Del Monte Corporation

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Fresh Del Monte Produce fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2021 conference call. Today's conference call is being broadcast live over the internet and is also being recorded for playback purposes. All lines being placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After a few remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn today's call over to Vice President, Global FP&A and Investor Relations with Fresh Del Monte Produce, Anna Miranda. Please go ahead, Ms. Miranda.

Thank you, Chantal. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2021 conference call. As Chantelle mentioned, I am Ana Miranda, Vice President, Global FP&A and Investor Relations with Fresh Del Monte Produce. Joining me in today's discussions are Mohammed Abugazali, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Eduardo Becerra, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I hope that you've had a chance to review the press release that was issued earlier this morning via Business Wire. You may also visit the company's website at freshdelmonte.com for a copy of today's release and investor relations presentation. On the site, you can also register for future distributions. This conference call is being webcast live on our website and will be available for replay after this call. Please note that our press release and our call today include non-GAAP measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures are set forth in the press release we issued today and on the company's website at freshdelmonte.com under the Investor Relations tab. I would like to remind you that much of the information we'll be speaking to today, including the answers we give in response to your questions, may include forward-looking statements within the provisions of the Federal Security Safe Harbor Law. In today's press release and in our SEC filing, we detail material risks that may cause our future results to differ from these forward-looking statements. Our statements are as of today, February 23rd, and we have no obligation to update any forward-looking statements we may make. With that, I'm pleased to turn today's call over to Mohamed.

Thank you, Anna. Good morning, everyone. In 2021, we posted Robert's double-digit operating income growth compared with 2020. We demonstrated agility and industry leadership in navigating the current challenging macroeconomic environment as we focus on mitigating industry-wide supply and labor headwinds. We implemented inflation-justified price increases toward the end of the year, made investments targeted at automation, and focused relentlessly on productivity. In the first half of 2021, despite these pressures, Gross profit benefited from strong performance across all of our segments, particularly higher per unit selling prices in our banana segment. This higher pricing health offset incremental production and procurement costs following the hurricanes in Central America in the fourth quarter of 2020, and higher demand on key product categories related to relaxed restrictions on social gatherings in some of our main markets compared with 2020. However, in the second half of 2021, inflationary and other post-pressures intensified, negatively impacting gross profits. The price increase, which took effect towards the later part of the year, resulted in improved performance as we move through the end of the fourth quarter. Overall, during the year, we increased adjusted EBITDA to $207 million from $189 million in 2020. As a result, adjusted EBITDA margin increased 40 basis points to 4.9 from 4.5. As a brief recap during the year, we made significant progress on our strategic initiatives, and I would like to focus on that. We added two state-of-the-art refrigerated container vessels in the first half of the year, bringing our fleet to a total of 13 vessels. As previously mentioned, six out of the 13 vessels are new, putting us in a stronger, more agile position as we continue to provide reliable quality service to our customers. The fleet also enabled us to expand our third-party freight services. In keeping with our shareholder accretion approach, in the second half, we increased our quarterly cash dividend from 10 cents per share to 15 cents per share, bringing our total dividend payout for the year to 50 cents per share. And the same approach will continue in 2022. In 2021, we reduced long-term debt by approximately $23 million. Throughout the year, we also made progress on our strategic partnerships. We successfully implemented a licensing agreement with one of Europe's top frozen goods retailers. The name is Iceland. whereby we offer a broad product mix generating consistent income stream. In June, we invested in I2 Capital Global Infratech Fund. The fund invests in innovative growth stage companies applying technology in various infrastructure sectors, including logistics, supply chain, and agriculture, which are complementary or adjacent to our business. In November, through a partnership with SEMCAP, private equity, we invested in Purely Elizabeth, a category-leading organic consumer products brand. Their current offerings include granola, oatmeal, and pancake mixes. The partnership is an opportunity to expand our business in the convenience category, and innovative products. Additionally, we are excited to leverage our vertical integration to support our partners with supply chain and logistics services. Carrying our progress to 2022, we announced today another brand partnership with Good Culture. Founded in 2014, the company focuses on high-quality culture-vary products specifically cottage cheese and sour cream. They have been an innovator and disruptor in this space, gaining significant market share since its inception. Both investments, purely illicit and good culture, were facilitated by CEMCAP's food and nutrition team, who searches for brands that have proven themselves in the market and ready to scale up their business through strategic alliances. And we are excited to announce a partnership with McCormick & Company, a global leader in the flavor. This agriculture project aligns very closely with our vision and strategy. With this project, we are leveraging technology and data coupled with our agricultural expertise to grow products while minimizing costs and preserving the environment. At this moment, both companies have decided to keep the location and products in production undisclosed. In 2021, we made great progress on our sustainability journey. We were the first global marketer of fruits and vegetables. to commit to the science-based target consistent with the level required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. The science-based target initiative has since validated that our emissions reduction targets conforms with its criteria and recommendations. And we released our 2020 sustainability report. On the people's front last month, we announced the appointment of Mohammed Abbas as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Mohammed joined the company in 2009 and has served in various leadership roles, including head of our Asia and Middle East regions. I'm excited to have him in his new role, where I am certain he will add significant value to our operations. Having said that, I'm confident in our team's ability to continue to execute on our long-term strategy of growing our core business, increasing the reach of higher-margin value-added categories, implementing and leveraging technology solutions as we evolve into an agri-tech company, and expanding our customer and brand partnerships throughout our global operations. At this point, I would like to move the call to Eduardo to talk about the financial results. Eduardo?