O-I Glass, Inc.

end. If you would like to ask a question, press star 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to pass the conference over to our host, Chris Manu, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Jerry, and welcome everyone to the OI Glass Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. Our discussion today will be led by Gordon Hardy, our CEO, and John Hodrick, our CFO. Following prepared remarks, we will host a Q&A session. Presentation materials for this call are available on the company's website. Please review the Safe Harbor comments and disclosure of our use of non-GAAP financial measures included in those materials.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Gordon, who will start on slide three. Good morning, everybody, and thank you for your interest in OIGlass. Today we will review our third quarter performance, examine recent market trends, and highlight the progress we have made on our transformation journey. We will also share our improved outlook for 2025 and an early view on key business drivers for further improvement in 2026. Before we begin, I want to acknowledge the dedication and determination of the entire OIT. Your commitment, teamwork and execution are the drivers behind our ongoing transformation. Last night, we reported third quarter adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share, delivering strong results that exceeded both last year's performance and our own initial plans. Our top line remains stable, supported by higher average selling prices and favorable effects, even as overall consumer demand remains subdued. We saw revenue growth in non-alcoholic beverages, food, and RTDs, while beer and wine experience declines due to softer consumer demand. Importantly, the execution of our strategic initiatives is leading to a higher quality of revenue as we strip out waste and inefficiencies, expand in growing categories, and exit some unprofitable business. As a result, segment operating profit rose by more than 60% year over year, and margins are up a robust 570 basis points propelled by significant benefits from our strategic program and increased production levels following last year's inventory reduction. Bid to Win contributed another $75 million in the third quarter and $220 million year to date. We now expect to surpass our original 2025 savings target, and this program is strengthening our competitiveness, enhancing performance, and enabling durable profit improvement. Despite ongoing macroeconomic headwinds, our strategy is delivering results. We have raised our full year 2025 guidance and now expect adjusted earnings per share to nearly double versus 2024. Momentum is building and we anticipate continued growth and adjusted earnings and free cash flow in 2026 as we advance towards the target set out at our Research Investor Day. Let's now move to page four. As we review our quarterly results, it is important to consider current trends within the broader market context. Packaging dynamics are evolving. Short term cyclical pressures, including inflation, consumer price resistance and elevated supply chain inventories have temporarily dampened demand. However, we anticipate these headwinds will ease over time. Longer term factors such as lower per capita alcohol consumption and increased substrate competition will persist in certain markets. Yet these challenges are expected to be offset by growing interest in premiumization and sustainability. Furthermore, rising consumer health awareness is driving growth in no low alcohol beverages, as well as food and water. These trends suggest a more balanced and sustained demand for glass over the long term. In the interim, our focus remains on eliminating waste and inefficiencies building higher quality revenue streams, delivering a more profitable portfolio, and positioning the business for future shifts in consumer demand. OI has navigated market volatility effectively, maintaining stable net sales in recent years. As we address near-term cyclical pressures, we are carefully balancing price and volume to achieve a relatively stable top line. For the full year, we now expect pricing to be flat and sales volumes to be down about 2%, which is consistent with softer consumer demand. Despite this, our fit to win initiative is delivering a higher quality business mix and strengthening our competitive position as evidenced by improved margins of segment profits. Looking ahead, we anticipate OI will achieve 1% to 2% annual sales volume growth post-2027, as markets stabilize, strategic initiatives enhance our cost position, and we drive profitable growth in the next phase of our strategy. Let's now turn to page five to review the progress of our Fit to Win initiative, which I'm pleased to report is ahead of schedule. Fit to Win is significantly reducing costs across the enterprise, as well as optimizing our network and value chain to enhance competitiveness and support future growth. In the third quarter, we achieved another $75 million in savings with benefits of $220 million through the first nine months of the year, well ahead of our initial plans. With this momentum, we expect 2025 savings will range between $275 and $300 million, which exceeds our current year goal. So we are well on our way to at least $650 million of benefits by 2027 on a cumulative basis. We are making excellent progress in phase A, which focuses on streamlining SG&A costs and initial network optimization actions. We've already secured $100 million in SG&A savings in 2025, and we are on track to reach our three-year target ahead of schedule. Our network optimization is also moving quickly. We have communicated the closure of 13% of capacity to align supply with demand. 8% is now complete. and all remaining actions should be completed by early next year. Phase B centers on transforming our entire value chain. The first wave of our total organization effectiveness rollout across 15 plants is completed, and each location has met or exceeded expectations. The second wave covering another 15 plants is in progress, and we should complete the remaining plants by the end of next year with benefits continuing into 2020-27 and beyond. Our teams are driving strong results in procurement and energy reduction, further boosting savings and resilience. New supplier agreements are set to enhance productivity and competitiveness over the next three years. Overall, the Fit to Win program is delivering results faster than planned. We are well ahead of our targets for 2025, and are positioned to unlock even greater value through 2027, despite challenging market conditions. Now I'll hand it over to John, who will start with a review of our third quarter results on page six.

