Ranpak Holdings Corp.

Thank you for your patience. The RAMPAC Holdings third quarter 2023 earnings call will begin in approximately one minute. Hello and welcome to the RANPAC Holdings third quarter 2023 earnings call. My name is Lauren and I'll be coordinating your call today. There'll be an opportunity for questions at the end of the presentation. If you would like to ask a question, then please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. I will now hand you over to your host, Sarah Hobarth, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary to begin. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that we will discuss forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed in our press release and the risk factors identified in our Form 10-K and our other filings filed with the SEC. Some of the statements and responses to your questions in this conference call may include forward-looking statements that are subject to future events and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these statements. RAMPAC assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any such forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, all of which speak to the company only as of today. The earnings release we issued this morning and the presentation for today's call are posted on the investor relations section of our website. A copy of the release has been included in a Form 8-K that we submitted to the SEC before this call. We will also make a replay of this conference call available via webcast on the company website. For financial information that is presented on a non-GAAP basis, we have included reconciliations to the comparable GAAP information. Please refer to the table and slide presentation accompanying today's earnings release. Lastly, we'll be filing our 10-Q with the SEC for the period ending September 30th 2023. The 10Q will be available through the SEC or on the Investor Relations section of our website. With me today, I have Omar Asili, our Chairman and CEO, and Bill Drew, our CFO. Omar will summarize our third quarter results and provide commentary on the operating landscape, and Bill will provide additional detail on the financial results before we open up the call for questions. With that, I'll turn the call over to Omar.

Thank you, Sarah, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate you all joining us today. Our overall third quarter financial results demonstrate continued improvement from the start of the year as we saw an increase in volumes, sales, and continued expansion in our gross margin profile in the quarter. The team has done a nice job executing on our initiatives this year and have proven resilient in a continued challenging operating environment. Volumes in the quarter were up 5% over the prior year as activity levels improved somewhat, but remained choppy from one month to the next. I am pleased to have the positive performance year over year, but I'm really focused on getting back to consistent higher growth and better execution. Generally speaking, the macro backdrop remains uncertain. Consumers' purchase of discretionary goods remains pressured by the preference for experiences and travel as a percent of wallet share. and consumer spend is increasingly impacted by inflationary pressures and the higher rate environment. Large account activity continues to move down the path of increased volumes in PPS and a meaningful step up in automation in 2024. So we really like how we are positioned going into next year. We expect the inroads we have made will support and improve 2024 from a volume perspective and validate the improvements that we have made in our business over the past number of years. North America sales were up 4.5% in the quarter versus last year, driven by a mix of higher average selling price products, and which were partially offset by a small decline in volumes in PPS. Similar to the first two quarters, I would characterize activity levels in the region as decent, but have remained at a fairly muted level since the start of the year. Manufacturing activity remains in contraction territory as businesses contend with greater uncertainty, and higher cost of capital impacting investing activity while at the same time dealing with tight labor markets and high operating costs. Our outlook for e-commerce activity in the immediate term remains pressured due to lower consumer spending levels on discretionary goods as consumer confidence levels drop to a four-month low in September amid concerns about higher prices and a possible recession. Medium-term trends are more favorable as consumers' plans to boost their online purchases continue to ramp and the preference for sustainable packaging continues to grow. Just as we are doing, many companies continue to tightly manage their inventory in this higher cost of capital environment with lower end market demand trends. The overall message on the landscape is consistent from what you heard from us in Q1 and Q2. I don't have a clear catalyst for general sell-through to pick up. but I'm pleased with the commitments we are receiving from larger players as they roll out plans for next year to transition from plastic to paper. That shift is occurring in North America, and we are pleased to be at the forefront. Sales in Europe and Asia Pacific were up 20 basis points for the quarter on a constant currency basis. I'm pleased to share volumes were up double digits in the region year over year, but this volume growth was offset by the price decrease we provided to our customers in certain regions after we reached our targeted margin levels. Generally speaking, activity levels in the region continue to be weighed on by the slower overall economic environment in Europe and Asia. Manufacturing in Europe remains in contraction territory and services have turned lower, as well due to economic malaise and monetary tightening taking place in response to inflationary pressures. Higher borrowing costs for businesses and consumers continue to impact spending and investment habits across the region. Asia is mixed with places like Australia, Japan, and New Zealand doing well, China doing okay, and South Korea struggling due to weaker electronic shipments. Similar to last quarter, the volume environment remains inconsistent with some solid months, which can be followed by a month with lackluster performance. In Q3, July and August were both pretty strong relative to last year, but we saw a step back in September as activity levels pulled back, particularly in North America, given the economic uncertainty which took its toll on the consumer. We expect the fourth quarter to be similarly choppy, but with an uptick in volumes due to seasonality and continued margin improvement. Input costs continue to be favorable overall, and we saw the continued improvement in gross margin in North America that we expected. We continue to aggressively manage headcount and new projects to keep a lid on our spend profile. Ads currently are really only in absolutely critical areas and those that we need to fulfill what we believe will be upcoming demand in 2024. The company as a whole is focused on cash flow generation and productivity initiatives to improve our profile and extract maximum value out of the investments we made. Now with that, let me turn it over to Bill for some financial detail.