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 elsewhere 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, and our business could also be materially adversely affected by additional risks that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial. As a result, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment in our common stock.
Business Risks
Our business is affected by industrial economic and macroeconomic conditions.
Many of the end-users of our products are in industries affected by changes in industrial economic and macroeconomic conditions, 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, are 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, tariffs and other trade regulations, inflation, changes in currency exchange rates, 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 have in the past, and could in the future, 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, general macro-economic conditions could at times also adversely affect our liquidity and ability to borrow under our New Revolving 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, tariffs and other 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, including the recently completed Kito Crosby Acquisition.
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, including the recently completed Kito Crosby Acquisition. 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, including the Kito Crosby Acquisition, or any future 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.
We expect to devote significant management attention to integrating the business practices and operations of Kito Crosby with Columbus McKinnon. We may experience disruptions to our business and, if integrated ineffectively, such disruptions could restrict the realization of the full expected benefits of the Kito Crosby Acquisition. The failure to meet the challenges involved in the integration process and to realize the anticipated benefits of the Kito Crosby Acquisition could cause an interruption or loss of momentum in our operations. Difficulties in integrating Kito Crosby into our business may include rationalizing the operations, processes and systems of the acquired business, retaining and motivating key management and employees, and integrating existing business relationships with suppliers and customers. Even if an integration of Kito Crosby is successful, the financial and operational results may differ materially from our assumptions and forecasts due to unforeseen expenses, delays, conditions and liabilities. In addition, we may incur unanticipated costs or expenses following an acquisition, including post-closing asset impairment charges, expenses associated with eliminating duplicate facilities, and other liabilities.
Furthermore, the integration of Kito Crosby into our business may result in material unanticipated problems, expenses, charges, liabilities, competitive responses, loss of customers and other business relationships, and diversion of management’s attention. Additional integration challenges may include difficulty in achieving anticipated cost savings, synergies, business opportunities and growth prospects from the acquisition; difficulties in the integration of operations and systems, including pricing and marketing strategies; and difficulties in conforming standards, controls, procedures, financial reporting and accounting and other policies, business cultures and compensation structures. Many of these factors will be outside of our control and any one of them could result in increased costs, including restructuring charges, decreases in revenues and diversion of management’s time and energy, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have incurred and expect to incur a number of significant non-recurring costs associated with the Kito Crosby Acquisition and the integration of Kito Crosby into our business. These costs include legal, financial advisory, accounting, consulting and other advisory fees, severance and employee benefit-related costs, public company filing fees and other regulatory fees, financial printing and other printing costs and other related costs. In addition, we expect to incur integration costs as we integrate Kito Crosby’s business with ours, including facilities and systems consolidation costs and employment-related costs. There are a large number of processes, policies, procedures, operations, technologies and systems that may need to be integrated, including purchasing, accounting and finance, payroll, compliance, treasury management, branch operations, vendor management, risk management, lines of business, pricing and benefits.
While we have assumed that a certain level of costs will be incurred, there are many factors beyond our control that could affect the total amount or the timing of these expenses. Moreover, many of the expenses that we will incur are, by their nature, difficult to estimate accurately. These expenses could, particularly in the near term, exceed the savings that we expect to achieve from the elimination of duplicative expenses and the realization of economies of scale. These expenses may result in us recording increased expenses as a result of the Kito Crosby Acquisition or the integration of Kito Crosby into our business, and the amount and timing of such charges are uncertain at the present and could exceed initial estimates.
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.
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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, quotas, tariffs, trade regulations and agreements, and currency exchange rates. This volatility can significantly affect our raw material costs.
The United States has maintained tariffs on certain imported steel, aluminum and items originating from China, which have increased the cost of raw materials we purchase. The imposition of tariffs by the United States has resulted in retaliatory tariffs from a number of countries, including China, which also increase the cost of raw materials we purchase. Substantial legal and regulatory uncertainty exists regarding international trade relations and trade policy. Global trade policy continues to evolve and the ultimate impact of recent developments with respect to U.S. tariffs is unclear. Throughout 2025, the U.S. government implemented multiple new tariff measures under various authorities, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), many of which were announced, modified, suspended, or reinstated with limited notice. These 2025 U.S. tariff actions included broad “reciprocal” tariff measures affecting imports from most countries and new tariffs targeting the industries in which we operate. On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling striking down certain tariffs previously imposed under the IEEPA. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, the U.S. presidential administration announced its intention to invoke other laws to collect tariffs and announced new tariffs on imports from all countries, in addition to any existing non-IEEPA tariffs. There remains substantial uncertainty regarding the duration of existing and newly announced tariffs, potential changes or pauses to such tariffs, tariff levels, and whether further additional tariffs or other retaliatory actions may be imposed, modified, or suspended, and the impacts of such actions on our business. An introduction of new duties, tariffs, quotas or other similar trade restrictions, or increases in existing duties or tariff rates, on products imported into the United States and other jurisdictions, whether actual, pending or threatened, may have a negative impact on our results of operations. Significant uncertainty exists as to whether and when tariffs may be reduced or imposed, and what countries may be implicated. Given that we cannot reasonably predict the timing or outcomes of trade actions by the U.S. government or other countries, the impact of such actions on our business and results of operations remains uncertain. Any escalation of trade tensions, additional tariffs, retaliatory measures by foreign governments or shifts in U.S. or international trade policies could adversely impact our supply chain, increase our costs for raw materials, including significantly, or reduce demand for our products. A trade war or other significant changes in trade regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
In an environment of increasing raw material prices and trade tariffs, duties and quotas, 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 and margins could be adversely affected, including materially.
Our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we are unable to obtain sufficient pricing for our products and services 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
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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 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, 2026 was $519,639,000. Our backlog can be significantly affected by the timing of orders for large projects, and the amount of our backlog at March 31, 2026 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 after market 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 after market 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.
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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.
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 Kito Crosby Acquisition, our indebtedness has increased significantly. Our indebtedness could limit our cash flow available for operations and our flexibility.
In connection with the Kito Crosby Acquisition,the Company (i) entered into the New Credit Agreement which provides for credit facilities (the “New Facilities”) consisting of a Revolving Credit Facility in an aggregate amount of $500,000,000 (the “New Revolving Facility”) and a Term Loan B Facility (the “New Term Loan B Facility”) in an aggregate amount of $1,650,000,000 and (ii) issued $900,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of its 7.125% Senior Secured Notes due 2033 (the “Notes”). The Company also borrowed an additional $53,400,000 under a credit agreement secured by the Company's U.S. accounts receivable balances (the "AR Securitization Facility"). As of March 31, 2026, the outstanding principal balance of the New Term Loan B facility was $1,456,990,000. We had $458,933,000 available for borrowing under the New Revolving Facility (after deducting approximately $16,067,000 of letters of credit outstanding and $25,000,000 of outstanding borrowings) as of March 31, 2026.
