Dole plc

Welcome to Dole PLC's third quarter 2025 results webcast. Today's conference is being broadcast live over the internet and is also being recorded for playback purposes. 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, Derek. Welcome everybody, and thank you for taking the time to join our third quarter 2025 results webcast. Joining me today is our Chief Executive Officer, Rory Byrne, our Chief Operating Officer, Joanne Linden, and our Chief Financial Officer, Jacinta Devine. During this webcast, we will be referring to presentation slides to supplement our remarks, and these, along with our earnings release and other related materials, are available on the Investor Relations section of the Dole BLC website. Please note our remarks today will include certain forward-looking statements within the provisions of the Federal Securities 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 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, and welcome, everybody. Thank you all for joining us today as we discuss our results for the third quarter of 2025 and provide an update on our latest developments. So turning firstly to the highlights on slide four, we are very pleased to report another good result for the third quarter in line with market expectations. Our two diversified fresh produce segments have delivered excellent results, offsetting the anticipated short-term headwinds in our fresh fruit segment and demonstrating the strength of our diversified and resilient business model. As discussed on our last earnings call, we completed the sale of our non-core fresh vegetable division in early August. This was a key strategic priority for us and it created greater flexibility in our capital allocation strategy. As part of that, the evolution of this capital allocation strategy, today we also announced our board of directors approval of a $100 million share repurchase programme, which will be used opportunistically. We continue to see attractive opportunities to deploy capital supporting our strategic growth and adding the buyback programme provides flexibility to repurchase shares and the share price represents an attractive opportunity to enhance shareholder value. Turning now to the operational review and starting with Fresh Fruit on slide 6. Firstly, I'm very pleased to update you all on an exciting new milestone for the fresh fruit business, the launch of our new Dole Collada Royale pineapple. Bringing this product to the market is the culmination of 15 years of dedicated research and development at our own research facilities and farms in Honduras. The Collada Royale is our first new pineapple variety in many years. developed through conventional, non-GMO breeding to deliver a distinctive and new flavour and appearance for the tropical category. While volumes remain low for now, the Calada Royale is already selling at a material premium, delivering high margins on a per-box basis, while also stimulating excitement for the category. The launch also provides us with a competitive edge for our wider tropical portfolio, and we continue to invest in complementary products, including plantains, limes and mangoes. Importantly, the launch also reinforces our commitment to community and purpose, with a portion of every box sold supporting the creation of a new community centre for the farm workers and families in our Honduran and Apple region, delivering healthcare, training and language services. So looking now more closely at the performance in quarter three, as anticipated, Our result was lower than the prior year, driven primarily by higher sourcing costs, particularly for bananas. As we have noted over the course of the year, our own sourcing costs in 2025 were always anticipated to be higher due to the impact the tropical storm Sarah had on our important Honduras sourcing region late last year. However, as 2025 has progressed, we have been impacted by growing conditions for the industry in Latin America as reduced yields and higher spot prices have increased procurement costs. Looking out to 2026, we are progressing well with the rehabilitation of our impacted farms in Honduras, as well as actively making additional investments to enhance our supply across our portfolio. Positively, demand for bananas continues to be robust in both our key North American and European markets. And while this heightened demand is contributing to the tight supply and cost pressures we saw in Q3, it's also clearly a really good sign for the health of the category overall. Moving on then to diversified EMA on slide seven. The positive momentum seen in the first half of the year continued in the third quarter, with the segment delivering significant adjusted EBITDA growth on both the reported and like-for-like basis. We continue to see strong underlying growth in markets that have performed well all year, such as Spain, and we had good growth in our Dutch business. In the Nordics, the benefits of the increased investments in our distribution and logistics capabilities have driven both revenue growth and some margin expansion. Looking ahead, while we do not anticipate the same rate of growth seen in Q3 to continue in Q4, it is clear that the Diversified EMA segment overall is performing in a healthy way, benefiting from the ever-advancing integration of our operations. Turning now to our Diversified Americas segment on slide 8. Well, the third quarter is typically the least active quarter in diversified Americas due to the timing of key southern hemisphere export seasons. This segment delivered a very positive result with a strong performance, both on the export side and continued good performance in the North American market. As part of the continued streamlining of our operations, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, we announced the integration of dual diversified North America into OPI, our largest diversified fruit distribution sales operation in the North American market. Looking forward, we believe our businesses in this segment are well-placed to deliver a good end to the year. And with that, I'll hand over to Jacinta to give the financial review for the third quarter.