CMCO US Equity☆

cmco-20240331

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024

or

Commission file number 001-34362

_________________

COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

(State of Incorporation) (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number)

13320 Ballantyne Corporate Place, Suite D

Charlotte, North Carolina28277

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(716) 689-5400

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

_________________

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share CMCO Nasdaq Global Select Market

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes ☐No☒

Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes☒ No ☐

Indicate by checkmark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant as of September 30, 2023, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was approximately $1,000 million, based upon the closing price of the Registrant's common stock as quoted on the Nasdaq Stock Market on such date. The number of shares of the Registrant’s common stock outstanding as of May 27, 2024 was 28,858,688 shares.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement for its 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "2024 Proxy Statement"), to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") pursuant to Regulation 14A not later than 120 days after the end of the Registrant’s fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report where indicated.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I

Item 1. Business 5

Item 1A. Risk Factors 12

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 20

Item 1C. Cybersecurity 20

Item 2. Properties 22

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 23

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 23

Part II

Item 6. [Reserved] 25

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 32

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 34

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 90

Item 9B. Other Information 92

Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 92

Part III.

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 92

Item 11. Executive Compensation 92

Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 92

Part IV

Item 15. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules 93

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

2024 Annual Report on Form 10-K

This Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Form 10-K”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (“the Exchange Act”), and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical or current fact, included in this Form 10-K are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance and business. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words, such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “can have,” “future,” “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning (including their negative counterparts or other various or comparable terminology). For example, all statements we make relating to our plans and objectives for future operations, growth results, or initiatives, strategies, plans for enhancing shareholder value, the amount of capital expenditures in fiscal 2025, pending acquisitions, the amount of future dividend payments in fiscal 2025 and beyond or the expected outcome or impact of pending or threatened litigation are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including:

• the cyclical nature of our business and general macroeconomic conditions;

• increased competition with respect to our business, including with respect to our material handling and precision conveyance products;

• our ability to successfully integrate our acquisitions;

• price fluctuations and trade tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other raw materials purchased to manufacture our products and our ability to pass on price increases to our customers;

• the scarcity or unavailability of the raw materials and critical components we use to manufacture our products and the impact of such scarcity or unavailability on our ability to operate our business;

• our ability to successfully manage our backlog;

• our ability to maintain relationships with the independent distributors we use to sell our products;

• our ability to continue to attract, develop, engage, and retain qualified employees;

•our ability to understand our customers' specific preferences and requirements, and to develop, manufacture and market products that meet customer demand as we expand into additional international markets;

• our ability to manage our indebtedness, including compliance with debt covenant restrictions in our Term Loan B and our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement (each as defined herein);

• our ability to manage the risks of conducting operations outside of the United States, including currency fluctuations, trade barriers, labor unrest, geopolitical conflicts, more stringent labor regulation, tariffs, political and economic instability and governmental expropriation;

• potential product liability, as our products involve risks of personal injury and property damage;

• compliance with federal, state and local environmental protection laws, including regulatory measures meant to address climate change, which may be burdensome and lower our margins;

• our ability to adequately protect our intellectual property and refrain from infringing on the intellectual property of others;

• our ability to adequately manage and rely on our subcontractors and suppliers;

• our ability to adequately protect our information technology systems from cyberattacks or other interruptions;

• our ability to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws;

• our ability to retain key members of our management team; and

•the volatility of our common stock.

While we believe that the forward-looking statements in this Form 10-K are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the effect of known factors, and, it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in this Form 10-K. All written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements as well as other cautionary statements that are made from time to time in our other filings with the SEC and public communications. You should evaluate all forward-looking statements made in this Form 10-K in the context of these risks and uncertainties.

We caution you that the important factors referenced above may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will realize the results or developments we expect or anticipate or, even if substantially realized, that they will result in the outcomes or affect us or our operations in the way we expect. The forward-looking statements included in this Form 10-K are made only as of the date hereof and are based on our current expectations. We

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undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except to the extent required by applicable law.

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PART I

Item 1. Business

General

Columbus McKinnon Corporation ("Columbus McKinnon" or the "Company") is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, rigging tools, light rail workstations and digital power and motion control systems. These are highly relevant, professional-grade solutions that solve our customers’ critical material handling requirements.

The Company is focused on commercial and industrial applications that require the safety, reliability and quality provided by its superior design and engineering know-how. Our products are used for mission critical applications where we have established, trusted brands that are well known in the industry. Our targeted market verticals include manufacturing, transportation including EV production and aerospace, energy and utilities, process industries, industrial automation, construction and infrastructure, food and beverage, entertainment, life sciences, consumer packaged goods and e-commerce/supply chain/warehousing.

In fiscal 2022, the Company initiated a new long-term strategy to transform from a legacy cyclical industrial company to a high growth, high margin secular growth company. The Company expanded into the precision conveyance sector with its acquisitions of Dorner Mfg. Corp. ("Dorner") and Garvey Corporation ("Garvey"). Dorner is a leading automation solutions company providing unique, patented technologies in the design, application, manufacturing and integration of high-precision conveying systems. Dorner is a leading supplier to the stable life sciences, food processing, and consumer packaged goods markets as well as the higher growth industrial automation and e-commerce sectors. The addition of Dorner has provided attractive complementary adjacencies to the Company. Dorner offers a broad range of precision conveying systems to our product offerings, which include low profile, flexible chain, large scale, sanitary and vertical elevation conveyor systems, as well as pallet system conveyors. The Garvey acquisition added additional product capabilities as it is a leading accumulation systems solutions company providing unique, patented systems for the automation of production processes whose products complement those of Dorner.

The Company added asynchronous conveying technology in the precision conveyance sector in fiscal 2024 with its acquisition of montratec GmbH ("montratec"), a leading automation solutions company that designs and develops intelligent automation and transport systems for interlinking industrial production and logistics processes. montratec product offerings compliment the previous acquisitions of both Dorner and Garvey. Together, our acquisitions within the precision conveyance industry established a platform for growth organically as well as through further acquisitions as the industry is highly fragmented and offers complementary adjacencies, which we believe will enable further growth.

In the United States, we are the market leader for hoists, material handling digital power control systems and precision conveyors, our principal lines of products, and have strong market positions with certain chain, forged fittings, and actuator products. Additionally, in Europe, we believe we are the market leader for manual hoists and a market leader in linear actuators used for heavy load, rail and niche custom applications for actuation. We have achieved this leadership position through strategic acquisitions, our extensive, diverse, and well-established distribution channels and our commitment to product innovation and quality. We believe the substantial breadth of our product offerings and broad distribution channels in the United States and Europe provide us a strategic advantage in our markets. The acquisition of STAHL CraneSystems ("STAHL") in fiscal 2017, which is well-known for its custom engineering lifting solutions and hoisting technology, advanced our position as a global leader in the production of explosion-protected hoists. STAHL serves independent crane builders and Engineering Procurement and Construction ("EPC") firms, providing products to a variety of end markets including automotive, general manufacturing, oil and gas, steel and concrete, power generation, as well as process industries such as chemical and pharmaceuticals.

We are continuing our transformation from a legacy cyclical industrial company to a top-tier, secular growth, intelligent motion solutions company. In accordance with our strategic framework, we are building out the Columbus McKinnon Business System ("CMBS") and growth framework to be market-led, customer-centric and operationally excellent with our people and values at the core.

With CMBS as the foundation, we are well positioned to execute our Core Growth Framework (Framework) strategy. The Framework defines four parallel paths for Columbus McKinnon’s growth and provides clear organic and strategic initiatives. Our Framework includes:

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•Strengthening the Core which is a foundational path focused on initiatives that will strengthen competencies and improve our competitive position within our existing share of our Serviceable Addressable Market (”SAM”). Initiatives include further developing commercial and product management competencies and improving our digital tools for a better, more efficient customer experience.

•Growing the Core is a path that is focused on taking greater market share, both organically and through acquisitions, within our SAM. We are making progress on this path with product localization, new product development and advancements in automation and aftermarket support for our distributors.

•Expanding the Core is a path that is focused on improved channel access and geographic expansion. Here we expand beyond our SAM into the broader Total Addressable Market (“TAM”). This involves building out our presence both geographically and in new verticals with expanded offerings, which we expect to be accomplished organically as well as with selective acquisitions.

•Reimagining the Core is a more transformational path that rethinks our TAM and targets strategic expansion beyond our existing TAM. As we think more broadly about material handling and increasing trends in intelligent motion, not just lifting, but solutions for how materials move throughout customer environments, there are some compelling ideas that emerge. The acquisitions of our conveyor businesses is an example of reimagining Columbus McKinnon’s core, which added approximately $5 billion to our TAM, with the specialty conveying microsegment growing at an estimated 6% to 8% rate annually.

Business Description

We design, manufacture, and distribute a broad range of material handling products for various applications. Products include a wide variety of electric, air-powered, lever, and hand hoists, hoist trolleys, explosion-protected hoists, winches, and aluminum work stations; alloy and carbon steel chain; forged attachments, such as hooks, shackles, textile slings, clamps, and load binders; mechanical and electromechanical actuators and rotary unions; below-the-hook special purpose lifters; and power and motion control systems, such as AC and DC drive systems, radio remote controls, push button pendant stations, brakes, and collision avoidance and power delivery subsystems. Our legacy Lifting business is cyclical in nature and sensitive to changes in general macro economic conditions, including changes in industrial capacity utilization, industrial production, and general macro economic activity indicators, like GDP growth.

Our products are typically manufactured for stock or assembled to order from standard components and are sold primarily through a variety of commercial distributors and, to a lesser extent, directly to end-users. Our STAHL subsidiary brings market leadership with independent crane builders and EPC firms. The diverse end-users of our products are in a variety of industries including manufacturing, power generation and distribution, utilities, wind power, warehouses, commercial construction, oil and gas exploration and refining, petrochemical, marine, ship building, transportation and heavy-duty trucking, agriculture, logging and mining. We also serve a niche market for the entertainment industry, including permanent and traveling concerts, live theater, and sporting venues.

Our precision conveyance acquisitions expanded our product offerings to include a broad range of highly engineered, precision conveying solutions. The acquisitions of Dorner and Garvey expand the Company's reach to include the stable life sciences, food processing and consumer packaged goods markets and high growth industrial automation and e-commerce sectors. montratec’s principal markets include aerospace and electric vehicle production amongst others.

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Products

Of our fiscal 2024 sales, $574,843,000, or 57%, were U.S. and $438,697,000 or 43% were non-U.S. The following table sets forth certain sales data for our products, expressed as a percentage of net sales for fiscal 2024 and 2023:

Fiscal Years Ended March 31,

High-precision conveying systems 16 16

Digital power control and delivery systems 12 11

Actuators and rotary unions 10 9

Chain and rigging tools 7 8

Industrial cranes 4 4

Elevator application drive systems 2 3

Hoists - We manufacture a wide variety of electric chain hoists, electric wire rope hoists, hand-operated hoists, winches, lever tools, and air-powered hoists. Load capacities for our hoist product lines range from one-eighth of a ton to nearly 275 tons. These products are sold under our Budgit, Chester, CM, Coffing, Little Mule, Pfaff, Shaw-Box, STAHL, Yale, and other recognized brands. Our hoists are sold for use in numerous general industrial applications, as well as for use in the construction, energy and utilities, steel and metals processing, mining, transportation, entertainment, and other markets. We also supply hoist trolleys, driven manually or by electric motors, which are used in conjunction with hoists.

We also offer several lines of standard and custom-designed, below-the-hook tooling, clamps, and textile strappings. Below-the-hook tooling, textile, and chain slings and associated forgings, and clamps are specialized lifting apparatus used in a variety of lifting activities performed in conjunction with hoisting or lifting applications.

We recently announced that along with a strategic partner we have developed a cutting-edge battery hoist. Combining our industry-leading hoist design with our partner's expertise in lithium-ion battery and brushless motor technology, the innovative BatteryStarTM hoist provides the lifting strength and speed of an electric chain hoist and the portability of a manual hoist without the need for time-consuming manual operation or access to a power source. The BatteryStar hoist has a 1-metric-ton lifting capacity with 20 feet of lift as standard and lifting speeds of 8 feet per minute. The hoist will be available for sale beginning in fiscal 2025.

