Peter Grom
UBS Investment Bank, Research Division
All right. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference here in New York City. My name is Peter Grom. I’m the U.S. consumer staples analyst here at UBS, and we are very excited to have joining us this morning from Brown-Forman, Lawson Whiting, President and CEO.
Brown-Forman is a global leader in the beverage alcohol industry. And over the last several years, has been one of the more consistent track records across our U.S. consumer staples coverage. However, more recently, we’ve observed some pretty big shifts in terms of global alcohol consumption, especially here in the U.S. which has impacted the company’s top and bottom line trajectory.
We have a lot of ground to cover today. But in terms of format, I have a number of questions that I plan to ask Lawson. We will also have time for some audience Q&A.
So if you want, I believe you all have instructions in terms of how to submit questions that will show up here on this nice iPad. If there are questions, I’ll be sure to ask them on your behalf.
Before we start, I’m required to read a legal disclaimer. As a research analyst, I’m required to provide certain disclosures relating to the nature of my own relationship and that of UBS as any company on which I express a view on this call today. These disclosures are available at www.ubs.com/disclosures. Alternatively, please reach out to me, and I can provide them to you after this webcast.
So with
