Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Maple Leaf Foods' third quarter 2025 financial results conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being webcast and recorded. Please note that there will be a question and answer session following the formal remarks. Instructions for participating in the Q&A will be provided following the conclusion of the formal presentation. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Omar Javid, Vice President of Investor Relations at Maple Leaf Foods. Please go ahead, Mr. Javid.

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that some statements made on today's call may constitute forward-looking information, and our future results may differ materially from what we discuss. Please refer to our third quarter 2025 MD&A and financial statements and other information on our website for a broader description of operations and risk factors that could affect the company's performance. We've also updated our third quarter investor presentation to our website. As always, the investor relations team will be available after the call for any follow-up questions you may have. With that, I'll turn the call over to our president and CEO, Curtis Frank.

Thank you, Omar, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be with you today to share our third quarter 2025 results. Joining me on today's call is David Smales, our chief financial officer. I'll first speak about the business developments from a strategic and operational standpoint, then Dave will provide a more detailed summary of our financial results, and I'll return with a short summary to close out our call here this morning. This quarter marks a historic moment for Maple Leaf Foods. On October 1st, we completed the spinoff of our pork operations into Canada Packers, one of the most significant portfolio transformations in our company's history. Canada Packers is now an independent public company focused on delivering premium, responsibly produced pork to the world. Maple Leaf Foods now operates as a purpose-driven, protein-focused and brand-led consumer packaged goods company with a bold vision to be the most sustainable protein company on earth. We will maintain a strategic relationship with Canada Packers through a 16% ownership stake and an evergreen supply agreement will ensure long-term security of high-quality, sustainably raised pork supply. Before diving into our business commentary, I want to take a moment to acknowledge and to thank the entire Maple Leaf and Canada Packers teams who have executed with focus and resilience during this period of intense business transformation. I'm incredibly proud and grateful for their dedication, passion, and living expression of our Maple Leaf values. We also wish the Canada Packers team continued success as they prepare to host their first earnings call as an independent public company a little later this morning at 9.30 a.m. A transaction such as this naturally introduces some additional complexity to our financial reporting for this particular quarter. The third quarter represents the final period in which Maple Leaf Foods will report total company results for our pre-spinoff combined business. that are inclusive of the pork operations. Accordingly, David and I will speak to the total company results, which include Canada Packers, as well as to the continuing operations of the CPG business, which exclude Canada Packers. Additionally, we have provided pro forma financials for Maple Leaf Foods going back eight quarters to support comparability and transparency as we transition to our new reporting structure. Given the increase in financial reporting materials, our goal is to keep the key messages clear, simple and focused on what matters the most. To that effect, four headlines serve as our key takeaways from our quarter. First, we delivered another very strong quarter of results for the total company, highlighted by exceptional top line growth and significantly improved profitability year over year. Second, our year-to-date total company performance through the end of Q3 was firmly on a run rate to deliver in line with our previously announced full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance of $680 million to $700 million. Third, the composition of these results inside the quarter played out a little differently than we had anticipated, given a rapid and sustained increase in raw material markets. This dynamic benefited profitability in our pork operations, while driving input cost inflation and short-term margin pressure in our CPG business. And finally, we remain on strategy, and we are tracking well against our priorities for the year. Underscoring the strength of the quarter was total company sales growth of 8%, and adjusted EBITDA increasing 22% to $171 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 140 basis points to 12.6% as compared to 11.2% last year. Our continuing operations also delivered solid results with 8% sales growth and 110 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion to 11.1%. We continue to view our 8% revenue growth, more than 2x the CPG market growth rate in Canada, and 3x the CPG market growth rate in the US as an exceptional outcome that underscores the resiliency and the durability of our proven growth strategies. This momentum also drove market share gains in prepared meats, plant protein and poultry, led by double digit growth in our prime poultry sustainable meats brand. That said, while we delivered year-over-year margin expansion from an EBITDA perspective in our continuing operations, we also experienced short-term margin pressure on a sequential basis, driven by the rapid and sustained increase in raw material markets that I noted earlier. During the quarter, when compared to Q2, key inputs such as pork trims increased by over 70% in a very short period of time. It is quite normal in these periods