Dole plc

Currently, all participants are in 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 second quarter 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. Joining me on the call today is our Chief Executive Officer, Rory Byrne, our Chief Operating Officer, Johan Linden, and our Chief Financial Officer, Jacinta Devine. During this call, we'll be referring to presentation slides to supplemental 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 Securities Safe Harbor Law. It will reflect circumstances at the time they are made, and the company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. 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 second quarter results for 2025. So, turning first to the highlights for the second quarter on slide four. Well, we're very pleased to report another strong performance in the second quarter of 2025 and to have achieved an important step forward in our strategic evolution. Group revenue increased 14.3% to $2.4 billion, and adjusted EBITDA increased 9.3% to $137 million. The quarter saw very strong growth in our two diversified fresh produce segments, as well as good growth in fresh food, despite some of the expected short-term challenges that we continue to face. Adjusted net income came in at $53 million, and adjusted diluted EPS was 55 cents, a growth of 12% compared to the prior year. On August 5th, we were delighted to announce that we completed the sale of our fresh vegetable division to Arable Capital Partners. The sale of this business has been a strategic priority for us since 2023, and its completion will now enable us to concentrate our efforts and investments on our core business activities. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated management and employees of the Dole Fresh Vegetables business for their valuable contributions and commitment, and in particular over what has been a complex transaction process over the last number of years. We believe the deal is a great outcome for all stakeholders in this division. So turning now to the operation review and starting with fresh fruit on slide six. Fresh Fruit delivered a strong performance in the second quarter, with adjusted EBITDA of $72.7 million, for results which exceeded our expectations, taking account of anticipated operational challenges. In North America, our underlying operations once again performed well, with strong volume growth in bananas and pineapples, as well as higher pricing. Growth in adjusted EBITDA was constrained by the anticipated higher sourcing costs following the impact of Tropical Storm Sarah and due to the generally tight sourcing market that has developed. In addition, we experienced higher shipping costs in the quarter as we managed the additional logistical complexities of the current sourcing environment while also addressing the temporary vessel operational issue that we flagged on our last earnings call. Trying to see European market. We had a strong quarter with higher volumes about bananas and pineapples, as well as higher pricing across our products, supported by the impact of tight sourcing on the open market price, as well as a strengthening of the euro. In both our core markets, we continue to see very robust demand for our products and expect this to continue over the course of the full year. As noted earlier, industry supply was tighter throughout the second quarter than was previously anticipated, and that dynamic has continued into the third quarter. In addition to our own impacts from tropical storms, there are some other industry-specific challenges and less favourable weather conditions in much of Central America, as well as strong market demand, have all but put pressure on industry supply and sourcing costs. Our production and sourcing teams are continuing to do an excellent job mitigating these challenges, but we do expect to have some higher costs in the second half as we work to continue to meet the strong demand that we're seeing from our customers. Turning now to diversified EMA segment. This segment had a very strong start to the year. Adjusted EBITDA increased by approximately 15% in the second quarter to $49 million, driven by strong revenue growth in key markets, including the Nordics, Ireland, the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands. The segment benefited from the strengthening of the euro in the second quarter. However, on an underlying basis, the performance has also been strong with a like-for-like adjusted EBITDA growth of 8.7% in the quarter. in the second quarter we continue to see similar operation trends for those of the first quarter in particular we continue to see sales into retailing retail outperforming food service and wholesale channels in most markets overall we see the segment moving in a very positive direction while still having a range of internal and external investment opportunities to drive further growth in the future turning now to diversity in america's on slide eight This segment delivered an excellent second quarter, building on the strong momentum we saw in the first quarter. While the good growth we saw in the North American market continued in the second quarter, it was also supported by a very good performance on the southern hemisphere export side due to a stronger than anticipated conclusion to the season for certain categories, as well as a strong start in some of our winter products. Although we expect the rate of growth in the first half of the year to stabilize in the second half, we are confident in the long-term prospects of our businesses within this segment. We believe they're well positioned and will look for other opportunities to continue the strong momentum established this year in the years ahead. With that, I'll hand you over to Jacinta to give the financial review for the second quarter.