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.
Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited.
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Our business and operations may consume resources faster than we anticipate.In the future, we may need to raise additional funds through the issuance of new equity securities, debt, or a combination of both.Additional financing may not be available on favorable terms or at all.If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our capital requirements.If we issue additional debt securities, the debt holders would have rights senior to holders of our common stock to make claims on our assets and the terms of any debt could restrict our operations, including our ability to pay dividends on our common stock.If we issue additional equity securities or securities convertible into equity securities, existing shareholders will experience dilution and the new equity securities could have rights senior to those of our common stock.Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of our future offerings and their impact on the market price of our common stock.
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, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hungary, 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, 2026, approximately 44% 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, quotas and duties, and tariffs (in particular, the tariffs implemented and additional tariffs proposed to be implemented on goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico and other countries where we have manufacturing operations and ongoing uncertainty in the interpretation of new tariffs and their applicability), 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 widespread operations, differences in the availability, and terms of financing, political instability and risks of increases in taxes. In particular, in connection with our Mexican manufacturing operations, as a result of the tariffs or other trade restrictions implemented or proposed to be implemented by the U.S. or other countries, the cost of our products manufactured in Mexico or other countries and imported into the U.S. or other countries have increased and could continue to increase further, which, in turn, has adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, the demand for these products, make our products less competitive and have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and margins. 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 Monterrey, 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 may impose additional, financial and economic sanctions and export controls against Russia and certain Russian organizations and individuals, with similar actions effected by the European Union and the U.K. and other jurisdictions. As a result, we decided to exit from our operations in Russia in their entirety (an immaterial part of the Company's overall business). 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.
In addition, in February 2026, the United States and Israel launched coordinated military strikes against Iran, which retaliated with missile attacks across the region. The ongoing conflict and any further escalation, including additional military actions, retaliatory measures, sanctions, disruptions to trade or transportation routes, cyberattacks, or other governmental or market responses, has and could continue to lead to significant disruption of global energy supplies and increases in global energy prices, heighten inflationary pressures on our input costs and supply chains, adversely affect global supply chains, energy markets, commodity prices, currency exchange rates, interest rates, financial markets and overall macroeconomic conditions,
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increase the cost or reduce the availability of debt financing, and adversely impact customer spending patterns in markets in which we operate.
If any further escalation in these or other conflicts 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. Changes in applicable tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation and application, including the possibility of retroactive effect, could affect our income tax expense and profitability. Certain provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, including a 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, as well as the similar 15% global minimum tax under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules, may impact our income tax expense, profitability, and capital allocation decisions and may negatively impact our effective tax rate. 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 $525,118,000 in our fiscal year ended March 31, 2026) are generated in foreign currencies, including principally the Euro, the Japanese Yen, 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.
Our New Credit Facility contains a financial leverage covenant, which will only be tested if outstanding borrowings under the New Revolving Facility exceeds 30% of the aggregate amount of all commitments under the New Revolving 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 New 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 New Revolving Facility and would permit our lenders to declare all borrowings under such agreement to be immediately due and payable and, through cross-default provisions, could entitle other lenders and note holder to accelerate their loans or other indebtedness owed by 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.
A ratings downgrade or other negative action by a ratings organization could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.
Credit rating agencies continually revise their ratings for companies they follow, and we have faced, and may continue to face, downgrades from credit rating agencies. The condition of the financial and credit markets and prevailing interest rates have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. In addition, developments in our business and operations, including with respect to sustainability matters, could lead to further ratings downgrades for us or our subsidiaries. Any fluctuation in the rating of us or our subsidiaries may impact our ability to access debt markets in the future or increase our cost of future debt, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition and may adversely affect the trading price of shares of our common stock.
An increase in interest rates would increase the cost of servicing our debt and could reduce our profitability, decrease our liquidity and impact our solvency.
Our indebtedness under the New Credit Facilities bears interest at variable rates. Our future indebtedness may also bear interest at variable rates. As a result, increases in interest rates could increase the cost of servicing such debt and materially reduce our profitability and cash flows. The impact of such increases would be more significant for us than it would be for some other companies because of our substantial amount of indebtedness. We have entered into interest rate derivatives, and may in the future enter into additional interest rate derivatives, that involve the exchange of floating for fixed rate interest payments in
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order to reduce future interest rate volatility of our variable rate indebtedness. However, due to risks for hedging gains and losses and cash settlement costs, we may not elect to maintain such interest rate derivatives, and any derivatives may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk.
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, 2026 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
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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 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
We have recorded impairment charges in fiscal 2026 related to goodwill and other intangible assets acquired pursuant to our prior acquisitions and may be required to recognize additional impairment changes in the future, which could adversely affect our future operating results.
We have accounted for business acquisitions, including our prior acquisitions of montratec, Dorner and Garvey, which are each part of our Precision Conveyance reporting unit, and our most recent acquisition of Kito Crosby as business combinations under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with GAAP. Under the acquisition method of accounting, the total purchase price is allocated to tangible assets and identifiable intangible assets of acquired businesses based on their fair values as of the date of completion of the acquisition. The excess of the purchase price over those fair values is recorded as goodwill. As a result, we have substantial balances of goodwill and identified intangible assets and, as of March 31, 2026, goodwill and identified intangible assets represented approximately 29.4% of our total assets. To the extent the value of goodwill or other intangible assets becomes impaired, we have in the past been required to, and may in the future be required to incur impairment charges, and the amount of such charges have in the past been, and may in the future be, material.
We conduct our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment analysis annually, or more frequently if we believe indicators of impairment exist. As part of our annual goodwill impairment analysis test, the completion of the Kito Crosby Acquisition and the Divestiture, we performed quantitative assessments for each of our four reporting units in February 2026. For purposes of the fiscal 2026 goodwill impairment test, while the individual reporting units initially each had fair values in excess of their book value, the reduction in the Company's stock price and market capitalization that occurred in late fiscal 2025 and continued into fiscal 2026 resulted in the aggregate equity value of the Company, on a combined basis, exceeding its market capitalization as of the annual measurement date. As a result, the Company reevaluated the fair value of its reporting units and recorded a partial impairment charge of the goodwill for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit in fiscal 2026 in the amount of $200,000,000.
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While the goodwill of the Precision Conveyance reporting unit was partially impaired in fiscal 2026, this reporting unit and our other reporting units remain at risk of another future impairment, in which the charges that are recorded may be material, if the related business does not perform as projected, or if market assumptions utilized in the impairment analysis deteriorate, including as a result of an unfavorable change in the discount rate used in the calculation. In the future, if we are unable to improve our results of operations and cash flows, or other indicators of impairment exist, such as a further sustained significant decline in our share price and market capitalization, we may need to incur material charges against our operating results relating to our remaining goodwill. Refer to Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K. Any such future impairment charges relating to goodwill or other intangible assets could have a material impact on our operating results in future periods, and the announcement of a future impairment charge could have an adverse impact on our financial condition or operations.
