Archer-Daniels-Midland Company

Good morning and welcome to the ADM Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on a listen-only mode to prevent background noise. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I'd now like to introduce your host for today's call, Megan Britt, Vice President, Investor Relations for ADM. Ms. Britt, you may begin.

Thank you, Alex. Hello and welcome to the Third Quarter Earnings webcast for ADM. Starting tomorrow, a replay of this webcast will be available on our investor relations website. Please turn to slide two. Some of our comments and materials may constitute forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance, and financial results. These statements and materials are based on many assumptions and factors that are subject to risk and uncertainties. ADM has provided additional information in its reports on file with the SEC concerning assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in this presentation. To the extent permitted under applicable law, ADM assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events. On today's webcast, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Juan Luciano, will discuss our third quarter results and share some recent accomplishments on our strategic priorities. Our Chief Financial Officer, Vikram Luther, will review segment level performance and provide an update on our cash generation and capital allocation actions. Juan will have some closing remarks and then he and Vikram will take your questions. Please turn to slide three. I'll now turn the call over to Juan.

Thank you, Megan, and good morning to all who have joined for today's call. ADM reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.63 with an adjusted segment operating profit of $1.5 billion. Year-to-date, this equates to an adjusted earnings per share of $5.62 that would represent ADM's second-best EPS year achieved in just the first nine months and an adjusted operating profit of $4.8 billion. Our trailing four-quarter average adjusted ROIC was 13.2%. These results reflect yet another strong quarter for ADM. I'm proud of the team's nimble execution against our strategic plan while adjusting our business model in light of both global macro trends and the evolving needs of our customers. The global market is increasingly dynamic with factors that create both opportunities and challenges for ADM to address. Consumer behavior has shown growing variability, spending more in some categories while slowing spending in others. And our team has a proven ability to manage through these and the impacts of geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressures, and the constantly adjusting balances of commodity supply and demand. Within each business, We are focused on navigating these external factors carefully, while we're also building on the momentum we've seen through the year to date. As we look ahead, we are on track to exceed our 2023 previous expectations for the total company. In ag services and oilseeds, we saw the accelerated energy transition support strong demand for vegetable oil, leading to a solid crash environment. We leveraged our flexible logistics footprint to manage Brazil's record crop and our global trade franchise to best match supply to demand worldwide. In car solutions, we delivered a record third quarter on the strengths of solid margins in starches, sweeteners, and flour, as well as robust ethanol demand that helped us drive strong volumes and margins. In nutrition, Flavors growth continued to outpace the market where we both grew and executed on our revenue opportunity pipeline. The deliberate productivity and cost management actions we have taken in animal nutrition are enabling improved performance as we also see market volume recovery. And we continue to navigate pockets of soft demand in certain categories of the nutrition portfolio. Next slide, please. One of ADM's greatest competitive advantages is the breadth and integration of our business model, reaching from farm to fork. 2023 has offered several examples of how we're creating new areas of growth in each business unit. On the farm, ADM has one of the largest and most sophisticated global origination networks, connecting with hundreds of thousands of farmer partners worldwide. We have unique and deep relationships with the people and technologies that are shaping the future of agriculture. So as more of our customers are looking for traceable, sustainable crop sources in their own supply chains, we are a natural connector and influencer. We are proud to have announced partnership with PepsiCo, Nestle, and Carlsberg, and have a target of 4 million regenerative acres enrolled by 2025. the carbon equivalent of powering more than 100,000 homes a year. Moving into production, as the pace of energy transition accelerates, demand for renewable fuel sources is growing rapidly, and ADM is in a leading position to capitalize on this trend. With our Spiritwood JV with Marathon currently being commissioned, we are ready to feed the production of a targeted 75 million gallons of renewable green diesel per year. We have announced the Broadwind Energy Project, delivering a lower-emission power source and a critical part of lowering our carbon emissions used to power Decatur operations. And we're innovating to deliver new low-carbon intensity products within the fast-growing biosolutions portfolio. And as we connect to the consumer, we're working closely with our customers to serve the challenges of their consumers, whether it's sustainable solutions, the latest flavor, or a cost-effective ingredient replacement, or exploring the future of nutrition through work with ADM Ventures partners like Air Protein and Nourished. And we are differentiating our offerings with the next generation of evidence-based health and wellness solutions. With the world's largest probiotic manufacturing facility in Valencia, more than 50 clinical trials underway, and a growing team of deep scientific experts, we are well positioned for the expanding demand for functional foods and personalized nutrition. And to efficiently execute on all areas of growth while maintaining an efficient cost structure, we continue to vigilantly focus on productivity. as well as the culture that lets our ADM colleagues bring their best every day. Across our global organization, we're standardizing processes and systems through one ADM and modernizing our operations through digital transformation, driving greater efficiencies while enabling the best use of our workforce and production capacity. Our plant modernization program continues to deliver impressive operational benefits, including advanced analytics and safety improvements across the 17 operations facilities currently in implementation phase. With more than 70 plants in scope, the plant recurring cost savings associated with automation across our footprint in 2024 is already nearing $20 million per year. Our cultural efforts are the critical foundation for all of these strategic initiatives. We have ramped up our focus on a culture of caring, specifically in regards to the safety of our colleagues. This is our top priority, and our recent performance in this area has not lived up to our expectations. We are committed to taking action to improve and have already begun to do so with the assistance of both internal and external experts. We will do better. By actively managing productivity, innovation, and culture, and aligning work to the interconnected trends in food security, health and well-being, and sustainability, ADM is well positioned for sustainable long-term profit growth across new and adjacent avenues. And with a strong performance in 2023, and a constructive expectation for the remainder of the year, we are again raising our full year earnings outlook. For a deeper look at our Q3 performance, let me hand over to Vikram, who will cover results of operations.