Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Central Garden & Pet's First Quarter Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Darren, and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Steven Zenker, Vice President of Investor Relations, FP&A and Communications. Please go ahead. Steven Zenker - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Thank you, Darren. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. With me on the call today are George Roeth, Central's President and Chief Executive Officer; Niko Lahanas, Chief Financial Officer; Howard Machek, SVP, Finance and Chief Accounting Officer; J.D. Walker, President, Garden Branded Business; and Rodolfo Spielmann, President, Pet Consumer Products. A press release providing results for our first quarter ended December 30, 2017 is available on our website at www.central.com, and contains the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation for the non-GAAP measures discussed on this call. Before I turn the call over to George, I would like to remind you that statements made during this conference call, which are not historical facts including adjusted EPS guidance for 2018, expectations for new product introductions, future acquisitions, and future revenue and profitability as well as the expected impact of the recent tax reform are forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by forward-looking statements. These risks and others are described in Central's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on November 29, 2017. Central undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to…

At this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. Our first question comes from Jason Gere of KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

Good afternoon, guys. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hi, Jason. Nicholas Lahanas - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hi, Jason.

Hey. I guess the first question, if we could just talk about the organic sales. And honestly, I mean, I understand that it will build out as the year progresses. On a two-year stack rate, your organic sales actually improved versus the fourth quarter. So, I thought maybe you could talk a little bit just about the categories maybe from a – I guess from a de-stocking perspective at brick-and-mortar, the e-com what you saw that was maybe better than expected? And also, if you could talk a little bit about planogram resets and how you're thinking about 2018 that's a little bit more specific I think to the Garden business? George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: That's a mouthful, but we'll try. I'll have a J.D. give us a snippet on Garden and we'll have Rodolfo talk about the Pet. So J.D. J.D. Walker - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Sure. First of all with regard to organic sales, Jason, we – our two largest categories historically in Q1 are our wild bird feed and our grass seed categories. Typically, they account for over 50% of our POS in that quarter. Niko mentioned in his speech earlier if the weather really wasn't conducive for either one of those categories in Q1, so we saw some softness in those categories that impacted our organic growth rate. That, plus the fact that we had a shift in the week that was also – shift in the quarter by one week, so we lost a week on the front end of that quarter moving from a 53-week year to a 52-week year and picked it up on the back end of the quarter. And net-net, what that means is we lost the last week of September and picked up…

Okay, great. Thank you. And I guess my second question before passing it off, I mean if you can – and thank you for the color on the proceeds from the tax benefit that comes through. I mean really beyond the free cash flow that you guys do and the new debt offering, M&A obviously is at the top of the list, a priority, but can you talk about maybe as we look at SG&A for this year, are you also using that tax benefit as a way to kind of increase some of your investments or capabilities to kind of drive longer term kind of organic opportunities for you. So, if that's more on e-commerce or other areas, so I was just wondering how we should think about SG&A as a percentage of sales this year, are we going to see more of a step-up this year because of the tax benefit as that comes through? George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Well, first Jason, I'd say, when you look at our SG&A, it doesn't break it out in granularity for non-working versus working, I'll call it. So, a lot of what you're talking about is working investment to drive growth. We didn't wait for any tax savings to do that. So, we're looking to drive that number up in the absolute and as a percent of sales, I will call it the working portion of SG&A to drive growth. Having said that, there is additional cash flow from the tax savings, that's all very recent, and I'll just say that we're looking at opportunities to invest in both the business and our people to drive long-term sustainable growth and news to follow I'll tell you our forecast sets aside money to do that if we find the right opportunity, but no specifics yet.

Okay. Great. Thank you guys. I'll pass onto the next caller.

Our next question comes from Brian Nagel of Oppenheimer. Please proceed with your question. Brian Nagel - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: Hi. Good afternoon. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hi, Brian. Nicholas Lahanas - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hey, Brian. Brian Nagel - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: Nice quarter. So, maybe some bigger – I guess maybe some bigger picture questions to George. I'm in the Pet category, it seems though you're talking more about weakness in the Pet specialty channel. So, I guess first question I have there is, are you seeing another some sort of write-down (23:26) within that channel. Then the second question is, as we think about online and at the same time, you're talking more about pushing online in your success – doing so, so far. Will there be – is the Central model prepared for that or is there a tweaking that needs to happen over time to allow you to even better perform online? Thanks. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Well, I heard two things and the first one was actually quite garbled. So we didn't get the first part of your question. Brian Nagel - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: Yeah, let me – I'm sorry, let me ask that again. So just in the Pet specialty channel. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Yes. Brian Nagel - Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.: Is the weakness you're seeing, has there been another leg of weakness there or is it more of the same? George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Has there been more weakness? I would say that, if I'm hearing your question right, have things gotten worse in the Pet specialty channel? I would say – go ahead.…

Our next question comes from Bill Chappell of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Please proceed with your question.

