Glatfelter Corporation

Please stand by. Good day and welcome to the Q3 2022 Glatfelter Earnings Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ramesh Shedegar from Glatfelter. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Sarah. Good morning and welcome to Glatfelter's 2022 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. This is Ramesh Shedegar. Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. On the call to present our third quarter results with me today is Thomas Feynman, our new President and Chief Executive Officer. Before we begin our presentation, I have a few standard reminders. During our call this morning, we will use the term adjusted earnings as well as other non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these financial measures to our GAAP-based results is included in today's earnings release and in the investor slides. We will also make forward-looking statements today that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our 2021 Form 10-K and our periodic quarterly reports filed with the SEC and today's release, which are all available on our website, disclose factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. These statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them. I will now turn the call over to Thomas.

Hello everyone and welcome to our third quarter conference call. This is my first conference call as Gladfelder CEO and it is a pleasure to be with you today. With the benefit of having worked at Gladfelder for two months, it's an opportune time for me to share my assessment of the business and the steps we are taking to return to profitability. Since joining the company, I've been spending time meeting with customers and investors, visiting our manufacturing sites, and engaging with our extended leadership team. The insights I have gained in my early tenure will be the focus of my remarks today, and Ramesh will report on our third quarter performance. There are three key takeaways from today's call. First, rising inflation and energy prices have had a severely negative impact on our business. The challenge persists and our operating environment remains difficult, especially in Europe. Despite all these challenges, the air-laid segment continues to perform well and composite fibers is showing encouraging signs of improvement. Second, the underlying fundamentals of our business are strong. The strategy is sound. And Glatzfelder remains competitively positioned to serve our global customers in attractive growth markets despite current challenges. And third, our turnaround plan is simple, achievable, and already well underway. Our goal is to return Glatzfelder to profitability, strengthen our ability to navigate economic headwinds, and position the company for profitable long-term growth. The plan is comprised of six initiatives aimed at optimizing our portfolio, our operations, and our capital structure, which we are seeing early signs of progress that have already helped to contribute to our Q3 performance. The bottom line, Gladfelder is capable of far more than it's delivering today, and this is precisely the opportunity that attracted me to Gladfelder. I've spent the best part of 20 years leading various companies in different industries through major change, and I'm applying that experience to lead our turnaround efforts. I bring a familiarity with the industry, having spent many years leading similar consumer-driven industrial business focused on engineered materials and manufacturing. And of course, I also bring a deep understanding of the international markets, which is particularly helpful given Gladfelder's operating footprint and global reach. I'm spending time individually and collectively with our leaders, traveling to our facilities and walking the shop floor. I've seen firsthand that our people continue to be guided by shared values despite the many challenges facing the business. There's a strong degree of integrity and respect and a desire to contribute to a customer focus socially and environmentally responsible organization. Our culture is strong, the executive team is both capable and committed, and together this is an excellent foundation from which to drive change. The day I walked in the door, I knew this business had been hit hard by inflation and rising energy prices, plus the ongoing conflict between Russia and the Ukraine. With the benefit of seeing the company from the inside, I have a much deeper appreciation for how challenging market and macro conditions have been and, frankly, will continue to be for some time. And most importantly, immediate actions need to be implemented. While there may be some optimism around energy pricing relief, the macroeconomic environment, especially in Europe, will undoubtedly continue to create near-term volatility and headwinds for our business. I see a compelling investment thesis for this company. The past two months have served to reinforce this view. It is clear the company has a solid strategy built on competitive positioning, innovative and quality products, and a strong customer relationship of all which contributes to its market position as a leading global supplier of engineered materials. I have met with our top customers And I'm impressed by the spirit of collaboration and partnership Klagfelder has established with them. I witnessed the specialized manufacturing technologies and techniques we are employing throughout our three segments to serve our customers. And it's evident that our products are essential to everyday life regardless of where we are in the economic cycle. The issue we now need to address to improve our performance is not our market positioning, and it's not our overall company strategy. The problem is rooted in aspects of execution, which our turnaround plan will address. After you hear from Ramesh, I will provide additional details on the turnaround strategy. Ramesh.