Dole plc

Welcome to Dole PLC's first quarter 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. Today's conference is being broadcast live over the internet and is also being recorded for playback purposes. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. For opening remarks and introductions, I would like to turn the call over to the Head of Investor Relations with Dole PLC, James O'Regan.

Thank you. Welcome, everybody, and thank you for taking the time to join our first quarter 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. Joining me on the call today is our Chief Executive Officer, Rory Byrne, our Chief Operating Officer, Joanne Linden, and our Chief Financial Officer, Jacinta Devine. During this call, we will be referring to presentation slides to supplement your remarks. And these, along with our earnings release and other related materials, are available on the investor relations section of the Dole POC website. Please note, our remarks today will include certain forward-looking statements within the provisions of the Federal Security Safe Harbor Law. These reflect circumstances at the time they are made, and the company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied due to a wide range of factors, including those set forth in our SEC filings and press releases. Information regarding the use of non-GAAP financial measures may be found in our press release, which also includes a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measures. With that, I'm pleased to turn today's call over to Rory.

Thank you, James. Welcome, everybody, and thank you for joining us today as we discuss our results in the first quarter of 2025. So turning first into the highlights of the first quarter, Following a very strong result in 2024, we are pleased to report another good performance in the first quarter of 2025, exceeding our own expectations. On a like-for-like basis, group revenue increased by 4.2% to $2.1 billion and adjusted EBITDA decreased 2% to $104.8 million. The first quarter saw solid performances in both of our diversified fresh produce segments, which helped offset the anticipated headwind in our fresh food segment, which was impacted by Tropical Storm Sarah late last year. Adjusted net income came in at $33.1 million and adjusted EPS was 35 cents per share, down from 43 cents in Q1 of 2024, primarily due to the decrease in adjusted EBITDA. We are pleased to increase our dividend by 6.25% to 8.5 cents per share for the first quarter, This is our first dividend increase since starting dividend payments back in 2021 and demonstrates our confidence in the long-term growth potential for our business. Post quarter end, we were very pleased to complete the 1.2 billion refinancing of a credit facility at favourable rates relative to market conditions. This financing strengthens the financial position at Dole and provides enhanced financial flexibility to support our growth and initiatives. Turning now to the operation review and starting with fresh fruit on slide six. So fresh fruit delivered a robust performance in the first quarter with a justity of $63.3 million, exceeding our own expectations, taking into account the anticipated impact of tropical storm Sarah. Firstly, looking at North America, our underlying operations performed very well with good volume growth in bananas, as well as positive developments in both pineapples and plantains. Profitability was so much held back by the anticipated higher sourcing costs following the impact of Tropical Storm Sarah. We also experienced higher shipping costs as we completed scheduled dry dockings and managed the other temporary operational challenges that have now been resolved. We are addressing production challenges following Tropical Storm Sarah and we expect to face some headwinds in this regard for the remainder of the financial year. However, our production and sourcing teams are doing an excellent job mitigating this and are working diligently to manage the reinvestment and rehabilitation process, but also ensuring we continue to fully service our customer customers. We aim to return to near full production of the affected farms by early 2026. Turning to the European market, We saw stable performance overall in the first quarter, with continued good volume growth in bananas, as well as better performance in pineapples, offsetting more challenging pricing in bananas, which was impacted by the weaker year in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the prior year. Looking ahead for the rest of the year, we continue to see robust demand, and we expect this to continue over the course of the full year. We feel very positive that the industry supply and demand for bananas and pineapples are well balanced. Additionally, strengthening the euro could potentially serve as a positive tailwind for the remainder of the year. Moving on to our diversified EMEA segment, this segment has had a positive start to the year, delivering very strong like-for-like growth in the first quarter to reach an adjusted EBITDA of $27.7 million, aided by both strong revenues and some margin expansion. On a reported basis, this good growth was curtailed somewhat by the weaker euro in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. However, with the material strengthening of the euro in recent weeks, this dynamic should become a tailwind for our reported numbers over the course of the year if current rates are maintained. Within this segment, we are seeing some differing dynamics across derivatives starting the year before outperforming others. and generally better sales into retail compared to our food service and wholesaler channels. Overall, the segment continues to benefit from the significant diversification and is performing in a very positive way. We continue to consolidate our strengths in this segment and our focus on identifying and executing upon both internal and external investment opportunities. We are confident these continuous efforts will drive continued solid growth as the year progresses. Our diversified America segment delivered a strong first quarter result, with double-digit growth on a like-for-like basis in EBITDA, taking into account the disposal of progressive projects in late Q1 2024. This robust performance was driven by good results in the North American market, with only modest declines in our southern hemisphere export businesses, despite experiencing more normal supply and market conditions compared to 2024. Notably, the previous year benefited from an exceptionally strong season for Chilean cherries. If we look further into 2025, we believe our businesses, both on the export side and in North America, are well positioned. We will continue to stay highly attentive to the evolving dynamics in international trade and prepare to react appropriately. Times across vegetables. As noted on our recent earnings calls, We continue to work on delivering the best strategic outcome for our vegetable business, and this process remains ongoing. Operationally, following a robust turnaround in 2024, the business faced weaker fresh produce markets against a particularly strong comparative period in early 2024. However, this was offset by a stable performance in our value-added business, where we see clear signs of strengthening our competitiveness, characterized by improved delivery quality, lower underlying costs, and an increased focus on innovation. With that, I'll hand you over to Jacinta to give the financial review for the first quarter.