Monster Beverage Aktie

Thank you, everybody. Welcome. Welcome to the next session. For this session, I'm thrilled to welcome for the first time the Monster Beverage Corporation to the conference. With us today from Monster are -- sorry, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman, Hilton Schlosberg; Chief Executive Officer of EMEA and Oceania South Pacific, Guy Carling; and President of Asia PAC, Philippe Wothke.

So thank you guys for joining us. Before we start, we're going to have Mark Astrachan from Investor Relations address the safe harbor statement.

All right. Great. So before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this conversation may constitute forward-looking statements. Management cautions that these statements are based on its current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

Please refer to the company's filings with the SEC for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainties that may affect its performance.

Very good. Thank you, Mark. Okay. With that, let's dive in. And I guess, Hilton, thanks again, thanks again for doing this. I think it's been evident to everybody who's observed Monster for a long time, but especially coming into this year, that just exceptionally strong growth, exceptionally strong growth, lots of both category momentum, but also company-specific momentum, not only in the U.S. but globally. I guess for everybody, including those less familiar with the story, I guess, what do you think are the key pillars of that growth story today? And is there anything that investors you think under appreciate, that would be interesting to hear.

Sure. Before we start, I'd just like to talk about the category generally the size of the category because we always try and talk about the opportunities. And this is from global data. But the energy drink category in the U.S. is estimated to be about 26.9 billion. And globally, you talk about 89.4 billion.

So that's a percentage of 31%. That's the energy drink category in the U.S. relative to the global market. If we look at it internationally, we've got Guy here from EMEA and OSP. And you're talking about the energy drink category as a percentage of NARTD, which is a Non-Alcoholic Ready-To-Drink business.

You've got in EMEA, you've got 13%. In LatAm, you've got 8%. And in APAC, you've got 9%. And in the U.S., we're talking about a percentage of 19%. So -- what's interesting is as we look forward and as we address the consumer, which is something that we're very passionate about and that we focus on, we can see that there are opportunities not only in the U.S., but also very much internationally.

The group today is in 160 countries worldwide, and it's something that we're, again, very passionate about. The percentage of sales in the last quarter on international was actually 45%, which is a very significant number relative to other consumer goods industries.

So we're growing and we're expanding internationally. And I believe we've got the organization to be able to equip and deal with the growth. So one of the pillars that's very key to us, as I mentioned earlier, is the consumer. And the consumer has a really an insatiable need for energy.

They're always looking for energy. They need energy, and we are supplying that energy. So against that factor, we are an image-related brand that serves a real function to a consumer. And as the pricing mechanisms in the market have taken place since COVID, we're actually very favorably and economically priced relative to ready-to-drink coffees from coffee houses and in fact, CSDs as well.

So you put all that together, you've got a category that's driven by need with an image that consumers aspire to. And we've got distribution through the Coca-Cola system, which is probably the best distribution system in the world and great relationships with the Coca-Cola bottlers and also with the Coca-Cola Company, and we could talk about that maybe later at this time.

So all in all, you have a consumer that's motivated to buy the product that we're giving, I believe, the product at the right price. And overall, we have a range of different products today and different offerings from the mainstream offerings to Monster through our strategic brands, some of the brands we acquired from the Coca-Cola Company at the time we did the deal in 2015, the redirection of restructuring of interest. We have that. And we also have our affordable brands, which are really geared towards those countries where the consumers cannot afford a Monster drink, and we've tailor-made our affordable brands to service that market.

And the affordable brands are now in about 39 countries in the world. So they're growing as well as the market develops. So I really believe we're in our infancy. There's a lot of runway for us. And we're doing what we can to continue to achieve growth. We had great growth in the first quarter. As those of you who read the first quarterly statement saw all regions were in double-digit growth.

Some regions like Guy was in, I don't know, multi times that, which is something we're really proud of because the category in EMEA is a lot older than the category in the U.S. So maybe Guy can talk about -- a little bit about that and get his sentiments on what he sees as the opportunities in the business and the pillars that are important to our consumers.

Thank you, Hilton. The category is older in EMEA, not across the board, but has been around for longer. But I think what's exciting about the category is it continues to evolve structurally from a consumer perspective. And essentially, energy drinks have become a an everyday beverage.

There's a strong value proposition, the strong brand equity, there's functionality and there's innovation across zero sugar and sugar energy drinks. And what is taking energy into a multi-occasion, multi-daypart kind of beverage.

So we see energy drinks increasingly consumed across all the dayparts, but also by consumers in multi-dayparts, so not just one time of day. Across occasions, the basic I need energy, but also from relaxing at home, energy is now 30% of consumers drink it as a treat, as well as for sport, as well as on the go, as well as the kind of generic pick-me-up.

So across the piece, the category has just broadened its kind of profile. And that means it's able to recruit consumers, both male and female across all age groups. And I think in EMEA at the moment, we've got 30% of consumers coming into the category on an annual basis. So it's a huge amount of recruitment into the category.

But then I think the product offerings enable the kind of relevance of the products to people's daily lives, enable people to stay in the category and then ultimately increase their consumption. So through the offerings, we're seeing 20% of energy consumers are buying more energy than they were a year ago.

So there's more consumers buying more and staying in the category through dayparts and through the age group. So it's there.

Very good. And Philippe, let's talk a little bit about your region as well because it's the region with significant per capita headroom where affordable energy is really laying the groundwork for what I think can be very explosive category growth and development. How are you positioning the business against those opportunities? And how you frame the opportunities?

Okay. And you're very right. If we look at South Asia, Southeast Asia, East China, you have more than 4 billion people in that part of the world. It's half of the world's population which is living over there and the category is underdeveloped, okay? Hilton talking about the U.S., Guy about Europe.

In the U.S., the per capita consumption is 54. In Europe, it's 38. On average in Asia, it's 12, okay? So it's just showing we have half of the population, which is only drinking 12 serving per person per year on average, which is showing the size of the opportunity. So the category is underdeveloped, but now growing.

We have seen in a place like India where the category is even less developed the per consumption -- consumption per person in India is only 5, but it was less than 1, 5 years ago. okay? So it is showing that in all these countries, when we find the right product at the right price in the right pack in the right channel for the right occasion is we are able to unlock the potential of the category.

But Asia is very complex because you have countries as diverse as Japan or India, if I take the other side of the spectrum. So we really now segmented Asia in 2 different segments. What we look at the developed markets, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, which are more premium markets where we are very happy with Monster.

We are now a leader in the vast majority of this market with significant shares. And there, the category is very similar to what we have heard from Guy, okay? Category is already developed, is premium. We continue to innovate, continue to develop new occasion, continue to chase every distribution opportunity.

For instance, in Japan, we now -- we are distributed by Asahi, okay, which is the last country where we are not with the Coke system, but on the back of that, we just agreed with CCBJI, which is the main Coca-Cola bottler system to be in their vending machine because they see the category as an incremental opportunity for them.

So in the developed market, continue innovation, distribution, making our brand more relevant to more people. In the developing markets, your South Asia, your Southeast Asia, China, first is maximizing the Monster opportunity.

We believe the popu -- there are 4 billion people. We believe there are dozens of millions of people who can afford Monster, who like the lifestyle of Monster. Who like the taste of Monster. And first is maximizing the opportunity for them. But it will not be everyone. But now in every of these countries, we found a way to recruit new consumer with Monster.

I will talk about China and India a bit later, but we now, for instance, launched Monster in Thailand. Monster was not in Thailand. We launched with Swire in Thailand in quarter 1, because we adjusted some of our proposition or distribution. We find the right consumer for Monster in Thailand is on the developing of the more affordable side, we have been adjusting our proposition, okay?

First is Asia is a vast majority of what consumers are drinking in South Asia and China is non-carbonated. Okay, which need a different taste, a different packaging to reach the right price point. And we have been learning over the past years to say, how do we complement Monster with the right proposition, which is helping us to enter a full new segment where we never offer the right product to the right consumers.

And then in the part that is carbonated, it's a matter of finding out to have the right price and the right pack. We just launched Pakistan 2 weeks ago, where you have now 250 million consumers who are not serving until now, and we are unlocking these type of opportunities in the more developing part of Asia.

Very good. Very good. Hilton, Philippe kind of makes an interesting observation. I mean the company over time has become more and more a portfolio of brands within energy. Obviously, Monster is still at the core. But in order to address different consumer needs, the company has evolved the portfolio to introduce brands to serve those needs.

As you think about the growth opportunities over time, how much of those opportunities is Monster able to serve? How far can that brand go without diluting the magic that represents this core of the brand versus how much of growth is going to be reliant on kind of satellite brands that you've developed in support of Monster?

That's a great question because the Monster demographic is very clearly 28- to 35-year-old males. That's -- that's a demographic. And what's happened is the demographic has broadened as some of our consumers have got older. And also women are huge participants in the energy category today. So we're in discussions.

We have meetings with CCI and Hellenic and CCEP here in Paris. And the numbers in the European markets almost 45, 55, which is very different to how the brand started. And in the U.S., we see that there are big opportunities for -- to address the women consumer. Traditionally, we've had a 16-ounce can, which is 473 milliliters.

And that's been -- the can that we've used extensively other than for some new products, which I'll talk about. We're now directing 12-ounce size cans really to address a more female-forward market because if the research that we've done is that people don't want waste, women don't want waste and they'd rather get a product that's a size that's convenient for them to drink.

So that's something we're addressing. Historically, and that will be in the Monster Ultra line because we're still very passionate about Monster. We believe that Monster can gravitate into other parts of the new consumers in the energy drink category. I mean what have we done already? We've got Rehab, which is tea.

We've got Monster Java, which is our coffee line that we've had for many years. We have regular Monsters, we have juice Monsters. We have Monsters that are Zero Sugar, the Ultra line, which today, the Ultra line, if it stood on its own, it would be the third biggest category in the United States.

So it's biggest -- sorry, third biggest energy group of brands in the United States after Monster and Red Bull and Monster and Red Bull always kind of neck and neck last week, we were exactly the same in the U.S. This week, if those of you who read Weekly Nielsen, we're ahead of them.

And next week, I don't know, I hope we'll stay ahead of them. But that's the way the U.S. market has emerged. We have -- here we do performance energy and that we do under a very different brand. It's called Reign. And we do that under a different brand. We have other brands for wellness called Storm and other brands for particular parts of the market affordable. We use Predator and Fury depending on trademarks. We have a great brand that we bought from -- as a result of the Bang collapse and Bang is a really good brand, and we're using that to test -- we start in the U.S., and we're doing that to test as affordable in some markets.

Internationally and in Europe and in fact, in Asia. So I think that we believe we have the ability to use Monster in a particular fashion. But then we also have the ability to create new brands to address particular markets that we don't think will resonate well with the Monster brand.

The one brand you didn't mention is the brand you just recently introduced FLRT in the U.S.

Yes, that's directed to a female-forward consumer. And we're testing that in certain markets where that demographic shops. And we've spoken about it on our calls, and we're keeping a very close eye on it. We're monitoring its progress. The media, it launched a month or so ago. The media is about to kick off and it's very much directed.

We've got a total women structured management team that's running that brand. They've just kicked off the media. So I don't want to talk too much about it until we know the green shoots are actually growing. So -- but we do. We have this brand called FLRT, which is -- I think should do well. But again, it's in the hands of the consumer and the brand has just been launched.

Great. Guy, as we think about that theme as it relates to your markets, as you mentioned, in some ways, the original energy drink markets here in Europe. How do you -- at the same time, the market is maybe less developed than some of the zero sugar fitness-oriented brands that we've seen disrupt the category in the U.S. How do you think about positioning the portfolio here in EMEA to maybe get ahead of those trends and make sure that Monster is at the lead?

I think it's been interesting to see how the energy category, whilst being older in Europe than the U.S. has developed in slightly different ways over time. I think one of the things we see in Europe, especially is less segmentation than is in the U.S. And I think the Red Bull and Monster that have been around for a long period of time, occupy a large piece of consumer consumption in some of those segments.

So we've seen -- you've all heard and the phenomenon that's been on social media, White Monster, but Ultra White, which just even this year, according to Nielsen, is growing over 50%. It's a 12-year-old SKU. It's one of our lead SKUs and is growing over 50%.

When we took -- when we first took brands like Reign into gyms, we've discovered Ultra was already there. Ultra as a brand platform. And again, here would be like the #2 brand in Europe. It's 50% female and it's 50% male. So it's actually bringing in female consumers in line with the category.

So I think we see a strong role for our core business in Monster. Our fantastic relationship with the bottling partners, again, we CCP with [indiscernible] this week, are taking our existing Monster SKUs into more and more channels of distribution, especially away from home, food service, and it's giving the fan favorites a platform in channels and occasions that it wasn't previously available.

We're also increasing our multipack business of those core foundation SKUs, the fan favorites, so people can take 4 packs, 9 packs, 12 packs, home, ready for a treat, ready to relax at home. So we're getting half of our growth, and I think that's what we're excited about from our base business. And that is different from the rest of the category.

So the category as a whole is in kind of a decent double-digit growth. But outside of Monster, it's predominantly through innovation, whereas we're actually growing in line with the category from that existing base Monster business and SKUs. And then we're getting an extra double-digit growth from our innovation. And the innovation is coming in sugar.

So this year, we talked on the call our Viking Berry product with the best innovation launch, most successful we've ever had in Europe. Full sugar, we've got a really strong consumer base that wants full sugar, but 47% of our consumers only drink sugar energy. And sort of deliberately so. And so we've got innovation there.

Then we've got innovation in the Ultra line. Innovation last year, Lando Norris Zero Sugar was brilliant. 25% of its consumers were new to the category, 25% were new to the brand and 25% were drinking more as a result of the innovation. And obviously, tied in with a wonderful asset, a hero, people could sort of hold in their hand as they were consuming.

So innovation is a huge part of what we do. And I think growing our business 55% through the existing SKUs and 45% through innovation to grow ahead of the category is a real kind of foundation for the future. And then, I mean, the portfolio, the strategic brands from -- that we've had since the Coke deal over time, Relentless in GB, Nalu in Belgium, Burn across countries play a really important role.

It's a different consumer looking for a different lifestyle, different price point, different personality. And the affordable business we have with Predator and Fury in Africa, I think it's really important. It's affordable vis-a-vis European pricing. But in Africa, it is just mainstream energy.

The pricing compared to CSD matches that from Monster in Europe, and it plays that same role. It has equity. It has a value proposition. It has fans. We do marketing to support it. And across Africa, we've seen Predator and Fury turn into the most valuable brand in Africa from a Nielsen sales perspective. So different things for different places and different consumers.

Yes. Each of you mentioned partnership with Coke. So let me spend a minute there because I think from the outside, that partnership has -- partnerships, both with Coke and the bottling -- the bottlers seems to have only strengthened over time.

And it's a time when we just talked about, there are more brands that are being activated within the Monster portfolio. There's more innovation. We'll talk about that in a bit. There's more packages. There's more sophisticated revenue growth management, all of which is not able to be accomplished by you alone, right? It's in partnership with the Coke system.

We could never operate without the Coca-Cola system. I mean, in the U.S., it was somewhat easy. But internationally, it is an issue because when we started off internationally, we had to find distributors -- it was tough to find them. There were a lot of trademark issues, a lot of issues dealing with competitors. And the one good thing that we've achieved with the Coca-Cola organization and particularly with the bottlers is a seamless manner of operating a business where they are the distribution partner.

So we haven't had to go and look for distribution partners. We haven't had to kind of analyze the better and the worst. And this is a long-term relationship, and it's worked really well with the bottlers. And with the company, we have a great relationship with Enrique coming on board and John Murphy. And we're working together to build a great business.

I mentioned more innovation. Guy talked a little bit about it EMEA. But in the U.S., you've got limited time offers coming to the market really for the first time. You've added some splashes of flavor strawberry to the core Monster. These are things we haven't seen Monster do before. At the same time, there's a big push right now on more sophisticated price pack architecture, RGM.

Maybe talk about how that evolved, why now is the right time? And how much runway you see on those initiatives?

Well, RGM, we always had an RGM department. And [Lvely] they've -- we've built it up and we're working more aggressively with that department on the basis of kind of looking at opportunities to increase price, opportunities for different packages for different sizes.

And what Guy said earlier about EMEA is 100% true of the U.S. I mean we were in -- we've been in 4 packs for a long time. We've been in 8 packs. We've been in 16 packs. We've been in 24 packs. And the skills that this group is able to deliver to the organization is exactly what it should be doing, and that is advising which packages, which sizes. For example, I spoke earlier about the 12-ounce we've got 12 months 24 ounce that's -- 12 months 24 pack, I'm sorry, that's going, for example, into the club channel. And these are all initiatives that have been moved by the RGM department. The increase in price in November 1 was very much structured by that department or advised by that department because it wasn't a one size fits all.

It was a mix, and we said that on our calls of different kind of structures for different markets, some with promotional allowances, reduction of promotional allowance, some with increases in prices. So it's a kind of mix of the 2. And then we've always had an aggressive innovation pipeline.

As Guy mentioned, innovation always for us, is incremental to the core. Our core grows. Our sugar products grow, our nonsugar products grow more than the sugar products. But overall, we move ahead with innovation. We've always had good innovation, but this year has been exceptional.

We have the Americas 250 celebration, and we have a number of SKUs that are limited time offers that are addressing that particular situation, which is -- it's something very special in the United States, and we're really privileged to be able to offer products across the board to satisfy that kind of opportunity. So we have limited time offers. We have a Monster juice.

We have Red, White and Blue, which is an Ultra line, which is -- if you look at the recent Nielsen that's screened right up near the top of the charts in the Nielsen SKUs. We have limited time offers for our bang line for our Reign line. And we also have a limited time offer, which we may keep as a permanent offer for one of our other brands that we acquired from the Coca-Cola Company, which is Full Throttle.

So there's a lot of great things that are happening. This year, we've had a full calendar of innovation. And yes, we did and have launched our -- what we call our flavor shots. Initially, they were launched with strawberry in both regular and zero sugar variants and actually are doing really nicely.

So in the autumn, we come in with vanilla shots which will be the traditional Classical Monster Energy drink and the zero sugar drink with a shot of vanilla. And that really does make a difference to drink and gives the consumer an additional reason to purchase a product.

And your confidence in the pipeline, one of the concerns is that there's so much this year, so much incremental innovation that will be hard to cycle. How do you feel about that?

We've got a good calendar for '27. I won't talk much about it, but there's a good innovation calendar for '27. And some of these LTOs, we maybe bring back as LTOs in 2027 as well. These LTOs for the Americas 250 could very well sit as 4th of July promotion.

So there's a lot of great things that are happening, and we just got to stay true to our course and run our business, run our play, which is what we've always been. That's why we've never attended these conferences. We've been running our business, but we have Mark Astrachan now who's -- whoever he is, IR head, there he is at the back. So he makes us come and do these conferences.

Well, we all thank Mark. Philippe, maybe pivoting back to your markets and really focusing in on India and China. You mentioned just a huge theoretical runway for growth, which has been there for a long time, but it really feels like we're seeing inflection. I think India doubled essentially in the first quarter. To what do you attribute that spike? Do you think this is the moment where you can really scale those -- start to scale those businesses? And I guess, some of the key initiatives you have in place to do so?

Definitely, we see these 2 markets as gigantic opportunities. You have more than 1 billion consumers in both. The category is underdeveloped in both. But there are 2 very different stories. If I start with China is we've been in China nearly for 10 years on what we got into China, we realized that we had to have 2 challenge we didn't have in most of the countries.

One, we had to create the sparkling energy drink category. It was not existing in China, is Red Bull, Austria was not existing in China is what the energy -- the product which we were giving the energy was small traditional noncarbonated product that the Chinese are naming flavored vitamin drinks. So there was no so-called energy drinks. And all of this was noncarbonated.

So bringing Monster was very different from anything they've tried before. But it was not only that challenge is well in the rest of the world, when we brought Monster to Europe is we had already some equity built from our global assets from our presence in social media, China is behind the Great Digital Wall, okay?

So the number of Chinese who heard about Monster brand would recognize a claw was very small. So we had to create new category and build a brand nearly from scratch, okay? And therefore, we took the time to say who are the consumer will be open to an international brand, would be liking a carbonated drink, which is not tasting like anything else they had in China and they build it step-by-step with the bottlers.

We have 2 great bottlers in China, COFCO and Swire's, and they've been very committed to the energy drink category because they've seen the opportunity in the rest of the world. And step-by-step, we found the right consumer with the right marketing approach, some sampling our product to the right people.

We are much more focusing on the Tier 1 cities instead of going to the factories is we are much more focusing on the universities where the Coke system has great access to the thousands of mega universities we have in China on step-by-step, we are building the [indiscernible].

So we have now -- we believe we have now built a very healthy foundation is our products are growing. Our distribution is sticking. And therefore, we are able to build on what we believe is solid because now we have built a good base for Monster, we're able to say, how do we start addressing the other opportunity, which is a noncarbonated drink.

So we launched Predator in China 2 years ago, and we are learning because it's a very different consumers. It's a consumer which is not speaking in English, which is drinking noncarbonated, which is living in factories or what they name the factory villages where we were with Hilton 2 years ago in Foxconn.

In that plant, we have 120,000 people who are living in the plant, and that's where the traditional energy drink is big. So we are working on building Monster, where we believe we have a strong foundation and learning how to get into that more traditional factory blue-collar segment in China.

And we see both as great opportunity. One, we have to create the category and the other one, we have to learn how to get share in what is already a big enough category. India is a very different story. Red Bull has been in India for a long time. We have been in India for 9 years. So people knew what energy drink was. They are following the social media, they have heard about it.

But the price of a soft drink is very low in India. It's even lower than China. It's selling for INR 20, which is $0.23 for the price of a soft drink is when we launched Monster and Red Bull, we sold it at 6x the price of [Coke].

You have 1.4 billion people. So some people can afford a Monster, but we could not go everywhere. We have to find where to go specifically to target the right consumers doing that advertising would be very inefficient. But now we have done that work, same thing, the [coke converters] have been great partners.

We have been able to cluster India to be very segmented to say, where are the dozens of millions of people who can afford a Monster because trying to be available to people who cannot afford it is a waste of space and a waste of time. And once we did that, we said now we can complement Monster, and we created a price pack architecture, which is unique to India, where we have Monster at 6x the price of a CSD.

We have Predator in the can at 3x the price of a CSD because we believe there is an emerging middle class, the people who are working in all the call centers in Bangalore, all the tech part cannot afford a Monster but they can afford a predator at INR 60, and then over the past few years, we have been complementing that with a PET, which is still premium to CSD because we believe the functionality, the taste and lifestyle can justify a premium.

And now we have this 3-tier price architecture, which is helping us to go to -- with the right product to the right consumer with the right taste with the right marketing. We have Monster, for instance, very focused on gaming, which we have seen association with people, people who can afford to spend on gaming, people who can afford to spend on a Monster can.

While Predator is going more after the people who are following cricket, but who are going to street cricket to make sure that we build a lifestyle, which is very close to what they are doing. So we have now that price pack architecture with very clear portfolio to help us unlock the opportunity of India. And again, we believe we have now a good foundation to go after that market. Very interesting.

All right. Well, we're almost at time, and I haven't even talked about aluminum. So I'm going to ask you the requisite question on aluminum and costs. Your -- what you're seeing on that front, your confidence in being able to manage through it.

And as we think about holistic kind of profitability and margins, I also love a little bit of insight, if you would, on how you think about SG&A management, SG&A leverage as we realize some of the growth we're talking about.

Okay. So let's start with the second point, SG&A management. We're very careful with the way that we operate and the way we spend, particularly on marketing dollars. Our business is focused on not on advertising in a classical sense per se, but in establishing relationships with athletes, relationships with and endorsing opportunities like Formula 1, UFC.

And all of those things, they have a cost to them. There are some other ones that we've been working on that we're really excited about. The point is that we believe in our brands. We're a growth company, and we need to support the brands and marketing.

So you've seen what's happened with SG&A. It's kind of, I think, been well managed up until now. And I don't see why it wouldn't be well managed going forward. And as I say, we take opportunities when we see a need. For example, with the relaunch of Storm, it's requires marketing dollars with the relaunch -- with the launch of FLRT that's -- you can't just drop a product in a market and hope for the best. So there's -- the business is growing, revenues are growing.

SG&A, I think, is well managed and will continue to be well managed. And then just very quickly on aluminum. So we have a very active hedging program in place in the company, and we've spoken about this on our calls. We hedge on a ladder basis, something that is -- we're involved from the top down from me to our CFO, our Deputy CFO, our Head of Treasury.

We're very focused on doing the very best we can with aluminum. As I mentioned in the first quarter, we had a 1% hit to gross margin from aluminum. And in the U.S., we have this Midwest premium, which I still don't understand, but it's kind of expensive and goes up year-on-year. It's -- I'm kidding, but it's a difficult financial metric that we have to pay for.

And so we've been able to manage aluminum in what we've called in a modest sense. And our pricing, the increased price that we took in November actually offset that increase in aluminum in the first quarter. As we go forward, we believe that will continue to be modest. And one of the reasons is that when you look at the cost of a can, aluminum is a small portion of that cost because you have the can, you have the ingot, you have the -- which is the aluminum ingot to sheet, sheet to can.

So it goes on. And because our margins are good, you don't see the same impact that you would ordinarily in a company that had lower margins. So I hope that answered the question.

It does. Sorry to end on aluminum, but we're out of time. And I thank you all for your time, and thanks for joining us, everybody.

Yes. Thank you.

