Altria Group, Inc.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mac Livingston, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thanks, Chloe. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. This morning, Billy Gifford, Austria's CEO, and Sal Mancuso, our CFO, will discuss Austria's 2025 fourth quarter and full year business results. Earlier today, we issued a press release providing our results. The release, presentation, quarterly metrics, and our latest corporate responsibility reports are all available at Altria.com. During our call today, unless otherwise stated, we're comparing results to the same period in 2024. Our remarks contain forward-looking statements, including projections of future results. Please review the forward-looking and cautionary statement section at the end of today's earnings release for various factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projections. Future dividend payments and share repurchases remain subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors. We report our financial results in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Today's call will contain various operating results on both a reported and adjusted basis. Adjusted results exclude special items that affect comparisons with reported results. Descriptions of these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in today's earnings release and on our website at altria.com. Finally, all references in today's remarks to nicotine consumers or consumers within a specific nicotine category or segment refer to existing adult nicotine consumers 21 years of age or older. With that, I'll turn the call over to Billy.

Thanks, Mac. Good morning, and thank you for joining us. 2025 was a year of continued momentum for Altrio, marked by strong financial performance, strategic progress across our smoke-free portfolio, new relationships in support of our long-term growth goals, and significant cash returns to shareholders. Our leading brands and talented teams enabled our core tobacco businesses to deliver solid income growth and margin expansion while we invested in our vision. For the full year, we grew adjusted diluted earnings per share by 4.4% and returned $8 billion to shareholders through dividends, and share repurchases combined. As the year progressed, we achieved meaningful milestones that we believe advance our smoke-free portfolio and position us for sustained success in the U.S. nicotine space and for long-term adjacent growth. In 2025, Helix received marketing-granted orders from the FDA for certain OnPlus products. Horizon submitted a combined PMTA and MRTPA to the FDA for plume and Marlboro heated tobacco sticks. We entered into a strategic collaboration with KT&G to advance international modern oral, U.S. non-nicotine growth, and traditional tobacco operating efficiencies. And we continue to advocate for a responsible and well-regulated marketplace. My remarks this morning will focus on our latest view of the U.S. nicotine space, our smoke-free progress, and our earnings guidance for 2026. I'll then hand it over to Sal, who will provide further details on our business and financial results. Let's begin with our view of the U.S. nicotine space. Over the past year, the estimated number of adult consumers in the e-vapor and old tobacco categories grew to almost 30 million, nearly as large as the adult smoker population and a reflection of the potential for tobacco harm reduction in the U.S. Total nicotine industry-equivalent volumes increased for the third consecutive year and grew by approximately 2% over the past five years on a compounded annual basis. And we estimate that smoke-free alternatives represented more than 50% of the total nicotine space, up five percentage points from the prior year. However, the primary driver of industry and smoke-free growth continues to be the widespread availability of illicit flavored disposable eVapor products, evading the regulatory process, which jeopardizes the long-term tobacco harm reduction opportunity. We estimate the eVapor category grew approximately 15% in 2025, with illicit products representing approximately 70% of the category. At year end, we estimate there were more than 20 million vapers with nearly 15 million using disposable products. We have long advocated for stronger enforcement against the list of products and an acceleration of FDA market authorizations for smoke-free products. In 2025, we saw increased engagement and action from federal agencies and government officials including fourth quarter legislation requiring the FDA to allocate at least $200 million of tobacco user fees to enforcement activities. Early signs suggest that these efforts, together with tariffs of Chinese manufactured goods, are beginning to impact the illicit marketplace. We are also seeing early indication that growth in the total number of disposable vapors is moderating. In 2025, disposable evapor volumes grew approximately 30% compared to over 50% in 2024. Growth in the number of disposable vapors also slowed, rising approximately 10% in 2025 versus over 40% in 2024. Additionally, the FDA's POLIT program to streamline PMTA reviews for certain oral nicotine pouches could be a meaningful step toward improved regulatory speed and clarity required to deliver products that meet adult consumer preferences and regulatory standards. While we are encouraged by this early progress, additional action is needed to accelerate product authorization decisions and ensure a level playing field for all manufacturers. We're hopeful that 2026 will bring consistent enforcement and further improvements to the regulatory process. We continue to believe that responsible participation in the eVapor category with products that meet consumer preferences supports our vision and our broader smoke-free strategy. We are making progress against their product pipeline and are