Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

Please be advised that this call is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the floor over to Mr. Pete DeLongshaw, Group 1 Senior Vice President of Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services, and Public Affairs. Please go ahead, Mr. DeLongshaw.

Thank you, Jamie, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's call. The earnings released we issued this morning and they related to slide presentation that include reconciliations related to the adjusted results we will refer to on this call for comparison purposes have been posted to Group 1's website. Before we begin, I'd like to make some brief remarks about forward-looking statements and the use of non-GAAP financial measures. Except for historical information mentioned during the conference call, statements made by management of Group 1 Automotive are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve both known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. These risks include but are not limited to risks associated with pricing, volume, inventory supply due to increased customer demand and reduced manufacturing production levels due to some component shortages, conditions of markets, successful integration of our pending Ingecape acquisition, and adverse developments in the global economy and resulting impacts on demand for new and used vehicles and related services. Those and other risks are described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules, may be discussed on this call. As required by applicable SEC rules, the company provides reconciliations of any such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures on its website. Participating on the call today, Darrell Kenningham, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Daniel McHenry, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I'd now like to turn the call over to Darrell.

Good morning, everyone. Last week, we announced our acquisition of Inchcape Retail, the largest dealership transaction in Group 1's history. We're thrilled to have successfully come to an agreement with Inchcape PLC on this generational acquisition. There are several benefits to Group 1. One, we'd like to grow. The acquisition gives us access to markets where we previously had no presence, and it also adds scale to markets where we have existing presence. The brand mix at Inchcape is outstanding. Very little facility investment is required, and we felt the valuation was exceptional. The Inchcape business is well-run, and our cultures align very well. We believe that combining Group 1 UK with Inchcape will benefit all of our UK stores. And Inchcape is accretive from day one, and we believe we will see an immediate EPS impact. Properly allocating our shareholders' capital is our highest priority. When evaluating an acquisition, we run disciplined valuation models with realistic expectations, incorporating growth and investment. The return generated through that modeling is compared to the expected return of repurchasing our stock, paying down debt, or using the capital for other uses. From our perspective, the valuation on the Inchcape transaction was excellent and provided an outstanding use of our shareholders' capital. In a four-week period during the first quarter of this year, we closed on three transactions that were similarly attractive in the U.S. What's also important to note is that we passed on a number of acquisitions that didn't meet our investment hurdles. Some of those were in great markets with great brands. However, we will not chase revenue just for the sake of growing. We will chase returns. In the first quarter, it's important to note we also disposed of stores that did not meet our return expectations. As you've seen over the last two years, we've balanced acquisitions and dispositions with repurchasing our shares. We've bought $3 billion of revenue, disposed of $945 million of revenue, and repurchased 23% of the company. Although we had some operating bumps in the fourth quarter in the U.K., Our teams reacted well. Our used car inventory is very healthy, our grosses have returned, and we've implemented significant expense reductions. Daniel McHenry will speak more specifically to those actions in a moment. We are a pure play dealership group. While we regularly evaluate other business opportunities, we believe the best use of capital to grow the company is in new vehicle franchise dealerships. It may not be that way forever, but that is what we see in today's economic and competitive environment. We also believe close partnerships with OEMs has never been more important. OEMs need great retail partners now more than ever. The great ones admit that and execute against that. They need our capital, professionalism, and execution to win in this ultra competitive environment. We don't see that changing in the future. we actually see that OEM relationship growing in importance. And we believe the Inchcape acquisition allows Group 1 an outstanding opportunity to demonstrate that. Now, I'll turn the call over to Daniel McHenry for an operating and financial overview. Daniel?