Keurig Dr Pepper Inc.

Good day and welcome to the Keurig Dr. Pepper first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a 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 a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to introduce the company's Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategic Initiatives, Jane Gelfand. Please go ahead.

Thank you and hello, everyone. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release detailing our first quarter results, which we will discuss during this conference call. We have also added a slide presentation to our earnings materials. The slides accompany our prepared remarks and can be tracked in real time on the live webcast. They will be archived on our IR website afterwards. Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that our remarks will include forward-looking statements which reflect KDP's judgment, assumptions, and analysis only as of today. Our actual results may differ materially from current expectations based on a number of factors affecting KDP's business. Except as required by law, we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements discussed today. For more information, please refer to our earnings release and the risk factors discussed in our most recent forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the SEC. Consistent with previous quarters, we will be discussing our Q1 performance on a non-GAAP adjusted basis, which reflects constant currency growth rates, and excludes items affecting comparability. Definitions and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP metrics are included in our earnings materials. Here with us today to discuss our results are Keurig Dr. Pepper's Chairman and CEO, Bob Gambort, incoming CEO and Chief Operating Officer, Tim Koffer, and Chief Financial Officer and President International, Sudhanshu Priyadarshi. I'll now turn it over to Bob.

Thanks, Jane, and good morning, everyone. It has been a busy and exciting start to the year at KDP. First quarter performance was strong, with solid consolidated sales growth and double-digit EPS growth. Momentum in our U.S. refreshment beverages and international segments remained healthy, and U.S. coffee results showed meaningful sequential recovery. We invested in marketing and capabilities across the business, while also delivering attractive broad-based margin expansion. The strong start to the year enhances our visibility to an unchanged on algorithm 2024 growth outlook. In Q1, we also advanced several strategic initiatives that position the company for multi-year success and demonstrate our confidence in the value creation opportunity ahead. First, we unveiled a revolutionary future vision for the Keurig brewing system that has been years in the making. When launched, our new proprietary K-Rounds plastic and aluminum-free pods and Keurig Alta brewers will enable consumers to brew a wide variety of hot and cold barista-style beverages from a single machine using a pod that can be easily and sustainably disposed. This system has the potential to redefine how consumers brew coffee for decades to come, and we're excited to begin beta testing later this year. At the same time, we are committed to growing our preeminent existing K-Cup system, including through a strong slate of innovation in 2024. Second, in Q1, we also took advantage of a highly compelling and dislocated stock valuation by executing a $1.1 billion buyback of 38 million KDP shares. This was our largest quarterly share repurchase in our history, and we have progressively increased our buyback activity over the past several years. And with another $1.8 billion remaining on our authorization, we intend to stay opportunistic when we see attractive value in our shares. Third, we introduced our evolved enterprise strategy, which we unveiled at an investor day hosted last month. This strategic framework combines many of the philosophies and practices that KDP has developed over the last five years with new elements intended to drive strong and self-reinforcing growth in our next chapter as a public company. Many elements of this strategy were already evident in our first quarter results. Finally, this morning, we announced that Tim has been appointed KDP CEO and will join our board effective tomorrow, marking the culmination of a robust transition process that began when he joined us in November. I've worked closely with Tim over the past several months and I've seen firsthand how our company is benefiting from his deep and diversified CPG experience, strategic vision, and personification of our challenger culture. I look forward to continuing to partner with Tim and the broader leadership team in my ongoing capacity as KDP's executive chairman and could not be more confident in their stewardship of the company's next chapter. With that, I will turn the call over to Tim.