Thanks. Good afternoon. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hey, Bill. Nicholas Lahanas - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hey, Bill.

Hey, I guess three kind of specific questions, one on gross margin. I was looking back. This is the highest first quarter gross margin that you've had in seven years. And so just trying to understand if that's mix related? Or if there were some projects that they've done over the past year that have really driven that? And how sustainable, not obviously this type of improvement, but sustainable kind of the gross margin improvement is this year? Nicholas Lahanas - Central Garden & Pet Co.: I'll answer it from a corporate standpoint, and I'll let J.D. and Rodolfo comment on their respective segments. I would tell you that there is some mix there, because of the weather factors that we outlined. So this quarter does have a little bit of a different mix. The other part I would tell you is, it's really a testament to a lot of our low cost producer savings projects that we've got in terms of our long-term cost savings initiatives that we're seeing coming to fruition. And so it's just an ongoing continuous improvement that we have here at the company. And then the other piece again I would just say it's mix. But I'll let J.D. and Rodolfo give more color. J.D. Walker - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Sure. So just building off of what Niko said, Bill, the low cost producer initiatives, that's something we use to describe anything that lowers our cost of goods, improves our operating efficiencies, improves plant utilization, reduces the complexity or simplifies our business model. And each one of our business units, literally each one, has not just a robust pipeline, but a three-year line of sight on initiatives that they're currently working on to drive cost out. We have plenty of opportunities. I'm often…

Got it. That helps. And then second, maybe a little more color on the store within a store concept, number of doors maybe that you're doing this – can this expand to other places and also in the quarter did you get a revenue benefit from that, from the sell in or is it just incurred some cost as you set that up? Rodolfo Spielmann - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Okay so, the stores is in the – the number of doors it's in the 1,000, but this is over a year long process to get those 100s or more than 1,000 stores. Revenue in the quarter, yes, we did get some pickup not major, remember where we set up division-by-division. But, in terms of expansion from this, the model is a model that has worked for the customer. We've tested with this customer for years, and it drove growth for them, growth for us and margin expansion for both. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: The way I think about Bill, is it's a phased rollout over the year. We have upfront spending to set that up that right now is more significant than the cost, and you'll see that flip toward the end of the year.

Okay. And then last one for me just on your EPS guidance. Just by my math it looks like the debt raise in the near-term. Well, I was assuming you don't do anything with the cash is about a $0.14 hit to EPS this year just kind of the $3 million to $4 million of interest expense per quarter? And then the tax benefits of $0.27 so I'm just trying to couple that with your at least EPS guidance raise? Nicholas Lahanas - Central Garden & Pet Co.: I can't walk through all the reconciliation. The way I would think about it is we are giving a $1.62 or higher and our business performed as expected in the first quarter. I wouldn't have expected us to revise our guidance based on the first quarter, we almost never do as you know. And then when we look at the multiple tax benefits and why this gets a little bit confusing because you have the federal statutory rate, you have the impact from the stock accounting and then you also have the interest expense that hits three of the four quarters you come up with the $1.85 or higher.

But, I'm referencing – Interest should be negative $0.14 is that the right range? Nicholas Lahanas - Central Garden & Pet Co.: It's a good ballpark, yeah.

Okay. No, it makes sense. That's all. All positive. I just want to double check. Thanks so much.

Our next question comes from Jim Chartier of Monness, Crespi, and Hardt. Please proceed with your question. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: Hi. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Hi. So, I just wanted to ask about the facilities in New Jersey where you consolidated those last year for the dog and cat business; how are they – how is that new facility running, what kind of benefits did you see from the sales or margin perspective in this quarter? Thanks. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: So, I would say simply those facilities are up and running and running well, we're seeing it already drive lower costs and improve margins and it has given us the capacity to meet a growing demand and it's one of the – those businesses were one of the contributors to the Pet growth in the first quarter. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Right. And then the lower tax rate, have you made any changes to your thinking in terms of capital deployment. You have $300 million from the debt raise to make – to do M&A. I know you've got some additional tax savings, any thoughts on maybe share repurchases? George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: As of right now, no, we still like our – the M&A opportunities as well as our internal cost savings and growth opportunities both internally and externally. So, I would say, repurchase would be a distance third right now. We feel we can put all that money to work at a much higher IRR with the things that I just outlined. Jim A. Chartier - Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.: Great. Thank you.

There are no further questions. I'd like to turn the call back to George Roeth for closing comments. George C. Roeth - Central Garden & Pet Co.: I just want to thank everybody for joining us today and have a great day. Bye.