We also manufacture explosion-protected hoists and custom engineered hoists, including wire rope and manual and electric chain hoists. These branded products are sold to a variety of end markets including automotive, general manufacturing, oil and gas, steel and concrete, power generation as well as process industries such as chemical and pharmaceuticals.

High-precision conveying systems – Dorner and Garvey expanded our product offerings to include high-precision, specialty conveyor system solutions. These conveyor systems range from build to order modular standard systems to highly engineered custom solutions. These products offer customers high quality and reliable solutions that enhance productivity and profitability.

The Company’s most recent acquisition, montratec, provides asynchronous conveying solutions, which complements both Dorner and Garvey product offerings. This furthers our shift to intelligent motion solutions and provides capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.

Digital Power Control and Delivery Systems - Through our Magnetek brand, we are a leading provider of innovative power control and delivery systems and solutions for overhead material handling applications used in a number of diverse industries, including aerospace, automotive, steel, aluminum, paper, logging, mining, ship loading, nuclear power plants, and heavy movable structures. We are a major supplier in North America of power and motion control systems, which include AC and DC drive systems, radio remote controls, push button pendant stations, brakes, and collision avoidance and power delivery subsystems. While we sell primarily to original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") of overhead cranes and hoists, we engage with end users to understand their needs and gain specification. We can combine our products with engineered services to provide complete customer-specific system solutions.

We are also a leading independent supplier of AC and DC digital motion control systems for underground coal mining equipment. Our systems are used in coal hauling vehicles, shuttle cars, scoops, and other heavy mining equipment.

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Actuators and Rotary Unions - Through our Duff-Norton and Pfaff brands, we design and manufacture industrial components such as mechanical and electromechanical actuators and rotary unions. Actuators are linear motion devices used in a variety of industries, including the transportation, paper, steel, energy, aerospace, and many other commercial industries. Rotary unions are devices that transfer a liquid or gas from a fixed pipe or hose to a rotating drum, cylinder or other device. Rotary unions are used in a variety of industries including pulp and paper, printing, textile and fabric manufacturing, rubber, and plastic.

Chain and Rigging Tools - We manufacture alloy and carbon steel chain for various industrial and consumer applications. U.S. federal regulations require the use of alloy chain for overhead lifting applications because of its strength and wear characteristics. A line of our alloy chain is sold under the Herc-AlloyTM brand name for use in overhead lifting, pulling, and restraining applications. In addition, we also sell specialized load chain for use in hoists, as well as three grades and multiple sizes of carbon steel welded-link chain for various load securing and other non-overhead lifting applications.

We produce a broad line of alloy and carbon steel closed-die forged chain attachments, including hooks, shackles, HammerloksTM, and master links. These forged attachments are used in chain, wire rope, and textile rigging applications in a variety of industries, including transportation, mining, construction, marine, logging, petrochemical, and agriculture.

In addition, we manufacture carbon steel forged and stamped products, such as load binders, logging tools, and other securing devices, for sale to the industrial and logging markets through industrial distributors, hardware distributors, mass merchandiser outlets, and OEMs.

Industrial Cranes - We manufacture and market under our Unified Industries brand overhead aluminum light rail workstations primarily used in automotive and other industrial applications. We also manufacture crane components and crane kits through our STAHL branded products.

Elevator Application Drive Systems - Through our Magnetek brand we also design, build, sell, and support elevator application-specific drive products that efficiently deliver power used to control motion, primarily in high-rise, high-speed elevator applications. We are recognized as an industry leader for DC high-performance elevator drives, as well as for AC drives used with low- and high-performance traction elevators, due to our extensive application expertise and product reliability. Our elevator product offerings are comprised of highly integrated subsystems and drives, sold mainly to elevator OEMs. In addition, our product options include a number of regenerative controls for both new building installations and elevator modernization projects that help building owners save energy.

Distribution and Markets

We sell our products and solutions through various distribution channels and direct to certain end users. The following describes our global distribution channels:

General Distribution Channels - Our global general distribution channels consist of:

— Industrial distributors that serve local or regional industrial markets and sell a variety of products for maintenance repair, operating, and production, or MROP, applications through their own direct sales force.

— Rigging shops that are distributors with expertise in rigging, lifting, positioning, and load securing. Most rigging shops assemble and distribute chain, wire rope and synthetic slings, and distribute manual hoists and attachments, chain slings, and other products.

— Independent crane builders that design, build, install, and service overhead crane and light-rail systems for general industry and also distribute a wide variety of hoists and crane components. We sell electric wire rope hoists and chain hoists as well as crane components, such as end trucks, trolleys, drives, and electrification systems to crane builders.

Specialty Distribution Channels - Our global specialty distribution channels consist of:

— National and regional distributors that market a variety of MROP supplies, including material handling products, either exclusively through large, nationally distributed catalogs, or through a combination of catalog, internet, and branch sales and a field sales force.

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— Material handling specialists and integrators that design and assemble systems incorporating hoists, overhead rail systems, trolleys, scissor lift tables, manipulators, air balancers, jib arms, and other material handling products to provide end-users with solutions to their material handling problems.

— Entertainment equipment distributors that design, supply, and install a variety of material handling and rigging equipment for concerts, theaters, ice shows, sporting events, convention centers, and night clubs.

Service-After-Sale Distribution Channel - Service-after-sale distributors include our authorized network of 22 chain repair service stations and over 229 certified hoist service and repair stations globally. This service network is designed for easy parts and service access for our large installed base of hoists and related equipment in that region.

OEM/Government Distribution Channels - This channel consists of:

— OEMs that supply various component parts directly to other industrial manufacturers as well as private branding and packaging of our traditional products for material handling, lifting, positioning, and special purpose applications.

— Government agencies, including the U.S. and Canadian Navies and Coast Guards, that primarily purchase load securing chain and forged attachments. We also provide our products to the U.S. and other governments for a variety of military applications.

Independent Crane Builders and EPC firms - In addition to the Distribution Channels mentioned above, we sell explosion-protected hoists and custom engineered non-standard hoists to independent crane builders and EPC firms. Independent crane builders are lifting solution developers and final crane assemblers that source hoists as components. EPC firms are responsible for project management or construction management of production facilities that purchase lifting solutions from crane and hoist builders.

Backlog

Our backlog of orders at March 31, 2024 was approximately $280,824,000 compared to approximately $308,717,000 at March 31, 2023. Our orders for standard products are generally shipped within one week. Orders for products that are manufactured to customer specifications are generally shipped within four to twelve weeks. In fiscal 2024, the Company made significant progress reducing past-due backlog to more normal levels. In addition, fluctuations in backlog can reflect the project-oriented nature of certain aspects of our business.

Competitive Conditions

The material handling and precision conveyance industries remains fragmented. We face competition from a wide range of regional, national, and international manufacturers globally. In addition, we often compete with individual operating units of larger, highly diversified companies.

The principal competitive factors affecting our business include customer service and support as well as product availability, performance, functionality, brand reputation, reliability, and price. Other important factors include distributor relationships and territory coverage as well as the robustness of our digital tools which impacts the customer experience.

Major competitors for hoists are Konecranes, and Kito (and its U.S. subsidiary Harrington) which recently merged with the Crosby Group; for chain are Campbell Chain, Peerless Chain Company (a U.S. subsidiary of Kito), and American Chain and Cable Company; for digital power control systems are Konecranes, Power Electronics International, Inc., Cattron Holdings (a division of Harbour Group), Conductix-Wampfler (a division of Delachaux Group), Control Techniques (a division of Nidec Corporation), OMRON Corporation, KEB GmbH, and Fujitec; for forged attachments are The Crosby Group, Brewer Tichner Company and Chicago Hardware and Fixture Company; for actuators and rotary unions are Deublin, Joyce-Dayton, and Nook Industries, a division of Altra Industrial Motion Corp., which was acquired by Regal Rexnord; and for precision conveyors and accumulators are FlexLink, Bosch Rexroth AG, MK North America, Inc., Duravant, Nercon Eng. & Mfg. Inc and Arrowhead Systems, which was acquired by Regal Rexnord.

Human Capital Management

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Columbus McKinnon’s global footprint includes offices, warehouses and manufacturing facilities in 25 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. At March 31, 2024, we had 3,515 employees globally. Approximately 6% of our employees are represented under two separate U.S. collective bargaining agreements that expire in September 2024 and May 2027. We also have various labor agreements

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with our non-U.S. employees that we negotiate from time to time. We have good relationships with our employees and positive, productive relationships with our unions. We believe the risk of employee or union led disruption in production is remote.

Successful execution of our strategy is dependent on attracting, developing, and retaining key employees and members of

our management team, which we achieve through the following:

•We always begin with people and values at the center of all that we do and at the heart of our corporate social responsibility efforts. The Company’s people and the behaviors they display define our success, including integrity, respect and teamwork. Many of our Human Capital Management priorities, including Occupational Health and Safety, Succession and People Development, Diversity and Equal Opportunity, and Local Communities, are directly connected to our commitment to people and values. Our people enable us to grow, and our values ensure we grow responsibly and sustainably.

•The Company places the highest priority on workplace safety. We believe it is critical to ensure that our most valuable assets, our employees, have a safe environment to work in every day. Our first value, “Connect safety to everything you do” highlights the importance of safety to our culture. As a permanent agenda item at all management meetings, safety comes first. For fiscal 2024 and 2023, the Company had an overall safety incident rate of 0.71 and 0.69, respectively (number of injuries and illnesses multiplied by 200,000, divided by hours worked).

•We are committed to embracing diversity, equity and inclusion and integrating it into our business. We know the positive impact diverse and inclusive teams have on our business, employees, customers, and communities around the world. We are dedicated to building a company that future generations can be proud of and a team that embraces diversity and appreciates differences across the enterprise. We have embedded diversity, equity and inclusion into the People and Values framework of the CMBS. We are committed to ensuring that we have an environment of inclusion. We launched a series of virtual training modules for employees that provides education around diversity, inclusion and unconscious bias. One of our core values is “Win as a team” to specifically address embracing diversity.

We also recognize our corporate responsibility to advance our Environmental Social and Governance (“ESG”) efforts and to be accountable for making progress. We are making investments in our people, processes and systems to enable meaningful progress in areas including, but not limited to, environmental stewardship, employee safety, workplace diversity and inclusion, connecting with our communities, and ensuring a strong governance and risk management culture. We are taking deliberate steps to fully integrate ESG into our enterprise strategy, our business system, and our daily actions.

In addition, we set the following objectives for fiscal 2024:

•Drive a people-first culture through engagement, training and development opportunities;

•Perform extensive data collection and analysis to identify areas for improvement;

•Build upon our progress toward ESG targets and goals;

•Further align with global reporting standards and increasing global regulatory requirements; and

•Be more transparent with internal and external stakeholders through communications and public disclosures.

As we look forward to fiscal 2025 and beyond, we have additional plans that will continue to move our ESG initiatives forward. We continue to collect and analyze data to set realistic, yet challenging goals and be transparent about our progress against our commitments.

Raw Materials and Components

Our principal raw material and component purchases aggregated to approximately $396 million in fiscal 2024 (or 62% of Cost of product sold in fiscal 2024) and included steel, consisting of rod, wire, bar, structural, and other forms of steel; electric motors; bearings; gear reducers; castings; steel and aluminum enclosures and wire harnesses; electro-mechanical components; and standard variable drives. We purchase most of these raw materials and components from a limited number of strategic and preferred suppliers under agreements that are negotiated on a Company-wide basis through our global purchasing group. Generally, as we experience fluctuations in our costs, we are able to reflect these increases in costs with additional price increases to our customers with the goal of being margin neutral.

Trademarks

We own or have the rights to use certain trademarks, service marks and trade names that are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Trademarks that are important in identifying and distinguishing our products include, but are not limited to, HammerloksTM and Herc-AlloyTM. We also own domain names, including our website, www.cmco.com.