Good day, and welcome to the Monster Beverage Corporation First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Hilton Schlosberg, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this call. I'm Hilton Schlosberg, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Also on the call are Tom Kelly, our Chief Financial Officer; Rob Gehring , our CEO of the Americas; Guy Carling, our CEO of EMEA and OSP; and Emilie Tirre, our Chief Strategy Officer.

Mark Astrachan, our Senior VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development, will now read our cautionary statement.

Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and are based on currently eventual information regarding the expectations of management with respect to revenues, profitability, future business, future events, financial performance and trends.

Management cautions that these statements are based on our current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made during this call.

Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 27, 2026, including the sections contained therein entitled Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements, for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainties that may affect our performance. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

I would also like to note that an explanation of the non-GAAP measures which we refer to as adjusted were applicable mentioned during the course of this call, is provided in the notes in the condensed consolidated statements of income and other information attached to the earnings release dated May 7, 2026. A copy of this information is also available on our website, www.monsterbevcorp.com in the Financial Information section.

Please note that like last quarter, regional scanner data is included in an exhibit filed with our 8-K we point out that certain market statistics that cover single months or 4-week periods may often be materially influenced positively or negatively by promotions or other trading factors during those periods.

I would now like to hand the call over to Hilton Schlosberg.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. We're pleased to report another quarter of strong financial results and cash generation. with net sales crossing the $2 billion threshold for the first time in the company's history for a fiscal first quarter. Sales increased by double digits compared to the prior year in all geographic regions and we gained share in many of our global markets in the first quarter, reflecting the strength of our core offerings as well as our product innovations.

The global energy drink category remained healthy with continued robust growth. We believe household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category, driven by functionality and lifestyle positioning offerings that appeal to an increasingly broad and loyal consumer base and affordable value offerings in addition to premium offerings. We believe our portfolio of existing recently launched and planned energy drink offerings is well positioned to participate in the growing global energy drink category, appealing to a broad range of consumers across geographies, price points, need states and dayparts.

Innovation continues to be an important contributor to category growth, and we maintain a robust innovation pipeline. Our business continues to be supported by strong marketing programs impactful retail engagement and our solid partnership with the Coca-Cola Company and its global bottling partners.

In the United States, according to Nielsen, for the recently reported 13-week period through April 25, 2026, sales in dollars in the energy drink category, including energy shots, for all assets combined, namely convenience, grocery, drug, mass merchandisers, increased by 10.7% versus the same period a year ago.

In EMEA, the energy drink category according to Nielsen for our tracked markets for the recently reported 13-week period, which differ from country to country, grew 10.5% versus the same period last year, FX neutral.

In APAC, the energy drink category according to Nielsen, Circana and INTAGE, for our tracked channels for the recently reported 30-week period, which differ from country to country, we 16.7% versus the same period last year, FX neutral.

In LatAm, the energy drink category according to Nielsen for our tracked markets for the 3 months ended March 31, 2026, grew 156% versus the same period last year, FX neutral.

Turning to marketing. Monster maintained strong momentum in the first quarter with efforts focused on growing our core business and attracting new consumers. Highlights in the first quarter included USC's transition to a new broadcast partner in late January that contributed to a 3x increase in television viewers who saw Monster Center of the Octagon signage.

In the MotoGP World Championship, the Pinnacle of motorcycle Road racing, Monster Rider, [ Marco Bezeq ], won the opening 3 arms of the season currently sits in first place in the standings Successful Monster athletes has extended into the Motocross World Championship where Jeffrey Herling announced his arrival to the Monster Energy roster winning 2 of the opening 5 races of the season currently sitting in second place in the series.

Three rounds of the Formula One World Championship took place in the 20,261st quarter, all featuring the Monster-sponsored McLaren Mastercard Formula One team as well as Monster Athletes, Landers and Oscar Street. Gamesman was a success as Monster Atte won 27 metals. Our snow sports at least also won 14 metals at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Other notable sponsorships in the first quarter included AMA, Monster Supercross events, professional bull riders and the Monster-sponsored Street League Skateboarding series. In January, Monster also became the main sponsor of the WIP UCI at Mountain Bike World Series, a premier event in global mountain biking.

Now we're going to turn to tariffs. During the first quarter of 2026, the impact of tariffs and the increase in the price of aluminum on our operating results was modest. Despite the modest impact on our business in the first quarter, the tariff landscape continues to be complicated and dynamic. For instance, tariffs significantly impacted the Midwest premium for aluminum, which increased the cost of our aluminum pounds.

We also import some raw materials into the United States, export certain raw materials for local markets and export limited quantities of finished goods. We do not believe, based on our business model that the current tariffs will have a material impact on the company's operating results is on current aluminum pricing in the Midwest premium we expect a continued modest sequential increase in our costs through at least the end of 2026 as compared to the 2026 first quarter. We will continue to recognize tariffs on aluminum due to the higher Midwest premium and continue to implement heading strategies across the business where possible.

Net sales were $2.35 billion for the 2026 first quarter or 26.9% higher than net sales of $1.85 billion in the 2025 first quarter. Net sales, excluding the alcohol brands segment, increased 27.5% in the 2026 first quarter. and changes in foreign currency exchange rates had a favorable impact on net sales for the 2026 first quarter of $89.3 million Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis increased 22.1% in the 2026 first quarter.

Net sales, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment on a foreign currency adjusted basis, increased 22.6% in the 2026 first quarter. Excluding the Alcohol Brands segment from our reported results, is purely illustrative as it remains part of our ongoing operations.

Net sales of the company's Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 27.6% to $2.19 billion for the 2026 first quarter from $1.72 billion for the 2025 first quarter. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 22.8% in the 2026 first quarter.

Net sales for the company's Strategic Brands segment increased 28.9% to $126.7 million for the 2026 first quarter from $98.3 million in the 2025 first quarter. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Strategic Brands segment increased 21.4% in the 2026 first quarter. Net sales for the Alcohol Brands segment decreased 5.9% to $32.7 million for the 2026 first quarter from $34.7 million in the 20,251st quarter.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2026 first quarter was 55.0% compared with 56.5% in the 2025 first quarter. Adjusted gross profit as a percentage of net sales, excluding the alcohol brand segment, for the 2026 first quarter was 55.3% and compared with 57.1% in the 2025 first quarter.

The decrease in gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2026 first quarter was primarily the result of geographical sales mix, increased aluminum can cost and increased treat in costs, partially offset by pricing actions. The increase in trading costs was primarily the result of out-of-orbit production due to increased demand.

Geographic mix had an approximate 120 basis points adverse impact on gross margin in the 2026 first quarter, primarily reflecting strong growth in our EMEA business.

Distribution expenses for the 2026 first quarter were $102.8 million or 4.4% of net sales compared with $77.6 million or 4.2% of net sales in the 2025 first quarter. Selling expenses for the 2026 first quarter were $195.0 million or 8.3% of net sales compared with $172.3 million or 9.3% of net sales in the 2025 first quarter.

General and administrative expenses for the 2026 first quarter were $265.5 million or 11.3% in sales compared with $228.4 million or 12.3% of net sales for the 2025 first quarter.

Stock-based compensation was $28.3 million for the 2026 first quarter compared with $20.7 million in the 2025 first quarter. The increase in stock-based compensation for the 2026 first quarter included $4 million related to certain nonrecurring equity awards that contain a retirement clause.

General and administrative expenses in the 2026 first quarter included $2.8 million of professional services expenses related to our new AFF San Fernando facility as well as $5.8 million of expenses related to our digital transformation initiatives.

Operating expenses for the 2026 first quarter were $563.4 million compared with $478.2 million in the 2025 first quarter. Adjusted operating expenses for the 2026 first quarter were $549.3 million compared with $447.5 million in the 2025 first quarter. Operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2026 first quarter were 23.9% compared to 25.8% in the 2025 first quarter.

Adjusted operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2026 first quarter were 23.7% compared to 24.6% in the 2025 first quarter. Operating income for the 2026 first quarter increased 28.1% to $73.0 million from $569.7 million in the 2025 comparative quarter. Adjusted operating income for the 2026 quarter increased 24.1% to $733.5 million, from $591.2 million in the 2025 first quarter.

The effective tax rate for the 2026 first quarter was 24.1% and compared with 23.4% in the 2025 first quarter. Net income per diluted share for the 2026 first quarter increased 27.6% and to $0.58 from $0.45 in the first quarter of 2025.

Adjusted net income per diluted share for the 2026 first quarter increased 23.7% to $0.58 a from $0.47 in the first quarter of 2025.

Turning to the U.S. and North America. We had a strong start to the year in the U.S. and Canada with net sales increasing 15.6% in the 2026 first quarter compared to the 2025 first quarter. Our sales performance reflected healthy category growth, solid overall contribution from our core products, complemented by innovation and disciplined execution across our organization and bottling partners. All channels contributed to sales growth, including e-commerce, with sales achieving a monthly record total at a key online retailer in March.

Our zero sugar portfolio remained a significant contributor to U.S. growth. According to Nielsen, the Ultra brand family grew 20% in the 2026 first quarter compared to the 2025 first quarter with our flagship ultra-wide energy drink growing 34% over the same period. Based on Nielsen data, Monster's full sugar portfolio continued to deliver meaningful contribution in the 2026 first quarter, representing approximately 1/3 of the company's total U.S. games and highlighting the depth of the portfolio.

Growth was led by the Juice Monster family, which increased 26% compared to the prior year with Java Monster, including Killer Brew, increasing 5.2% despite ongoing softness in the energy drink coffee category. In total, Monster's full sugar offerings grew 8.5% in the quarter, outpacing the overall full sugar energy drink segment.

Innovation contributed to sales in the 2026 first quarter, including the successful introductions of Monster Ultra punch Juice Monster Fruity Grape, Monster Energy Strawberrry shots in full sugar and zero sugar variants and the nationwide launch of Lando Norris Zero Sugar. We also introduced FLRT in late March in select retail channels with the brand performing in line with our expectations since its launch. Additionally, earlier this week, we launched Storm, our new wellness brand with 4 SKUs at retail.

We believe our summer innovation is also set to enhance the power of the Monster Green and the Ultra brand families through package and flavor innovation with 12-ounce singles and 12-ounce 4 packs. We are also excited about including the Ultra Juice Monster Rain and Bang brand families into America 250 celebrations. From a packaging standpoint, we recently introduced 24 packs of 12-ounce cans of Monster Green, Ultra White and an ultra variety pack in the Club channel.

We remain focused on complementing our core offerings with impactful innovation, delivering the excitement today's consumers' demand in the energy category while reinforcing our confidence in sustained growth. From a revenue growth management standpoint, pricing actions implemented last fall continue to perform as expected.

Now turning to Sales International. Net sales to customers outside the United States increased 44.9% to $1.06 billion or approximately 45% of total net sales in the 2026 first quarter compared to $733.2 million or approximately 40% of total net sales in the 2025 first quarter. Net sales to customers outside the United States on a foreign currency adjusted basis, increased 32.7% to $973.3 million in the 20,261st quarter.

Turning to EMEA. Our net sales in EMEA in the 2026 first quarter increased by 52.5% in dollars and nearly 6.5% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2025. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2026 first quarter was 35.9% versus 35.1% in the same period in 2025. The quarter in EMEA was driven by strong execution across markets, trade marketing activities, cooler placements, and space games enabled by the strong collaboration and relationship we have with our bottling part.

Sales growth reflects contribution from both our existing product offerings and innovation across all channels with growth from our Monster, affordable and strategic brand families. Growth was strong across all brand families with Monster Energy Ultra in Juice Monster growing 37.3% and 23.2%, respectively, according to Nielsen for the last 13 weeks. The energy drink category remains healthy with one growing at over twice the rate of the category in the EMEA.

Notably, the Monster Energy brand retained its position as the fastest-growing FMCG brand by value growth in the 2026 first quarter. According to Nielsen, in all measured channels in CCE fees Western European markets, while in Denmark, Monster is now the #1 energy drink brand by value. Within EMEA, we're also seeing the continued growth of our affordable brands, Fury in Egypt and Predator in Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco.

On a combined basis, Predator and Fury remained the #1 energy drink brand by value in measured countries in Africa. Innovation continues to drive performance in the region, driven by Juice Monster Viking Berry, which was the most successful innovation launch ever in the region. We continue rolling out our Monster Energy Ultra fantasy Rube once the Energy Lando Norris Zero Sugar and Monster Energy Valentino Rossi Zero Sugar to new markets.

A new affordable proposition in Spain, Bang continues gaining value share in the convenience channel. The summer months will see a significant rollout of Monster Energy Ultra [ Vice Glove ] across the region and the majority of EMEA will feature limited edition Oscar Piastri Monster Green and green Zero Sugar cans as well as a gold limited edition Monster Energy Lando Norris Zero Sugar can.

Turning to Asia Pacific. Net sales in Asia Pacific in the 2026 first quarter increased 39.7% in dollars and 36.7% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2025. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2026 first quarter were 42.8% versus 42.4% in the same period in 2025. Despite the systems disruption at our Japanese distributor, which we reported last quarter, net sales in Japan in the 2026 first quarter increased 3.6% in dollars and increased 4.9% on a currency-neutral basis. We're also pleased to announce that in Japan, once the Energy Green will be available in vending machines owned by Coca-Cola Bottles Japan Inc. beginning this summer.

Net sales in a in the 2026 first quarter increased 10.3% in dollars and increased 11.8% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2025. Net sales in China in the 2026 first quarter increased 95.0% in dollars and increased 86.5% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2025. Net sales in India in the 2026 first quarter increased 94.5% in dollars and increased 104.4% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2025. We remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for our brands in Asia Pacific and the expansion of our affordable brands in China and India.

In Oceania, net sales increased 53.2% in dollars and increased 42.1% in on a currency-neutral basis. Notably, Monster has now been taken both V and Red Bull to become the market leader in Australia on a value basis.

Turning now to Latin America and the Caribbean. Net sales in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, in the 2026 first quarter increased 36.8% in dollars and increased 22.3% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2025. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales was 44.1% for the 2026 first quarter versus 44.6% in the 2025 first quarter.

Net sales in Brazil in the first quarter increased 61.3% in dollars and 41.9% on a currency-neutral basis. Net sales in Mexico increased 24.1% in dollars and increased 6.6% on a currency-neutral basis in the 2026 first quarter. case sales growth in Mexico exceeded our currency-neutral sales growth due to timing of promotional allowances. We gained market share and remain the market leader in Mexico.

Net sales in Chile in the 2026 first quarter increased 50.3% in dollars and 36.3% on a currency-neutral basis. Net sales in Argentina in the 2026 first quarter decreased 53.5% in dollars and 54.1% on a currency-neutral basis. The net sales decrease in Argentina was due to a lower price per case, driven by change our operating model implemented late in the first quarter of 2025 to better manage our foreign currency exposure. Barter depletions increased by double digits, indicating healthy underlying market demand.

Turning to Monster Brewing. Net sales for the alcohol Brands segment were $32.7 million in the 2026 first quarter, 5.9% lower than the 2025 comparable quarter. With regard to our share repurchase program, during the 2026 first quarter, the company repurchased 1.4 million shares of the on stock at an average purchase price of $73.86 per share for a total amount of approximately $100 million. As of May 6, 2026, approximately $400 million remained available for repurchase under the previously authorized repurchase program.

Now turning to April 2026 sales. We estimate that April 2026 sales on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis were approximately 24.4% higher than the comparable April 2025 sales and 24.9% higher on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the alcohol and segment. We estimate that on a foreign currency-adjusted basis, April 2026 sales were approximately 21.6% higher than the comparable April 2025 sales and 22.1% higher on a foreign currency adjusted base, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment. April 2026 at the same number of selling days as April 2025.

In this regard, number one, we caution again that sales over a short period are often disproportionately impacted by various factors such as, for example, seeing days, days of the week in which holidays fall, timing of new product launches the timing of price increases and promotions in retail stores, distributor incentives as well as shifts in the timing of production. In some cases, our bottlers are responsible for production and determine their own production schedules. This affects the date on which we invoice such partners.

Furthermore, our bottling and distribution partners maintain inventory levels according to their own internal requirements, which they may alter from time to time for their own business reasons. And number two, we reiterate that sales over a short period such as a single month should not necessarily be imputed to or regarded as indicative of results for a full quarter or any future period.

In conclusion, I'd like to summarize some recent positive points. We had a strong start to 2026 with double-digit sales growth across all of our geographic regions. We gained share in many markets globally in the first quarter as our core brands continue to grow and are complemented by our [indiscernible]. We are excited with the introductions of FLRT in late March and Storm earlier this week. These brands are key to opening to new consumers and expanding usage occasions.

We continue to expand ourselves in non-Nielsen track channels with an objective to expand our FSOP business. The energy drink category continues to grow globally, and consumer demand and measured by scanner data remains strong. We believe that household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category due to product functionality, an affordable value proposition and lifestyle positioning.

We are also seeing increases in purchase frequencies as well as usage occasions expanding across day parts. We look forward to the Ultra Juice Rain and Bang brand families participating in the America 250 celebrations with Patriotic offerings. We continue to review opportunities for price increases, both domestically and internationally.

We are continuing our digital transformation in order to modernize their enterprise platforms and strengthen end-to-end business capabilities across commercial, operations and supply chain, including our upgrade to SAP S/4HANA with a planned Golar data Journey 2028.

Lastly, we are hosting our Annual Shareholders Meeting next week on May 14. Given its proximity to earnings, the meeting will not include a business update or a separate institutional investor or analyst in session.

I would now like to open the floor to questions about the quarter.

[Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from Chris Carey from Wells Fargo Securities.

So impressive sales for the quarter and on the quarter-to-date, which I'm sure we'll get more attention on this conference call. And so just in that context, I thought I would just move the question to margins still relatively solid given the inflation backdrop. Hilton, you did say that you would expect some modest increases in your cost over the course of this year. You also noted at the end there that you continue to look at opportunities to take pricing both domestically and internationally, which is a fairly consistent message from you guys.

And so I just wanted to get your take on the ability to confronts the cost environment with some of the tools that you have in your toolkit, that could be the revenue growth management that you discussed earlier in the call? And what would drive you to perhaps take incremental pricing specifically given the fairly substantial momentum that you have in business entering the year?

Okay. Great question. Thank you for that. To level set, we're at in the quarter, the first quarter gross margins had a large mix headwind and a smaller out of orbit production cost. Now we mentioned that on the call. It was gratifying to note that 40% of our sales came from international, which is which is good news in the sense that our business is growing internationally. We're excited about that. But also, as we've reminded investors over the years, that increase in international sales comes at the expense of gross margin percentage.

And I've always had the view that you don't bank percentages, you bank actual dollars. So we were really pleased with what had happened in the quarter. And with the growth, the significant growth in revenues and in volume we had an issue and we had to move product out of orbit, which is not something we like to do, but there was a cost to doing that.

So as we look forward, we are going to have aluminum headwinds. The aluminum headwind in the quarter was just under 1% of margin, and we haven't given that number before, but I'll give it to you now. We described that as modest, but it did have an impact on gross margin.

And now turning to pricing, which was really good question. Rob Gehring is here, and I'm actually going to ask him if there's anything he would like to talk about with regard to pricing and revenue growth management in the U.S., and we can follow up with Guy on the EMEA business, certainly.

You bet. Thanks, Hilton. And Chris, thanks for the question. First, we're very pleased with our results in the first quarter, and that's credit to all of our associates across the Americas, our bottling partners and importantly, our customers as well. So we're pleased with that. As we've shared openly, we continue to evaluate our financials, the consumer the ability and the resiliency of the category and how it stands up under pricing. And thus far, we're very pleased with the pricing actions we took in late 2025.

We believe that play is working. We were -- I don't think anybody anticipated some of the headwinds in diesel and freight costs like we have seen. But our play is working as we continue to evaluate what the category, how the category is performing, how the consumer is tolerating this, how retailers are reacting and also package mix and channel mix. we will take everything you just spoke about, and we're constantly monitoring it is how we assess what that looks like going forward.

But we believe modest in the category showing the resiliency and modest inflation is working is continuing to deliver volume growth and revenue growth in line with our plans as well as pricing power. So we take all this into account. It's one of the variables we consider, and we will continue to do that moving forward.

Guy, have you got anything to add to EMEA?

Thanks, Hilton. I think our approach is very similar to Rob. We continue to monitor the opportunity to take price. Modest inflationary pricing is working. The category is healthy, and we're gaining share in the category. We're optimizing the growth in consumer demand for our products.

And the next question will come from Dara Mohsenian from Morgan Stanley. .

So I just wanted to touch on the innovation you have such a robust innovation schedule this year, a number of which you mentioned today. I was just hoping you could review the performance of some of the key innovations so far year-to-date in both the U.S. as well as international markets, and also spend some time discussing the pipeline on the remainder of the year from an innovation standpoint?

Thanks, Dara. Historically, we generally had innovation in the first couple of months of the year. And lately, we had innovation in the fall as well. So this year, the innovation has been spread across many months. And in fact, we have been in the rolling out Storm this week, in fact, and Red White and Blue will go out the America 250 Alta will go out to a broader base as we speak, beginning in May. It's been in very limited distribution before them.

So it has been not specifically in the first couple of months of a year, but it's been spread out over the -- at least the first half. So Rob, I don't know if there's anything you want to add to that. FLRT, we launched in April, I believe. And so there we go. So Rob, I don't know if you have anything to add to what I say.

You bet. Dara, the only thing I would add to that, Hilton gave a great summary there. The only thing I would add is we continue to use the strategy of innovation should drive our core business, and we're pleased with how our innovation is driving our Monster brands. You're seeing we're branching out with female entry in FLRT and you see our wellness entry and Storm a repositioning of that. So as we delve into some of these expansive areas with new usage occasions, you'll continue to see this staggering.

I don't want to take 100% credit for that because I didn't do it, but the brilliant minds behind it staggered it because you see we did not need it to start the year because we had innovation carryover from the end of 2025. So the timing actually was perfect and now sets us up beautifully for a strong summer where we believe structural demand will be high.

From an EMEA and OSP perspective, I think we've seen a very strong start from innovation Viking Berry in the juice line was our most successful innovation ever in the region, and it's been supported by ultra-review red and various innovations in other markets, and we still have the benefit of the fourth quarter of innovation of Lando Norris Zero Sugar. But I think we've been very pleased. Innovation has been very strong, but it's only 45% of our growth and 55% is coming from our existing SKUs. The performance of Ultra White continues to impress. In Nielsen sales, Ultra White in the region grew over 50% in the quarter versus prior year.

So what's important for us as a company is that innovation solidifies the core. So innovation helps our core business as well as growing sales through the own -- through its own revenue sales. But it enhances and grows the core, which for us is very critical as we run our business with both our core and with innovation.

The next question will come from Michael Lavery from Piper Sandler.

Just was wondering if you could give us a little sense of the category outlook outside the U.S. Obviously, very, very strong growth. maybe a little sense of some of the drivers of the gains and maybe a little bit of a sense of how much it's share gains versus category growth, seemingly a bit of both, but can you touch on some of what's driving that?

So if you look at what's happening internationally, it's very similar to what's happening in the U.S. So what's driving category growth internationally is basically the same consumer acceptance of energy drinks, increasing contributions to household penetration gains, its value proposition. It's an affordable luxury, innovation, the need state of energy and usage across more daypart occasions. And it's something that's really common to what we see in the rest of the world as well. Increasing buy rates, driven in part by multipacks, which we have in EMEA as well as in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.

So what we're seeing is a category that's driven by image, value proposition and functionality. And the fact that energy drinks are becoming more mainstream as this category is developing.

The next question will be from Bonnie Herzog from Goldman Sachs.

Right. You mentioned that you had some out-of-orbit production in Q1 due to increased demand. So honestly, just hoping for a little more color on what's driving this strong demand? I mean was there any timing or pull-forward volume in Q1? I guess it doesn't seem like it given how strong April sales were, but just wanted to verify that. And then wondering if you're now offering back within your orbits? Or is there still some out-of-orbit production happening?

We're back to operating within our orbits, Bonnie, and this is something that happened in the first quarter. We always -- situation is that we always have to satisfy demand. That's our #1 priority. We don't want to empty shelves. We don't want consumers disappointed. So it makes sense for us as the business grows and as it goes beyond what we had forecast to ship outside of our regular orbits. And as you know, we have a great facility now in Norwalk and a facility, a great facility in Phoenix, and we're able to utilize those facilities to help with production, additional production where additional production is needed.

And the next question will be from Matthew Smith from Stifel.

I wanted to come back to some of the comments you've made around multipacks. We're seeing quite strong growth in large-format multipacks in the U.S., outpacing some of the smaller multipacks. And you recently talked about a change to your pack sizes in club. So I'm curious as to the opportunity you see with multipacks, especially the larger sized ones you mentioned, increased buy rate or incrementality to the category. Just any update on how you think that category stands today in terms of the club channel and the opportunity there?

Yes. I think that's a really interesting question because as the category becomes mainstream, which we're seeing now with the energy category is becoming more prolific people are drinking energy drinks. There's a general greater acceptance for the product. The opportunity for multipacks becomes very evident. And as you know, we've launched a variety pack and other pack sizes, both in the club channel and in fact, in some of our bigger accounts. And that's all suggestive of the fact that what goes into a household is really consumed and consumed at a larger and more substantial rate than a product was just consumed on a single basis.

So we're really excited about the fact that our customers have accepted multipacks and we hope to do a lot more of that. So we started many years ago with 4 packs we gravitated to 6 and 8, and now we're supplying 12 packs. And of course, the club channels has generally been 24 packs.

The next question will be from Rob Ottenstein from Evercore.

