kai-20241228
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
________________________
FORM 10-K
(mark one)
For the fiscal year ended December 28, 2024
OR
For the transition period from ________ to _________
Commission file number 001-11406
KADANT INC.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
One Technology Park Drive
Westford, Massachusetts01886
(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)
(978) 776-2000
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $.01 par value KAI New York Stock Exchange
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer", "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company", and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer ☒ Accelerated filer ☐
Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒
If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the Registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the Registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to § 240.10D-1(b). ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by nonaffiliates of the Registrant as of June 29, 2024 (based on the closing price per share as reported on the New York Stock Exchange on the last business day of the Registrant's most recently completed second fiscal quarter), was approximately $3,407,353,000. For purposes of the immediately preceding sentence, the term "affiliate" consists of each director and executive officer of the Registrant.
As of February 14, 2025, the Registrant had 11,754,897 shares of common stock outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
Portions of the Registrant's definitive Proxy Statement pursuant to Regulation 14A promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, to be used in connection with the Registrant's 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K.
Kadant Inc.
Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the Fiscal Year Ended December 28, 2024
Table of Contents
Page
PART I
Item 1. Business 1
Item 1A. Risk Factors 8
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 21
Item 1C. Cybersecurity 21
Item 2. Properties 22
Item 3. Legal Proceedings 23
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures 23
PART II
Item 6. [Reserved] 24
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 34
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 35
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 35
Item 9B. Other Information 36
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 36
PART III
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers, and Corporate Governance 36
Item 11. Executive Compensation 36
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 37
PART IV
Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules 37
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PART I
Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report on Form 10-K and the documents we incorporate by reference in this report include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These forward-looking statements are not statements of historical fact, and may include statements regarding possible or assumed future results of operations. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are based on the beliefs and assumptions of our management, using information currently available to our management. When we use words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "estimates," "seeks," "should," "likely," "will," "would," "may," "continue," "could," or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our future results of operations may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Many of the important factors that will determine these results and values are beyond our ability to control or predict. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. For a discussion of important factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements, you should read carefully the section captioned "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A, of this report.
Item 1. Business
Throughout this Annual Report on Form 10-K, when we use the terms "we," "us," "our," "Registrant," and the "Company," we mean Kadant Inc., and its consolidated subsidiaries, taken as a whole, unless the context otherwise indicates. Kadant Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "KAI."
Unless otherwise noted, references to 2024, 2023, and 2022 in this Annual Report on Form 10-K are to our fiscal years ended December 28, 2024, December 30, 2023, and December 31, 2022, respectively.
Description of Our Business
We are a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing®. Our products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries while helping our customers advance their sustainability initiatives with products that reduce waste or generate more yield with fewer inputs, particularly fiber, energy, and water. Producing more while consuming less is a core aspect of Sustainable Industrial Processing and a major element of the strategic focus of our three reportable operating segments: Flow Control, Industrial Processing, and Material Handling.
We have a long and well-established history of developing, manufacturing, and servicing a range of products and equipment used in process industries such as paper, packaging, and tissue; wood products; mining; metals; food processing; and recycling and waste management, among others. Some of our businesses or their predecessor companies have been in operation for more than 100 years. Our diverse customer base includes global and regional industrial manufacturers and distributors who participate in the broader resource transformation sector. We believe we have one of the largest installed bases of equipment in the markets we serve around the globe.
We expect that a significant driver of our long-term growth will be the acquisition of businesses and technologies that complement or augment our existing products and services or may involve entry into a new process industry. We completed acquisitions in each of our three reportable segments in 2024 and continue to pursue acquisition opportunities. See Note 2, Acquisitions, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further details regarding our 2024 acquisitions.
On January 1, 2024, we acquired Key Knife, Inc. and certain of its affiliates (collectively, Key Knife) for $153.4 million, net of cash acquired and subject to a post-closing adjustment. Key Knife is a global supplier of engineered knife systems for custom chipping, planing, and flaking solutions for wood products industries and is part of our Industrial Processing segment.
On January 24, 2024, we acquired KWS Manufacturing Company, Ltd. (KWS) for $79.4 million. KWS is a leading manufacturer of conveying equipment for the bulk material handling industry and is part of our Material Handling segment.
On May 31, 2024, we acquired Dynamic Sealing Technologies LLC and affiliates (collectively, DSTI) for $53.6 million, net of cash acquired. DSTI is a leading manufacturer of engineered fluid sealing and transfer solutions for rotating applications and is part of our Flow Control segment.
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Business Segments and Products
We report our financial results by combining operating entities into three reportable segments consisting of our Flow Control segment, Industrial Processing segment, and Material Handling segment. See Note 11, Business Segment and Geographical Information, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for financial information regarding our segments.
Flow Control Segment
Through our Flow Control segment, we provide custom-engineered products, systems, and technologies that control the flow of fluids used in industrial and commercial applications to keep critical processes running efficiently in the packaging, tissue, food, metals, energy, and other industrial sectors. The Flow Control segment consists of our fluid-handling and doctoring, cleaning, & filtration product lines.
Fluid-Handling
We develop, manufacture and market fluid-handling systems and equipment used in industrial piping systems to compensate for movement and to efficiently transfer fluid, power, and data. Our products are used primarily in the production of fiber-based packaging, metals, food, energy, chemicals, textiles, plastics and rubber. Our principal fluid-handling systems and equipment include:
Doctoring, Cleaning, & Filtration
We develop, manufacture, and market a wide range of doctoring, cleaning, and filtration systems and related parts and consumables that continuously clean rolls to keep paper machines and other industrial processes running efficiently. Doctoring and cleaning systems are also used in other process industries such as carbon fiber, building materials, textiles, food, and metals. Our principal doctoring, cleaning, and filtration products include:
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Industrial Processing Segment
Through our Industrial Processing segment, we provide equipment, machinery, and technologies used to recycle paper and paperboard and process timber for use in the packaging, tissue, wood products and alternative fuel industries, among others. In addition, we provide industrial automation and digitization solutions to process industries. The Industrial Processing segment consists of our wood processing and fiber processing (formerly referred to as stock-preparation) product lines.
Wood Processing
We develop, manufacture, and market debarkers, stranders, chippers, and related equipment used in the production of lumber, oriented strand board (OSB) and other wood products. In addition, we provide industrial automation and digitization solutions to process industries. Our principal wood processing products and services include:
Fiber Processing
We develop, manufacture, and market custom-engineered systems and equipment, as well as standard individual components, for pulping, de-inking, screening, cleaning, and refining primarily recycled fiber for preparation for entry into the paper machine, and recausticizing and evaporation equipment and systems used in the production of virgin pulp. Our principal fiber processing products include:
Material Handling Segment
Through our Material Handling segment, we provide products and engineered systems used to handle bulk and discrete materials for secondary processing or transport in the aggregates, mining, food, and waste management industries, among others. In addition, we manufacture and sell biodegradable, absorbent granules used as carriers in agricultural applications and for oil and grease absorption. The Material Handling segment consists of our conveying and vibratory, baling, and fiber-based product lines.
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Conveying and Vibratory Equipment
We develop, manufacture, and market conveying and vibratory equipment and systems to various process industries, including mining, aggregates, food processing, packaging, and paper. Our principal conveying and vibratory products include:
Baling
We develop, manufacture, and market individual components and equipment for baling recyclable and waste materials to prepare them for secondary processing, transport, or storage. Our principal baling products include horizontal channel balers, vertical balers, conveyors, compactors, and bale wrapping machines used in the processing of recyclable and waste materials.
Fiber-based Products
We manufacture and sell biodegradable, absorbent granules derived from papermaking by-products. These materials are primarily used as carriers in agricultural, home lawn and garden, professional lawn, turf and ornamental applications, and for oil and grease absorption.
Dependency on a Single Customer
No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated revenue in any of the past three years. In addition, within our Flow Control, Industrial Processing, and Material Handling segments, no single customer accounted for more than 10% of each of the respective segment's revenue.
Approximately 50% in 2024, 53% in 2023, and 55% in 2022, of our consolidated revenue were to customers outside the United States, principally in Europe, Asia and Canada.
Backlog
Our backlog of firm orders by reportable segment are as follows:
We anticipate that the majority of the backlog at year-end 2024 will be shipped within 12 months. Some of our capital orders can be canceled by the customer upon payment of a cancellation fee.
Research and Development
We develop a broad range of products for all facets of the markets we serve. We operate research and development facilities in the United States, Europe, and Canada, and focus our product innovations on process industry challenges and the need for improved fiber processing, heat transfer, roll and fabric cleaning, fluid handling, wood processing, and secondary material handling. In addition to internal product development activities, our research centers allow customers to simulate their own operating conditions and applications to identify and quantify opportunities for improvement.
Our research and development expenses were $14.3 million in 2024, $13.6 million in 2023, and $12.7 million in 2022.
Sales and Marketing
We market and sell our engineered products, services, and systems to process industries using a combination of direct sales, independent sales agents, and distributors depending on the market and product being sold. Technical service personnel, product specialists, and other subject matter experts are utilized in certain markets and with certain product lines. Our application expertise is complemented by a consultative selling approach to ensure we meet the needs of our customers.