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Environmental and Other Governmental Regulation

Like most manufacturing companies, we are subject to various federal, state, and local laws relating to the protection of the environment. To address the requirements of such laws, we have adopted a corporate environmental protection policy which provides that all of our owned or leased facilities must comply, and all of our employees have the duty to comply, with all applicable environmental regulatory standards, and we have initiated an environmental auditing program for our facilities to ensure compliance with such regulatory standards. We have also established managerial responsibilities and internal communication channels for dealing with environmental compliance issues that may arise in the course of our business. We have made, and could be required to continue to make, significant expenditures to comply with environmental requirements. Because of the complexity and changing nature of environmental regulatory standards, it is possible that situations will arise from time to time requiring us to incur additional expenditures to ensure environmental regulatory compliance. However, we are not aware of any environmental condition or any operation at any of our facilities, either individually or in the aggregate, which would cause expenditures to have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Our operations are also governed by many other laws and regulations, including those relating to workplace safety and worker health, principally the Occupational Health and Safety Administration ("OSHA") in the U.S. and others outside the U.S. and regulations thereunder. The penalties for any breach of these regulations can vary and may be substantial. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with these laws and regulations and do not believe that future compliance with such laws and regulations will have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition, or liquidity.

See Note 16 to our March 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K for more information on our matters involving litigation.

Available Information

Our internet address is www.cmco.com. We make available free of charge through our website our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after such documents are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K, and such content should not be considered part of this Form 10-K, unless expressly noted otherwise.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

Columbus McKinnon is subject to a number of risks that could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results from business operations or cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected or indicated in any forward-looking statement. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information contained in this Form 10-K in evaluating your investment in us. The risks and uncertainties described below are those that we have identified as material, but are not the only risks or uncertainties facing Columbus McKinnon. This list is not all-inclusive or necessarily in order of importance. Our business could also be affected by additional risks that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial.

Business Risks

Our business is cyclical and is affected by industrial economic and macroeconomic conditions.

Many of the end-users of our products are in highly cyclical industries, such as manufacturing, power generation and distribution, commercial construction, oil and gas exploration and refining, transportation, agriculture, logging, and mining that are sensitive to changes in general macroeconomic conditions. Their demand for our products, and thus our results of operations, is cyclical and directly related to the level of production in their facilities, which changes as a result of changes in general macroeconomic conditions, including, among others, movements in interest rates, inflation, changes in currency exchange rates and higher fuel and other energy costs, and other factors beyond our control, and is vulnerable to economic downturns. Decreased capital and maintenance spending by these customers has in the past and could in the future have a material adverse effect on the demand for our products and our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In particular, higher interest rates could result in decreased demand for our products from end-users, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations, and concurrently result in higher interest expense related to borrowings under our credit facilities. In addition, inflation can also result in higher interest rates and negatively impact our results of operation. During an inflationary period, the cost of capital will often increase, and the purchasing power of our end users’ cash resources will decline, which can negatively affect demand from our customers. Current or future efforts by the government to stimulate the economy may increase the risk of significant inflation, which could have a direct and indirect adverse impact on our business and results of operations.If there is deterioration in the general economy or in the industries we serve, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Furthermore, even if demand for our products improves, it is difficult to predict whether any improvement represents a long-term improving trend or the extent or timing of improvement. There can be no assurance that historically improving cycles are representative of actual future demand.In addition, the cyclical nature of our business could at times also adversely affect our liquidity and ability to borrow under our Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility (as defined herein) and limits our ability to make accurate long-term predictions about the performance of the Company.

Our business, particularly with respect to our material handling and precision conveyance products, is highly competitive and subject to consolidation of competitors. Increased competition could reduce our sales, earnings, and profitability.

The principal markets that we serve within the material handling and precision conveyance industries are fragmented and highly competitive. Competition is based primarily on customer service and support as well as product availability, performance, functionality, brand reputation, reliability, and price. Our competition in the markets in which we participate comes from companies of various sizes, some of which have greater financial and other resources than we do. Increased competition could force us to lower our prices or to offer additional services at a higher cost to us, which could reduce our gross margins and net income.

The greater financial resources or the lower amount of debt of certain of our competitors may enable them to commit larger amounts of capital in response to changing market conditions. Certain competitors may also have the ability to develop product or service innovations that could put us at a disadvantage. In addition to the general competitive challenges we face, international trade policies could negatively affect the demand for our products and services and reduce our competitive position in such markets. In addition, through consolidation, some of our competitors have achieved substantially greater market penetration in certain of the markets in which we operate than we have been able to achieve. If we are unable to compete successfully against other manufacturers of material handling equipment and precision conveyors, we could lose customers and our revenues may decline. There can also be no assurance that customers will continue to regard our products favorably, that we will be able to develop new products or product developments that appeal to customers, that we will be able to improve or maintain our profit margins on sales to our customers or that we will be able to continue to compete successfully in our core markets.

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Our growth strategy depends on successful integration of acquisitions.

Acquisitions are a key part of our growth strategy. Our historical growth has depended, and our future growth is likely to depend, on our ability to successfully execute our acquisition strategy, and the successful integration of acquired businesses into our existing business. Such a strategy involves the potential risks inherent in assessing the value, strengths, weaknesses, contingent or other liabilities, and potential profitability of acquisition candidates and in integrating the operations of acquired companies. Furthermore, the price we pay for any business acquired may overstate the value of that business or otherwise be too high. In addition, any acquisitions of businesses with foreign operations or sales may increase our exposure to risks inherent in doing business outside the U.S.

We intend to continue to seek additional acquisition opportunities in accordance with our acquisition strategy, both to expand into new markets and to enhance our position in existing markets throughout the world. If we are unable to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our existing business or expand into new markets, our sales and earnings growth could be reduced. Inherent in connection with any acquisition is the risk of transitioning company cultures and facilities and the corresponding risk of management and employee turnover. In addition, the focus on the integration of operations of acquired entities may divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operation of our businesses. The failure to efficiently and effectively achieve such transitions could increase our costs and decrease our profitability. Furthermore, the failure to achieve the anticipated synergies of our recent significant acquisitions or recognize the anticipated market opportunities or integration from our recent acquisitions, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our future operating results may be affected by price fluctuations and trade tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other raw materials purchased to manufacture our products. We may not be able to pass on increases in raw material costs to our customers.

The primary raw materials used in our chain, forging and crane building operations are steel, aluminum, and other raw materials such as motors, electrical and electronic components, castings and machined parts and components. The industries that produce these critical components and materials are also themselves highly cyclical and at times pricing and availability can be volatile due to a number of factors beyond our control, including general macroeconomic conditions, inflation, labor costs, competition, import duties, tariffs, and currency exchange rates. This volatility can significantly affect our raw material costs. In an environment of increasing raw material prices and trade tariffs, competitive conditions will determine how much of the price increases we can pass on to our customers. In the future, to the extent we are unable to pass on any steel, aluminum, or other raw material price increases to our customers, our profitability could be adversely affected.

Our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we are unable to obtain sufficient pricing for our products and service to meet our profitability expectations.

If we are unable to obtain favorable pricing for our products and services in a timely manner, our revenues and profitability could be materially adversely affected. For example, current conditions in our supply chain have resulted in rapid increases in the prices for the raw materials we use. Furthermore, the prices we are able to charge for our products and services are affected by a number of other factors, including:

•general macroeconomic and political conditions;

•our customers' desires to reduce their costs;

•the competitive environment in our industry;

•our ability to accurately estimate our costs, including our ability to estimate the impact of inflation on our costs over long-term contracts; and

•the procurement practices of our customers.

Our inability to pass increased prices along to our customers in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If critical components or raw materials used to manufacture our products become scarce or unavailable, then we may incur delays in manufacturing and delivery of our products, which has damaged, and could continue to damage, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Due to increased demand across a range of industries, the global supply chain for certain critical components and raw materials used in the manufacture of our products has experienced significant constraints in recent periods. Particularly, the markets for motors, computer chips, and other components are experiencing increased demand, creating substantial uncertainty regarding the availability of key components and raw materials used to manufacture our products. This constrained supply environment has materially adversely affected, and could further materially adversely affect, availability, lead times and cost of components and raw material, and has materially impacted, and could continue to materially impact, our ability to respond to accelerated or

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quick-turn delivery requests from customers, or meet customer demand and product delivery dates for our end customers where we cannot timely secure adequate supply of these components and raw materials. Moreover, if any of our suppliers become financially unstable, or otherwise unable or unwilling to provide us with raw materials or components, we may have to find new suppliers. It may take several months to locate alternative suppliers, if required, or to redesign our products to accommodate components from different suppliers. We cannot predict if we will be able to obtain replacement components within the timeframes that we require at an acceptable cost, if at all. In addition, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant delays in receiving shipments of key component and raw materials and in shipping our completed products to customers. We have incurred, and may continue to incur, additional shipping and delivery costs to seek to expedite the delivery of critical components and raw materials.

In an effort to mitigate these risks, in some cases, we have incurred higher costs to secure available inventory, or have extended or placed non-cancellable purchase commitments with suppliers, which introduces inventory risk if our forecasts and assumptions prove inaccurate. While we may attempt to recover the increased costs through price increases to our customers, we may be unable to mitigate the effect on our results of operations. We also have multi-sourced and pre-ordered components and raw materials inventory in some cases in an effort to reduce the impact of the adverse supply chain conditions we have experienced. Despite our attempts to mitigate the impact on our business, these constrained supply conditions are expected to adversely impact our costs of goods sold. Limits on manufacturing availability or capacity or delays in production or delivery of components or raw materials for our suppliers could further delay or inhibit our ability to obtain supply of components and raw materials and produce finished goods. These supply chain constraints and their related challenges could result in shortages, increased material costs or use of cash, engineering design changes, and delays in new product introductions, each of which could adversely impact our growth, gross margins and financial results. These types of negative financial impacts on our business may become more acute as supply chain pressures increase.

Our backlog is subject to modification, termination or reduction of orders, which could negatively impact our sales.

Our backlog is comprised of the portion of firm signed purchase orders or other written contractual commitments received from customers that we have not recognized as sales. The dollar amount of backlog as of March 31, 2024 was $281 million. Our backlog can be significantly affected by the timing of orders for large projects, and the amount of our backlog at March 31, 2024 is not necessarily indicative of future backlog levels or the rate at which backlog will be recognized as sales. Although modifications and terminations of our orders may be partially offset by cancellation fees, customers can, and sometimes do, terminate or modify these orders. We cannot predict whether cancellations will accelerate or diminish in the future. Cancellations of purchase orders, indications that the customers will not perform under their existing purchase orders or contracts or reductions of product quantities in existing contracts could substantially and materially reduce our backlog and, consequently, our future sales. Our failure to replace canceled orders could negatively impact our sales and results of operations.

We rely in large part on independent distributors for sales of our products.

We depend on independent distributors to sell our products and provide service and aftermarket support to our end-user customers. Distributors play a significant role in determining which of our products are stocked at their locations, and hence are most readily accessible to aftermarket buyers, and the price at which these products are sold. Almost all of the distributors with whom we transact business offer competitive products and services to our end-user customers. For the most part, we do not have written agreements with our distributors. The loss of a substantial number of these distributors or an increase in the distributors' sales of our competitors' products to our ultimate customers could materially reduce our sales and profits.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract, develop, engage and retain qualified employees.

Because of the complex nature of many of our products and services, we are generally dependent on an educated and highly skilled workforce, including our engineering talent and our sales professionals. Failure to attract, develop, engage and retain qualified employees, whether as a result of an insufficient number of qualified applicants, difficulty in recruiting new employees, or inadequate resources to train, integrate and retain qualified employees, could impair our ability to execute our business strategy, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Low rates of unemployment in key geographic areas in which we operate may lead to high rates of turnover and loss of critical talent, which could lead to higher labor costs.