Thanks, Gordon, and good morning, everyone. Let's begin with our third quarter top line results. Net sales held firm at approximately $1.7 billion, with modest improvements in gross price, especially in the Americas. Favorable FX provided a helpful tailwind, even as consumer demand remained muted. Shipments in tons declined by 5%, as modest growth in the NAB food and RTD categories was more than offset by lower performance in beer and wine. Keep in mind, this headline figure does not fully reflect underlying trends, as several factors which are not indicative of actual consumption impacted volumes by approximately 3 percentage points. These factors include a major capital project commissioning in Europe, which we discussed during last quarter's call, inventory correction in the Mexico and North America beer category related to changes in U.S. trade and immigration policies, and mixed changes as we exited some unprofitable business lines consistent with our focus on increasing economic profit, as well as the ongoing trend towards container light weighting. Excluding these factors, shipments were down about 2%, which is more in line with softer underlying consumer consumption trends. Importantly, overall volumes improved over the course of the quarter, and shipments were nearly flat with the prior year in September. While revenues were stable, margins improved significantly, and OI delivered third-quarter adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share, exceeding both last year's results and our own plans. This achievement was driven by favorable net price, significantly lower costs thanks to fit-to-win initiatives, and higher production levels despite softer sales volumes. A lower tax rate also benefited the bottom line. Overall, OI has delivered strong third quarter results, outperforming expectations through discipline execution, cost reductions, and continued momentum from our strategic program, positioning the company for ongoing success. Moving to segment profit on page seven. The momentum is clear as segment operating profit improved more than 60% from 2024 with robust gains in both the Americas and Europe. In the Americas, segment operating profit rose nearly 60%, propelled by higher net price and continued fit-to-win benefits. Buyers were down 7%. We believe underlying consumer consumption represented half of this decline, while specific factors drove the other half, namely lapping new business wins in 2024, inventory adjustments in the beer value chain across North America and Mexico, as well as mixed chains as we exited some unprofitable business. In Europe, segment operating profits surged by 70%, reflecting contributions from strategic initiatives and higher production following last year's inventory reductions. Net price was a headwind and sales volumes dipped due to a major capital project startup. Importantly, volumes were about flat, excluding this event. In summary, segment operating profits increased significantly, with strong gains in both the Americas and Europe, reflecting the continued success and disciplined execution of our key initiatives. Now let's turn to page eight for our updated business outlook. Looking ahead, our outlook for 2025 has improved. Given our strong year-to-date performance and the momentum of Fit2Win, we have raised our full-year earnings guidance. We now expect adjusted earnings in the range of $1.55 to $1.65 per share, nearly double our 2024 results. This meaningful increase reflects stronger initiative benefits and better net price, partially offset by slightly lower sales volumes. Free cash flow is projected at $150 to $200 million in improvement of approximately $300 million versus last year and closer to $400 million increase prior to restructuring costs. Although the adjusted earnings outlook has improved, our free cash flow guidance remains unchanged due to higher than expected restructuring opportunities and the settlement of a legacy environmental liability, which together totaled more than $25 million. Higher restructuring was a result of OI's accelerated network optimization initiatives, which we're expected to deliver benefits in 2026 and beyond. Excluding these temporary and elevated charges, our free cash flow is nearing the 5% of sales benchmark, which is our 2027 target. We successfully refinanced our bank credit agreement last month at favorable economics, which also extends out maturities. Leverage improved over the last quarter, and we continue to expect our leverage ratio will land in the mid threes by year end. Despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop, we are executing effectively, and our self-help initiatives are delivering results that exceed our original expectations. As a result, we are increasing our full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance and expect this positive momentum to continue into next year. Now let's turn to page 9 for our early perspectives on key business drivers for 2026. Looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate continued momentum with higher adjusted earnings and free cash flow as we advance towards our 2027 objectives outlined at investor day. Revenue is expected to remain stable or increase modestly supported by better mix fairly consistent sales volume and higher gross price reflecting the pass through 2025 inflation. This aligns with our strategy to maintain a stable top line while executing fit to win to further strengthen our competitive position and lay the groundwork for profitable growth after 2027. Adjusted earnings are projected to improve, fueled by another year of strong initiative benefits. These gains should more than offset the impact of lower net price as we reset favorable energy contracts in Europe, which are expiring at the end of this year. Free cash flow is expected to rise, driven by increased earnings and disciplined capital allocations. Cash restructuring costs should be at or below 2025 levels as we complete key initiatives by mid-2026. Our balance sheet should continue to improve with financial leverage in the low threes by year-end 2026. With strong execution, ongoing transformation, and a clear strategic direction, OI is well-positioned to deliver lasting value to all stakeholders. Now back to Gordon on page 10.

