Kellanova

Good morning. Welcome to the Kellogg Company's second quarter 2022 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. Please note, this event is being recorded. At this time, I will turn the call over to John Renwick, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Planning for Kellogg Company. Mr. Renwick, you may begin your conference call.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today for a review of our second quarter results and an update on our outlook for 2022. I'm joined this morning by Steve Cahillane, our Chairman and CEO, and Amit Bhanati, our Chief Financial Officer. Slide number three shows our forward-looking statements disclaimer. As you are aware, certain statements made today, such as projections for Kellogg Company's future performance, are forward-looking statements. Actual results could be materially different from those projected. For further information concerning factors that could cause these results to differ, please refer to the third slide of this presentation, as well as to our public SEC filings. This is a particular note during the current COVID-19 pandemic, volatile input costs, and supply disruptions, when the length and severity of these issues and resultant economic and business impacts are so difficult to predict. A recording of today's webcast and supporting documents will be archived for at least 90 days on the investor page of KelloggCompany.com. As always, when referring to our results in Outlook, unless otherwise noted, we will be referring to them on an organic basis for net sales and on a currency-neutral adjusted basis for operating profit and earnings per share. And now I'll turn it over to Steve.

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. We are obviously pleased to be able to report yet another quarter of strong performance one that puts us in a position to raise our outlook for the full year. Before we get into the specific results and guidance, let me emphasize how we are navigating so well through what is undoubtedly a challenging business environment. First, we continue to execute our Deploy for Balanced Growth strategy depicted on slide number five. As you'll see in the coming slides, it is clearly working. We remain equally committed to our planet and community, as evidenced by our strong push in various areas of ESG. Some of our quarter two actions, achievements, and recognitions are shown on slide number six. For a more in-depth look at our ESG work, be on the lookout for our latest annual global ESG report, which will be published next week. The result of this continued focus on execution is another quarter of strong results, as indicated on slide number seven. As you'll see in a moment, our momentum in snacks remains impressive around the world and led by world-class brands. Our international regions collectively posted yet another quarter of strong growth in sales and profit, a performance that is driven not only by snacks but also cereal and noodles and other in emerging markets. We also had an exceptional quarter for North America. This was driven not only by snacks but also by cereal. Our North America cereal business continues to replenish inventory, both ours and that of our customers, leading to gradual resumption of commercial activity and recovery of share. We continue to mitigate the margin pressure created by decades-high cost inflation and bottlenecks and shortages evident across the entire economy. Our productivity initiatives continue to work and our revenue growth management actions continue to be effective. As a result, we remain on an upward trajectory for operating profit. We're generating strong cash flow, which is providing enhanced financial flexibility contributing to an increase this year in our dividend and in our share buybacks, all while reducing our net debt year on year as well. So we're executing well and delivering ahead of our own financial expectations. And as a result, today we are raising our full year guidance. Meanwhile, with June's public kickoff announcement, we continue to progress towards separating our company into three stronger, more focused companies, as shown on slide number eight. We strongly believe that North America Cereal Co. and Plant Co. will be stronger as separate companies, able to focus on their specific strategies, priorities, and resource needs. Another key precept of our decision was the strength of our remaining global snacking company business, and our quarter two results only reemphasize that strength. As with any spinoff, this will require organizational design work and carving out the financials of the two be separated businesses, which in our structure today are integrated across business units. Work is well underway and will keep you apprised of our progress over the next several months. We will also remain laser-focused on delivering on our strategy and financial objectives in the meantime. So we feel good about our first half of 2022. We feel confident about our second half, and we are excited about our separation plans. Let me now turn it over to Amit, who will explain our financial results and outlook in more detail. Amit Bhandari- Thanks, Steve, and good morning, everyone.