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Our ability to understand our customers’ specific preferences and requirements, and to develop, manufacture and market products that meet customer demand as we expand into additional international markets, could significantly affect our business results.

Our ability to match new product offerings to diverse global customers’ anticipated preferences for different types and sizes of equipment and various equipment features and functionality, at affordable prices, is critical to our success. This requires a thorough understanding of our existing and potential customers on a global basis. Failure to deliver quality products that meet customer needs at competitive prices ahead of competitors could have a significant adverse effect on our business.

Financial Risks

In connection with the completion of the Precision Conveyance acquisitions, our indebtedness has increased significantly. Our indebtedness could limit our cash flow available for operations and our flexibility.

In connection with the montratec acquisition,the Company entered into an Amended and Restated Credit Agreement increasing the size of the Revolving Credit Facility by $75,000,000 to a total of $175,000,000. The Company subsequently borrowed additional funds in accordance with the Accordion feature under its existing Term Loan B facility to increase the principal amount of the Term Loan B facility by $75,000,000 in both fiscal years 2022 and 2024. The Company also borrowed an additional $45,000,000 under a new credit agreement secured by the Company's U.S. accounts receivable balances (the "AR Securitization Facility"). As of March 31, 2024, the outstanding principal balance of the Term Loan B facility was $477,560,000, which includes $75,000,000 in principal balance from the Accordion exercised in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 as described above. We had $175,000,000 available for borrowing under the Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility (before deducting approximately $15,368,000 of letters of credit outstanding as of March 31, 2024).

The degree to which we are leveraged could have important consequences to our shareholders, including the following:

•we may have greater difficulty satisfying our obligations with respect to our indebtedness;

•we must dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness, reducing the funds available for our operations;

•our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes may be impaired;

•we may be limited in our ability to make additional acquisitions or pay dividends on our common stock;

•our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in the markets in which we compete may be limited;

•we may be at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors with less indebtedness; our inability to comply with covenants in, and potential for default under, our debt instruments

•we may be rendered more vulnerable to general adverse economic and industry conditions;

•we may be unable to pay off in full or refinance any of our indebtedness at maturity;

•our credit ratings may be downgraded; and

•we are exposed to increased interest rate risk given that a portion of our indebtedness obligations are at variable interest rates.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to sell assets, seek additional capital or seek to restructure or refinance our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. We may be unable to consummate those asset sales to raise capital or sell assets at prices that we believe are fair and proceeds that we do receive may be inadequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

Furthermore, we may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future. The terms of our debt instruments do not fully prohibit us from doing so. This could further exacerbate the risks that we face.

Our operations outside the U.S. pose certain risks that may adversely impact sales and earnings.

We have operations and assets located outside of the U.S., primarily in Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Russia, China, Malaysia and Mexico, including our new facility in Monterrey, Mexico. In addition, we import a portion of our hoist product line from Asia and sell our products to distributors located in approximately 50 countries. In our fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, approximately 43% of our net sales were derived from non-U.S. markets. These non-U.S. operations are subject to a number of special risks, in addition to the risks of our U.S. business, including but not limited to differing protections of intellectual property, trade barriers, labor unrest, geopolitical conflicts, exchange controls, regional economic uncertainty, differing (and possibly more stringent) labor regulation, risk of governmental expropriation, U.S. and foreign customs and tariffs, political and economic instability in the jurisdictions in which we operate, foreign receivables collection risk, current and changing regulatory environments, difficulty in obtaining distribution support, difficulty in staffing and managing

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widespread operations, differences in the availability, and terms of financing, political instability and risks of increases in taxes. Any of these factors, individually or together, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Also, in some foreign jurisdictions, we may be subject to laws limiting the right and ability of entities organized or operating therein to pay dividends or remit earnings to affiliated companies unless specified conditions are met. These factors may adversely affect our future profits.

Part of our strategy is to expand our worldwide market share and reduce costs by strengthening our international distribution capabilities and sourcing components in lower cost countries, such as China, Mexico, Hungary and Malaysia, including through the use of our new facility in Monterey, Mexico. Implementation of this strategy may increase the impact of the risks described above, and we cannot assure you that such risks will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Other risks of doing business in international markets include the increased risks and burdens of complying with different legal and regulatory standards, difficulties in managing and staffing foreign operations, recruiting and retaining talented direct sales personnel, limitations on the repatriation of funds and fluctuations of foreign exchange rates, varying levels of internet technology adoption and infrastructure and our ability to enforce contracts and our intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. Additionally, there are risks associated with fundamental changes to international markets, such as those that may occur as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In addition, in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. has imposed, and is likely to impose material additional, financial and economic sanctions and export controls against Russia and certain Russian organizations and individuals, with similar actions either implemented or planned by the European Union and the U.K. and other jurisdictions. While the Company’s business operations relating to Russia constitute an immaterial part of the Company’s overall business, we may decide to, or be required to, exit from our operations in Russia in their entirety, which could result in a loss of revenues from our Russian operations (approximately $1,311,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024) or may necessitate the need to incur a bad debt reserve or an asset write-off related to our Russian operations. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the current Russian invasion of Ukraine will not draw military intervention from other countries or further retaliation from Russia, which, in turn, could lead to a much larger conflict beyond its current geographic, political and economic scope. If such escalation should occur, supply chain, trade routes and markets currently served by the Company could be adversely affected and other risks discussed in this Form 10-K may be exacerbated. In addition, a further escalation could disrupt the supply of oil and natural gas in Europe, impacting our ability to operate our European manufacturing facilities, which, in turn, could materially adversely affect the Company’s business operations and financial performance.

In addition, our success in international expansion could be limited by barriers to international expansion such as adverse tax consequences and export controls. If we cannot manage these risks effectively, the costs of doing business in some international markets may be prohibitive or our costs may increase disproportionately to our revenue.

We are subject to currency fluctuations from our sales outside the U.S.

Our products are sold in many countries around the world. Thus, a portion of our revenues (approximately $438,697,000 in our fiscal year ended March 31, 2024) are generated in foreign currencies, including principally the Euro, the British Pound, the Canadian Dollar, the South African Rand, the Brazilian Real, the Mexican Peso, and the Chinese Yuan, and while much of the costs incurred to generate those revenues are incurred in the same currency, a portion is incurred in other currencies. Since our financial statements are denominated in U.S. dollars, changes in currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and other currencies have had, and will continue to have, a currency translation impact on our earnings. Currency fluctuations may impact our financial performance in the future.

We are subject to debt covenant restrictions.

Each of our Term Loan B and Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility contains a financial leverage covenant, which will only be tested if any extensions of credit (other than letters of credit) are outstanding under the Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility at the end of any fiscal quarter, and other restrictive covenants. A significant decline in our operating income or cash generating ability could cause us to violate our leverage covenant in our bank credit facilities. Other material adverse changes in our business could also cause us to be in default of our debt covenants. Any breach of any such covenants or restrictions would result in a default under such agreement that could result in our being unable to borrow under our bank credit facilities and would permit the lenders to declare all borrowings under such agreement to be immediately due and payable and, through cross-default provisions, could entitle other lenders to accelerate their loans to us. In such an event, the Company would need to modify or restructure all or a portion of its indebtedness. Depending on prevailing economic conditions at the time, the Company might find it difficult to modify or restructure the debt on attractive terms, or at all.

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Legal Risks

Our products involve risks of personal injury and property damage, which exposes us to potential liability.

Our business exposes us to possible claims for personal injury or death, property damage or economic loss resulting from the products that we selland to potential warranty, contractual or other claims. These product liability risks are inherent in the design, manufacture and sale of our products. Our products are complex and may contain defects, errors, or experience failures or unsatisfactory performance, due to any number of issues, including issues in materials, design, fabrication, packaging and/or use within a system or item of equipment. Further, because of the complexity of our products, defects or errors might only be detected when the products are in use. As a result, we could experience material product liability or warranty costs in the future and incur significant costs to defend ourselves against associated claims. Development of new products increases complexity and adds risk to manufacturing reliability, and increases the likelihood of product defects or errors.In addition, defects in our products could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, a shifting of business to our competitors, and litigation or regulatory action against us, and could harm our reputation or the reputation of the various brands under which we sell our products, our relationships with customers and our ability to attract new customers, as well as the perceptions of our brands. Other potential adverse impacts of product defects include shipment delays, write-offs of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and losses on unfavorable purchase commitments.

We maintain insurance through a combination of self-insurance retentions and excess insurance coverage. We monitor claims and potential claims of which we become aware and establish accrued liability reserves for the self-insurance amounts based on our liability estimates for such claims. We cannot give any assurance that existing or future claims will not exceed our estimates for self-insurance or the amount of our excess insurance coverage. In addition, we cannot give any assurance that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms or that our insurers would not require us to increase our self-insurance amounts. Claims brought against us that are not covered by insurance or that are in excess of insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our results, financial condition, or liquidity. In addition, warranty and certain other claims are not typically covered by insurance.

In addition, like many industrial manufacturers, we are also involved in asbestos-related litigation. In continually evaluating costs relating to our estimated asbestos-related liability, we review, among other things, the incidence of past and recent claims, the historical case dismissal rate, the mix of the claimed illnesses and occupations of the plaintiffs, our recent and historical resolution of the cases, the number of cases pending against us, the status and results of broad-based settlement discussions, and the number of years such activity might continue. Based on this review, we estimate our share of liability to defend and resolve probable asbestos related personal injury claims. This estimate is highly uncertain due to the limitations of the available data and the difficulty of forecasting with any certainty the numerous variables that can affect the range of the liability. We continue to study the variables in light of additional information in order to identify trends that may become evident and to assess their impact on the range of liability that is probable and estimable. We believe that the potential additional costs for claims will not have a material effect on the financial condition of the Company or its liquidity, although the effect of any future liabilities recorded could be material to earnings in a future period. See Note 16 to our March 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K.

As indicated above, our self-insurance coverage is provided through our captive insurance subsidiary. The reserves of our captive insurance subsidiary are subject to periodic adjustments based upon actuarial evaluations, which adjustments impact our overall results of operations and financial condition. These periodic adjustments can be favorable or unfavorable.

We are subject to various environmental laws, which may require us to expend significant capital, incur substantial cost and could lower our margins.

Our operations and facilities are subject to various federal, state, local, and foreign requirements relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharges of pollutants in the air and water, the generation, management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Increased public awareness and concern regarding climate change and other ESG matters at numerous levels of government in various jurisdictions may lead to additional international, national, regional and local legislative and regulatory responses, and compliance with any new rules could be difficult and costly. We have made, and will continue to make, expenditures to comply with such requirements. Violations of, or liabilities under, environmental laws and regulations, or changes in such laws and regulations (such as the imposition of more stringent standards for discharges into the environment), could result in substantial costs to us, including operating costs and capital expenditures, fines and civil and criminal sanctions, third party claims for property damage or personal injury, clean-up costs, or costs relating to the temporary or permanent discontinuance of operations. Certain of our facilities have been in operation for many years, and we have remediated contamination at some of our facilities. Over time, we and other predecessor operators of such facilities have generated, used, handled, and disposed of hazardous and other regulated wastes. Additional environmental liabilities could exist, including clean-up obligations at these locations or other sites at which materials from our operations were disposed, which could result in substantial future expenditures that cannot be currently

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quantified and which could reduce our profits or have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, operations, or liquidity.

We may face claims of infringement on the intellectual property of others, or others may infringe upon our intellectual property.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to prevent others from infringing on our proprietary rights, as well as our ability to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others. Our efforts to protect our intellectual property through patents, trademarks, service marks, domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and confidentiality agreements may not adequately protect us against infringements, and pending patent or trademark applications may not result in issued patents or trademarks. Our patents, registered trademarks and patent applications, if any, may not be upheld if challenged, and competitors may develop similar or superior methods or products outside the protection of our patents. This could reduce demand for our products, reduce our market share and materially decrease our revenues. We may need to spend significant resources monitoring and enforcing our intellectual property rights and we may not be aware of or able to detect or prove infringement by third parties. We may be required at times to take legal action to protect our proprietary rights and, despite our best efforts, we may be sued for infringing on the intellectual property rights of others. Intellectual property-related litigation is costly and, even if we prevail, the cost of such litigation could adversely affect our financial condition. The protection and enforceability of our intellectual property rights is also subject to uncertainty in certain countries where we operate that have less rigorous intellectual property protection laws than the U.S. In addition, we could be adversely affected financially should we be judged to have infringed upon the intellectual property of others, and we could be required to modify the design of our products, change the name of our products or obtain a license for the use of some of the technologies used in our products.