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Competition
We are a leading supplier of systems and equipment in each of our product lines within our Flow Control segment and there are several global and numerous local competitors in each market. In our Industrial Processing segment, we compete with a limited number of global and regional competitors in the forest products markets and fiber processing equipment markets. In our Material Handling segment, we compete with numerous global, regional, and local competitors for our conveying and vibratory equipment, and strong regional competitors for our baling equipment and fiber-based granules offerings. Because of the diversity of our products, we face many different types of competitors and competition. We compete primarily on the basis of technical expertise, product innovation, and product performance. We believe the reputation that we have established for high-performance, high-reliability products supported by our in-depth process knowledge and application expertise provides us with a competitive advantage. In addition, a significant portion of our business is generated from our worldwide customer base. To maintain this base, we have emphasized our global presence, local support, and problem-solving relationship with our customers. Our success primarily depends on the following factors:
– Technical expertise and process knowledge;
– Product innovation;
– Product quality, reliability, and performance;
– Operating efficiency of our products;
– Customer service and support;
– Relative price of our products; and
– Total cost of ownership of our products.
Raw Materials
The primary raw materials used by our businesses are: Flow Control segment – steel, stainless steel, ductile iron, brass, bronze, aluminum, and elastomers; Industrial Processing segment – steel and stainless steel; and Material Handling segment – steel, aluminum, and composites. These raw materials are generally purchased and available through a number of suppliers. The raw material used in the manufacture of our fiber-based granules is a by-product from the production of paper that we obtain from two paper mills. If these mills were unable or unwilling to supply us with sufficient fiber, we would be forced to find one or more alternative suppliers for this raw material. To date, our raw materials have generally been available to meet our current needs.
Patents, Licenses, and Trademarks
We protect our intellectual property rights by applying for and obtaining patents when appropriate. We also rely on technical know-how, trade secrets, and trademarks to maintain our competitive position. We enter into license agreements with others to grant and/or receive rights to patents, trademarks, and know-how. No particular patent, or related group of patents, is so important that its expiration or loss would significantly affect our operations.
Flow Control Segment
We have numerous U.S. and foreign patents, including foreign counterparts to our U.S. patents, expiring on various dates ranging from 2025 to 2050, related to fluid handling and doctoring, cleaning, and filtration equipment. From time to time, we enter into licenses with other companies for products that serve the pulp, papermaking, converting, and paper recycling industries.
Industrial Processing Segment
We have numerous U.S. and foreign patents, including foreign counterparts to our U.S. patents, expiring on various dates ranging from 2025 to 2042, related to fiber processing and wood processing systems and equipment.
Material Handling Segment
We have numerous U.S. and foreign patents, including foreign counterparts to our U.S. patents, expiring on various dates ranging from 2025 to 2041, related to various aspects of conveyor belt systems and conveying apparatus, and baling equipment. We license one of our two significant product brand names, Link-Belt®, from a third party pursuant to a trademark license agreement. Approximately 21% of our Material Handling segment revenue in 2024 was generated by sales of conveying equipment under the Link-Belt® name. Under the terms of the license agreement, we have a worldwide, exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to use the Link-Belt® trademark in connection with such products.
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We also currently hold several U.S. patents, expiring on various dates ranging from 2026 to 2034, related to various aspects of the processing of fiber-based granules and the use of these materials in agricultural, home lawn and garden, professional lawn, turf and ornamental applications, and for oil and grease absorption.
Government Regulations
We are subject to a variety of U.S. and international governmental regulations, including environmental regulations. We believe that our operations comply in all material respects with applicable laws and regulations. Our compliance with these requirements did not change during the past year, and is not expected to have a material adverse effect on our cash flows, earnings, or competitive position. For more information on risks related to government regulations, please see Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors."
Seasonal Influences
Flow Control Segment
There are no material seasonal influences on this segment's sales of products and services.
Industrial Processing Segment
Our Industrial Processing segment is subject to seasonal variations, with demand for our wood processing products tending to be greater during the building season, which generally occurs in the second and third quarters in North America.
Material Handling Segment
Our Material Handling segment may experience minor seasonal fluctuations in sales, with demand for our products tending to be greater in the second and third quarters due to the impact of weather and favorable outdoor working conditions at certain of our customers. Our fiber-based products business experiences fluctuations in sales, usually in the third quarter, when sales decline due to the seasonality of the agricultural and home lawn and garden markets.
Human Capital Resources
At Kadant, our culture is based on responsible and safe practices, supported by an engaged and empowered workforce. We believe that our employees are the core of our business, and we devote significant time and resources to their training and development. For more information, please reference our Corporate Sustainability Report, which is available at kadant.com.
Safety
We maintain a safety-first culture grounded on the premise of eliminating workplace incidents, risks and hazards. We have created and implemented processes to help eliminate safety violations by reducing their frequency and severity. Our commitment to safety is reinforced by our robust safety program and ongoing training.
Talent and Development
The attraction, retention and development of exceptional employees is critical to our continued success. As part of these efforts, we strive to offer competitive compensation and benefits programs and to foster a safe and inclusive work environment where everyone feels respected, valued and empowered to do their best work. We embrace the unique backgrounds, experiences, and talents of our employees. Everyone is valued and appreciated for their distinct contributions to the growth and sustainability of our business. We strive to cultivate a culture that supports and enhances our ability to recruit, develop and retain talent at every level.
As of December 28, 2024, we had approximately 3,500 full-time employees worldwide. Of our full-time employees, approximately 51% were in North America, 28% were in Europe and 18% were in Asia. Other than certain of our Canadian employees and typical works councils outside of the U.S., none of our employees are represented by labor unions or covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Our management team places significant focus and attention on matters concerning our human capital, particularly capability development and succession planning. Accordingly, we regularly review talent development and succession plans for each of our functions and operating segments, to identify and develop a pipeline of talent to maintain business operations. We have numerous programs to attract and retain our talent, including leadership and executive development programs as well as technical and other training. We partner with vocational schools, community colleges, universities and associations to promote future careers in manufacturing through training and apprenticeship programs. We also have a well-established performance management and talent development process in which managers provide regular feedback and coaching to develop employees.
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Compensation and Benefits
As part of these efforts, we strive to offer competitive compensation and benefits programs.Our compensation and benefits program is designed to attract and retain talented individuals who possess the skills necessary to support our business objectives, assist in the achievement of our strategic goals and create long-term value for our stockholders. We offer comprehensive, locally relevant benefits to all eligible employees which include, among other benefits:
– Comprehensive health insurance coverage;
– Retirement benefits;
– Life insurance and disability benefits; and
– Leave and wellness benefits.
Available Information
We file annual, quarterly, and current reports, proxy statements, and other documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the Exchange Act. The SEC maintains a website that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information that are filed electronically by issuers with the SEC. The public can obtain any documents that we file with the SEC at sec.gov. In addition, we make available free of charge through our website at kadant.com our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and, if applicable, amendments to these reports filed with or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file these materials with, or furnish them to, the SEC. We are not including the information contained on our website as part of this report, nor are we incorporating the information on our website into this report by reference.
Information about our Executive Officers
The following table summarizes certain information concerning our executive officers as of February 14, 2025:
Name Age Present Title (Fiscal Year First Became Executive Officer)
Jeffrey L. Powell 66 President and Chief Executive Officer (2009)
Stacy D. Krause 48 Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary (2018)
Dara F. Mitchell 56 Senior Vice President, Corporate Development (2021)
Deborah S. Selwood 56 Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer (2015)
Michael C. Colwell 59 Senior Vice President (2019)
Peter J. Flynn 74 Senior Vice President (2019)
Thomas Andrew Blanchard 66 Vice President (2021)
Fredrik H. Westerhout 60 Vice President (2021)
Mr. Powell has been our chief executive officer and a director since July 2019 and our president since April 2019. He served as an executive vice president and a co-chief operating officer from March 2018 to March 2019. From March 2013 to March 2018, he was an executive vice president and had supervisory responsibility for our fiber processing, wood processing, and fiber-based products businesses. From September 2009 to March 2013, he was a senior vice president. From January 2008 to September 2009, Mr. Powell was vice president, new ventures, with principal responsibility for acquisition-related activities. Prior to joining us, Mr. Powell was the chairman and chief executive officer of Castion Corporation from April 2003 through December 2007.
Mr. McKenney has been an executive vice president and our chief financial officer since March 2018. From June 2015 to March 2018, he was a senior vice president and our chief financial officer. He served as our vice president, finance and chief accounting officer from 2002 to 2015 and as corporate controller from 1997 to 2007. Mr. McKenney was controller of Kadant AES, our division acquired from Albany International Inc., from 1993 to 1997. Prior to 1993, Mr. McKenney held various financial positions at Albany International and Coopers & Lybrand LLP.
Ms. Krause has been our senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary since November 2021 and served as our vice president, general counsel and secretary from July 2018 to November 2021. She served as our deputy general counsel from December 2017 to June 2018. Prior to joining us, Ms. Krause was head of commerce cloud commercial legal at salesforce.com, inc., a global SAAS software company, from July 2016 to December 2017. She previously served as assistant general counsel of Demandware, Inc., a global SAAS software company, from January 2014 to July 2016, prior to its acquisition by salesforce.com, and was assistant general counsel of Entegris, Inc., a provider of advanced materials and materials handling
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solutions, from 2011 to 2014. Prior to 2011, Ms. Krause was a lawyer in the corporate transactional department of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP.
