MUELLER WATER PRODUCTS

Welcome and thank you for standing by. Your lines have been placed on the listen-only mode until the question and answer session. At that time, if you would like to ask a question, you may press star one. Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. And I'll turn the call over to Whit Kincaid. You may begin.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Mueller Water Products second quarter conference call. Yesterday afternoon, we issued our press release reporting results of operations for the quarter ended March 31st, 2026. A copy of the press release is available on our website, MuellerWaterProducts.com. I am joined this morning by Paul McAndrew, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Melissa Rasmussen, our Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we will address questions related to the information covered on the call. As a reminder, please keep to one question and a follow-up and then return to the queue. 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. They also 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 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 3 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 2 and 3 in their entirety. During this call, all references to a specific year or quarter, unless specified otherwise, refer to our fiscal year, which ends the 30th of September. A replay of this morning's call will be available for 30 days at 1-800-839-1334. The archived webcast and corresponding slides will be available for at least 90 days on the investor relations section of our website. I'll now turn the call over to Paul.

Thanks, Whit. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter earnings call. I am pleased with our strong performance this quarter. as we set new quarterly records for net sales, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted net income per share. We delivered net sales growth of 5.5% in the quarter, demonstrating the strength of our brands and resilient end market demand. We also expanded our adjusted EBITDA margin 210 basis points year over year. Our operations and supply chain teams performed well. driving year-over-year gross margin expansion. With an ongoing commitment to operational excellence and cost management, manufacturing efficiencies more than offset the impact of higher tariffs and inflationary pressures, driving year-over-year gross margin expansion. Based on our outstanding performance through the first half of the year and our current expectations for the remainder of the year, we are raising our fiscal 2026 outlook for adjusted EBITDA. We continue to anticipate that healthy municipal repair and replacement activity and strong growth in project-related work using specialty valves will help offset slower new residential construction activity. We believe we are positioned for another record year, driven by adjusted EBITDA margin expansion and supported by our strategic priorities. including our ongoing commercial and operational initiatives and strategic capital investments. While we are experiencing greater uncertainty in the external operating environment, including changes in demand, tariffs, and inflationary pressures, we are focused on driving results and investing in the capabilities and capacity needed to support long-term value creation. I'd like to take a moment to explain the ways we are updating our approach to our strategic priorities. Throughout our long history, Mueller has played a critical and essential role as a leader in the water infrastructure in North America. We have strong brands and a broad portfolio of products and solutions. Our vision is to be the leader in water infrastructure solutions. Our value creation priorities are driving above market sales growth, continuing margin expansion and executing disciplined capital allocation. We are fueled by our dedicated team and strong culture. We expect our ongoing investments in commercial and operational capabilities to enable us to drive above market sales growth and further expand margins. Additionally, we will continue to take a disciplined approach to capital allocation, balancing organic investments such as our strategic capital expenditures, pursuing targeted acquisitions, and returning cash to shareholders. We have improved operational execution, strengthened stakeholder relationships, and delivered outstanding results, all while navigating a challenging external environment. I believe our performance so far this year and over the last few years is just the beginning. Now I'd like to introduce what we are calling our Mueller Operating System. which is a formalized system of tools and processes that will drive discipline, execution, and excellence throughout the organization. At Mueller, this starts with an engaged employee base, which is the upper left of the diagram. Our team members are the heart and soul of Mueller and critical to our future success. We have made significant progress with our safety-first mindset, resulting in record safety levels. Our next priority centers on enhancing our customer experience, which is supported by our commercial and operational investments. These efforts are dedicated to achieving first-class quality and delivery, fostering seamless engagement, and establishing ourselves as a trusted partner. For example, we are investing in our digital customer facing tools to enhance the customer experience and accelerate quoting and inventory management. Next, we aim to expand margins by simplifying our business to reduce complexity, drive business process excellence, and deliver strategic price-cost management. As part of this effort, we recently made the difficult decision to exit the I2O pressure monitoring business outside of North America. This impacts business operations and employees in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and Colombia, as well as customers outside the U.S. and Canada. Pressure management remains a strategic priority for us as the demand for pressure monitoring continues to grow in North America, where it's increasingly specified alongside hydrants and valves. We plan to use and further develop the pressure technology originally acquired from I2O to strengthen our competitive position. We expect the cost savings and tax benefits to more than offset the revenue loss and support margin expansion and enhance free cash flow beyond 2026. Lastly, to accelerate our growth, we will drive market-leading innovation, focused market expansion, and disciplined strategic acquisitions. We have streamlined our new product R&D to focus on the most impactful near-term and long-term opportunities. We remain excited about expanding our specially-valved commercial and operational capabilities to deliver highly engineered valves for large projects. While we have benefited from improving our commercial and operational execution, we are confident that we can build on our momentum to accelerate net sales growth and expand margins further through our new operating system. We look forward to sharing examples of successes along the way. With that, I'll turn it over to Melissa to take us through the financials.