of rapid inflation to experience temporary margin compression due to the lag time in flowing through price increases to recover costs. These situations are common in CPG and we know how to respond effectively. In response, we are taking decisive actions to mitigate these effects and to improve profitability looking forward. Firstly, To address the input cost inflation, we have initiated pass-through price increases in the CPG business. Given the timing of these inflationary impacts and the extended lead times required by retailer policies for all CPG companies during the holiday season, these price increases will fully materialize in the first quarter of 2026. Second, with the spinoff now complete, we are advancing the next phase of our Fuel for Growth initiative. Last week, we announced a second wave of SG&A reductions designed to streamline operations, enhance cost discipline, and align resources with our strategic blueprint. These changes are now being implemented across several areas of the business, including manufacturing, and will result in a leaner organizational structure and further cost efficiencies in 2026. And third, with the separation of Canada packers, our previous natural hedge against rapid fluctuations in pork markets is no longer available. As you know, all CPG food companies experience some degree of quarter-to-quarter margin movement, the driver of which is simply normal lag times in executing pricing action, which can vary at certain times of the year and in certain market segments. Going forward, we believe we will have to modify the tools we use in an effort to reduce that quarter-to-quarter movement as much as possible. Our continued success as a purpose-driven, protein-focused, and brand-led CPG company will depend on the disciplined execution of our proven growth strategies. These include investing in our portfolio of leading brands such as Maple Leaf Schneiders, Greenfield, and Maple Leaf Prime, to grow the core business, leveraging our leadership in sustainable meats, expanding our geographic reach into the U.S. market, plugging what makes Maple Leaf unique into our customer strategies, and accelerating the pace of impactful innovation. On the innovation front, this was an especially exciting quarter as we once again demonstrated our capability to shape the next generation of Maple Leaf brands and products. We were very pleased to announce the launch of two meaningful new brands, Mighty Protein and Moussaphir. Mighty Protein positions Maple Leaf to leverage the growing protein moment that is upon us, offering healthy, high-protein fuel on the go. Consumers are seeking lean, nutrient-dense, complete protein in convenient formats, and that is exactly what Mighty Protein delivers. It is a poultry-based, high-protein meat stick providing 12 grams of complete protein per serving with only 110 calories. It is gluten-free, sugar-free, and made with poultry that is raised without antibiotics or added hormones. Mighty Protein will be available in three distinct flavors across major mass retail, online, and convenience channels. Mustafir, which means traveler, expands our presence in the frozen food section of the grocery store with South Asian-inspired protein-forward dishes designed for today's busy households. South Asians represent Canada's largest and fastest-growing demographic, and millennials and Gen Z are driving escalating demand for global flavors and convenient meal options. Moussafir offers a variety of globally-inspired flavors in familiar formats and ready-to-eat meals, including vegetarian and poultry-based options such as burgers, nuggets, and savory bites, all prepared with traditional ingredients. Together, Mighty Protein and Musafir demonstrate the strength of our innovation engine and the momentum behind our CPG growth strategy. As we said last quarter, we are not only brand builders, we are brand creators. Greenfield and MENA have proven this approach, and Mighty Protein and Musafir represent the next step in that journey. These new brands, alongside over 50 products that we have launched this year, exemplify our commitment to translating consumer insights, disciplined execution, and our unique capabilities into compelling growth platforms for the future. With the historic transaction complete and a strong financial and strategic foundation in place, our focus now turns fully to the future. While our previous consolidated 2025 guidance no longer applies following the completion of the spinoff, our 2025 priorities are clear and remain unchanged. We are focused on delivering strong revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth, generating healthy free cash flow, and using it to strengthen the balance sheet. We are not providing updated guidance for the remainder of the year, as that would imply quarterly guidance. However, we do plan to update our long-term guidance framework in the months ahead. As a diversified protein CPG company, armed with a bold vision to be the most sustainable protein company on Earth and supported by thousands of passionate Maple Leaf people, we have never been better positioned to take on the future. Leading in protein, one of the most attractive segments of the global food market, which continues to grow at approximately two times the rate of population growth, provides us with tremendous strategic opportunity. As we look ahead, we are ready to capitalize on this growing consumer demand for protein. We operate in a large and expanding total addressable market, and our strong portfolio of leading protein brands is our advantage. We've established proven revenue growth platforms Our margin expansion program is well underway, and we remain differentiated by our bold vision and our clear focus on shareholder value creation. It's an exciting time at Maple Leaf Foods. With that, I will now pass the call over to Dave to walk you through the financials.