Ms. Mitchell has been our senior vice president, corporate development, since May 2019 and served as our vice president, corporate development from 2016 to 2019 and our director of corporate development from 2013 to 2016. Prior to joining Kadant, Ms. Mitchell was a principal at NewDelta Partners, an investment banking and strategic advisory firm, and investment director at 3i, a global private equity firm where she was responsible for investing in technology companies.
Ms. Selwood has been our senior vice president and chief accounting officer since May 2019 and served as our vice president and chief accounting officer from 2015 to 2019. Prior to that, she served as our corporate controller from 2007 to 2015 and as assistant controller from 2004 to 2007. Prior to 2004, Ms. Selwood held various financial positions at Arthur Andersen LLP and Genuity Inc.
Mr. Colwell has been a senior vice president since December 2024 and was a vice president from August 2022 to December 2024 and is responsible for our Industrial Processing segment. Prior to that, he had supervisory responsibility for our wood processing business, which is part of our Industrial Processing segment, from July 2019 to July 2022 and had responsibility for our fiber-based products business from July 2019 to November 2021. Mr. Colwell previously served as the president of Kadant Carmanah Design (Carmanah), a division of our subsidiary Kadant Canada Corp., from 2013 to 2019. Carmanah, which is part of our wood processing business, designs and manufactures equipment for the OSB industry. Mr. Colwell previously served as the president and chief executive officer of Carmanah Design and Manufacturing Inc. from April 2010 until its acquisition by us in November 2013.
Mr. Flynn has been our senior vice president since August 2022 and provides strategic management support, including management of special projects. He previously served as our vice president from July 2019 to July 2022 with supervisory responsibility for our fiber processing business, which is part of our Industrial Processing segment, and our baling product line, which is part of our Material Handling segment. Prior to July 2019, Mr. Flynn served as the president of our Kadant Black Clawson LLC subsidiary from 2003 to 2019. Kadant Black Clawson manufactures fiber processing equipment primarily for the pulp and paper industry.
Mr. Blanchard has been our vice president responsible for our Material Handling segment since August 2022, and prior to that, had supervisory responsibility for our conveying and vibratory equipment and fiber-based products businesses from November 2021 to July 2022. Mr. Blanchard previously served as the president of our Syntron Material Handling subsidiaries (SMH) since January 2019 when we acquired SMH. He also served as the president of SMH from June 2014 to January 2019 prior to our acquisition. SMH, which is part of our Material Handling segment, designs and manufactures conveyors and vibratory feeders for bulk material handling in the aggregates, mining and food industries.
Mr. Westerhout has been our vice president responsible for our Flow Control segment since November 2021. Mr. Westerhout previously served as the vice president of our Flow Control subsidiaries in Europe since April 2014.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our business, results of operations and financial condition, and an investment in our securities, are subject to a number of risks. The risks and uncertainties described below are those that we have identified as material, but are not the only risks and uncertainties we face. Our business is also subject to general risks and uncertainties that affect many other companies, including overall economic and industry conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently believe are not material may also impair our business, consolidated financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to our Business and Industry
Adverse changes in global and local economic conditions may negatively affect our industry, business and results of operations.
We sell products worldwide to global process industries and a significant portion of our revenue is from customers based in North America, Europe and China. Uncertainties in global and regional economic outlooks have negatively affected, and may in the future negatively affect, demand for our customers' products and, as a consequence, our products and services, especially our capital equipment systems and products, and our operating results. Also, uncertainty regarding economic conditions has caused, and may in the future cause, liquidity and credit issues for many businesses, including our customers and suppliers, and may result in their inability to fund projects, capacity expansion plans, and to some extent, routine operations and capital expenditures. These conditions, as well as other global events such as wars or global health crises, have resulted, and may in the future result, in a number of structural changes in process industries, including decreased spending, mill closures, consolidations, and bankruptcies, all of which negatively affect our business, revenue, and profitability. Financial and economic turmoil affecting the worldwide economy or the banking system and financial markets, in particular due to political or economic developments, have negatively affected, and may in the future negatively affect, our business and cause our results of operations to differ materially from our current expectations.
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Revenues from the sale of large capital equipment and systems projects are often difficult to predict accurately, especially in periods of economic uncertainty, and large capital equipment projects require significant investment requiring our customers to secure financing, which may be difficult.
We manufacture capital equipment and systems used in process industries, including the paper, fluid handling, wood processing and material handling industries. Approximately 34% of our revenue in 2024 was from the sale of capital equipment to be used in process industries. The demand for capital equipment is variable and depends on a number of factors, including consumer demand for end products, existing manufacturing capacity, the level of capital spending by our customers and economic conditions. As a consequence, our bookings and revenues for capital projects tend to be variable and hard to predict. It is especially difficult to accurately forecast our operating results during periods of economic uncertainty. Our customers curtail their capital and operating spending during periods of economic uncertainty and are cautious about resuming spending as market conditions improve. Levels of consumer spending on non-durable goods, demand for food and beverage packaging, and demand for new housing and remodeling are all factors that affect paper and wood processing companies' demand for our products. Expansion of bulk material handling capacity and infrastructure spending are factors that affect demand for material handling equipment. Reductions in demand levels in any of these areas can negatively impact our business. As companies in our customers' industries consolidate operations in response to market weakness, they frequently reduce capacity, increase downtime, defer maintenance and upgrades, and postpone or even cancel capacity additions or expansion projects. Capacity growth and investment can be uneven and our customers have delayed, and may in the future delay, additional new capacity start-ups in reaction to softer market conditions. In general, as significant capacity additions come online and the economic growth rate slows, our customers have deferred and could in the future defer further investments or the delivery of previously-ordered equipment until the market absorbs the new production.
Large capital equipment projects require a significant investment and may require our customers to secure financing from external sources. Our financial performance will be negatively impacted if there are delays in customers securing financing or our customers become unable to secure such financing due to any number of factors, including a tightening of monetary policy or regime-based sanctions such as those imposed on Russia and China. Financing delays of our customers can cause us to delay booking pending orders as well as the shipment of some orders. The inability of our customers to obtain credit may affect our ability to recognize revenue and income, particularly on large capital equipment orders from new customers for which we may require letters of credit. We may also be unable to issue letters of credit to our customers, which are required in some cases to guarantee performance, during periods of economic uncertainty. This has negatively affected our bookings and revenues in the past, particularly in China, and may negatively affect our operating results in the future.
Implementing our acquisition strategy involves risks, and our failure to successfully implement this strategy could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We expect that a significant driver of our long-term growth will be the acquisition of businesses and technologies that complement or augment our existing products and services or may involve entry into a new process industry. We continue to actively pursue acquisition opportunities, some of which may be material to our business and financial performance, and involve significant cash expenditures and the incurrence of significant debt. Although we have been successful with this strategy in the past, we may not be able to grow our business in the future through acquisitions for a number of reasons, including:
– access to and availability of capital;
– inability to retain key management of the acquired business;
– diversion of management's attention from other business concerns;
– identification of internal control deficiencies of the acquired business.
We are required to record acquisition-related costs in the period incurred. Once completed, acquisitions may involve significant integration costs. These acquisition-related costs could be significant in a reporting period and have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
Any acquisition we complete may be made at a substantial premium over the fair value of the net identifiable assets of the acquired business. We are required to assess the realizability of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets annually, and
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whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that goodwill and intangible assets, including definite-lived intangible assets, may be impaired. These events or circumstances would generally include operating losses or a significant decline in earnings associated with the acquired business or assets, and our ability to realize the value of goodwill and intangible assets will depend on the future cash flows of these businesses. We may incur impairment charges to write down the value of our goodwill and acquired intangible assets in the future if the assets are not deemed recoverable, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.
We manufacture equipment used in the production of forest products, including lumber and OSB, and our financial performance may be adversely affected by decreased levels of residential construction activity.
We manufacture debarkers, stranders and related equipment used in the production of lumber and OSB. Our customers produce these products principally for new residential construction, home repair and remodeling activities. As such, the operating results for our Industrial Processing segment correlate to a significant degree to the level of this residential construction activity, primarily in North America and, to a lesser extent, in Europe. Residential construction activity is influenced by a number of factors, including the supply of and demand for new and existing homes, new housing starts, unemployment rates, interest rate levels, availability of mortgage financing, mortgage foreclosure rates, availability of construction labor and suitable land, seasonal and unusual weather conditions, general economic conditions and consumer confidence. A significant increase in long-term interest rates, changes in tax policy on the deductibility of mortgage interest, tightened lending standards, high unemployment rates and other factors that reduce the level of residential construction activity could have a negative effect on our financial performance.
The OSB market is highly concentrated and the market for building products is highly competitive. The loss of a significant customer or our customers' reductions in capital spending or OSB production could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance.
