Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Rainier Advanced Materials First Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. During today's presentation, all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions with instructions to follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Mr. Mickey Walsh, Treasurer and Vice President of Investor Relations for Rainier Advanced Materials. Thank you, Mr. Walsh. You may begin.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. Welcome again to Rainier Advanced Materials' first quarter 2020 earnings conference call and webcast. Joining me on today's call are Paul Boynton, our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Marcus Moeltner, our Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance, and Frank Ruperto, our Executive Vice President of High Purity and High Yield Cellulose Businesses. Our earnings release presentation materials were issued last evening and are available on our website at rainieram.com. I'd like to remind you that in today's presentation, we will include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities laws. Our earnings release, as well as our filings with the SEC, list some of the factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we may make. They are also referenced on slide two of our presentation material. Today's presentation will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures as noted on slide three of our presentation. We believe non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information for management and investors, but non-GAAP measures should not be considered an alternative to GAAP measures. A reconciliation of these measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included on slides 16 through 20 of our presentation. I will now turn the call over to Paul.

Hey, thanks, Mickey, and good morning. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted everyone's lives. It has changed the way we work, the way we operate our plants and our offices, and the way we interact with our customers and strategic partners. And while many aspects of our business have changed, we remain essential for our customers and for the products they produce. including products going into food, pharmaceuticals, and a variety of important industrial use applications. We will continue to serve our customers with the best products and security of supply while maintaining the utmost focus on the safety of our employees. As a cultural cornerstone of our company, safety has always been paramount at our facilities. COVID-19 has brought on new safety challenges that I'm proud to say the team has met head on. We've been monitoring the outbreak of the virus from very early in the year, and in January, we started daily conference calls to understand its implications and ways to mitigate its impact. We established a COVID-19 task force staffed with key leaders across the organization to set guidelines and create protocols for employees to operate during the crisis. Key actions including requiring all office support functions to work remotely as possible were put in place. In our operations, where employees don't have the option to work remotely, we installed physical barriers, moved interface equipment where possible, implemented strict practices of social distancing, and established other safety protocols, including wearing additional PPE, limiting outside contractors and visitors from entering our sites, and enhancing our sanitation practices. I am very proud of the way our employees have stepped up to ensure both the safe operations and quality production for our customers. We're fortunate to say that none of our 21 manufacturing sites, R&D centers and office locations have been directly impacted. However, we recognize the ongoing risk. and therefore we will maintain these practices well beyond requirements to do so otherwise. On the financial front, we were already reducing costs and driving improved cash flow through lower capital expenditures and working capital improvements before the pandemic. Last month, we announced curtailed production at our lumber and newsprint facilities to minimize losses. We are well positioned with $145 million of liquidity. However, given the uncertain future, we have been in discussions with our lead banks to ensure that we have the flexibility to manage through the impact of the pandemic. While we have challenges ahead, first quarter results were positive when compared to a prior year result. As expected, we started to see good momentum across most of our businesses As noted on slide five, we delivered $27 million of EBITDA in the quarter on $410 million of sales, a $17 million EBITDA improvement from prior year. Results were driven significantly by improved operational reliability and lower cost, primarily in our high-curity cellulose and paperboard businesses. Additionally, we benefited from positive pricing momentum in forest products. High-yield pulp prices rebounded from the fourth quarter lows, while new sprint prices remained challenged. Typically, our first quarter cash flows are lower due to seasonal working capital requirements. But with significant focus, we were able to improve free cash flow by $35 million from prior year with improved operations and reduced capital expenses. Now I'm going to ask Marcus to review the first quarter results. and then I will share details of our corporate governance changes and provide market assessment before opening up the call to questions. Marcus?