B&G Foods, Inc.

and welcome to the P&G Foods first quarter 2024 earnings call. Today's call, which is being recorded, is scheduled to last about one hour including remarks by P&G Foods management for the question and answer session. I would now like to turn the call over to AJ Schwab, Senior Associate, Corporate Strategy and Business Development for P&G Foods. AJ?

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Casey Keller, our Chief Executive Officer, and Bruce Waka, our Chief Financial Officer. You can access detailed financial information on the quarter in the earnings release we issued today, which is available at the investor relations section of bgfoods.com. Before we begin our formal remarks, I need to remind everyone that part of the discussion today includes forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and, therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We refer you to B&G Foods' most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings for more detailed discussion of the risk that could impact our company's future operating results and financial conditions. B&G Foods undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. We will also be making references on today's call to the non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted EBITDA, segment adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share, adjusted gross profit, adjusted gross profit percentage, and base business net sales. Reconciliations of these financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided in today's earnings release. Casey will begin the call with opening remarks and discuss various factors that affected our results, selected business highlights, and his thoughts concerning the outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2024. Bruce will then discuss our financial results for the first quarter 2024 and our guidance for fiscal 2024. I would now like to turn the call over to Casey.

Good afternoon. Thank you, AJ. And thank you all for joining us today for our first quarter 2024 earnings call. In my remarks, I will address three topics on the call today. First, an overview of first quarter results. Bruce will provide more detail and color later in the presentation. Second, the reporting of segment results for the first time by our four business units. And third, an update on our portfolio reshaping plans and activities. Quarter one results. First quarter net sales of $475.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of $75 million were slightly below expectations. Based business net sales adjusted to exclude the year-over-year impact of lower critical oil pricing decreased by approximately $17 million, or 3.4% compared to the year-ago period. Much of the decline was in our food service and industrial businesses across spices and seasonings, Maple Grove Farm syrups, baking powders and oils, and Ortega cheese and other sauces. The declines reflect an overall slowdown in out-of-home traffic and volumes compared to fiscal year 23 trends. Net sales to retail customers across the business units were slightly down, approximately 1.5%, with relatively flat volumes offset by a modest increase, 90 basis points, in trade and promotional spending. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter decreased by $7.4 million compared to the first quarter of 2023. The divestiture of the green giant U.S. shelf-stable product line was responsible for approximately $1.5 million of the year-over-year decline. Adjusted EBITDA as the percentage of net sales for the first quarter was 15.8%. largely in line with the 16.1% achieved in the prior year period. On a consolidated basis, gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the quarter was up 60 basis points versus last year. We continue to see moderating inflation and some favorability in transportation and warehousing, although these were offset by increased G&A costs for insurance and salary wages, as well as higher advertising and marketing investment in the quarter versus last year. Segment reporting. This is the first quarter B&G Foods is reporting results by operating segments, providing greater visibility into the underlying performance of the company's business units. The segments represent the four operating business units that we recently reorganized the company structure into. Business units are now fully established, running their businesses, and actively managing the business unit P&Ls. Across the four business units, we maintain a lean corporate structure, approximately 4% to 5% of net sales, to maintain oversight and efficiency in trend and share transactions and operations, i.e., sales, distribution, order processing, et cetera. The four business units are spices and flavor solutions. This segment represents approximately 20% of our consolidated net sales and has our highest segment adjusted EBITDA, as a percentage of net sales at 30%. B&G Foods is a leader in the spices and seasoning category with key brands Dash, Weber Grilling, Spice Islands, Accent, et cetera. During the first quarter, spices and flavor solutions net sales were depressed by a significant decline in food service business with key distributors and customers. Sales to retail customers were up slightly in a quarter. We are also launching a new line of licensed seasoning and grilling blends under the Four Sixes brand, which is the new show and ranch featured in the Yellowstone television franchise. Meals. The meals segment represents approximately 25% of our consolidated net sales, with segment adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales of 21.4%. The key components of this business unit are Mexican Meals, Ortega Las Palmas, and hot breakfast, cream of wheat, McCann's, Maple Grove Farms, syrups. We see growth opportunities in Mexican meal preparation as consumers expand their Mexican cuisine options in the home. The first quarter meal segment net sales decline was driven by lower food service sales, while net sales to retail customers were roughly flat. Specialty. The specialty segment represents approximately 33% of our consolidated net sales with segment-adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of net sales of approximately 24%. The primary focus of this business unit is baking staples, about 70% of business unit sales, with leading number one brands such as Crisco Oil and Shortening, Collaborate Girl Baking Powder, Grandma's Molasses, et cetera. Baking, both from scratch and mixed, has remained relatively stable over time, with more consumers learning to bake from scratch during COVID lockdowns. The specialty segment's key objective is to maintain strong, stable cash flow and margins. Specialty segment adjusted EBITDA was up slightly in the first quarter. Frozen and vegetables. The frozen and vegetables segment represents approximately 22% of our consolidated net sales, with the lowest segment adjusted EBITDA margin as a percentage of net sales of 7.5%. The frozen and vegetables business unit includes the U.S. green giant frozen business, the Canada Green Giant frozen and canned businesses, a major portion of our company's consolidated Canada sales, and the LeSueur canned vegetable product line. The primary focus of our frozen vegetable business unit is to improve gross profit margins, strengthen the innovation pipeline, streamline the frozen distribution network, and grow volumes in our Iropuato, Mexico, and Yuma, Arizona manufacturing facilities. First quarter frozen and vegetable segment net sales reflect overall softness in the frozen vegetables category, with much of the segment adjusted EBITDA decline year over year attributed to the divestiture of the U.S. green giant canned business last November. Portfolio shaping. B&G Foods has continued and will accelerate the reshaping and restructuring of our portfolio to sharpen focus, improve margins and cash flow, and maximize future value creations. The divestiture of the Green Giant US canned vegetable business was completed last fall, following the sale of the Back to Nature brand in January 2023. As previously disclosed, we have been evaluating and working on divestitures that represent between 10 to 15% of total company net sales. That process on smaller brands is proceeding, and we expect to possibly sell some assets before the end of fiscal year 24. Beyond those efforts, the larger decision on whether to remain in frozen long-term has been an open question. After careful analysis, we are placing the frozen and remaining canned vegetable businesses under strategic review and are evaluating a possible divestiture and sale of some or all of the assets in the frozen and vegetable business unit. Green Giant remains a strong brand with broad awareness and distribution, and the frozen vegetables category is on trend with long-term health and dietary trends. However, I believe the frozen vegetable business may not be the right fit with B&G Foods' focus and capabilities, particularly since we have no plans to add more assets in the frozen portfolio, given the opportunities in our core shelf-stable businesses and overall capital constraints. More to come as we further evaluate our options and plans. Thank you, and I will now turn the call over to Bruce for more detail on the quarterly performance and outlook for the year.