Laureate Education, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the 2024 Second Quarter Laureate Education Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Adam Morris, Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on today's call to discuss Laurier Education's second quarter 2024 results. Joining me on the call today are Alex Turcanton, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Rick Buskirk, Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings press release is available on the investor relations section of our website at laureate.net. We've also posted a supplementary presentation to the website, which we will be referring to during today's call. The call is being webcast, and a complete recording will be available after the call. I'd like to remind you that some of the information we are providing today, including but not limited to our financial and operational guidance, constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may change at any time, and therefore, our actual results may differ materially from those we expected. Important factors that cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, our 10-Q filed earlier this morning, as well as other filings made with the SEC. In addition, all forward-looking statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this conference call, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Non-GET measures that we discuss, including and among others, adjusted EBITDA and its related margin, adjusted EBITDA to unlevered free cash flow conversion, total debt net of cash and cash equivalents and free cash flow, are detailed and reconciled where applicable to their GAAP counterparts in our press release or supplementary presentations. Let me now turn the call over to Ilyas.

Thank you, Adam, and good morning, everyone. Today, I am pleased to report solid operating performance for the second quarter. We remain on track to deliver on our 2024 commitments on a constant currency basis. In addition, our strong balance sheet and significant cash flow generation support our continued emphasis on returning capital to shareholders. For the first six months of this year, we have repurchased over $72 million worth of shares. Later in our prepared remarks, Rick will discuss the impact from the recent weakening of the Mexican peso, which is causing us to make a slight downward adjustment to our outlook on a spot FX basis. The market dynamics remain favorable for private higher education in both of our geographies. Mexico continues to present a compelling growth story, driven by robust manufacturing and construction sectors, higher minimum wages, record low unemployment, and increased consumer spending. In addition, nearshoring is further bolstering growth prospects. Presidential elections were held during June in Mexico, and early indicators from the new administration are encouraging. The incoming Scheinbaum administration is emphasizing fiscal prudence, industrial policy, public-private collaboration, increased digitalization, and enhanced security as key pillars to strengthen the Mexican economy. The new president will assume office on October 1st. the market anticipates some possible foreign exchange volatility during the transition period, which we will be monitoring closely. Peru is already seeing a recovery from the economic downturn which began last year. Peru's economy expanded more than expected for the second straight month in May. And both the central bank and the finance ministry are now expecting GDP growth of around 3% this year compared to a 0.6% contraction last year. We anticipate this macroeconomic recovery to benefit our smaller secondary enrollment intake in September and more fully get us back to normalized growth rates in 2025. Our growth agenda is supported by our leading brands and steadfast commitment to academic excellence and innovation. I'm proud to announce that recently UVM in Mexico was ranked the number two private university in the country in the latest GIA Universitaria rankings by Reader's Digest. And in Peru, UPC was ranked the second best institution in the country for human medicine by the Times Higher Education World University rankings, while maintaining its number one overall university ranking by Merck. In addition, we are very proud and excited for the nine students and three graduates from UVM and UPC who are representing their countries at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this summer. We wish them all the best, and I know they will represent their countries well, showcasing their dedication to sporting excellence on the international stage. I will now turn the call over to Rick Boskirk for a more detailed financial overview of the second quarter and year-to-date performance, as well as further details on our updated 2024 full-year outlook. Rick?