Linde plc

is being recorded. And after the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. I'd now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Juan Pelaez, head of investor relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Adam, thank you. Good morning, everyone. And thanks for attending our 2024 second quarter earnings column webcast. I'm Juan Pelaez, head of investor relations, and I'm joined this morning by Sanjeev Lambas, chief executive officer, and Matt White, chief financial officer. Today's presentation materials are available on our website at lindy.com in the investor section. Please read the forward-looking statement disclosure on page two of the slides and note that it applies to all statements made during this teleconference. The reconciliations of the adjusted numbers are in the appendix to this presentation. Sanjeev will provide some opening remarks and then Matt will give an update on Lindy's second quarter financial performance and outlook, after which we will wrap up with Q&A. Let me now turn the call over to Sanjeev.

Thanks, Juan, and a very good morning, everyone. Lindy employees once again delivered high-quality growth, despite the stagnant trends of global industrial activity. Second quarter EPS of $3.85, operating margins of 29.3%, and return on capital of 25.7% all reached new highs, driven by the unwavering efforts of our 66,000 employees who actively manage what we can control. Turning to volume trends, you'll notice we were flat year on year. Last quarter, we described potential challenges in the industrial macro. And for the most part, it has played out as expected. This is why we initiated the self-help actions, which enable us to create shareholder value in any environment. That being said, the current quarter experienced a 3% sequential volume growth. And while some of this relates to seasonality, certain regions had organic volume improvements. While this is a positive sign, we're still not assuming any meaningful economic recovery in the guidance. Some may view this as overly cautious, but given the uncertain environment, I believe it's prudent to take this approach. As you know, when industrial activity recovers, our network density will enable us to supply that additional volume to our existing and new customers. Until then, we will continue with disciplined pricing and proactive actions to ensure earnings growth in this environment. Slide three provides more color on end market growth trends. Starting with consumer-related end markets, food and beverage continues the strong resilient growth trend at 8% over prior year. In part attributed to Lindy's total systems approach. This includes growing demand for higher quality and more innovative frozen foods, food packaging safety, and dry ice for meal delivery services as consumers opt for convenience meals. In addition, beverage carbonation and associated services continue to grow as consumers dine out. Our electronic sales represent 9% of our consolidated sales, but there's a substantial portion of our 50% non-consolidated JVs that supply this end market and are not included in this number, primarily in Taiwan. The 7% growth sequentially and year over year was driven by a combination of project backlog startups and base growth in the US and Asia. In the US, we started up a phase one supply system in Phoenix, Arizona for TSMC. Due to this, more than half of this project CapEx has now been removed from the backlog. driving the slight net decline versus prior quarter. I've always said that a healthy project backlog is one that turns over frequently, with projects starting on time, contributing to earnings as per contract. In addition, base volumes improved moderately in the US, China, and Korea. As you know from the last quarter, we signaled this was possible. So I'm encouraged to see volume levels starting to recover now. Healthcare is down 1% from prior year and flat sequentially. Consistent with last quarter, this is primarily due to our efforts to continue rationalizing home care products and service offerings that don't meet the business criteria, especially in the United States. We still anticipate the underlying demographic trend to drive mid-single-digit percent growth, but some of the ongoing portfolio pruning will partially offset that. Turning now to the industrial end markets. Chemicals and energy grew 5% from North American activity, primarily in the U.S. Gulf Coast, hydrogen, as well as Mexican energy services. We supply some of the most cost competitive customers in the world, and their higher production rates reflect their share of the global market. Looking forward, this end market will likely be the largest beneficiary of the project backlog, especially around clean energy projects. While OCI represents just one example, there are several more that comprise the 8 to 10 billion of near-term pipeline opportunities which we are pursuing and making good progress. Metals and mining is slightly down year over year, mainly from North American steel volumes, which have decreased, primarily serving the automotive and construction markets. This is a normal cycle we've seen over the years, not unexpected. although there could be some future growth opportunities as more infrastructure and energy projects break ground. Finally, the manufacturing end market is trending up 4%, primarily on pricing actions, as volumes are fairly steady across most geographies. Aside from some specific manufacturing sectors like aerospace or battery production, this end market mostly coincides with global industrial production, which remains flat. Overall, Lindy employees continue to do what they do best, manage an industrial gas business with leading results that create value for our shareholders, regardless of the economic climate. Despite the challenging conditions, Lindy delivered high-quality growth, executed on 8 billion project backlog, and further positioned the company for future growth. I remain confident in Lindy's ability to successfully navigate the near-term uncertainties while ensuring longer-term leading performance that our owners expect. I'll now turn the call over to Matt to walk through our financial results.