We may not be able to implement effective internal control over financial reporting at Kito Crosby in a timely manner or once implemented, such controls may not operate effectively.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. Prior to the completion of the Kito Crosby Acquisition, Kito Crosby, as a privately-held company, was not required to implement or maintain disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting that a public company is required to have, implement and maintain. SEC guidance allows companies to exclude acquisitions from the assessment of internal control over financial reporting during the first year following an acquisition while integrating the acquired company. As such, we have excluded Kito Crosby from our assessment of the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting for fiscal 2026.
Although we are developing a plan designed to implement effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting at Kito Crosby, we cannot assure you that such plans will be fully implemented in a timely manner or that we will be able to successfully implement and maintain the effectiveness of such plans by the time management assesses the effectiveness of our internal controls, including Kito Crosby, for fiscal 2027. In addition, during the continuation of our integration efforts, we may identify deficiencies in Kito Crosby’s controls and may need to spend significant time and money to remedy those deficiencies. If the Company fails to create and maintain effective internal controls at Kito Crosby, the Company may be required to report one or more material weaknesses in the future, which would indicate that there is a reasonable possibility that the Company’s financial statements do not accurately reflect the Company’s operating results or financial condition. Any failure to timely implement effective internal controls could result in, among other things, a decline in the market price of our stock, restatement of our consolidated financial statements, or reputational harm.
The market price of our common stock has been, and may in the future continue to be, volatile.
The market price of our common stock has been volatile in the past and may become volatile again in the future. The closing prices of our common stock on Nasdaq during fiscal 2026 ranged from $12.68 to $23.27 per share. The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly for many reasons, including: fluctuations in our quarterly operating results; 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; general stock market and industry conditions; general financial, economic and political instability; and in response to the risks described in this Item 1A, Risk Factors, and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The volatility in the market price of our common stock may make it difficult for you to resell your shares of our common stock when desired or at attractive prices.
In addition, our quarterly operating results are likely to fluctuate in the future.While we believe that operating results for any particular quarter are not necessarily a meaningful indication of future results, fluctuations in our quarterly operating results could limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares and may otherwise negatively affect the market price and liquidity of our shares.
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, the ongoing conflict with Iran, and the heightened tensions and political instability in Venezuela and the Middle East 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.
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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 may result in new legal or regulatory requirements designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. For example, the European Union (“EU”) recently adopted the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) that may require robust disclosure of certain social and environmental information and data. However, the European Commission has also proposed an “Omnibus simplification package” aimed at simplifying sustainability regulatory requirements, which may introduce changes to regulations such as the CSRD (among possible other EU sustainability-related regulations). It is currently unclear to what extent any such changes will be implemented, and the extent to which these changes could impact Columbus McKinnon. We are evaluating and will continue to evaluate the applicability of the CSRD as regulatory guidance is issued and as the European countries in which we operate adopt implementing legislation, and we will establish a compliance program to address any applicable requirements. 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, and if our systems for protecting against such cybersecurity attacks prove insufficient, 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, litigation, including individual claims, consumer class actions and commercial litigation; regulatory intervention and sanctions or fines; and prolonged negative publicity 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 and attacks using emerging technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, which create more targeted and sophisticated phishing narratives or otherwise strengthen social engineering capabilities. These new risks increase 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. Further, third-party providers we utilize may incorporate generative artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies into their operations, and these tools may not meet existing or rapidly evolving
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regulatory or industry standards with respect to privacy and data protection, and it is possible that these providers may suffer a cyber-security attack that negatively impacts us.
Furthermore, the pace of technological change is increasing at an exponential rate. To remain competitive, we must invest in developing tools and processes to improve the speed at which we are able to develop competitive products, including significant investment in the development and advancement of new technologies, as well as other technologies in the future that are not foreseen today. Failure to adapt or react effectively to such changes could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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 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.
Use of artificial intelligence in our operations and product offerings could result in reputational or competitive harm, legal or regulatory liability and adverse impacts on our results of operations.
We have begun to incorporate artificial intelligence solutions into our operations, and the use of AI involves various risks and challenges that could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. The use, development and deployment of artificial intelligence systems or the artificial intelligence systems of third-party artificial intelligence vendors involve inherent technical complexities and uncertainties. Artificial intelligence systems may encounter unexpected technical difficulties, limitations or errors, including inaccuracies in data processing or flawed algorithms, which could compromise the reliability and effectiveness of our operations, products and services based on artificial intelligence. In addition, our competitors or other third parties may incorporate artificial intelligence into their operations or products more quickly or more successfully than us, which could impair our ability to compete effectively.
The use of artificial intelligence applications, including large language models, has resulted in, and may in the future result in, cybersecurity vulnerabilities or incidents that implicate the personal information, intellectual property, proprietary data or other sensitive information of end users of such applications. Any such cybersecurity incidents related to our use of artificial intelligence applications could adversely affect our reputation and results of operations. Artificial intelligence also presents emerging ethical issues (including risks of bias, inaccurate or misleading outputs, and intellectual property or confidentiality concerns), and if our use of artificial intelligence becomes controversial, we may experience brand or reputational harm, competitive harm, regulatory scrutiny or legal liability.
The increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies in our products and services may result in new or enhanced governmental or regulatory scrutiny, litigation, confidentiality or security risks or other complications that could adversely affect our business, reputation or financial results. The regulatory landscape governing artificial intelligence technologies is evolving rapidly, and various jurisdictions have proposed or already adopted laws governing the use, development and deployment of artificial intelligence technologies. Changes in laws, regulations or enforcement practices may impose new compliance requirements, restrict certain AI applications or increase our regulatory obligations, which could negatively impact our business and results of operations.
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
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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 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.
We issued a substantial number of Preferred Shares (as defined below) in connection with the financing of the Kito Crosby Acquisition.
We financed a portion of the purchase price for the Kito Crosby Acquisition through the issuance of 800,000 Series A Cumulative Convertible Participating Preferred Shares, par value $1.00 per share (the “Preferred Shares”) to CD&R XII Keystone Holdings, L.P., a Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership (the “CD&R Investor”) pursuant to the terms of an investment agreement, dated February 10, 2025 (the “Investment Agreement”). The Preferred Shares have rights, preferences, and privileges that are not held by, and are preferential to, the rights of our common stock and have the effect of reducing the relative voting power of the holders of our common stock. Certain of the preferential rights belonging to the Preferred Shares could result in divergent interests between the holders of the Preferred Shares and our common shareholders.