Thanks, John. As we wrap up today's call, I want to emphasize the significant progress SOI has achieved and the solid competitive foundation we are establishing for the future. Our strong year-to-date performance, driven by the ongoing success of our Fit2Win program, has enabled us to raise the 2025 adjusted earnings guidance once again. Looking ahead, we anticipate continued growth in both earnings and free cash flow in 2026. We are delivering on the commitments made at our recent investor day, maintaining a stable top line, enhancing our quality of revenue, and advancing our transformation despite the challenging environment. Our efforts to realign our network and supply chain are supporting mixed improvement and positioning us for long-term profitable growth. Our cost transformation initiatives are generating substantial savings and increasing our competitiveness, and we have streamlined our organization to be more agile and focused. As a result, margins and earnings are up, free cash flow is increasing and our balance sheet continues to strengthen. Most importantly, we are executing well, building momentum and expect to create sustainable value for our shareholders. Thank you for your continued support and confidence in Hawaii. We look forward to building on this momentum and achieving even greater success together. We're now happy to take any questions you may have.

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by 1 on your telephone keypad. If for any reason you would like to remove your question, press star followed by 2. Again, to ask a question, press star 1. As a reminder, if you are using a speakerphone, please remember to pick up your handset before asking a question. We will pause here briefly as questions are registered. Thank you. We will now take our first question from Genshan Panjambi from Baird. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everybody. You know, Gordon, as you think about the demand environment, good morning. You know, as you sort of think about the demand environment and, you know, the variability we've seen over the years, et cetera, how much of this most recent decline is influencing your view as it relates to what's actually a cyclical decline versus some sort of secular change because of changing consumer preferences and so on and so forth. Because if you go back to 2019, volumes are down roughly mid-teens. You're aligning your capacity down by pretty much a comparable amount. And I'm just curious as to what you think is the right baseline for volumes going forward, or is this the new starting point?

Yeah, thanks, Kanchan. It's quite a dynamic demand environment. And, you know, depending on where, what segments and categories you look at and what part of the world, there are probably different dynamics. I think it's fair to say that beer, you know, across the board and wine across the board are, you know, declining. And certainly we've seen that in most of the markets. But within beer, there's a dynamic where premium beers are showing some growth. But it's mid-tier and maybe lower equity brands, if I can put it that way, losing share to private label. So there definitely is a piece around beer and wine that we see because consumers are challenged, right? I hear that. I'm in the market a lot. I hear that quite a bit. What we are seeing, though, is a growth in non-alcoholic beers. And interestingly, we're hearing in different markets that up to 60% of new users of the non-alcoholic category are Gen Zers. So they're coming into the beer category via non-alcoholic. Um, uh, ranges. So I, I think there's a piece there, um, uh, quite a large chunk around, around beer. That's I would say cyclical. Um, and you know, then the shift, uh, you know, people health and wellness, you know, accessing beer through nothing low and, and non-alcoholic beverages, which I think will, will kind of grow. I, I, I very much think we're still, um, you know, in the midst of the implications of COVID and how it disrupted supply chains and behaviors and the stages with particularly Gen Zers enter different kind of categories. So I think there's very much a part in beer, which I think is cyclical. Wine, I think some of it is structural. You know, younger consumers, what you hear is finding it difficult to access wine. You know, it can be a complicated category to access with different, you know, appellations and, you know, labels and so on. But what we do here is the wine industry saying, okay, how do we make it easier for consumers to access the category? So I think there's some work being done there that, you know, should help that over time. You know, the way we look at it, Gajum, as I've mentioned before, we have about 1.7 times the volume of our nearest competitors. And in this period of kind of volatile demand, you know, I think the most clear path for us to create value is to increase the profitability and the returns and the cash on the volumes that we have. Um, and, and really strengthen the portfolio and, and strengthen the core business and generate higher returns and higher cashflow from what we have. Um, and, and shedding volume that doesn't deliver economic profit or cash for us. And, you know, you see that start to come through in the results where volumes are down, but margins are up very significantly. Cash will be up significantly for the year. So, you know, what is the right base? You know, that's a $64,000 question. But what I am clear on is that we are only focused on volume that delivers economic profit for us. Now, we are in, you know, that early stage of that three horizon strategy where we said, you know, we got to get fit in order that we access growth. There is volume available in the market if you wanted to chase really low margins and give up a whole bunch of terms that have destroyed cash. That's not our game plan. So we are getting fit in order that when the market turns, then we can access the kind of growth. And we have a very clear view on the kind of growth we're looking for, what categories, what segments, what markets, what customers. That's very clear to us internally, but there's a timing issue. We've got to work through the fit to win, get much more competitive than we have been when the market turns, access that growth. As we said, going forward, just to close out, we would then expect, you know, 1% to 2% volume growth. That would be, you know, EP accretive and cash accretive for us going forward post-2027. So that's a long answer, Gancham, but that's kind of how we look at it, yeah.

Okay. Just one quick follow-up. On the 13% capacity cut, how does that skew between the regions? And I'll turn it over. Thank you.