executing with discipline and intention. The proliferation of illicit disposable products, pace of FDA authorizations, and the intellectual property landscape remain significant headwinds. Accordingly, we intend to maintain a measured approach to our investments in eVAPOR until the regulatory framework is functioning as intended and enforcement actions meaningfully address the illicit market. Let's now turn to the nicotine pouch category. Nicotine pouches continue to drive overall oral tobacco volume growth, which increased an estimated 14% over the past six months. In the fourth quarter, oral nicotine pouches grew 10.4 share points versus the prior year, and now represent nearly 57% of the total old category. Competitor promotional activity remained elevated during the fourth quarter. Average retail prices for category competitors in the fourth quarter declined 3% sequentially and 12% year-over-year. In contrast, Helix remained focused on balancing profitability with retaining loyal orange consumers. At retail, orange price increased by approximately 4% sequentially and 3% versus the prior year. For the full year, Helix successfully delivered against its plans and contributed profitable growth to our old tobacco product segment. In this environment, Helix was relatively stable in the fourth quarter growing on reported shipment volume to more than 44 million cans. For the full year, Helix grew on reported shipment volume by approximately 11% to more than 177 million cans. Oren's retail share of the total old tobacco category was 7.7% for the fourth quarter and 8.2% for the full year. While Helix carefully stewarded Orn through disruptive second half market conditions, the team also prepared to bring Orn Plus to the market. In December, the FDA authorized Orn Plus mint, wintergreen, and tobacco in six and nine milligram nicotine strengths, with the 12 milligram variants still in the review process. Following authorization, Helix resumes shipments of Orem Plus in Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. Innovation in pouch formats, including wet pouches, broader flavor variety, and higher nicotine strength offerings is driving nicotine pouch growth. We believe Orem Plus is a premium, differentiated product that is well positioned to meaningfully participate in this growth. Early consumer feedback indicates that its innovative pouch material with smooth flavor proposition is a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In recent research, Orem Plus Mint achieved higher overall purchase intention scores than the leading nicotine pouch brand and distinguished itself with superior pouch comfort and mouthfeel, critical attributes in the nicotine pouch category. In the fourth quarter, Helix began laying the foundation to expand ORMplus nationally. Our teams made strategic investments in retail merchandising fixtures and equity to prepare for the ORMplus national launch planned for the first half of this year. In 2026, Helix plans to focus on generating trial for ORMplus and retaining adopters for ORMclassic. We anticipate Helix will continue to be profitable for the full year 2026. Looking to the future, Helix's strategy remains focused on innovation and responsibly delivering on consumer preferences. In November, Helix submitted PMTA applications for OM Plus products in six additional flavor varieties across three nicotine strengths. Helix looks forward to bringing these new products to the U.S. market. Turning to our international smoke-free efforts, we continue to focus on the fast-growing nicotine pouch category. In 2025, On, On Plus, and our newly added Fumi brand competed across select international markets through e-commerce and its targeted retail distributions. Fumi appeals to the 80% of consumers interested in slim, wet pouch products. Early performance has been encouraging, supporting our expansion to 40,000 retail locations in seven markets. In addition, we added three new line extensions, bringing the brand to 12 unique flavor offerings. Our broadened nicotine pouch portfolio has accelerated international expansion and is generating valuable consumer insights that will inform future product development. While these are early days, we believe our expanded international portfolio and the momentum from our efforts in 2025 put us on a path towards accomplishing our long-term international smoke-free growth goals. Moving to our 2026 financial outlook, We expect to deliver 2026 full-year adjusted diluted EPS in a range of $5.56 to $5.72. This range represents a growth rate of 2.5% to 5.5% from a $5.42 base in 2025. We expect growth to be weighted to the second half of the year reflecting a progressive increase in cigarette import and export activity over the course of the year. Our guidance contemplates planned investments to support our contract manufacturing capabilities, limited impact on combustible and evapor product volumes from illicit enforcement efforts, and enjoy ACE not returning to the marketplace in 2026. We remain committed to our vision and to building a portfolio of FDA authorized smoke-free products for adult smokers and nicotine consumers who use smoke-free products. Our planned investment areas include marketplace activities in support of our smoke-free products and continued smoke-free product research, development, and regulatory preparations. In summary, Altria continued to build momentum in 2025. Our core businesses remained resilient. We advanced our smoke-free portfolio, and we opened new pathways for long-term growth in international modern oil and U.S. non-nicotine innovation. These efforts support our vision and enterprise goals. I am confident in our strategy, energized by the opportunities ahead and grateful for our employees' commitment to delivering long-term shareholder value. I'll now turn it over to Sal to provide additional details on our business and financial results.