Cengage Learning Holdings II, Inc.

Greetings. Welcome to the Cengage Group's second quarter fiscal year 2026 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 2026 second quarter 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 and the earnings materials contains forward looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements can be identified by words such as believe, expect, intend, may, could, should, will, estimate likely or 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. Forward-looking statements relate to the future and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict, and many of which are outside of our control. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Many factors could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. 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 in the risk factors section of our fiscal 2025 annual report for the year ended March 31st, 2025, as may be updated by our quarterly reports for the fiscal year 2026. Any forward-looking statement made during this discussion or in the earnings materials is based on currently available information and speaks only as of the date of this discussion and the date of the earnings materials. The company disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, 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 measure are provided in the legal disclaimer and 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 second quarter and first half details before we open the call for questions.

Michael? Thank you, Richard, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter results for fiscal year 26 demonstrate strong digital acceleration in our core business, partially offset by cyclical market factors in the K-12 and English language learning markets. Overall, our financial performance through Q2 shows adjusted cash revenue down slightly by 2% year-over-year at $872 million and adjusted cash EBITDA down 8%. Our U.S. higher ed business is performing strongly. First half U.S. higher ed adjusted cash revenue was up 4% year-over-year, driven by continued digital growth of 7%. Our work segment is thriving. Fueled by Ed2Go, where first half adjusted cash revenue was up a robust 28%, demonstrating the power of our education for employment mission. We will continue to invest in this business to capture accelerating demand for workforce skills, including investment into relevant courses, non-English language courses, improved pipeline conversion, distribution channels, outcomes data, and skills verification to drive growth, and help people meet their career aspirations. The headwinds impacting our overall results were primarily in our school and English language learning segments. Both faced a low adoption year and funding restrictions, as well as political climate challenges. Despite this low adoption year, we continue to position the business for success for the upcoming large adoption year supported by the updated Big Ideas Learning Partnership, and investments in go-to-market content and technology. We remain focused on sustainable growth. Our strategy is clear and built on a belief that trusted content is considered table stakes and value is shifting to workflow tools, outcomes data, and skills verification. In this context, I will highlight three major initiatives we are currently driving. We are anchoring generative AI in our curated pedagogy-based content. Our student assistant 2.0 is live in over 100 products, and the instructor assistant is on track for a January 2026 release. Second, we are transforming our school business with the launch of our new unified digital platform, Xplore, which is scheduled for release in January. The new digital teaching and learning experience will consolidate our solutions and embed AI to meet key customer criteria. This is a core part of our strategy to transform the school business into a largely digital business. Finally, we are continuing to invest in Cengage work by driving higher demand conversion and preparing for the implementation of Workforce PAL in July of 2026. In closing, We are continuing to execute on our education for employment mission and have a powerful portfolio of digital platform businesses that will deliver robust growth in both top and bottom line. I will now hand the call over to our CFO, Dean Chelsley, who will provide a more detailed review of our Q2 financial performance.