We saw sales volume and operational excellence drive strong profit growth and margin expansion in 2024. Although we experienced reductions in pricing as we passed through lower raw material costs to our customers, these reductions were offset by strong sales volume growth from Texture & Healthful Solutions. These factors collectively led to a year-over-year increase of 5% in adjusted operating income to $1,016 million and an increase of 8% when taking into account the sale of our South Korea business. Reported and adjusted earnings per share grew to $9.71 and $10.65, respectively. Additionally, cash from operations exceeded $1,436 million, and we returned $426 million to our shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

BUSINESS GROWTH THROUGH RESEGMENTATION

Texture & Healthful Solutions has a global mandate, leveraging our strong position in higher-value specialty starches, hydrocolloids and clean-label texturizers in pursuit of above-market growth opportunities. We saw double-digit organic sales volume growth in this segment during the second half of the year. This strong sales volume is noteworthy as Texture & Healthful Solutions is the segment with our most differentiated products and solutions, generally offering higher profitability.

Our two Food & Industrial Ingredients businesses have a local focus that emphasizes efficient and reliable supply which generates steady cash flow. Our manufacturing facilities are optimized to meet local needs—and we focus our capital expenditures on reliability, efficiency and cost savings. For instance, in our Food & Industrial Ingredients LATAM segment, we successfully debottlenecked our Cali, Colombia, and Mexico City manufacturing facilities with minimal cost, yielding positive returns. In our Food & Industrial Ingredients US/CAN segment, we renewed several large multiyear contracts, better aligning them with higher input costs and ensuring better profitability.

COST COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

Our expertise in operational excellence is driving down cost while also improving customer service. We launched Cost2Compete, a two-year program targeting $50 million of run-rate savings by the end of 2025. I am happy to report that we have exceeded our year-one run-rate cost savings target of $18 million by more than 30%. At the same time, increased production resulting from higher volumes has given our commercial, operations and procurement teams the opportunity to improve sales, forecasting and operations planning efficiency, leading to higher service levels and improved Net Promoter Scores.

PURPOSE-DRIVEN, PEOPLE-CENTRIC PERFORMANCE GROWTH CULTURE

At Ingredion, people power our growth and innovation. That’s why we were recognized for safety, employee engagement and career opportunities in nine different countries where we operate, all while maintaining employee engagement scores exceeding industry benchmarks during a year of significant organizational change. I would particularly like to call out how our team stepped up when Hurricane Helene damaged a major producer of IV solutions in North Carolina, successfully allocating our CERELOSE^® anhydrous dextrose volume for critical IV solutions.

Looking To The Future

Our global reorganization improves our focus on growing market opportunities and serving customers, providing greater insight for shareholders. Our ability to achieve this successful transformation owes much to our more than 11,000 employees worldwide. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their dedication and creativity. I would also like to thank our shareholders for their continued trust in Ingredion and extend my appreciation to our board of directors for their guidance and support. Our record performance in 2024 demonstrated the power of our strategy. We look forward to extending these gains even further in 2025.