Hey, Gancham. This is John. On the balance, there is probably a little bit more going on in the Americas than in Europe, but what I would say is where we stand right now, the Americas is substantially advanced, and the final stages are going to be over in Europe.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Josh Spector from UBS. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Hi. Good morning. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the volume kind of cadence and the results in the quarter. I think you explained a decent amount of it, particularly within the Americas between some of the beer headwinds in the quarter and the exits that you guys did. And just wondering if you could bucket those two pieces apart a little bit for us. So should we expect more exits on a go-forward basis? Does that matter for profitability since there's maybe some offset there? So just helping to pick that apart would be helpful to start. Thank you.

Sure. So, you know, if you take a look at the 5%, I'd break it out about 2% is just software consumer demand, you know, and consumers being, you know, more challenged, I think, and kind of price resistance in the market. And then, you know, between network optimization and a deliberate decision to exit volume that, you know, did not make sense for us from an EP point of view, And then also some very deliberate strategies around lightweighting, that's about 3%. So the underlying we think is about 2%, right? And we probably see that holding to year end.

Yeah, I would add, just looking at the numbers here, Josh, The exiting of unprofitable business probably was one percentage point of that three percentage point that we would say is not specifically due to consumer consumption trends. And that will episodically continue for the business. Um, you know, I think we flagged this back at, at investor day. There's, there's a low single digit come mid single digit kind of portfolio of our business that is deeply economic profit negative. And, and we are either going to raise prices in that market. or we're going to exit that business. And that's the process that we're going through as we go over the next year or so.

Thanks. I appreciate that. And I also appreciate some of the kind of early overview here of 26. I don't know if it's too early to frame this in a real quantifiable way, but I guess the easy math that you've kind of laid out is you expect at least a couple hundred million benefit of cost savings You guys earlier size that the energy contract reset, I think it was 130 million. I guess correct me if I'm wrong. I guess if you think volumes are flat, is the bogey that you should have earnings up 70 million in that context if we go sideways from here? Or are there other ways that you would think about puts and takes we should be adding?

You know, one is we probably don't want to get into quantification just yet. You know, we expect a nice increase next year as we move our way towards that $1.45 million in 2027. Of course, we have to absorb that energy credit reset, energy reset. That number, as we mentioned back even in Investor Day, is about $150 million. That still remains to be, you know, very much in line with that right now. So as we look at the puts and takes of the business, kind of stable volume, we'll have gross price up against low single-digit, kind of normalizing inflation. But then we'll absorb the energy reset, as we mentioned, that mark-to-market, and then very robust, contained robust fit-to-win benefits. But we'll come back at the end of the year with quantification, but we expect a nice bump next year.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Francisco Ruiz from BNP. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I have two, if I may. The first one is on the restructuring. It's a kind of follow-up on the previous question. Out of the 13% capacity reduction that you are aiming, how much is already announced, and how much is pending apart from the from the French announcement that you made at the beginning of the year. The second question is in Latin America, more specifically in Brazil, with a very bad quarter in terms of volumes overall. Some of your competitors are increasing capacity. How do you see the area in the coming quarters? Thank you.

Yeah, Francisco, this is John. I'll touch base and cover the first one on the restructuring Craig Vaughn, Is is we if we go back to 2024 we were carrying about 13% excess capacity and that was costing us about $250 million of unabsorbed fixed costs. Craig Vaughn, We have since then announced closure of 13% of our capacity, which would ultimately get a substantially out of that fixed cost absorption. Right now, as of the end of third quarter, we have completed eight percentage points of that 13%. And as mentioned earlier, that is substantially more screwed to the Americas. We have a remaining 5% left to go, which will be done by the early part of next year. And that is going to be screwed towards Europe, including what we've announced in France. We anticipate restructuring charges this year. of around $140 to $150 million, a little bit on the high end of what we originally anticipated because we're moving faster in certain areas. But we anticipate a carryover of restructuring costs next year that it will be at or below that level. And we should be out of that exit range of that cash activity by mid-2026. So really the fundamental cash flow moving, you know, momentum going forward in the back half of the year will be better.

Yeah, Francisco, good morning. With regard to Brazil, I was actually in Brazil a couple of weeks ago and spent a week touring the market and meeting with customers. On the positive side, we're seeing very strong growth in non-alcoholic beverages, so waters and juices in Brazil. We're seeing strong growth in wine in Brazil and strong growth in spirits. where the big declines came were in beer. And I know it's easy to blame the weather, but everywhere I went, people spoke about it being probably the coldest winter in 30 years in Brazil. And that's definitely had an impact on consumption. And also people being challenged in terms of spending power and a bit of trading down. going on in beer for sure. What we are seeing is customers launching new offerings to the market. There were also some sizable price increases went into the market that impacted volumes, I think, in the short term. And then on the food side for us, we saw a decline in volume that was very largely driven by raw material shortages, you know, particularly kind of olives and that impacted our business. But the main piece around beer was largely a weather driven and some, you know, mid to high single digit pricing going in on shelf, which I think, you know, put a bit of pressure on consumption. that's starting to sort of come back. And, you know, we're obviously heading into the summer months in Brazil and would expect, you know, better volumes going forward.