Subject to certain restrictions on conversion and voting as described in greater detail in the Investment Agreement and the Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation for the Preferred Shares (the “Certificate of Amendment”), the aggregate number of shares of common stock of the Company into which the Preferred Shares may be converted is initially equal to 21,231,440 common shares, based on the initial conversion price for the Preferred Shares of $37.68, and resulted in the CD&R Investor owning, on an as converted basis, approximately 43% of the Company’s outstanding common stock as of the date of issuance. Under the terms of the Investment Agreement, the CD&R Investor has the right to designate up to three directors on our Board of Directors (our "Board"), subject to specified ownership requirements. With such representation on our Board, the CD&R Investor has influence over the appointment of Company management and any action requiring the vote of our Board. As a result of its ability to control a significant percentage of the voting power of our common stock, the CD&R Investor may have substantial control over matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the election and removal of directors, amendments to our certificate of incorporation, any proposed merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets and other corporate transactions. The CD&R Investor may have interests that are different from those of other shareholders. In addition, the CD&R Investor and its affiliates are in the business of making or advising on investments in companies, including businesses that may directly or indirectly compete with certain portions of our business. In addition, the CD&R Investor may have an interest in pursuing acquisitions, divestitures, financings, or other transactions that, in their judgment, could enhance their overall equity investment and have a negative impact to holders of our common stock as a whole.
We cannot guarantee that we will be able to generate sufficient cash flow to pay dividends at a rate of 7% per annum, compounded quarterly on our Preferred Shares (but subject to an increase to 10% per annum if certain events occur). In addition, our obligations to pay regular dividends to the holders of the Preferred Shares (which we may elect to pay in cash or in-kind) or the exercise of any of our optional redemption rights with respect to the outstanding Preferred Shares could, if paid in cash, impact our liquidity and reduce the amount of cash available for working capital, capital expenditures, growth opportunities, acquisitions, and other general corporate purposes.Any of the above risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation, cash flows and/or stock price.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
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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.
The sophistication of cybersecurity threats, including through the use of artificial intelligence, continues to increase, and while additional measures are continually deployed to mitigate risks and protect our systems, the risk of a breach continues to increase. To address this increased risk we are continually enhancing our Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity capabilities enabling system and data recovery and reducing the overall length our systems would be unavailable for normal operations.
In addition, we maintain policies and governance controls for the responsible use of artificial intelligence, including employee training and guidance intended to promote appropriate use and protect the confidentiality of Company and third-party information. These measures are designed to help manage risks associated with AI-enabled tools, including potential intellectual property and data exposure.
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, Chief Digital and Information Services Officer (CIO). 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 CIO 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.
The Audit Committee has primary responsibility for overseeing risks related to cybersecurity and privacy, although the full Board also exercises oversight over these risks. Securing the information of our customers, employees, vendors and other third parties is important to us. At least quarterly, or more frequently if needed, the Audit Committee and/or the full Board receives detailed reports on data protection and cybersecurity matters from senior IT leaders, including our CIO.
Our Cyber Sub-Committee meets bi-annually to take a deeper dive into cyber-related risks. The topics covered at the various Audit Committee and full Board meetings include risk identification and management strategies, customer data protection, the Company’s ongoing risk mitigation activities, results of third-party assessments and testing, results of tabletop exercises, updates on potential cybersecurity threats, updates on training initiatives and governance.
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Item 2. Properties
We maintain our corporate headquarters in Charlotte, NC (a leased property) and, as of March 31, 2026, conducted our principal manufacturing at the following facilities:
Location Products/Operations SquareFootage Owned orLeased
1 Jiangyin, China Hoists and crane products 1,800,000 Leased
2 Yamanashi, Japan Hoist, crane, and chain products 1,600,000 Owned
3 Longview, TX Hoist, crane, and chain products 465,000 Owned
4 Kunzelsau, Germany Hoists 345,000 Leased
6 Tulsa, OK Hoist, crane, and chain products 256,000 Owned
7 Elizabethtown, PA Hoists and crane products 206,000 Leased
8 Wadesboro, NC Hoists 180,000 Owned
9 Monterrey, Mexico Hoists 165,000 Leased
11 Menomonee Falls, WI Power control systems 144,000 Leased
Tennessee forging operation:
12 Chattanooga, TN Forged attachments 81,000 Owned
13 Chattanooga, TN Forged attachments 59,000 Owned
14 Gothenburg, Sweden Chain 129,000 Owned
15 Hartland, WI Precision Conveyors 125,000 Leased
16 Wuppertal, Germany Hoists 124,000 Leased
17 Putte, Belgium Hoist, crane, and chain products 113,000 Owned
18 Kissing, Germany Hoists, winches, and actuators 107,000 Leased
19 York, PA Hoist, crane, and chain products 107,000 Leased
20 Dauchingen, Germany Automation Solutions 103,000 Leased
22 Hangzhou, China Hoists 82,000 Owned
23 Brighton, MI Overhead light rail workstations 71,000 Leased
24 Masala, Finland Cranes 57,000 Owned
25 Chester, England Plate clamps 56,000 Owned
26 Bayan Lepas, Malaysia Precision Conveyors 40,000 Leased
27 Manheim-Heintzelman, PA Hoists and crane products 36,000 Leased
28 Joigny Sur Meuse, France Chain 32,000 Owned
29 South Holland, IL Hoists 31,000 Owned
30 Vierzon, France Hoists 30,000 Owned
31 Mount Pleasant, PA Lifting Devices 28,000 Leased
32 Szekesfehervar, Hungary Textiles and textile strappings 24,000 Leased
In addition, we have a total of approximately 115 sales offices, distribution centers, and warehouses as of March 31, 2026. 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 2024, a trial involving a product liability claim against the Company resulted in a jury verdict demanding the Company to pay approximately $3,000,000 in damages. The Company appealed the jury verdict and won the appeal in April 2026 remanding to the circuit court with direction to dismiss the complaint against the Company. Payment of damages was not considered probable and was not accrued as a liability in the Consolidated Balance Sheet at March 31, 2026 and 2025. 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 2026. In addition, we carry excess liability insurance coverage from independent insurers to cover potential losses.
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, 2026 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, 2026, there were approximately 444holders of record of our common stock. Because many of these shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of the ultimate beneficial holders of these shares, we are unable to estimate the total number of shareholders represented by these record holders.
During fiscal 2026, the Company declared quarterly cash dividends totaling $8,049,000. On March 23, 2026, our Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.07 per common share. The dividend was paid on May 11, 2026 to shareholders of record as of May 1, 2026 and totaled approximately $2,012,000.
