Ball Corporation

Greetings and welcome to the Ball Corporation's second quarter 2025 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, head of Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. You may begin.

Thank you, Christine. Good morning, everyone. This is Ball Corporation's conference call regarding the company's second quarter 2025 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. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made today. Some factors that could cause the results or outcomes to differ are described in the company's latest form 10K, our most recent earnings release and form 8K and in other company SCC filings as well as company news releases. If you do not already have our 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 today's release and call do not include the company's former aerospace business. Prior to, prior year to date, net earnings attributable to the corporation and comparable net earnings do include the performance of the company's former aerospace business through the sale date of February 16th, 2024. I would now like to turn the call over to our CEO, Dan Fisher.

Thank you, Brandon. Today I'm joined on our call by Dan Rabbit, Senior Vice President and Interim CFO. I will provide some brief introductory remarks and discuss second quarter financial performance. Dan will touch on key metrics for 2025 and then we will finish up with closing comments and Q&A. Before we move on, I'd like to extend my sincere appreciation to Dan for stepping in as Interim Chief Financial Officer. Dan has served as our Senior Vice President of Corporate Planning and Development since 2016 and has successfully led more than 25 strategic transactions from acquisitions and joint ventures to investments and divestitures. He also previously led our aerosol business as Vice President and General Manager. His deep institutional knowledge and proven deal making expertise had brought immediate leadership and continuity to our finance organization. In just over one month since assuming the role, Dan has ensured we're on track with our financial discipline, supported both our capital allocation targets and partnered closely across the business. Dan, thank you for your steady leadership and dedication during this important time. Turning to business performance, we delivered strong second quarter results and returned 1.13 billion to shareholders via share repurchases and dividends through today's call. This performance re-emphasizes our opportunity to deliver record adjusted free cash flow and comparable diluted earnings per share in 2025. Aluminum packaging is outperforming other substrates across the globe, demonstrating the resilient and defensive nature of our global business. We continue to monitor the ongoing uncertainties related to tariffs and consumer pressures, particularly in the US. And we are confident in our ability to proactively manage these challenges and sustain our positive momentum throughout the year to deliver 12 to 15% comparable diluted EPS growth. 2025 second quarter comparable diluted earnings per share was 90 cents versus 74 cents in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 22%. Second quarter comparable net earnings of 249 million were driven by higher volume and cost management initiatives, partially offset by higher interest expense and lower interest income. In North and Central America, stronger than expected volume performance was not enough to offset product mix and cost to serve headwinds. Our team executed well, successfully serving higher than expected demand, managing the impacts of the Section 232 tariffs and mitigating risks despite a volatile environment. Volume growth was largely driven by strengthened energy drinks and non-alcoholic beverages. We remain attentive to the ongoing geopolitical landscape and tariff developments and are actively managing these dynamics. In EMEA, second quarter segment volume remained robust and segment comparable operating earnings increased 14%. Demand trends continue to be favorable, strengthening our confidence in achieving significant year over year comparable operating earnings growth in 2025, driven by sustained volume growth and ongoing operational efficiency. In South America, segment comparable operating earnings increased 38%, supported by strong volume performance in Argentina and Chile. While the Brazilian market performed below our initial expectations, we expect a return to growth in the second half of the year. Our regional performance culminated in Ball's global beverage can shipments being up .3% year over year in the second quarter of 2025. We delivered a strong first half of 2025, positioning us well for the rest of the year. We recognize there remains important work ahead to achieve our full year objectives. Our teams are committed to carefully navigating ongoing uncertainties and leveraging the resilience and strength of our global portfolio. We're laser focused on our updated goal of delivering 12 to 15% comparable diluted EPS growth for the year and while mindful of the challenges, we have confidence in our team's proven ability to execute effectively and deliver meaningful value to shareholders. After a strong first half, we now anticipate 2025 global volume growth to be above the long term 2 to 3% range and expect all of our businesses to perform in line with or ahead of our long term targets in 2025. This reflects the durability of underlying global demand, the strength of our customer relationships in addition to the operational consistency of our teams across markets. In EMEA, we continue to expect mid single digit volume growth in 2025. As the competitive advantages of aluminum packaging and low can penetration rates continue to drive share gains across the region. In South America, recovery in Argentina and Chile, coupled with anticipated growth in Brazil and Paraguay is expected to drive volume above our 4 to 6% long term range in 2025. In our North American business, higher than expected volume growth across non alcoholic categories, especially energy drinks, gives us confidence that we will see volume grow near the top end of our 1 to 3% long term range in 2025. We remain confident in our ability to deliver volume growth in line with or slightly above the market in 2025. We believe the defensive nature of our portfolio combined with our strong customer alignment positions us well to navigate potential economic uncertainty. With that, I will turn it over to Dan to talk about key metrics for 2025.