Great. It would appear that your performance. Obviously, the sector is doing very well with your relative performance seems to be accelerating. So I was wondering if you can talk a little bit about the drivers of that acceleration, whether it's increased investment, better innovation, better execution, more coolers, probably all of the above, but just maybe just kind of step back and kind of pat ourselves on the back a little bit here and kind of give credit where credit is due in terms of the key drivers to what looks like just accelerating a relative performance over the last 1.5 years or so.

Yes. Thanks, Robert. I think from our perspective, we've -- I think we've got a great playbook in Monster. And Monster is doing well, it's achieving share gains, and it's doing nicely, where we have a lot of work to do is in our strategic brands and some of our peripheral brands like, for example, Bang, NAS and Full Throttle. And we've got a real huge focus on those brands during the course of this year and beyond.

And we've launched FLRT, which I mentioned earlier, we really are quite pleased about. And the initial uptake seems to be good. What we're hearing in the market and social media seems to be good. And so we're pleased with that. We're addressing the female energy category, which we wanted to do for some time. And Bang has been up a little bit we have a strong marketing program on relaunching Bang, and Storm really suffered, we believe, from its association with rainstorm because Rain is a performance energy product and Storm, Rainstorm is addressing the wellness category. And I believe that and so do our customers believe that what we have now is a much better product group to address in the wellness category.

And then on the other hand, we have affordable brands, Credit and Fury, which are doing well in Africa. Egypt and Africa, Egypt, India. And so excited about the affordable brands because they are addressing a need as the world is comprised of a lot more individuals who live in emerging and developing markets. So the affordable energy brands are a big opportunity for us.

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back to Hilton Schlosberg for any closing remarks.

So on behalf of Monster, I would like to thank everyone for their interest in the company. We are confident in the strength of our brands and the talent of our entire Monster family throughout the world. and I'm excited to be working with them and thank them all for their contributions, particularly in this quarter, which was quite an incredible quarter.

We believe in the company and our strategy and are committed to innovating, developing and differentiating our brands and expanding the company both at home and abroad. We are proud of our relationship with the Coca-Cola system and the opportunity this presents to us, including in FSOP. We believe that we are well positioned in the beverage industry and are optimistic about the future of the company. Thank you so much for your attendance.

And thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and welcome to the Monster Beverage Corporation Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Hilton Schlosberg, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this call. I'm Hilton Schlosberg, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Also on the call are Tom Kelly, our Chief Financial Officer; Rob Gehring, our CEO of the Americas; Guy Carling, our CEO of EMEA and OSP; and Emily Terry, our Chief Strategy Officer. As you saw in the press release, these are new roles and responsibilities for Rob, Guy and Emily and I would like to congratulate each on their new position and for their contribution to Monster's ongoing success.

Mark Astrachan, our SVP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development, will now read our cautionary statement.

Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended in Section 21E of Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and are based on currently available information regarding the expectations of management with respect to revenues, profitability, future business, future events, financial performance and trends.

Management cautions that these statements are based on our current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made during this call.

Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 28, 2025 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, including the sections contained therein entitled Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainties that may affect our performance.

The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. I would also like to note that an explanation of the non-GAAP measures which we refer to as adjusted or applicable mentioned during the course of this call, is provided in the notes in the condensed consolidated statements of income and other information attached to the earnings release dated February 26, 2026. A copy of this information is also available on our website, www.monsterbetcorp.com in the Financial Information section.

Please note that like last quarter scanner data, which was previously provided on earnings calls, is included in the exhibit filed with our 8-K. We point out that certain market statistics that cover single months or 4-week periods may often be materially influenced positively or negatively by promotions or other trading factors during those periods.

I would now like to hand the call over to Hilton Schlosberg.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. We are pleased to report another quarter of strong financial results and cash generation with net sales crossing the $2 billion threshold for the first time in the company's history for a fiscal fourth quarter. We gained share in many of our global markets in the fourth quarter, reflecting the success of our core offerings as well as our product innovations. Now just giving you an Energy Drink category update, the global energy drink category remains healthy with continued robust growth. We believe household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category driven by functionality and lifestyle positioning, diverse offerings that appeal to an increasingly broad and loyal consumer base and affordable value offerings in addition to premium offerings.

We believe our portfolio of existing and planned energy drink offerings is well positioned to participate in the growing global energy drink category, appealing to a broad range of consumers across geographies, price points, new states and day parts. Innovation continues to be an important contributor to category growth, and we maintain a robust innovation pipeline. Our business continues to be supported by robust marketing programs, impactful retail engagement and our strong global partnership with the Coca-Cola Company and its global bottling partners.

In the United States, according to Nielsen, for the recently reported 13-week period through February 14, 2026, sales in dollars in the Energy Drink category, including energy shots, for all our sets combined, namely convenience, grocery, drug, mass merchandisers, increased by 12.9% versus the same period a year ago.

In EMEA, the Energy Drink category according to Nielsen, for our tracked markets for the recently reported 13-week period, which differs from country to country, coincidently also grew at 12.9% versus the same period last year, FX neutral. In APAC, the Energy Drink category according to Nielsen, Second and Intage for our tracked channels for the recently reported 13-week period, which differs from country to country, grew at 16.8% versus the same period last year, FX neutral.

In LatAm, the Energy Drink category according to Nielsen for our tracked markets, for the 3 months ended December 31, 2025, coincidently also grew at approximately 12.9% versus the same period last year, FX neutral. Our net sales to customers outside the United States were approximately 42% of total reported net sales in the 2025 4th quarter compared to 39% in the same period last year.

Turning to marketing. Our marketing messaging continues to resonate globally as we built strong momentum through the fall and into winter with marketing efforts focused on growing the core business and attracting new consumers. Highlights in the fourth quarter included the Monster Energy sponsor McLaren Formula One team, winning the constructors championship for the second year in a row or land an Arsanis first Driver's Championship and Ascopiastry finished third. Our land and our Sierra Sugar Energy Drink continued its momentum following its successful introduction in certain EMEA markets in the 2025 3rd quarter.

Landon Ares is now available in 38 EMEA and OSP markets. It was also well received as an LTO, which is a limited time offer in selected U.S. markets in the 2025 fourth quarter with a full U.S. rollout on track, no unintended for later in the 2026 1st quarter. We continue to introduce this Energy Drink into new markets, including a recent successful launch in Australia with New Zealand on schedule to launch in March.

Our sponsorship of the Call of Duty gaming franchise continue to provide considerable exposure with 650 million branded cans distributed in more than 40 markets globally in the 2025 4th quarter. The Monster Energy sponsored Ducati team on the Moto GP World Championship, Marquez on the riders Championship is Race suit and bike featured Monster branding.

Other notable sponsorships in the fourth quarter included the UFC, professional bull riding and the up and up music tour in major cottages and universities featuring Monster artists.

The Monster Ultra brand family continued its strong performance, enhanced by the viral social media surge of our flagship, Ultra White and further benefited from a digital media campaign centered around Zero Sugar flavors unleashed. Further enhancing the Ultra family growth was a successful introduction of ultra wild passion last fall in the United States. We are also excited to be participating in America 250 celebration with LTOs, Monster Energy Ultra Red, White and Blue rays, Juice Monster, Strawberry and made and Bang American Barry.

Turning to tariffs. During the fourth quarter of 2025, the impact of tariffs and the increase in the price of aluminum on our operating results was modest. In general, while our flavors and concentrates are manufactured both in the U.S. and Ireland at the present time, production of our finished products takes place locally in our respective markets.

Despite the modest impact on our business in the fourth quarter, the tariff landscape continues to be complicated and dynamic. For instance, tariffs significantly impacted the Midwest premium for aluminum, which increased the cost of our aluminum cans. We also import some raw materials into the United States, export certain raw materials for local markets and export limited quantities of finished goods.

We do not believe, based on our business model that the current tariffs will have a material impact on the company's operating results. However, based on current aluminum pricing and the Midwest premium, we expect a further modest increase in our costs in at least the first half of 2026 as compared to the 2025 4th quarter. We will continue to recognize tariffs on aluminum through the higher Midwest premium and continue to implement hedging strategies across the business where possible.

Turning to our Q4 2025 results. Net sales were $2.13 billion for the 2025 4th quarter, was 17.6% higher than net sales of $1.81 billion in the 2024 4th quarter. Net sales, excluding the alcohol brand segment, increased 18.3% in the 2025 4th quarter. Net changes in foreign currency exchange rates had a favorable impact on net sales for the 2025 fourth quarter of $27.7 million. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis increased 16.1% in the 2025 4th quarter.

Net sales, excluding the alcohol brand segment on a foreign currency adjusted basis, increased 16.7% in the 2025 4th quarter. Excluding Alcohol Brands segment, our reported results is purely illustrative as it remains part of our ongoing operations. Net sales for the company's Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 18.9% to $1.99 billion for the 2025 quarter from $1.67 billion for the 2024 4th quarter. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Monster Energy Drink segment increased 17.5% in the 2025 4th quarter. Net sales for the company's Strategic Brands segment increased 7.8% to $110 million for the 2025 4th quarter from $102 million in the 2024 4th quarter.

Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Strategic Brands segment increased 4.7% in the 2025 4th quarter. Net sales for the Alcohol Brands segment decreased 16.8% to $29 million for the 2025 4th quarter from $34.9 million in the 2024 4th quarter.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 4th quarter was 55.5% compared with 55.3% in the 2024 4th quarter. Adjusted gross profit as a percentage of net sales, excluding the alcohol brand segment, for the 2025 4th quarter was 56.1% compared with 56% in the 2024 4th quarter. The increase in gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 4th quarter is primarily due to the result of pricing actions, supply chain optimization and product sales mix, partially offset by increased can costs and geographical sales mix.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased year-on-year in all 4 geographic regions in the 2025 4th quarter. Distribution expenses for the 2025 4th quarter were $88.9 million or 4.2% of net sales compared with $77.6 million or 4.3% of net sales in the 2024 4th quarter. Setting expenses for the 2025 4th quarter were $219.7 million, or 10.3% of net sales compared with $193.4 million or 10.7% of net sales in the 2024 4th quarter. General and administrative expenses for the 2025 4th quarter were $332.1 million or 15.6% of net sales compared with $350.3 million or 19.3% of net sales for the 2024 4th quarter.

Stock-based compensation was $39 million for the 2025 4th quarter compared with $22.2 million in the 2024 4th quarter. The increase in stock-based compensation for the 2025 4th quarter was primarily the result of a $12.9 million increase in the estimated payout levels for performance-based incentive compensation awards.

General and administrative expenses, including $51.2 million and $130.7 million of alcohol brand segment impairment charges for the 2025 and 2024 4th quarters, respectively. General and administrative expenses in the 2025 4th quarter also included $5.1 million of professional services expenses related to our new AFF St Fernanda facility as well as $6.6 million of expenses related to our digital transformation initiatives.

We've launched a comprehensive digital transformation initiative in 2025 to modernize our enterprise platforms and strengthen end-to-end business capabilities across commercial, operations and supply chain. As part of this effort, we are upgrading our enterprise resource planning system, including the implementation of SAP S/4HANA with a 10 goal upgrade of January 1, 2028, to improve operational efficiency, scalability and overall business management.

Operating expenses for the 2025 4th quarter was $640.7 million compared with $621.2 million in the 2024 4th quarter. Adjusted operating expenses for the 2025 4th quarter were $561.6 million compared with $462.5 million in the 2024 4th quarter. Operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 4th quarter were 30.1% compared with 34.3% in the 2024 4th quarter.

Adjusted operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 4th quarter were 26.7% compared with 26% in the 2024 4th quarter. Operating income for the 2025 4th quarter increased 42.3% to $542.6 million from $381.2 million in the 2024 comparative quarter.

The adjusted operating income for the 2025 4th quarter increased 16% to $617.6 million from $532.2 million in the 2024 4th quarter. The effective tax rate for the 2025 fourth quarter was 21% compared with 29.9% in the 2024 4th quarter.

The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily attributable to higher stock-based compensation reductions, higher income in lower tax jurisdictions and the release of valuation allowances against certain following deferred tax assets.

The effective tax rate for the 2024 4th quarter included an adjustment to the full year effective tax rate. Net income per diluted share for the 2025 4th quarter increased 64.9% to $0.46 from $0.28 in the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted net income per diluted share for the 2025 4th quarter increased 30.4% to $0.51 from $0.39 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Turning now to the U.S. and North America. We had a strong finish to the year in the U.S. and Canada with net sales increasing 13.3% in the 2025 4th quarter compared to the 2024 4th quarter. Our strong performance reflected healthy category growth, share gains and disciplined execution across the organization. Our Zero Sugar portfolio remained a significant contributor to year's growth led by Monster Energy Ultra. According to Nielsen, the Ultra brand family grew 24% in the 2025 4th quarter compared to the 2024 4th quarter with our flagship ultra-wide Energy Drink growing 32% over the same period.

Based on Nielsen data, Monster's full sugar portfolio also delivered a meaningful contribution in this 2025 4th quarter, representing more than 1/3 of the company's total U.S. gains and highlighting the depth of the portfolio. Growth was led by the Juice Monster family, which increased 37% compared to the prior year with Monster including Killebrew, increasing 7.8% despite ongoing softness in the Energy Drink coffee category. In total, Monster's full sugar offerings grew 9.1% and accounted for the vast majority of full sugar category growth in the quarter.

Innovation added momentum through the back half of 2025. Monster's fall innovation slate delivered strong early velocities, rapid distribution expansion and incremental volumes across channels. These launches were supported by coordinated retail activation and marketing execution, helping drive trials, secure high visibility placements and broaden household reach. The performance of late-year innovation further demonstrated the brand's ability to refresh the portfolio while sustaining strength across core franchises.

From December 2025 to summer 2026, our innovation launch calendar is strategically staggered across our brand portfolio. These initiatives are designed to drive incremental consumption, expand distribution opportunities and strengthen consumer engagement across channels. We remain focused on complementing our base business with impactful innovation, delivering the excitement today's consumers demand in the energy category while reinforcing our confidence in sustained growth.

From a revenue growth management standpoint, pricing actions implemented on November 1, 2025, performed in line with expectations. The approach is targeted by channel package analytics-driven and designed to better align price architecture across channels. Early read-through indicated limited volume sensitivity consistent with Monster's brand strength and favorable value proposition of energy drinks relative to other nonalcoholic ready-to-drink categories.

Turning to sales internationally now. Net sales to customers outside the U.S. increased 26.9% to $903.3 million or approximately 42% of total net sales in the 2025 4th quarter compared to $711.5 million or approximately 39% of total net sales in the corresponding quarter in 2024. Net sales to customers outside the United States on a foreign currency adjusted basis, increased 23.1% to $875.6 million in the 2025 4th quarter. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased in all 3 of our international regions, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America in the 2025 4th quarter as compared to the 2024 4th quarter.

Turning to EMEA. Our net sales in EMEA in the 2025 4th quarter increased by 32.6% in dollars and increased 25.9% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 4th quarter was 35.8% versus 32.7% in the same period in 2024. The quarter was driven by strong execution across markets, including accelerated cooler placements and space gains.

Sales growth reflects contribution from both existing SKUs and 2025 innovation with growth from across our Monster affordable and strategic brand families, especially the Monster Energy Ultra and Juice Monster families. The Energy Drink category remains healthy, with Monster outperforming the category in many EMEA markets.

Notably, the Monster Energy brand retained its position as the fastest-growing FMCG brand by value and value growth in the 2025 4th quarter and for the full year 2025, according to Nielsen, in all major channels in CCEP's Western European markets.

Within EMEA, we've also seen the continued growth of our affordable brands few in Egypt, and Petite in Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco. In fact, Predator inferior combined to be the #1 Energy Drink brand by value in major countries in Africa. Innovation continues to drive performance in the region, driven by Juice Monteria Punch, Monster Energy Lane Marier Sugar and Monster Energy Ultra Strawberry Dreams. In addition, we launched Bang in Spain and 4 SKUs in the fourth quarter as an affordable proposition.

Turning to Asia Pacific, net sales in Asia Pacific in the 2025 4th quarter increased 11.5% in dollars and 13.9% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. A systems disruption and our Japanese distributor negatively impacted APAC region sales. We believe this impact on our APAC region sales was approximately 6% to 7% in the 2025 4th quarter. Operations have been back to normal since February 1. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 4th quarter was 41.4% versus 41.3% in the same period in 2024.

Net sales in Japan in 2025 4th quarter decreased 15.2% in dollars and decreased 13.4% on a currency-neutral basis with sales negatively impacted by the full engine system disruption as our distributor. We believe net sales in Japan would have increased by approximately 4% to 5% over the prior year quarter without the system disruption.

Net sales in South Korea in the 2025 4th quarter decreased 26.5% in dollars and decreased 23% on a currency-neutral basis compared to the same quarter in 2024. The decline was primarily a result of bottle inventory fluctuations as depletions increased in the quarter. We remain the market leader in Korea. Net sales in China in the 2025 4th quarter increased 78.9% in dollars and increased 78.3% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Net sales in India in the 2025 4th quarter increased 54.2% in dollars and increased 62.3% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024. Also notable is our launch of Monster in Thailand in January, which is exceeding expectations, driven by positive rates of sale for both Monster Green and Ultra White. We remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for our brands in Asia Pacific and the expansion of our affordable brands in China and India. In Oceana, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Haiti, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Guam, net sales increased 35.5% in dollars and increased 38.9% on a currency-neutral basis. Turning now to Latin America and the Caribbean. Net sales in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, in the 2025 4th quarter increased [ 19.8% ] in dollars and increased 15.1% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024.

Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales was 45.1% for the 2025 4th quarter versus 42.7% in the 2024 4th quarter. Net sales in Brazil in the fourth quarter increased 27.1% in dollars and increased 21.2% on a currency-neutral basis. Notably, we ended 2025 with solid momentum, achieving record high market shares in November and December.

Net sales in Mexico increased 11.7% in dollars and increased 3.8% on a currency-neutral basis in the 2025 4th quarter. And sales in the quarter were impacted by Barclay inventory fluctuations as the patients far exceeded our shipments in Mexico. This dynamic was further supported by Nielsen scanner data that showed growth compared to the prior year of 20.3% for Monster and 28.9% for Predator for the 3 months ended December 2025.

Net sales in Chile in the 2025 4th quarter increased 61.4% in dollars and 61.3% on a currency-neutral basis. sales in Argentina in the 2025 4th quarter decreased 39.5% in dollars and 42.2% on a currency-neutral basis. The net sales decrease in Argentina was due to lower price per case revenue driven by a change to operating model implemented late in the first quarter of 2025 to better manage our foreign currency exposure, similar to last quarter, while revenues declined, volumes increased in Argentina in the quarter.

Turning to Monterrey. Net sales for the Alto Brands segment was $29 million in the 2025 4th quarter, a decrease of approximately $5.9 million was 16.8% lower than the 2024 comparable quarter. Our recently launched Hard lemonade line blind lemon and Blandon continues its national rollout. The first subline of the Beast Perfect 10 began shipping in 2026 first quarter. And new national be done double and the spirit base ready to drink just 5 or among the planned innovations for spring of 2026.

Additional seasonal crop beer offerings are planned in 2026. Turning to our share repurchase program. During the 2025 4th quarter, no shares of the company's common stock were repurchased against our repurchase program. As of February 25, 2026 approximately $500 million remained available for repurchase under the previously authorized repurchase program.

Turning to January 2026 sales. We estimate that January 2026 sales on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis were approximately 20.5% higher than the comparable January 2025 sales and 21% higher on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the alcohol brand segment. We estimate that on a foreign currency adjusted basis, January 2026 sales were approximately 16.7% higher than comparable January 2025 sales and 70.1% higher on a foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment.

January 2026 had 1 fewer selling day than January 2025. In this regard, we caution again that sales of a short period often disproportionately impacted by various factors such as for example sitting days, days of the week in which holidays fall, timing of new product launches, the timing of price increases and promotions in retail stores, distributor incentives as well as shifts in the timing of production. In some instances, our bottlers are responsible for production and determining production schedules. This affects the dates on which we invoice such bottlers. Furthermore, our bottling and distribution partners maintain inventory levels according to own internal requirements which they may alter from time to time for the running business reasons.

We reiterate that sales over a short period such as a single month should not necessarily be imputed to regard this indicative of results to the fourth quarter or any future period.

In conclusion, I would like to summarize some recent positive points. The Energy Drink category continues to grow globally and consumer demand, as measured by scanner data remained strong. We believe that household penetration continues to increase in the Energy Drink category due to product functionality and affordable value proposition and lifestyle positioning. We are seeing increases in purchase frequencies as well as usage occasions expanding across dayparts. We gained share in many markets globally in the fourth quarter as our core brands continue to grow and were complemented by innovation.

We continue to expand ourselves in non-Nielsen track channels with an objective to expand our FSP foodservice on-premise business, we're excited about our innovation pipeline for 2026 and beyond. We continue to review opportunities for price increases, both domestically and internationally. Gross margins expanded in all 4 geographic regions compared to the prior year period. We are continuing our digital transformation in order to modernize our enterprise platforms and strengthen end-to-end business capabilities across commercial, operations and supply chain, including our upgrade to SAP S/4HANA with a planned go-live date of January 1, 2028.

I would like to open the floor to questions about the quarter.

[Operator Instructions] Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] The first question will come from Dara Masenian with Morgan Stanley.

Just wanted to touch on your market share gains internationally. It's really accelerated in recent periods. Obviously, you've consistently gained share internationally over a long period of time. But just was more focused on what you think has driven the recent acceleration and how sustainable that is? And then also within that, maybe you can touch on the affordable energy strategy and how that's performing in emerging markets in terms of incrementality for the category and driving category development?

Well, Dara, good afternoon. Let me talk a little bit about the affordable energy category. And then we're fortunate we have Guy Cladin here, who will be able to talk quite succinctly about what's happening with market shares internationally. .

So if you look at the affordable energy category, it's a way of positioning energy drinks to markets where the affordability of Monster is somewhat out of reach. And we've always wanted to establish Monster as our lead brand, that is at a particular price point. And we've never wanted to take that down to where the affordable category should be.

So the affordable business for us is growing. The last count estimates for 2025 and I've never given this number before, but we'll give it now, were in the order of 100 million unit cases. So it's a business that's growing, and we're excited to have it as part of our portfolio. And also, it's important to understand that most of the world's population now lives in emerging developing markets. So it's a really big opportunity for us. And in key markets for affordable is Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico, India, China, and we have affordable in a lot of other countries, but those really are our lead markets for affordable energy. I'm just going to pass the call now to Guy, who will talk about market shares internationally.

Thank you, Hilton. The category has seen strong double-digit growth internationally, I think, across the world. People are attracted to the category by the strong value proposition and the multi occasion usage across multiple age groups. 25% of category consumers are new to the category in the last 12 months coming from a wide range of categories. Monster has been able to outperform the category. We've seen growth from both innovation and existing SKUs. In Europe, 2/3 of our growth is coming from the existing business, and 1/3 from innovation, where the rest of the category has been much more dependent on innovation.

For example, the Ultra brand platform in the fourth quarter grew by 53% in Nielsen sales headlined by Ultra White, which grew at 59%. So the existing SKUs and especially 0 sugar SKUs are driving growth. And then innovation, such as Lando Norris Zero Sugar, grew usage with existing consumers, but also in itself, 25% of lando sales were new to the category and 25% of Lando sales were new to consumers. So across multiple occasions, sugar and nonsugar innovation and existing SKUs, we're seeing growth ahead of the category.

The next question will come from Filippo Falorni with Citi.

Hilton, I'd love to get your perspective hon the U.S. Energy Drink category for 2026. Obviously, phenomenal growth in 2025, coming off a relatively easier base in '24. But clearly, the momentum is continuing. As you mentioned, there's some long-term drivers. And in terms of distribution gains, do you expect the category to continue to gain distribution space in 2026? And any order of magnitude you're expecting would be helpful.

Sure. We don't give guidance, but what I can talk a little bit about is -- what are the key drivers behind where we are today and where we really do expect to be going forward. The Energy Drink business presents a value proposition to consumers. Relative to CSDs and relative to coffee coffees, there really is value in the sale of or the purchase of an Energy Drink by a consumer. In terms of pricing, plus there is a need, there's a functional need for energy. So there's a benefit. There's a functional need. It's a product that's there. It's available and appeals to our consumer group. .

Increasing household penetration is another major factor innovation, which Guy touched on as well. And we spoke a little bit about it on the script earlier. The need state for energy. And what's also important is more dayparts. You're seeing energy consumed across the day, whereas historically, it was not that factor. So for Monster, pricing and innovation, I think, will remain very much a part of where we are going. And FSOP, as I mentioned earlier, is a focus for 2026 as well.

So overall, we're excited about the opportunities that are open to us in the space. And looking at space and space gains in stores, obviously, retail is a aliquot space to the brands that are selling and they do so on a well-measured and analytical basis. So the way this category is growing relative to other categories, I think we see that space will continue to grow. And merchants will give the consumer what they want. And there's also an opportunity to gain space from alcohol, which is underperforming and other products in the beverage category, which are also underperforming.

And what we've always said, and I sort of want to stress that space for innovation, we always see that as incremental. We never want to take from our existing space for our innovation SKUs.

The next question will come from Matthew Smith with Stifel.

I wanted to focus on the margin performance in the quarter, you expanded gross margin across regions, but also called out pressure from tariffs and inflation. Can you just help clarify some of the prepared remarks on margin progression. And also on G&A, that's 1 area where you saw some deleverage despite the top -- the strong top line performance. You listed a couple of specific items in the prepared remarks, but can you provide a little more detail on G&A and the progress from here? Are some of the investment areas ongoing or more onetime in nature?

