Research and development expenses increased by $4 million, or 17%, for the three months ended December 31, 2023, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2022. The increase was due to continued investment in our research and development organization to further progress towards our innovation and sustainability goals.

On February 7, 2023, the Company announced that it will allocate approximately $110 million to $130 million of the sale proceeds from the Russian business to various cost saving initiatives. As of December 31, 2023, the Company has initiated projects with an expected net cost of approximately $210 million.

On September 27, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of a small manufacturer of flexible packaging for food, home care, and personal care applications in India for a purchase consideration of $14 million plus the assumption of debt of $10 million.

In this context, we remain focused on taking price and cost actions to offset inflation, aligning our cost base with market dynamics, and managing working capital.

Improved operating leverage, combined with known benefits in the second half of fiscal year 2024, which include the elimination of the earnings headwinds from the sale of the three manufacturing facilities in Russia, a lower interest expense headwind, and the realization of structural cost reduction and productivity initiatives, is expected to result in improved earnings in the second half of fiscal year 2024.

Management expects to realize an annualized pre-tax benefit of approximately $50 million from structural cost reduction actions taken as a result of all Russia related restructuring by the end of fiscal year 2025.

As anticipated, market conditions have continued to remain challenging in the first half of fiscal year 2024, with softer customer demand and increased destocking in the second quarter, particularly in December, of fiscal year 2024.

We also continue to be impacted by higher inflation in certain areas, such as labor costs. In addition, higher inflation, especially in Europe and the United States, has led central banks to rapidly raise interest rates to dampen inflation which has resulted in higher interest expense on our variable rate debt.

However, there is no assurance that we will meet our performance expectations or that ongoing geopolitical tensions and other factors will not negatively impact our financial results.

Excluding the positive currency impacts of $63 million, the negative impacts from the pass-through of lower raw material costs of approximately $45 million, and the negative impact from the disposed Russian business of $85 million, the remaining variation in net sales for the three months ended December 31, 2023 was a decrease of $264 million, or 9%, reflecting sales from acquired businesses of 1% and unfavorable volumes of 10% as a result of persistently broad based lower market and customer demand as well as accelerated destocking, particularly in December.

Excluding the positive currency impacts of $10 million and the positive impact from the pass-through of higher raw material costs of approximately $15 million, the remaining variation in net sales for the three months ended December 31, 2023 was a decrease of $85 million, or 10%, reflecting price/mix benefits of 2% and unfavorable volumes of 12% predominantly reflecting an incremental weaker consumer and customer demand and significant destocking.

We are focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and made using an increasing amount of recycled content.

In this context, we remain focused on taking price and cost actions to offset inflation, aligning our cost base with market dynamics, and managing working capital.

Gross profit as a percentage of sales increased to 19.1% for the three months ended December 31, 2023, driven by an improvement in operating cost performance.

Management expects to realize an annualized pre-tax benefit of approximately $50 million from structural cost reduction actions taken as a result of all Russia related restructuring by the end of fiscal year 2025.

Research and development expenses increased by $4 million, or 17%, for the three months ended December 31, 2023, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2022. The increase was due to continued investment in our research and development organization to further progress towards our innovation and sustainability goals.

We are focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and made using an increasing amount of recycled content.

The Company's innovation excellence and global packaging expertise enable the Company to solve packaging challenges around the world every day, producing packaging that is more functional, appealing, and cost effective for its customers and their consumers and importantly, more sustainable for the environment.

Of the remaining cash received from the sale of the Russian business, we allocated $100 million to the repurchase of additional shares and the remainder was used to reduce debt.

On February 7, 2023, our Board of Directors approved an on market share buyback of up to $100 million of ordinary shares and/or CDIs during the following twelve months.

On February 6, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.1250 per share to be paid on March 19, 2024 to shareholders of record as of February 28, 2024.

We are focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and made using an increasing amount of recycled content.

The Company's innovation excellence and global packaging expertise enable the Company to solve packaging challenges around the world every day, producing packaging that is more functional, appealing, and cost effective for its customers and their consumers and importantly, more sustainable for the environment.

Research and development expenses increased by $4 million, or 17%, for the three months ended December 31, 2023, compared to the three months ended December 31, 2022. The increase was due to continued investment in our research and development organization to further progress towards our innovation and sustainability goals.

As anticipated, market conditions have continued to remain challenging in the first half of fiscal year 2024, with softer customer demand and increased destocking in the second quarter, particularly in December, of fiscal year 2024.

We also continue to be impacted by higher inflation in certain areas, such as labor costs. In addition, higher inflation, especially in Europe and the United States, has led central banks to rapidly raise interest rates to dampen inflation which has resulted in higher interest expense on our variable rate debt.

However, there is no assurance that we will meet our performance expectations or that ongoing geopolitical tensions and other factors will not negatively impact our financial results.