Our 2026 Revolving Credit Facility allows for the declaration and payment of dividends, subject to specified limitation as set forth in the agreement. We expect to continue to pay dividends in fiscal 2027 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, 2026 by the Company:
Total — $ — — $ 9,055
1The Company publicly announced on March 26, 2019 that our Board 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, 2026, approximately $9 million of shares of common stock of the Company remain available for repurchase under the current authorization plan. There were no repurchases made in the quarter ended March 31, 2026.
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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, 2021 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 incorporated 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 150-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 and expanding EBITDA margins.
Our revenue base is geographically diverse with approximately 44% derived from customers outside the U.S. for the year ended March 31, 2026. 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 and channels as we focus on our greatest opportunities for growth. We have 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 are 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.
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.
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 helped to accelerate the Company’s shift to intelligent motion solutions and serve as a platform to expand capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.
On February 3, 2026, the Company completed its acquisition of Kito Crosby for $2,811,907,000, including acquired cash of $184,307,000. The Kito Crosby Acquisition has meaningfully improved the Company's scale, enhanced our collective geographic reach, significantly expanded our lifting securement and consumables portfolio and enhanced our customer value proposition.
With global engineering, manufacturing, distribution, and operations, Kito Crosby provides a broad range of products and solutions for the most demanding applications. Kito Crosby's people, products, solutions, and service have innovated the lifting and securement industry throughout its long history. Kito Crosby's iconic brands include Kito, Crosby, Harrington, Gunnebo Industries, and Peerless. The Kito Crosby Acquisition has already started to strengthen our core lifting business and enhance the Company's position as 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. We expect this to continue as we further integrate our two companies together in fiscal 2027.
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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 $428.2 million in fiscal 2026 (or 51% of Cost of products 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 and tariffs, 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.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion is a comparison between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2025 results. For a discussion of our results of operations for fiscal 2025 compared to fiscal 2024, 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, 2025, which was filed with the SEC on May 29, 2025.
Please note that the Kito Crosby Acquisition closed on February 3, 2026 so fiscal 2026 includes approximately two months of Kito Crosby financial performance. Similarly, the sale of our U.S. power chain hoist and chain manufacturing operations based out of facilities located in Damascus, Virginia and Lexington, Tennessee and certain other assets (the “Divestiture Business”) to Star Hoist (the “Divestiture”) were divested on March 4, 2026, so approximately one month of the financial performance for the Divestiture Business would not be included in the fiscal 2026 results.
Fiscal 2026Compared to Fiscal 2025
Fiscal 2026 sales were $1,193,451,000, an increase of 23.9%, or $230,424,000 compared with fiscal 2025 sales of $963,027,000. The Kito Crosby Acquisition added $188,089,000 to fiscal 2026 sales. In addition, price increases of $21,535,000 and higher sales volume of $10,151,000 further increased our fiscal 2026 sales. Offsetting these increases were lower sales volumes from our Divested Business of $13,986,000. The translation of foreign currencies had a favorable impact of $24,635,000.
Gross profit was $359,431,000 and $325,680,000 or 30.1% and 33.8% of net sales in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. The fiscal 2026 increase in gross profit was $33,751,000 or 10.4%. The Kito Crosby Acquisition contributed $29,159,000 to gross profit after being reduced by $36,798,000 for inventory step up amortization expense. In addition compared to the prior year, net factory consolidation costs were lower by $14,457,000, net start-up costs for our Monterrey Mexico facility were lower by $3,426,000, product liability expense was lower by $261,000 and $171,000 of costs due to Hurricane Helene which occured in the prior year. These increases were offset by $5,875,000 of material inflation, tariffs and other manufacturing cost changes net of price increases, $6,692,000 related to the lost gross profit from the divested businesses, $7,913,000 of unfavorable sales mix, $934,000 of net business realignment costs, and $723,000 of acquisition and integration costs. The translation of foreign currencies had a $8,414,000 favorable impact on gross profit for the year ended March 31, 2026.
Selling expenses were $133,579,000 and $110,043,000, or 11.2% and 11.4% of net sales in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. Selling expenses increased primarily by $17,144,000 as a result of the Kito Crosby Acquisition. Foreign currency translation had a $3,890,000 unfavorable impact on selling expenses in fiscal 2026
General and administrative expenses were $178,325,000 and $107,249,000 or 14.9% and 11.1% of net sales in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. The increase includes $55,243,000 of net deal and integration costs primarily attributable to the Kito Crosby Acquisition and $12,868,000 of incremental expense incurred at Kito Crosby for the period. Foreign currency translation had a $1,578,000 unfavorable impact on general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2026.
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Research and development expenses were $21,409,000 and $23,869,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. As a percentage of consolidated net sales, research and development expenses were 1.8% and 2.5% in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively.
Fiscal 2026 net gain on the sale of businesses of $103,306,000 relates to the Divestiture, as described in Note 3.
The Company recorded an impairment of $200,000,000 for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit in fiscal 2026. The sustained reduction in the Company's stock price and market capitalization resulted in the aggregate equity value of the combined company exceeding its market capitalization at its annual assessment date. Given these facts, the Company recorded an impairment during the year as described in Note 9.
Amortization of intangibles were $48,757,000 and $29,946,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively, with the increase related to amortization of new intangible assets acquired in the Kito Crosby Acquisition.
Interest and debt expense was $61,145,000 and $32,426,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. The increase is related to higher interest rates, as well as increased borrowings to finance the Kito Crosby Acquisition.
Fiscal 2026 Cost of debt refinancing and debt issuance of $24,185,000 relates to the Company's financing of the Kito Crosby Acquisition described in Note 3.
Investment income of $2,182,000 and $1,302,000, in fiscal 2026 and 2025, 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.
Other expense was $1,525,000 and $25,775,000 in fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2025, respectively. The decrease primarily relates to the non-cash settlement charge of $23,634,000 associated with the termination of one of the Company's U.S. pension plans in the prior year ending March 31, 2025 described in Note 13. No such termination occurred in fiscal 2026.
Income tax expense as a percentage of income from continuing operations before income tax expense was (11.1)% and 6.7% in fiscal 2026 and 2025, 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 2026 the rate was decreased by 25 percentage points as the result of the Precision Conveyance reporting unit goodwill impairment which is not deductible (see Note 9). Additionally, nondeductible Kito Crosby acquisition-related costs decreased the rate by 5 percentage points.
In fiscal 2025, the tax effect of the pension termination described in Note 13 reduced the effective tax rate by 17 percentage points.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled $97,023,000 and $53,933,000, at March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively.
