Ball Corporation

Greetings, and welcome to the Ball Corporation first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Brandon Potthoff, Investor Relations for Ball Corporation, Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thanks, Christine. Good morning, everyone. This is Ball Corporation's conference call regarding the company's first quarter 2024 results. The information provided during this call will contain forward-looking statements. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied. Some factors that could cause the results or outcomes to differ are in the company's latest 10-K and other company SEC filings, as well as company news releases. If you do not already have the earnings release, it is available on our website at ball.com. Information regarding the use of non-GAAP financial measures may also be found in the notes section of today's earnings release. In addition, the release includes a summary of non-comparable items, as well as a reconciliation of comparable net earnings and diluted earnings per share calculations. References to net sales and comparable operating earnings in today's release and called do not include the company's former aerospace business. Year-over-year net earnings attributable to the corporation and comparable net earnings do include performance of the company's former aerospace business through the sale date of February 16, 2024. I would now like to turn the call over to Dan Fisher, CEO. Thank you, Brandon.

Before we discuss Ball Strong earnings and improved volume performance, I would like to thank all of the Ball team members that worked tirelessly to achieve the successful aerospace business sale on February 16, 2024. Sale proceeds were immediately put to work to reduce our leverage, strengthen our balance sheet, and return value to shareholders. In addition, I would also like to share that Ann Scott has announced her retirement as head of investor relations after 37 years with the company. Just this week, Ann's first grandchild, Isabella Ann, arrived safely into the world. Needless to say, we all know what Ann will be doing in retirement, babysitting, golf, and being a lifetime ball cheerleader. Ann will provide behind-the-scenes support to ball through the end of the year, so as she winds down her time as a full-time employee, feel free to extend your well wishes via her ball email. As you can tell from our call introduction today, Our investor relations succession plan has been activated, with Brandon taking the lead as the head of the department. Congratulations to Anne and her family on the new grandbaby and her well-earned retirement, and for your support of Brandon and Miranda as they take the next steps in their careers at Ball. Today, I'm joined on our call by Howard Yu, EVP and CFO. I will provide some brief introductory remarks. Howard will discuss the first quarter financial performance and key metrics for 2024, And then we will finish up with closing comments and Q&A. Our team delivered strong first quarter results following the successful and earlier than anticipated sale of the aerospace business during the quarter. Global beverage can shipments increased 3.7% in the quarter. And we immediately executed our plans to deploy sale proceeds to the leverage and initiate a large multi-year share repurchase program. Reflecting further on year-to-date 2024 performance, aluminum packaging continues to outperform other substrates across the globe. In North America and EMEA, first quarter volumes exceeded our internal expectations as customers pulled forward volume in preparation for the summer selling season following notable fourth quarter 2023 destocking. In South America, strong volume performance driven by our customer mix and warm weather continued in Brazil. For a complete summary, of regional shipments for the first quarter, please refer to today's earnings release. Given seasonality, our customer mix, and incorporating first quarter regional volume performance, we anticipate full year global shipments to grow in the low to mid single digits range. Key drivers in 2024 are the benefits of deleveraging, repurchasing shares, improving operational efficiencies and fixed cost absorption, and leveraging our well-capitalized plant assets to grow the use of innovative, sustainable aluminum packaging across channels, categories, and venues. In addition to further actions to strengthen the balance sheet and reduce long-term liabilities. Based on our current demand trends and the previously mentioned drivers, we are positioned to grow comparable diluted EPS mid-single digits plus, off 2023 reported comparable EPS of $2.90 per share, generate strong free cash flow, strengthen our balance sheet, and return a value in the range of $1.5 billion to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends in 2024. We look forward to showcasing our team and unveiling our future operating model and long-term growth plans at our biennial investor day, scheduled for June 18th in New York City at the New York Stock Exchange. With that, I'll turn it over to Howard. Thank you, Dan.