Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 30, 2024 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

David Doft – CFO
Eric I. Lisman – EVP of Corporate Development
Hervé Sedky – CEO and President

Conference Call Participants

Barton Crockett - Rosenblatt Securities
Derek Greenberg - Maxim Group

Eric I. Lisman

Before we begin, let me remind everyone that this call will include certain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This includes remarks about future expectations, beliefs, estimates, plans, and prospects. In particular, the company's statements about projected results for 2024 are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. For a discussion of these risks, uncertainties and other factors, please refer to the company's SEC filings, including its most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q as well as the company's earnings release, all of which can be found on the company's Investor Relations website. The company does not undertake any duty to update such forward-looking statements.

Additionally, during today's call, management will discuss non-GAAP measures, which it believes can be useful in evaluating the company's performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures can be found in the company's earnings release, which is available on the company's Investor Relations website. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, and the replay of this call will be available on the Investors section of the company's website.

Hervé Sedky

Thank you, Eric and good morning, everyone. This is Hervé Sedky. It's good to be with you and to discuss our third quarter results. I'll start with a brief review of our performance and then give an overview of our strategy. David Doft, our CFO, will then provide more detail on our financials.

We've spoken often about the concept of portfolio optimization here at Emerald. And today, I want to fill you in on some of the more aggressive steps that we're taking to position the company for better growth and profitability in the future, which had near-term implications on our expected 2024 results. In addition, although we're seeing strong and broad-based year-over-year pacing growth into the first half of 2025, we do not expect our performance in the second half of 2024 to meet expectations. As a result, we're reducing our previously communicated expectations for full year 2024. This update is primarily driven by two factors. First, a proactive decision to optimize our portfolio mix and second, certain macroeconomic and operational impacts on our Content business.