STERIS plc

Good day and welcome to the Starris PLC First Quarter 2026 Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on a touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Julie Winter, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Alan, and good morning, everyone. Speaking on today's call will be Mike Tukich, our Senior Vice President and CFO, and Dan Crestio, our President and CEO. Thank you. I have a few words of caution before we open for comments from management. This webcast contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today. Any redistribution, retransmission, or rebroadcast of this call without the express written consent of Starris is strictly prohibited. Some of the statements made during this review are or may be considered forward-looking statements. Many important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, those risk factors described in Starris' securities filings. The company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments. Starris' SEC filings are available through the company and on our website. In addition, on today's call, non-gap financial measures, including adjusted earnings per diluted share, adjusted operating income, constant currency organic revenue growth, and pre-cash flow will be used. Additional information regarding these measures, including definitions, is available in our release, as well as reconciliations between gap and non-gap financial measures. Non-gap financial measures are presented during this call with the intent of providing greater transparency to supplemental financial information used by management and the board of directors in their financial analysis and operational decision making. With those questions, I will hand the call over to Mike.

Thank you, Julian. Good morning, everyone. It is once again my pleasure to be with you this morning to review the highlights of our first quarter performance from continuing operations. For the first quarter, total, as reported, revenue grew 9%. Constant currency organic revenue grew 8% in the quarter, driven by volume, as well as 230 basis points of price. Gross margin for the quarter increased 20 basis points compared with prior year to 45.3%. Positive price and productivity outpaced inflation and tariff costs. Keep it margin increased 50 basis points to .8% of revenue, compared with the first quarter of last year, due to the improvement in gross margin and operating expense leverage. The adjusted effective tax rate in the quarter was 23.5%. The -over-year increase was driven primarily by geographic mix and changes in discrete item adjustments. Net income from continuing operations in the quarter was $231.2 million. Adjusted earnings per diluted share from continuing operations was $2.34, a 15% improvement compared to the prior year. Capital expenditures for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 totaled $94 million and appreciation and amortization totaled $119 million. We continued to pay down debt during the quarter, ending with $1.9 billion in total debt. Gross debt to EBITDA at quarter end was 1.2 times. Pre-cash flow for the first quarter of fiscal 2026 was $327 million, a very strong start to the fiscal year, driven by an increase in earnings and improvements in working capital. Last week, we announced our 20th consecutive year of dividend increases, with a 10% increase to $0.63 per quarter as we continue to prioritize consistent dividend growth. Before I close, I'm sure that you all read last night's release regarding our CFO transition. I want to take a moment to thank all of you for your continued support over the last 17 years, actually 18 years if you count the time I served as interim CFO. The company has grown significantly during that time in terms of revenue and profitability. Being able to provide not only financial leadership, but also to provide strategic oversight throughout this significant period of growth has been a tremendous honor and accomplishment for me. Steris is on solid financial footing and has a proven financial team in place, which makes now the right time to transition the CFO position to Karen. Karen and I have worked together for the past 20 years at Steris, and we have been working behind the scenes for many years preparing her for this role. I am confident in not only her financial ability, but also her leadership capability to lead this great company into the future. I will be around for a while as a special financial advisor and look forward to supporting a smooth transition. With that, I will now turn the call over to Dan for his remarks.