Okay. Good question. So just talking about margin in the quarter, what we normally see and this quarter was no different, that the increase in our gross profit margins was primarily the result of pricing actions supply chain optimization and product sales mix. As we develop and sell a larger proportion of Zero Sugar SKUs. On the other hand, we have these aluminum can costs from -- largely driven by the aluminum pricing and the Midwest premium. And then again, we also have this geographical sales mix as we sell more product overseas. I mean it's no secret. You guys know what our margins are internationally versus what they are in the U.S. .

So also, my comment normally is we don't bank gross profit percentages. We bank gross profit dollars, and I want to go back to that as well. So the impact on -- in the quarter on the tariffs and the increase in the LME and the similar premiums that you have in other parts of the world, including the Rotterdam premium. The impact on our margin was modest and I'm not going to give a specific number, but it was largely offset by the increase that we achieved in the increase in our selling price. Going forward, -- we do, as I've mentioned on previous calls, have an active hedging program, and we'll continue to process aluminum on -- with our hedging program.

So whatever I talk about our business, talking net of hedging program. And if you look at what happened in the fourth quarter, it's actually quite interesting to aluminum and LME, you'll see that from Q4 to Q5, the LME increased by -- including Midwest premium, including increased by -- in excess of 50%. So that's -- those are the percentage numbers that you're dealing with, and we expect that they'll continue to increase going forward into 2026.

I think they'll still be modest. I think Q1 will probably be a little bit higher than what we saw in this quarter, and Q2 will be a little bit higher than that, and then we start overlapping and the rest of the year is overlapping on high aluminum prices in 2025.

So I see some impact on in Q1, in Q2, but after that, it will just lap previous increases in aluminum. On G&A, we mentioned in the script a couple of things. We said that we had this $12.9 million increase in estimated payout levels for performance-based incentive compensation. We spoke about the professional services expenses relating to the start-up of a new AFF San Fernando facility, which we booked in the fourth quarter as well as $6.6 million of expenses related to our digital transformation initiatives.

So as we go forward on the digital transformation initiatives, some of them will be in -- capitalized, of course. And -- but there will be a chunk in G&A. So if you adjust and you take those numbers into consideration and you adjust the G&A numbers that are in our release and in the script and you'll see in the K, you'll see that we -- the leverage is actually the percentage of G&A as a percentage of sales is actually coming down rather than going up as you possibly suggested.

The next question will come from Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs.

All right. I had a quick follow-up question on the cost portion. Would you consider further pricing actions to offset the cost pressures? And then I did have a couple of questions on innovation. First, maybe Hilton, can you give us a sense of the phasing of your innovation this year? Is it more first half versus second half weighted? Or is it more balanced throughout the year? And then maybe talk to us a little bit about the repeat purchase rates that you've been seeing in some of the recent rollouts.

Okay. So what I said in the script, and I'll say it again, is we continue to review opportunities for price increases, both domestically and internationally. It's something that's very much in our minds. And if we think there's an opportunity, then it's something that we certainly will consider. As I've said also in previous calls and that we run our own playbook and we decide what's right for us and what's right for the company and what's right for our distributors and our consumers and act accordingly. .

We also -- our GM plays a very big role in our processing decisions, and you saw what happened with the price increase that we put into effect in November 1. And we're actually quite pleased with the way that went. And I also said on the -- in the script that it really went according to plan. And we didn't really see a fall in volumes.

And now turning to your question on innovation. This year, we will be seeing innovation staggered across at least the first half of the year for the ones that have already been announced. And then there will be some fall innovation, which we haven't announced yet. But you'll see instead of previous years where we launched everything in the first couple of months -- we -- what we're doing this year, what Rob is doing is a more kind of definitive approach where we are we're staggering our innovation. And then, of course, we have the Americas 250 innovation, which are in selected retailers right now, but they will be opened up to coincide with those celebrations. And we've seen good progress from innovation. I think that's something that we are monitoring, and we're really excited with our innovation

The next question will come from Carlos Laboy with HSBC.

Hilton, can you please share with us perhaps some more detail on how it's going in India. You have a new bottler there. Can you also please shed some light on how you get the governing principles and the long-range vision rate with such an important new bottler when you have a new bottling relationship, please?

Okay. Thanks, Carlos. I'm really excited about India. I was there in a couple of months ago. And we work very closely with the Coca-Cola team in Atlanta and with the Coca-Cola team in India and with the bottlers to really activate and accelerate our business in India. The new bottler is very excited to be part of the journey with us. I know that and have met the Chief Executive on a number of occasions, and they are very, very excited with the opportunity for Monster and Predator in India and for the ability to compete effectively with famous competition that is in the blue can. .

The next question will come from Andrea Teixeira with JPMorgan.

Hilton, would like to perhaps go deeper on the margin question. I know you don't bank margins and you bank dollars. But just wondering how we should be thinking given the hedges and what has been happening with the aluminum prices? And obviously, you had an expansion and which is remarkable, but just thinking of ahead, how we should be embedding the international expansion, the low price energy mix, geography effects would be very helpful?

I think I spoke about aluminum that would have an impact on margin. I spoke a little bit about that earlier. So we do see some pressure in the first and second quarter of 2026. And so I'm not sure what else to what else to add to that. Internationally, you've seen what's happened with our gross margins. We've been able to increase margin in each of the territories that we have that we participated and reported on. There was a question earlier about affordable and affordable also assess our gross margin. So it's something that we're really focused on internationally. As you know, we some -- we don't enjoy the same pricing that we have here in the U.S. in many international markets, but we are focused on increasing margin. And I think you saw a little bit of that in this last quarter. .

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Schlosberg for any closing remarks.

On behalf of Monster, I would like to thank everyone for their interest in the company. We're confident in the strength of our brands and the talent of our entire Monster family throughout the world, and I'm excited to be working with them and thank them for their contributions. I'd also like to congratulate the Rob and Emily and Guy for their new positions and really look forward to working with them as we go forward into 2026 and beyond.

We all believe in the company and our growth strategy, and we're committed to innovating, developing and differentiating our brands and expanding the company both at home and abroad. We're proud of our relationship with the Coca-Cola system and the opportunity this presents to us. We believe that we are well positioned in the beverage category and are optimistic about the future of our company. Thank you very much for your attendance.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Dara Mohsenian, Morgan Stanley's beverage and household products analyst. Just before we get started, as a reminder, for important disclosures, please see the Morgan Stanley Research Disclosures website at www.morganstanley.com. And if you have any questions, you can reach out to your Morgan Stanley sales representative.

So with that out of the way, we're incredibly honored to have Monster here on stage for their first ever conference appearance with us for a keynote fireside chat. The company has got an incredible track record of driving long-term growth in the energy category, both in the U.S. and internationally and building brands behind a distinct marketing approach and successful innovation.

So joining us on stage are Hilton Schlosberg, CEO; Rob Gehring, Chief Growth Officer; Emelie Tirre, President of the Americas; and Guy Carling, President of EMEA. Thanks, guys, for being here. I appreciate it.

So Hilton, I mentioned Monster's strong track record. I've covered your stock for almost 25 years. During that time frame, you're actually the best performer of all companies in the S&P 500. If you go back to the names 25 years ago, my perspective would be a lot of that success has been driven by the entrepreneurial nature of your company. And really, you and Rodney have been the face of that success for Wall Street.

But if you look at the last couple of years, you brought in some outsiders, you've increased the responsibility from people internally, and you've added breadth to your management team. And yesterday at your Analyst Day, you also talked about a lot more of the analytical and digital tools you're using. So just curious, as you look at the breadth of the management team here, the greater analytical rigor you're putting into place, what do you see as the key value drivers emanating from that going forward? Whether it's areas like RGM or whatever other areas you'd highlight?

Sure. Good afternoon, everyone. Dara, thanks for the introduction. I really appreciate your comments. It's interesting for me to be here because we don't normally do these conferences. And it's probably the pain that we attracted because we hired Mark Astrachan to handle Investor Relations for the company. So we can't get forced to engage in these conferences. So Mark, wherever you are. Thanks very much.

On a more serious note, we've always had a strong bench. You're seeing executives here, Guy Carling, for example, who runs EMEA, has been with us for 16 years. Emelie Tirre, who runs a large part of our business on the U.S. side and also, she's our Chief Commercial Officer. Emelie's been with us for 15 years. And Rob's a newbie. Rob, really proud to have you on board. Rob has been with us for just over a year now. I think that's correct. So really proud to have Rob on board and we have a really strong management team.

It's interesting adding up the number of years of service that the team has been part of, and it's -- they've been associated. The leadership team has been with Monster in aggregate for 241 years, if you count me in that mix. And it's a very sizable number I think, for any company to have that degree of longevity. And if you take into account their previous experiences in the beverage industry, which is not in that 241, that number probably more than doubles. So we have a lot of experience in the company, and we're proud of the team that we have.

So in the last 2 years, we've really -- I've made a very special efforts to ensure that the team is exposed to ironalists and our investors, and we had our investor presentation yesterday where I did a heck of a lot less of the talking and the team really developed the talk track. And I think from everything we've heard that it was a good meeting. So -- and one of the aspects of how we're operating is that my leadership style really is to empower the team. We cannot do everything ourselves. There's a -- we're a big company today, and we're in almost 160 countries. And we distribute, as many of you know, through the -- principally through the Coca-Cola system, although we work with Asahi in Japan, and we have other smaller distributors, but our relationship principally is with the Coca-Cola Company, we're proud of that association. So we're in a bunch of countries, and we have great leaders in EMEA, you'll hear from Guy today, in the U.S. Asia Pacific, LatAm. And we really have a good depth of management throughout the organization.

Great. Rob, you're a relative newcomer at Monster, as Hilton mentioned. You've worked with the company, both in an external role and now internally. If you had to call out one or two things culturally since you've joined that you think really sets Monster apart, help us get some insight there? Anything that surprised you since you've joined? And then second, can you just talk about your biggest priorities, the biggest growth opportunities you see as Chief Growth Officer?

You bet. First of all, thanks for being here and your interest in Monster company. So I've been in the Coke system for about 30 years, and so I've been privy to Monster as a bottler, I ran Swire Coca-Cola. So they were a key component of our growth agenda at Swire when we were doing our 10-year plans because we believe in the energy category. So I've known them from outside looking in, and so now being within the 4 walls, I get a front row seat to some of the things I admired most. I constantly admired their spirit of innovation. And it was actually one of the principles we tried to incorporate at Swire was we called it a culture of innovation. I will tell you that is in the very fabric of Monster. And it's no coincidence that you look across the beverages we're choosing. This is one of our 26 innovations right here. I'm trying -- Lando Norris is another one. And it's not solely an innovative product, it's an innovative thinking, it's an innovative commercial strategies, it's an innovative RGM philosophies, it's an innovative technology and the way we're approaching the business for the future. And I would say that's woven into the very fabric of everybody's being in the organization.

And one of the other attributes that I love about the culture, there's 5 foundational areas of the culture, but one of them is Monster Family. And they truly believe and live that. It's one of the few companies that did not have layoffs during COVID through all the challenges. They believe in the way we take care of our associates and our employees, the way we take care of our partners and our customers, and we're always concerned about their well-being and so those are some of the things I've admired from the outside looking in and now that I get a front row seat to it. I really -- I'm enamored and really want to do everything I can to foster and ensure that those cultural values continue to flourish for the long term.

When you pivot over to our growth agenda, so most of you know the trajectory of the category from external sources, it projects a very healthy growth trajectory. And one of the things we focused on is obviously the integration of technology as much as possible to truly understand the consumer and put the consumer at the center of everything we do. And that goes hand in glove with our RGM philosophy. When you think of what we're trying to do with RGM, it's how we meet the consumer where they're at in everything they do, whether it be purchase occasion, whether it be the vessel size or the brand or the functional need state that they're seeking to solve.

And we've been very open about our goal is to constantly grow units. We believe consumption is a critical metric and so we focus on units. We want dollars to grow ahead of that, and that's where the art and science, combined with that, and we want profit to grow ahead of that revenue. And so that is something we've been practicing at Monster, but we're very overt about it now. And it is getting more complex because the consumer is getting more complex. The demand curve is more volatile, understanding that. And so in the peer set of CPGs, there are very few that are growing volume. And categorically, we're growing volume as a category, and we're growing volumes. So we want to ensure longer term that's there.

And I would be remiss if I did not focus on a very green opportunity for us, which is the food service on-premise relationship with the Coke company. James Quincey from this stage talked about 30 million outlets globally, we are not in all of those 30 million outlets. So there's an immense opportunity in that food service on-premise and I've probably taken more time than -- I was a lot of their...

it's great to have a lot of growth opportunities. We could use more of that.

Yes. There's a lot, I could keep talking.

Okay. That's great. Emelie, maybe we could talk about the U.S. category growth has rebounded significantly this year. I find that at odds at every other stage appearance this week, what I'm asking, why have categories has been so weak in CPGs. So it's really unique to see the strength in the energy category this year. You also saw some weakness last year. So I'd love your perspective on the underlying growth drivers behind the strength this year, if you think they can continue going forward? And maybe also just comparing and contrast that to what we saw last year and understanding that volatility.

Yes. I mean it's a great category to be in because we're -- the category is growing and what we see is that we still have a household penetration rate for the energy category still in the 70% range, whereas soft drinks are in the 98% range. We're also seeing a lot of females coming into the category now, younger females that are coming into the category. And so while we had soft hurdles last year, there was a lot of unrest in the U.S. marketplace last year. And I think we talked about that on earnings calls as well. And the categories rebounded quite nicely, and we've seen that through my 15-year career here as well is that there is these points of cyclical that it comes back -- it goes down and it comes back. But overall, the category is projected to grow. I think Hilton showed on stage yesterday at about 8% globally. And so the U.S. will continue to be a part of that, but my belief is that with that room of household penetration that we still have to soft drinks, that's something that we're going to continue to try and recruit households to start buying energy drinks here in the United States.

Great. Guy, same question in Western Europe. You've delivered really strong organic sales growth in the EMEA region despite having high per capita consumption in a number of markets. So just help us understand maybe first, the category growth piece of that. And I know you've done some consumer insight work recently. You brought new customers into the category, as you talked about yesterday, but the factors driving category growth but then the second piece of it also is the share gains we've seen, which have reaccelerated in recent quarters, what's behind those share gains and help us understand the long-term growth opportunity in Western Europe and in EMEA in general.

Okay. If I start with the category. I mean, I think as has been talked, it's a great category to be in. First and foremost, it's a category that's functional. Energy beverages do something. And that need for energy is kind of every day, all day, every day. The second thing is actually, as a perspective, it's quite a young category. So maybe talk about where it's going to go, it's -- let's say, it's 25, 30 years old in Europe. But that means that an 18-year-old 30 years ago is only 48, they've got another 20 plus, 25 years of drinking. During that 25 years, there's a 2-decade worth of consumers going to come into the category in the future. So the age of the category gives it kind of enormous potential. But over that period, the category has evolved enormously. So 30 years ago, it started off in a bar with vodka, and it's broadened every year, every decade and evolved into an everyday mainstream beverage. So something that was more niche and pigeonholed, I shared some data yesterday, has now drunk 24/7 in every single daypart morning, evening, night in multiple usage occasions from gaming, with food, in the gym to pick you up on the go, all the obvious ones. But those usage occasions kind of underpin the current and the future of the category. And what we've seen is that Monster has been able to outperform across all the usage occasions and across all the dayparts. And it's a category with functionality, but also it's very image-driven, seeing it as a brand lifestyle attached to that functionality, which I think is important to consumers. It's a category driven by innovation. So you have a huge variety of flavors in zero sugar and full sugar that are appealing to consumers of all ages, though we recruit the strongest in the youngest adult age groups, but actually across all age groups. Lando Norris, the biggest number of consumers coming in are sort of 18 to 25 but the 30 to 45-year-olds, it's also a new consumption.

And then we've got innovation. Lando Norris is bringing in new consumers to the category. It's bringing in consumers that are new to Monster. So -- but I think one of the things where across the whole business, we've been able to make the share gains is not just growing through innovation. So we've got a similar amount of growth coming from innovation as our competitors but we're also growing the fan favorites, the core SKUs across our 4 brand platforms. We are seeing huge growth. We've talked about the success of Ultra. I mean it's global, Ultra White especially, but growing 40%, 50%.

This is a brand platform that's kind of over 10 years old. I think one of the things that's fueled that is taking the portfolio which is hugely successful in the kind of core channels of grocery, convenience, fuel, but into away-from-home. Rob talked about the opportunities in food service in fast food in those kind of areas, taking the core fan favorite SKUs into those new pieces of distribution gives them growth, gives the brand growth. And yes, there's 30 million outlets around the world, and there's a lot that don't yet sell energy and don't yet sell Monster. So it's a huge source of potential growth for the future.

On the penetration point, we've got around 40% of adults drink energy in our markets. And of the remainder, 60%, 75% are open to drink energy. So taking energy to where they are in places like occasions like food, 30% of energy is drunk with food. But in terms of the outlets that sell food, we're not in probably 30% of them. So you combine the age of the category with the functionality with the image lifestyle, the innovation and the products that are on offer, we see the share gains and the potential opportunities for the future.

Great. And the consumer study work you just did in Europe. Any surprises from that? Anything that stood out to you?

I think the amount of recruitment that the category continues to do, it kind of reinforces across all age groups. We've got 25% coming in. And then I think the mainstream sort of daily aspect. In Europe, Middle East and Africa, it's very balanced male or female. It's a very balanced between zero sugar and full sugar. So whilst a lot gets talked about zero sugar and it is a huge source of growth to our consumers who want full flavor full-sugar products. So I think it's really the balance across the dayparts, across the occasions that kind of everyday energy benefit availability.

Right. Great. Hilton, Zero Sugar, we'll stay on this subject, has become a much bigger piece of your portfolio really led by Ultra and the success that you're having there. Can you just take us through your strategy on no sugar, how important a growth driver is that for your business going forward? And also maybe talk about the international opportunity versus the U.S. opportunity in no sugar?

Sure. We actually were the first company to introduce a Zero Sugar energy beverage and around -- I think it was around -- Monster was launched in 2002, it was probably 2 years, 2 or 3 years later that we launched a Zero Sugar product, and it was long before any of the competitors even considered a Zero Sugar product. And we've seen the growth of the Zero Sugar products. We've seen, for example, this viral campaign that started off totally virally, nothing to do with us in Europe and has become really kind of a global phenomenon and it's really surprised us and it's toward our social media guys something about how viral campaigns can really work. It's been staggering, and it supported the growth and our Zero Sugar products are growing faster than our full sugar products. Having said that, as Guy correctly mentioned, there's still the consumer that wants a full sugar product.

And if you look at the opportunity in the United States, absolutely Zero Sugar is a major part to play. In Europe, many countries again, have a huge appetite for a Zero Sugar product. If you go to LatAm and you look at Asia, Zero Sugar is still in the development mode in many countries. So there's a lot of opportunity. And the one thing that a Zero Sugar product does because we always have to defend our margins as probably other companies have to do and the analysts always like higher margins, and the Zero Sugar products, they actually deliver that because the cost of sweeteners is a lot less than the cost of sugar. So there's a lot of benefits to having a Zero Sugar product, but it's something that the consumer wants.

And as we live our lives, we look for our consumer. We're there for our consumers, and we have a wide range of products that appeal to that consumer base. So we try and to ensure that every part of the industry, every part of our consumers are satisfied by the products that we're able to offer them. And obviously, there's a huge demand for Zero Sugar as there is for sugar. So yes, I think it will be an important part of the -- it will remain an important and an increasing part of the category. So we'll be happy, the consumers will be happy and the analysts will be happy.

It's a great recipe. We like that. Maybe we can talk about the innovation pipeline here. It's the best I've seen in all my time covering the company, I'd say, by far, maybe Hilton or Rob, help us understand why you've got so much innovation coming out this year, how you think about the level of contribution potentially? Can it really drive more of an unlock in terms of shelf space? And then also just how do you keep that pipeline up longer term? Sorry, multi-part question, I'll remind you.

Yes. Okay. First of all, we've had great innovation historically, '25 we spoke about yesterday, but '25, another year of very successful innovation. And I think the energy category is driven by innovation. It's significantly key driver for the consumer in that category. They're expecting it. As you hear us say, they have an insatiable desire for new. And one of the key things that are differentiated that sets us apart at Monster Energy is our goal is always to use innovation as a complement to our core business. So we shared the numeric illustration of our third quarter where innovation is driving our core business. Innovation is a key [indiscernible] growth, but it's bringing core with it. And so that comes to light in our merchandising standards, how we execute it in store, how we display it, how we market it. And that's a goal of ours moving forward. So we want it to be sustainable. We want it to be a sustainable resource for us for growth and that of our customers and our retailers.

And so when you look at '26, we do have an incredible amount of innovation, whether it be flavor extensions, package innovation or actually new areas that we're going into catering to different consumers because, again, the consumer is at the center of everything we do. We will always use that as a metric because, again, back to -- we wanted to increase volume and revenue. And if it's not bringing the core with it, it's coming at the risk of cannibalizing the core and so '26 is by, in my opinion, the best innovation calendar I've ever seen from a company in my career. And so I'm very proud of what we have going.

And it's a balance of zero-calorie offerings as is this is punk punch that's coming out as well as full calorie offerings. Our juice lineup is doing incredibly well. We have a new juice offering. We have complementary full throttle and NOS offerings. And we're doing something that we have not historically done as part of the America 250 summer campaign. We're doing some LTOs. So we have not done those in the past. We're going to try some LTOs. It's worked successfully in the category. We want it to be one of our tools but not the tool to drive innovation. We want to stick with what we're doing because we believe it drives and earns share. It doesn't rent share. So we believe wholeheartedly in the innovation pipeline we've shared for 2026 at NACS and some of the products are here. So I would strongly encourage you to sample them and give us our -- give us your feedback on it.

And driving sustainability of innovation, can you talk about how you do that? Is it sort of more of a measured pace of rollout as opposed to big bang? Or how are you really driving sustainability?

You bet. So we've split up the year. Obviously, a lot of the resets are done at the beginning of the year, but over the most recent years, we've learned that there's that need for fall innovation as well. So we kind of space it throughout the year. So this year, you're going to see spring, you're going to see some summer and you're going to see fall. And it's kind of spread throughout that because, again, the consumer is fickle and moves and their desire for new is there. So the goal is to give them that experimentation, allow that -- see which ones will become platform SKUs, which stay permanently, but also, at the same time, have them beer back to core. We want them to try that and then continue to go back to core over and over again. So that complementary relationship of how those 2, that's kind of where the magic has happened in our innovation pipeline. And you'll see it on all of our displays. You'll see Green Monster and White Monster on every one of our innovation displays. You'll see it in our marketing and our merchandising and everything.

And Hilton, why so many ideas this year from an innovation standpoint? Is it that the consumers broadened and there's more opportunity? Have there been changes internally at the company in terms of your level of focus? You've had a successful track record, but it's really a big step up this year.

I think we had -- if you look at 2025, there was a good amount of innovation in '25. I think that's what's skewing 2026 is the fact that we have 2 LTOs that are based on the Americas 250th Year Anniversary. We're celebrating the 250th Year Anniversary, and you'll see at the fight that's going to happen at the White House, hopefully, that the mat of the UFC will have one of the 250th Year Anniversary cans. So we're really focused on that. And I think if you look at those 2 SKUs that are coming as part of that program, it's kind of added to the 2026 innovation calendar but if you look at '25 and '26, I think I haven't added it up because we look at the needs and the opportunities but I think it's probably the same amount of innovation stripping those 2 out. And then, of course, we've got the 2 products that have come from EMEA, they've been really successful in the EMEA. Historically, the U.S. has driven innovation now. We look at it on a different basis, and EMEA may lead with particular SKUs, like, for example, the Bad Apple, which we launched now. We've just recently launched that in the U.S. and then Lando Norris, which has been so successful in Europe. And that, again, we did as an LTO in 2025, but with a full rollout planned in 2026. We launched Lando Norris in the U.S. in those territories that benefited from a Formula One race, which was basically Texas and Las Vegas, and we added California into the mix because California is very much part of the Vegas scene. So we've done that, and we carry on with innovation. One of the points that Rob and Guy and Emelie made earlier was the fact that innovation is additive to our core and accelerates our core. So with us, we're really focused on our core. We have to grow the core with many of our competitors, they don't look at that as much as how much the innovation adds to the overall business. We're focused on driving our core. Our core is really important to us. And whatever we do with innovation, is really accelerates and adds to the core product that we have.

And what I should have mentioned earlier, and I actually just came to me was that if you strip out the Ultra brand in the United States, for example, that in itself is the third biggest energy drink brand in the United States. That shows how big that Ultra brand is. I missed that earlier in your answer to your questions so I'm addressing it now.

Great. Hilton, perhaps we can turn to gross margins. And I know it's not always your favorite subject, but they've been remarkably consistent in recent quarters, considering the tariffs and run-up in Midwest premium. I think one of those reasons is we're seeing expansion internationally within the region. So help us understand what's happening under the hood internationally and what's driving that? Is that something that's sustainable as we look going forward?

So I am passionate about gross margin, believe it or not. But we have a philosophy in the company that we bank gross profit. The percentages are something that is kind of an illusion that you guys focus on. But we -- but seriously, I mean, we do as well. But we have a huge focus on gross profit and gross profit margins on a number of parameters. And obviously, pricing is a big parameter. And we've discussed that historically that pricing internationally is substantially less in many cases than pricing in the U.S., and that leads to low margins internationally than we are able to achieve in the U.S. We are striving to improve that and examine what we can do to improve margins on an international basis, but remembering that we are in a competitive environment. We don't exist in a vacuum. So we have to seriously consider where the competition is, and we participate in a category, and we want to be leaders and achievers in that category.

