“With the initial cost being recorded beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024.”

In context

“itiative will be the establishment of an accelerated business solutions organization. This will be a centralized organization responsible for driving efficiency and process improvement across our companies in partnership with external service providers. We expect the initial phases of the initiative will deliver at least $600 million in cumulative cost savings over the next five years, which we plan to reinvest in our businesses in support of our vision and enterprise goals. We estimate total pretax charges for the initial phases of approximately $100 million to $125 million. Although we are still evaluating certain aspects of the initial phases of the initiative, we expect to record the majority of the cost as special items excluded from adjusted EPS by the end of the first half of 2025. With the initial cost being recorded beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024. By evolving our ways of working, implementing new technology and better leveraging external partners, we can drive further progress toward our vision and position ourselves for long-term sustainable growth in this dynamic environment. We continue to believe Altria is uniquely positioned to responsibly lead the transition of adult smokers to a smoke-free future. The tobacco harm reduction opportunity remains in front of us and we believe we have the right strategies to make it a reality. Those strategies, together with the strength of our smoke free portfolio and talented employees, give me confidence that we can achieve our vision. I'll now turn it over to Sal to provide additional detail on our business and financial results. Sal Mancuso: Thanks, Billy. Consistent with our 2024 expectati”