We rely on subcontractors or suppliers to perform their contractual obligations.

Some of our contracts involve subcontracts with other companies upon which we rely to perform a portion of the services we must provide to our customers. There is a risk that we may have disputes with our subcontractors, including disputes regarding the quality and timeliness of work performed by our subcontractor or customer concerns about the subcontractor. Failure by our subcontractors to satisfactorily provide on a timely basis the agreed-upon supplies or perform the agreed upon services may materially and adversely impact our ability to perform our obligations as the prime contractor. A delay in our ability to obtain components and equipment parts from our suppliers may affect our ability to meet our customers' needs and may have a material adverse effect upon our profitability.

General Risks

Adverse changes in global economic conditions may negatively affect our industry, business, and results of operations.

Our industry is affected by changes in economic conditions outside our control, which can result in a general decrease in product demand from our customers. Such economic developments, like inflationary pressures in the U.S. and elsewhere, the China trade wars, the war between Russia and Ukraine may affect our business in a number of ways. Reduced demand may drive us and our competitors to offer products at promotional prices, which would have a negative impact on our profitability. In addition, the tightening of credit in financial markets may adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations and could result in a decrease in, or cancellation of, orders for our products. If demand for our products slows down or decreases, we will not be able to maintain our revenue and we may run the risk of failing to satisfy the financial and other restrictive covenants to which we are subject under our existing indebtedness. Reduced revenue as a result of decreased demand may also reduce our planned growth and otherwise hinder our ability to improve our performance in connection with our long-term business strategy.

Climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change, may materially adversely affect our financial condition and business operations.

Climate change resulting from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could present risks to our future operations from natural disasters and extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, droughts or flooding. Such extreme weather conditions could pose physical risks to our facilities and disrupt operation of our supply chain and may impact operational costs. The impacts of climate change on global water resources may result in water scarcity, which could in the future impact our ability to access sufficient quantities of water in certain locations and result in increased costs. Furthermore, the potential physical impacts of climate change on our customers, and therefore on our operations, are speculative and highly uncertain, and would be particular to the circumstances developing in various geographical regions.

Concern over climate change will likely result in new legal or regulatory requirements designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. For example, the SEC has adopted new climate change disclosure rules aimed at enhancing and standardizing climate change-related disclosures by public companies. If these new rules are

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successfully implemented, our compliance costs could be significant. Further, our customers and the markets we serve may impose emissions reduction or other environmental standards and requirements. These requirements could result in a need to change our manufacturing processes or product offerings, or undertake other activities which may require us to incur additional expense. In addition, we may experience increased compliance burdens and operational costs and raw material sourcing, manufacturing operations and the distribution of our products may be adversely affected. Moreover, we may not be able to timely meet these requirements due to the required level of capital investment or technological advancement. While we have been committed to continuous improvements to meet anticipated regulations and preferences, there can be no assurance that our commitments will be successful, that our products will be accepted by the market, that proposed regulations will not have a negative competitive impact or that economic returns will reflect our investments in new product development. There also continues to be a lack of consistent climate legislation, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty. These factors may impact the demand for our products, obsolescence of certain products and adversely affect our results of operations. A failure, or perceived failure, to respond to investor or customer expectations related to ESG concerns in areas such as climate change and supply chain management could materially adversely affect our business and reputation.

Our business operations may be adversely affected by information technology systems interruptions or intrusion.

We depend on various information technology systems throughout the Company to administer, store, and support multiple business activities, including to process the data we collect, store and use in connection with our business. If these systems are damaged, cease to function properly, or are subject to cyber-security attacks, such as those involving unauthorized access, malicious software and/or other intrusions, we could experience production downtimes, operational delays, other detrimental impacts on our operations or ability to provide products and services to our customers, the compromising of confidential or otherwise protected information, destruction or corruption of data, security breaches, other manipulation or improper use of our systems or networks, financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business or potential liability, and/or damage to our reputation. Our information technology systems may be damaged or cease to function properly due to any number of causes, such as catastrophic events, power outages and security breaches (including destructive malware such as ransomware) resulting in unauthorized access or cyber-security attacks. As the breadth and complexity of our information technology systems continue to grow, including as a result of the increasing reliance on, and use of, mobile technologies and cloud-based services, the risk of security incidents and cyber-security attacks has increased. While we attempt to mitigate these risks by employing a number of measures, including employee training, technical security controls, and maintenance of backup and protective systems, our systems, networks, products, and services remain potentially vulnerable to known or unknown cybersecurity threats, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Furthermore, cybersecurity threats are constantly expanding and evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, including attacks from highly organized adversaries such as nation state actors, thereby increasing the costs associated with our cyber-security defense measures and procedures and increasing the difficulty of detecting and defending against them and maintaining effective security measures and protocols.

We are also subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the U.S., Europe and around the world, as well as contractual obligations, regarding data privacy, security and protection. For example, in 2023, the SEC adopted new cybersecurity rules requiring disclosure of material cybersecurity incidents and processes assessing, identifying, and managing material cybersecurity risks and the corporate governance structure designed to address such risks. These laws and regulations continue to evolve, are increasing in complexity and number and increasingly conflict among the various countries in which we operate, which has resulted in greater compliance risk for us. In addition, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, such data privacy laws and regulations, including those of the European Union (“EU”) and the UK which are, in some respects, more stringent than U.S. standards, could be significant. Any failure or perceived failure by us, or any third parties with which we do business, to comply with our posted privacy policies, changing consumer expectations, evolving laws, rules and regulations, industry standards, or contractual obligations to which we or such third parties are or may become subject, may result in actions or other claims against us by governmental entities or private actors, the expenditure of substantial costs, time and other resources or the incurrence of significant fines, penalties or other liabilities. In addition, any such action, particularly to the extent we were found to be guilty of violations or otherwise liable for damages, could damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our liability insurance, which includes cyber insurance, might not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security incidents, cyber-security attacks and other related incidents.

We operate in many different jurisdictions, and we could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our internal policies mandate compliance with these anti-corruption laws, and we incur meaningful costs complying with these laws. We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced corruption to some degree, and in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-corruption laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Despite our training and compliance programs, we cannot assure you that our internal control policies and procedures always will protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. In the event that we believe or have reason to believe that our employees

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or agents have or may have violated applicable anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, we may be required to investigate or have outside counsel investigate the relevant facts and circumstances. In addition, we are subject to and must comply with all applicable export controls and economic sanctions laws and embargoes imposed by the U.S. and certain other governments. Changes in export control or trade sanctions laws may restrict our business practices, including cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries or with sanctioned entities, and may result in modifications to compliance programs and increase compliance costs, and violations of these laws or regulations may subject us to fines, penalties and other sanctions, such as loss of authorizations needed to conduct aspects of our international business or debarments from export privileges. Violations of the FCPA or export controls or sanctions laws and regulations may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Our continued expansion outside the U.S., including in developing countries, could increase these risks in the future.

We depend on our management team and the loss of any member could adversely affect our operations.

Our success is dependent on the management and leadership skills of our management team, including our senior team. The loss of any of these individuals or an inability to attract, retain, and maintain additional personnel could prevent us from implementing our business strategy. We cannot assure you that we will be able to retain our existing management personnel or to attract additional qualified personnel when needed.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile.

The market price of our common stock is volatile and could fluctuate significantly for many reasons, including in response to the risks described in this section and elsewhere in this Form 10-K or for reasons unrelated to our operations, such as reports by industry analysts, investor perceptions or negative announcements by our customers, competitors or suppliers regarding their own performance, as well as industry conditions and general financial, economic and political instability.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 1C. Cybersecurity

Risk Management and Strategy

In connection with our enterprise risk management process, we identify, prioritize, monitor and seek to ameliorate key risks that may affect the Company, including risks from or relating to cyber threats. We have enterprise-wide security policies, standards and controls that seek to incorporate best practices in security engineering, technology architecture and data protection.Our policies and controls include security measures designed to protect our systems against unauthorized access. We also maintain cybersecurity protection measures with respect to our information technology systems, including with respect to the protection of our customer data, vendor data and employee information. We have also implemented specialized training and education programs to seek to guard against cybersecurity events, such as enterprise-wide communications, presentations, phishing simulations and focused training for specific roles, as well as a general cybersecurity training program required for all employees. We also engage third parties to perform regular reviews of our security framework controls to promote objectivity. Our processes to identify, assess and manage material risks relating to cyber threats include risks associated with third party service providers, including cloud-based platforms. We believe that these policies and controls provide us with an appropriate comprehensive assessment of potential cyber threats.

To date, risks from cybersecurity threats have not materially affected the Company, and we do not believe these threats are reasonably likely to materially affect the Company, including its business strategy, financial condition or results of operations. However, the risks from cybersecurity threats and incidents continues to increase, and the preventative actions we have taken and continue to take to reduce the risk of cybersecurity threats and incidents may not successfully protect our systems against all such threats and incidents. Refer to Item 1A – Risk Factors under the heading “Our business operations may be adversely affected by information technology systems interruptions or intrusion"for additional information.

Governance

Our cybersecurity program is overseen by a cross-functional committee of senior business leaders and is led by our Senior Vice President of Information Services and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). This management committee meets regularly and is charged with overseeing our cybersecurity strategy, seeking to ensure that cyber risks relating to the Company and its operations are managed, and that the program is aligned with the Company's business goals and objectives. The CDO has a formal education in information technology as well as extensive experience working in the Company’s information and technology function; and receives periodic training and education on cybersecurity-related topics.

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The Board of Directors has delegated to the Audit Committee to assist the Board of Directors in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities on cybersecurity matters. The Audit Committee oversees a number of the Company’s risk management practices, including those relating to cybersecurity risks. Our CDO provides updates on cybersecurity risks, threats, key developments in Company policies and practices, and related risk exposures to the Audit Committee regularly. A member of the Audit Committee will then brief the full Board of Directors on items discussed within the Audit Committee, including cybersecurity risks and related matters. Additionally, management provides an update to the full Board of Directors on cybersecurity matters at least once a year, and more often as needed. The Board of Directors annually reviews and approves the capital and operating budgets, ultimately reviewing and approving the amount spent by the Company on cybersecurity measures.

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Item 2. Properties

We maintain our corporate headquarters in Charlotte, NC (a leased property) and, as of March 31, 2024, conducted our principal manufacturing at the following facilities:

Location Products/Operations SquareFootage Owned orLeased

1 Künzelsau, Germany Hoists 345,000 Leased

2 Wadesboro, NC Hoists 180,000 Owned

3 Monterrey, Mexico Hoists 165,000 Leased

5 Charlotte, NC Actuators and Rotary Unions 146,000 Leased

6 Menomonee Falls, WI Power control systems 144,000 Leased

Tennessee forging operation:

7 Chattanooga, TN Forged attachments 81,000 Owned

8 Chattanooga, TN Forged attachments 59,000 Owned

9 Hartland, WI Precision Conveyors 125,000 Leased

10 Wuppertal, Germany Hoists and Precision Conveyors 124,000 Leased

11 Kissing, Germany Hoists, winches, and actuators 107,000 Leased

12 Dauchingen, Germany Automation Solutions 103,000 Leased

14 Hangzhou, China Hoists 82,000 Owned

15 Brighton, MI Overhead light rail workstations 71,000 Leased

16 Hammonton, NJ Accumulation Tables 58,000 Leased

17 Chester, England Plate clamps 56,000 Owned

18 Bayan Lepas, Malaysia Precision Conveyors 40,000 Leased

19 Szekesfehervar, Hungary Textiles and textile strappings 24,000 Leased

20 Zapopan, Mexico Precision Conveyors 20,000 Leased

In addition, we have a total of 46 sales offices, distribution centers, and warehouses. We believe that our properties have been adequately maintained, are in generally good condition and are suitable for our business as presently conducted. We also believe our existing facilities provide sufficient production capacity for our present needs and for our anticipated needs in the foreseeable future. Upon the expiration of our current leases, we believe that either we will be able to secure renewal terms or enter into leases for alternative locations at market terms.

