Amcor plc

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AMCOR first quarter 2022 results. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. And if you would like to ask a question, you may press star 1. And if you require any further assistance during the call, you may press star 0. Without further ado, I would like to welcome Your host for today, Ms. Tracey Whitehead, Head of Investor Relations. The floor is yours.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome everyone to AMCOR's first quarter of the year. Joining today is Mon Delia, an executive editor, and Marcus Pacimento, Chief Financial Officer. At this time, I'll direct you to our website, amcor.com, under the Investor Relations. where you'll find our press release and presentation which will be discussed on the field. We'll also discuss non-explanatory measures and related reconciliations at the time of the press release and presentation. Also a reminder that the call today includes forward-looking statements which remain subject to certain risks and uncertainties. including a statement on 10-K and 10-Q to review the factors that could cause actual results to differ from what we're discussing today. During the question and answer session, once again, we request that participants limit their questions to the next two and then rejoin the Q&A follow-up.

Okay. Thanks, everyone, for joining us to discuss AMCOR's fiscal 2022 first quarter results. Joining me today is Michael Casamento, AMCOR's Chief Financial Officer, and we'll begin with some brief prepared remarks and then open the line for Q&A. We start with safety because it's the first and most important of our values and the highest priority for every one of our 46,000 people around the world. And AMCOR has been on a long-term journey towards our goal of no injuries, and our safety performance remains a real highlight. Across the group, we reduced the number of injuries by 16% compared to the prior year, and 62% of our sites have remained injury-free for at least 12 months. As we continue to make strong progress, it reinforces our conviction that an objective of no injuries is absolutely possible, and we continue striving towards that goal. We have four key messages today listed here on slide four. First, AMCOR is navigating well through challenging external conditions that we highlighted in August. And like the rest of our industry, including our customers and suppliers, we're experiencing unprecedented complexity across the supply chain, but we're performing well and we remain on track to deliver on our expectations for the year. We're able to say that confidently because we're leveraging our scale and global reach, we're relying on the capabilities and experience of our management teams, and we're maintaining an unwavering focus on the right priorities. In particular, security of supply for our customers, recovery of higher input costs, and managing the sales mix. The second message today is that Amcor delivered a solid first quarter. While sales were tempered by supply chain challenges in some parts of the business, we delivered another solid quarter of double-digit earnings growth, which was in line with our expectations. Third, we're reaffirming fiscal 22 guidance, and we remain on track to meet the fiscal 22 earnings growth and cash flow objectives that we provided in August. And finally, we've built a strong foundation over the last several years, and today, MCOR is better positioned strategically than ever. In addition to delivering against short-term priorities, we remain focused on our long-term strategy and track record of growth and value creation. Turning to the financial highlights on slide five, the business delivered a solid start to the fiscal year. Our 10% reported net sales growth includes approximately $285 million of price increases related to the pass-through of higher raw material costs. We're incredibly proud of the way our teams have continued to successfully steer us through this environment of ongoing inflation, achieving significant recovery over the last several quarters, and will continue to manage this dynamic going forward. Excluding this pass-through impact, organic sales grew 1%. In this environment, we're maintaining focus on a long-term strategy of optimizing mix, and it's clear that volume performance in both segments would have been higher in an unconstrained environment. Overall, EBIT increased 7% in comparable constant currency terms, which was right in line with expectations. The flexible segment had a strong quarter, generating earnings growth of 8%, driven by favorable mix and outstanding management of costs. In rigid packaging, the business in North America experienced a particularly challenging environment, including elevated demand combined with full capacity utilization and constraints of critical inputs, which resulted in operating inefficiencies and higher costs. Net income and EPS were both up at double-digit rates, increasing by 10% and 12%, respectively. And our financial profile remains strong. We increased cash returns to shareholders during the quarter, including repurchases of $64 million of shares. And the board declared an increased quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share. So the key message here is that the business remains focused and continues to execute well. And with that, I'll hand over to Michael.