LKQ Corporation

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to LKQ Corporation's third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Joe Boutross, Vice President, Investor Relations. Joe, please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to LKQ's third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. To kick off the call, we have a prerecorded message from John Mandel, LKQ's chairman of the board, that will provide some additional context related to our recent press release regarding changes to our leadership team and an update on the company's strategic review. Following John's message, Rick will provide some high-level comments on each of our segments, followed by a detailed overview of our financials in the quarter, and then we will open the call for questions. I kindly ask that you focus your questions solely on the company's performance during the quarter. Please refer to the LKQ website at lkqcorp.com for our earnings release issued this morning, as well as the accompanying slide presentation for this call. Now, let me quickly cover the safe harbor. Some of the statements that we make today may be considered forward-looking. These include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, hopes, intentions, or strategies. Actual events or results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For more information, please refer to the risk factors discussed in our Form 10-K and subsequent reports filed with the SEC. And during this call, we will present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures, and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in today's earnings press release and slide presentation. Hopefully, everyone has had a chance to look at our 8K, which we filed with the SEC earlier today. As normal, we are planning to file our 10Q in the coming days. With that, operator, we are ready to begin the call.

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us. Following last Friday's announcements, the board felt it was important that you hear from us directly before Rick takes you through the quarter. I'll keep my remarks brief, but I want to share some perspective on the decisions we made and why. The board's focus is on delivering results for our shareholders, and that is what guided the changes we announced. LKQ is an exceptional business. We have unmatched scale. leading market positions in multiple regions, a unique global distribution network, and talented teams across the company. Our financial and operating performance has not reflected the strength of this business, and that has been disappointing both to our stakeholders and to this board. We've been operating in a challenging environment, and our execution, particularly in Europe, is not at the standards we expect of ourselves. The board has been actively engaged on these issues for some time now, and the strategic review we began earlier this year was one part of that work. We believe that LKQ has significant strengths that are not currently reflected in its operating performance, and our focus is on ensuring those strengths translate into improved results for shareholders. Last week, we announced three actions. First, we made a change at the top of the company. The board has appointed Sal Abadi as president and chief executive officer, effective December 15th. He succeeds Justin Jude, who departed the company on October 23rd. We thank Justin for his years of service and contributions to LKQ. Until Sal joins, the company is being led by an interim office of the chief executive officer, made up of Sue Gove, chair of our audit committee, and me. We're working closely with LKQ's leadership team oversee the company's operations during this period. After a thorough search, the board concluded that Sal is the right leader for LKQ at this moment. He spent more than three decades leading large, complex distribution and industrial business. As CEO of Veritiv, a high-volume, multi-site distribution business, he led a significant transformation of the company with its share price increasing more than 13-fold during his tenure. culminating in its $2.6 billion sale to Clayton, Dublier, and Rice in 2023. He also brings public company and international experience as well. Sal knows what it takes to win in a business like ours, and he brings the operating rigor, commercial instincts, and sense of urgency we need to sharpen execution and manage change with greater discipline. Second, we made a leadership change in Europe and engaged Alvarez and Marcel to advise the company on its European business on an interim basis. A&M has a mandate to stabilize operations, including the ERP related issues and restore service levels across the region. The team is also helping ensure continuity for customers and suppliers across the region while supporting our efforts to improve operational discipline and performance. Third, We suspended our full year 2026 guidance in light of the company's recent performance and leadership transition, and while Sal completes his review of the business. Finally, I want to update you on our strategic review. The board's commitment to unlocking value for shareholders has not changed. We made changes in leadership and brought in A&M to advise with respect to our European operations because of this. Now, in light of the appointment of Sal and the other leadership changes we announced on Friday, the board has decided to suspend the strategic review, including the specialty sales process. This will give Sal the opportunity to assess the business and the full range of paths to value creation. The board remains committed to overseeing strategic direction, protecting shareholder interests, and ensuring accountability, including evaluating opportunities that it believes could enhance shareholder value and optimize the company's strategic positioning over the long term. We believe that is the right sequencing for shareholders and will provide updates when appropriate. Everything we're doing is in the best interest of our customers, our employees, and our shareholders. I want to thank our more than 42,000 employees around the world for their resilience over the past several months and our customers and shareholders for their continued support. Thao looks forward to sharing his priorities with you after he joins. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rick to walk through the quarter in more detail. Rick will be handling the question and answers today and focus on the operating and financial performance in the quarter. We will not be able to comment on the strategic review process beyond what I shared here today. Thank you.