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Item 3. Legal Proceedings

From time to time, we are named a defendant in legal actions arising out of the normal course of business. We are not a party to any pending legal proceeding other than ordinary, routine litigation incidental to our business. In April of fiscal 2025, a trial involving a product liability claim against us resulted in a jury verdict demanding us to pay approximately $3,000,000 in damages. We along with our attorneys believe we will be successful in overturning this verdict and that payment of the damages is not probable. As such we have not accrued the damages at March 31, 2024. We do not believe that any of our pending litigation will have a material impact on our business. We maintain comprehensive general product liability insurance against risks arising out of the use of our products sold to customers through our wholly owned New York State captive insurance subsidiary of which we are the sole policy holder. The per occurrence limits on the self-insurance for general and product liability coverage were $2,000,000 from inception through fiscal 2003 and $3,000,000 for fiscal 2004 and thereafter. In addition to the per occurrence limits, our coverage is also subject to an annual aggregate limit, applicable to losses only. These limits range from $2,000,000 to $6,000,000 for each policy year from inception through fiscal 2024. We obtain additional insurance coverage from independent insurers to cover potential losses in excess of these limits.

Like many industrial manufacturers, we are also involved in asbestos-related litigation. In continually evaluating costs relating to our estimated asbestos-related liability, we review, among other things, the incidence of past and recent claims, the historical case dismissal rate, the mix of the claimed illnesses and occupations of the plaintiffs, our recent and historical resolution of the cases, the number of cases pending against us, the status and results of broad-based settlement discussions, and the number of years such activity might continue. Because this liability is likely to extend over many years, management believes that the potential additional costs for claims will not have a material effect on the financial condition of the Company or its liquidity, although the effect of any future liabilities recorded could be material to earnings in a future period.

See Note 16 to our March 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K for more information on our matters involving litigation.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not Applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Security Holder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "CMCO." As of April 30, 2024, there were 330holders of record of our common stock.

During fiscal 2024, the Company declared quarterly cash dividends totaling $8,055,000. On March 18, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.07 per common share. The dividend was paid on May 13, 2024 to shareholders of record as of May 3, 2024 and totaled approximately $2,020,000.

Our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement allows for the declaration and payment of dividends, subject to specified limitation as set forth in our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement. We expect to continue to pay dividends in fiscal 2025 consistent with our historical amounts.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table presents information with respect to purchases of common stock of the Company made during the three months ended March 31, 2024 by the Company:

1The Company publicly announced on March 26, 2019 that its Board of Directors approved a share repurchase authorization for up to $20 million of shares of common stock of Columbus McKinnon Corporation, with no expiration. As of March 31, 2024, approximately $19 million of shares of common stock of the Company remains available repurchase under the current authorization plan. There were no repurchases made in the quarter ended March 31, 2024.

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PERFORMANCE GRAPH

The Performance Graph shown below compares the cumulative total shareholder return on our common stock based on its market price, with the total return of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, and the Dow Jones U.S. Diversified Industrials Index. The comparison of total return assumes that a fixed investment of $100 was invested on March 31, 2019 in our common stock and in each of the foregoing indices and further assumes the reinvestment of dividends. The stock price performance shown on the graph is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

This Performance Graph shall not be deemed "filed" with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or incorporate by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

This section should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K.

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

Columbus McKinnon Corporation ("Columbus McKinnon" or the "Company") is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, rigging tools, light rail workstations and digital power and motion control systems. These are highly relevant, professional-grade solutions that solve our customers’ critical material handling requirements.

Founded in 1875, we have grown to our current size and leadership position through organic growth and acquisitions. We developed our leading market position over our 149-year history by emphasizing technological innovation, manufacturing excellence and superior customer service. In accordance with our strategic framework, we are building out our business system ("CMBS") and growth framework to be market-led, customer-centric, and operationally excellent with our people and values at the core. We believe this will transform Columbus McKinnon into a top-tier intelligent motion solutions company. We expect our strategy will enhance shareholder value by growing sales, expanding EBITDA margins and increasing our return on invested capital ("ROIC").

Our revenue base is geographically diverse with approximately 43% derived from customers outside the U.S. for the year ended March 31, 2024. We believe this diversity balances the impact of changes that occur in local economies, as well as benefits the Company by providing access to growing emerging markets. We monitor both U.S. and Eurozone Industrial Capacity Utilization statistics as well as the ISM Production Index as indicators of anticipated demand for our products. In addition, we continue to monitor the potential impact of other global and U.S. trends including, industrial production, trade tariffs, raw material cost inflation, interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, and activity of end-user markets around the globe.

From a strategic perspective, we are investing in new products as we focus on our greatest opportunities for growth. We maintain a strong North American market share with significant leading market positions in hoists, lifting and sling chain, forged attachments, actuators, precision conveyors and digital power and motion control systems for the material handling industry. We seek to maintain and enhance our market share by focusing our sales and marketing activities toward select North American and global market sectors including general industrial, energy, automotive, heavy OEM, entertainment, construction and infrastructure, life sciences food and beverage, e-commerce and consumer products.

On May 31, 2023, the Company completed its acquisition of montratec GmbH ("montratec"), a leading automation solutions company that designs and develops intelligent automation and transport systems for interlinking industrial production and logistics processes. montratec product offerings compliment the previous acquisitions of both Dorner and Garvey, and these acquisitions are collectively expected to accelerate the Company’s shift to intelligent motion solutions and serve as a platform to expand capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.

Regardless of the economic climate and point in the economic cycle, we constantly explore ways to increase operating margins as well as further improve our productivity and competitiveness. We have specific initiatives to reduce lead-times, improve on-time deliveries, reduce warranty costs, and improve material and factory productivity. The initiatives are being driven by the implementation of our business operating system, CMBS. We are working to achieve these strategic initiatives through business simplification, operational excellence, and profitable growth initiatives. We believe these initiatives will enhance future operating margins.

Our principal raw materials and components purchases were approximately $396 million in fiscal 2024 (or 62% of Cost of product sold) and include steel, consisting of rod, wire, bar, structural, and other forms of steel; electric motors; bearings; gear reducers; castings; steel and aluminum enclosures and wire harnesses; electro-mechanical components; and standard variable drives and controls. These commodities are all available from multiple sources. We purchase most of these raw materials and components from a limited number of strategic and preferred suppliers under agreements which are negotiated on a company-wide basis through our global purchasing group. Currently, as a result of global inflation, we are experiencing higher raw material costs and availability issues for select raw materials and components. To date, we have raised prices to our customers to cover these increased raw material costs and are working with our supply base to prioritize shipments and improve availability of key components.

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We operate in a highly competitive and global business environment. We see a variety of opportunities in our markets and geographies, including trends toward automation and increasing labor productivity and the expansion of market opportunities in Asia and other emerging markets. While we execute our long-term growth strategy, we are supported by our strong free cash flow as well as our liquidity position and flexible debt structure.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion is a comparison between fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023 results. For a discussion of our results of operations for fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022, please refer to Item 7 of Part II, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, which was filed with the SEC on May 25, 2023.

Fiscal 2024Compared to Fiscal 2023

Fiscal 2024 sales were $1,013,540,000, an increase of 8.3%, or $77,300,000 compared with fiscal 2023 sales of $936,240,000. Sales for the fiscal year were positively impacted by price increases of $33,837,000 as well as $32,584,000 of incremental sales from the montratec acquisition. Offsetting these increases was $469,000 in decreased sales volume. The translation of foreign currency had a favorable impact of $11,348,000.

Gross profit was $374,838,000 and $342,099,000 or 37.0% and 36.5% of net sales in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. The fiscal 2024 increase in gross profit of $32,739,000 or 9.6% is the result of the $28,987,000 of price increases net of material inflation, $13,828,000 in gross profit as a result of the acquisition of montratec, $946,000 due to favorable sales mix and $904,000 of decreased product liability costs offset by $12,087,000 of other manufacturing cost changes, $3,294,000 of start up costs for our new Monterrey, Mexico facility and $346,000 of current year business realignment costs. The translation of foreign currencies had a $3,756,000 favorable impact on gross profit for the year ended March 31, 2024.

Selling expenses were $105,341,000 and $102,528,000, or 10.4% and 11.0% of net sales in fiscal years 2024 and 2023, respectively. Selling expenses increased $6,426,000 as a result of the montratec acquisition offset by a decreases in net business realignment costs, which did not recur for $3,807,000, and lower employee costs of $1,157,000 as a result of the prior year business realignment. Foreign currency translation had a $1,055,000 unfavorable impact on selling expenses.

General and administrative expenses were $106,760,000 and $94,794,000 or 10.5% and 10.1% of net sales in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. The increase in general and administrative expenses was due to the acquisition of montratec which added $3,586,000 in expenses, net increases of $2,595,000 for acquisition and deal integration costs, an increase in stock-based compensation of $2,171,000, an increase of $1,596,000 for the new Monterrey, Mexico facility and an increase in net business realignment costs of $1,084,000. These increases were offset by a $1,230,000 adjustment in the prior year for the Garvey acquisition contingent consideration which did not recur. Foreign currency translation had a $711,000 unfavorable impact on general and administrative expenses for the year ended March 31, 2024.

Research and development expenses were $26,193,000 and $20,935,000 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. As a percentage of consolidated net sales, research and development expenses were 2.6% and 2.2% in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. The increase in research and development expenses was due to additional spending to achieve strategic goals related to new product development.

Amortization of intangibles were $29,396,000 and $26,001,000 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively, with the increase related to amortization of new intangible assets acquired in the montratec acquisition.

Interest and debt expense was $37,957,000 and $27,942,000 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. The increase is related to higher interest rates, as well as increased borrowings to finance the montratec acquisition.

Investment income of $1,759,000 and $315,000, in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively, related to earnings on marketable securities held in the Company’s wholly owned captive insurance subsidiary and the Company's equity method investment in EMC, described in Note 7 to our March 31, 2024 consolidated financial statements.

Foreign currency exchange resulted in a loss of $1,826,000 and a gain $2,189,000 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. This unfavorable change was due to the strengthening of the U.S. Dollar in comparison to the Euro and other currencies where our businesses operates.

Other expense was $7,597,000 in fiscal 2024 and other income was $2,072,000 in fiscal 2023. During fiscal 2024, the Company terminated both of its Canadian pension plans and began the process to terminate one of its U.S. pension plans. For the U.S.

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plan, lump sum payments were made to eligible participants who elected to receive them. Both of these actions resulted in a settlement charge of $4,984,000. Further as discussed in Note 17, the increase in expense is also related to an income tax refund which will be paid to the former owners of STAHL, as agreed to in a tax indemnification agreement, as it relates to a tax period prior to the acquisition date.

Income tax expense as a percentage of income from continuing operations before income tax expense was 24.2% and 35.0% in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. Typically these percentages vary from the U.S. statutory rate of 21% due to varying effective tax rates at the Company's foreign subsidiaries and the jurisdictional mix of income for these subsidiaries.

