Allison Transmission Holdings, Inc.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Allison Transmission's fourth quarter and full year 2020 earnings conference call. My name is Melissa, and I will be your conference call operator today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the prepared remarks, the management team from Allison Transmission will conduct a question and answer session, and the conference call participants will be given instructions at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. If anyone should need operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ray Posadas, the company's Managing Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Melissa. Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter and full year 2020 earnings conference call. With me this morning are Dave Graziosi, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Fred Boley, our Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. As a reminder, this conference call webcast and this morning's presentation are available on the investor relations section of our website, allisontransmission.com. A replay of this call will be available through February 25th. As noted on slide two of the presentation, many of our remarks today contain forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, including those set forth in our fourth quarter and full year 2020 earnings press release, our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2020, June 30, 2020, and September 30, 2020. Uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic and related responses by governments, customers, and suppliers, and other factors as well as general economic conditions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions or estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those that we expressed today. In addition, as noted on slide three of the presentation, some of our remarks today contain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by the SEC. You can find reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable GAAP measures attached as an appendix to the presentation and to our fourth quarter and full year 2020 earnings press release. Today's call is set to end at 8.45 a.m. Eastern Time. In order to maximize participation opportunities on the call, we'll take one question from each analyst. Please turn to slide four of the presentation for the call agenda. During today's call, Dave Graziosi will provide you with a brief operational update. Fred Boley will then review our fourth quarter financial performance and introduce full year 2021 guidance. Finally, Dave will conclude the prepared remarks prior to commencing the Q&A. Now I'll turn the call over to Dave Graziosi.

Thank you, Ray. Good morning and thank you for joining us. Before I begin the operational update, I would like to mention our announcement earlier this week that Larry Dewey has notified Allison's Board of Directors of his decision to not stand for reelection at our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire Allison organization, we are extremely grateful for Larry's leadership and dedication to the company. I would also like to personally thank Larry for his mentoring and guidance as I have transitioned into the CEO position. In recognition of Larry's many years of service, the Board of Directors has named him to the honorary position of Chairman Emeritus of the Board following the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I'll now move on to the operational update. As we continue to navigate this critical period, our top priority remains the health and well-being of Allison's extended family. Safety measures and precautions that have been implemented throughout the pandemic remain in place today, and Allison is now providing onsite COVID-19 testing to our employees in Indianapolis. So much progress has been made in addressing the effects of the pandemic, and there is good reason to be optimistic. The risk to our extended families and communities persist, and we encourage everyone to remain vigilant, follow all recommended guidelines, and look out for one another. We are pleased to report that Allison's fourth quarter and second half results reflected the ongoing global economic recovery. 2020 was obviously an unprecedented year. Severe disruptions to the global economy as a result of the pandemic led to substantial volatility in demand and considerable labor and supply chain constraints. Despite these challenges, Allison was able to maintain the uninterrupted delivery of our products, and the generation of earnings and positive cash flow, once again, thanks to the unrelenting commitment, dedication, and resilience of Allison's employees, customers, suppliers, and communities. Also during 2020, Allison settled a total of $225 million of share repurchases, or over 5% of our outstanding shares. and completed an opportunistic refinancing of our long-term debt, resulting in anticipated annual savings of $13 million in cash interest expense with the earliest maturity due in 2026. Consistent with our capital allocation priorities, last week the Board of Directors approved a 12% increase of our quarterly dividend from $0.17 to $0.19 per share. Aggressive cost management efforts throughout the year while continuing to fund significant investments in engineering research and development and capital expenditures have positioned Allison to capitalize on growth opportunities across all of our end markets for years to come. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call over to Fred.