Thank you very much. Yes, another question. I don't know if you have mentioned, but as you did in other quarters, can you give an idea of the current trading in October?

James Meeker- yeah yeah I would say this, we take a look at is you know, going back to a Gordon had indicated, you know we think the full year is going to be be down about 2% now. James Meeker- A consistent with that underlying consumer consumption fourth quarter is kind of playing out in that that low single digit, you know territory, so you know nothing nothing particularly new against the consumer consumption trends.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Mike Roxland from CHOIST. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thank you, Gordon, John, Chris, for taking my questions, and congrats on a strong quarter in a tough environment. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Oh, perfect. Okay, great. Just wanted to follow up on the pruning of unprofitable business. I realize you mentioned in response to an early question that in the Americas that amounted to about 1%. Can you comment on what that was in Europe? Because when I look at some of your peers, your peers had volumes that increased low single digits. Your European volumes declined 4% in three years. So I'm just wondering how much of that volume decline in Europe was you guys walking away from unprofitable business which your peers then possibly picked up versus let's say underlying consumer weakness.

Yeah, Micah, you know, as we had indicated, overall, the number, you know, the shipments were down about 3% in Europe overall. We attribute that substantially to that major project that was underway. We talked about that last quarter. You know, it was primarily in the spirits category. So that was the biggest impact. Yes, we were walking away from some business there, but I think it was more skewed towards that major project.

Yeah. And just to add a bit of color on Europe for us, Mike, you know, we kind of look at this in probably three parts. You know, Southern Europe was very strong for us, actually, and, you know, strong growth in all categories. And, you know, particularly, you know, waters, food, RTDs. You know, in Western Europe, you know, we were impacted a bit by wine, you know, with wine exports down and spirits, you know, some of the French spirits not picking up yet, you know, in terms of shipments to either the US or to China. Northern Europe was good, was strong for us across food and spirits and beer. And then, as John said, we had that commissioning, which was slower than we had anticipated. So, yeah, we're pretty happy where we are in Europe, given the context there. We're very focused on improving the profitability of the volumes we have, and we're not chasing volume just for the sake of volume. We're being very disciplined around that. As I said, there is volume out there that can destroy your margins and eat your cash, and that's not our game plan.

One thing to add, Mike, on the question about the walking away from unprofitable business, and you can see it in our revenue and earnings recs, is yes, the revenue is down as a result. But the decremental margins on the lower volumes were half of what you would normally expect. So you see us walking away from unprofitable business, and it's very visible in the bottom line performance of the business.

Got it. Great call. Really appreciate it. And just one follow-up. Just wanted to ask you about the cost spread to aluminum cans. Given where aluminum prices are today in the U.S., Where does the spread currently stand relative to the 25% you cited at your investor day? And do you think you could gain share next year if aluminum remains elevated and as aluminum hedges roll off? And I also realize it's early stages. Can you comment on how much your actions thus far have reduced the cost spread to KEDS? Thank you.

Yeah, Mike, I'll kick off with the first part of that is if you take a look at the elevated costs of aluminum right now, we would say that that has moved that cost differential, for example, in the US, which was between 25 and 30%, more into that zone where we believe that historically, you know, glass can compete well, which is, you know, 15% or lower premium to aluminum. So, It's early days, obviously, as things flush through in the system, but that's what we're seeing as far as the competitive position of the product.

Yeah. And then, Mike, as you said, you know, and I think as we said in our investor day, you know, we can't be reliant on the price of aluminum to be competitive to cans. We've got to find our own path there, you know, to 15% or less spread between cans and glass, which we are focused on. But it does give us a bit of extra time if aluminum prices rise. But, you know, we've got to get there irrespective of where aluminum is, you know, over the journey between now and 2027. Thank you. But I just suppose as a close out on that, you know, the closer we are, the more competitive we are, then the more choice our customers have. in which substrate to use and indeed, you know, consumers, you know, which one they choose on shelf, yeah.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from George Stafford from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Morning, everybody. How are you? Thanks for the details. Congratulations on the progress. Morning, George. On the decremental margin. It was a nice job this last quarter, guys. Um, three questions I'll ask them in sequence, uh, for time. First of all, if we go to slide seven and your, uh, if you will, your bridging or waterfall chart on the items that were controllable, where did you perform best and where'd you perform least? Well, relative to increasing your guidance for the year related question. I remember from last quarter. there are some operations that you were studying when and how you might be able to, um, you know, close restructure, but there was some timing factors that determined whether that would wind up remaining on the books, so to speak in terms of downtime or whether you could actually, uh, move it to non-operating and restructure and potentially have a better result. How did that play out? Is that still playing out? Is it still downtime? And then the last question, as we look to, 2026, recognizing, again, there's a lot of water that still needs to flow under the bridge. We get it. It would suggest, given that you are at least expecting good results for next year, good being defined by up earnings or up cash flow, that at least your initial commercial discussions with customers on pricing resets is going favorably. Can you talk about where that process stands earlier than normal, later than normal? any qualitative commentary would be helpful. Thank you guys and good luck in the quarter.

