MillerKnoll, Inc.

Good evening, and welcome to Miller Knowles' quarterly earnings conference call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's conference, Vice President of Investor Relations, Carola Mengolini.

Good evening, and welcome to Miller Knowles' first quarter fiscal 2024 conference call. I am joined by Andy Owen, Chief Executive Officer, and Jeff Stutz, Chief Financial Officer. Also available during the Q&A session are John Michael, President of America's Contract, and Debbie Probst, President of Global Retail. Before I turn the call over to Andy, please remember our safe harbor regarding forward-looking information. During the call, management may discuss information that is forward-looking and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results to be different than those expressed or implied. Please evaluate the forward-looking information in the context of these factors, which are detailed in today's press release. The forward-looking statements are as of today, and we assume no obligation to update or supplement these statements. We may also refer to certain non-GAAP financial metrics, which are reconciled and described in our press release posted on our investor relations website at millernol.com. With that, I will turn the call over to Andy.

Andy? Thanks, Carola. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. I'm very excited to share that our team delivered a strong first quarter, as evidenced by our top-line results and margin expansion. Across our enterprise, we have set ourselves up to seize opportunity as market conditions improve, and we believe we are at an inflection point. Now, regarding our continuing strategy, I'd like to highlight some of the efforts we're making to become more resilient, and future-proof our business, including diversifying our business both in North America and globally, streamlining our global operations, moving production and capacity efficiently, and investing in e-commerce. We believe that the work we're doing is paying off, with much to look forward to on the horizon. At the same time, we remain pragmatic about the next few months. We're still in the early period of recovery, and our business segments reflect the varied economic conditions around the globe. Right now, we have cause for both enthusiasm and vigilance. We've seen companies begin to take the leap back into physical space and announce return to office policies. Office leasing in the U.S. began to rebound in the second quarter of 2023, and we're seeing this amongst our clients as companies continue to announce return to office policies. Moreover, the American Institute of Architects Billing Index, or ABI, has been flat for the last six months, suggesting a slow but stable construction outlook. Having said that, we're still seeing mortgage rates at 20-year highs, and uncertainty remains about future rate hikes, which dampens the housing market and impacts the near term in our retail segment. Overall, we remain focused on economic and industry activity worldwide so that we can continue to deliver what our customers and clients value most. Our research and insights team is best in class, bringing the latest data and learning to our customers. This fall, we'll be sharing our latest point of view on the workplace and designing ideal spaces based on quality and actionable data. This fresh, thoughtful perspective emphasizes what we believe are the key factors to designing the best spaces to support thriving and engaged teams. Internationally, we're seeing some pockets of softness, mainly centered in Europe and China. Similar to North America and the rest of the world, we're further pursuing resilient sectors and global accounts. We've seen that our scalability and ability to deliver a wider range of products is a unique market advantage, and we'll continue to seek out these wins. In addition, over the next 12 months, we plan to transition 60 more international Herman Miller dealers into Miller Knoll dealers, expanding our offering to clients and our share of wallet with our dealers. Regarding retail, the deceleration in the North American housing market and the upswing in interest rates across Europe have continued to influence demand in this segment when compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, during the quarter, the order trajectory in the North American market surpassed that of other regions, primarily attributed to enhancements in our direct-to-consumer channels. We're strategically allocating resources to improve our digital platforms and technological infrastructure, aiming to enhance the overall customer experience and satisfaction levels, all while intensifying our efforts to fortify brand awareness. Furthermore, in the first quarter, we opened a new design within reach store in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, which has delivered very promising early results, including robust foot traffic and order placement. Now I'd like to talk a little bit about our gross margins. It's expanded year over year, sequentially, and across all of our business segments. In the past, I've talked about focusing on what we can control, and this performance is proof of that. We're seeing efficiency improvements derived from our synergy capture. We have pricing power. We're laser-focused on inventory management and product mix, and we continue to seek cost reductions. All of these key elements that are enabling us to improve the profitability of our core operations. I'm extremely proud of all the work our teams have done and continue to do every day to seek and seize opportunities. Finally, this quarter was not short on activity, so I'll walk you through a few of the highlights. We started out strong with a successful... the largest North American presentation of our Miller-Knoll Collective of contract products and services. Throughout the quarter, we debuted new products and textiles across our collective, including Not One's Morse Table System, which was awarded gold by Best of Neocon, Herman Miller's first collaboration with Gabriel Tan, launching the Lubomodular Surfball and Seclaire Tables, as well as a beautiful array of textiles from our textiles group, many with sustainable fabrics at the forefront. The HAY team launched a collection of lamps and other ancillary items, Holly Hunt celebrated their 40th anniversary with a collection of beautiful pieces. At Knoll, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the iconic wound chair, while also introducing the serenade table at a modern lounge height. We relaunched Herman Miller archival classics, all with fresh interpretation, and we made significant progress towards our sustainability goals, bringing solar power to our UK operations facility. All in all, I'm pleased with the strong quarter we delivered. Our team is connecting, and moving the business forward in exciting, creative ways, and we're capturing market share and growth opportunities as they arise. While I believe the rest of fiscal year 2024 will remain a transitional year, economic indicators trending more positively, pockets of weakness remaining. I'm confident in our ability to deliver shareholder value as we are operating efficiently and making decisions to further improve our margins and profitability. I'm looking forward to progressing towards our goals, positively impacting our industry, and advancing our strategy to remain resilient and ready for the future. With that, I want to thank you for your continued partnership with us. I'll now turn the call over to Jeff for a deeper look at our financials.