available on the Investors page of our website at andersonsinc.com shortly. Please direct your attention to the disclosure statement on slide two of the presentation, as well as the disclaimers in the press release related to forward-looking statements. Certain information discussed today constitutes forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to future events, financial performance, and industry conditions. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially as a result of many factors which are described in the company's reports on file with the SEC. We encourage you to review these factors. This presentation and today's prepared remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure are included within the appendix of this presentation. As always, on the call with me today are Pat Bow, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Valentine, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We are also pleased to have Bill Kruger, Chief Operating Officer, join our call this quarter. After our prepared remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. I will now turn the call over to Pat. Thanks, Mike.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call today to discuss our fourth quarter results and our initial outlook for 2024. First, as Mike mentioned, we're pleased to welcome Bill Kruger, Chief Operating Officer, to the call. As many of you know, Bill brings over 30 years of ag commodity experience. He was CEO of Lansing Trade Group at the time of the acquisition in 2019, and was president of our trade and renewables segments prior to assuming the COO role last year. We look forward to him sharing his thoughts during the Q&A session later. Record fourth quarter results led to a third consecutive year of very strong earnings. Both trade and renewables contributed significantly to the quarter with renewables setting a new adjusted Q4 earnings record and trade delivered another strong quarter. Nutrient and industrial results were up slightly compared to last year on an adjusted basis. We ended 2023 with adjusted pre-tax income of $159 million which was our second best year ever. Adjusted EBITDA ended the year at $405 million, just behind the 2022 record adjusted EBITDA. Earlier in the year, we anticipated a greater year-over-year reduction from 2022, but we were able to make up some of the shortfall through our operating performance in a strong margin environment in our renewables business. The trade business posted a very strong fourth quarter with enhanced performance in our eastern grain assets. These results included basis improvement after a later harvest and income earned on drying wet grain received from farmers. Recent acquisitions in the pet food ingredient space made positive bottom line contributions. Our renewables business set a new fourth quarter adjusted earnings record. This was due to a combination of record total production from our four plants, an improvement in ethanol yield, and much improved board crush margins. Our low carbon intensive renewable diesel feedstock and feed ingredient merchandising product lines also improved. Nutrient and industrial improved slightly over the fourth quarter of last year on an adjusted basis on higher volumes and lower expenses. Agriculture product lines led the gross profit improvement. Manufactured product lines continue to be impacted by reduced consumer demand. Overall, I'm thrilled with a third consecutive year of very strong results. I'm also very proud of the team and how they optimized performance in a period of positive ag fundamentals. I'm now going to turn things over to Brian to cover some of our key financial information. When he's finished, I'll be back to discuss our early outlook for 2024. Brian?