Valmont Industries, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to Valmont Industries, Inc.'s second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the presentation. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one brief follow-up question and return to the queue. If anyone should 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 Avner Applbaum, President and Chief Executive Officer, John Schwietz, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Eric Johnson, Chief Accounting Officer. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our second 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 investor 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, we delivered a strong second quarter that reflects the dedication of the global Valmont team and the execution of our strategy. Net sales increased 6.5%, adjusted operating margins expanded 130 basis points, and adjusted earnings per share grew 25.8%. Based on this performance, we are raising our full-year sales and earnings outlook. Infrastructure delivered another high-quality quarter, led by 34% growth in North America utility and 17% growth in coatings. Commercial execution, pricing discipline, and ongoing investments in capacity and throughput continue to translate durable customer demand into profitable growth. Agriculture also performed well, despite challenging market conditions. While sales remained under pressure, disciplined pricing and cost management drove another quarter of operating margin improvement demonstrating the resilience of the business through this cycle. Overall, our results demonstrate that the investments we are making, the operational improvements we're implementing, and our capital allocation strategy are driving stronger financial performance and positioning the business for sustainable, profitable growth. Turning to slide five. The quarter we just delivered is a good example of how these value drivers are translating into stronger financial performance. We're investing where we see the greatest opportunities to create value, especially in utility, where capacity expansion and throughput improvements are supporting profitable growth. Across the rest of the portfolio, we're focused on improving commercial execution and operational performance to enhance returns through the cycle. At the same time, our approach to capital allocation ensures we're investing behind our highest return opportunities while maintaining financial flexibility to create long-term shareholder value. These value drivers are embedded in how we operate the business every day, and you'll hear examples of each as we walk through our markets and financial results. Turning to slide six, I'd like to review the current market environment and how our infrastructure businesses are performing within it, beginning with North America Utility. The favorable outlook for our business is being driven by a robust market environment. Demand continues to be supported by investment in grid modernization, power demand, data centers, and electrification. Our conversations with customers reinforce that this is the early stages of a multi-year investment cycle. We are focused on delivering value through differentiated customer support, industry-leading innovation, and continued improvements in system throughput. North America Coatings is benefiting from the same infrastructure investments driving our utility business. With one of the industry's largest galvanizing networks, we improve the durability, Thank you for joining us today. In North America telecom, customer investment activity has moderated as carrier take a more selective approach to capital spending following the peak of the 5G deployment cycle. We expect these conditions to persist through the balance of 2026. Our strategy is designed to strengthen performance across a portfolio, and telecom is a good example of that in action. Even with lower sales, we've maintained strong profitability Through commercial execution, operational improvements, and disciplined cost management. Over time, we remain confident that increasing data consumption, spectrum deployment, and the need to expand network capacity will support future investment in wireless infrastructure. Turning to international, we continue to leverage our local manufacturing footprint, engineering expertise, and long-standing customer relationships to participate in infrastructure investment across our global markets. We're also executing on our strategic initiative to strengthen these businesses. While it is still early in the process, we're encouraged by the progress we're seeing and expect these initiatives to continue supporting improved performance through the balance of the year. Turning to slide seven, global agriculture market conditions remain challenged. In North America, tighter farm economics remain a constraint on capital spending and are contributing to cautious grower sentiment. In Brazil, the recently announced government crop plan reduced financing rate for irrigation equipment, although overall funding allocated to irrigation is below last year's level. We are managing the business with discipline and remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of the Brazilian market. In the Middle East, the primary business impacts are timing delays of certain customer projects as a result of the ongoing conflict in the region. While the underlying dynamics differ across regions, we expect the overall operating environment for agriculture to persist through the balance of the year. We are managing the business with discipline while investing in higher value opportunities, including aftermarket and technology solutions that enhance grower productivity. That strategy is strengthening the quality and resilience of the business with aftermarket parts sales growing approximately 6% and technology services increasing 7% in the second quarter, despite softer equipment demand. I'll now turn the call over to John to review our second quarter financial results and updated 2026 outlook.