Greif, Inc.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Greif Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message saying that your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Bill D'Onofrio, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining Greif's fiscal third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today, our CEO, Ole Rosgaard, will provide a strategy and market update, followed by our CFO, Larry Hilsheimer, with a review of our financial results and guidance. Please turn to slide two. In accordance with regulation fair disclosure, please ask questions regarding topics you consider important because we are prohibited from discussing material nonpublic information with you on an individual basis. During today's call, we will make forward-looking statements involving plans, expectations, and beliefs related to future events. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Additionally, we will be referencing certain non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation to the most directly comparable gap metrics that can be found in the appendix of today's presentation. I'll now turn the call over to Ole on slide three.

Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. Our third quarter results demonstrate that Gryph continues to become a fundamentally stronger company. Over the past several years, we've been focused on strengthening the business in ways that are structural, not cyclical. The results this quarter are another indication that those efforts are translating into higher earnings power, stronger cash generation, and a more resilient company. Despite ongoing geopolitical disruption and an uneven demand environment, we delivered approximately 25% adjusted EBITDA growth, expanded margins, by more than 260 basis points, achieved our 90 million run rate post-optimization milestone early and reduced leverage to just 1.1 times. Those results were not driven by stronger markets. They were driven by disciplined execution. Across Greif, we continue to simplify the organization, structurally lower our cost base, improve commercial execution, optimize our manufacturing network, and invest behind attractive growth opportunities. Every one of those actions make the business stronger, regardless of where we are in the economic cycle. Our cash generation is equally important. We expect free cash flow conversion around 50% this year, giving us the ability to invest in the business, complete disciplined vote on acquisitions, increase our dividends, maintain one of the strongest balance sheets in our industry, and execute on our commitment to stock repurchases with a new repurchase plan as Larry will further discuss in a moment. Lastly, we remain committed to delivering 120 million of analyzed cost optimization on a run rate basis by the end of next fiscal year while continuing to improve margins, returns on capital, and cash generation. Let's turn to demand on slide four. As expected, the conflict in the Middle East continued to impact demand during the quarter, even so, We saw encouraging sequential improvement across all four of our business segments. In polymer solutions, volumes increased 1.5% led by continued strength in IVCs and large polymer containers. While small polymer volumes were below last year's unusually strong comparison, they remain one of the strongest performing product categories in our portfolio. over the past two years. Metal solutions also improved sequentially, although broader industrial markets remain soft and continue to reflect geopolitical uncertainty. Fiber solutions likewise improved from the second quarter, excluding last year's mill closure. Underlying converting demand was close to flat, supported by improved performance in both partitions and super core. Closures delivered another excellent quarter. Third-party demand increased mid-single digits, while total volumes increased high single digits as we continued to win attractive new business. While the pace of recovery remains uneven, we're encouraged by the direction of travel across the portfolio. Equally important, we are continuing to win new customers, expand in attractive end markets, and invest behind businesses where we see the best long-term opportunities. That gives us confidence that our growth is increasingly being driven by execution rather than simply waiting for markets to improve. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Larry on slide five.