Greif, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Grice Fiscal Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all the participants are in a listen-only mode. After this speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question near the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Matt Eichmann. Please go ahead.

Thanks, Whitney, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Grice's third quarter fiscal 2021 earnings conference call. This is Matt Eichmann. I'm joined by Pete Watson, Grice President and Chief Executive Officer, Larry Hilshimer, Grice Chief Financial Officer, and Ali Rostgard, Grice Chief Operating Officer. We will take questions at the end of today's call. In accordance with regulation and fair disclosure, please ask questions regarding issues you consider important because we're prohibited from discussing material, non-public information we take on an individual basis. Please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up before returning to the queue. Please turn to slide two. As a reminder, during today's call, we will make forward-looking statements involving plans, expectations, and beliefs related to future events. Actual results can differ materially from those discussed. Additionally, we'll be referencing certain non-GAAP financial measures in reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP metrics can be found in the appendix of today's presentation. And now, I turn the presentation over to Pete on slide three.

Hey, thanks, Matt, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate your interest in Greif and hope that you and your families are staying both safe and healthy during the pandemic. Greif delivered robust third quarter results. We executed with discipline to deliver record quarterly adjusted EBITDA of $238 million and adjusted Class A earnings per share of $1.93, fueled by strong volumes and ongoing strategic pricing actions as we continue to experience strong demand across our global portfolio. Our leverage ratio fell at 2.8 times, and our board approved a two-cent and a three-cent increase to our Class A and Class B quarterly dividend, respectively payable on October 1st. We're also increasing our adjusted earnings per share and adjusted free cash flow guidance, reflecting our strong year-to-date results and positive outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year. Finally, in late June, we announced a planned executive leadership transition that will occur next year. Upon my retirement on February 1st, 2022, Ole Roskart will assume responsibility for Greif's next chief executive officer. Until that time, Ole will serve as chief operating officer and work closely with me and our executive leadership team on his transition. Ole is a servant leader and a proven team builder with a demonstrated commitment to customer service excellence and disciplined operational execution. Those attributes, along with his extensive manufacturing and industrial packing experience, makes him the ideal leader to take right forward. Ole, I'd like to ask you to say a few words.