The OSB market is highly concentrated and there are a limited number of OSB manufacturers. As a percentage of our Industrial Processing segment revenues, the two largest OSB customers together accounted for 13% in 2024, 10% in 2023, and 13% in 2022. The loss of one or more of these OSB customers to a competitor could adversely affect our revenues and profitability. In addition, the market for building products is highly competitive. Products that compete with OSB include other wood panel products and substitutes for wood building products, such as nonfiber-based alternatives. For example, plastic, wood/plastic or composite materials may be used by builders as alternatives to OSB products. Changes in component prices, such as energy, chemicals, wood-based fibers, and nonfiber alternatives can change the competitive position of OSB relative to other available alternatives and could increase substitution. Our customers' OSB production can be adversely affected by lower-cost producers of other wood panel products and substitutes for wood building products. Lower demand for OSB products or a decline in the profitability of one or more of our customers could result in a reduction in spending on capital equipment or the shutdown or closure of an OSB mill, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance.
Our Wood Processing product line can be materially impacted by changes to the global timber supply.
Changes in the environment that affect natural resources such as timber may have significant effects on the sales of wood processing equipment by our Industrial Processing segment. Approximately 25% of our revenue in 2024 was from our Wood Processing product line. Changes in the environment, like wildfires and damage from pests such as the mountain pine beetle, have affected tracts of land in Western Canada that could have otherwise been logged by the forestry industry. Reduction in availability of timber can result in decreased logging activity, mill closures, and lower operating rates at mills, as well as reduced capital expenditures. A reduction in capital expenditures by mills would likely lead to a decrease in demand for new wood processing equipment, which would in turn affect demand for parts, as our wood processing customers are likely to reduce utilization of equipment, reduce inventories, redistribute parts from closed mills and delay rebuilds and other maintenance during industry downturns. In addition to declining orders for wood processing products, adverse economic conditions for our wood processing customers may make it more difficult for us to collect accounts receivable in a timely manner, or at all, which may adversely affect our working capital.
The development and increasing use of digital media has had, and will continue to have, an adverse impact on our Flow Control and Industrial Processing segments.
Developments in digital media have adversely affected demand for newsprint and for printing and writing grades of paper, particularly in North America and Europe, a trend which is expected to continue. Approximately 4% of our revenue in 2024 was from customers producing newsprint and printing and writing grades of paper. Significant declines in the production of printing and writing paper grades have also led to a drop in the construction of recycled tissue mills, as those mills use
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printing and writing grades of waste paper as their fiber source. The increased use of digital media has had, and will continue to have, an adverse effect on demand for our products in those markets.
Our Material Handling segment can be materially impacted by cyclical economic conditions affecting the global mining industry.
Changes in economic conditions affecting the global mining industry can occur abruptly and unpredictably, which may have significant effects on the sale of equipment by our subsidiary, SMH, which is in our Material Handling segment. Approximately 5% of our consolidated revenue in 2024 was from SMH's mining customers. Cyclicality for original equipment sales is driven primarily by price volatility of the commodities that are mined using SMH’s equipment, including coal, salt, aggregates, potash, copper, iron ore and trona, or their substitutes, as well as product life cycles, competitive pressures and other economic factors affecting the mining industry, such as company consolidation, increased regulation and competition affecting demand for commodities, and the broader economy, including changes in government monetary or fiscal policies and from market expectations with respect to such policies. Falling commodity prices have in the past and may in the future lead to reduced capital expenditures by SMH’s customers, reductions in the production levels of existing mines, a contraction in the number of existing mines and the closure of less efficient mines. Reduced capital expenditures and decreased mining activity by SMH’s customers are likely to lead to a decrease in demand for new mining equipment, and may result in a decrease in demand for parts as SMH’s customers are likely to reduce utilization of equipment, reduce inventories, redistribute parts from closed mines and delay rebuilds and other maintenance during industry downturns. In addition to declining orders for SMH’s products, adverse economic conditions for SMH’s customers may make it more difficult for SMH to collect accounts receivable in a timely manner, or at all, which may adversely affect our working capital. As a result of this cyclicality in the global mining industry, SMH may experience significant fluctuations in its business, results of operations and financial condition, and we expect SMH’s business to continue to be subject to these fluctuations in the future.
A portion of our Material Handling segment is dependent on continued demand for coal, which is subject to economic and environmental risks.
Approximately 2% and 3% of our Material Handling segment's 2024 revenue came from its thermal and metallurgical coal-mining customers, respectively, which represented in aggregate less than 2% of our consolidated revenue. Many of these customers supply coal for the generation of electricity and/or steel production. Demand for electricity and steel is affected by the global level of economic activity and economic growth. The pursuit of the most cost-effective form of electricity generation continues to take place throughout the world and coal-fired electricity generation faces intense price competition from other energy sources, particularly natural gas. In addition, coal combustion typically generates significant greenhouse gas emissions and governmental and private sector goals and mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may increasingly affect the mix of electricity generation sources. Further developments in connection with legislation, regulations, international agreements or other limits on greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts or costs from coal combustion, both in the United States and in other countries, could diminish demand for coal as a fuel for electricity generation. If lower greenhouse gas emitting forms of electricity generation, such as nuclear, solar, natural gas or wind power, become more prevalent or cost effective, or diminished economic activity reduces demand for electricity and steel, demand for coal will decline. Reduced demand for coal could result in reduced demand for SMH’s mining equipment and could adversely affect our overall business, financial condition and results of operations.
Failure of our information systems, breaches of data security, and cybersecurity incidents could have a material adverse impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We operate a geographically dispersed business and rely on the electronic storage and transmission of proprietary and confidential information, including technical and financial information, among our operations, customers, suppliers, and other third-party business partners. We also rely on information technology (IT), including IT services from third parties, in certain of our solutions, products, and services for customers as well as our enterprise infrastructure. Despite our security measures and internal controls, our IT infrastructure has been subject to cybersecurity incidents and may in the future be vulnerable to unauthorized access or attacks by nation states, hackers or cyber criminals; disruptions or service outages caused by errors in or compromise of software updates provided by third-party IT vendors; unauthorized access due to employee error or malfeasance; or other disruptions, such as business email compromises, phishing or other social engineering tactics, fraud, or other cybersecurity incidents. Our systems have been and may in the future be compromised by malware (including ransomware), denial-of-service attacks, cyberattacks, and other events, ranging from widespread, non-targeted, global cyber threats to targeted advanced persistent threats. These cybersecurity threats and incidents, which also may apply to our third-party business partners, could be indicators of an increased risk to our products, solutions, services, manufacturing, and IT infrastructure. The integration of newly acquired businesses may also increase the risk that we are subject to a cybersecurity incident. Recent global cyberattacks and service outages have been caused by the compromise of software updates to widely
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used software products, including some products that we use, which increases the risk that vulnerabilities or malicious content could be inserted into, or unauthorized access gained to, our products or IT infrastructure. While we seek to improve the security attributes of our products, solutions, services, and IT infrastructure, we cannot eliminate risk or ensure that we will not be harmed by cyberattacks or disruptions.
In some global cyberattacks, malware has been spread from one party to another via network connections that the parties had previously authorized. Our business uses IT resources on a dispersed, global basis for a wide variety of functions including development, engineering, manufacturing, sales, accounting, and human resources. Our third-party business partners, employees, and customers have access to, and share, information across multiple locations via various digital technologies. In addition, we rely on third-party business partners for a wide range of outsourced activities, including cloud providers, as part of our internal IT infrastructure and our commercial offerings. Secure connectivity is important to these ongoing operations. To a significant extent, the security of systems to which we connect depends on how such systems are designed, installed, protected, configured, updated and monitored, some of which is outside of our control. Also, our third-party business partners frequently have access to our confidential information as well as confidential information about our customers, employees, and others. In addition, we have been, and may in the future be, prevented from accessing our data or systems in the event of a ransomware or other cybersecurity incident involving our IT systems or those of our third-party business partners or other third parties in our supply chain. A cybersecurity incident may cause interruptions or delays in our business operations, cause us to incur remediation costs, subject us to demands to pay a ransom, or damage our reputation, regardless of whether we pay the ransom amount. We design our security architecture to reduce the risk that a compromise of our third-party business partners’ infrastructure, for example a cloud platform, could lead to a compromise of our internal systems or customer networks, but this risk cannot be eliminated and vulnerabilities at third parties could result in unknown risk exposure to our business.
We monitor and manage various information systems that exist within our global operations and periodically upgrade or implement new enterprise resource planning software at our business operations. As we implement and add functionality, problems could arise that we have not foreseen. We have experienced cybersecurity threats and immaterial cybersecurity incidents that have impacted our ability to conduct our business operations. In the future, system failures, network disruptions, and cybersecurity incidents may materially adversely affect our ability to conduct our business operations, including our ability to communicate and transact business with our customers and suppliers; result in the loss or misuse of information, including credit card numbers or other personal information, the loss of business or customers, or damage to our brand or reputation; or interrupt or delay reporting of our financial results. Such system failures or unauthorized access could be caused by external theft or attack, misconduct or human error by our employees, third-party business partners, competitors, or natural disasters.
