Cengage Learning Holdings II, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to the Cengage Group's fourth quarter and full year 2025 year-end conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. 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, Richard Weiss. Sir, you may begin.

Good morning, and welcome to Cengage Group's fiscal 2025 fourth quarter and full year investor update. Joining me on the call are Michael Hansen, Chief Executive Officer, and Dean Tilsley, Chief Financial Officer. A copy of the slide presentation for today's call has been posted to the company's website at CengageGroup.com forward slash investors. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as believe, expect, may, will, estimate, likely, and similar words, and are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance, and relate to future results and events, and they are based on Cengage Group's current expectations and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict, and many of which are outside of our control. Many factors could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statement. You should consider such factors, many of which are subject to the risks and uncertainties discussed in the slide presentation, which accompanies this call and the risk factors section of our fiscal 2024 annual report for the year ended March 31st, 2024, as may be updated by our quarterly reports for the fiscal year 2025. The company's fiscal 2025 annual report will be posted shortly. Any forward-looking statement made in this presentation is based on currently available information. The company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law. On today's call and in our slide presentation, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and the rationale for using these measures and reconciliations of each to its most directly comparable GAAP Financial measures are provided in the appendix to the slide presentation. I'll now turn the call over to Michael for an update on the business, followed by Dean, who will take you through the fourth quarter and full year details before we open the call for questions.

Michael? Thank you, Richard. Good morning, everyone, and thank you all for joining us today. I am pleased to report that Cengage Group delivered a fourth consecutive year of growth with adjusted cash revenue up 1% as reported and up 2% on an underlying basis. Adjusted cash EBITDA is up 15%, resulting in a strong EBITDA margin of 34%. These results reflect the continued execution of our strategy, the strength of our diversified portfolio, and our commitment to operational excellence. Let me walk you through the performance of our business units. Our Cengage Academic business grew adjusted cash revenue by 2% versus the prior year. Within Cengage Academic, the U.S. higher ed business continued to accelerate revenue growth with its adjusted cash revenue up 7% year over year. A key driver of this growth is the continued expansion of our institutional offerings. Institutional revenues now account for 51% of our fiscal year 25 higher ed revenues, underscoring the strength of our Cengage Unlimited institutional and inclusive access models. The growth in institutional sales is improving the financial profile of our higher ed business. We are seeing higher sell-through rate, improved retention, better unit economics, and greater predictability. Our Cengage work business continues to be a standout performer, with adjusted cash revenue up 14%. This growth is fueled by EPS2Go, which delivered its 11th consecutive quarter of high double-digit growth, ending the year with a 23% increase in adjusted cash revenue year over year. we are also seeing rapid margin expansion in this segment, positioning us well for continued success. Adjusted cash revenue for Cengage Select were down 6% versus the prior year, largely due to the expiration of a large government contract in the Middle East. Excluding this contract impact, Cengage Select revenues were down 2%. Importantly, We've seen a significant shift to digital by ELT customers where ELT digital's net sales rose from 37% in fiscal 24 to 64% in fiscal 25. This transition is creating a higher sell-through opportunity, stronger retention, and greater stickiness with our customers. This spring, we made great slides in the application of generative AI, which we see as a significant opportunity to drive future revenue growth and margin expansion. In April, we announced the expanded availability of our GenAI-powered Student Assistant. This fall, over 1 million students will have access to this tool embedded within our MindTap platform. Student Assistant supports students by guiding them through the learning process with tailored, just-in-time feedback, helping them understand concepts and apply their knowledge, rather than simply providing answers. We also introduced a new AI-powered faculty insight dashboard, launching this fall. Built on anonymized, real-time interactions from student assistants, this dashboard gives instructors class-level, actionable insights to support students, track learning patterns, and enhance engagement. It helps faculty look beyond grades to understand how students study, where they struggle, and what support they need, enabling more personalized and effective instruction. This is the beginning of our significant push to give faculty the AI tools they need to augment instruction and improve learner outcomes. In our Gale business, we're launching an AI-powered Lexile Leveler, This tool allows teachers to adjust reading levels of Gale-authored content on demand. In user testing, 94% rated the output as very good or good, and 100% said they would use it in their classrooms. And we are proud to see our school business featured in a recent NPR story, highlighting how DeKalb County, Alabama dramatically improved student math performance using Big Ideas Learning, a Cengage partner. Alabama is now the only state in the Union where fourth-grade math scores are higher than they were pre-pandemic, a testament to the impact of our learning materials. As part of our growth strategy, we are always looking for strategic investments that expand our offerings in key markets. VisibleBody, which we acquired during the second half of fiscal 2025, is on course for a successful integration in our existing portfolio. With VisibleBody, we bring augmented and mixed reality experiences to our global higher education and K-12 science customers. Customer acceptance has been extremely positive. With the new U.S. Administration and Congress, our dedicated policy task force has been closely monitoring the various education-related executive orders and policies introduced in the past five months for potential impacts to our businesses. Importantly, the inclusion of workforce power in the recent budget reconciliation bill could create new opportunity for both our work and higher ed business. We will continue to monitor developments closely and we believe that we are well positioned to address the impact on our business and take advantage of emerging opportunities. Looking ahead to fiscal year 26, our focus remains on delivering for our customers. maintaining cost discipline, and driving operational efficiency to deliver another year of revenue and EBITDA growth. Thank you for your continued support. I will now hand it over to our CFO, Dean Telsley, who will walk us through the financials in more detail.