But yes, we have been increasing margins internationally. A lot of that has been through cost savings, efficiencies and also taking opportunities with pricing where we can. And you saw in the last quarter that every region actually improved profitability. And one of the things that we are encouraging our analysts look at is the gross profit by region rather than conglomerating the gross profit and trying to find the reasons for overall gross profit percentages, rather focus on it by region, which is probably more explainable. But yes, it is a major objective of ours.

Great. Hilton and Rob, I'd love to hear your perspective on the relationship with the Coca-Cola system. There have been some stresses at various points in the past. Rob, you have a unique perspective from both sides of it, right, having seen both sides of that relationship. It does seem like joint efforts are in a much better place now. What does that mean tangibly for your business going forward, your growth profile, the way you operate?

Rob, do you want to start?

Sure, I'll start. Coming from being a bottler, like I said earlier, Monster is an integrated part of your business plan. It's an integrated part of how you approach retailers, how you sell the retailers, how you execute in store. And so there was this friction between more of the Coke company than the bottlers. The relationship with the bottlers has always been healthy. We've been a healthy part of their P&L and their operating model. But there's been this undue friction. And I would say the relationship is better than it's ever been. I think history is what it was, and it's all about the path forward. And I attribute that to Hilton extending the olive branch and agreeing to meet with them at the highest levels. And so we've had some pretty strategic meetings about the growth potential, working more closely together versus the friction that has existed in the past, and it's opened a lot of doors.

So one of the examples we've shared earlier in our things was our unified effort against college and universities. So if you think of the importance of that consumer in that life stage where they're very impressionable, it was a statement to this Coke system globally as they've articulated the operating standard and how we work together and publish it to all their bottlers. So all the stakeholders are aligned now on how we approach that key area. And I think that's only the beginning of what can and will come to pass with all the other opportunities out there.

And I'll turn it over to Hilton to talk more about the personal relationships with the leaders.

Yes. I think from a friction perspective, it's more from a -- viewed in a competitive sense because we are additive to the portfolio. We're not a competitor in the portfolio. I think that's an important distinction between where we were in the past and where we are today. And we have a very close relationship with Jennifer Mann, John Murphy, Henrique. And I told the group earlier today about a situation with Henrique where we would -- it was an issue with the Indian bottlers and he put his arm around me and we've talked about the Indian bottlers and he said, "This is my brother. And what you do to my brother, you do to me." So there's a great affinity now of working together and we're seeing some good results, which will benefit us definitely, but will also benefit the Coca-Cola Company, I think in terms of the product offerings that they're able to offer to their various consumers throughout the world.

Great. You guys discussed the affordable energy strategy driving higher penetration in emerging markets over time. That strategy has evolved in recent years. So I'd be curious for your perspective there.

Yes. I think that's -- Guy is absolutely playing in that category in Africa. So let's hear it from Guy.

Thanks, Hilton. I think weed talk about the age of the category. I think up until 5 or 7 years ago, energy in a continent like Africa, was very, very niche. It was limited to premium, Monster premium, Red bull. But when we say premium, we're talking about 3, 4, 5x the price of the CSD, not in normal differentials. In the last kind of 5 or 6 years working with CCBA, working with Hellenic, we've taken Predator and the Fury brand to be the #1 value brand in Africa. And we've got markets where the affordable energy now being available to the mainstream African consumer. Affordable energy has 2/3 of the value sales of energy in Africa, but it's only 5 or 7 years old. The runway in it is enormous. In places like Nigeria and Egypt, we've gone from a standing start to kind of 25%, 30% share in places like Kenya, we have a 60% value sales share of the energy category, but that's only by making energy available at an affordable level to the mainstream consumer. But I think what's exciting is that energy category is very, very young and the per capita consumption of energy in places like Africa and similar in Latin America and Asia Pacific remains very, very young versus the potential of a category that has decades to come.

I think that's a great summary. Emelie, do you want to add anything?

Yes. Same in Latin America, the same where there's pockets of Latin America with the socioeconomic personnel that can come and buy those drinks. It's just -- it's so aspirational Monster is that we offer them Predator. And so the bottlers do a really good job in those markets, Arca, FEMSA and segmenting where we should be putting Predator to where we should be putting Monster. And so I think similar in Philippe's territory and in Asia Pacific. And so we're really relying on the bottlers like in Guy's territory, where we're saying, where should we target Monster and what certain accounts and where we should be targeting Predator or Fury in certain accounts and exposing consumers to the energy drink category.

Yes. China and India, for example, the affordable energy market is really pretty extensive. And we're participating now in both those countries and many other countries throughout Asia. In some markets, it will not be affordable, will not be represented because the consumer group is fulfilled with the premium energy drink site, for example, in Japan. So in the United States, we don't have an affordable category. The affordable categories in its infancy in other countries. And the benefit of our portfolio is we're able to offer to our consumers the products that we believe and that they want whether it's affordable or premium, whether it's low sugar, whether it's sugar, what -- whether it's juice or coffee, we're able to offer a wide range of products to meet our consumer needs.

Great. Hilton, considering this is the first time you're on stage at the Wall Street Conference, any points about Monster that you think are really underappreciated in the investment community?

Well, I'm going to look at the scorecard after this meeting. I'm not sure this is what you expect of us. But I think we've always relatively been low key in the sense that we've focused on running our business. And that's been key for us. We've run our business, a business very cash generative, as you know. So the results the performance of the company can be seen in the cash reserves, which we've deployed, I think, effectively and continue to do so. So from a perspective of what's underappreciated, I don't really know. We're a growth company in a growing industry. And we, hopefully, will continue to deliver the expectations and the results and we'll do our best to do so. So I think that's about it.

Okay. Well, we have time for one more question. So look, it's been a remarkable run. We just talked about the results. I talked about the shareholder performance earlier. You've built a broader leadership team here with more responsibilities. At some point, you'll naturally step back. And obviously, there's been success under your leadership in the C-suite the last couple of decades. How do you ensure the organization is structured for success post your tenure, whenever that happens?

I think one of my key is looking back is the Monster values that we really live and breathe by. We spoke about -- Rob spoke earlier about during COVID, we had no layoffs. We protected our folks, even though it's in the part time who are servicing stores and doing work in the -- with consumers. We supported all of them. We paid and we continue to train during COVID, but we had absolutely no layoffs whatsoever. And we live by the Monster values and the values are own it. We believe people should own what they're responsible for, they should hug and love what they do. Be authentic. We've always tried to be authentic. The Monster family is very important to us. We protect the family, and the family protects us. Teach and be taught, that's another major value that we live by that we have continuous training for our people. And we have a really great team of people throughout the world. We're looking at 6,500, we call them team members. We don't have employees. We have team members and we have 6,500 across the world and really proud of where we are and where we've come from. We've come from humble beginnings, but we're just, I think, a great company today, but that's my view.

That's a great way to end things. Thank you so much for coming. We really appreciate it.

Thanks, Dara. Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Monster Beverage Corporation Investor Update Meeting webcasting live from New York City. I'm Paul Dechary, the company's Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Whether you are attending in person or listening on the webcast, thank you for joining us.

Before I introduce and turn the meeting over to Monster's Chief Executive Officer, Hilton Schlosberg, I want to remind everyone that certain statements made in today's presentation may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws, as amended, regarding the expectations of management with respect to the company's future operating results and other future events, including revenues and profitability.

The company cautions that these statements are based on management's current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the company's control that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those statements made. For a detailed discussion of risks that could affect operating results, please see the company's report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. As always, please hold all questions until the end of the presentation. With that, it is my sincere pleasure to turn the webcast over to Hilton Schlosberg. Hilton, please go ahead.

Good afternoon, good evening, good morning to those of you who, in other countries, welcome to this annual investor presentation. Good to be here in December, although it's raining and awful where the New York City. Mark Astrachan promised me that the weather would be better in December, but it actually isn't, so there we go. Just looking quickly at the distribution of the company's products all the red areas you'll see are or where we are distributed to the Coca-Cola Company through the Coca-Cola Company, and their distributors'. We’re very proud with the association with Coca-Cola. The countries that are in green, and they're kind of hard to see, and they're disappearing, is the Cayman Islands, where we have a third body distributor, Japan and Afghanistan. So if you look at the distributions, it's actually quite interesting. If you look at the trailing 12 months, we are currently on those trailing 12 months, the volume of cases is 925 million unit cases.

So we're edging up to that billion case mark, which is something we are very proud of as the company's growing and the company's expanding. So just looking at the next slide, which is our distribution of our affordable energy brands, these brands are notching up to close to that 100 million mark. So if we go to the next slide about where we are, the Monster brand is distributed in 138 countries and territories. Strat brands, our strategic brands in 57 countries and territories, affordable energy, credit and Fury, we know 36 countries and territories, and one or more of the company's energy drinks are distributed in a total of 158 countries and territories worldwide.

So turning now to the global energy drink forecast. This is not ours. It's a company called Global Data, as you can see in the footnote. So if you look at the 2025, the $87.4 billion, our number is a little bit different to that. But of that number, $25 billion is in the U.S., $12 billion is in LatAm. Europe is $21 billion and APAC is $33 billion and shows the extent of the global energy drink business and the opportunities for growth, and you can see what the projection is. So what will we learn from today? What are we going to talk about today?

Well, fortunately, I'm not going to be doing the talking. Our team is going to be doing the talking. So you'll have exposure to the top leadership team in Monster. But -- the key themes and takeaways from today is, number one, the global energy drink category remains healthy and is growing. Monster and our -- when I talk about Monster, I mean the Monster Energy Company is well positioned in this category with a diverse portfolio appealing to a broad range of consumers.

Our marketing messages continue to resonate and are focused on growing our core and attracting new consumers. Innovation is a key contributor to growth, and we maintain a robust new product pipeline. And as earlier, I said, we are proud of our relationship with the Coca-Cola system. And Monster continues to gain market share in many countries globally. And I know there have been concerns about market share in the U.S. But if you look at what's been happening from the recent data in the last 13 weeks, you'll see that the company's brands -- and Monster itself are doing incredibly well and are increasing market share.

So you guys follow the Nielsen or Circana, and you'll see that's happening. I know that was a big concern for some time, but we have these concerns and then we prove to you guys that there should not be concerns. And now I'd like to turn the presentation over to our Chief Growth Officer, Rob Gehring, and Rob is going to take you through the U.S. and Canada. Thank you.

Thank you, Hilton, and thank you, everyone, for attending. I'm going to be walking you through some North America results, and I would strongly encourage you to try as many of the samples as possible. It counts towards my volume. So even if you take a full can home, take as many as you'd like, we'll take all the help we can get. We currently operate in the U.S. and Canada. We cover this geography with 66 bottlers. So 1 in Canada and 65 in North America. So it's a complex system. We couldn't have a better partnership with the Coke Company and these bottlers. And you'll see it in the data I'm going to share later that execution has been better than ever. We have our brand families that span across both these regions. It's a little broader in the U.S., but it continues -- we continue to broaden that in Canada. And as Hilton alluded to, we're proud of our market share leadership in both the U.S. and Canada. I'm going to walk you through some slides briefly, but this is dollars over the last 52 weeks for all major channels for the NARTD category in which we currently operate.

It's a great category. Consumers drink a lot of liquid, and we're very proud of the energy category within this. So you see about 18.7% of the dollars are accountable for the energy category. And then as you transfer over to the right, you can see the growth pillars where we continue to outpace sparkling beverages.

Sparkling is having a good year as well. But compared to the other categories, those 2 kind of stand out in and of themselves. A critically important metric for us is always units in addition to dollars. Why? Because it's a consumption metric. We want to understand how the consumer is using our product and their consistency of using it is kind of the expansion of the value of our franchise a little bit. And so when you look at this, it's up to 19.2%. So it's a little broader share as far as unit consumption. It's the top of the charts there with 1.4% unit share growth. And then it's a standout among its peer set as far as unit movement. So our RGM structure is working as we always strive to drive dollars ahead of units. Starting to drive into some syndicated data on brand performance. So this is the last 13 weeks. This is all measured channels as well. And you can see up at the top of the charts, the energy category is growing. It's up 10.7 in dollars and 7.7 in units.

And then we like to look at our portfolio in aggregate and then the Monster brands in and of themselves. So I'll focus on the aggregate here. So we're driving 9.1% in dollar growth and 4.1% in units. And when you isolate the Monster brand, even better than that. As we dive down a little further into the convenience store channel, which convenience is a critical, usually, we look at it as almost an early indicator. It's one of our core areas. It's about 40% of our business. So we constantly focus on this. It's one of our core consumers. Again, the category is up 3.8% and 1.8% in units, and our portfolio is up 7% and 2.1 in units. So we're continuing to outpace that in aggregate and the Monster brand, again, even stronger at 10.7% and 6.7%. This is a 24-month chart. It just kind of shows the ebb and flows within that. We know we're in a very desirable category. There's a lot of competitors that want to get into our category and compete with us. So we're constantly looking at those.

We look at the larger competitors with a little more intent focus on that. But we're back to, as Hilton alluded to over the past few months, back to that share growth that we love and strive for. There's been a lot of conversation about RGM at Monster.

We've had the RGM discipline for long before I got there. It's a critical part of our business. We're talking a little more overtly about it recently and very purposely in how we've done it, and I'll talk a little bit more on the next few slides as to why. But if you look at our philosophy around this, it's kind of anchored in these 3 areas, whether we're looking by channel and where the consumer actually buys the product, the portfolio, which vessel or which brand they're buying.

So it could be 12-ounce, 16-ounce, could be multipacks, how they're buying it. And then the consumer and the consumer behavior. So we know that demand curve can move at a moment's notice, and we have to be agile and nimble in this. But where that overlap is where the magic happens. So you'll always hear me constantly refer to we want to drive dollars ahead of units and profit ahead of dollars. And so that's the discipline we strive for as we try to ingrain this in everything we do. And so you've seen it in our price increase in 2025. And now if you look in early 2025, and now if you look in the most recent Nielsen, you can see the price increase manifesting itself that took place in early November.

As you look across the past 4 years across NARTD again, we show this chart not to say we're immediately trying to be on top of this chart for any particular reason, but it goes to show the headroom and the importance of constantly focusing on the elasticity and the structural demand of our category. So we're proud of the results that we've delivered thus far, specifically in the third quarter, we're talking about it.

And you look at this, there's more headroom within the energy category to take price longer term. The goal is to always be centered in the consumer and everything we do, and the consumer is the key metric that we look at in their behavior to understand we're maximizing that opportunity and what's best for us as an organization, for our retailers, for the consumer and for the category. We understand the importance of understanding our consumer and the role that our consumer, specifically the Monster consumer plays for our customers. And so if you look at this, one of the things that's been important to us this year is we constantly focus on are we bringing new users into the category? And are we the ones bringing that in. So we want to grow the size and scale of the category, and we know that, that Monster is bringing in new users.

Now as we bring in new users and we study our existing users, one of the things that's important to our retailers is increasing trips and increasing the basket size of those trips. So the Monster consumer, as you can see there, represents a significant increase in trips per year and then in the amount of money they spend.

So it's a very attractive consumer for our retailers, a very desirable consumer from a retail perspective. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. From the very beginning, Monster has been known for great innovation. Hopefully, again, you tried it earlier. If not, I encourage you to try our new flavors that have either recently come out or are coming out in 2026. This is a third quarter snapshot. I share this slide or a version of this slide with our Board every quarter because innovation plays a critical role in elevating our base business. We believe all innovation has to complement our core. And so if you look at that first chart, that's our base, that second -- first line, that second line over is our core business. We always want to see that growing. If it's not growing, that means innovation is coming. The growth of innovation is directly cannibalizing our base, and we never want that. So you can see innovation is complementing our base business.

And then obviously, that red bar, we will constantly have churn because we're investing in innovation at such a rate. And with the system of the bottlers and retailers, we constantly have to evaluate what brands have run their life cycle. They may come back later down the road or if they've just -- they've run their course of business. Speaking of innovation, for those of you that weren't at Knacks and haven't been in the sampling room, we have a tremendous lineup for 2026.

So it's hard to read the small print on this page, but it just goes to show how much brand innovation we have as well as package innovation. So some of these are 12-ounce packages up there. It's hard to see the size and scale from that. We're very proud of that lineup across the top. At the bottom, we have FLIR coming out in March, which is our first female-centric brand. And we have a complete repositioning of Storm, which we're proud of, which we think is much more aligned with where the consumer is going. And for the first time ever, some summer LTOs that are designed to be around that patriotic thing -- theme of America 250 this summer. So thank you for your time and attention on -- on the North American business. I'm now going to turn it over to Guy Carling.

Hi, everyone, and it's good to be here. Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania and the South Pacific region is composed of 80 different markets serviced by 19 bottlers. MEC has a portfolio of 14 brand families within it and value share leadership is measured by Nielsen in 9 of those markets. According to Nielsen and Circana data for the last 12 months, the energy drink category holds a 12.9% share of the NARTD sales in EMEA and OSP, which is up 0.8 points versus prior year. And the category growth at 11.9% is the fastest of the major NARTD categories and adding over EUR 1.1 billion in value. Year-to-date, MEC sales value reached EUR 3.8 billion, up just short of EUR 700 million versus prior year, growing 22.7% and outpacing the category by 8.6 points of growth. And on the right, you can see the key anchor bottlers in the region in terms of share of value sales, CCP being the largest with 10 Western European markets as well as our markets in Oceania and the South Pacific. And then there is Coca-Cola Hellenic, currently with 30 markets and soon potentially to be expanding across Africa to 44 markets. And I'd just like to state the relationship we've had -- we have with our bottlers has never ever been stronger.

The MEC portfolio grew ahead of the energy category in all of our regions, driving share growth by 2.1 percentage points in the last 13 weeks. And the Monster brand is the key driver of growth across all subregions, except for Africa and the Middle East, where our portfolio growth is driven by our affordable brands.

Although there are many brands across the region, the clear winners are MEC and Red Bull. MEC now represents nearly 1/4 of the total energy category. The MEC portfolio grew faster than Red Bull over the last 12 months with the gap accelerating in the last 13- and last 4-week periods, driven by the acceleration in the Monster brand performance. Monster leads our portfolio with a 62% share of Nielsen unit sales in the last 12 months. Strategic and affordable brands each account for 19%. And our Monster platforms, Core Ultra, Juice and Editions continue to drive growth, innovation and consumer choice across the region. The insights from our usage and attitude research conducted across 26 of our major markets show the ability of the category and our brands to drive recruitment, retention and repeat purchase. The energy category continues to recruit new consumers with 28% of those surveyed coming into the category in the last 12 months. Monster is ahead of that, recruiting 31% of new consumers to the category across all age groups.

Choice and flavor are key growth drivers with 43% of Monster consumers buying flavored energy regularly and 55% buying zero sugar. And the research also shows there is a high frequency of consumption for energy with 70% of Monster consumers drinking at least weekly. And new consumers actually drive up the frequency of consumption with more of them drinking at least 4 times a week.

And this frequency of consumption is driven by energy becoming more relevant to multiple occasions and being consumed throughout all dayparts as an everyday beverage. And Monster over-indexes the category across all of the dayparts and all of the occasions. Innovation continues to fuel our growth in EMEA and OSP as it does around the world. And we launched 189 market launches in the first 9 months of 2025. Our key focus SKUs have included Ultra Strawberry Dreams, Juice Rio Punch and the launch of Monster Valentino Rossi Zero Sugar, which will be launched across 17 more markets in 2026. But beyond innovation, our existing SKUs remain a critical growth engine. And in fact, our existing business, our existing SKUs contribute 62% of Monster Nielsen value sales growth in the last 13 weeks. And our platform lead SKUs are key to this.

The combined performance of plus 26.5% value growth. And this demonstrates the strength and longevity of our portfolio alongside innovation, whilst many in the category delivering primarily or solely through innovation. The Ultra platform, for example, continues to deliver exceptional growth, consistently accelerating quarter-on-quarter and up 46.8% versus prior year in the last 13 weeks.

The Ultra platform now holds a 6.5% value share as a stand-alone brand platform in EMEA and OSP, up 1.5 points versus prior year. And our juice platform also performed strongly, up 23% versus prior year and contributing 27% of Monster's last 13-week growth. Lando Norris Zero Sugar, and I'm delighted to see cans of it around the room, was our most successful ever innovation. It's now available in 27 markets as of the end of Q3, and it's driving very strong momentum for Monster. Consumer recruitment was a key highlight. 26% of buyers of Lando Norris Zero Sugar are new to the energy category and 33% are new to the Monster brand. In Western Europe, year-to-date to September, Monster was the leading contributor to FMCG growth. And this year became the fifth largest brand with performance driven by multichannel availability, space gains and cooler placements with CCEP across all of those markets.

We now have a 29.2% share. MEC value growth was plus 24.5% in the last 13 weeks compared to the 8.6% growth for Red Bull and 10.9% for the category. And that gave MEC a 3.2% point share gain versus last year. And across EMEA and OSP, we continue to drive category growth and gain share. GB is our largest market and the world's second biggest market, and we're delivering 47.9% of category growth year-to-date, and we now have a 36.3% share.

In Eastern Europe, Poland, one of our largest markets with Hellenic, is growing 27.3% in the last 13 weeks. And on the other side of the world, in Australia, Monster delivers 45% of the energy growth. And with the CC partnership, we've increased by 8 share points in the last 2.5 years. And we also continue to perform strongly in Africa, where we have leadership or a strong #2 position across the largest markets. Africa is a key growth region for MEC, and we have category leadership with Predator and Fury, which has a 16.4% value share is, in fact, the #1 brand in Africa and gained 1.9 value share points in the last 4 weeks versus prior year. Our Predator football strategy, combining global assets with local ambassadors is resonating strongly with consumers and is driving visibility.

Affordable energy is driving rapid expansion of the category and increasing per capita consumption across Africa with significant headroom remaining. So to finish, the combination of our McLaren and Lando Norris partnership, I wanted to show as a great example of how we convert fan excitement and our marketing message into growth through very strong sales execution of innovation with our bottling partners, securing more space and visibility in store as a result.

Formula 1 is growing its fan base in a very similar way to Monster, keeping its core consumers and adding younger and more female fans. With standout merchandising and consumer activations, this launch created incremental space in store, recruited new consumers, and we're excited about doing the same with our 26 innovation. So to finish on that note, I will pass over to Emelie, who will talk about Latin America.

So turning to Latin America. We are in 41 markets and through 36 bottlers and have great relationships with FEMSA and Arca, who are our biggest bottlers in the region. We are proud to be market share leader in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Puerto Rico. Turning to the beverage landscape for the region. While energy drinks are only 7.7% of the beverage landscape, it is growing the fastest over the last 5-year period at up 21%. And as we dive deeper into the energy category, the category is projected to do between $11 billion and $12 billion, as Hilton mentioned in the opening remarks.

And there is a runway for the per cap consumption versus the other regions, as you can see on this chart. And like many markets around the globe, the per cap has increased due to the affordable energy drink category. So let's first take a look at the premium energy drink category in LatAm. We're very proud of us and our participation in the premium energy segment in Brazil and in Argentina and in Mexico and in total LatAm. And like many other places across the globe, we do that through innovation, also our marketing platforms and then the relationship we have with our bottlers and their great execution at retail. Diving deeper into the 2 biggest countries in LatAm, Brazil, which is our largest country in LatAm, the category is growing at 18%, and we are growing faster than the category. Also, it's important to note in Brazil, the category is growing and the per caps have increased.

We had 2 successful innovation launches and are continuing to invest in the market. And you'll hear later on from Mike Rodriguez, our Chief Operating Officer, about the investment that we are making in a flavor house in Brazil this year. And then lastly, in Mexico, while we lead in premium, affordable energy accounts for the majority of the market, and we are pleased with how Predator is gaining relevance in that market. That is the short and brief recap for LatAm. And I will turn it over to my colleague, Philippe.

Good evening. First, excuse my French, Hilton gave you the [indiscernible] but more importantly, I'm here to cover APAC. So APAC for us is covering 18 markets, starting in Istanbul finishing in Tokyo. We are with the Coke system for the bulk of our countries apart from Japan, where we are with Asahi. We have with 5 families. Monster, some strategic brand on Predator, which is becoming a growing part of our portfolio.

We're market leaders in 2 countries in Japan and in Korea. The category is very similar to what you have heard from Guy and Emelie, is becoming a significant part of the NARTD market. Just below 10%. It's growing strong double digit. It's already $33 billion in retail value, and accelerating. We've seen an acceleration over the past years, driven by China and India, which I will cover a bit more detail in a few slides. We see a lot of headroom in APAC from a per capita consumption. It has little developed as what you have seen from Emelie in LatAm, so well below what we see in the U.S. or what we see in Europe.

And where APAC is very unique, the makeup of the energy drink segment. We have the premier energy that we have seen in the rest of the region. With the affordable carbonated, the Predator of some of the competitors we have seen from Guy and Emelie. And then the bulk of the market is noncarbonated energy drink, which is a majority of the product that the consumer drink in China and Southeast Asia for 1.8 billion, 1.9 billion people, energy drink is noncarbonated.

Starting first with the premium segment, which is what is the bulk of our business today in Asia. We're now the biggest player across the region. If we compare Red Bull versus Monster, we have 55% market share, but we still have a lot of markets where we can improve our market share with what we are focusing on. We have the same family. On carbs, Monster business, the Ultra family, which is doing very well for us, the juice, which is coming incrementally. And we are doing the same marketing as what we have seen, but we started localizing some of the marketing to make sure we adjust to the lifetime of our Asian consumers.

