Valmont Industries, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to Valmont Industries' first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one brief follow-up question and return to the queue. Should anyone require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Renee Campbell, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets and Risk. Ms. Campbell, you may begin.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Abner Applebaum, President and Chief Executive Officer, John Schweitz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Eric Johnson, Chief Accounting Officer. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our first quarter 2026 results. Both the release and the presentation for today's webcast are available on the Investors page of our website at valmont.com. A replay of the webcast will be available later this morning. To stay updated with Valmont's latest news releases and information, please sign up for email alerts on our Investors site. We'll begin today's call with prepared remarks and then open it up for questions. Please note that this call is subject to our disclosure on forward-looking statements, which is outlined on slide two of the presentation and will be read in full after Q&A. With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Avner.

Thank you, Renee. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Turning to slide four, I'll start with a few key messages for the quarter. First, we delivered a strong start to the year with sales growth, record first quarter earnings per share, and progress against our strategic priorities. This reflects our discipline and focused execution across the business. We remain committed to serving customers, managing what we can control, and advancing our value drivers. Our performance reflects the execution of our strategy. We're prioritizing high-value offerings, strengthening our core businesses, and improving operational performance. Our strategy is anchored in markets with durable demand drivers, most notably utility, while continuing to improve the quality and resiliency of our earnings. Second, infrastructure is performing well, supported by a growing demand for energy. This includes the need to expand the electrical grid to support data centers and the need to replace aging assets. Our capacity expansion plans are on track, and these actions are driving improvements in throughput and overall operational performance as reflected in the 27% sales growth in North America utility. Third, in agriculture, we were able to grow in North America year over year due to favorable pricing. I also want to recognize our teams in Middle East who continue to navigate a very challenging environment. The safety and well-being of our employees remain our top priority. We are focused on supporting them as they manage through the ongoing situation. We appreciate their commitment to one another and to our customers during this time. Turning to slide five for a review of our current market dynamics, starting with North America utility. Our customers are implementing multi-year increases in capital spending, driving strong demand in utility infrastructure. U.S. utilities are planning roughly $1.4 trillion of investment through 2030, up meaningfully from prior expectations driven by load growth, grid modernization, and increasingly data center demand. This environment supports our growth outlook and the capacity expansions we have underway. Industry supply remains constrained with extended lead times and favorable pricing and margins. North America Coatings is also capturing growth from infrastructure activity and increasing exposure to data center construction. Our galvanizing services play a critical role in protecting and extending the life of steel structures. In North America lighting and transportation, market conditions remain mixed. In lighting, demand continues to be impacted by softer housing activity and commercial development. In transportation, the market is supported by stable infrastructure spending. From an operational standpoint, we have made progress, but we are not yet where we want to be in terms of consistency. Our priority is improving performance to deliver reliably for our customers. Turning to international infrastructure, market conditions across Europe and Asia Pacific remain soft but stable. We are advancing commercial discipline and improving operational performance. Turning to slide six, agriculture markets are navigating a dynamic environment as we begin the year. In North America, grower sentiment remains cautious, reflecting tighter farm economics supported by USDA data. Seasonal order patterns have been more muted with no meaningful acceleration in the spring selling season. Taken together, Current indicators, including input costs and overall farmer profitability, suggest the market will remain under pressure in the near term. International markets are seeing variability in demand. Ongoing challenges in the Middle East, including logistic constraints and reduced operating capacity, are impacting activity and the pace of execution. At the onset of the conflict, our Dubai facility operated at a minimal level prioritizing employee safety in alignment with local government guidance. The plant has currently paused operations until conditions stabilize. We have mitigated some of this impact through our global manufacturing footprint, leveraging other facilities to support demand in the region. Long-term demand is supported by investment in food security and water infrastructure. In Brazil, tight credit availability and delays in government-backed financing continue to weigh on near-term demand. Over the longer term, Brazil remains an attractive growth market supported by favorable agronomics, multiple crop cycles, and compelling returns on irrigation equipment. We continue to advance our priorities in technology and aftermarket, positioning agriculture to perform through the cycle. Turning to slide seven, I'd now like to welcome and introduce John Schweitz as Valmont's Chief Financial Officer. John has been with Valmont for more than 16 years with leadership roles across both our infrastructure and agriculture segments. He brings deep knowledge of the business and a strong track record of financial discipline and execution. John leads with integrity and accountability. brings a passion for serving our customers, and is deeply committed to continuous improvement and delivering results. This is a seamless transition as our strategy, value drivers, and capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. We're confident in John's leadership as we continue to build on our momentum. I'll now turn the call over to John to review our first quarter financial results and updated 2026 outlook.