In fiscal 2023, the rate was unfavorably impacted 3 percentage points due to settlement of income tax assessments related to tax periods prior to the Company’s acquisition of Stahl Cranesystems GmbH (“STAHL"). In accordance with the tax indemnification clause of the share purchase agreement, the Company received full reimbursement from STAHL’s prior owner which was recorded as a gain in Other (income) expense, net on the Consolidated Statements of Operations. The tax rate also reflects an unfavorable impact of 2 percentage points due to the recording of a U.S. state tax valuation allowance. The valuation allowance primarily relates to changes in the Company’s expectations regarding its ability to more likely than not utilize certain U.S. state net operating losses prior to their expiration. The tax rate was also unfavorably affected by non-deductible compensation and U.S. taxes on foreign earnings, which increased the rate by 2 percentage points each.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled $114,376,000 and $133,426,000, at March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Cash flow from operating activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $67,198,000 and $83,636,000 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. In fiscal 2024, net income of $46,625,000 and non-cash adjustments to net income of $57,928,000 were the largest contributors. Of the non-cash adjustments, $45,945,000 was depreciation and amortization and $12,039,000 was stock-based compensation offset by $15,285,000 of deferred income taxes and related valuation allowance. Net working capital increases reduced operating cash flows by $29,132,000, which included an increase of $14,428,000 in accounts receivable, a $9,583,000 decrease in accrued liabilities and an increase in prepaid expenses and other of $8,555,000. This was partially offset by a decrease in trade payables of $4,748,000. In addition, non-current liabilities decreased by $8,760,000. The decrease in non-current liabilities primarily consists of $9,454,000 in cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of operating lease liabilities in fiscal 2024.

Cash flow from investing activities

Net cash used for investing activities was $133,364,000 and $13,932,000 in fiscal 2024 and 2023, respectively. In fiscal 2024, the most significant uses of cash in investing activities was $108,145,000 of cash used for the purchase of montratec on May 31, 2023. Additionally, the Company used $24,813,000 in capital expenditures.

Cash flow from financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $48,201,000 in fiscal 2024 compared to net cash used for financing activities of $49,987,000 in fiscal 2023. The most significant source of cash was $120,000,000 in gross proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt, which was used to fund the montratec acquisition. This was offset by $60,604,000 in debt repayments, $8,044,000 in dividend payments and $2,859,000 in fees paid to secure the new debt borrowings. Associated cash flows from hedging activities are classified as financing activities in the Statement of Cash Flows, which resulted in a net cash inflow of $1,370,000.

We believe that our cash on hand, cash flows, and borrowing capacity under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement will be sufficient to fund our ongoing operations and debt obligations, and capital expenditures for at least the next twelve months. This belief is dependent upon successful execution of our current business plan and effective working capital utilization. No material restrictions exist in accessing cash held by our non-U.S. subsidiaries. We expect to meet our funding needs with cash provided by our U.S. operations, as well as by repatriating non-U.S. cash. We do not expect to incur significant incremental U.S. taxes as we repatriate funds. As of March 31, 2024, $64,103,000 of cash and cash equivalents were held by foreign subsidiaries.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES

In addition to keeping our current equipment and plants properly maintained, we are committed to replacing, enhancing and upgrading our property, plant and equipment to support new product development, improve productivity and customer

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responsiveness, reduce production costs, increase flexibility to respond effectively to market fluctuations and changes, meet environmental requirements, enhance safety and promote ergonomically correct work stations. Our capital expenditures for fiscal 2024 and 2023 were $24,813,000 and $12,632,000, respectively. This increase in capital expenditures during fiscal 2024 was related to the establishment of a machining center of excellence in Mexico. Excluded from fiscal 2024 capital expenditures is $690,000 and $624,000, in property, plant and equipment purchases included in accounts payable at March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We expect capital expenditure spending in fiscal 2025 to range from $20,000,000 to $30,000,000.

INFLATION AND OTHER MARKET CONDITIONS

Our costs are affected by inflation in the U.S. economy and, to a lesser extent, in non-U.S. economies including those of Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Asia-Pacific. We do not believe that general inflation has had a material effect on our results of operations over the periods presented despite rising inflation due to our ability to pass on rising costs through price increases. We are currently experiencing higher raw material, freight, and logistics costs than we have seen in recent years, which we have been able to recover with pricing actions. In the future, we may not be able to pass on these cost increases to our customers.

SEASONALITY AND QUARTERLY RESULTS

Quarterly results may be materially affected by the timing of large customer orders, periods of high vacation and holiday concentrations, legal settlements, gains or losses in our portfolio of marketable securities, restructuring charges, favorable or unfavorable foreign currency translation, divestitures and acquisitions. Therefore, the operating results for any particular fiscal quarter are not necessarily indicative of results for any subsequent fiscal quarter or for the full fiscal year.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We continually evaluate the estimates and their underlying assumptions, which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of our assets and liabilities. Actual results inevitably will differ from those estimates. If interpreted differently under different conditions or circumstances, changes in our estimates could result in material changes to our reported results. We have identified below the accounting policies involving estimates that are critical to our financial statements. Other accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2 of our consolidated financial statements.

Insurance Reserves. Our accrued general and product liability reserves as described in Note 16 to consolidated financial statements involve actuarial techniques including the methods selected to estimate ultimate claims, and assumptions including emergence patterns, payment patterns, initial expected losses, and increased limit factors. These actuarial estimates are subject to a high degree of uncertainty due to a variety of factors, including extended lag time in the reporting and resolution of claims, trends or changes in claim settlement patterns, insurance industry practices, and legal interpretations. Changes to these estimates could result in material changes to the amount of expense and liabilities recorded in our financial statements. Further, actual costs could differ significantly from the estimated amounts. Adjustments to estimated reserves are recorded in the period in which the change in estimate occurs. Other insurance reserves such as workers compensation and group health insurance are based on actual historical and current claim data provided by third party administrators or internally maintained.

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment testing. Our goodwill balance of $710,334,000 as of March 31, 2024 is subject to impairment testing. We test goodwill for impairment at least annually, as of the end of February, and more frequently whenever events occur or circumstances change that indicate there may be impairment. These events or circumstances could include a significant long-term adverse change in the business climate, poor indicators of operating performance, or a sale or disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit.

We test goodwill at the reporting unit level, which is one level below our operating segment. We identify our reporting units by assessing whether the components of our operating segment constitute businesses for which discrete financial information is available and segment management regularly reviews the operating results of those components. We also aggregate components that have similar economic characteristics into single reporting units (for example, similar products and / or services, similar long-term financial results, product processes, classes of customers, or in circumstances where the components share assets or other resources and have other economic interdependencies). We have three reporting units, Linear Motion Products (formerly referred to as Duff-Norton), Rest of Products and Precision Conveyance, and have goodwill totaling $9,699,000, $304,760,000, and 395,875,000, respectively, at March 31, 2024. montratec, which was acquired in fiscal 2024 has been included in the Precision Conveyance reporting unit.

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Annual Goodwill Impairment Test

When we evaluate the potential for goodwill impairment, we assess a range of qualitative factors including, but not limited to, macroeconomic conditions, industry conditions, the competitive environment, changes in the market for our products and services, regulatory and political developments, entity specific factors such as strategy, and changes in key personnel and overall financial performance. If, after completing this assessment, it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we proceed to a quantitative impairment test. We also proceed to the quantitative model when economic or other business factors indicate that the fair value of our reporting units may have declined since our last quantitative impairment test. We performed the qualitative assessment as of February 29, 2024 and determined the quantitative test should be performed for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit as the businesses in this reporting unit were recently acquired resulting in a relatively small difference between the reporting unit's book and fair value. We performed sensitivities and other analysis and determined that goodwill is not impaired as of March 31, 2024 for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit.

The qualitative assessment as of February 29, 2024 for the Rest of Products and Linear Motion Products reporting units determined it was not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting units were less than their applicable carrying value. Accordingly, we did not perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test for the Rest of Products and Linear Motion Products reporting units during fiscal 2024.

Quantitative Test for the Precision Conveyance Group

In order to perform the quantitative impairment test for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit, we used the discounted cash flow method to estimate fair value. The discounted cash flow method incorporates various assumptions, the most significant being projected revenue growth rates, EBITDA margins and cash flows, and the weighted-average cost of capital. Management projects discounted cash flows based on the reporting unit's current business, expected developments and operational strategies over a seven-year period. In estimating the terminal growth rate, we consider our historical and projected results, as well as the economic environment in which the reporting unit operates. The weighted-average cost of capital utilized for the reporting unit reflects management’s assumptions of marketplace participants’ cost of capital and risk assumptions, both specific to the reporting unit and overall in the economy.

Testing goodwill for impairment under the quantitative method described above requires us to estimate fair value of the reporting unit using significant estimates and judgmental factors. The compound annual growth rate for revenue during the first seven years of our projections was approximately 13.0% for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit. This reflects the higher expected growth rates on our precision conveyor business compared to our other businesses. The terminal value was calculated assuming a projected growth rate of 3.0% after seven years. These rates reflect our estimate of long-term growth into perpetuity and approximate the long-term gross domestic product growth expected on a global basis as well as our normal annual price increases. The estimated weighted-average cost of capital was determined to be 13.2% for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit. This was estimated based upon an analysis of similar companies and their debt to equity mix, their related volatility and the size of their market capitalization. We also consider any additional risk of the Precision Conveyance reporting unit achieving its forecast, and adjust the weighted-average cost of capital applied when determining the reporting unit’s estimated fair value. The quantitative test results indicate that the Precision Conveyance reporting unit is not impaired as its fair value exceeds its book value by 6%.

Future changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially affect the results of our goodwill impairment tests. For example, a decline in the terminal growth rate by 100 basis points would decrease fair market value by $24,800,000, an increase in the weighted-average cost of capital by 75 basis points would result in a decrease in fair market value by $33,500,000, and an annual decrease in gross profit of 200 basis points would result in a decrease in fair value of $23,100,000 for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit. Even with such changes, the fair value of the reporting unit would be greater than its net book value as of February 29, 2024, therefore indicating no impairment.

We further test our indefinite-lived intangible asset balance of $46,254,000 consisting of trademarks for acquisitions prior to fiscal 2024. Similar to goodwill, we first assess various qualitative factors in the analysis. If, after completing this assessment, it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying value, we proceed to a quantitative impairment test. We performed the qualitative assessment as of February 29, 2024 and determined that it was not more likely than not that the fair value of each of our indefinite-lived intangible assets was less than its applicable carrying value.

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Effects of New Accounting Pronouncements

Information regarding the effects of new accounting pronouncements is included in Note 21 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K.

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Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Market risk is the potential loss arising from adverse changes in market rates and prices, such as interest rates. We are exposed to various market risks, including commodity prices for raw materials, foreign currency exchange rates, and changes in interest rates. We may enter into financial instrument transactions, which attempt to manage and reduce the impact of such changes. We do not enter into derivatives or other financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Commodity Price Risk

Our costs are affected by inflation in the U.S. economy and, to a lesser extent, in non-U.S. economies including those of Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Asia-Pacific. Generally, as we experience fluctuations in our costs, we reflect these increases in costs as price increases to our customers with the goal of being margin neutral. We are currently experiencing higher raw material, freight, and logistics costs than we have seen in recent years, which we have been able to recover with pricing actions. Further, increases in U.S. employee benefits costs such as health insurance and workers compensation insurance have exceeded general inflation levels. In the future, we may be further affected by inflation that we may not be able to pass these increased costs on as price increases to our customers. However, we have been successful in the past, and we expect to be successful in the future, in instituting price increases to pass on these material cost increases. The Company is exposed to trade tariffs with China. The Company monitors the impact of tariffs and actively works to mitigate this impact through material productivity actions and pricing strategies.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

In fiscal 2024, 43% of our net sales were from manufacturing plants and sales offices in foreign jurisdictions. We manufacture our products in the United States, China, Germany, United Kingdom, Hungary, Mexico, and Malaysia and sell our products in over 100 countries. Our results of operations could be affected by factors such as changes in foreign currency rates or weak economic conditions in foreign markets. With our fiscal year 2017 acquisition of STAHL, we have an increased presence in the United Arab Emirates, with total assets of approximately $6,280,000. Our operating results are exposed to fluctuations between the U.S. Dollar and the Canadian Dollar, European currencies, the South African Rand, the Mexican Peso, the Brazilian Real, and the Chinese Yuan. For example, when the U.S. dollar weakens against the Euro, the value of our net sales and net income denominated in Euros increases when translated into U.S. dollars for inclusion in our consolidated results. We are also exposed to foreign currency fluctuations in relation to purchases denominated in foreign currencies. Our foreign currency risk is mitigated since the majority of our foreign operations’ net sales and the related expense transactions are denominated in the same currency, which reduces the impact of a significant change in foreign exchange rates on net income. For example, a 10% change in the value of the U.S. dollar in relation to our most significant foreign currency exposures would have had an impact of approximately $6,450,000 on our income from operations. In addition, the majority of our export sale transactions are denominated in U.S. dollars.

