Post Holdings, Inc.

Welcome to the Post Holdings Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 2 so others can hear your questions clearly We ask that you pick up your handset for best sound quality. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to turn the call over to Daniel O'Rourke, investor relations for Post. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Post's fourth quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. I'm joined this morning by Rob Vitale, our president and CEO. Jeff Zadix, our COO, and Matt Maynor, our CFO and treasurer. Rob, Jeff, and Matt will make prepared remarks, and afterwards, we'll answer your questions. The press release that supports these remarks is posted on both the investors and the SEC filings portions of our website, and it's also available on the SEC's website. As a reminder, this call is being recorded, and an audio replay will be available on our website at postholdings.com. Before we continue, I would like to remind you that this call will contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties that should be carefully considered by investors, as actual results could differ materially from these statements. These forward-looking statements are current as of the date of this call, and management undertakes no obligation to update these statements. This call will discuss certain non-GAAP measures. For a reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the nearest GAAP measure, see our press release issued yesterday and posted on our website. With that, I will turn the call over to Rob.

Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. We finished fiscal 24 with a strong fourth quarter and are proud of the results for the full year. The last two years have seen a step change in adjusted EBITDA, growing by 45%. Roughly half of this resulted from organic growth and half from the pet acquisition's contribution. In addition, we converted this growth into strong free cash flow, generating approximately $1 billion over the past two years. In FY24, pricing caught up to input costs. We made continued improvement in our manufacturing supply chains and sustained a remarkable start for our pet business at over 2x our acquisition case. Meanwhile, our diversified portfolio price points and value-added product offerings continue to provide volume offsets to a challenging consumer backdrop. We are now in an attractive position to return to algorithmic growth with a high degree of optionality provided by our capital structure. Between the profit growth and cash flow generation I highlighted, we have reduced net leverage by more than a full turn over the last two years. In FY25, we expect a more normalized operating environment. Inflation has leveled but has not receded. Consumers, and therefore volumes, remain under pressure. We believe the degree of category declines we experience in FY24 will ebb, with the recent serial category performance as a good reference point. From a capital allocation standpoint, we continue to evaluate M&A opportunities. And while I have lately described our pipeline as very deep, we remain extremely disciplined with respect to valuation. If the right opportunity, fairly priced, presents itself, we're well positioned to react. Meanwhile, competitive uses of capital are always available. Sometimes overlooked is the option value created by the refinancings we executed in FY24. They added significant runway to our maturity ladder and increased liquidity, providing for more opportunities for aggressive capital allocation. Finally, I would like to thank all our employees for a very successful 2024. The strength of our operating model, our diverse product offering, and our exceptional management team continue to give me a great deal of confidence in our 2025 plan. And lastly, before turning over to Jeff, I want to congratulate Matt on his promotion that we announced in yesterday's press release. Jeff.