In addition, the cost and operational consequences of implementing further cybersecurity and data protection measures, such as to comply with local cybersecurity and privacy laws such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, or various similar foreign or U.S. federal and state laws, could be significant.
The current cyber threat environment indicates increased risk for all companies. Like other global companies, we have experienced cybersecurity threats and incidents, although we do not believe that any such incidents have been material or had a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition. Our information security efforts include programs designed to address cybersecurity governance, product security, identification and protection of critical assets, insider risk, third-party risk, and cyber defense operations. We believe these measures reduce, but cannot eliminate, the risk of an information security or cybersecurity incident. Any significant cybersecurity incidents could have an adverse impact on sales and operations, harm our reputation, subject us to litigation and government investigations, and cause us to incur legal liability and increased costs to address such events and related cybersecurity concerns.
It may be difficult for us to implement our strategies for improving internal growth.
Some of the markets in which we compete are mature and have relatively low growth rates. We pursue a number of strategies to improve our internal growth, including:
– focusing on parts and consumables sales;
– using low-cost manufacturing bases, such as China, India and Mexico;
– developing new applications for our technologies;
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We may not be able to successfully implement these strategies, or achieve cost savings or desired efficiencies, and these strategies may not result in the expected growth of our business.
We are subject to intense competition in all our markets.
We believe that the principal competitive factors affecting the markets for our products include technical expertise and process knowledge, product innovation, automation, product quality, and price. Our competitors include a number of large multinational corporations that may have substantially greater financial, marketing, and other resources than we do. As a result, they may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging technologies, such as those related to factory digitalization, the industrial internet of things, smart technology and artificial intelligence, and changes in customer requirements, or to devote greater resources to the promotion and sale of their services and products. Competitors' technologies may prove to be superior to ours. Our current products, those under development, and our ability to develop new technologies may not be sufficient to enable us to compete effectively.
If we are unable to successfully manage our manufacturing operations, our ability to deliver products to our customers could be disrupted and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.
Equipment and operating systems necessary for our manufacturing businesses may break down, perform poorly, or fail. Any such disruption could cause losses in efficiencies, delays in shipments of our products and the loss of sales and customers, and insurance proceeds may not adequately compensate us for our losses.
In order to enhance the efficiency and cost effectiveness of our manufacturing operations, and to better serve customers located in various countries, as we have in the past, we may in the future move product lines from one of our plants to another and consolidate manufacturing operations in certain of our plants. Even if we successfully move our manufacturing processes, there is no assurance that the cost savings and efficiencies we anticipate will be achieved.
Further, changes in zoning laws have impacted and may continue to impact our manufacturing and other operations. For example, in 2022, we received a request by local Chinese authorities to relocate one of our facilities and, after negotiations with the Chinese government, completed the relocation of the facility in 2023. Such relocation, and any relocations required in the future, and the associated timing and amount of payments due to us from the Chinese government, may increase our costs and could have a material impact on our manufacturing operations.
In addition, our manufacture of certain products is concentrated in specific geographic locations. As a result of such concentration, we may be disproportionately exposed to the impact of any disruptions, regulations or delays that impact those geographic locations, which may negatively impact our ability to manufacture products produced in those locations and have an adverse effect on our business results.
Supply chain constraints, inflationary pressure, price increases and shortages in raw materials and components, and dependency upon certain suppliers for such raw materials and components could adversely impact our operating results.
Some of our businesses have been and may continue to be impacted by supply chain constraints, inflationary pressure on material costs, longer lead times, port congestion, and increased freight costs. In addition, current or future governmental policies may increase the risk of inflation which could further increase the costs of raw materials and components for our businesses. Supply chain constraints and inflationary pressure have and may in the future continue to have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition, including pressure on our gross profit margins.
We use a variety of raw materials, including a significant amount of stainless steel, carbon steel, commodities and critical components to manufacture our products. Increases in the prices of such raw materials, commodities and critical components could adversely affect our operating results if we were unable to fully offset the effect of these increased costs through price increases, productivity improvements, or cost reduction programs.
Some of our businesses depend on a limited number of suppliers to provide critical components used in the manufacture of our products. If we are unable to obtain sufficient supplies of these components or these sources of supply cease to be available to us, we could experience shortages in critical components or be unable to meet our commitments to customers. Alternative sources of supply could be more expensive, or in some cases, we could be unable to locate such alternative sources. We believe our current sources of raw materials, commodities and critical components will generally be sufficient for our needs in the foreseeable future. However, our operating results could be negatively impacted if supply is insufficient for our operations or if we are unable to expand supply as needed.
While our businesses are working to alleviate supply chain constraints through various measures, we are unable to predict the impact of these constraints on the timing of revenue and operating costs of our business in the future.
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Our future success is substantially dependent on the continued service of our senior management and other key employees and effective succession planning.
Our future success is substantially dependent on the continued service of our senior management and other key employees. The loss of the services or retirement of our senior management or other key employees could make it more difficult to successfully operate our business and achieve our business goals. We also may be unable to attract qualified personnel or retain existing management, product development, sales, operational and other support personnel that are critical to our success, which could result in harm to key customer relationships, loss of key information, expertise, or know-how, and unanticipated recruitment and training costs. In addition, effective succession planning is also a key factor for our future success. Our failure to continue to enable the effective transfer of knowledge and facilitate smooth transitions with regard to key management employees, including in connection with our succession planning, could adversely affect our long-term strategic planning and execution and negatively affect our business, financial condition, operating results, and prospects. If we fail to enable the effective transfer of knowledge and facilitate smooth transitions for key personnel, the operating results and future growth for our business could be adversely affected, and the morale and productivity of the workforce could be disrupted.
We may be required to reorganize our operations in response to changing conditions in the worldwide economy and the industries we serve, and such actions may require significant expenditures and may not be successful.
We have undertaken various restructuring measures in the past in response to changing market conditions in the countries in which we operate and we may engage in additional cost reduction programs in the future. The costs of these programs may be significant and we may not recoup the costs of these programs. In connection with any future plant closures, delays or failures in the transition of production from existing facilities to facilities in other geographic regions could also adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, it is difficult to accurately forecast our financial performance in periods of economic uncertainty in a region or globally, and the efforts we have made or may make to align our cost structure may not be sufficient or able to keep pace with rapidly changing business conditions. Our profitability may decline if our restructuring efforts do not sufficiently reduce our future costs and position us to maintain or increase our sales.
Our inability to protect our intellectual property or defend ourselves against the intellectual property claims of others could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, litigation to enforce our intellectual property and contractual rights or defend ourselves could result in significant litigation or licensing expense.
We seek patent and trade secret protection for significant new technologies, products, and processes because of the length of time and expense associated with bringing new products through the development process and into the marketplace. We own numerous U.S. and foreign patents, and we intend to file additional applications, as appropriate, for patents covering our products. Patents may not be issued for any pending or future patent applications owned by or licensed to us, and the claims allowed under any issued patents may not be sufficiently broad to protect our technology. Any issued patents owned by or licensed to us may be challenged, invalidated, or circumvented, and the rights under these patents may not provide us with competitive advantages. In addition, competitors may design around our technology, copy our technology or develop competing technologies. Intellectual property rights may also be unavailable or limited in some foreign countries, which could make it easier for competitors to capture increased market share. In addition, as our patents expire, we rely on trade secrets and proprietary know-how to protect our products. We cannot be sure the steps we have taken, or will take in the future, will be adequate to deter misappropriation of our proprietary information and intellectual property. Of particular concern are developing countries, such as China and India, where the laws, courts, and administrative agencies may not protect our intellectual property rights as fully as in the United States or Europe.
We seek to protect trade secrets and proprietary know-how, in part, through confidentiality and non-competition agreements with our collaborators, employees, and consultants. These agreements may be breached, we may not have adequate remedies for any breach, and our trade secrets and proprietary know-how may otherwise become known or be independently developed by our competitors, or our competitors may otherwise gain access to our intellectual property.
Others may assert intellectual property infringement claims against us or our customers. We may provide an intellectual property indemnity in connection with our terms and conditions of sale to our customers and in other types of contracts with third parties. Indemnification payments and legal expenses to defend claims could be costly.
We could incur substantial costs to defend ourselves in suits brought against us, including for alleged infringement of third-party rights, or in suits in which we may assert our intellectual property or contractual rights against others. An unfavorable outcome of any such litigation could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
SMH holds numerous U.S. and foreign patents, including foreign counterparts to its U.S. patents, and licenses the trademarked brand name of one of its significant products, Link-Belt®, from a third party. If the third party were to terminate that license agreement, we would lose the right to use the Link-Belt® trademark in the marketplace and cease to benefit from any of its associated goodwill.
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Changes to tax laws and regulations could affect our profitability.
We derive a significant portion of our revenue and earnings from our international operations, and are subject to income and other taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Changes in U.S. and foreign income tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation, could result in higher or lower income tax rates assessed or changes in the taxability of certain revenues or the deductibility of certain expenses, thereby affecting our income tax expense and profitability. A number of factors may cause our effective tax rate to fluctuate, including: changes in tax rates in various jurisdictions; unanticipated changes in the amount of profit in jurisdictions in which the statutory tax rates may be higher or lower than the U.S. tax rate; the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with various tax authorities; changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities; adjustments to income taxes upon finalization of various tax returns; increases in expenses not deductible for tax purposes, including impairments of goodwill in connection with acquisitions; and changes in available tax credits or our ability to utilize foreign tax credits. Any of these factors could cause us to experience an effective tax rate significantly different from that of prior periods or current expectations, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations or cash flows.
