Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience and holding. We now have your presenters in conference. Please be aware that each of your lines is in a listen-only mode. At the conclusion of this morning's short remarks, we will open the floor for questions. At that time, instructions will be given as to the procedure to follow if you would like to ask a question. It is now my pleasure to introduce today's first presenter, Brian Ezell. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Kimberly Clark's third quarter earnings conference call. With me today are Mike Hsu, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Nelson Ordeneta, our Chief Financial Officer. This morning, we issued our earnings news release and published prepared management remarks from Mike and Nelson that summarized our third quarter results and 2022 outlook. Both documents are available in the investor section of our website. In just a moment, Mike will share opening comments, and then we'll take your questions. During this call, we may make forward-looking statements. Please see the Risk Factors section of our latest annual report on Form 10-K and our latest 10-Q for further discussion of forward-looking statements. We may also refer to adjusted results and outlook, both of which exclude certain items described in this morning's news release. The release has additional information about these adjustments and reconciliations to comparable GAAP financial measures. And now, I'll turn it over to Mike.

All right. Thank you, Brian. Good morning, everyone. Our teams around the world continue to execute strongly in what remains a dynamic and challenging environment. I'm pleased with our continued organic sales growth momentum with 5% growth in the third quarter, reflecting broad gains in all of our segments. Our third quarter results also reflect ongoing volatility in the operating environment, which continue to pressure operating margin and earnings. Throughout the year, we've taken decisive action to offset persistent inflation. with pricing and cost savings. We're making progress as those initiatives enable sequential expansion of gross and operating margins in the quarter. As we near the close of 2022, we're maintaining our sales and earnings outlook for the year. We continue to manage our business with discipline and remain confident we'll restore our margins over time. We're executing our growth strategy to elevate our categories and expand our markets by putting the consumers front and center. We'll continue to invest in innovation and our commercial programs to continually sharpen the value proposition of our brands. We're committed to delivering balanced and sustainable growth over the long term as we work to fulfill our purpose of better care for a better world. With that, we're ready to address your questions.