Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Beau, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to CPKC's first quarter 2025 conference call. The slides accompanying today's call are available at investor.cpkcr.com. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star two. I would now like to introduce Mr. Chris DeBruin, Vice President, Capital Markets, to begin the conference call. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Beau. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Before we begin, I want to remind you this presentation contains forward-looking information. Actual results may differ materially. The risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could influence actual results are described on slide two in the press release and in the MD&A file with Canadian and U.S. regulators. This presentation also contains non-GAAP measures outlined on slide three. With me here today is Keith Creel, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Nadeem Vellani, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, John Brooks, our Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and Mark Redd, our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. The formal remarks will be followed by Q&A. In the interest of time, we would appreciate if you limit your questions to one. It is now my pleasure to introduce our President and CEO, Mr. Keith Creel.

Hey, thanks, Chris. It's certainly great to be here with everyone today. For a store of business, I'd be remiss not to pay tribute and express my appreciation to the 20,000-strong team of railroaders We have spread across three nations that I get privileged to serve with on a daily basis that actually produce these results. Results that certainly demonstrate industry best performance. First quarter, the team delivered revenue of 3.8 billion, which is up 8%. The revenue growth is driven by volume growth of 4%. An operating ratio of 62.5, which is 150 basis point improvement. An industry-best earnings growth at 14%, producing $1.06 of earnings. Finally, most importantly, a record performance from a safety perspective, driving tremendous improvement on both train accidents as well as personal injuries. We're undoubtedly off to a strong start in 2025, and we're experiencing a strong start to the second quarter. as well that being said there's certainly an undeniable macro environment uncertainty that exists trade policy uncertainty and currency uncertainty as such based on what we do know today we do feel it's prudent to and responsible to adjust our guidance at this time that said i firmly believe as a leader it's our responsibility to drive positive results with those things that we control We're not paid to make excuses. Crisis creates opportunities, and that's how we're approaching this uncertainty around tariffs and trade policies. Our base business remains strong. It's reflected in the results in the quarter and our volumes year-to-date, driven by strength in our grain portfolio, coal, potash, intermodal, including a record quarter on our Midwest Mexico Express, as well as a new partnership with Gemini. The uncertainty... that's created by these shifting trade policies on a positive side is also exhilarating opportunities that we always eventually felt would develop when we combined these two companies. This unparalleled three-nation network is uniquely built for times like this. We stepped into this trade storm that we're facing to become market makers. We're seeing opportunities with new trade flows between Canada and Mexico. We've got increased refined fuels, LPGs, plastics, grains that our customers in Canada are sending south as they look to diversify their end markets. Our network connects to those new end markets, a land bridge to Mexico uniquely. The ability to move more appliances coming north, furniture, food products, finished vehicles, and auto parts from Mexico to Canada as well. CPKC uniquely serves as a land bridge between Canada and Mexico. We're working closely with our customers in creating these industry-unique positive outcomes. But it's not just at the customer level that we're driving these results. Our teams are working closely with the government in Canada at the federal, provincial level, as well as the government in Mexico regarding policies that could further incentivize growing Canada to Mexico trade volumes. We're hearing from both governments a genuine desire to see the Canada-Mexico trade relationship mature and deepen, and we're playing a major role in supporting that agenda. Now, let's talk more on the U.S. front with the FRA, another very encouraging area of opportunity, positive developments and opportunities that we've been actively working on from a regulatory perspective. I'm extremely encouraged by the early discussions with Secretary Duffy. and the U.S. Department of Transportation team, especially those in place at the FRA on their willingness to implement process changes and utilization of technology to deliver safer and more reliable outcomes. It makes too much sense not to do these things. Mark will get into the details. They're fact-based, data-driven results and opportunities that the regulator wants. to embrace for best outcomes from a safety perspective as well as from a service perspective. This is all again refreshing change in my mind, common sense, best sense, value creating change. In line with other value creation opportunities that we realized in the quarter, the PCRC, the Panama Canal Railway, as you've seen early in the month after careful evaluation, we made the decision to divest our 50% stake in the railroad. The sale of this non-core asset to a key strategic partner, a major customer of the PCRC, allows us to focus on our core business and generates additional capital that we deploy to create value for our shareholders elsewhere. and our three-nation network. When shareholder returns, another area of strength last month, having delivered on our commitment to repay debt and reduce our leverage following the merger, we announced a new 4% share buyback program. And just yesterday, we announced a 20% increase in our quarterly dividend. I'm very pleased for this company to be in a position of strength again to begin returning cash to shareholders, particularly amidst a volatile market. So in closing, let me say this. There's short-term uncertainties, undoubtedly, from the macro to trade policies. That said, this network is performing extremely well, and volumes continue to be strong. We've continued the momentum we carried from 2024 to the first four months of 2025, just as we told you we would do. We have the opportunity, the network, and the team to drive a differentiated outcome, and that's exactly what we will do. So with that said, I'm going to turn it over to Mark to speak a bit to the operation. John provides some color on the markets, Nadim on the numbers, and then we'll open it up for questions. Over to you, Mark.