In addition, many countries are implementing legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan that aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer pricing documentation rules, and nexus-based tax incentive practices. The OECD also released model rules introducing a new 15% global minimum tax for large multinational corporations with an annual global revenue exceeding 750.0 million euros (Pillar Two Rules). Many countries, including the member states of the European Union, have implemented legislation adopting the Pillar Two Rules, with effective dates beginning in 2024 and beyond. While the full impact of these regulations remains uncertain, compliance with Pillar Two Rules may lead to new reporting requirements and negatively impact our provision for income taxes, net income and cash flows.
Effects of climate change may adversely impact our business.
Climate change may pose environmental risks that could harm our results of operations and affect the way we conduct business. Some of our operations are located in regions that may become increasingly vulnerable due to climate change, which may cause extreme weather conditions such as more intense hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and snow or ice storms, winds, and rainfall, as well as rising sea levels and increased volatility in seasonal temperatures. Extreme weather conditions or weather-driven natural disasters could impact our ability to maintain our operations in those areas. For example, we have manufacturing locations in the southeastern United States, which region has experienced record hurricanes in recent years reportedly due to the effects of climate change. Increased energy demand to heat or cool our facilities in certain locations may place stresses on local energy infrastructure and potentially constrain local energy supplies, which could have a negative impact on our operations.
Climate change could also affect demand for our products by our customers that are affected by weather and weather-driven events, including seasonal changes in outdoor working conditions and rainfall levels. Climate change has also been cited as contributing to the increased likelihood around the world of hot and dry conditions in which wildfires and invasive species, like the destructive mountain pine beetle, thrive. As a result of the effects of climate change, our customers in the forestry industry may face damage to assets and losses from business interruption, which could lead to the reduced operation or closure of mills, and disruption of supply chains of which we may be a part. These risks could harm our business and results of operations.
Investors, customers and other stakeholders are increasingly focused on the climate-related performance of companies they invest in. As part of our commitment to sustainability, we have set and may in the future set sustainability goals, particularly related to greenhouse gas emissions reductions. There is a risk that we may not be able to meet the goals that we set and strive to meet. If we have not responded in a satisfactory manner and demonstrated our commitment to addressing climate change, investors and customers' willingness to invest in, spend money with and otherwise provide capital to us may also be impacted.
Our insurance coverage may be inadequate or expensive.
We are subject to claims in the ordinary course of business. It is not always possible to prevent or detect activities giving rise to claims, and the precautions we take may not be effective in all cases. We maintain insurance policies that provide limited coverage for some, but not all, potential risks and liabilities associated with our business. We may not obtain insurance if we believe the cost of available insurance is excessive relative to the risks presented. As a result of market conditions, premiums and deductibles for certain insurance policies can increase substantially, and in some instances, certain insurance may become unavailable or available only for reduced amounts of coverage. As a result, we may not be able to renew our existing insurance policies or procure other desirable insurance on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. In addition, certain risks generally are not fully insurable. Even where insurance coverage applies, insurers may contest their obligations to make payments. Our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected by losses and
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liabilities from uninsured or under-insured events, as well as by delays in the payment of insurance proceeds, or the failure by insurers to make payments.
Risks Related to our Foreign Operations
Our global operations subject us to various risks that may adversely affect our results of operations.
We are a leading global supplier of equipment and critical components used in process industries worldwide. We sell our products globally and operate multiple manufacturing operations worldwide, including operations in Canada, China, Europe, Mexico, India and Brazil. International revenues and operations are subject to a number of risks which vary by geographic region, including the following:
– foreign customers may have longer payment cycles;
Operating globally subjects us to various risks that may adversely affect our results of operations in the future.
Policies of the Chinese government may negatively impact our business.
We operate significant manufacturing facilities in China. In 2024, our sales to China were $75.9 million, or 7%, of our revenue. Our Chinese manufacturing facilities provide low-cost sourcing to many of our subsidiaries. Changes in the policies of the Chinese government, devaluation of the Chinese currency, restrictions on the repatriation of cash, political unrest, unstable economic conditions, retaliatory tariffs, or other developments in China or in U.S.-China relations that are adverse to trade, including enactment of protectionist legislation or trade or currency restrictions, could negatively impact our business and operating results. Policies of the Chinese government to target slower economic growth may negatively affect our business in China if customers are unable to expand capacity or obtain financing for expansion or improvement projects. The United States has restricted and may further restrict investment in certain companies with ties to the Chinese government; if such restrictions are expanded, or if investment was otherwise restricted, our business would be negatively affected.
Policies of the Chinese government to advance internal political priorities may potentially negatively affect our business in any number of ways that we may not foresee. For example, the Chinese government has imposed a ban on all recovered paper imports effective as of January 1, 2021. According to Fastmarkets RISI, the Chinese government's actions have led to a severe shortage of recovered paper in China, which has forced mills to incur additional downtime. Chinese containerboard producers have been looking to build capacity for fiber in Southeast Asia, with the intent to ship pulp back to China for further processing. These policies have and could in the future continue to have a significant influence on the price, nature and availability of the type of paper imported into China, have and may in the future continue to have a negative effect on the operating capacity of our customers in China, and have and may in the future continue to affect the demand for our products and our operating results in China and the surrounding region.
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Our sales of capital equipment in China tend to be more variable and are subject to a number of uncertainties.
Our bookings and revenues from China have tended to be more variable than in other geographic regions. The Chinese pulp and paper industry has experienced periods of significant capacity expansion to meet demand followed by periods of reduced activity while overcapacity is absorbed. These cycles result in periods of significant bookings activity for our capital products and increased revenues followed by a significant decrease in bookings or potential delays in shipments and order placements by our customers as they attempt to balance supply and demand.
Orders from customers in China, particularly for large fiber processing systems that have been tailored to a customer's specific requirements, have credit risks higher than we generally incur elsewhere, and some orders are subject to the receipt of financing approvals from the Chinese government or can be impacted by the availability of credit and more restrictive monetary policies. We generally do not record bookings for signed contracts from customers in China for large fiber processing systems until we receive the down payments for such contracts. The timing of the receipt of these orders and the down payments are uncertain and there is no assurance that we will be able to recognize revenue on these contracts. We may experience a loss if a contract is canceled prior to the receipt of a down payment if we have commenced engineering or other work associated with the contract or we may not be able to retain a down payment. We typically have inventory awaiting shipment to customers and could incur a loss if contracts are canceled and we cannot re-sell the equipment. In addition, we may experience a loss if the contract is canceled, or the customer does not fulfill its obligations under the contract, prior to the receipt of a letter of credit or final payments covering the remaining balance of the contract, which could represent a significant portion of the total order. As a result of these factors, our revenue recognized in China have varied, and will in the future vary from period to period and be difficult to predict.
Our results of operations may be adversely affected by currency fluctuations.
As a multinational corporation, we are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates that impact our business in many ways. We are exposed to both translation as well as transaction risk associated with transactions denominated in currencies that differ from our subsidiaries' functional currencies. Although most of our subsidiaries' costs are denominated in the same currency as their revenue, changes in the relative values of currencies occur from time to time and can adversely affect our operating results. Some of the foreign currency translation risk is mitigated when foreign subsidiaries have revenue and expenses in the same foreign currency. Further, certain foreign subsidiaries may hold U.S. dollar assets or liabilities which, as the U.S. dollar strengthens versus the applicable functional currencies, will result in currency transaction gains on assets or losses on liabilities. While some foreign currency transaction risks can be hedged using derivatives or other financial instruments, or may be insurable, such attempts to mitigate these risks may be costly and may not always be successful.
When we translate the local currency results of our foreign subsidiaries into U.S. dollars during a period in which the U.S. dollar is strengthening, our financial results will reflect decreases due to foreign currency translation. In addition, our consolidated financial results are adversely affected when foreign governments devalue their currencies. Our major foreign currency translation exposures involve the currencies in Europe, China, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. For example, China's central bank has previously devalued the renminbi to boost the Chinese economy, which had a negative translation impact on our consolidated revenue and may in the future have a negative translation impact if this recurs. The overall favorable or unfavorable effect of foreign currency translation on our financial results will vary by quarter. We do not enter into derivatives or other financial instruments to hedge this type of foreign currency translation risk.
Risks Related to Regulation of our Business and Industry
Operating globally subjects us to changes in government regulations and policies in multiple jurisdictions around the world, including those related to tariffs and trade barriers, taxation, exchange controls and political risks.
