MUELLER WATER PRODUCTS

Welcome and thank you for standing by. Today's call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. All participants are in a listen-only mode until the question-answer session of today's conference. At that time, you may press star 1 on your phone to ask a question. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Wick Kincaid. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on Muir Water Products' third quarter 2021 conference call. We issued our press release reporting results of operations for the quarter ended June 30th, 2021, yesterday afternoon. A copy of the press release is available on our website, MuellerWaterProducts.com. Scott Hall, our President and CEO, and Marty Zakis, our CFO, will be discussing our third quarter results, the I2O water acquisition, in-market conditions, and our updated outlook for fiscal 2021. This morning's call is being recorded and webcast live on the internet. We have also posted slides on our website to accompany today's discussion and to address forward-looking statements and our non-GAAP disclosure requirements. At this time, please refer to slide two. This slide identifies non-GAAP financial measures referenced in our press release, on our slides, and on this call. It discloses the reasons why we believe that these measures provide useful information to investors. Reconciliations between non-GAAP and GAAP financial measures are included in the supplemental information within our press release and on our website. Slide three addresses forward-looking statements made on this call. This slide includes cautionary information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in forward-looking statements. Please review slides two and three in their entirety. During this call, all references to a specific year or quarter, unless specified otherwise, refer to our fiscal year, which ends on September 30th. A replay of this morning's call will be available for 30 days at 1-866-448-7651. The archived webcast and corresponding slides will be available for at least 90 days in the Investor Relations section of our website. I'll now turn the call over to Scott.

Thanks, Whit. Thank you for joining us today. I hope everyone listening to our call continues to stay safe and healthy. Before we review our financial performance, I would like to take a moment to talk about the tragedy which occurred at our Albertville facility. For the Mueller family, June 15th of this year will always be remembered for the senseless tragedy that occurred at our facility located in Albertville, Alabama. Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones, the Albertville community, and everyone at Mueller during this difficult time. The response from our team in Albertville and everyone throughout Mueller demonstrates the commitment our team members have to each other. We partnered with the National Compassion Fund to provide direct financial support to the families of our colleagues that were lost, our employees that were injured, and employees that were impacted by this event. This fund makes it simple for anyone looking to support the families of the deceased and injured employees as they begin on their path to healing. We made an initial contribution to the fund and will cover all administrative fees. We are grateful for all of the support and encouragement we have received from the community and across the country. The tragedies in Albertville and Aurora test even the strongest resolve. Our hearts are broken and it's going to take some time to heal. We are bringing to bear all the resources we can in support of the Albertville community. Our leadership team was on the ground within hours of the incident and counselors were on site. The local law enforcement investigation is ongoing and we are continuing our full and active cooperation. Our board of directors is committed to the safety and security of our employees, and has engaged an independent consultant to review our policies, procedures, and security protocols to ensure that we have the most appropriate programs in place to protect our employees from workplace violence. The Albertville facility was closed for approximately a week after the shooting to allow time off for employees to spend with their families. The facility is now fully operational. Although the tragedy caused shipment delays along with other impacts, Team members throughout the organization responded with incredible dedication and compassion. I'll now turn to our financial performance during the quarter. Please turn to slide five. We delivered an exceptionally strong performance in the quarter, achieving record consolidated net sales of $310.5 million, growing 35.9% versus last year. Strong volume growth in the quarter led to a 42.9% increase in adjusted EBITDA, and 100 basis point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin. When comparing these results to the third quarter of fiscal 2019, which preceded the pandemic, we generated a 13.2% increase in net sales. This level of growth reflects strong and market demand from continued increases in municipal spending and residential construction. While the strong demand for our products and services exceeded our expectations, We faced ongoing challenges in the quarter from rising material and supply chain expenses. During our third quarter, we announced our third price increase this year across many of our product lines due to the level of inflation we have experienced. Given the continuing impact of inflation and strong level of orders we are experiencing, we do not expect to see an improved price-cost relationship until fiscal 2022. During the quarter, we further strengthened our balance sheet and future cash flow with the opportunistic refinancing of our $450 million senior notes, which decreased our annual interest rate by 150 basis points. Marty will touch on the details later in the call. Given our capital structure, we are well positioned to execute on our strategic growth opportunities with bolt-on acquisitions and capital investments, which strengthen and grow the business. while also continuing to return cash to shareholders, primarily through our quarterly dividend. Our acquisition of I2O water during the quarter is a great example of a bolt-on acquisition that expands our water network monitoring capabilities and will accelerate our product offerings. I will discuss the strategic rationale for pressure management solutions and I2O later in the call. Our teams continue to execute well despite the ongoing operational challenges from the pandemic, inflation, and global supply chain disruptions. I am confident that we are taking the right steps to operate effectively in this new environment and that our pricing strategies can deliver improved margins as inflation stabilizes. We are increasing our annual guidance for both consolidated net sales and adjusted EBITDA growth for 2021 for the third consecutive quarter and believe we are well positioned for further financial performance success in fiscal 2022. With that, I'll turn the call over to Marty to review our third quarter results.