AptarGroup, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Aptard Group's 2019 second quarter conference call. At this time, all participants are on 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 our call today are Stefan 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 the slide presentation file that summarizes our results on our website. We will also post a replay of this conference call on our website. And 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 undertakes no obligation to update the forward looking information contained therein. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Stefan.

Thanks Matt and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us. As you saw yesterday, we reported good second quarter results with consolidated core sales growth of 4% and solid double digit earnings growth. Turning to slide four of the deck, our pharma segment continued to benefit from strong sales momentum in the allergic rhinitis and central nervous system categories. We also saw a broad-based increased demand across our other pharma applications, including our consumer healthcare and injectables division. I'm also pleased that we closed on two acquisitions of leading pharmaceutical service companies, namely Nanopharm and Gateway Analytical. It is our strategy to expand our pharma service offerings that support pharmaceutical customers for both small and large molecules to help them accelerate and de-risk their complex product developments. Both acquisitions bring value-added and differentiated analytical, testing, and development services for all stages of drug development and commercialization. The expanded services platform will enable Aptar to collaborate earlier with customers to support their drug formulations and delivery requirements as they face increasingly competitive markets and increasingly demanding regulators. In addition to the two acquisitions, we had another interesting pharma-related announcement just last week. The US Food and Drug Administration approved a unidose powder system for a drug which is intended to treat severe hypoglycemia in people with diabetes. This marks the first FDA approval of a prescription drug using Aptar's patented unidose powder system and is Aptar's first combination of a drug delivery device with a solution from Aptar CSP Technologies as the device is protected by an active polymer container. This is also the first needle-free rescue treatment for severe hypoglycemia. Delivering the drug intranasally replaces the often difficult-to-assemble injectable kits, which require a multi-step, time-consuming process of mixing powder and liquid. This launches another validation of nasal delivery as an attractive, non-invasive way to administer life-changing and life-saving treatments. Turning now to slide five in our beauty and health segment. We are comparing to a very strong second quarter last year, which included a significant amount of custom tooling sales and a pipeline fill for customers' global launch in the personal care market, both of which did, of course, not repeat. We continue to make good progress on our transformation initiatives, including the operational improvements at some of our manufacturing facilities that are part of our three-year phased approach, and we look to make further progress throughout the remainder of the year and all of next year. Looking at the product on the right, we continue to help our customers bring innovative solutions to market and in the quarter, Monat Studio One introduced the hairspray that features our twist-to-lock actuator with a patented nozzle that allows for two dispensing settings. In addition, the locking technology is designed to provide protection during e-commerce shipping. Moving on to slide six, our food and beverage segment had a strong quarter with increased demand for our dispensing closures, particularly in the food market. The segment continues to benefit from conversion opportunities, especially for condiments and dairy products. Some of you may also have read the recent article in the Washington Post that highlighted the differentiating benefits of the StentCap inverted flexible pouch solution enabled by our pouch fitment and dispensing closure with our Simply Squeeze valve. If you missed it, just Google Aptar Washington Post to find the article. Also, Aptar was selected by Nestle to develop a dispensing closure for the first Kramer launch under their Starbucks brand partnership. This custom dispensing pour spout featuring a unique press to open and close design provides strong visual appeal, shelf differentiation, and added convenience for the Starbucks consumers. Finally, our infant formula closure with a built-in scoop is featured on a line of organic infant formula by Yi Li, the large dairy in China. So, in summary, a good quarter overall with top line gains in pharma and food and beverage offsetting some softness in personal care, with strong earnings growth, and several new interesting product introductions. 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.