Maple Leaf Foods Inc.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Maple Leaf Foods' second quarter 2026 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 Javed, Vice President of Investor Relations at Maple Leaf Foods.

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 second quarter 2026 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 uploaded our second quarter 2026 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. Okay, thank you, Omar, and good morning, everyone.

Joining me today is our Chief Financial Officer, David Smales. I'll begin our call this morning with the key messages from the quarter, provide a strategic and operational update on and share some context for how we see the balance of the year playing out. Dave will then review the financial results and balance sheet in more detail. And I will return after his remarks to offer a few closing thoughts before we open the line for your questions. The headline today is straightforward. The planned execution continues to strengthen our business and we delivered another solid quarter. We grew revenue for the seventh consecutive quarter expanded adjusted EBITDA margin by 40 basis points to 13.4%, and increased adjusted EBITDA by approximately 5%. Revenue growth moderated this past quarter to 1.6%, primarily reflecting a temporary volume response to pricing in prepared foods and the roll-off of certain lower margin private label volumes. As we expected, pricing actions resulted in a near-term volume response, which is normal, for CPG food categories, and we expect will normalize as the year progresses. Importantly strong poultry growth, improved mix, and the full quarter benefit of pricing helped offset lower prepared foods volumes. Within prepared foods, sales declined 2%, but profitability improved. The next phase of our Fuel for Growth program, focused on operational excellence across our manufacturing network, is continuing to deliver the benefits we expected, and our protein snacking innovation platform continues to gain traction, led by Mighty Protein and Greenfield Protein Kits, with distribution gains in Canada, the U.S., and into new channels such as gas and convenience. As a result, pricing, operating efficiencies, and favorable mix more than offset lower volumes and input cost inflation, leading to improved profitability in prepared foods. In poultry, sales increased 7.1%, supported by volume growth, improved channel mix, and favorable pricing. Demand for value-added and sustainable poultry remained resilient, Maple Leaf Prime continued to gain market share, and London Poultry continues to be supportive of improved mix and future growth. We were pleased that both prepared foods and poultry contributed to earnings growth in Q2, where adjusted EBITDA was approximately 137 million, up nearly 5% year-over-year, and our adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 40 basis points to 13.4%, driven by stronger operating efficiency and better mix across our portfolio. These results demonstrate the continued strengthening of our focused CPG business, and the benefits of improved efficiency across our modern manufacturing and supply chain network. But to summarize where we are at through the first half of 2026, revenue has now increased approximately 4% to nearly 2 billion. Adjusted EBITDA has increased more than 5% to approximately 260 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin has expanded to more than 13%. and we have continued to execute against our disciplined capital allocation priorities, returning $78 million to shareholders through our quarterly dividend, which has increased by 10.5% and share repurchases under our NCIB. Our first half performance keeps us on track to deliver our full year 2026 outlook, which we are reaffirming today as we continue to expect mid single digit revenue growth for the year adjusted EBITDA in the range of 520 to 540 million, maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet while sustaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation, and capital investment of approximately 160 to 180 million for the full year with spending weighted toward the second half and focused on maintenance, productivity, technology, and automation. But turning to our second half, while we do not provide quarterly guidance, I would like to once again provide some context with respect to how we see the balance of the year playing out. First and foremost, our focus remains on executing our strategic blueprint. Our experienced team is focused on advancing our proven growth strategies and delivering on our productivity playbook, which is active across the business. Food inflation naturally remains an area of active management focus, and others. We have responded through pricing and or trade program adjustments, promotional optimization, and continued discipline in managing our own costs. While these actions have created a temporary volume response, which is again quite normal in CPG, we do expect trends to normalize as the year progresses. I would also remind you of the seasonality patterns of the New Maple Leaf Foods business following the spinoff of Canada Packers. While revenue is typically lowest in the first quarter and then remains relatively consistent through the balance of the year, raw material input costs are often higher in the second half. This can create some variability in margins from quarter to quarter, as we've seen in recent years, particularly in the third quarter. We view this as normal phasing, and it does not change our full year expectations. And finally, as we look ahead, our confidence in delivering our full year outlook is supported by several clear and tangible drivers. Continued strength in poultry, improving volume and revenue trends in prepared foods as pricing effects moderate, growing distribution and velocity across our innovation platform, accelerating sustainable meats growth in the U.S., relaunching the Eves brand in Canada, and delivering continued operating efficiency through our Fuel for Growth and Operational Excellence programs. The fundamentals of the business remain strong, and our priorities are clear. With that, I will now turn it over to Dave to walk through the financial results in a bit more detail. David?