Laureate Education, Inc.

Good day, everyone, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Laureate Education First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will 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 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us on today's call to discuss Authority Education's first quarter 2025 results. Joining me on the call today are Iliff Sarkanson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Rick Buzzkirk, 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 could 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 10Q 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 either take no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Additionally, non-GET measures that we discuss, including and among others, adjusted EBITDA and its related margin, adjusted net income, and adjusted earnings per share, total debt net of cash, and free cash flow are also detailed and reconciled to their GAAP counterparts in our press release or supplementary presentations. Let me now turn the call over to Ayla.

Thank you, Adam, and good morning, everyone. 2025 is off to a good start, and we are encouraged by the solid results from our recently completed intake cycles, which included Peru's primary intake and a smaller secondary intake for Mexico. Enrollment results came in line with our expectations for both markets, with year-over-year new enrollment growth of 8% for Mexico and 6% in Peru through the completion of the intake cycles by middle of April. With the intake now finalized, we have good visibility into the remainder of the year, and we are tightening the range of our full-year guidance, effectively raising the midpoint for total enrollment revenue, and adjusted EBITDA. The result from this intake cycle further validates the resiliency of our business model. Our historical performance demonstrates that our business model is loosely correlated with economic cycles. During more robust economic times and periods of GDP growth, we benefit from both strong volume growth and pricing power. In slower and more uncertain economic times, As we are currently experiencing, our business model has consistently proven to be resilient, as families tend to prioritize education over other forms of discretionary spending. This is due to the strong wage premium from having a higher education degree, the affordability of our programs, and the strong return on the educational investment we deliver to our students. This resiliency was also demonstrated during the global financial crisis in 2008 to 2010, the COVID-19 pandemic, and even more recently during the 2023 recession in Peru. For that reason, we remain confident in the growing demand for quality higher education in both Mexico and Peru. With our leading brands and strong digital capabilities, we feel very well positioned to capitalize on these secular growth trends in our markets. In the near term, from a macro perspective, we continue to closely monitor political and external development in both markets, particularly as US-Mexico trade discussions evolve. Although GDP growth and foreign direct investment have recently slowed, we remain cautiously optimistic given Mexico's strategic position as the US seeks to reduce its reliance on China. While recent trade tensions have introduced some uncertainty, Mexico's strong economic ties to the US, its sound fiscal discipline, and more dovish monetary policy set the stage for solid foundation for growth in the coming years. In Peru, the recovery from the mid-2023 recession continues to gain traction, with GDP growth projected at approximately 3% for 2025. Peru is less affected by U.S. tariff policies, and it has a favorable macro backdrop due to low interest rates, stable inflation, and a currency that is correlated with U.S. dollar-denominated commodity prices, such as copper, gold, and agricultural products. While the current macroeconomic backdrop in both Mexico and Peru remains largely stable, we do anticipate continued volatility in the coming months and recognize that evolving global trade dynamics may introduce near-term pressures on GDP growth and foreign exchange rates across both markets. As a reminder, our businesses are local businesses with revenues and expenses naturally matched within each market. While this insulates us from any material foreign currency transaction risks, we do face translation impacts as a U.S. dollar reporting company. At L'Oréal, our mission is to deliver affordable, high-quality education to prepare students for successful careers and lifelong achievements while building pride, trust, and respect in our communities. For more than 25 years, we have honored that mission and positively influenced millions of lives by broadened access to quality higher education. My sincere gratitude goes out to all faculty and staff who have played a significant role in our success. The impact we've had on society is profound, and we measure that in many ways, including access to education, student outcomes, and affordability and quality of our offerings. We also take tremendous pride in tracking the magnitude of our institution's support to our local communities through free or low-cost health services and volunteering hours. In early April, we published our 2024 Impact Report, and I encourage you to visit our website and download a copy to learn more about the impact and the outstanding work of our students, faculty, and institutions throughout the communities in Mexico and Peru. Just to touch on a few highlights. Our four institutions are all five-star rated by QS stars, the highest rating attainable in the categories of employability, inclusiveness, online learning, and social impact. Forty-seven percent of our students are first-generation university goers. By expanding access to higher education, we turn ambition into opportunity, enabling these students to surpass their parents' economic status and create lasting change for their families and communities. And nine out of 10 of our job-seeking graduates are employed within 12 months of graduation. Our academic programs emphasize health sciences, STEM, and business disciplines, careers where there are large and growing demand by employers i'm very honored to be part of an organization which cares so deeply about expanding the middle classes in mexico and peru by providing quality higher education at affordable prices this concludes by prepared remarks and i will not only call over to rick bosker for a more detailed financial overview of our first quarter performance, as well as further details on our 2025 full-year outlook.