Darling Ingredients Inc.

answer period and instructions to ask a question will be given at that time. Today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Ms. Sue Ann Guthrie, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you for joining the Darling Ingredients second quarter 2025 earnings call. Here with me today are Mr. Randall C. Stewie, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bob Day, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Matt Jansen, Chief Operating Officer, North America. Our second quarter 2025 earnings news release and slide presentation are available on the investor page of our corporate website and will be joined by a transcript of this call once it is available. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements, which are predictions, projections, or other statements about future events. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results can materially differ because of factors discussed in today's press release and the comments made during this conference call and in the risk factors section of our Form 10-K, 10-Q, and other reported filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. Now, I will hand the call off to Randy.

Good morning. Thanks, Sue Ann, and thanks everybody for joining us for our second quarter 2025 earnings call. This quarter, we saw early signs of momentum building across our businesses, even as we continue to navigate a complex renewable fuel environment. We delivered positive earnings, maintained strict capital discipline, and enhanced our financial flexibility through a successful refinancing. We locked in our borrowing costs for the next five plus years, and we positioned ourselves to invest confidently in long-term growth. We also advanced our strategic agenda with the announcement of our intention to form NextIDA, our new joint venture focused in the health and wellness space. This move aligns with our strategy to diversify and grow in high margin, high growth, like health and wellness. Combined adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at $249.5 million. While the regulatory environment has been a headwind in recent quarters, We are now seeing signs of clarity and constructive market changes, particularly in our feed segment, setting us up for a stronger performance in the second half of 2025 and into 2026. DGD continues to face near-term pressure, but we remain confident in its long-term value as policy support begins to take hold. Across the board, we're focused on execution and believe the fundamentals are now moving in the right direction. Now turning to the feed ingredient segment, global rendering volumes are steady and in line with our expectations. We saw margin expansion both quarter over quarter and year over year, reflecting focused execution, operational efficiency, and improved premium ingredient pricing. Rising fat prices, supported by recent public policy that favors domestic sources, are creating a favorable pricing environment, which we expect to continue and expand. As a result, a larger portion of our domestic fat portfolio is now headed to DGD. Tariff volatility and increased domestic oilseed crush has put pressure on protein prices, especially on our sales into Asia. However, fat prices are outweighing the higher protein supply and softer prices. Now, turning to our food segment. As I mentioned, we signed a non-binding term sheet with the center load to form next item. We are concluding due diligence and expect to sign a definitive agreement in this quarter. We believe this platform already is a meaningful contributor to earnings, has the potential to grow at an accelerated rate as we increase our presence in the health and wellness and nutrition market. Global demand for collagen and gelatin continues to strengthen, driven by health, wellness, and functional nutritional needs. We're advancing scientific validation for next tie to GC, our glucose control product. These studies are near complete and early results are showing strong potential. And we're beginning to see repeat orders for this product as well. In our fuel segment, the renewables environment remains difficult. The overhang on small refinery exemptions and delayed 2024 RIN compliance enforcement is preventing mandates from reflecting real demand and continuing to put pressure on renewable fuel margins. However, DGD remains a leader, consistently delivering best-in-class performance. SAF volumes continue to demonstrate flexibility and resilience and are helping us to balance the difficult market dynamics. We are seeing the feedstock supply chain rebalance itself due to tariffs and regulatory and tax changes, all benefiting Darling's core business. In addition, changes implemented by CARB to increase mandated greenhouse gas reductions in California as of July 1, and we expect LCFS premiums will strengthen and support margin recovery over time. Meanwhile, the proposed RVO framework represents a major tailwind for the renewables market and RINs, as long as mandated volumes, net of SREs are anywhere close to what has been proposed, it will reinforce long-term demand and support a healthy margin environment. DGD 1, however, will remain offline until margins show some meaningful improvement. Meanwhile, DGD 3 is scheduled for a turnaround starting here in third quarter. The timing aligns well with our outlook, positioning us for full utilization as policy rules are clarified later in 2025 and enabling DGD to run full in 2026 when we anticipate a significantly stronger margin environment. We believe that the groundwork we're laying now through operational discipline and strategic timing positions us well when the margin environment improves. Now with that, I'd like to hand the call over to Bob to take us through the financials, and I'll come back and give you my thoughts on the balance of 2025. Bob?