Clorox Company (The)

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Clorox Company fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020 earnings release conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. At the conclusion of our prepared remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, you may press star 1 on your touchtone pad at any time. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press the star 0 on your touchtone pad at any time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today's call, Ms. Lisa Burin, Vice President of Investor Relations for the Clorox Company. Ms. Burin, you may begin your conference.

Thanks, Hillary. Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We hope you and your family are safe and well. On the call with me today are Ben Odor, our Chair and CEO, Kevin Jacobson, our CFO, and Linda Rendell, our President and CEO-elect. Before we go through our Q4 and full-year results, I'd like to turn it over to Benno to say a few words about the leadership changes announced today. Benno?

Thank you, Lisa, and hello, everyone. You've likely seen this morning's announcement about my decision to step down from my role as CEO, with our current president, Linda Rendell, being named my successor effective September 14. I will continue to serve as executive chair of the board. It has been my great privilege to carry forward the legacy of generations of strong Clorox leaders in my pursuit of good growth. growth that is profitable, sustainable, and responsible. The idea of good growth was created based on the very strong belief that companies can deliver great results the right way, and that serving employees, communities, and the planet as a whole is as important as serving shareholders, and that how we generate profit matters. I am proud that, as a company, we have always been strategy-led and committed to our values. both of which have guided us successfully in making the right choices on behalf of our shareholders and all of our stakeholders. After 15 terrific years at the company, I am particularly grateful for my teams of 8,800 strong and especially for the current executive team. I have great confidence in them. I also want to thank the board of directors for their support of a guy who ventured out of a small town in the German Black Forest 35 years ago to pursue a dream that led me to places and allowed me to do things I could not have possibly imagined. My thanks also go out to everyone in the investment community around the world for your support, helpful perspective, and of course, your candor, which I look forward to momentarily. I appreciate all of you, and I particularly appreciate the wonderful friendships that I've been able to make along the way. On September 14, I could not be more pleased to hand over the reins to Linda, and I look forward to supporting her and her team. I've worked with Linda for 13 of her 17 years with the company. She's an exceptional leader with an outstanding track record, the right leader for this great company, and I cannot wait for all of you to be able to see what she can do. Linda is joining us today and will participate in Q&A and also say a few words toward the end of the call. Thank you. It's been an honor and a privilege. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Lisa.