Bread Financial Holdings, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to Bread Financial's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. My name is Michelle and I will be coordinating your call today. At this time, all parties have been placed on a listen-only mode. Following today's presentation, the floor will be open to your questions. To register a question, please press star followed by 1-1. It is now my pleasure to introduce Mr. Brian Furup, Head of Investor Relations at Bread Financial. The floor is yours, sir. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Copies of the slides we will be reviewing and the earnings release can be found on the investor relations section of our website at breadfinancial.com. On the call today, we have Ralph Andretta, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Perry Beiberman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some of the comments made on today's call and some of the responses to your questions may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to the risks and uncertainties described in the company's earnings release and other filings with the SEC. Also on today's call, our speakers will reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe will provide useful information for investors. Reconciliation of those measures to GAAP are included in our quarterly earnings materials posted on our investor relations website. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Ralph Andretta.

Thank you, Brian, and good morning to everyone joining the call. Before speaking to our results, as we celebrate 30 years in business and 25 years as a public company in 2026, I want to take a moment to thank our current and former associates. Your commitment to excellence in how we serve both our brand partners and customers is reflective of our enduring value-driven culture. We are extremely proud of our history and the continued transformation of our company. We remain committed to delivering on our brand promise each and every day. Today, Bread Finance reported strong first quarter results, which were underscored by a return to loan growth alongside increasing growth in credit sales and continued improvement in our credit metrics. Credit sales grew 7% year over year in the first quarter, driven by successful new partner launches across our full product suite and increased shopping activity with our longstanding partners, especially among Gen Z and millennials. Consumers are being thoughtful and budgeting actively amid lower sentiment and confidence and higher fuel costs. In the quarter, we saw year over year sales growth across a broad set of verticals, including health and beauty, jewelry, and travel and entertainment. Additionally, our expanding home vertical grew nicely in the quarter. In the current macroeconomic environment, consumers continue to demonstrate resilience as highlighted by credit sales growth, as well as improving delinquency rates. We will continue to closely monitor and adapt appropriately to consumer spend and payment behaviors. On the new brand partner front, we were excited to launch new credit card relationship with Ford and Ethan Allen in the quarter. Our long-term agreement with Ford, which has one of the largest dealer networks in the U.S. with nearly 3,000 franchise dealerships, includes co-grant credit card and installment loan programs. Leveraging our deep expertise in the automotive retail landscape, the program will increase customer loyalty by enhancing their car ownership experience to earn rewards and increasing accessibility to subscriptions, parts, and services. The addition of Ethan Allen, America's number one premium furniture retailer with nearly 140 design centers and a significant online presence in the U.S. strengthens our prominence in the home vertical with flexible financing options. We are also offering bread pay installment loans for AAA, Dell, and Ford as we continue to expand this product offering. Additionally, we are pleased to announce the new comprehensive suite of payment options with Academy Sports including co-brand, private label, and installment loans. Our full product suite, technology advancements, sophisticated underwriting, enhanced loyalty programs, and a differentiated partner model are central to our success in winning new partnerships and retaining and strengthening existing relationships and driving higher lifetime customer value. Our first quarter financial results highlight our company's strong capital and cash flow generation. earning net income of $181 million, generating revenue growth of 5% year over year, and growing tangible book value per common share by 26% to $61.57. Additionally, during the quarter, we continued to build shareholder value as we retired a total of 3.5 million shares of common stock, or 8% of our outstanding shares, at year-end 2025. This was a result of both our ongoing stock repurchase activity and the unwind of our capped call transactions. For six consecutive quarters, we have seen improvement in our credit metrics via the year-over-year change in our delinquency and net loss rates. We are pleased with this trend and remain confident that this improvement will continue over time. We believe our emphasis on disciplined credit risk management coupled with product diversification towards co-brand credit cards and installment products continues to positively impact risk distribution overall our solid sustainable results underscore the success of our efforts and emphasis on allocating capital efficiently growing responsibly and advancing our operational excellence initiatives finally moving to our investment priorities we continue to invest in our business to drive growth for both bread financial and our partners these investments include digital and technology advancements across our business including AI We are deploying AI responsibly across the enterprise to accelerate operational excellence, which includes increasing productivity and efficiency, driving innovation, and strengthening risk management. Our investments are reinforced by a disciplined value tracking framework, ensuring a strong return on investment. Supported by technology advancements, strong capital levels, and cash flow generation, we are well positioned to execute on our capital and growth priorities while delivering sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. We remain confident that we will deliver on our 2026 financial targets, which Perry will discuss in more detail. Now I will pass it over to Perry.