Pyxus Intl Inc New

Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Pixis International Fiscal Year 2021 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. If anyone should require assistance during the conference, please press the star zero on your touchtone pad at any time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would like to introduce your host for today's conference call, Joel Thomas, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Thomas, you may begin your conference.

Thank you, Kathy. With me this evening is Peter Sickle, our president and CEO. Before we begin discussing our financial results, I would like to cover a few points. You may hear statements during the course of this call that express a belief, expectation, or intention, as well as those that are not historical fact. These statements are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events and results to differ materially. from these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in detail, along with other risks and uncertainties in our filings with the SEC, including our much recent Form 10-K. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements made on this conference call to reflect any change in management's expectations or any change in assumptions or circumstances on which these statements are based. Including our call today may be discussion of non-GAAP financial measurements, including earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, commonly referred to as EBPA, and adjusted EBPA, that are not measures of results of operations under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States and should not be considered as an alternative to U.S. GAAP measurements. The table, including a reconciliation of and other disclosures regarding these non-GAAP financial measures, is available on our website at www.pixis.com. Note that in connection with the emergence from Chapter 11 cases, PIX is qualified for fresh start reporting, as detailed in our Form 10Q and 10K reports filed with the SEC. And due to the application of fresh start reporting, the pre-emergence and post-emergence periods are not comparable. Any replay, rebroadcast, transcript, or other reproduction of this conference call, other than the replay as provided by Pixis, has not been authorized and is strictly prohibited. Investors should be aware that any unauthorized reproduction of this conference call may not be an accurate reflection of its contents. Now I'll hand the call over to Peter.

Thank you, John. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us this evening. In what was an unprecedented and challenging year, I'm proud of how our company adapted to constant change as we navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. We appreciate the continued support from all of our stakeholders in these extraordinary circumstances. In particular, on behalf of the Board of Directors and our leadership team, I would like to thank the entire Texas global team for their hard work and unwavering commitment to the company and the communities in which we operate. Just over three years ago, we announced our transformation strategy, which was intended to guide the next 150 years of our company. Our goal was to leverage our strengths in agronomy, sustainability and traceability to enter different categories with high potential for positive returns. Unfortunately, early last year, our business was impacted by several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, smaller than expected crop sizes in Africa, trade and regulation challenges, and evolving market dynamics. The result of those events, we implemented multiple operational and financial restructurings and process changes that allowed our business to not only continue to operate through fiscal 21, but position us for success in fiscal 22 and beyond. We adjusted the structure and footprint of our tobacco operations to better align with that of our customers and implemented a cost reduction strategy. We also made the strategic decision to exit our cash flow negative Canadian cannabis businesses. The divestiture of these businesses will provide us with more flexibility to utilize working capital for anticipated opportunities in the tobacco and e-liquid industries. Through these actions and countless others, we have substantially reduced our debt and costs throughout our supply chain. Without question, we're starting off fiscal 22 as a different company than we were 12 months ago. We have a stronger capital structure that is positioning us for long-term success. The reduction of our debt has had a positive impact on our customer relationships as customers are engaging us in conversations about long-term projects that previously were not on the table, thus supporting our objective to grow our market share in the tobacco category. In addition, we have streamlined the focus of our business, resulting in a leaner worldwide operational footprint that is more in sync with tobacco trends globally. We're working smarter, leveraging technology, new processes, and learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic to be more efficient and effective with fewer resources. The safety of our employees continues to be a high priority for our business as rates of COVID vaccination vary worldwide. and we are continuing to adapt our operations to minimize the potential spread of COVID and reduce operational risks. In the e-liquid industry, the FDA recently published a list of pre-market tobacco product applications, the MTA, that were submitted by the September 9, 2020, deadline. While the regulation and enforcement activities in the e-liquids industry are continuing to mature, We await our PMTA approval notifications and look forward to post-PMTA market opportunities. Despite the changes we've made this year, we continue to hold true to our same purpose and values. Sustainability and traceability remain core to how we operate. We've not lost sight of those critical areas throughout the year. In particular, we are continuing to explore ways in which we can help farmers improve yields of their non-tobacco crops as part of our overarching goal to improve farmer livelihoods in a sustainable manner. As the tobacco industry continues to look for ways to reduce supply chain complexity, responsible crop production remains a high priority, and we're proud of our leadership in agronomy, sustainability, and traceability. We're excited to share more information about our enhanced ESG strategy, which supports our ability to deliver on our expected results for fiscal 22. As we progress through the first quarter of fiscal 22, leaf volumes and customer demand appear to be normalizing to pre-COVID-19 level. Our fiscal year end 21 uncommitted inventory was well positioned at its lowest point since fiscal 2016. In addition, some of the COVID-19 pandemic-related shipping delays of leaf tobacco were resolved in the first quarter, but the remainder are expected to be resolved by the end of the fiscal year. We're expecting Crystal 2022 sales to be between $1.65 and $1.8 billion. SG&A expense to be between $140 and $145 million, excluding non-recurring items and potential changes in foreign currency exchange rates. And adjusted EBITDA to be between $150 and $170 million. Based on expected first quarter results, we're optimistic about fiscal 22. With that, I'll turn it over to Joel to provide a financial update. Joel.