AptarGroup, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Aptar Group's 2019 First Quarter Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. Introducing today's conference call is Mr. Matt Della Maria, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Howard, and welcome, everyone. Participating on the call today are Stephan Tanda, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Bob Kuhn, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary. You can find a copy of our press release as well as a slide presentation that summarizes our results on our website. We will also post a replay of this conference call on the website. Lastly, today's call includes some forward-looking statements. Please refer to our SEC filings to review factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or contained in the forward-looking statements. After our undertakes, no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained therein. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Stefan.

Thank you, Matt. And good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. As you saw yesterday, we reported strong first quarter results, including robust core sales growth. Coming off a very strong year and fourth quarter in 2018, we saw a solid first quarter performance. Our pharma segment reported well above average core sales growth, which is due to a continuing strong allergy market across all channels combined with growth in demand for our uni-dose and bi-dose delivery systems used to administer central nervous system medicines. With our industry-leading drug delivery portfolio that spans a wide variety of end market applications, we are helping patients and healthcare providers around the globe with better drug delivery options. In the consumer healthcare market, we also saw increased demands for nasal decongestion, saline rinse, and eye care delivery systems. Our beauty and home segment also grew core sales growth with increased demand from our beauty market. Demand was particularly strong for our innovative fragrance pumps, as well as our decorative color cosmetic and facial skin care solutions. Food and beverage also had a good quarter, with strong demand for our dispensing closures, which was partially offset by lower custom tooling sales. We continue to penetrate and grow our business in the infant nutrition, granular foods, and bottled water categories. Now I would like to share a few recent examples of interesting innovations that we are bringing to market. If you're following along with the presentation that accompanies our press release and is posted to our website, I'm referring now to slide four. I will highlight the first three examples, starting with a product from our pharma segment, As we highlighted in a recent press release, our BiDose nasal spray device was recently approved by the US FDA for a breakthrough therapy in the field of depression. This BiDose system is a primeless, intuitive, and easy to use device with 360 degree functionality and precise spray characteristics deliver two shots of medicine within the single device. This is the first FDA approval and US launch of a prescription drug using Aptar Pharma's patented by-dose nasal spray delivery system. The next product is from our Beauty and Home segment in China. The second photo from the left shows a customized skincare dispensing pen which features a magnetic applicator which delivers active ingredients to age spots with three times the absorption rate versus applying the formula with your finger. Turning to the food and beverage product, we continue to help our customers innovate to provide the most convenient and controlled dispensing solution for the sauces and condiments category. Here you'll see an inverted squeeze pouch featuring our flip-flip closure with a simply squeezed valve technology and a built-in tamper-evident pull-ring fitment for a line of organic barbecue sauce found in the United States. These innovations reflect how we approach and bring to life product dispensers to transform the user experience across categories, adding tangible value that did not exist before. In turn, we are helping to both revolutionize our customers' businesses by giving them first mover advantage and delight consumers who benefit from safer and more convenient healthcare, personal care, and food products. I would like to mention, as we previously disclosed, we continue to return increasing value to shareholders by raising our quarterly dividend 6% and the Board also authorized a new share repurchase program. These two actions are part of our longstanding balanced capital allocation strategy that also includes investing in our business and making strategic acquisitions. Our strong balance sheet and confidence in the long-term growth opportunities for our company allow us to provide shareholders with additional current returns while we are able to pursue long-term investment opportunities. Before I turn it over to Bob, I would like to share a few changes to APTAR's Board of Directors. Two board members, Steve Hagee and Alain Chevassu, will retire from APTAR's Board of Directors. Both have served as members of the board since 2001. Steve, of course, led the company as president and CEO from 2011 until he retired from that position in early 2017, and he was an integral part of APTAR's senior leadership team for over three decades. Alain's experience in the global beauty industry provided valuable guidance over the years. I want to personally thank both Steve and Alain for their contributions and service to Aptar and wish them well in retirement. We are thrilled to welcome Isabelle Marais-Sanpere to our board, a trained scientist and experienced transformation leader. Isabelle most recently was a member of the Executive Committee of L'Oréal. Previously, she was the CFO of Peugeot Citroën, and before that, a senior executive at the multinational Saint-Gobain. Isabelle brings tremendous breadth and depth of experience, including serving on the board of Nokia for several years. She has deep insights into French business culture and, at the same time, a strong grasp of global business imperatives. She will be a great addition to our board. With that, I will now turn it over to Bob, who is going to walk through some of the financial details that impacted the quarter. Bob?