Sigma Foods SAB

Good day everyone, and welcome to Alpha's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session with instructions given at that time. As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. Now, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Hernan Lozano, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Lozano, you may begin.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Alpha's first quarter earnings conference call. Further details about our financial results can be found in our press release, which was distributed yesterday afternoon, together with a summarized presentation. that during this call we will share forward-looking information and statements, which are based on variables and assumptions that are uncertain at this time. It is my pleasure to participate in today's call together with Eduardo Escalante, Alpha's CFO, and Roberto Olivares, Sigma's CFO. I will now turn the call over to Eduardo.

Thank you, Hernan, and hello, everyone. We're delighted to see this year a start on strong footing, highlighted by the double-digit growth of Alpha's first quarter EBITDA and both of our business units reporting higher volumes. Beginning with Alpec, volume growth was mainly driven by its polyester segment, which benefited from incremental PTA exports and slide demand improvement. In the face of expected market challenges, ALPEC 1,024 comparable levy debt of $154 million is tracking in line with this four-year guidance. Since early 2023, ALPEC has been implementing a comprehensive plan to deliver over $75 million in annual savings as it navigates industry headwinds. The company has achieved most of its targeted cost efficiencies, capturing approximately 80% to date, which is ahead of plan. Additionally, Alpec continues to see a slight sequential improvement in Asian reference polyester margins, supported by an early science of capacity rationalization. Alpec is prioritizing free cash flow generation, Capital allocation has been adjusted to lower capex versus the prior year and temporarily hold dividends to its shareholders. The year-to-date increase in net debt was due to investment in networking capital as feedstock prices and volume rose. The company is closely following to reducing its net leverage ratio of 3.7 times towards 2.5 times by year end. I will now turn the call over to Roberto Olivares, Sigma's CFO, to let him discuss the company's first quarter and progress on strategic initiatives. Please, Roberto.