Waldencast plc

Greetings. Welcome to the Wallencast second quarter and first half 2024 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Allison Malkin of ICR. Allison, you may begin.

Thank you, and welcome to the WallmanCast PLC Second Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Call. With me today are Michelle Broussette, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, and then Wellman Freddie, Chief Financial Officer. For today's call, Michelle will begin with an update on our business and vision and discuss the company's performance within the context of the beauty market. Manuel will follow with a review of the second quarter and first half performance and provide our fiscal 2024 outlook. Following this, Michelle will share the strategic growth initiatives for our Milk Makeup and Obagi Medical brands. After the prepared remarks, the operator will open the call to take questions. Before we start, I would like to remind you that management will make certain statements today. which are forward-looking, including statements about the outlook of WalmanCast business and other matters referenced in the company's earnings release issued yesterday. Each forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in or implied by such statements. Additional information regarding these statements appears under the heading Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements in the company's earnings release and in the company's filings that it makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission that are available at www.sec.gov and on the Investor Relations section of the company's website at ir.waldencast.com. and should be read in conjunction with the section entitled risk factors in the company's annual report on form 20F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2024. The forward-looking statements on this call speak only as of the original date of this call, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. Also, during this call, management will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures which management believes can be useful in evaluating the company's performance. The presentation of non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. you will find additional information regarding the definition of these nine GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these nine GAAPs to the most directly comparable GAAP measures in the company's earnings release. A live broadcast of this call is also available on the Investor Relations section of the company's website at ir.waldencast.com, which will remain available until the company's next earnings call. I will now turn the call over to Michel Brisson.

Thank you, Alison, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to speak to you today and share our strong second quarter performance that saw accelerated comparable growth of 25.7% versus a first quarter increase of 21% and capped a very successful first half of the year. Our performance demonstrates the power of our multi-run platform and the progress we're making to achieve our vision for Walden Castle. His vision is to build a global best-in-class beauty and wellness platform that creates, acquires, accelerates and scales the next generation of high-growth, highly profitable, purpose-driven brands. As you have heard me say before, we're a beauty pure player because beauty is the most beautiful of industries. One that has shown impressively consistent growth, a strong profitability and resilience. The U.S. market for prestige beauty remains strong, up 8% for the first half. This follows significant growth over the past two years as the category continues to normalize following unprecedented growth. For the first half, prestige skincare grew 7% and prestige makeup grew 5%. Turkana notes that this growth reflects an accelerated defurcation emerging in the beauty industry, highlighted by the continued growth in prestige relative to masks, And it's indicative of the continued premiumization of the beauty category with consumers looking for higher levels of efficacy and performance. Our growth has far exceeded the category as our brands Milk Makeup and Obagi Medical are only at the beginning of their ambition to be market leading brands in their respective categories and are very well positioned to deliver consistent growth over time. We have two of the most exciting brands in the two biggest beauty categories. makeup number one, and skincare number two in the U.S. prestige beauty market. Our brands play in the fastest-growing subsegments of these two categories, prestige clean makeup and professional science-led skincare. Obagi Medical outperformed the U.S. prestige skincare market by a factor of 5X in the first half and continues its clear advantage as the number one physician-recommended medical-grade skincare brand for top-ranked patients' needs. leading in the most attractive, fast-growing subsegment of premium skincare. With its breakthrough patented technology and transformative, clinically proven results, it unlocks high loyalty from both consumers and physicians, and it is perfectly positioned to answer the growing consumer needs for high-performance, effective skincare, while also paving the way for expansion to other categories. Nude makeup grew three times faster than the US prestige makeup market in the first half. a cult favorite Gen Z brand benefits organically from an engaged and diverse community due to its cultural relevance and iconic products. It is a leading clean makeup brand, the number two clean brand at Sephora US, and is quickly building a global following with leadership positions in several international markets. No makeup has accomplished this through its relevant promise of cool, clean makeup that works. But we're just at the beginning of our journey to building a best-in-class global multi-brand portfolio. Today, we possess two powerful brands that have garnered critical mass while still having substantial runway for growth. With Milk Makeup and Obagi Medical, we have a solid foundation of prestige, skin, and color with a core business in the U.S. and a growing presence in Europe and the Asia-Pac region. We are achieving a strong growth in attractive channels and expect this momentum to continue as we drive awareness of both brands beyond its core communities, continue to introduce more blockbuster innovations and expand into other regions and categories. Our increasing success with both brands and the power of our unique pure play duty ecosystem gives us a distinct competitive strength in attracting other brands and founders to our platform. Our platform, built for scale and speed, will only get better as we create and acquire more brands and scale them profitably and efficiently. And now, I will turn the call over to Manuel to review our financials and outlook.