Liquidity
Our primary sources of liquidity are funds generated by operating activities, cash and cash equivalents, available capacity for borrowings on our New Revolving Facility and available capacity for borrowings on our AR Securitization Facility. Our ability to fund our operations, to make planned capital investments, to make scheduled debt payments and to repay or refinance indebtedness depends on our future operating performance and cash flows, which are subject to prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control.
Our liquidity as of March 31, 2026 was $561,216,000 comprised of cash and cash equivalents of $96,562,000, $458,933,000 of availability on the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility and $5,721,000 of availability on the AR Securitization Facility. Our liquidity as of March 31, 2025 was $240,155,000 comprised of cash and cash equivalents of $53,683,000, $159,583,000 of availability on the prior revolving credit facility and $26,889,000 of availability on the AR Securitization Facility.
We believe that our current resources, together with anticipated cash flows from operations and borrowing capacity under the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility and AR Securitization facilities, will be sufficient to finance our operations, meet our current cash requirements, and fund anticipated capital investments for at least the next 12 months. We may, however, seek additional financing to fund future growth or refinance our existing indebtedness through the debt capital markets, but we cannot be assured that such financing will be available on favorable terms, or at all.
Cash flow from operating activities
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Net cash used for operating activities was $146,211,000 and net cash provided by operating activities was $45,612,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. In fiscal 2026, the net loss of $229,535,000 and non-cash adjustments to net loss of $209,471,000 contributed to cash provided by operations. The non-cash adjustments primarily included a $200,000,000 goodwill impairment charge (refer to Critical Accounting Estimates and Note 9), $103,306,000 related to gain on sale of our Divested Business (refer to Note 3) and $10,711,000 of deferred income taxes and related valuation allowance offset by $77,038,000 of depreciation and amortization, $24,185,000 related to debt extinguishment costs, $9,978,000 of non-cash lease expense, $9,569,000 of stock-based compensation, and $3,549,000 of amortization of deferred financing costs. Changes in working capital reduced cash from operations by $117,989,000 primarily driven by a $129,800,000 decrease in accrued liabilities due to the payment of integration and deal costs for the Kito Crosby Acquisition as well as payment of certain Kito Crosby employee related deal success fees shortly after the closing of the Kito Crosby Acquisition of $140,801,000. In addition trade accounts receivable increase by $10,675,000 and trade payables decreased by $2,646,000. These changes in working capital were offset by decreases in inventories of $15,268,000 and prepaid expenses of $9,864,000. Cash provided by operations also included a decrease of $10,161,000 in other non-current liabilities primarily due to lease payments for fiscal 2026 and a decrease of other assets for $2,003,000.
Cash flow from investing activities
Net cash used for investing activities was $2,457,654,000 and $19,891,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. The use of cash in fiscal 2026 primarily consisted of $2,627,389,000 related to the Kito Crosby Acquisition and $17,859,000 in capital expenditures. The Company saw a cash inflow from investing activities related to net Divestiture proceeds of $183,976,000 and proceeds of $3,257,000 received from sale of two previously closed manufacturing facilities.
Cash flow from financing activities
Net cash provided for financing activities was $2,653,414,000 in fiscal 2026 compared to net cash used for financing activities of $86,747,000 in fiscal 2025. The most significant source of cash was $2,590,000,000 in gross proceeds from the issuance of long-term debt and $780,978,000 from the issuance of preferred stock, which was used to fund the Kito Crosby Acquisition as well as to refinance the Company's prior outstanding indebtedness. This was offset by $616,177,000 in debt repayments, $91,004,000 in fees paid to secure the new debt borrowing and $8,037,000 in dividend payments. 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 $1,644,000.
We believe that our cash on hand, cash flows, and borrowing capacity under our New Revolving Facility 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, 2026, $93,054,000 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 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 2026 and 2025 were $17,859,000 and $21,411,000, respectively. Excluded from capital expenditures is $2,398,000 and $318,000, in property, plant and equipment purchases included in accounts payable at March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively. We expect capital expenditure spending in fiscal 2027 to range from $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 inclusive of the Kito Crosby business.
INFLATION AND OTHER MARKET CONDITIONS
Our costs are affected by inflation and tariffs 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 and tariffs have 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 as well as tariffs 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.
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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 $1,408,640,000 as of March 31, 2026, 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). Historically, we have had 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, $265,708,000, and $201,359,000, respectively, at March 31, 2026. The Kito Crosby Acquisition completed in February of fiscal 2026 represents a reporting unit holding the remaining balance of the goodwill recorded at March 31, 2026. Kito Crosby goodwill has been evaluated for impairment separately in fiscal 2026 as part of our procedures to calculate the fair value of its opening balance sheet. We will evaluate the impact of the Kito Crosby on our reporting units in fiscal 2027 as we continue to integrate its operations.
Annual Goodwill Impairment Test
The Company may first elect to perform a qualitative evaluation to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. The qualitative assessment considers, among other factors, macroeconomic conditions, industry and market considerations, cost factors, overall financial performance, changes in management or strategy, and other entity specific events. If, based on the qualitative assessment, the Company determines that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, or if the Company elects to bypass the qualitative assessment, the Company performs a quantitative impairment test. The quantitative test compares the estimated fair value of our reporting units with the carrying amount, including goodwill. The Company recognizes an impairment charge for the amount by which the reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value. To perform the quantitative impairment test, the Company uses the discounted cash flow method to estimate the fair value of the reporting units. 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 discount rate. The Company projects discounted cash flows based on each reporting unit's current business, expected developments, and operational strategies over a seven-year period. In estimating the terminal growth rates, the Company considers its historical and projected results, as well as the
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economic environment in which its reporting units operate. The discount rate rates 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. For its fiscal year 2026 annual goodwill impairment test, the Company elected to bypass the qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative impairment test comparing the carrying amount of each reporting unit with its estimated fair value, except for the Kito Crosby reporting unit due to the proximity of the acquisition date to our annual impairment assessment date..
Quantitative Tests
In order to perform the quantitative impairment test for each of the reporting units, we used the discounted cash flow method to estimate fair value. The discounted cash flow method incorporates various assumptions as outlined above. 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 discount rate 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 key assumptions used in the analysis are as follows:
Precision Conveyance Rest of Products Linear Motion
Compound annual growth rate 5.1% 3.3% 4.5%
Terminal growth rate 3.6% 3.6% 3.5%
Each reporting units' compound annual growth rate reflects the growth rate for the markets which they serve. The terminal growth rate reflects our estimate of long-term growth into perpetuity in each reporting unit's vertical market and as well as expected increases in the consumer price index. The estimated discount rate was 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 in the reporting unit achieving its forecast, and adjust the discount rate applied when determining the reporting unit’s estimated fair value.