Yeah, I might take the last question first, George, if you don't mind. I mean, we're heading into that season. You know, as John said, we would expect sort of gross pricing to probably be up. Your, you know, capacities, you know, are are tight, but it's early days, yes. But we're focused on being very disciplined in terms of improving the profitability of the volume we have. Anything that doesn't make economic sense for us in any contract negotiations going forward, we'll We would shift that out of the business and dedicate our assets to that volume that is delivering the kind of margins and cash targets we have.

Yeah, George, and to the other questions as far as what changed in performance in the quarter and then as we look to the guidance going forward. Obviously fit to win and the cost performance is exceeding our expectations. We increased our full year guidance of that by 25 to 50Million dollars for the full year. At the same token, you'll also see that net price has been positive relative to what we thought going into the year, and that has offset some of the softer sales volumes that we have. So when we look at it, the commercial performance net of price and volume is right where we expected it overall, a little bit different componentry, but really the driver of increased performance in the quarter, expectations of fourth quarter better performance, and for the full year is largely driven by fit to win improvements. Okay? On your next question, you had asked about operations and closures and restructuring opportunities. As you may recall, last quarter we said we had announced about 10% capacity closures, and now we're at about 13%. So we, in fact, have been able to identify those additional three percentage points of capacity that, again, balances supply with demand at the end of the day and are moving towards closing those out on a permanent basis. And again, 8% of it was done at the end of the third quarter. So we were still carrying some restructuring charges. I mean, sorry, LOB or temporary downtime charges through the quarter. And we will through the end of the year. But once we get out from underneath that in the early part of next year, that'll substantially be out of the system.

John, recognizing it's the same pair of pants, it's just different pockets. Does that help the fact that you're able to close that incremental capacity help your your guided EBIT and EBITDA for the year? And if so, is there a way to quantify that? Again, thanks and good luck in the quarter.

Yeah, yeah, I think it is. And keep in mind, you know, when we talk about our fit to win numbers and benefits that, you know, $270 to $300 million this year, we are taking and accounting in for those permanent closures. And so as we do better on that and make more progress on that, that is driving, in part, the upside of the performance on the cost performance. In addition to what we call phase B, which is also doing better, which is the more accelerated total organization, TOE projects, and other cost-related things. So Fit2Win is going up because of a lot of things, but partly because of the ability to close out capacity. Now, keep in mind, the activity in Europe is is going to ship a little bit into the early part of next year from maybe our original expectations, but we've been able to pull forward some activities into the Americas. So, net-net, you know, we're able to backfill some of that time.

Very good. Great performance. Good luck, guys, in the quarter.

Thanks, George. Thanks, George.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Anthony Patinari from CT. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. This is Brian Bergmeier on for Anthony. Thanks for taking the questions. You know, just following up on maybe the volume discussion from earlier, you know, you talked about growth in non-alcoholic beer and maybe some younger consumers staying away from wine. Just maybe from a high level, you know, how would you frame kind of OI's ability to maybe capture some of these new product launches? You know, do we expect that to maybe be more of a 2027 item once you're through fit to win? Or you may be seeing some early traction with, you know, new product launches and kind of new business in 25 and 26?

Yeah, we actually are seeing customers respond to consumer softness by introducing new products. If I take a look at what we call our funnel, I would say it's up about 8% to 10% this year already. And our total MPD, so that's products that are new to the portfolio, or products that are renovated already in the portfolio, but might be value engineered or designed to look, you know, stand out on shelf, they're running at about kind of 10% of our volume. So we absolutely are seeing more NPD. And as we simplify, you know, our plants, as we make them more flexible, and as we work on the strategy of best at both, which we outlined at Investor Day, where we're able to respond more rapidly. We're also in the process of reshaping the NPD organization and ways of working, which was very, you know, I would say it was decentralized to a point where it was wasteful. We've now reshaped that and that new kind of NPD go to market organization will kick off in January and we expect to be able to slash our time to market by at least 50%. So being able to respond more quickly to customers and their marketing teams and bringing products to market. And we see growing demand for that, particularly as new consumers kind of maybe are not engaging with older brands in the same way or need for new offerings. That's absolutely a feature of Brighton in the market. And I think we've, you know, with our fit to win approach and the organization being much more agile, you know, working with customers differently and working with suppliers differently where we've been able to, you know, ramp up the speed at which, you know, at which we can get to market. And again, you know, I think that there's kind of a narrative out there that Gen Z are walking away from, you know, certain categories. And we actually see them just coming into categories in a different way. As I said, 60% of, you know, non-alcoholic new consumers are Gen Zers, you know, in many of the markets we're operating in. So there's no question, but NPD is a key part of our value shift strategy as we go forward, because typically we would have better margins for new products.