Changes in government policies, political unrest, economic sanctions, trade embargoes, or other adverse trade regulations can negatively impact our business. Non-U.S. markets contribute a substantial portion of our revenues, and we intend to continue expanding our presence in these regions. For example, we operate businesses in Mexico and Canada, and we benefited from the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has been replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), from which we also benefit. If the United States were to withdraw from or materially modify the USMCA or impose significant tariffs or taxes on goods imported into the United States, the cost of our products could significantly increase or no longer be priced competitively, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
In addition, the Office of the United States Trade Representative has imposed tariffs on a wide variety of products from China, including pulp and paper machinery equipment, pursuant to Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The tariffs on pulp and paper machinery are set at 25% and, effective as of February 2025, there is an additional 10% tariff on all imports from China. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce has imposed tariffs of 25% on numerous categories of steel and aluminum imports, under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, and such tariffs could increase or expand to include
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additional import categories. While we try to mitigate the impact of the existing and other proposed tariffs by the Trump administration through pricing and sourcing strategies, we cannot be certain how our customers and competitors will react to the actions we take. The tariffs have and could in the future negatively affect our ability to compete against competitors who do not manufacture in China and/or are not subject to the tariffs.
The United States has tightened trade sanctions targeting countries like China and Russia. For example, since 2018 the United States has imposed various trade and economic sanctions targeting certain persons in Russia and certain types of business with Russia. The United States has continued to expand export control restrictions applicable to certain Chinese firms and continued its assessment of new controls for "emerging foundational technologies," escalating U.S.-China tension concerning technology. Moreover, tensions between the U.S. and China have increased and future actions by the U.S. or Chinese governments may impact our operations in and supply from China, as well as sales to and from China. In response, Russia and China have begun considering and, in some cases, implementing trade sanctions that could affect U.S.-owned businesses. The imposition of trade sanctions has and may in the future continue to make it generally more difficult to do business in Russia and China and cause delays or prevent shipment of products or services performed by our personnel, or to receive payment for products or services.
Additionally, the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the global response to it has and may in the future adversely impact our revenues, gross margins and financial results. The United States, the European Union, and many other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia, individuals in Russia and Russian businesses, including several large banks. In 2024, our sales to Russia were minimal at $2.6 million. As a result of the international sanctions regime in place against Russia, it has become extremely difficult to sell any of our equipment or services into Russia. Any proposed sales into Russia are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the risks related to the sale, the costs associated with ensuring compliance with applicable sanctions and the likelihood of receiving payment from either party's banks. It is not possible to predict the broader or longer-term consequences of this conflict, which could include further sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts and adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, security conditions, currency exchange rates and financial markets. Such geopolitical instability and uncertainty has and could continue to have in the future a negative impact on our ability to sell to, ship products to, collect payments from, and support customers in certain regions based on trade restrictions, embargoes and export control law restrictions, and logistics restrictions, and could increase the costs, risks and adverse impacts from these new challenges. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as other conflicts such as those in the Middle East, may also have the effect of heightening other risks disclosed in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to, adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, including inflation and business and consumer spending; disruptions to our global technology infrastructure, including through cyberattack, ransomware attack, or cyber-intrusion; adverse changes in international trade policies and relations; our ability to maintain or increase our prices, including any fuel surcharges in response to rising fuel costs; the energy crisis resulting from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, particularly in Europe; our ability to implement and execute our business strategy; disruptions in global supply chains; our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations; and constraints, volatility, or disruption in the capital markets. Such restrictions have and may in the future continue to have a material adverse impact on our business and operating results.
We are required to comply with a wide variety of laws and regulations, and are subject to regulation by various federal, state and foreign agencies.
We are subject to various local, state, federal, foreign and transnational laws and regulations, particularly those relating to environmental protection, the importation and exportation of products, tariffs and trade barriers, taxation, exchange controls,current good manufacturing practices, data protection, health and safety and our business practices in the U.S. and abroad, such as anti-corruption and anti-competition laws, and, in the future, any changes to such laws and regulations could adversely affect us. The costs associated with legal and regulatory compliance has increased as the number of laws and regulations applicable to our business has increased. Any noncompliance by us with applicable laws and regulations or the failure to maintain, renew or obtain necessary permits and licenses could result in criminal, civil and administrative penalties and could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.
We are subject to risks and costs associated with environmental laws and regulations.
The manufacturing of our products requires the use of hazardous materials that are subject to a broad array of environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Our failure to manage the use, transportation, emissions, discharge, storage, recycling, or disposal of hazardous materials could lead to increased costs or regulatory penalties, fines and legal liability. Our ability to expand, modify or operate our manufacturing facilities in the future may be impeded by environmental regulations, such as air quality, wastewater requirements, and energy supply and use restrictions. The Chinese government has pledged to tackle the country's hazardous smog and improve air quality conditions, which has prompted authorities to impose strict pollution control measures when certain pollution levels are detected and ahead of high-profile events. Regulators have in
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the past and may in the future temporarily restrict the operations of our manufacturing facilities in a particular geographic location as a result of attempts to control pollution levels, or energy supply or use restrictions in China. Environmental laws and regulations could also require us to acquire pollution abatement or remediation equipment, modify product designs, or incur other expenses. New regulations promulgated in reaction to climate change could result in increased manufacturing costs associated with air pollution control or energy requirements, and increased or new monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For example, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in the European Union imposes obligations in future years to report GHG emissions. Calculation of some GHG emissions can involve uncertainty and lack precision because of the absence of reliable inputs or methods to perform such calculations. We also see the potential for higher energy costs driven by climate change regulations. Implementation of such new regulations could increase our costs or require us to modify our operations and negatively impact our business and results of operations.
Since 2020, we have set annual goals related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Some or all of our current or future ESG goals may be difficult to achieve and may be subject to factors beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation, actions of our customers and suppliers, technological advances with respect to replacing natural gas with renewable energy sources for industrial applications, and the availability of renewable energy sources for our facilities and applications. Failure to achieve our ESG goals could negatively impact our reputation, which could have an adverse impact on our overall business and stock price.
Environmental, health and mine safety laws and regulations impacting the mining industry may adversely affect demand for products manufactured by our Material Handling segment.
SMH, which is in our Material Handling segment, supplies equipment to mining companies operating in major mining regions throughout the world. SMH’s customers’ operations are subject to or affected by a wide array of regulations in the jurisdictions where they operate, including those directly impacting mining activities and those indirectly affecting their businesses, such as applicable environmental and mine safety laws. New environmental and health legislation or administrative regulations relating to mining or affecting demand for mined materials or more stringent interpretations of existing laws and regulations, may require SMH’s customers to significantly change or curtail their operations. The mining industry has also encountered increased scrutiny as it relates to safety regulations. New legislation or regulations and the high cost of compliance with such regulations relating to mine safety standards may induce customers to discontinue or limit their mining operations and may discourage companies from developing new mines or maintaining existing mines, which in turn could diminish demand for our products and services. As a result of these factors, demand for SMH’s mining equipment could be adversely affected by environmental and health regulations directly or indirectly impacting the mining industry. Any reduction in demand for SMH’s products as a result of environmental, health or mine safety regulations could have an adverse effect on SMH’s and our overall business, financial condition or results of operations.
Risks Related to Indebtedness and our Credit Agreement
Our debt may adversely affect our cash flow and may restrict our investment opportunities.
We have borrowed amounts under our five-year, unsecured multi-currency revolving credit facility (Credit Agreement) and under other agreements to fund our operations and our acquisition strategy. Our borrowing capacity under the Credit Agreement may decrease as a result of the impact that foreign exchange rate fluctuations could have on our foreign-denominated borrowings.
Pursuant to the Credit Agreement, we have a borrowing capacity of $400.0 million with an uncommitted, unsecured incremental borrowing facility of $200.0 million with a maturity date of November 30, 2027. In 2018, we also issued $10.0 million in senior notes under our Multi-Currency Note Purchase and Private Shelf Agreement with PGIM Private Capital, a unit of PGIM, Inc., and affiliate of Prudential Financial, Inc. (Note Purchase Agreement). We may also in the future obtain additional long-term debt and working capital lines of credit to meet future financing needs, which would have the effect of increasing our total leverage. Our indebtedness could have negative consequences, including:
– increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions;
– limiting our ability to obtain additional financing;
– limiting our ability to pay dividends on or to repurchase our capital stock;
Substantially all of our existing indebtedness bears interest at floating rates, and as a result, our interest payment obligations on our indebtedness will fluctuate if interest rates increase or decrease.
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In addition, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (2017 Tax Act) places certain limitations on the deductibility of interest expense as a percentage of adjusted taxable income. If interest rates or the level of our debt increase, to the extent that the associated interest expense exceeds the limitation established by the 2017 Tax Act, the amount of interest expense that we would not be able to deduct for income tax purposes, if significant, could adversely affect our financial results and cash flows.
Our ability to satisfy our obligations and to reduce our total debt depends on our future operating performance and on economic, financial, competitive, and other factors beyond our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flows to meet these obligations or to successfully execute our business strategy. If we were unable to service our debt and fund our business, we could be forced to reduce or delay capital expenditures or research and development expenditures, seek additional financing or equity capital, restructure or refinance our debt, curtail or eliminate our cash dividend to stockholders, or sell assets.
Restrictions in our Credit Agreement and Note Purchase Agreement may limit our activities.
