Xylem Inc.

Welcome to Xylem's fourth quarter and full year 2024 results conference call. All participants will be in a 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 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Keith Buettner, Vice President of Investor Relations and FP&A. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator. Good morning, everyone. and welcome to Xylem's fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. With me today are Chief Executive Officer Matthew Pine and Chief Financial Officer Bill Grogan. They will provide their perspective on Xylem's fourth quarter and full year 2024 results and discuss the first quarter and full year 2025 outlook. Following our prepared remarks, we will address questions related to the information covered on the call. I'll ask that you please keep to one question and a follow-up and then return to the queue. As a reminder, this call and our webcast are accompanied by slide presentation available in the investor section of our website. A replay of today's call will be available until midnight, February 18th, and will be available for playback via the investor section of our website under the heading investor events. Please turn to slide two. We will make some forward-looking statements on today's call. including references to future events or developments that we anticipate will or may occur in the future. These statements are subject to future risks and uncertainties, such as those factors described in Xylem's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in subsequent reports filed with the SEC. Please note, the company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, and actual events or results could differ materially from those anticipated. Please turn to slide three. We have provided you with a summary of key performance metrics, including both GAAP and non-GAAP metrics, with references to the prior year segment metrics being made on a comparative basis, reflecting the change in segments as of the beginning of the year. For the purposes of today's call, all references will be on an organic and or adjusted basis unless otherwise indicated. and non-GAAP financials have been reconciled for you and are included in the appendix section of the presentation. Now, please turn to slide four, and I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Matthew Pine. Thank you, Keith.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The results we released earlier today reflect a strong fourth quarter finish to a record-breaking 2024. In a year of transition and significant transformation for Xylem, the team served our customers and communities with discipline, and delivered on our commitments, and the results show their impact. Full-year revenue, EBITDA margins, and EPS all set new benchmarks for us. Revenue grew 6%, we expanded EBITDA margins 170 basis points, and EPS was up double digits for the year. The team's operating discipline was apparent across all segments, and the integration of Avoqua is delivering cost synergies significantly faster than expected. In a moment, I'll ask Bill to drill down on the fourth quarter, but the headline numbers reflect a big finish to a big year. The team executed well on resilient underlying demand, with all segments delivering Q4 orders growth of mid-single digits or better. That has given us great pace coming into the new year. We anticipate demand will continue to be healthy overall through 2025, despite uncertain dynamics in a few end markets and regions. The team is doing a great job managing what we can control and is committed to the transformation of Xylem we began in 2024, enabling us to improve focus, increase our speed, and drive accountable execution. The transformation is behind our 8K filing last week, which follows through on our discussion at Investor Day, when we indicated our intent to simplify Xylem's operating model. We're moving from a matrix to a structure with a single axis, our segments. The plan streamlines our organization, which will strengthen our competitive positioning, enable us to better serve our customers. We've also taken several targeted capital deployment actions since our last earnings call, all aimed at optimizing our portfolio for growth and profitability. In December, we increased our stake in ADRECA to a majority ownership and management control of the technology platform at the heart of Xylem View, which is a strategic growth priority for us as utilities continue to digitize. We also acquired a few tuck-ins to enhance our offerings in water solutions and services and water infrastructure. Finally, just last month, we signed a definitive agreement to divest a non-core business that came with the acquisition of Avoqua and represents about 1% of revenue. As our 2024 performance indicates, transforming our operating model has energized the enterprise, and that's reflected in the 2025 guidance we issued earlier today, which is in line with delivering the long-term framework we committed to last May. Before we go into more detail on that full-year outlook, I'm going to ask Bill to unpack the team's fourth quarter performance which provides the foundation for our momentum into 2025. Bill?