You know, building on that, I mean, even though the market's been a little soft out there, the NAB non-alcoholic beverage category in North America and Europe is up mid-single digits. And so we're seeing a bright spot in those categories. And in particular, waters in that categories have been doing very well. And we've gotten some notable wins in those categories. We're seeing people come over that. And it's interesting. You can even Google it. There's articles out there saying, you know, about how people go out to dinner and they might have had a glass of wine, but now they prefer sparkling water or something like that on their table. So it's an interesting set of dynamics that are playing through that also benefit the business.

Yeah. And I think glass. is very well placed with these younger consumers because across the world they are far more sustainability aware and have a very, very positive view on glass packaging. So we're seeing that come through in these categories as well. So they're positive trends for us.

Got it. Got it. Really appreciate all that detail. Really helpful. And then just a quick follow up, John, I think you mentioned a charge from an environmental liability during the quarter, I guess. Is that a new item? I didn't recall hearing that before, but maybe I missed it. Just any detail you can provide on that. Thanks. I'll turn it over.

Yeah, I mean, if you know, we flagged this out for the last several quarters and the 10Q, but there was a legacy, a former subsidiary that had an old paper mill that stopped operation in 1967. It's now on federal land, and there was a settlement with the federal government. So it's something 58 years old, but we did make a payment on that in the quarter. It was a little bit over $15 million as part of that $25 million plus number that I was referring to.

Thank you. We will now take our next question from Aaron Viswanathan from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on the progress as well. I guess I just wanted to go back to the volume and understand, you know, maybe some of the cushioning that you have. So I think in the past you've noted that each point of volume is maybe 7 cents in EPS, which we could potentially gross up to maybe 14 million of EBIT. And each point of production is, is 13 cents, which is maybe, I don't know, 25 million of EBIT. So, you know, I think you went into the year expecting this year was going to be flattish on volumes. You're up low to mid singles in the first half. I know you're up 4% in Q1, but, It does look like you're now maybe down one on the year or so, maybe could end up the year down two or three. So does that kind of imply that you have 40 to 50 million of EBIT cushion within fit to win benefits that's offsetting that greater than expected weakness in volumes? Maybe you can just kind of frame out how you're finding extra savings to offset the volume weakness. Thanks.

Yeah, Rune, I'll take that one. From a commercial performance standpoint, I think we're almost exactly on where we expected going into the year. Okay, so yes, you know, volumes are down, but we said about 2% for the year, and that has the cost that you referred to. But also net price has been more favorable than anticipated going into the year. Those two have generally offset each other. Okay, so when you think of the net effect, and Gordon had said in the preparer conversation, We're really trying to manage these levers between price and volume in a pretty soft environment, right? And so, you know, we're trying to find that balance that provides the best reasonable financial outcome to the business as we try to manage a stable top line. So with those two essentially offsetting each other, really the improvement in the year is fit to win. And that that's where, you know, that that's driving the upside and that's driving, you know, this is the second time now that we raise guidance for the year. And it's really driven by the momentum on the on the on what we can control.

Yeah, I'm just on that. You know, we're so sorry. Go ahead.

No, that's fine. Go ahead, Gordon.

Yeah, no. And, you know, as I said, since the outside, you know, we're we're focused on. you know, better quality revenue and not chasing what I, you know, call kind of profitless prosperity volume for volume sake. And we really are strengthening the quality of the portfolio we have and improving the returns on the portfolio we have. And you can also see that coming through in, you know, in the margin expansion. um and and obviously seeing it coming through on you know on the cash side as well and and that's going to be an ongoing feature for us right um you know really improving the the quality of the of the of the revenue we we have going forward great and then um you know given this volume performance do you think you'd have to take uh you know additional down time as you go as you go into 26 maybe you can also just update us on inventory levels and

especially related to maybe Europe and some of those wine markets and spirits and areas that you're seeing weakness. And if you do have to take that downtime, again, would you have other levers to pull on to offset those headwinds?

Thanks. You know, as far as our, you know, currently, I mean, we are balancing supply with demand, and we still are carrying some, you know, lack of business downtime. But keep in mind that we did increase our permanent capacity closures, which we anticipate to be done by early part of next year. As a result, we think that we are going to be reasonably balanced between supply and demand once that's done. and it will be substantially out of the LOB category for the business or the temporary downtime category for the business. As we look to the inventory management, I think we ended the third quarter in the low 50s, maybe 52 or 53 days. Our goal is around 50 days this year, which would be a, you know, about a 15% decrease on a year-over-year basis. You know, the softer sales volumes that we're seeing, you know, right now, you know, we may end up in the low 50 to low 50 somewhere range, but very close to the overall goal that we anticipated. Yeah.