If you look at Japan, Japan is our most developed market in Asia. It's where we have the biggest market share. It's where we have the widest portfolio. The category is growing, and we are growing faster than the category, but the category is significantly underdeveloped for a premium developed market. So a lot of the initiatives we have in Japan is about bringing new consumers. If we look at what we are doing, we continue to make sure we have maximum visibility in Japan, but we have been expanding in new channels.

We have been expanding with Asahi on-premise. We are focusing on supermarket. We are focusing on e-commerce. We started doing to baseball, which is very unique for Japan to make sure we recruit new consumers. And we have launched REIGN STORM to bring the female consumers, which were less engaging with the Monster brand in Japan that's what they've done in the rest of the Board. If we look at China, China's category is accelerating. The category is already more than 1 billion in cases, but growing strong double digit is a category is 99% noncarbonated.

So with Monster, we now find a place we are growing. We are the only brand playing at scale in the carbonated segment, and we complemented the Monster portfolio with Predator 2 years ago that we are now scaling up. So Monster will be very similar in China to what you see elsewhere. Same brand, but with localized marketing, notably we're focusing on basketball, which is resonating with a younger consumer in China. And Predator is targeting a very different audience going after the blue collar, the factory workers of these mega factories you have in China, the BYD and the Foxconn. And we are starting recruiting the consumers with that target rate in mind.

And India is again a very different target on a very different market. The category was nonexisting or barely existing in India 5 years ago. It is accelerating. It will be 300 million cases this year. And the category has 3 very different price segments. And we are now uniquely positioned to play in the 3 different segments, having Monster in the premium segment and having Predator in the more affordable segment to go after the masses of Indian who are engaging with the energy drink segment.

With that, I'm handing over to Dan McHugh to cover the marketing.

All right. Switching gears a little bit. I want to talk about marketing. And our goal is very simple from a marketing perspective, right? We want to continue that momentum behind what Hilton mentioned, which is one of the most diverse portfolios in all of energy, right? That's very important. We do that by targeting certain sets of consumers in different geographies and also making sure that we're relevant within those cultures. So we have laid out -- so that's sort of the portfolio advance -- sorry, I should advance there. Our brand objectives are very simple, right? Twofold. We keep it simple across the globe. We have to grow the core, as it was mentioned in the upfront, but we also have to attract new consumers. The first step in that is really assembling what we call some of the premium partnerships that we leverage across the globe, right, not only in the U.S. but across the globe. You can see that list is deep and extensive, all the way from UFC games, Call of Duty when it comes to gaming, Big 3, you name it, we're involved, right? Also, our global reach, extremely important. I pulled out some of those sponsorships to show how that global reach works in different markets across. And when we get into some of the retail execution, I'll show you how that works. Now the other thing Monster has been known for is brand ambassadors.

We've always been at the forefront of this with influencers, athlete ambassadors. It started with people like Ken Block, Jeremy McGrath, Rob Dyrdek. That continues today with people like Ice Cube, Tiger Woods, Chloe Kim, Lando that we talked about already through Guy's presentation. And of course, even a 17-year-old Prodigy stater from Brazil named Rayssa Leal. Now we continue to cultivate those ambassador list. While we trim, we also add new ambassadors in the mix, making sure we're relevant in culture, in sports, in music. People like Drusky, Maxx Crosby, Zac Brown, Luke Kuechly, all of these are examples of people we're adding into the mix to make sure that we're culturally relevant. We also work with our champions. Guy really explained this in his presentation, seeing what we did with the launch in the EMEA of Lando Norris. We've continued that. We're going to launch in May with F1. Lando is at the top of the table. You can see what we did with F1 in Austin, Texas, and we also did in Las Vegas. So we've tested this concept that they did in the EMEA over here. This is a pop-up store that he did on Sixth Street down in Austin, sold out all their merchandising. So we'll continue to work with our champions and our athletes. Now all of this doesn't make any sense unless as Hilton mentioned, we get into the retail execution, right?

Here in America, you can see innovation with Monster Ultra, loyalty programs like we do each summer and even gaming, Call of Duty that's in the market right now. It is a massive program for us overall. We also have to take those sponsorships that I showed you, such as UFC, F1 and MotoGP and really put them in the marketplace, stacking cases behind that. You can see what we do in Brazil, Australia and Hungary as examples of where we put these products and these sponsorships. From a strategic brand standpoint, we zone in on localized brands in certain countries, NOS in the United States, Byrne as the example, all over Europe and Mother in Australia. These are great examples of where we take the marketing and we localize it with motorsports for Naz, music for Byrne and also working with that Australian consumer with Australian DNA, leveraging that brand mother in that marketplace. Affordable energy has been mentioned today quite often. Again, you see our list with Predator Energy and the Fury brand. right? Now affordable energy, also, we're making sure that we're going into retail. These are examples of pictures in LatAm, China and India, how we're leveraging that. And how are we doing it? We have full flavors and a packaging portfolio across the board with different flavors in different markets depending on what those consumers are looking for.

And Philippe and his team has even introduced this Chinese plastic bottle that you see on the right-hand side. So you're going to continue to see that effort. Now the big thing for us is taking those assets and getting down to the local level, right? Street cricket in India, soccer pitch branding in Mexico, consumer promotions in Nigeria, even that in-store activation of that new package that you see on the left-hand side in China. We also have a global asset that Guy mentioned, which is the Chelsea Football Club that, that roster is relevant throughout multiple countries across the globe. Let's talk a little bit about attracting new consumers. Three things that we're focusing in on. female consumers, 12-ounce cans, right? We talked about packaging a little bit and also making sure that we're sampling our products across the globe by getting cans and hands to our consumers, very important. Gaming continues to skew and grab new consumers in the segment. We do that by sponsoring one of the world's most popular games in Call of Duty. We have a streamer and a teams list of assets and ambassadors against streaming across the board. And then even making sure that we're present and we're all over major events for gaming across the globe, very, very important. We do the same thing in music, where we look at artists in different genres and ambassadors for the brand.

Events, there's 158 different music festivals that we sponsor in the U.S. alone, right? So that's really important. And of course, making sure that we're producing content, whether it's through podcast or it's an up and up college tour festival that we put in the marketplace. But music is a major reason why we're attracting new consumers. From a social standpoint, we continue to grow our numbers, about 4% growth in 2025, about 54.1 million social followers on our platforms alone, about 1.8 billion social impressions that we've leveraged in the marketplace. So that continues to go in the right direction. And then finally, getting back to that diverse portfolio, really talking about 3 brands that are helping us or will help us in a big way. Ultra, of course, you've heard about the momentum, and I'll talk about that a little bit. And then we have a reintroduction of REIGN STORM with Storm, and then we're going to introduce our first female-forward brand in FLRT that you heard about earlier. When it comes to Ultra momentum, make no mistake, that's real. You heard about some of the numbers that the commercial teams presented today, unbelievable from an innovation standpoint. But what we're also excited about is what we're doing with in-store activation and sort of how we're putting coolers in the market now as that brand family continues to grow.

You can consider the type of displays that we're putting in the market. The other thing is we're working on this campaign, right? And we've introduced this campaign with the messaging, Zero Sugars flavor unleashed. It's also the way we communicate through our digital to that consumer base to make sure that they understand the varieties and the benefits of this brand family. And finally, a couple of things. Storm, reintroducing, as we talked about in Knacks, reintroducing Rainstorm to Storm. We think this is positioned the right way, and we're looking forward to that launch in May behind that brand in the better-for-me energy segment to compete there in a big way. And then finally, you see it meet your new crushing in can, FLRT, right? Iiconic branding. We've learned a lot from Monster. Now we're focused on the female consumer. You can see that iconic daisy design and those fun flavors across the board with this brand. Again, something that we'll launch in March. And then finally, to summarize all of this, really, again, 550-plus global ambassadors overall. They generate over 670 million views with their consumers alone, not including our platforms. We're going to continue with relentless innovation. Again, we've mentioned this a couple of times, but we have to leverage one of the most diverse portfolios in all of energy.

And then finally, that sponsorship page, leading sponsorships, while we cut, we add and we move things around, but we will absolutely have one of CPG's best sponsorship sheets across the board, right, very important. The last thing I want to talk about today is Monster Brewing and really the innovation that's set forward, right? Two things, line extensions and new entries. From a line extension standpoint, you can see the line of Beast and Blind Lemon in a 10% alcohol by volume, 19.2-ounce can, right? We'll continue with beer extensions and seasonal rotations along our craft lines. And then when it comes to new entries, we're going to introduce a Tex - Mex Lager in a larger format can that you see on the right-hand side there, also introducing Stunt Double, which is an 8% ABV alcohol by volume product. So it's a strong lager. And then finally, on the bottom, spirit and ready-to-drink 4.5% alcohol by volume line called, JUST VIBE. And again, you can see the line there, a story in every SIP. So with that, I thank you. I'd like to turn it over right now to Mike Rodriguez, our Chief Operations Officer.

Good to see everybody. For those of you that I haven't met, my name is Mike Rodriguez. I'm the Chief Operating Officer for Monster Energy. One of my key responsibilities is to design and operate the global supply chain for Monster. Today, I'll run you through a bit of an orientation against Monster supply chain and just a basic layout for what we look like in the commercialization process. And then I'll explain some of the investments and some of the improvements that we're making. So this is our flow. We'll start with the innovation. This is it. This is the special sauce. This is what makes Monster, Monster. All innovation and ideation happens in Corona, and it's typically adapted for the international markets after a U.S. launch. Not in all cases, we have some notable exceptions like what's on most of everyone's table, which is Lando. That started off in EMEA, that was designed for EMEA, and it was so successful that it's going to be in the U.S. and the affordable segment as well. So the affordable also ideates in the U.S. and it's for -- mostly for international markets. As most of you know, Monster has their own flavor house, and we innovate mostly with AFF, although we do have other suppliers for other products, some flavor houses do some things better. But for the most part, we try to be Monster first with innovation. Our sourcing in most territories, we have a regional supply of raw materials and packaging. There are some exceptions to that.

Some of the proprietaries are coming from the U.S. right now, and we service those globally from U.S. or Ireland. Our production and manufacturing models, they vary per region. So you can see on the slide, there's -- the Monster production model for the U.S. is a mix of co-pack and then we have 2 of our own production facilities in Phoenix and Norwalk, so in Arizona and California. U.S. is far more complex than the other markets for the most part. We have 4 different fill types, we have cold fill, hot fill for the teas, tonnel pastries for the juices and retort for the coffees. We don't have that level of complexity elsewhere. Mostly, we just adapt for regulatory differences. In the rest of world, and I'm just going to put these in a bucket, but in the rest of world, which would be EMEA, APAC and LatAm, we are mostly bottler production. We do have some overflow co-packing capacity internationally. But for the most part, we produce with our bottler partners with Coca-Cola. And then the affordable production model is 100% bottler produced as a concentrate. For warehousing in the U.S., we have a mixed model of Monster-operated DCs and 3PL. And in ROW, we typically -- because we produce with the bottlers, we -- it's typically a raw material planning process where we just help them plan their finished good inventory.

Finally, logistics and last mile. So in the U.S., again, we are a delivery model in the U.S. as opposed to ROW, which is mostly bottler production. So we have a mix of contracts, spot, LTL, full truckload, dedicated and private fleet. And in ROW, because it is mostly pickup, we just participate in the production. So now the part that most of you are probably most interested in, but is our investments and improvements in the supply chain. So the investments in the supply chain are going to be mostly centered around our digital transformation. So our digital transformation means million things and million different people. But for us, it's going to be our significant investments in our systems and in this case, SAP IBP. SAP IBP will focus on our S&OPs, our sales and execution, our operations execution, our quality, integration with our partners, inventory planning and automation. For our inventory plan -- for our innovation planning, for the first time, we get to systematically plug in market insights and product insights, inventory turn numbers into our demand planning system. We're very good at keeping an eye on innovation and knowing when to produce more and when to produce less, but this gives us a direct feedback into the planning system. It helps us earlier identify the performance of the SKU by region. So for sourcing, we'll focus on supplier integrations. So this is actually very key for us.

With our suppliers, we've always waited for paperwork to flow in. It's fairly inefficient. We are now fully integrated via ADI with all of our suppliers. One of our major initiatives is going to be expanding AFF into 4 sales territories. As Emelie pointed out, we are already in the U.S. and Ireland, but we are going live in Brazil in AFF and also in China. The production manufacturing improvements are mostly going to be with the production facilities in Phoenix and Norwalk, where we'll focus on efficiencies at those locations. In the rest of world, we'll be adding several co-packing sites in the coming months to support Monster and Affordable. For warehousing, we have a DC strategy in the U.S. So we are going to start operating more of the Monster DCs. And in the last mile to support those DCs, we're making significant investments in our own private fleet. With the bottlers, this is -- we are starting to get into more information sharing with both the Coca-Cola system and the bottlers. So we've actually -- we've done a joint program with the bottlers to implement these new cloud pallet tags.

So this -- the receiving process from Monster production to the bottlers used to take between 45 minutes and an hour. This new investment will cut that down to 15 minutes for our bottler partners. So obviously, there's a lot to unpack here. I had to make this concise for the presentation, but I am happy to take questions after this. Thank you all for your time this afternoon, and I'm going to turn the presentation back over to Mark.

There we go. Perfect. So we're going to bring all the speaking executives up on stage, and we'll get ready for Q&A. We're also going to bring Tom, our CFO. Just to set the stage as a reform sell-side analyst, try to keep yourself to one question. I know that's not that easy. I'll forgive you. All right. And just introduce yourself, even though I'll give the heads up for folks. Are you guys ready up there?

I think so.

All right. Perfect. So Chris, go ahead.

Wow. Chris Carey, Wells Fargo. You've got a lot of innovation coming. I think if I've heard this correctly, one of the best innovation years in a long time. Can you just talk about cannibalization risk that you're factoring for the rest of the portfolio and just the ability of the company to execute on all this innovation in a single year while maintaining the core?

So great question. You heard a little bit from Mike how we are structured from the manufacturing distribution perspective. So I'm going to hand this back to Mike and to answer your question in detail.

Yes. Can you just restate? I just want to make sure this is a production question.

I suppose it's a production question. It's also an in-market execution question. Of course, your strategy is to both grow the core and bring in new consumers. You've got a huge amount of innovation which is a positive thing over the next year. You've got innovation in Q4. You've got Storm, you've got FLRT. There's a lot of activity happening. And so can you just maybe enlighten us a bit more on how you're thinking about the risk that some of this new innovation cannibalizes the core, if you will.

Okay. Chris, we're going to Rob afterwards. I think I want to your 1 question on supply, and then we'll turn it over to Rob.

That was one question.

I know. You guys always ask multiple questions.

Obviously, I'll take the supply side. So if you look at -- let's just focus on the U.S. for now. But in the U.S., we have over 26 co-packers in the U.S. And so I would say, for the most part, the co-packer core takes care of our core products and are constant. And then typically, with a lead launch or one of the launch items, we will actually produce the first runs in Norwalk and Phoenix. And then we will integrate those into the core production after that. But yes, we've been able to handle it. I would say, without giving specific numbers, but we are well below our numbers on capacity from our co-pack contracts.

I'll add. This is working if you hear me. Great question. That's why I shared that chart because we get this a lot from our retailers as well as our bottling partners, their concern of, okay, you're peppering us with innovation, but how is it working? And so that kind of that health of our third quarter perspective. We're always looking at optimizing our portfolio. And so you'll see there was some red in there. That's us trimming the tail of some of the SKU count that we have, but always making way and again, making sure the innovation that we have coming is it complementing our core. So most of the photos Dan showed, it's a different focus that we've had going forward where you'll see we always have core on our innovation displays. where in the past and some of our competitors may primarily just display their innovation, we don't want that.

We want our core in addition to innovation so that the whole portfolio is moving in the right direction. And that's why you probably saw White Ultra on every single display out there regardless whether it was innovation, core, Call of Duty, whatever, we want to ensure that's doing that. So that's kind of our health metric every quarter is innovation complementing our core? And are we trimming the tail of the right SKUs to make sure from a logistical perspective, whether it be our bottlers or our production, we're making way for that growth and providing the optimal oxygen so those new brands can breathe.

Robert Ottenstein, Evercore ISI. So one question with a number of parts. A big picture question is really to understand your strategy in the U.S. with women. So sort of level set things, maybe if you could give us a little bit of sense of what percentage of your business is to women right now. So kind of sense of where we're starting off. And then maybe, obviously, Ultra is important there. storm is important there. FLRT is important there. So maybe if you can kind of talk about how you're segmenting kind of the female drinker. And then sort of kind of finally, how you think about internal versus external growth equipment? Obviously, there was a fast-growing brand that you had a chance to buy, you passed on that. Maybe some color around that. And to what extent you will be going after that unnamed brand?

Okay. So we do a lot of work on market segmentation. It's something that's very key to us. We believe that we are able to offer a full range of products to our energy consumers. And so you've seen a glimpse into traditional energy. You've seen us in performance energy. You've seen us in better-for-you energy and affordable, so premium. So we've done a lot of work across the board. We feel that one of the major segments that we don't service on a more comprehensive basis is the female segment, and we'd like to be able to participate in a larger way in that. So I'm going to turn the call over now -- or the meeting, sorry, over to Dan, and Dan can discuss the demographics and how we see ourselves in this particular category.

Yes. And we have positioning set up for all of these different brands. So we look at, as an example, a diet matrix across the board of all the brands that are participating, right? And of course, we have female consumers in brands like Ultra. But the one thing that we're going to do differently when it comes to like a brand like FLRT is we are marketing to 18- to 24-year-old females, and we're doing it much differently than anything we've ever done.

And what do I mean by that? So we're looking at influencers. We're looking at what drives that consumer. And believe it or not, we don't have males working on it. We have a slew of females within the company, including Emelie, that are leading that charge and sort of directing us on where we need to take marketing and do things much differently than ever before. So that's really one thing that we need to state. The other thing is making sure that positioning that we're not running brands into each other, right? So there are some strategic directives that we have within our portfolio that says, here's how we're going to market Ultra, here's how we're going to do FLRT. This is storm, which is more of a 50-50 proposition in the better-for-me segment. So all of those things are taken into consideration, and then we're building marketing plans around that.

Michael Lavery, Piper Sandler. Just a question on margins and specifically with the outperformance of the rest of non-U.S. and affordable energy, in particular, can you help us maybe understand what keeps driving margin momentum? Is it just sustainable pricing broadly? How much, if any, is the Arizona Norwalk vertical integration driving a boost? And maybe are the is the margin profile of affordable energy better than we might appreciate, just some of how to think about that mix component and what some of the margin drivers continue to be?

Again, that's a really good question that we get asked quite periodically on our conference calls. The interesting thing with margin is that it's a multifaceted structure because not only are we selling a product or a range of products in the United States, we're also selling them internationally with different margin structures. That's number one. Secondly, we sell products with full sugar, and we sell products that have no sugar, and they have different margin structures. So you're dealing with -- and we mentioned this on the last call that we had -- we have geographic mix, which is a negative on the -- because the U.S. far exceeds the margins that we achieve internationally.

And then you have product mix because of the change in the content, whether it's sugar or non-sugar, and that was a benefit, as you will recall, in the last quarter. So there are different impacts that we have on our gross margin percentage. I always told you guys that we bank dollars, not percentages. We have juice products that have lower margins. We have coffee products that have lower margins. We have affordable, which actually has higher margins than -- because it's a concentrate product, it's -- they have higher margins than the traditional finished goods products. We have the same with our strategic brands because they are concentrate models. And strategic -- the strategic brands running on concentrate models also have higher margins. So the quarter numbers depend on a variety of factors that influence gross margins from quarter-to-quarter. And then we have this discussion on, for example, on tariffs and what that impact is going to be with the LME and the Midwest premium. What is that impact going to be? And that impact is felt in the percentage of aluminum, which is part of the purchase of a can, but the purchase of a can has a lot of other factors, including the rolling of the can to the sheet and the manufacture of the can. So when one talks about aluminum, you can't focus on the cost of can. It's -- you've got to focus on the proportion of the can that's accounted for by momentum.

Bonnie Herzog, Goldman Sachs. I wanted to just ask a high-level question on the category, which has been so strong this year. So hoping you could talk a little bit more about some of the key drivers of that growth. where the category has been sourcing from? And then as we think about next year and beyond, how do you think the category will perform, especially lapping the strength that we've had this year?

So Bonnie always asks questions relating to guidance, so we don't give guidance. So I'm not going to talk about next year. But what's happened this year, I'm going to talk a little bit about the U.S. I'd like Rob to chip in and obviously, Guy and Philippe because they have had different issues with their category growth as well. So at the end of the day, we're selling a product that is at its core an affordable luxury. People love to hold the can, the Monster can, and they love to show what they're drinking. So that's number one. The other key driver is affordability relative to other beverages out there.

Rob put up a chart earlier today where we showed the price increases from SSDs right through the portfolio of beverages. And you saw that energy drinks have increased. They were at the bottom -- the second from the bottom of increases. So that's another factor that's impacted the category. We have a lot of innovation, as you know, and that's been driving the category. The Ultra brand through this viral social media program, which was totally viral. It was not started by us. And significantly moved the category as well, both in Europe where it started and also in the U.S. and other countries as well. So let me hand it over to Guy for some additional color because I want you guys to hear from the team as well.

Thanks, Hilton. I think a lot of it is very similar in Europe, Middle East, Africa and OSB. I'll talk a bit louder until Mike comes on. But ultimately, we're an everyday beverage. And I think what we're seeing in the consumer data is that energy is now consumed once upon a time, it's kind of pigeonholed in different dayparts. It's consumed 24/7 and in multiple, multiple occasions. Ultimately, there's a benefit. People need energy. And so they're coming to it for that.

The whole category is offering enormous number of flavors, and we see that bringing half of the category growth, but half still come into through original energy, so the original tasting flavors. We see -- it's attracting half come through zero sugar, half come through full sugar. So it's a really nice balance between the 2 and actually half are male and half are female. So the kind of foundations are strong. You've then got strong brands that are put into that on top. There's an affordability versus other categories. So I think from a sourcing perspective, it's not from one place. It's kind of from across the board. And penetration varies across markets from as low as kind of 20% up to kind of 50-plus percent. But on average, there's about 40% of the adult consumer base drinking on a regular basis or in the last 12 months. So there's a huge number of consumers still out there. And I think that's what's bringing them into the category, and I think what is really powerful. We've got 25% of consumers in the category came in, in the last 12 months. So retaining them and then drinking more deeply on an ongoing basis is what's really propelling the category

Just quickly, Philippe, Emelie, Rob, is there anything you guys would add to that from your geographies?

The only thing I would briefly add to that is, if you look categorically, not solely as that in chart does not look the same. So much of the growth in the category is driven by innovation at the expense of the core. So if you were to look categorically across all manufacturers, innovation is driving additional portion amount of that growth it did in '24, did in '25, I would project it into 2026, just from walking around Knacks and looking at everybody's innovation lineup. So I've never seen a category so driven by innovation as it is right now.

And of course -- sorry, Emelie.

I was just going to just add some color to the LatAm for speaking on half of the region, there's different similar to Guy, what we're seeing are different daypart occasions, like for example, in Argentina, people drink energy drinks at night, right, before they went out to the club. Monster came into the marketplace 8 years ago. and it became a daypart occasion, that people needed energy to get through their work. So I think that we're having the same similar Mexico. We're having a very good year in Mexico, again, and you can probably track some other companies that aren't having good years. in Mexico. So very similar, we're just seeing the consumers just come into the category. So that's the commentary for LatAm. And I'll turn it to Philippe perhaps.

Just to build on it, what is very exciting is the category is very expandable. If you look at Asia, we have places like Vietnam, where the energy is already bigger than need some more than 1/3 of any beverage at the Vietnamese drink is energy drink. And we see when you have the right lifestyle, the right innovation, the right availability, the category is expandable. That what we see suddenly in India, product came at the right price, primary millions of store, the consumer are going after it. So we just have to continue doing that. It's right lifestyle, right a ability, right innovation, and we can continue growing the category.

And underlying all of this is the fact that these products are becoming very much mainstream. They went always, they're now mainstream. And Guy referred to the household penetration. And that's a big factor I think globally that household penetration is continuing to increase, which is very positive for the category.

All right. I think just to keep everybody on schedule, that's 5:45, so we're going to wrap. Hilton, do you want to add any closing remarks?

Well, I just want to thank everybody for attending and for listening to our presentation, we hope it answered a bunch of questions that you had. And we look forward to getting together and virtually on our next presentation where we talk about the quarter, the fourth quarter of 2025 and the full year results, and that will be sometime at the end of February. So thanks.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Monster Beverage Corporation Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please also note, today's event is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the floor over to Hilton Schlosberg, Chief Executive Officer. Sir, please go ahead.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this call. I'm Hilton Schlosberg, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Also on the call are Tom Kelly, our Chief Financial Officer; Emelie Tirre, our Chief Commercial Officer; Rob Gehring, our Chief Growth Officer; Guy Carding, our President of EMEA and OSP; and Mark Astrachan, our Senior VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development.

Mark will now read our cautionary statement.

Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended, and are based on currently available information regarding the expectations of management with respect to revenues, profitability, future business, future events, financial performance and trends.

Management cautions that these statements are based on our current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made during this call. Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 28, 2025, and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, including the sections contained therein entitled Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainties that may affect our performance. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

I would also like to note that an explanation of the non-GAAP measures, which we refer to as adjusted where applicable, mentioned during the course of this call, is provided in the notes in the condensed consolidated statements of income and other information attached to the earnings release dated November 6, 2025. A copy of this information is also available on our website, www.monsterbevcorp.com, in the Financial Information section.