While the individual reporting units initially had fair values in excess of their book value, the reduction in the Company's stock price and market capitalization resulted in the aggregate equity value of the combined company exceeding its market capitalization at its annual measurement date. The Company reevaluated the fair value of its reporting units and this resulted in a partial impairment of the goodwill in the amount of $200,000,000 for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit.
Holding all other assumptions constant, a reduction in the compound annual growth rate for revenue in the first seven years of the model by one percentage point would reduce fair value by $37,600,000 for Precision Conveyance, $72,077,000 for Rest of Products, and $4,945,000 for Linear Motion. Similarly, a 50 basis point increase in the discount rate would reduce fair value for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit by $25,000,000, the Rest of Products reporting unit by $25,879,000 and the Linear Motion reporting unit by $5,805,000. A 50 basis point reduction in the terminal growth rate would reduce fair value for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit by $13,300,000, the Rest of Products Group by $15,202,000 and the Linear Motion Group by $1,612,000.
We further test our indefinite-lived intangible asset balance of $47,554,000 consisting of trademarks for acquisitions prior to fiscal 2026. Similar to goodwill, the Company may first elect to perform a qualitative evaluation to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If, based on the qualitative assessment, the Company determines that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, or if the Company elects to bypass the qualitative assessment, the Company performs a quantitative impairment test. For its annual impairment test, the Company elected to bypass the qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative impairment test. The methodology used to quantitatively value trademarks is the relief from royalty method. The recorded book value of these trademarks in excess of the calculated fair value triggers an impairment. The key estimate used in this calculation consists of an overall royalty rate applied to the sales covered by the trademark. After performing a quantitative assessment as of February 28, 2026, we determined that the trademarks were not impaired.
Purchase Price Allocations for Business Combinations.
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During the fiscal 2026, we completed the Kito Crosby Acquisition for a purchase price of $2,811,907,000. Under purchase accounting, we preliminarily recorded assets acquired and liabilities assumed at fair value as of the acquisition date. We identified and assigned value to trademarks and trade names, customer relationships, favorable supply agreements, backlog, inventory, pension obligations and technology. We estimated the useful lives over which these intangible assets would be amortized. Valuations of these assets were performed largely using discounted cash flow models and estimates of replacement cost. These valuations support the conclusion that identifiable intangible assets had a preliminary value of $1,290,000,000. The resulting goodwill has been preliminarily calculated to be $931,874,000.
Assigning value to certain tangible and intangible assets requires estimates used in projecting relevant future cash flows and estimates of replacement costs, in addition to estimating useful lives of such assets. Further estimates include an attrition rate for customer relationships, royalty rates for trademarks and trade names, and a weighted average cost of capital assumption.
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, Japan, 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, and particularly those recently enacted by the current presidential administration. The Company monitors the impact of tariffs and actively works to mitigate this impact through material productivity actions and pricing strategies, including tariff surcharges.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risk
In fiscal 2026, 44% of our net sales were from manufacturing plants and sales offices in foreign jurisdictions. We manufacture our products in the United States, Japan, 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. 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, Japanese Yen 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 $7,256,000 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, 2026, the notional amount of this derivative was $50,170,000, and the contract matures on June 30, 2028. From its March 31, 2026 balance of Accumulated other comprehensive loss ("AOCL"), the Company expects to reclassify approximately $1,166,000 out of AOCL, and into foreign currency exchange loss (gain), net, 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, 2026, the notional amount of these derivatives was $6,243,000, and all contracts mature by March 31, 2027. From its March 31, 2026 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $15,000 out of AOCL during the next 12 months based on the expected sales of the goods purchased.
Interest Rate Risk
We are subject to interest rate risk in connection with the Term Loan B and the AR Securitization Facility and Revolving Credit Facility. As of March 31, 2026, we had $1,456,990,000 outstanding under the 2026 Term Loan B, $900,000,000 of Senior Secured Notes, $53,400,000 outstanding on the AR Securitization Facility and $25,000,000 amounts outstanding under the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility. The 2026 Term Loan B, AR Securitization Facility and the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility each bear interest at variable rates, but the interest rate on the Notes is fixed.
The Company has entered into interest rate swap agreements which are designated as cash flow hedges to hedge changes in interest expense due to changes in the interest rate of the Company's variable interest rate debt. The Company has zero interest rate swap agreements outstanding in which it receives interest at a variable rate and pays interest at a fixed rate. The interest
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rate swaps have varying maturity dates between March 31, 2027 and March 31, 2031 with an aggregate notional amount of $965,000,000 as of March 31, 2026.
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, 2026 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $238,000 out of AOCL, and into interest expense, during the next 12 months.
An increase of 100 basis points in the variable rates on the 2026 Term Loan B as of March 31, 2026 would increase annual cash interest in the aggregate by approximately $5,000,000. We cannot predict market fluctuations in interest rates and their impact on our debt, nor can there be any assurance that long-term fixed-rate debt will be available at favorable rates, if at all. Consequently, future results may differ materially from estimated results due to adverse changes in interest rates.
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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, 2026:
Consolidated Balance Sheets 44
Consolidated Statements of Operations 45
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income 46
Consolidated Statements of Shareholders’ Equity 47
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 48
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
1 Description of Business 50
2 Accounting Principles and Practices 50
3 Acquisitions, Divestitures & Disposals 54
4 Revenue & Receivables 57
5 Fair Value Measurements 61
6 Inventories 64
7 Marketable Securities and Other Investments 64
8 Property, Plant, and Equipment 65
9 Goodwill and Intangible Assets 65
10 Derivative Instruments 68
11 Accrued Liabilities and Other Non-current Liabilities 70
13 Pensions and Other Benefit Plans 76
14 Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP") 81
15 Earnings per Share and Stock Plans 81
16 Loss Contingencies 87
19 Business Segment Information 99
20 Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss 101
21 Effects of New Accounting Pronouncements 103
Schedule II – Valuation and Qualifying Accounts. 105
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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, 2026 and 2025, 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, 2026, 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, 2026 and 2025, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended March 31, 2026, 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, 2026, 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 June 8, 2026 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
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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:
Shareholders’ equity:
Accumulated other comprehensive loss (6,748) (21,101)
Equity attributable to shareholders of the Company 1,448,727 882,095
Noncontrolling interest (98) —
See accompanying notes.
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
Year Ended March 31,
(In thousands, except per share data)
Net gain on sales of businesses (103,306) — —
Loss on impairment of goodwill 200,000 — —
Cost of debt refinancing 24,185 — —
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest 98 — —
Net income (loss) attributable to the Company $ (229,535) $ (5,138) $ 46,625
Basic income (loss) per common share $ (7.40) $ (0.18) $ 1.62
Diluted income (loss) per common share $ (7.40) $ (0.18) $ 1.61
Dividends declared per common share $ 0.28 $ 0.28 $ 0.28
See accompanying notes.