The Company has a cross currency swap agreement that is designated as a cash flow hedge to hedge changes in the value of an intercompany loan to a foreign subsidiary due to changes in foreign exchange rates. This intercompany loan is related to the acquisition of STAHL. As of March 31, 2024, the notional amount of this derivative was $93,910,000, and the contract matures on March 31, 2028. During fiscal 2022, the Company modified the cross currency swap by extending it to fiscal year 2028, matching the intercompany loan. The Company has concluded that the transaction to modify the cross currency swap, as well as the modified swap, maintained hedge accounting. The modified cross currency swap is considered to have an other than insignificant financing element. As such, its cash flows are classified within financing activities in the Statement of Cash Flows. From its March 31, 2024 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $148,000 out of AOCL, and into foreign currency exchange loss (gain), during the next 12 months based on the contractual payments due under this intercompany loan.

The Company has foreign currency forward agreements that are designated as cash flow hedges to hedge a portion of forecasted inventory purchases denominated in foreign currencies. As of March 31, 2024, the notional amount of these derivatives was $7,590,000, and all contracts mature by March 31, 2025. From its March 31, 2024 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $71,000 out of AOCL during the next 12 months based on the expected sales of the goods purchased.

Interest Rate Risk

The Company's policy is to maintain a capital structure that is comprised of 50-70% of fixed rate long-term debt and 30-50% of variable rate long-term debt. The Company has two interest rate swap agreements currently outstanding in which the Company receives interest at a variable rate and pays interest at a fixed rate. These interest rate swap agreements are designated as cash flow hedges to hedge changes in interest expense due to changes in the variable interest rate of the senior secured term loan. The amortizing interest rate swaps mature by February 28, 2025 and April 30, 2028 had a total notional amount of

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$346,434,000 as of March 31, 2024. The effective portion of the changes in fair values of the interest rate swaps is reported in AOCL and will be reclassified to interest expense over the life of the swap agreements. From its March 31, 2024 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $5,644,000 out of AOCL, and into interest expense, during the next 12 months.

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Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Columbus McKinnon Corporation

Audited Consolidated Financial Statements as of March 31, 2024:

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm 35

Consolidated Balance Sheets 38

Consolidated Statements of Operations 39

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income 40

Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity 41

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 42

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements

1 Description of Business 43

2 Accounting Principles and Practices 43

3 Acquisitions & Disposals 47

4 Revenue & Receivables 48

5 Fair Value Measurements 52

6 Inventories 55

7 Marketable Securities and Other Investments 55

8 Property, Plant, and Equipment 56

9 Goodwill and Intangible Assets 56

10 Derivative Instruments 58

11 Accrued Liabilities and Other Non-current Liabilities 61

13 Pensions and Other Benefit Plans 64

14 Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP") 69

15 Earnings per Share and Stock Plans 69

16 Loss Contingencies 74

19 Business Segment Information 84

20 Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss 85

21 Effects of New Accounting Pronouncements 88

Schedule II – Valuation and Qualifying Accounts. 89

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of Columbus McKinnon Corporation

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Columbus McKinnon Corporation (the Company) as of March 31, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, shareholders' equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended March 31, 2024, and the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(2) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at March 31, 2024 and 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended March 31, 2024, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated May 29, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

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Valuation of Goodwill for the Precision Conveyance Reporting Unit

Product Liabilities and Related Legal Costs

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/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Charlotte, North Carolina

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(In thousands, except share data)

ASSETS

Current assets:

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Current liabilities:

Current portion of long-term debt and finance lease obligations 50,670 40,604

Shareholders’ equity:

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (39,677) (38,043)

See accompanying notes.

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

Year Ended March 31,

(In thousands, except per share data)

Cost of debt refinancing — — 14,803

Investment (income) loss, net (1,759) (315) (46)

Foreign currency exchange loss (gain), net 1,826 (2,189) 1,574

Dividends declared per common share $ 0.28 $ 0.28 $ 0.25

See accompanying notes.

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(In thousands)

Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:

Foreign currency translation adjustments (433) (4,273) (6,303)

See accompanying notes.

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY

(In thousands, except share data)

Dividends declared — — — (7,119) — (7,119)

Change in foreign currency translation adjustment — — — — (6,302) (6,302)

Change in derivatives qualifying as hedges, net of tax of $(39) — — — — 77 77

Stock compensation - directors — — 959 — — 959

Dividends declared — — — (8,014) — (8,014)

Change in foreign currency translation adjustment — — — — (4,273) (4,273)

Stock compensation - directors — — 1,194 — — 1,194

Stock compensation expense — — 9,231 — — 9,231

Dividends declared — — — (8,055) — (8,055)

Change in foreign currency translation adjustment — — — — (433) (433)

Stock compensation - directors — — 1,174 — — 1,174

See accompanying notes.

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

Year ended March 31,

Operating activities: (In thousands)

Deferred income taxes and related valuation allowance (15,285) (300) (1,969)

Net loss (gain) on sale of real estate, investments and other (1,431) (54) 136

Loss (gain) on hedging instruments (1,366) (438) 853

Cost of debt refinancing — — 14,803

Cost of debt repricing 958 — —

Loss on retirement of fixed asset — 175 —

Non-cash pension settlement expense (See Note 13) 4,984 — —

Gain on sale of building (See Note 3) — (232) (375)

Investing activities:

Proceeds from sales of marketable securities 3,526 3,651 4,434

Proceeds from sale of building, net of transaction costs — 373 461

Proceeds from insurance reimbursement — — 482

Dividend received from equity method investment 144 313 324

Financing activities:

Fees paid for debt repricing (958) — —

Purchases of treasury stock — (1,001) —

Fees paid for borrowing on long-term debt (2,859) — —

Proceeds from equity offering — — 207,000

Fees related to debt and equity offering — — (26,184)

Effect of exchange rate changes on cash (1,085) (1,931) (2,007)

Supplementary cash flows data:

Restricted cash presented in Other assets $ 250 $ 250 $ 250

See accompanying notes.

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(tabular amounts in thousands, except share data)

1. Description of Business

Columbus McKinnon Corporation (the "Company") is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer, and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that efficiently and ergonomically move, lift, position, and secure materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, accumulation tables, rigging tools, light rail workstations, and digital power and motion control systems. The Company is focused on commercial and industrial applications that require the safety and quality provided by its superior design and engineering know-how. The Company’s targeted market verticals include general industrial, construction and infrastructure, mining, oil & gas, energy, aerospace, transportation, automotive, heavy equipment manufacturing, and entertainment.

The Company’s products are sold globally, principally to third party distributors and crane builders through diverse distribution channels and, to a lesser extent, directly to end-users. During fiscal 2024, approximately 57% of sales were to customers in the United States.

2. Accounting Principles and Practices

Advertising

Costs associated with advertising are expensed as incurred and are included in Selling expense in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Advertising expenses were $2,659,000, $2,342,000, and $2,410,000 in fiscal 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

The Company considers as cash equivalents all highly liquid investments with an original maturity of three months or less.

Concentrations of Labor

Approximately 6% of the Company’s employees are represented by two separate U.S. collective bargaining agreements which expire in September 2024 and May 2027. We also have various labor agreements with our non-U.S. employees that we negotiate from time to time.

Consolidation

These consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the Company and its global subsidiaries; all significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated.

Equity Method Investment

The Company has an investment in Eastern Morris Cranes Company Limited ("EMC"), a limited liability company organized and existing under the laws and regulations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whose principal activity is to manufacture various electrical overhead traveling cranes. This investment represents a minority ownership interest that is accounted for under the equity method of accounting since the Company has significant influence over the investee. As a result, the Company records its portion of the gains and losses incurred by this entity in Investment (income) loss in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

Foreign Currency Translations

The Company translates foreign currency financial statements as described in Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") Topic 830, “Foreign Currency Matters.” Under this method, all items of income and expense are translated to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates during the year. All assets and liabilities are translated to

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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - (Continued)

(tabular amounts in thousands, except share data)

U.S. dollars at the year-end exchange rate. Gains or losses on translations are recorded in accumulated other comprehensive loss in the shareholders’ equity section of the balance sheet. The functional currency is the foreign currency in which the foreign subsidiaries conduct their business. Gains and losses from foreign currency transactions are reported in foreign currency exchange loss (gain).

Goodwill

Goodwill is not amortized but is tested for impairment at least annually, or more frequently if indicators of impairment exist, in accordance with the provisions of ASC Topic 350-20-35-1. Goodwill impairment is deemed to exist if the net book value of a reporting unit exceeds its estimated fair value. The fair value of a reporting unit is determined using a discounted cash flow methodology. The Company’s reporting units are determined based upon whether discrete financial information is available and reviewed regularly, whether those units constitute a business, and the extent of economic similarities and interdependencies between those reporting units for purposes of aggregation. The Company’s reporting units identified under ASC Topic 350-20-35-33 are at the component level, or one level below the reporting segment level as defined under ASC Topic 280-10-50-10 “Segment Reporting – Disclosure.” As of March 31, 2024, the Company’s one segment is subdivided into three reporting units. An impairment charge is recorded if the carrying value is greater than the reporting unit's fair value.

When the Company evaluates the potential for goodwill impairment, it assesses a range of qualitative factors including, but not limited to, macroeconomic conditions, industry conditions, the competitive environment, changes in the market for its products and services, regulatory and political developments, entity specific factors such as strategy and changes in key personnel, and overall financial performance. If, after completing this assessment, it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value or if economic or other business factors indicate that the fair value of our reporting units may have declined since our last quantitative test, the Company performs a quantitative test.

In order to perform the quantitative impairment tests for the Rest of Products, Precision Conveyance and Linear Motion Products reporting units, the Company uses the discounted cash flow method to estimate fair value. The discounted cash flow method incorporates various assumptions, the most significant being projected revenue growth rates, EBITDA margins and cash flows, the terminal growth rate, and the weighted-average cost of capital. The Company projects discounted cash flows based on each reporting unit's current business, expected developments, and operational strategies over a five to seven-year period. In estimating the terminal growth rates, the Company considers its historical and projected results, as well as the economic environment in which its reporting units operate. The weighted-average cost of capital utilized for each reporting unit reflect the Company's assumptions of marketplace participants' cost of capital and risk assumptions, both specific to the reporting unit and overall in the economy.

The Company performed its qualitative assessment as of February 29, 2024 for all three reporting units and determined that a quantitative goodwill impairment test was required for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit. Based on results of both the qualitative and quantitative impairment test for the reporting units, the Company determined the fair value was not less than its carrying value. Refer to Note 5 for valuation techniques and significant inputs and Note 9 for further discussion of goodwill and intangibles.and intangible assets.

Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

The Company assesses impairment of its long-lived assets in accordance with the provisions of ASC Topic 360 “Property, Plant, and Equipment.” This statement requires long-lived assets, such as property and equipment and purchased intangibles subject to amortization, to be reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. Recoverability of assets to be held and used is measured by a comparison of the carrying amount of an asset group to estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset group over its remaining useful life. If the carrying amount of an asset group exceeds its estimated future cash flows, an impairment charge is recognized equal to the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset group exceeds the fair value of the asset group. The fair values are determined in accordance with ASC 820.

In assessing long-lived assets for an impairment loss, assets are grouped with other assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Asset grouping requires a significant amount of judgment. Accordingly, facts and circumstances will influence how asset groups are determined for impairment testing. In assessing long-lived assets for impairment, management considered the Company’s product line

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NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - (Continued)

(tabular amounts in thousands, except share data)