Thanks. I think we have time for one more question.

Thank you so much. We will now take our next question from Gab Hashtag from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Gordon, John, Chris, good morning.

Hey, Gabe. How are you? I'm well, thanks.

Two questions. I guess looking at the model and just thinking about how you're describing commercially things taken out the way you wanted composition a little bit different. I know you can't necessarily dictate and manage this quarter to quarter, but price accelerating pretty heavily in the Americas and maybe, I think I might know the answer to this, but can you parse out for us maybe the intentional business moves that's flowing through on the mixed side, maybe the formulary price adjustments that are flowing through in the Americas and then intentional price that you're taking? in North America, if that makes any sense.

Yeah, Gabe, I can take a stab at that, and Gordon can build on it if he has additional comments. Our price, gross and net price, is obviously softer in the first quarter. It's better, I mean, first half of the year, and it's better in the second half of the year. What you are seeing in the Americas is is, you know, keep in mind, for example, North America, we pass through energy on a monthly or quarterly basis. And so, you know, through the PAF process, so you pick up a little bit more there. I would also say the Americas, you know, from a capacity standpoint, is probably in the mid to high 90s as far as capacity utilization. So it's a pretty tight environment in the Americas overall as a backdrop compared to Europe that is probably mid 90s to low 90s to give you just a relative comparison. But keep in mind, Europe should improve as a number of different capacity closures are completed.

And then on the portfolio piece, Gabe, we have a very clear sort of process for how we make those decisions. I think in previous calls and certainly on Investor Day, we mentioned that we have visibility now in the business right down to SKU level on what the economic profit is by SKU in effect. And I also mentioned that there's a bunch of things you can do internally to improve the economic profit of a particular product or a particular range. We take a look at those and we say, okay, we can get that done. Does that make sense for us? Even having done that, or even if we were to do that on some ranges, we would still need significant price increases from the customers and You know, some customers would say, yeah, okay, you know, the price and quality and what you give and service and so on is worth it. Some say, no, yeah, that's not for me. And then we make a view, you know, that piece goes out. Because what we find as well is those pieces of business add a lot of complexity into our supply chain. Um, you know, a lot, there's a lot of hidden costs in there as well. It can be, um, and you know, it, it, it brings complexity to the lines and, and as part of our operation strategy of, you know, best at both, um, that relies on us, you know, having, you know, less, you know, complexity, particularly on the big furnaces on the big lines. And that has been a feature of the business over the years that the, the, the lines that were built for much. longer runs ended up too complex. So we're, we're cleaning up all of that. Um, and so, you know, there, there's a very intentional process. Oh, we do do that. And we, we understand, you know, what the financial implications are for that and, you know, getting, getting that non-economic, uh, volume out of the businesses is, is good. And you can see it, you can see it coming through and then it frees up capacity. for power skews where we make a lot more money. And that really is the thinking behind it, Gabe. Got it.

Maybe that kind of feeds into my second question. Most of the capacity adjustments I think you talked about have been in the US or in the Americas. By our math, maybe half a million tons or so that's been identified in Europe. Less about the tons and closures and really I think you talked about 40% of that business that gets exported out of your European operations into some other part of the world, and it's still relatively depressed. So I guess what's enabling you to service that business that you talk about having the potential to come back with those capacity adjustments?

Yeah, you know, I think if you look at spirits largely, you know, in China, the two power markets for spirits out of Europe are the US and China. And I think, you know, what we're going through in the US with, you know, some, you know, I'll call them, you know, short term, you know, in the context of years, you know, there's... There's some pricing that consumers are coming up against. We think that's a cyclical thing. And we also think the inventory in the system will work its way out. And the US will continue to take large quantities of spirits out of Europe. And China at the moment is experiencing the same thing. where demand is suppressed there. And again, we see that working its way out over time and those markets coming back. And then you see the growth of markets like India and South Korea growing strongly. We're seeing the start of green shoots in travel retail, which is up about 3% in volume here today. But still not, you know, not back particularly on a value basis to where it was pre-COVID. So I think these are cyclical things that are going to work itself out. And, you know, we see ourselves having the capacity to match that when it comes back, yeah.

And to build on that, you know, Gabe, yes, we are closing out excess capacity to balance supply with demand. But keep in mind, our TOE, Total Organization Effectiveness Program, is intended to unlock trap capacity in the system. That will allow us to grow, and that is by far the cheapest way to get capacity within the system with great operating leverage when you enable it.

Thank you. So getting the operations a lot fitter and then sweating them a lot harder than they were in the past. Okay.

Thank you. I will now pass the conference back over to Chris for any additional remarks.

Thank you. That concludes our earnings call. Please note our year-end and fourth quarter call is currently scheduled for Wednesday, February 11, 2026. And remember, make it a memorable moment by choosing safe, sustainable glass. Thank you. Thank you.

That concludes the OIGlass third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line.