Mission Produce, Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Mission Produce Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Conference Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please also note today's event is being recorded. At this time, I'd like to turn the conference call over to Jeff Sonick, Investor Relations at ICR. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you and good afternoon. Good afternoon. Today's presentation will be hosted by Steve Barnard, Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Giles, Chief Financial Officer. The company's President and Chief Operating Officer, John Pawlowski, is also on today's call for participation during the Q&A session. Comments during today's call and the accompanying presentation contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical facts are considered forward-looking statements. Statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs as well as a number of assumptions concerning future events. Such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Some of these risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in the company's filings with the SEC. We'll also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures today. Please refer to the tables included in the earnings release, which can be found on our investor relations website, investors.missionproduce.com, for reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures. And with that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve Barnard, CEO. Steve, please go ahead.

Thank you for joining us today. We delivered record second quarter revenue of $380.3 million, an increase of 28% versus the prior year period, and generated stronger than expected adjusted EBITDA, demonstrating the continued execution of our global commercial strategy to expand market access and the categories that we serve. Our marketing and distribution segment delivered solid results in Q2, building on the strong foundation established in Q1, reflecting the effectiveness of our commercial teams to leverage the strategic value of our global sourcing network. We continued to successfully navigate typical seasonal dynamics in Mexico while maintaining strong customer relationships and service levels. Our deep-grow relationships in Mexico, along with our global sourcing network, allowed us to be nimble, providing the flexibility to leverage other countries of origin as market conditions warranted. This is truly a core competency here at Mission. It's what we do every day and represent more than 40 years of building the right capabilities in the right markets. The pricing environment remained favorable throughout the quarter, in fact, more so than we anticipated. The retail market's ability to sustain volumes amid extended periods of higher pricing reflects a favorable dynamic that reinforces the durability of consumer demand in the United States. This is the outcome of our relentless work to provide consistency. both in terms of supply, size, and quality to the retail channel, which is supported by our unmatched network of sourcing, distribution, and ripening infrastructure. As we look forward to the future, we are applying the same playbook to the other markets and categories to enhance our competitive position globally. For instance, we opened a forward distribution center in the UK two years ago with the vision of accelerating our reach in the broader European market by bringing ripening capabilities to the underserved region. Our commercial teams have been working hard to ramp up our presence and have delivered strong results through expanded customer penetration with larger accounts. This customer success is directly translating into higher volumes and significant gains in facility utilization, validating our strategic investment in the region. Our team's ability to adapt to local merchandising approaches and respond quickly with solutions is central to our increasing share, while establishing Mission as a reliable partner for major U.K. customers. We look forward to building on our success there in the quarters ahead. Our mango business is another example of the team's strong execution. Mango has contributed strongly to our results this quarter, where we achieved record volumes and significant market share gains that established Mission as a leading U.S. distributor. This success stems from three deliberate competitive advantage we've built. First, our cross-selling approach of leveraging new and existing customer relationships to build our mango business. Second, our differentiated positioning as a long-term program provider with year-round source and quality consistency that others simply cannot match. And third, is our national ripening, packing, and distribution footprint that provides operational capabilities and flexibility others in the space don't possess. Importantly, what we're seeing in mangoes mirrors the early success we achieved with avocados, bringing greater consistency and quality to consumers in an underserved market, which drives increased consumption over time and ultimately provides our retailer customers with new growth vectors for their businesses. Our early success in mangoes, combined with increased blueberry volumes and efficiency improvements we actioned last year, directly benefited our international farming segment, which, although small this time of year, delivered a significant EBITDA improvement. turning what has historically been a period of seasonal headwind into a positive contributor. Our diversification strategy is delivering exactly what we designed it to do, optimize facility utilization year-round while positioning us for an even stronger performance when our core company-owned avocado harvest season in South America ramps up in the second half. Our blueberry segment continue to contribute to our results. The over 100 hectares of new plantings that came online early last year grew our total footprint to over 550 hectares. This additional volume supported our Q2 performance and positions us well in a category that continues to see growing consumer demand similar to avocados and mangoes. We continue to see tremendous long-term potential in blueberries as consumer preferences shift toward healthy, convenient snacking options. We're strategically positioning ourselves to capitalize on this trend through a multi-year expansion of acreage that is expected to add more than 200 hectares for the next year's season of premium varietals that deliver superior flavor profiles and extended shelf life. While the yields will take some time to ramp up, the higher volumes will help us support growth in the years ahead. Looking ahead to the second half, we are well positioned to generate our customary step-up in cash flow, but with the added benefit of what we expect to be a more normal Peruvian crop on our ranches this year. If you recall, last year's harvest was significantly impacted by weather events, which decreased volumes by approximately 60%. Our orchards have recovered and are in great shape. As a result, we expect our production to be up approximately 150% this season, putting us in a position to meet consistent global consumption. Given our strong performance last year and a solid first half of fiscal 2025, we are continuing to improve our balance sheet leverage, which provided us with an opportunity to execute $5.2 million of share repurchases during the second quarter, reflecting our belief that the share price is undervalued relative to our business strength. With approximately 14 million remaining on our board authorization, we will continue to opportunistically repurchase shares when we believe there's a discount to the intrinsic value of mission shares in the market. In closing, our Q2 results demonstrate the strategic value of our diversified global platform and the successful execution of our long-term vision. We've built the capabilities to consistently deliver results across varying market conditions, and this quarter's performance validates that strategic approach. With that, I'll pass the call over to our CFO, Brian Giles, for his financial commentary.