Smurfit WestRock PLC

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Smurfit Westrock 2024 Q3 results webcast and conference call. At this time all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session you'll need to press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ciaran Potts, Smurfett Westrock Group VP, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Sarah. As a reminder, statements in today's earnings release and presentation and the comments made by management during this call may be considered forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the factors identified in the earnings release and in our SEC filings. The company undertakes no obligation to revise any forward-looking statements. Today's remarks also refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measures are included in today's earnings release and in the appendix to the presentation, which are available at investors.smurfitwestrock.com. In order to accommodate all those who want to ask questions, we ask that participants limit themselves to two questions during Q&A, And should you require any clarifications on what we are discussing today, myself and Frank will make ourselves available after the call. I will now hand you over to Tony Smurfit, CEO, Smurfit Westrock.

Thank you, Ciaran, and good morning or good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to join us today. As you will have seen from this morning's release, which is the first reporting period for Smurfit Westrock, I think it's fair to say we reported an excellent third quarter performance with adjusted EBITDA of 1.265 billion and a margin of 16.5%. Since combining our two companies on July 5th, which is a little over 100 days ago, we have made great progress in bringing these two companies together. And I think the results demonstrate that we are building a strong foundation for the continued development and success of Smurfit Westrock. I want to emphasize the enthusiasm and resolve I have seen across Smurfit Westrock to deliver on the combined potential. And I fully anticipate, as time progresses, this will be absolutely apparent. When combining Smurfit, Kappa, and Westrock, we were very clear on the kind of company that we could create. We were going to create the global leader in sustainable packaging. And with the applications that we have and the knowledge we have of the industry, we would be able to deliver the most value-adding and innovative packaging across the industry. We will be able to leverage all our applications and knowledge across a broader geographic reach and across an unparalleled product diversity. We felt very confident that we could deliver improved operating efficiency and drive excellence for our customers. We also felt that in legacy Smurfit Kappa, we had developed a tremendous culture, which we could bring to the new Smurfit Westrock. A culture that is performance driven, teamwork orientated with accountability for results and a deep desire to perform and deliver for all stakeholders. And we also felt that our capital allocation approach, which is the foundation for the success of legacy Smurfit Kappa in creating value for shareholders would be a fundamental pillar for success in Smurfit Westrock. After the first 100 plus days, we have even more confidence as we enter the next phase of our journey. It is interesting after such a short period of time to see what we have identified in the new Smurfit Westrock, which is nothing short of compelling. Across our world, across our industries, we have excellent, strong, and defendable market positions. What I have been so impressed with is the level of experience and knowledge at the operational level of legacy Westrock. For sure, we've seen many opportunities for growth and cost reduction. We've also been able to identify a much sharper customer focus where value over volume will be a philosophy to be adhered to. Additionally, all designers, all product innovations, all supply chain knowledge has a much larger pool of customers. This will take time as we develop the systems, but it is an immense opportunity for growth and for customers to attain unique, bespoke packaging to help reduce their costs and increase their sales. And finally, but by no means least, Across the spectrum of businesses in the combination, a renewed focus on quality and service and right first time through productivity initiatives, through further footprint initiatives will deliver higher operating efficiency and customer retention. So that's all good and well, but what have we done so far? I'm very proud of what we've accomplished to date. The new leadership teams across Smurfit Westrock organization are now in place. and all are aligned around the culture and the way forward for the business. We have already put over 80 legacy Westrock managers through a short INSEAD program, and a further 80 will soon commence the program. 400 legacy Smurfit Kappa managers have already completed this development course. As many of you will note, there have been multiple plant visits occurred with over 85% of the legacy Westrock paper system already visited, along with many converting facilities across all regions. We like what we see, and we have generally very well invested asset base. We've introduced a much sharper commercial focus, whereby we are not going to use expensive machines to run loss-making products. This is an anathema to us, and also not good business for our customers. And of course, on a step-by-step basis, we are identifying operational efficiencies reducing SG&A, reducing the use of external consultants, and taking the hard decisions on the reduction in headcount, again, on a step-by-step basis, whereby recently we've eliminated some 800 positions. Sometimes you have to look back to see how far you've come. In this case, you can see that neither legacy organizations have been standing still. Over the last 22 months, nearly 30 consumer and corrugated facilities have closed. as well as three paper mills who have also closed, and four paper mills have been divested. This has radically improved the operational footprint of the combination. In a company of this size, there will always be a continued need to look at different operations based upon operating efficiency and market positioning. But over the last period of time, the combination has radically improved as a result of these closures. Significant cost savings have been achieved, and of course, This allows for us to better allocate capital and resources in the future. We know we've done a lot, with a lot more still to do, but we've developed a very strong foundation and platform for growth and development. I'll now pass you over to Ken, who will take you through the financial performance, and I'll wrap up at the end.