Luxfer Holdings PLC

Please stand by. We're about to begin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Beau, and I will be your conference operator today. Welcome, everyone, to Luxfer's third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute. After the speaker's prepared remarks, we will hold a question and answer session. Now, at this time, I'll turn things over to Kevin Grant, Vice President of Investor Relations and Business Development at Luxfer. Kevin, please go ahead.

Thank you, Bo, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Luxford's third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. This morning, we'll be reviewing Luxford's financial results for the third quarter and its September 30th, 2024. I'm pleased to be joined today by Andy Butcher, our chief executive officer, and Steve Webster, our chief financial officer. Today's webcast is accompanied by a presentation that can be accessed at Luxford.com. Please note any references to non-GAAP financials are reconciled in the appendix of the presentation. Before we begin, a friendly reminder that any forward-looking statements made about the company's expected financial results are subject to future risks and uncertainties. We undertake no obligations to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please refer to the safe harbor statement on slide two of today's presentation for further details. During today's call, we will be providing adjusted third quarter 2024 financial results, excluding the graphic arts business, legal recoveries and expenses for both 2024 and 2023. Now let me introduce CEO of Luxor, Andy Butcher. Please turn to slide three. Andy, please go ahead.

Thank you, Kevin. And good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. In the third quarter, the Luxfer team continued to build on the positive momentum we've established throughout this year, achieving steady revenue improvements and enhancing profitability. We sustained strong operational efficiency while capitalizing on some improved market conditions, demonstrating the quality and adaptability of our organization. I'm also pleased to announce the sale of the Lakehurst, New Jersey property for $7.3 million. Our sales for the third quarter came in at $91.4 million, representing a 1.2% increase year over year. This was supported by the demand in our defense, first response and healthcare sectors, particularly in the meals ready to eat and the defense powders product lines. Additionally, we took advantage of a tactical shift from several customers who expedited their orders into the third quarter from the fourth, driven by prospects of potential hurricanes and port strikes. This contributed to the strong Q3 performance, yielding higher than anticipated sales volumes and further supporting margin improvements. In terms of profitability, we achieved an adjusted EBITDA of $13.5 million, which is a 22.7% improvement over last year. We also generated our third consecutive quarter of adjusted EBITDA margin growth, reaching 14.8%. This result was driven by our ongoing cost reduction and operational efficiency efforts. Our operating cash flow for the quarter was $12.8 million, which further contributed to maintaining our strong balance sheet and reducing our net leverage to 1.3 times. So, as we approach the closing months of 2024, we are notably encouraged. The progress we have made in the first three quarters puts us on track to deliver an elevated full year 2024 guidance, and we anticipate that our focus on operational efficiencies and strategic investments sets a firm foundation into 2025. We are well positioned to navigate market challenges and to make the most of emerging opportunities as they develop. I am pleased with our recent progress. Now, let's turn to slide four for a quick update on our comprehensive strategic review with a specific focus on the divestiture of the graphic arts business. The sale of graphic arts is now expected to close in the first half of 2025. The business has been making good progress in turning towards profitability and generating although the originally identified buyer did not meet our valuation expectations and we are now engaged with other interested parties. We remain fully committed to securing the best possible outcome for Luxor and our shareholders in a timely manner. Meanwhile, we continue enhancing our gas cylinders and electron segments by reducing costs and executing profitable growth opportunities driven by innovation and strategic investments. The advancements we made this year have been encouraging. We also remain attentive in assessing market conditions to maximise future shareholder value. At this point, I'll turn the call over to Steve to provide a deeper dive into our financial results and the updated full year guidance for 2024. Steve?