Ranpak Holdings Corp.

Thank you for standing by. My name is John and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the RANPAC Holdings second quarter 2024 earnings call. All lives have been placed on me to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, skip to press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Sarah Horvath, General Counsel. 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 at 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. Assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any such forward looking statement. 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 your 10-Q with the SEC for the period ending June 30th, 2024. The 10-Q 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 second 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 second quarter financial results built on the momentum of the past three quarters and delivered mid-single-digit top-line growth with improved profitability driven by our fourth quarter in a row of higher volumes. Growth this quarter was largely driven by North America's strategic account activity as the plastic-to-paper shift takes hold, as well as strength in Asia Pacific. Overall, our start to the year is in line with the expectations, and we are pleased with our steady improvement in the face of a somewhat continued challenging economic backdrop. North America sales increased 17% in the quarter versus last year, driven by improved void fill activity, particularly with strategic accounts. The underlying macro remains choppy with industrials under pressure and discretionary goods activity remaining out of favor, particularly as housing activity is muted. That being said, we have not been sitting idly by waiting for the general environment to recover. we have been focused on self-help in terms of winning new large accounts and becoming more efficient. And this is what drove the excellent results in North America in the second quarter. The plastic-to-paper shift transition that began in April drove a substantial portion of the volume growth in North America as our strategic account activity ramped up throughout the quarter. We are pleased to see some of the public announcements regarding the plastic-to-paper shift that have been made by key players in the e-commerce space and expect this to be the beginning of a sizable movement towards paper-based solutions. We are excited to see the public validation by marquee names of the equal or better product protection efficacy paper provides versus air pillows, as well as the positive feedback from consumers and employees who handle the materials. We applaud the efforts taking place to reduce the amount of plastic in supply chains and the positive impact it will have on the environment and key stakeholders. Europe and Asia Pacific activity levels in the second quarter were less robust than North America, with volumes increasing a little over 3%, but constant currency sales down about 1% overall versus the prior year, driven by pricing headwinds, which we will begin to lap in August. Slower activity levels in the region were mainly driven by the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Consumer confidence in the region has been improving since the end of the third quarter, but it's still well below pre-COVID levels. Geographically speaking, we have seen strength in Brazil, France, and the Netherlands, while Poland and Germany remain weaker. In Asia Pacific, Japan has been a meaningful driver of growth. The input cost environment was in line with the first quarter and provided a slight benefit to us year over year, although the mix of lower cushioning and higher void fill resulted in slightly lower gross margins. We're expecting to see some input cost increases begin to flow through the second half of the year as some producers in North America react to tighter supply and demand dynamics and increases in the RISI index. In Europe, Activity is more mixed with some producers raising price while others are focused on obtaining more volume through more attractive pricing. Overall, we expect some input cost pressure in the second half of the year, which we will look to offset in order to maintain our 37 to 38% target margin profile for the year. Energy pricing in Europe remains favorable as storage levels in the region are above the five-year average. but we do expect some volatility as we approach fall and winter season, and geopolitical headlines may move the markets. We're working with our vendors to lock in their energy pricing where possible to minimize exposure and gain visibility into forward pricing. At this point in the cycle, the inventory levels in the channel are tight, with distributors and end users trying to minimize the amount of inventory carried due to increased carrying costs. If prices begin to rise, you could see some of this tightness reverse as customers will look to protect themselves from increases. With that, let me turn the call over to Bill for some financial detail.