The Greenbrier Companies, Inc.

Hello, and welcome to the Greenbrier Company's third quarter of fiscal 2022 earnings conference call. Following today's presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Each analyst should limit themselves to only two questions. Until that time, all lines will be in a listen-only mode. At the request of Greenbrier Companies, this conference call is being recorded for instant replay purposes. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Justin Roberts, Vice President of Corporate Finance. Mr. Roberts, you may begin.

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our conference call. Today, I am joined by Bill Furman, Greenbrier's Executive Chairman, Lori Ticorius, CEO and President, Brian Comstock, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial and Leasing Officer, and Adrienne Downs, Senior Vice President and CFO. Following our update on Greenbrier's performance and our outlook for fiscal 2022, we will open up the call for questions. In addition to the press release issued this morning, additional financial information and metrics can be found in a slide presentation posted today on the IR section of our website. Matters discussed on today's conference call include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Throughout our discussion today, we will describe some of the important factors that could cause Greenbrier's actual results in 2022 and beyond to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Greenbrier. And with that, I will hand the call over to Mr. Farman.

Thank you, Justin. Well, I've had the pleasure of participating in every quarterly earnings call since Greenbrier became a public company in 1994. Our IPO occurred almost exactly 28 years ago on July 14, to be exact. Today is my final earnings call after turning over the management of the company to our new CEO, Lori Chikorius. I'm very pleased about all that. I'll briefly offer some comments on Greenbrier and where I believe the company has been and where we're headed under Lori and our team. My late partner, Alan James, and I Started Greenbrier in 1981. We wanted to create a company that would someday grow beyond our own skills and influence. And we did. It was a remarkable journey for both of us and for Greenbrier. We purchased Greenbrier Leasing in 1981 from Commercial Metals Company for $4 million. It was located in Huntington, West Virginia at the time and owned 358 rail cars. many of which were leased to Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. We entered manufacturing with a single facility in Portland, Oregon in 1985. Today, manufacturing operates on four continents at 12 locations. It is our largest business unit, pricing over 80% of our total revenues for the trailing 12 months. Railcar leasing and management services is our second largest core business. with assets of nearly $700 million. Since our IPO in 1994, Greenbrier's annual revenue has increased from $321 million during its first full fiscal year to close to $3 billion at the end of this year. When we concluded fiscal 1994, our backlog was approximately 3,000 units with a value of $150 million. Our backlog is nearly 31,000 units with a value of $3.6 billion. At the time of our IPO, we managed approximately 36,000 rail cars, moving up from the 358 we began with in 1981. Today, we manage over 430,000 rail cars, more than 25% of the entire North American fleet. We started with an employee base of less than 10 people. Now we employ more than 15,000 employees serving global markets worldwide. So today, Greenbar has grown to be the leading freight transportation manufacturer, supplier, and service provider with a global reach that positions it for continued growth. Our ability to adapt and seek continuous improvement has led to growth and scale. It is a legacy that I know the current management team that Greenbrier respects. It helped create this growth, and I know that this will continue. Lori Jacorius, who's been part of Greenbrier for 25 years, is highly skilled at making good businesses better. She's had very serious operating experience and has a commercial background and a good, strong team in both areas as well. Lori will continue to drive innovation at Greenbrier. She will improve its ROIC and its TSR. I expect her and the board expects her to expand our leasing and services business, which generate stable cash flows to offset the cyclicality of new rail car demand. In closing, I'd like to say I feel privileged to have enjoyed a lengthy tenure at Greenbrier. Extended careers leading publicly traded companies today are exceedingly rare. I thank our board of directors and our shareholders for their confidence in me throughout. And mostly I'm grateful for the personal relationships I've made with so many men and women who helped build Greenbrier. It's been a unique honor to have worked with so many talented and dedicated people at all levels of our business. And beyond the walls of Greenbrier, I appreciate all those I've worked with, have the privilege of working within the communities where we operate. This includes our joint venture partners, our customers, our suppliers, advisors, bankers, equity analysts, members of Congress, others in the U.S. government, and in other governments all over the world. All of these are valued relationships that enhanced our business, and they also enriched my life in countless ways. To all of you on today's call, I want to thank you for our association. I'm grateful for the opportunity to represent Greenbrier here today in other settings. With some wistfulness but not regret, I leave my time as a Greenbrier executive officer with a sense of accomplishment and certainly there's unfinished business. But I know that not all business can never be finished. Going forward, my role will be in the boardroom helping Lori and her team grow Greenbrier for generations to come. I won't be in the board for generations to come, only for 2023. But as a fellow investor, I look forward to listening to these calls along with you in the future quarters. There is no doubt in my mind that you will be hearing great things from Lori and from Greenberg as we move ahead. Thank you, and Lori, over to you.