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
(In thousands)
Net income (loss) attributable to the Company $ (229,535) $ (5,138) $ 46,625
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:
Foreign currency translation adjustments 12,343 (1,157) (433)
See accompanying notes.
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY
(In thousands, except share data)
Change in foreign currency translation adjustment — — — — — (433) (433) — (433)
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest — — — — — — — (98) (98)
Common dividends declared — — — — (8,049) — (8,049) — (8,049)
Stock options exercised, 1,951 shares — — — 30 — — 30 — 30
See accompanying notes.
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
Year ended March 31,
Operating activities: (In thousands)
Net income (loss) attributable to the Company $ (229,535) $ (5,138) $ 46,625
Deferred income taxes and related valuation allowance (10,711) (20,256) (15,285)
Net gain from sale of business (103,306) — —
Impairment of Goodwill - Precision Conveyance 200,000 — —
Cost of debt refinancing and repricing 24,185 — 958
Impairment of operating lease — 3,911 —
Loss on disposals and impairments of fixed assets — 2,533 —
Non-cash pension settlement expense (See Note 13) — 23,634 4,984
Investing activities:
Proceeds from sales of marketable securities 3,535 5,057 3,526
Proceeds from sale of buildings, net of transaction costs 3,257 — —
Dividend received from equity method investment — — 144
Proceeds from sale of fixed assets — 139 —
Net proceeds from the sales of businesses 183,976 —
Financing activities:
Proceeds from issuance of common stock 30 371 1,600
Proceeds from issuance of preferred stock, net of expenses 780,978 — —
Fees paid for debt repricing — (169) (958)
Purchases of treasury stock — (10,000) —
Payment to former owners of montratec (see Note 3) — (6,711) —
Fees paid for borrowing on long-term debt (91,004) — (2,859)
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash (6,459) 583 (1,085)
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Continued)
Year ended March 31,
Supplementary cash flows data:
Restricted cash presented in Other assets $ 461 $ 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, lifting and securement hardware, 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 2026, approximately 56% 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 $4,281,000, $3,629,000, and $2,659,000 in fiscal 2026, 2025, and 2024, respectively.
Business Combinations
The Company accounts for business combinations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) ASC 805, Business Combinations. The results of operations of acquired businesses are included in the Company’s consolidated financial statements from the respective dates of acquisition.
The Company measures the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the acquisition date. Any excess of the purchase consideration over the fair value of the net identifiable assets acquired is recorded as goodwill.
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 8.5% of the Company’s employees are represented by six U.S. collective bargaining agreements with varying expiration dates starting in February 2027 through December 2028. 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. The Company's consolidation policy requires equity investments that the Company exercises significant influence over, but does not control the investee and are not the primary beneficiary of the investee’s activities, to be accounted for using the equity method. Investments through which the Company is not able to exercise significant influence over the investee and which the Company does not have readily determinable fair values are accounted for under the cost method. All intercompany transactions and balances are eliminated in consolidation.
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - (Continued)
(tabular amounts in thousands, except share data)
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 noncontrolling 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, net in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.
Foreign Currency Translations
The Company translates foreign currency financial statements as described in ASC 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 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, “Intangibles - Goodwill and Other.” 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 350 are at the component level, or one level below the reporting segment level as defined under ASC 280 “Segment Reporting – Disclosure.” As of March 31, 2026, the Company’s one segment consists of four reporting units. An impairment charge is recorded if the carrying value is greater than the reporting unit's fair value.
The Company may first elect to perform a qualitative evaluation to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. The qualitative assessment considers, among other factors, macroeconomic conditions, industry and market considerations, cost factors, overall financial performance, changes in management or strategy, and other entity specific events. If, based on the qualitative assessment, the Company determines that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, or if the Company elects to bypass the qualitative assessment, the Company performs a quantitative impairment test. The quantitative test compares the estimated fair value of our reporting units with the carrying amount, including goodwill. The Company recognizes an impairment charge for the amount by which the reporting unit’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value. To perform the quantitative impairment test, the Company uses the discounted cash flow method to estimate the fair value of the reporting units. 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 discount rate. The Company projects discounted cash flows based on each reporting unit's current business, expected developments, and operational strategies over a 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 discount rate rates 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.
Based on results of the quantitative and qualitative impairment assessments for the reporting units, the Company determined the fair value for one of its reporting units was below book value as of March 31, 2026. As a result, an impairment charge was recorded in fiscal 2026. Refer to Note 5 for valuation techniques and significant inputs and Note 9 for further discussion of goodwill and intangible assets.
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COLUMBUS McKINNON CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - (Continued)
(tabular amounts in thousands, except share data)
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
The Company assesses impairment of its long-lived assets in accordance with the provisions of ASC 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 “Fair Value Measurement and Disclosures.”
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 portfolio, customers and related commercial agreements, labor agreements and other factors in grouping assets and liabilities at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are independent. The Company considers projected future undiscounted cash flows, trends and other factors in its assessment of whether impairment conditions exist. While the Company believes that its estimates of future cash flows are reasonable, different assumptions regarding such factors as future production volumes, customer pricing, economics, and productivity and cost initiatives, could significantly affect its estimates. In determining fair value of long-lived assets, management uses estimates, discounted cash flow calculations, and appraisals where necessary. There were no indicators of impairment related to long-lived assets in the current year.
Intangible Assets
At acquisition, the Company estimates and records the fair value of purchased intangible assets which primarily consist of trade names, customer relationships, and technology. The fair values are estimated based on management’s assessment as well as independent third-party appraisals. Such valuations may include a discounted cash flow of anticipated revenues resulting from the acquired intangible asset.
Amortization of intangible assets with finite lives is recognized over their estimated useful lives using an amortization method that reflects the pattern in which the economic benefits of the intangible assets are consumed or otherwise realized. The straight line method is used for customer relationships. As a result of the negligible attrition rate in our customer base, the difference between the straight-line method and attrition method is not considered significant. The estimated useful lives for our intangible assets range from 1 to 25 years.
We further test our indefinite-lived intangible asset balance of $47,554,000 consisting of trademarks from certain acquisitions. Similar to goodwill, the Company may first elect to perform a qualitative evaluation to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If, based on the qualitative assessment, the Company determines that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, or if the Company elects to bypass the qualitative assessment, the Company performs a quantitative impairment test. For its annual impairment test, the Company elected to bypass the qualitative assessment and performed a quantitative impairment test. The methodology used to quantitatively value trademarks is the relief from royalty method. The recorded book value of these trademarks in excess of the calculated fair value triggers an impairment. The key estimate used in this calculation consists of an overall royalty rate applied to the sales covered by the trademark. After performing a quantitative assessment as of February 28, 2026, we determined that the trademarks were not impaired.
Inventories