Bausch + Lomb Corporation

Good morning and welcome to Bausch & Lomb's second quarter 2024 earnings 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 one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to George Gatkowski, Vice President of Investor Relations and Business Insights. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our second quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference call. Participating on today's call are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Brent Saunders, and Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Sam Aldasuki. In addition to this live webcast, a copy of today's live presentation and a replay of this conference call will be available on our website under the Investor Relations section. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that our presentation today contains forward-looking information. We would ask that you take a moment to read the forward-looking legend at the beginning of our presentation as it contains important information. This presentation contains non-GAAP financial measures and ratios. For more information about these measures and ratios, please refer to slide 1 of the presentation. Non-GAAP reconciliations can be found in the appendix to the presentation posted on our website. The financial guidance in this presentation is effective as of today only. It is our policy to generally not update guidance until the following quarter unless required by law and not to update or affirm guidance other than through broadly disseminated public disclosure. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to Brent.

Thank you, George, and thank you, everyone, for joining today's call. I hope you're enjoying this summer. I'm going to provide a high-level overview of another successful quarter of execution. Sam will do a deeper dive on our performance And I'll close with my favorite part, highlighting the innovations that will help separate us from the pack and keep us on a path to sustainable long-term profitable growth. There's no change to our three areas of focus and there won't be. This is our formula for success. Our constant currency revenue growth progression over the past year has been remarkable. 8% in Q3, 2023, 19% in Q4 2023, 20% in Q1 2024, and 20% in the second quarter. What makes it more impressive is our growth continues to come from all businesses and geographies. We're not a one trick pony beholden to a certain product or category. And we continue to refine what we're selling and where. SKU rationalization is an ongoing process that will pay dividends slowly but surely. Something that's undoubtedly helping fuel that consistent revenue growth is our relentless focus on selling and operational excellence. We're talking about building those capabilities, but we have now hit a point where it feels like a cultural norm within our walls. Colleagues around the world know that our success is inextricably linked to how we make or source our products, and get them in the hands of eye care professionals, patients, and consumers. They also know that selling and operational excellence is a long game, and if you're not continuously improving, you're falling behind. Look no further than the second quarter milestones as proof of our ongoing commitment to innovation. In May, Health Canada approved the Invista Envy intraocular lens, the first premium IOL on the Invista platform and another meaningful step towards being a significant player in the high-margin premium IOL space. In June, we launched Blink Nutri-Tears, a clinically proven nutritional supplement for dry eyes. And just one week later, we announced the U.S. introduction of Bausch & Lomb infused for astigmatism, daily disposable contact lenses. Three innovative products across three distinct businesses announced over 12 days. When it comes to being an innovation company, we're walking the walk and doing so with urgency and purpose. The roadmap slide, a mainstay in our earnings presentations, has been given a facelift to coincide with our move into phase two, innovate and execute. That's not to say parts of phase one won't continue, but the majority of our focus is on the five elements of phase two. These include new product launches with a flurry of activity expected in the second half of the year and into 2025. Sales execution is another critical component which we continue to heavily invest in. A prime example is Glymphs, a new proprietary digital sales platform that uses AI and machine learning to provide tailor-made guidance for engaging eye care professionals. We recently trained the US pharma sales force on Glymphs to ensure they're bringing the right message to the right doctor at the right time, and early results are encouraging. Investing in innovation means investing in our people. I mentioned a steady stream of impressive new hires last quarter, which has accelerated. We recently fielded our first colleague engagement survey since 2022, and the results buoyed our belief that we're on the right path. Buying from leadership teams is one thing. Buy-in from 13,000 people around the world is what drives results. The last item I'd flag is the least flashy, driving operational efficiencies and margin expansion. One leads to another, and we're leaving no stone unturned as we streamline operations to improve the bottom line. A prime example is our Tampa manufacturing site successfully rolling out a secondary packaging process for my boat. that can be completed in a few shifts as opposed to roughly six days at our contract manufacturing. At the risk of stealing Sam's thunder, I'll cover a few of the financial highlights. It's a good problem to have when you feel like you're repeating yourself each quarter. Once again, impressive year-over-year constant currency revenue growth was driven by our holistic strength. Look no further than our business segment performance. with 9% constant currency revenue growth for surgical, 11% for vision care, and 61% for pharmaceuticals. Absent Zydra revenue, pharmaceuticals still exceeded expectations with 16% organic revenue growth. Key franchises across our business continue to drive that growth. Three takeaways from the list of products shown. It's a global mix, prescription, OTC, contact lens, and surgical products are represented, and we've made clear our intention to invest in each of these products given opportunities for future growth. I'll now turn it over to Sam, who will provide additional context.