Please note that like last quarter, scanner data, which was previously provided on earnings calls is included in an exhibit filed with our 8-K. We point out that certain market statistics that cover single months or 4-week periods may often be materially influenced positively or negatively by promotions or other trading factors during those periods.

I would now like to hand the call over to Hilton Schlosberg.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. We're pleased to report yet another quarter of strong financial results and cash generation with record quarterly net sales, gross profit dollars, operating income and net income. The percentage growth rates in reported gross profit, operating income, net income and earnings per share, all outpaced our growth rate in net sales.

Overall, the global energy drink category remains healthy with robust growth. We believe household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category, driven by functionality and lifestyle positioning, diverse offerings that appeal to an increasingly broad and loyal consumer base and affordable value offerings in addition to premium offerings.

In the United States, according to Nielsen, for the recently reported 13-week period through October 25, 2025, sales in dollars in the energy drink category, including energy shots for all outlets combined, namely convenience, grocery, drug, mass merchandisers, increased by 12.2% versus the same period a year ago. In EMEA, the energy drink category according to Nielsen for our tracked markets for the recently reported 13-week period, which differ from country to country, grew at approximately 13.3% versus the same period last year, ForEx neutral.

In APAC, the energy drink category according to Nielsen, Circana and INTAGE for our tracked channels for the recently reported 13-week period, which differ from country to country, grew at approximately 20.0% versus the same period last year, FX neutral. In LatAm, the energy drink category according to Nielsen for our tracked markets for the 3 months ended September 30, 2025, grew at approximately 12.6% versus the same period last year, FX neutral.

Our net sales to customers outside the United States rose to approximately 43% of total reported net sales in the 2025 third quarter, the highest percentage recorded by the company for a single quarter. We believe our portfolio of energy drink offerings are well positioned to participate in the growing global energy drink category, appealing to a broad range of consumers across geographies, price points and need states. Innovation continues to be an important contributor to category growth, and we maintain a robust innovation pipeline.

Turning to marketing. Our marketing messaging continues to resonate globally as we built strong momentum through the summer with marketing efforts focused on growing the core business and attracting new consumers. Highlights in the third quarter included the continued success of the Monster-sponsored McLaren Formula 1 team, a Monster Energy Lando Norris Zero Sugar product was well received in EMEA and has recently been introduced in Texas, California and the Las Vegas metropolitan area as an LTO, limited time offering with a nationwide launch planned in 2026.

The Summer X games in Salt Lake City provided significant brand exposure as Monster Energy was once again the primary sponsor. Other major sponsorships and events during the quarter included the UFC; the Motorcross Finals in Las Vegas; the Monster Energy MotoGP of Catalonia, Spain; and Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, among others.

The Ultra brand family continued its strong performance with the introduction of a digital media campaign centered around Zero Sugar, Flavor Unleashed, complementing the viral social media surge of flagship White Ultra Zero together with robust merchandising activity at retail.

During the third quarter of 2025, the impact of tariffs on our operating results is modest. In general, while our flavors and concentrates are manufactured both in the U.S. and Ireland at the present time, production of our finished products takes place locally in our respective markets. Despite the modest impact on our business in the third quarter, the tariff landscape continues to be complicated and dynamic. For instance, tariffs significantly impacted the Midwest premium for aluminum, which increased the cost of our aluminum cans. We also import some raw materials into the United States, export certain raw materials for local markets and export limited quantities of finished products.

We do not believe, based on our business model that the current tariffs will have a material impact on the company's operating results. However, we expect it will continue to have a modest impact in the fourth quarter of 2025 and in 2026. We will continue to recognize tariffs on aluminum through the higher Midwest premium and continue to implement mitigation strategies across the business where possible.

Now turning to our Q3 results. Net sales were $2.2 billion for the 2025 third quarter or 16.8% higher than net sales of $1.88 billion in the 2024 third quarter. Net sales, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment increased 17.5% in the 2025 third quarter. Net changes in foreign currency exchange rates had a favorable impact on net sales for the 2025 third quarter of $31.8 million. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis increased 15.1% in the 2025 third quarter.

Net sales, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment on a foreign currency adjusted basis, increased 15.8% in the 2025 third quarter. Excluding the Alcohol Brands segment from our reported results is purely illustrative as it remains part of our ongoing operations. Net sales for the company's Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 17.7% to $2.03 billion for the 2025 third quarter from $1.72 billion for the 2024 third quarter.

Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 16% in the 2025 third quarter. Net sales for the company's Strategic Brands segment increased 15.9% to $130.5 million for the 2025 third quarter from $112.6 million in the 2024 third quarter. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Strategic Brands segment increased 13.2% in the 2025 third quarter. Net sales for the Alcohol Brands segment decreased 17% to $33 million for the 2025 third quarter from $39.8 million in the 2024 third quarter.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 third quarter was 55.7% compared with 53.2% in the 2024 third quarter. The increase in gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 third quarter was primarily the result of pricing actions, supply chain optimization and product sales mix, partially offset by higher promotional allowances, increased aluminum can costs and geographical sales mix.

Distribution expenses for the 2025 third quarter were $82.6 million or 3.8% of net sales compared with $82.7 million or 4.4% of net sales in the 2024 third quarter. Selling expenses for the 2025 third quarter were $214.6 million or 9.8% of net sales compared with $196.1 million or 10.4% of net sales in the 2024 third quarter.

General and administrative expenses for the 2025 third quarter were $251.9 million or 11.5% of net sales compared with $241.1 million or 12.8% of net sales for the 2024 third quarter. Stock-based compensation was $32.8 million for the 2025 third quarter compared with $27.5 million in the 2024 third quarter. The increase in stock-based compensation for the 2025 third quarter included $7.4 million related to certain equity awards granted late in the 2025 first quarter that contain a new retirement clause.

Operating expenses for the 2025 third quarter were $549.1 million compared with $519.9 million in the 2024 third quarter. Adjusted operating expenses for the 2025 third quarter were $510.4 million compared with $474.7 million in the 2024 third quarter. Operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 third quarter were 25.0% compared with 27.6% in the 2024 third quarter. Adjusted operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 third quarter were 23.6% compared with 25.8% in the 2024 third quarter.

Operating income for the 2025 third quarter increased 40.7% to $675.4 million from $479.9 million in the 2024 comparative quarter. Adjusted operating income for the 2025 third quarter increased 35.6% to $705.8 million from $520.4 million in the 2024 third quarter. The effective tax rate for the 2025 third quarter was 23.9% compared with 21.8% in the 2024 third quarter. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily attributable to higher income taxes from foreign tax jurisdictions.

Net income per diluted share for the 2025 third quarter increased 41.1% to $0.53 from $0.38 in the third quarter of 2024. Adjusted net income per diluted share for the 2025 third quarter increased 36.2% to $0.56 from $0.41 in the third quarter of 2024.

And now let's turn to North America. Net sales in the U.S. and Canada in the 2025 third quarter increased by 11.6% in dollars over the same period in 2024. The quarter was driven by strong execution across channels, sustained momentum from prior innovations, continued strength of the Monster Energy Ultra family and a strong contribution from the Juice Monster family.

In the U.S., according to Nielsen, for the 13 weeks ended September 27, 2025, our Monster Energy Ultra brand family grew 29% year-over-year, led by our flagship White Zero Ultra and strong repeat purchases of early innovations, including Ultra Blue Hawaiian and Ultra Vice Guava. Our revenue growth management team remains focused on delivering sustainable revenue growth, value creation and strategic trade spend optimization. We implemented pricing adjustments through frontline price increases and/or reductions in promotional allowances by packaging channel in the U.S. effective November 1, 2025.

Our pricing strategy considers consumer purchasing behavior, brand momentum, channel and package mix. We continue to anticipate minimal impact on volume, supported by the category's favorable value proposition and the relatively modest pace of energy drink price increases compared to other NART beverages over the past decade.

Currently, we are in the process of launching a number of SKUs at retail to take us through 2025. These are Monster Energy Ultra Wild Passion, Juice Monster Bad Apple, Monster Electric Blue, Monster Orange Dreamsicle and in certain markets, Monster Energy Lando Norris Zero Sugar. Our innovation is supported by upgraded analytics for SKU flow, display optimization and cooler resets. Additionally, we have refined our merchandising strategy to prioritize high-impact placements across the convenience, mass and grocery channels. In addition, we have a robust innovation slate planned for 2026.

In January, we are planning to launch Monster Energy Strawberry Shot in 16-ounce cans in full and zero sugar offerings. And in February, we are planning to launch Juice Monster Voodoo Grape, Reign, Watermelon Sour Gummy and Bang Lime Pop Drop. We are planning to introduce Monster Energy Lando Norris Zero Sugar on a nationwide basis.

Late in the first quarter, we are planning to launch FLRT in select channels. FLRT is a female-focused brand with 4 initial flavors, Strawberry Fling, Guava Lava, Berry Tempting and Sunset Squeeze and contains Zero Sugar and includes ingredients we believe will appeal to our target audience. We are also planning to launch Monster Energy Ultra Punk Punch in March. In April, we are planning to launch Full Throttle Red Apple and NOS Grand Prix Guava. Additionally, we are planning to launch Storm Energy in the second quarter of 2026 in the Wellness Zero Sugar energy drink segment.

We're also planning to introduce 2 LTOs, that's limited time offers from May to July 2026, Monster Energy Ultra Red, White and Blue Razz and Juice Monster Strawberry Lemonade to coincide with America's 250th anniversary.

Turning to sales internationally. Net sales to customers outside the United States increased 23.3% to $937.1 million or a record of approximately 43% of total net sales in the 2025 third quarter compared to $760.1 million or approximately 40% of total net sales in the corresponding quarter in 2024.

Net sales to customers outside the United States on a foreign currency adjusted basis increased 19.1% to $905.3 million in the 2025 third quarter. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased in all 3 of our international regions, EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America in the 2025 third quarter as compared to the 2024 third quarter.

Now focusing on EMEA. Our net sales in EMEA in the 2025 third quarter increased by 30.3% in dollars and increased 23.0% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 third quarter was 37.0% versus 35.4% in the same period in 2024. The quarter was driven by strong execution across markets, including accelerated cooler placements and space gains. Sales growth reflects contributions from both existing SKUs and 2025 innovation with growth from all brand families, especially the Monster Energy Ultra and Juice Monster families.

Energy drink category growth remains healthy with Monster outperforming the category in the majority of EMEA markets. According to Nielsen, in all measured channels in Coca-Cola EuroPacific Partners Western European markets, the Monster Energy brand was the fastest-growing FMCG brand by value and value growth year-to-date. According to Nielsen, for the most recent 13-week period, the Monster brand is now the #1 energy drink in Greece, adding to our market leadership in a number of other countries. Our affordable brands continue to grow and gain share in their respective markets.

Within EMEA, we are seeing continued strong growth of Predator Fury in Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria and are continuing the rollout of Predator in Morocco. We are the market leader in Kenya. Innovation continues to drive performance in this region, in particular, Monster Energy Lando Norris Zero Sugar, which is now available in 27 EMEA markets, became the company's most successful new product launch in EMEA. In the third quarter, we launched Monster Energy Valentino Rossi Zero Sugar in 12 markets and Monster Ultra Vice Guava in Australia, with both products showing promising initial results. We will also continue the rollout of various Monster Energy strategic brands and affordable brand innovations in additional markets in EMEA throughout the last quarter of the year.

Turning to Asia Pacific. Net sales in Asia Pacific in the 2025 third quarter increased 28.7% in dollars and 26.9% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 third quarter was 40.7% versus 40.2% in the same period in 2024. Net sales in Japan in the 2025 third quarter increased 15.6% in dollars and increased 9.7% on a currency-neutral basis. We launched 2 SKUs of Reign Storm in Japan in the 2025 third quarter.

Net sales in South Korea in the 2025 third quarter increased 23.9% in dollars and increased 23.6% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024. Net sales in China in the 2025 third quarter increased 42.9% in dollars and increased 42.0% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024. Net sales in India in the 2025 third quarter increased 54.5% in dollars and increased 58.6% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024.

We continue to remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for our brands in Asia Pacific and the expansion of our affordable brands in China and India. In Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Guam, net sales increased 56.9% in dollars and increased 60.2% on a currency-neutral basis.

Turning now to Latin America and the Caribbean. Net sales in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean in the 2025 third quarter increased 9.3% in dollars and increased 9.8% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales was 46.8% for the 2025 third quarter versus 42.2% in the 2024 third quarter. Net sales in Brazil in the third quarter increased 11.3% in dollars and increased 10.4% on a currency-neutral basis. We launched Juice Monster Rio Punch in the third quarter with positive market acceptance.

Net sales in Mexico increased 26.8% in dollars and increased 30.1% on a currency-neutral basis in the 2025 third quarter. We launched Monster Energy Ultra Strawberry Dreams and Predator Wild Berry in the quarter and both contributed to growth and market share gains. As you may be aware, Mexico recently approved new excise taxes on sugar and artificially sweetened drinks effective January 2026, which will apply to drinks in our portfolio. While Mexico accounts for a low single-digit percentage of our sales, we will work to reduce the impact on our business where possible.

Net sales in Chile in the 2025 third quarter increased 6% in dollars and 8.1% on a currency-neutral basis. Net sales in Argentina in 2025 third quarter decreased 15.1% in dollars and 15.0% on a currency-neutral basis. The net sales decrease in Argentina was due to lower price per case revenues as a result of a change in our operating model late in the first quarter of 2025 with the objective of better managing our foreign currency exposure. Our volumes in Argentina actually increased in the quarter.

Turning to Monster Brewing. Net sales for the Alcohol Brands segment were $33 million in the 2025 third quarter, a decrease of approximately $6.8 million or 17% lower than the 2024 comparable quarter. Our recently launched hard lemonade lines, Blind Lemon and Blind Lemon began shipping nationally in July. Our first subline of The Beast, a spirit-based RTD, ready-to-drink and 2 new beer brands among the planned innovations in 2026.

During the 2025 third quarter, no shares of the company's common stock were repurchased against our repurchase program. As of November 5, 2025, approximately $500 million remained available for repurchase under the previously authorized repurchase program.

Turning now to October 2025 sales. We estimate that October 2025 sales on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis were approximately 14.1% higher than the comparable October 2024 sales and 14.5% higher on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment. We estimate that on a foreign currency adjusted basis, October 2025 sales were approximately 13% higher than the comparable October 2024 sales and 13.4% higher on a foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the Alcohol Brand segment. October 2025 had the same number of selling days as October 2024.

In this regard, we caution again that sales over a short period are often disproportionately impacted by various factors such as, for example, selling days, days of the week finish holidays fall, timing of new product launches, the timing of price increases and promotions in retail stores, distributor incentives as well as shifts in the timing of production. In some cases, our bottlers are responsible for production and determine their own production schedules. This affects the dates on which we invoice such bottlers. Furthermore, our bottling and distribution partners maintain inventory levels according to their own internal requirements, which they may alter from time to time for their own business reasons. We reiterate that sales over a short period such as a single month should not necessarily be imputed to or regarded as indicative of results for a full quarter or any future period.

In conclusion, I'd like to summarize some recent positive points. Our record quarterly net sales, gross profit dollars, operating income and net income speak to the strength of our brands. In addition, the percentage growth rates in reported gross profit, operating income, net income and earnings per share, all outpaced our growth rates in net sales.

The energy drink category continues to grow globally. We believe that household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category, growth opportunities in household penetration per capita consumption, along with consumers' needs for energy are positive factors for the category. We continue to expand our sales in non-Nielsen tracked channels.

Globally, as measured by scanner data, consumer demand remains strong in the energy drink category. We continue to review opportunities for price increases, both domestically and internationally. We continue to invest in our supply chain to better service our customers and improve our cost structure. We are excited about our innovation pipeline for 2026 and beyond.

Finally, we are hosting an Investor Day in New York City on December 2, and we hope you can join us in person or online.

I would now like to open the floor to questions about the quarter. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]

And our first question today comes from Dara Mohsenian from Morgan Stanley.

So I just wanted to touch on EMEA revenue growth, strong reported results in the last couple of quarters. We're also seeing really robust retail takeaway in Nielsen and Western Europe in what's countries that are more developed with higher per capita consumption. So just want to get your perspective on what's driving the strong category growth in Western Europe, perhaps compare and contrast that with the U.S. category acceleration we've seen over the last year?

And the second part of that strength in EMEA is Monster's market share has accelerated in the last couple of quarters here. So I know Hilton touched on some of the factors in the prepared remarks, but perhaps just give us a bit more detail on what's also driving the Monster share acceleration in EMEA?

Sure, Dara. That's a long question, but I'll do my best to answer it. Category acceleration in Europe, fundamentally driven by strong value proposition that we have with energy products compared to other NARTDs, combined with brand image, image is really important in our industry and category functionality, which all combine to make energy drinks all-day multi-occasion beverages with a wide appeal across age groups.

We've also had this ultra-wide viral social media growth through the Internet and following that a lot of endorsements. And for those of you who haven't followed that on social media, it's something really worth seeing. A large percentage of our category consumers, we've heard about 25%. We did some studies in Western Europe based on usage and attitude. And we basically have heard from these studies that 25% of consumers are actually new to the category in the last 12 months and come from a range of other categories, including water, juice, coffee and sparkling soft drinks. We have not done the study in the U.S., just in Europe to be precise.

The energy category has a wide range of product offerings, both sugar, non-sugar SKUs with an extensive range of flavors and material product innovations and innovations. Similar to the U.S., value proposition, brand image, functionality, consumers new to the category come from a range of other categories, water, coffee, coffee house, coffees are becoming really expensive and energy drinks are seen as a more affordable alternative. We've got zero and we've got full sugar variants and as you know, a wide variety of innovation.

And if we talk about share gains, that was another part of your question. Mark just sent me a note and said I didn't answer your question properly. I have to talk about share gains. So Monster outperformed the category, and you could see the share gains in the attachment to the release, which we're pretty excited about. The achievement in EMEA in market share was pretty phenomenal.

So again, we outperformed the category with growth driven both from innovation and from existing SKUs, which are consumer favorites. And that's really important about our business is that growth is driven by innovation as well as from existing SKUs, whereas if you look at the rest of the category, they are mainly dependent on innovation for growth.

Ultra, the Ultra brand platform has led the growth with Ultra White supported online, as I mentioned, and social media consumer endorsements together with really good Ultra innovation. Growth in the Monster SKUs has Monster Green. Juice Monster has added to the positioning in Europe and Lando Norris Zero Sugar, you add that all together, that combined to drive growth ahead of the category. Lando Norris was, as I mentioned in the script, one of the best launches we've ever had in EMEA. And we've had some good results in the U.S. as well in the limited markets where we have released Lando Norris Zero Sugar.

So sorry, I was a little bit long-winded, but I hope that answered your question. Mark seems to be happy. So...

Our next question comes from Peter Grom from UBS.

Hilton, I was hoping to just get your perspective on the top line trajectory from here, but more from a category standpoint. Obviously, this year has been solid, probably better than most of us would have expected if you asked us this time last year. So just -- as we look out to '26 and just given the various cross currents and tougher comps, how do you see category growth evolving as we look ahead? Would you expect some moderation? Or do you think the strong level of growth can continue? And then just quickly more of a housekeeping. The quarter-to-date number, sometimes there can be a shift in ordering patterns around pricing adjustments. So just curious if there was any sort of benefit from that in the October number?

Okay. So we did not see a benefit in this quarter from the price increase that -- we will talk about if anyone asked a question that is effective November 1 and including October. So we do not see any impact in the quarter and in October either.

So just looking at the key drivers of growth, and then we can talk about your question for 2026. But again, we don't give guidance. But as I talk through what I believe are the key drivers for the category and for growth, we can get a feel -- or you can get a feel of what could happen in 2026. Number one, we spoke about the value proposition relative to other beverages, relative to coffee house coffees. So that's something that I believe is really important in the growth that we are seeing.

We're seeing increasing household penetration. We're seeing new entrants into the category. Monster has always stood for image. Image is really important and image is really important in the energy drink category. We've spoken about innovation, the need state for energy. There's a huge -- everyone wants energy. They need energy, and we offer that. The fact that we are an affordable luxury, which we've spoken in the past and also this whole sort of move behind the Ultra brand family.

And energy drinks are becoming more acceptable in society. At one time, they were kind of looked at and people were concerned about them. But now understanding the levels of caffeine, which are not exorbitant and less than half of equivalent size of a coffee house coffee, energy drinks are becoming more acceptable.

And then when we look at 2026, we can make our own conclusions, but we are having a price increase that we'll talk about maybe. And innovation, we've got a lot of innovation planned for the remainder of this year that's happening. It's all in market, and we've got great innovation for 2026 as well. And we're excited about all the innovation, including these LTOs for America's 250th year anniversary.

Our next question comes from Matthew Smith from Stifel.

Since you mentioned pricing, I'll swap my question in here. You have pricing effective November 1. It sounds like you're taking a strategic approach versus a broad line increase. In the U.S., what level of pricing do you expect from the increases in promo reductions? And do you expect price realization to be significantly different by channel?

Okay. So let me start off by saying we've completed our discussions with our bottlers and our customers. And we will have revised pricing implemented effective November 1, which is already happening. As I also said on the call, we anticipate minimal impact on volumes, reflecting the energy drink category's favorable value proposition and relatively modest pace of price increases compared to other NARTD categories. And now I'm just going to hand this question over to Rob Gehring, who has been our Chief Growth Officer, as most of you will know, who's been intimately involved in implementing the price increasing and the -- it's better you hear it from him rather than from me. So Rob, please go ahead.

You bet. Matt, thanks for the question. I appreciate that. As you're aware, we believe RGM is a balance of art and science rooted in consumer insights where we sequentially strive to grow top line faster than units. And as Hilton mentioned, we remain focused on unit growth, and we're constantly evaluating elasticities because we believe that's a critical strategic consumption metric. So as we engage with our bottlers and our retailers, we strive to optimize the ideal balance of rate, trade spend, package mix and channel mix. And what we have implemented effective November 1, you will start to see in the coming weeks in scanner data, but our goal is to consistently achieve and deliver those objectives.

Our next question comes from Bonnie Herzog from Goldman Sachs.

All right. Actually, if I could, Rob, maybe just ask a quick follow-up question on pricing about the net price realization you're hoping to achieve with the actions you just talked about. How do we think about it versus, I guess, the 5% rate or price increase you took last year?

I think, Bonnie, thanks for the question, and thanks for the follow-up. We're going to go into a lot more detail about our strategy in December. But at this point, the complexity across channels and package mix and across our brand families, it's a little early to state an exact precise number as we watch this materialize. You're starting to see it in stores now. You'll see in scanner data in coming weeks. But again, our goal is always to manage that balance between delivering that top line ahead of unit growth. So you can see how effective it was for us in 2025, and our goal is to consistently deliver that moving forward.

Okay. And then if I could, Hilton, I'd love to ask you a question about your gross margins in the quarter, which were really strong. And I think they came in better than you expected since I believe you suggested to us last quarter that they would decline sequentially. So just would love to hear from your perspective, like, I guess, what came in better than you thought? I mean, was it stronger volume, you got more leverage, et cetera?

So what we said in the release, and I think that's quite important to look at that. So we had pricing actions, which were positive. Our supply chain optimization was again positive, and we had product sales mix. And that's -- as we move from more sugar beverages to lower -- to zero sugar alternatives, that benefits our margin. And then in the quarter, we also had higher promotional allowances, increased aluminum can costs, which we've discussed and geographical sales mix. So you put it all together, pricing was good, increase in pricing, supply chain optimization and product sales mix, and they were the major contributors to gross margin.

Now gross margin was the same as last quarter, which was really pleasing to see. And we're really happy with where we are now. We spoke a little bit about tariffs in the script and that we will see an impact in tariffs. Tariffs, we spoke about another -- a modest impact in this quarter. We saw -- we spoke about a modest impact of tariffs in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2026. And then as we -- if things stay very much the same, we'll then be benefiting from what happened in 2025 because that's when the Midwest premium and the LME started moving on. And then, of course, we'll have the benefit of pricing, which Rob has just spoken about and which has been implemented effective November 1.

And our next question comes from Kaumil Gajrawala from Jefferies.

Well done this quarter. A question on the contribution of affordable energy around the world and its sort of impact on margins. The long history has been margins of international have been lower than the U.S. Now with the launch of affordable energy and given the margin profile, is that the sort of gap that -- is that the sort of product that can maybe narrow that gap in margins of international versus the U.S.? Or is it perhaps just not big enough at this stage to help bridge that?

Yes. One of the problems internationally, as I've spoken on many occasions is that the pricing internationally is not the same pricing that we're able to achieve in the U.S. and that we look at some of our competitors, and we have to -- as we compete in a market, we have to price ourselves competitively. And we found that if we stray more than a certain percentage from a large competitor, it does impact volumes. So we have to be very careful with pricing internationally. Plus in most countries, our costs are a lot higher because in the U.S., we have significant scale.

So now turning to affordable energy. I think affordable energy, because it's a concentrate will actually benefit overall margins internationally, but not to a significant degree, I would believe, but it will be a positive contribution because it's a concentrate model. And as you know, concentrated models really generate higher margins than finished good models, which we run on with our Monster brands.

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we will be concluding our question-and-answer session for this afternoon. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Hilton Schlosberg for any closing comments.

