Hamilton Beach Brands Holding

Thank you for standing by. I am Augusto and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company Q2 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keyboard. If you would withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Luann Nabhan, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Augusto. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Hamilton Beach brand second quarter 2024 earnings conference call and webcast. Yesterday, after the stock market closed, we filed with the SEC our Form 10-Q for the quarter ending June 30, 2024. and we issued our second quarter 2024 earnings release. Both documents are available on our corporate website. Our speakers today are Greg Trapp, Chief Executive Officer, Scott Tidy, President, and Sally Cunningham, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. Our presentation today includes forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in either our prepared remarks or during the Q&A. Additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties is available in our 10Q, our earnings release, and our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2023. The company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, which may not be updated until our next quarterly conference call, if at all. And now I will turn the call over to Greg.

Thank you. Thank you, Luanne. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Our agenda today is that I will make some brief opening comments. Scott will discuss our performance in more detail. Sally will review our financial results. After that, we will take your questions. We are pleased to deliver a very strong second quarter. Our revenue of $156.2 million was a second quarter record and increased 14% from a year Starting with the third quarter of last year, we began to show significant year-over-year improvement in our gross profit margin. In every quarter since that time, we have delivered above our historical range as our team has done an effective job keeping our gross profit margin strong while remaining competitive in the marketplace. The second quarter of this year, gross profit margin was 25.9% compared to 20% a year ago. Our operating profit in the second quarter of $10 million increased significantly from last year and was driven primarily by our revenue growth and gross profit margin expansion. Another achievement that began in 2023 was significant progress in reducing pandemic-related excess inventory and the corresponding debt to more normalized levels. As a result of our disciplined focus on all elements of net working capital, we have made further progress this year. As of June 30th of this year, we generated $37 million of cash from operating activities and used it to reinvest in our business and return value to shareholders. We feel very good about the strength of our financial position as we enter the second half of this year and believe we are well positioned to deliver excellent results for the full year 2024. Finally, I am pleased with the progress and seamless transition as Scott has assumed the role of president since the board elected him to that position in February of this year. Our long-planned succession process is proceeding very well. And now I will turn it over to Scott.