1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the 1-800-Flowers.com fiscal 2024 second quarter end year end earnings call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Andy Millivoy, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to our fiscal 2024 second quarter earnings call. Joining us today are Jim McCann, Chairman and CEO, Tom Hartnett, President, and Bill Shea, our CFO. Hello. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that some of the statements we make on today's call are covered by the Safe Harbor disclaimer contained in our press release and public documents. During this call, we will make forward-looking statements with predictions, projections, and other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including those contained in our press release and public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims any obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements that may be made or discussed during this call. Additionally, we will discuss certain supplemental financial measures that were not prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures can be found in the tables of our earnings release. And now, I'll turn the call over to Jim.

Thanks, Andy, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. This morning I'll begin with a brief overview of our second quarter performance and then turn it over to Tom who will provide a business update. We will conclude with financial review from Bill and then we'll open the call for your questions. Heading into the second quarter, we expected our sales trends to improve, our gross profit margin recovery to continue, and our operating expenses to decline. Our performance was essentially in line with our expectations As our gross profit margin recovery and expense optimization efforts helped offset what turned out to be a softer than anticipated consumer environment. Most notably, our gross profit margin expanded nicely, and as Bill will highlight further, our pace of margin recovery is happening at a good rate. This was our fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year margin expansion. and we are well on our path to returning to our historical mean annual gross margin rate in the low 40% range. Our gross profit margin is benefiting from a combination of a reversion to the mean of certain commodity costs and our work smarter initiatives that are centered on operating more efficiently. As Tom will highlight further, we are regularly evaluating opportunities to improve our top line through our relationship innovation initiatives and this performance will only further be void by the improvements we are seeing in our gross and operating margins. Before I ask Tom to provide the business update, I did want to take this opportunity to highlight a new organization that we are very proud to partner with this holiday season. As many of you know, Smile Farms is our signature philanthropic partner whose mission is to create meaningful work opportunities for people with disabilities. Their work generates purpose and pride and enhances life skills and fosters socialization. This holiday season, we are proud to partner with another organization whose mission is closely aligned with that of Smile Farms. During this past holiday season, we partnered with a nonprofit called the First Step Staffing to employ approximately 350 individuals in our Atlanta distribution facility. First Step Staffing is an organization that provides employment opportunities and resources to homeless individuals who want to reenter the workforce and improve their lives. They not only provide employment opportunities, but they also provide additional support services, such as providing transportation to and from work to position these individuals for success. They are a terrific organization that does great work, and we are glad to be able to partner with them. Now I'll turn the call over to Tom for the business update. Thanks, Jim, and good morning, everyone.