Thank you. On behalf of Monster, I would like to thank everyone for their interest in the company. We are confident in the strength of our brands and the talent of our entire Monster family throughout the world, and I'm excited to be working with them all and thank them for their contributions during the quarter. We believe in the company and our growth strategy and are committed to innovating, developing and differentiating our brands and expanding the company both at home and abroad. We are proud of our relationship with the Coca-Cola system and the opportunities this presents to us. We believe that we are well positioned in the beverage industry and are optimistic about the future of our company.

Thank you so much for your attendance.

And ladies and gentlemen, with that, we'll conclude today's conference call. We do thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.

Good day, and welcome to the Monster Beverage Company Second Quarter 2025 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please also note today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Hilton Schlosberg, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this call. I'm Hilton Schlosberg, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Also on the call are Tom Kelly, our Chief Financial Officer; Emelie Tirre, our Chief Commercial Officer; Rob Gehring, our Chief Growth Officer; Guy Carling our President of EMEA and Oceana, South Pacific; and [ Mark Astrachan], our Senior VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Mark will now read our cautionary statement.

Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that certain statements made during this call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended and are based on currently available information regarding the expectations of management with respect to revenues, profitability, future business, future events, financial preference and trends.

Management cautions that these statements are based on our current knowledge and expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the control of the company that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements made during this call.

Please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed on February 28, 2025, and quarterly report on Form 10-Q including the sections contained therein entitled Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements for a discussion on specific risks and uncertainties that may affect our performance. The company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

I'd also like to note that an explanation of the non-GAAP measures, which may be mentioned during the course of this call, is provided in the notes in the condensed consolidated statements of income and other information attached to the earnings release dated August 7, 2025. A copy of this information is also available on our website, www.monsterbevcorp.com in the Financial Information section.

Please also note that scanner data, which was previously provided on earnings calls is now included in an exhibit filed with our 8-K. We point out that certain market statistics that cover single months or 4-week periods may often be materially influenced positively or negatively by promotions or other trading factors during those periods. I would now like to hand the call over to Hilton Schlosberg.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. We are pleased to report yet another quarter of strong financial results and cash generation. In fact, our second quarter net sales of $2.11 billion are a quarterly record that crossed the $2 billion threshold for the first time in the company's history, with net sales increasing 11.1% compared with the 2024 2nd quarter. In addition, the percentage growth rates in reported gross profit, operating income net income and earnings per share all outpaced our growth rate in net sales.

Overall, the global energy drink category remains healthy with accelerating growth. Household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category, driven by product functionality and lifestyle positioning, diverse offerings that appeal to an increasingly broad and loyal consumer base and affordable value offerings in addition to premium offerings.

In the United States, according to Nielsen, for the recently reported 30-week period through July 26, 2025 sales in dollars in the energy drink category, including energy shots, for all office combined, namely convenience, grocery, drug, mass merchandisers, increased by 13.2% versus the same period a year ago.

Trends in our U.S. business remains solid with continued acceleration from early 2025. In EMEA, the energy drink category according to Nielsen for our track markets for the recently reported 30-week period, which differ from country to country, grew at approximately 15.4% versus the same period last year, FX neutral. In APAC, the energy drink category according to Nielsen, [indiscernible] INTAGE for our tracked channels for the recently reported 30-week period which differ from country to country, grew at approximately 20.9% versus the same period last year, FX neutral.

In LATAM, the energy game category according to Nielsen for our track markets for the 3 months ended June 30, 2025, grew at approximately 13.9% versus the same period last year. Growth remains healthy in local currencies across EMEA, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Our net sales to customers outside the United States rose to approximately 41% of total reported net sales in the 2025 2nd quarter.

We believe our portfolio of energy drink offerings are well positioned to participate in the growing global energy drink category, appealing to a broad range of consumers across geographies, price points and [ need ] states. Innovation continues to be an important contributor to category growth, but we maintain a robust innovation pipeline.

Our marketing messaging continues to resonate globally. Highlights from the second quarter include the continued successes of our sponsorship and endorsement activities, including our McLaren Formula One team sponsorship, UFC and MMA Summer X Games, Supercross and Motocross and Stage Coast Music Festival, among others.

Relatedly, we successfully introduced Monster Energy [indiscernible] Sugar in select EMEA markets in the second quarter with a broader introduction planned for the second half of the year. As an aside, the McLaren Formula One team won again this past weekend.

Building on the successes of our $1 billion Ultra brand family, we've introduced a new visual brand identity to differentiate and enhance visibility in store. In particular, we have established new merchandising platforms, including in-store coolers around a 0 sugar flavors unleased proposition. This will be followed by digital media campaign in the third quarter adding to the most recent viral explosion on social media for our flagship Zero Ultra energy drink. We also have further Ultra innovations planned, including the launch of Ultra wild passion in the fourth quarter.

During the second quarter of 2025, the impact of tariffs on our operating results was immaterial. In general, while our flavors and concentrates are manufactured both in the U.S. and Ireland at the present time, production of our finished products takes place locally in our respective markets. Despite the immaterial impact on our business in the second quarter, the tariff landscape continues to be complicated and dynamic.

We import some raw materials into the United States, export certain raw materials for local markets and export limited quantities of finished products. We do not believe, based on our business model that the current tariffs will have a material impact on the company's operating results. However, we expect it will have a modest impact in the third quarter of 2025. We will continue to recognize tariffs on aluminum through the higher Midwest premium and continue to implement mitigation strategies across the business where possible.

Turning to our Q2 2025 results. Net sales were $2.11 billion for the 2025 2nd quarter or 11.1% higher than net sales of $1.9 billion in the comparable 2024 2nd quarter. Net changes in foreign currency exchange rates had an unfavorable impact on net sales for the 2025 2nd quarter of $5 million.

Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis increased 11.4% in the 2025 2nd quarter. Net sales, excluding the alcohol brand segment on a foreign currency adjusted basis increased 11.8% in the 2025 2nd quarter. Excluding the Alcohol Brands segment from our reported results is purely illustrative as it remains part of ongoing operations.

Net sales for the company's Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 11.2% to $1.94 billion for the 2025 second quarter from $1.74 billion for the 2024 second quarter. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Monster Energy Drinks segment increased 11.4% in the 2025 second quarter.

Net sales for the company's Strategic Brands segment increased 18.9% to $129.9 million for the 2025 second quarter from $109 in the 2024 second quarter. Net sales on a foreign currency adjusted basis for the Strategic Brands segment increased 19.1% in the 2025 second quarter. Net sales for the Alcohol Brands segment decreased 8.6% to $38 million for the 2025 second quarter from $41.6 million in the 2024 second quarter.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 second quarter was 55.7% compared with 53.6% in the 2024 second quarter. The increase in gross profit as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 second quarter was primarily the result of pricing actions, supply chain optimization and lower input costs, partially offset by geographical sales mix and higher promotional allowances.

Distribution expenses for the 2025 second quarter were $82 million or 3.9% of net sales compared with $87.4 million or 4.6% of net sales in the 2024 second quarter. Selling expenses for the 2025 second quarter were $196.9 million or 9.3% of net sales compared with $192.1 million or 10.1% of net sales in the 2024 second quarter.

General and administrative expenses for the 2025 second quarter were $265.9 million or 12.6% of net sales compared with $212.8 million or 11.2% of net sales for the 2024 second quarter. Stock-based compensation was $33.2 million for the 2025 second quarter compared with $18.8 million in the 2024 second quarter.

The increase in stock-based compensation for the 2025 second quarter included $7.9 million related to certain equity awards granted late in the 2025 first quarter that contained a new retirement clause. In addition, general and administrative expenses for the 2025 second quarter included $3.8 million of litigation provisions.

Operating expenses for the 2025 second quarter were $544.8 million compared with $492.3 million in the 2024 second quarter. Adjusted operating expenses exclusive of the alcohol brand segment, the litigation provisions and the change in stock-based compensation for the 2025 second quarter were $49.7 million compared with $459.3 million in the 2024 second quarter.

Operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 second quarter were 25.8% compared with 25.9% in the 2024 second quarter. Adjusted operating expenses as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 second quarter were 24.0%.

Operating income for the 2025 second quarter increased 19.8% to $631.6 million from $527.2 million in the 2024 comparative quarter. Adjusted operating income for the 2025 second quarter, exclusive of the Alcohol Brands segment, the litigation provisions and the change in stock-based compensation increased 21.5% to $667.9 million from $549.7 million in the 2024 second quarter.

The effective tax rate for the 2025 second quarter was 24.4% compared with 22.9% in the 2024 second quarter. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily attributable to higher income taxes in foreign tax jurisdictions.

Net income for the 2025 second quarter increased 14.9% to $588.8 million from $425.4 million in the 2024 second quarter. Net income for the 2025 second quarter, exclusive of the alcohol brand segment, the litigation provisions and the change in stock-based compensation increased 16.7% to $516.5 million from $442.7 million in the 2024 second quarter.

Net income per diluted share for the 2025 second quarter increased 21.1% to $0.50 from $0.41 in the second quarter 2024. Net income per diluted share for the 2025 second quarter, exclusive of the litigation provisions and the accelerated stock-based compensation increased 25.2% to $0.51 from $0.41 in the second quarter of 2024.

Net income per diluted share for the 2025 second quarter, exclusive of the Alcohol Brands segment, the litigation provisions and the accelerated stock-based compensation increased 23.0% to $0.52 from $0.43 in the second quarter of 2024.

Turning now to the U.S. and North America sales. Net sales in the U.S. and Canada in the 2025 second quarter increased by 8.6% in dollars over the same period in 2024. Growth for the quarter was led by the Monster Energy Ultra family.

In the United States, according to the Nielsen reports for the 30 weeks ended July 19, 2025, the Monster Energy Ultra Family was the third largest stand-alone energy drink brand in dollar sales in the energy drink category after Red Bull and Monster for all outlets combined, namely convenience, grocery, drug and mass merchandisers, including energy starts.

Innovation continues to drive performance with Monster Energy Ultra Blue Hawaiian and Monster Energy Ultra Vice Guava contributing to the Monster Energy Ultra brand family growth. Our 2 [ Monster Killer Brew SKUs ] and Juiced Ones of [ Viking Berry ] also contributed to U.S. growth.

Our revenue growth management team remains focused on long-term value creation opportunities and trade spend optimization. The pricing of energy drinks in the United States has increased at a slower rate than other NARTD beverages in the last decade, and we believe this provides for a favorable value proposition with consumers.

To that end, we have initiated discussions with our bottlers and customers and are planning for selective price adjustments by packaging channel as well as reductions in promotional allowances in the United States effective during the 2025 fourth quarter. As communicated at our annual meeting, we're planning to launch 2 new full sugar Monster Energy flavors, Monster Energy Electric Blue and Monster Energy [ Orange Dream Sickle ] in the fall. We are also planning to introduce [ Juice Monster Bad Apple], which was introduced in select EMEA markets in 2 as well as Monster Energy Ultra will passion in the fall. Additionally, we are planning a strategic launch Monster Energy [indiscernible] Sugar in Texas and Nevada in California leveraging the Formula 1 races in the United States later this year.

Turning to sales internationally. Net sales to customers outside the United States on a foreign currency adjusted basis, increased 16.5% to $869.3 million in the 2025 second quarter. Reported net sales to customers outside the United States were $864.2 million, 41% of total net sales in the 2025 second quarter compared to $746 million or 39% of total net sales in the corresponding quarter in 2024. Foreign currency exchange rates had a negative impact on net sales in U.S. dollars of approximately $5 million in the 2025 second quarter.

Turning to EMEA. Our net sales in EMEA in the 2025 second quarter increased by 26.8% in dollars and increased 23.7% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 second quarter was 36.1% versus 34.7% in the same period in 2024.

Energy drink category growth remains healthy with Monster outperforming the category in many EMEA markets. According to Nielsen, in all measured channels in Western Europe, excluding Iceland, the Monster Energy brand is now the seventh largest FMCG brand by value. According to Nielsen, for the most recent 13-week period, the Monster brand is now the #1 energy drink in Norway. Our affordable brands continue to grow, gain share in their respective markets.

Within EMEA, we are also seeing growth of Fury in Egypt and Predator in Kenya and Nigeria. Innovation continues to drive performance in the region with Juice Monster Rio Punch and Monster Energy Ultra strollers, contributing to the growth in the quarter. In addition, we launched Monster Energy [ Landers ] Zero Sugar in 5 markets at the end of the second quarter. We will continue to roll out throughout the second half of 2025 in 33 additional markets in EMEA.

We're especially excited about the launch of this product due to its unique package design a pending million-user flavor and strong activation by our sales teams and our Coca-Cola bottling partners. We will be launching various Monster Energy strategic brands and affordable brand products in additional markets in EMEA throughout the rest of 2025, including the rollout of Monster Energy [ Valentino Rossi Zero ] Sugar in a number of countries.

Turning to Asia Pacific. Net sales in Asia Pacific in the 2025 second quarter increased 11.6%, both in dollars and on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024. Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales for the 2025 second quarter was 41.0% versus 45.4% in the same period in 2024.

The decrease in gross profit margins as a percentage of net sales was primarily the result of higher promotional allowances and geographic sales mix. Net sales in Japan in the 2025 second quarter increased 6.1% in dollars and increased 1% on a currency-neutral basis. We are planning to launch 2 SKUs of rainstorm in Japan in the 2025 third quarter.

Net sales in South Korea in the 2025 second quarter increased 22.4% in dollars and increased 28.9% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024. Net sales in China in the 2025 second quarter increased 19.5% in dollars and increased 20.2% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024.

Net sales in India in the 2025 second quarter increased 12.4% in dollars and increased 16.0% on a currency-neutral basis as compared to the same quarter in 2024. During the second quarter, sales growth of the Monster Energy brand remained solid, [ repetitor ] growing meaningfully ahead of the energy drink category in part reflecting its ongoing rollout into new markets and increased production capacity with the Coca-Cola bottlers in India.

Overall, we remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for our brands in Asia Pacific and are excited about the incremental expansion of our affordable brands in China and India. In Oceania, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and Guam, net sales increased 8.3% in dollars and increased 11.9% on a currency-neutral basis.

Turning to Latin America and the Caribbean. Net sales in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, in the 2025 second quarter decreased 7.8% in dollars and increased 1.7% on a currency-neutral basis over the same period in 2024.

Slower growth in the region on a currency-neutral basis was primarily attributable to a change to the operating model in Argentina, lower net sales in certain countries primarily due to production challenges and adverse weather in the region, particularly in Brazil.

Gross profit in this region as a percentage of net sales was 45.2% for the 2025 second quarter versus 45.8% in the 2024 second quarter. Net sales in Brazil in the second quarter decreased 1.3% in dollars but increased 10.4% on a currency-neutral basis. We are planning to launch Juice Monster [ Rio punch ] in the 2025 third quarter.

Net sales in Chile in the 2025 second quarter increased 4.6% in dollars and 4.2% on a currency-neutral basis. We are planning to launch Juice Monster Pipeline Punch in the 2025 third quarter. Net sales in Argentina in the 2025 second quarter decreased 33.9% in dollars and 30.2% on a currency-neutral basis. The net sales decrease in Argentina was partially due to lower per case revenues as a result of a change to operating model late in the first quarter of 2025 with the objective to better manage our foreign currency exposure.

Net sales in Mexico decreased 7.0% in dollars and increased 10.8% on a currency-neutral basis in the 2025 second quarter. In the third quarter, we are planning to launch Monster Energy [ Ultra Strawberry Dreams ] and Predator [ Wild Berry].

Turning to Monster Brewing. Monster Brewing results improved relative to the first quarter of 2025 but continue to face challenges in the second quarter. During the 2025 second quarter, we reduced head count as part of our cost reduction plans.

Net sales for the Alcohol Brands segment were $38 million in the 2025 second quarter, a decrease of approximately $3.6 million or 8.6% lower than the 2024 comparable quarter. We continue to plan for the launch of the beast in certain international markets, subject to regulatory approvals.

We are also planning further innovation in Monster Brewing in the coming months for example, a new hard lemonade lines, [ line lemon and blind lemon ] began shipping nationally in July. During the 2025 second quarter, no shares of the company's common stock were repurchased as of August 6, 2025, approximately $500 million remained available for repurchase under the previously authorized repurchase program.

Now turning to our July 2025 sales. We estimate that July 2025 sales on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis, were approximately 24.3% higher than the comparable July 2024 sales and 24.9% higher on a non-foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the Alcohol Brands segment.

We estimate that on a foreign currency adjusted basis, July 2025 sales were approximately 22.2% higher than the comparable July 2024 sales and 22.8% higher on a foreign currency adjusted basis, excluding the Alcohol Brand segment. July 2025 had the same number of selling days as July 2024.

In this regard, we caution again that sales over a short period, often is proportionately impacted by various factors such as, for example, selling days, days of the week in which holidays fall, timing of new product launches, the timing of price increases and promotions in retail stores, distributor incentives as well as shifts in the timing of production.

In some instances, our bottlers are responsible for production and determine their own production schedules. This affects the date on which we invoice such bottlers. Furthermore, our bottling and distribution partners maintain inventory levels according to their own internal requirements, which they may alter from time to time for their own business reasons.

We iterate that sales over a short period such as a single [indiscernible] should not necessarily be imputed to or regarded as indicative of results for a full quarter or any future period.

In conclusion, I would like to summarize some recent positive points. Our record quarterly net sales crossed the $2 billion threshold for the first time in the company's history. In addition, [indiscernible] growth rates in reported gross profit, operating income, net income and earnings per share all outpaced our growth rate in net sales.

The energy drink category continues to grow globally. We believe that household penetration continues to increase in the energy drink category growth opportunities in household penetration per capita consumption, along with consumers' needs for energy of positive factors for the category. We continue to expand ourselves in non-Nielsen-tracked channels.

Globally, as measured by scanner data, consumer demand remained strong. In the United States, the energy drink category, as measured by Nielsen, accelerated in the 2025 second quarter compared to the 2025 first quarter with growth remaining strong in July. Monster sales at retail have followed a similar some trend. We continue to review opportunities for price increases domestically and internationally. We are excited for our innovation pipeline for 2025 and beyond. I would now like to open the floor to questions about the quarter.

[Operator Instructions]. Today's first question comes from Dara Mohsenian with Morgan Stanley.

The gross -- the gross margin performance was particularly strong in Q2. Can you just talk about how sustainable some of those drivers might be going forward? You mentioned some modest tariff pressure going forward.

So just any thoughts around higher aluminum costs and the impact going forward? And if you could just clarify, you mentioned some U.S. pricing in Q4. Is that more selective tactical adjustments? Or are you looking more to a broad type of price increase?

Well, I think we mentioned that the price increase that is currently being explored will depend on package and channel, so it's still a little premature to say exactly where it will fall out, but we are in discussions with our bottlers and customers.

So turning to gross margins. I'm always been very passionate about gross margins and where the gross margins can end up in the company. But as we look at where we are in Q2 and we look forward into Q3 and we don't give guidance. So I've got to be careful what I say otherwise. I might get into trouble here with the lawyers. But we do see some modest pressures coming from tariffs in Q3. And in Q4, if the price increase has not materialized, but we think it will.

We will see some reduction in -- through tariffs. But we do believe that the price increase will go some way towards overcoming that. And as I mentioned previously on many calls that we have a hedging strategy in place, so we are not totally exposed to the precise and changes in pricing in the [ LME], but we are we are hedged to a limited extent in the Midwest premium, which is where we'll see the impact of the tariffs.

And our next question today comes from Bonnie Herzog with Goldman Sachs.

Maybe a quick follow-up. Question on that just in terms of your supply chain optimization efforts because Hilton, I know you've been working on that. So if you have any color that you can share with us and sort of where you're at in that process? And then I'd love to hear some color on the category because it's been very strong recently, especially in the U.S., up double digits. So if you could touch on some of the drivers of the recent strength and how sustainable this might be for the rest of the year and maybe into next?

Okay. So let's talk first about supply chain optimization. What we've been able to achieve is a good balance between our own production, which now accounts for probably just around 10% of our sales in the U.S. and a very well-balanced co-packing model.

Our objective always has been to get the lowest delivered price to our customers. And that's been an objective and it's one of the reasons why we are not producing more in our Phoenix facility because we've got such a great balance of co-packers that are able to achieve that objective of the lowest landed cost price to our customers. So that's supply chain.

Let's talk a little bit about the category. As we said earlier, when we spoke about July sales, sales trends in the category remains strong. Per scanner data, the category is up 13.2% in the last 4 weeks. Monster is up 12%, and our [ MC ] share, unfortunately has been impacted by the other brands, not Monster. And really, we've seen strong increases across all regions.

We look at where we are in July and all of our regions are increasing nicely. So why has the market changed? At the end of the day, what we look at is that the pricing of our products at retail are very much competitive with comparable [ CSDs]. And traditionally, there was a gap -- historically, there was a gap but now that gap is starting to close. And there's a strong appetite from consumers for functionality and a move towards our products and our competitors' products.

So overall, innovation has driven the growth in the category and in our own sales. And also, there's this whole move that alcohol is not as appealing as historically it's been -- and we believe that's creating more opportunities for energy and certainly more space for energy in the -- in customers' coolers.

So there's nothing really more than I can add other than we're excited to be part of this category. And everyone was like kind of concerned last year, and I think at the time, we said that our belief was that there's a strong motivation, strong acceleration in the category and you're now seeing it. So I'm not sure I can add any more color, Bonnie.

And our next question today comes from Chris Carey at Wells Fargo Securities.

I wanted to follow up just on the quarter-to-date number, exceptionally strong. Hilton you just said that all regions are growing. Is there any pull forward that you're seeing ahead of those pricing discussions? Any timing dynamics that we should be thinking about that's driving some of that strength?

And then if I could just follow up on this broader topic of the energy drink category. It's been a really strong year. And certainly, we're already looking forward to next year and the sustainability of the category clearly, you're going to potentially have this pricing in Q4. But can you just talk about maybe what happened last year why you think the category slowed, whether it was a lack of innovation, lack of pricing and how you're starting to think about the next 12 months between strength of innovation.

Obviously, you're going to have pricing. And any other tidbits that you might give us to lessen some of the anxiety as we start lapping the really strong performance. So thanks for the clarification on the quarter-to-date and sorry for the longer-winded question going into next year.

Yes. Let's start with the longer question for next year. So there's an easy answer. We don't give guidance. So it's really hard for us to talk about 2026 other than to say that we've got a very strong innovation pipeline. And we're really excited about what will happen in the fall with our innovation, what's happening internationally with our innovation and what could happen in 2026 with our innovation program.

Talking about what happened last year, it's -- it's kind of difficult because I don't think anyone knows. We surmised at the time that there were lots of issues. It was pre-election, consumers, there was high inflation. There's high gas prices. Consumers were holding back but we've always said -- and this -- we passionately believe that energy offers a need state, it's a functional beverage. And we continue to see increased household penetration.

We regard energy drinks as an affordable luxury. We're seeing a lot of growth of diets versus full sugar. I mentioned the NARTD price comparison. And there's been a big opportunity with the trend in coffee and the pricing trends in coffee. And also the impact on the coffee industry of the cold brews, which didn't do as successful as people expected. So there's a whole move towards why we believe this category is a good category and why we think it will continue to grow.

And our next question today comes from Steve Powers of Deutsche Bank.

Hilton, case growth this quarter notably outpaced realized revenue growth, which obviously resulted in a lower all-in price per case in the quarter. I was hoping you could maybe break that apart a bit. You mentioned higher promotional investments this quarter. But obviously, we've also got mix factors both geographic and within the segments, strategic brands outpaced Monster. So just a little bit of if you could just dissect the different drivers of the lower price per case and just call anything that may be anomalous or unique to this quarter versus something that is more extrapolatable.

I think you answered your own question, to be honest, because as we look at the quarter, 41% of sales internationally is kind of a first, and you know the impact of gross margin of international versus domestic.

Secondly, we are internationally setting a significant amount now of affordable brands. And you correctly spoke about the Strategic Brands segment growing faster than the energy drink, the Monster Energy Drink segment in the quarter. So all of those factors, geographic mix, product mix, sales mix all contributed to the results that you're talking about.

And our next question today comes from Rob Ottenstein with Evercore.

Hilton, early on in the call, you mentioned -- I couldn't quite follow. You mentioned something about I thought changing the visual identity on the Ultra line. And then there was something about Unleashed and I somehow it came in and out, and I didn't quite follow exactly what you're saying, but if maybe you could talk in a little bit more detail on what you are doing and why you're doing it, given that the Ultra line has been so successful?

The Ultra line has been very successful, and it's -- of late, it's becoming even more successful. And all it is an objective to establish the Ultra line given a separate identity with a silver claw very similar to what we have today but have separate coolers to be able to better merchandise the product.

So it will have a new visual identity, it will have better space through increased cooler capacity and its own coolers and again, commercial stacks on stores, cases on the floor and we are great believers in that part of the business. And I think you probably noticed as probably a lot of our investors have noticed, a lot of our analysts is there's a whole kind of viral campaign on Zero Ultra in EMEA that's carried through to the U.S. and there's a significant amount of passion that we're using to build upon to really market that line more effectively.

Thank you. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Hilton Schlosberg for closing remarks.

Thank you. On behalf of Monster, I'd like to thank everyone for their continued interest in the company. I remain confident in the strength of our brands and the talent of not only our executive management team but also our entire family -- Monster family throughout the world, and I'm excited to be working with them all.

We continue to believe in the company and our growth strategy and remain committed to continuing to innovate, develop and differentiate our brands and to expand the company both at home and abroad and in particular, capitalizing on our relationship with the Coca-Cola bottler system we believe that we are well positioned in the beverage industry and continue to be optimistic about the future of our company. Thank you for your attendance.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.