Our Credit Agreement and the Note Purchase Agreement contain, and future debt instruments to which we may become subject may contain, restrictive covenants that limit our ability to engage in activities that could otherwise benefit us, including restrictions on our ability (including the ability of our subsidiaries) to: incur additional indebtedness; pay dividends on, redeem, or repurchase our capital stock; make investments; create liens; sell assets; enter into transactions with affiliates; and consolidate, merge, or transfer all or substantially all of our assets and the assets of our subsidiaries.
We are also required to meet specified financial covenants under the terms of our Credit Agreement and the Note Purchase Agreement. Our ability to comply with these financial restrictions and covenants is dependent on our future performance, which is subject to prevailing economic conditions and other factors, including factors that are beyond our control. Our failure to comply with any of these restrictions or covenants may result in an event of default under our Credit Agreement, the Note Purchase Agreement and other loan and note obligations, which could permit acceleration of the debt under those instruments and require us to repay the debt before its scheduled due date. If an event of default were to occur, we might not have sufficient funds available to make the payments required under our indebtedness. In addition, our inability to borrow funds under our Credit Agreement would have significant consequences for our business, including reducing funds available for acquisitions and other investments in our business; and impacting our ability to pay dividends and meet other financial obligations.
Furthermore, our Credit Agreement requires that any amounts borrowed under the facility be repaid by the maturity date in 2027. If we are unable to roll over the amounts borrowed into a new credit facility and we do not have sufficient cash to repay our borrowings, we may default under the Credit Agreement. We may need to repatriate cash from our overseas operations, which may not be possible, to fund the repayment and we may be required to pay taxes on the repatriated amounts. Such repatriation would have an adverse effect on our effective tax rate and cash flows.
Adverse changes to the soundness of financial institutions could affect us.
We have relationships with many financial institutions, including lenders under our credit facilities and insurance underwriters, and from time to time we execute transactions with counterparties in the financial industry, such as hedging transactions. In addition, our subsidiaries in China often hold banker's acceptance drafts that are received from customers in the normal course of business. These drafts may be discounted or used to pay vendors prior to the scheduled maturity date or submitted to an acceptance bank for payment at the scheduled maturity date. These financial institutions or counterparties could be adversely affected by volatile conditions in the financial markets, economic downturns, and difficult economic conditions. These conditions could result in financial instability, bankruptcy, or other adverse effects at these financial institutions or counterparties. We may not be able to access credit facilities in the future, complete transactions as intended, or otherwise obtain the benefit of the arrangements we have entered into with such financial parties, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Risks Related to Ownership of our Capital Stock
Our share price fluctuates and experiences price and volume volatility.
Stock markets in general and our common stock in particular experience significant price and volume volatility from time to time. The market price and trading volume of our common stock may continue to be subject to significant fluctuations due not only to general stock market conditions but also to a change in sentiment in the market regarding our operations, business prospects, or future funding. Given the nature of the markets in which we participate and the volatility of orders, we may not be able to reliably predict future revenues and profitability, and unexpected changes may cause us to adjust our operations. A large proportion of our costs are fixed, due in part to our significant selling, general and administrative, research and development, and manufacturing costs. Thus, small declines in revenues could disproportionately affect our operating results. Other factors that could affect our share price and quarterly operating results include:
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– changes in the assumptions used for revenue recognized over time;
– adverse changes in demand for and market acceptance of our products;
– competitive pressures resulting in lower sales prices for our products;
– adverse changes in the process industries we serve;
– increased costs of raw materials or supplies, including the cost of energy;
– changes in the timing of product orders;
– fluctuations in our outstanding indebtedness and associated interest expense;
– fluctuations in our effective tax rate;
– fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could prevent or delay transactions that our shareholders may favor.
Provisions of our charter and bylaws may discourage, delay, or prevent a merger or acquisition that our shareholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which shareholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares. For example, these provisions:
– provide for a classified board of directors with staggered three-year terms;
– prohibit shareholder action by written consent; and
Our board of directors could adopt a shareholder rights plan in the future that could have anti-takeover effects and might discourage, delay, or prevent a merger or acquisition that our board of directors does not believe is in our best interest and those of our shareholders, including transactions in which shareholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not applicable.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy
Cybersecurity is an important element of our overall enterprise risk management program. Like other global companies, we have experienced cybersecurity threats and incidents, although none to date have been material or had a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition. We have a multilayered approach for assessing, identifying, evaluating, managing and monitoring risks related to cybersecurity threats, that is designed to help protect our information, systems, assets and operations from internal and external cybersecurity threats and help mitigate risks of cybersecurity incidents. We invest in efforts to protect, monitor, and mitigate risks from cybersecurity threats, including through our information security function, training and compliance programs, and regular employee training.
As part of our enterprise risk management program, we devote significant resources to protecting the security of our computer systems, software, networks and other technology assets, and our cybersecurity risk management processes include
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physical, procedural and technical safeguards. Our cybersecurity policies, standards and procedures include incident response plans designed to help coordinate our response to cybersecurity incidents. We seek to enhance our policies and practices, as appropriate, to adapt to changes in regulations and evolving cybersecurity risks, including by conducting cybersecurity incident tabletop exercises with our management team.
We engage external parties, including consultants, network security firms and other experts, to help us assess and enhance our cybersecurity oversight. For example, we have hired an external security vendor to conduct penetration and vulnerability testing on our networks and receive regular updates about cybersecurity risks in the industry.
In order to oversee and identify risks from cybersecurity threats associated with our use of third-party service providers, we perform third-party risk assessments designed to help protect against the misuse of IT by third parties and business partners and request that material third-party service providers provide us information about their security policies and procedures. We monitor cybersecurity incidents involving our third-party providers and adjust our procedures, as appropriate.
In an effort to deter and detect cybersecurity threats, we require all employees who use an official company email account to conduct business to complete regular data protection and cybersecurity trainings, which cover timely and relevant topics, including social engineering, phishing, password protection, confidential data protection, asset use and mobile security, and educates employees on the importance of reporting potential incidents immediately. We also use technology-based tools to mitigate risks from cybersecurity threats.
As of the date of this filing, we do not believe that there currently are or have been any cybersecurity incidents, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect us or our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition. For more information on risks related to cybersecurity threats, please see Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors."
Cybersecurity Governance and Oversight
Our cybersecurity program is integrated with the enterprise risk management framework and governance processes utilized by management and our board to oversee enterprise risk. Our board of directors has delegated oversight of cybersecurity risk to the risk oversight and sustainability committee to assist in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities with respect to management's identification, prevention, evaluation, management, and monitoring of our critical enterprise risks. The risk oversight and sustainability committee receives quarterly updates from our Head of Global IT or counsel regarding cybersecurity, including updates regarding recent cybersecurity incidents in the industry and the cybersecurity threat landscape, and is notified between such updates regarding significant new cybersecurity incidents, as appropriate. The board of directors receives regular reports from the risk oversight and sustainability committee.
Our cybersecurity program is overseen by our Head of Global IT, who is responsible for identifying and managing material cybersecurity risks. Our Head of Global IT oversees our global information security team (IT Security Team), which is responsible for leading organization-wide cybersecurity strategy, policy, standards and processes and works across relevant operating entities to assess and manage risks from cybersecurity threats. Our Head of Global IT and IT Security Team perform due diligence on the IT security systems and processes of all potential acquisition targets and have processes in place to manage post-acquisition network integration, including requiring all newly acquired companies to meet necessary security standards before they are permitted access into our IT networks or systems. The Head of Global IT's cybersecurity experience includes managing the network, infrastructure security and a cybersecurity team of a global consumer products company with a heavy online presence and with sales of services and goods to the U.S. government. In addition, our IT Security Team consists of employees that have security certifications from reputable cybersecurity training organizations, including CompTIA, and over 20 years of combined infrastructure architecture experience, including PCI, SOC1 and SOC2 level compliance.
We have also established a cross-functional Corporate Incident Response Team (CIRT) led by our General Counsel and consisting of various leaders, including our Head of Global IT, that is responsible for coordinating our response to cybersecurity incidents that present significant risk to us. The board of directors will be notified if the CIRT has been activated and provided periodic updates concerning the incident.
Item 2. Properties
We believe that our facilities are in good condition and are suitable and adequate for our present operations. We do not anticipate significant difficulty in obtaining lease renewals or alternative space as needed.
The location and general character of our principal properties are as follows:
Flow Control Segment
We own approximately 1,013,000 square feet and lease approximately 381,000 square feet, under leases expiring on various dates ranging from 2025 to 2041, of manufacturing, engineering, and office space. In addition, in China, we lease the land associated with our buildings under long-term leases, which expire on dates ranging from 2050 to 2062.
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Our principal engineering and manufacturing facilities are located in:
Valinhos, Brazil Auburn, Massachusetts, United States Bury, England
Anderson, South Carolina, United States Weesp, The Netherlands Moers, Germany
Hückeswagen, Germany Guadalajara, Mexico Kamienna Gora, Poland
Wuxi, China
Industrial Processing Segment
We own approximately 1,363,000 square feet and lease approximately 144,000 square feet, under leases expiring on various dates ranging from 2025 to 2031 of manufacturing, engineering, and office space. In addition, in China, we lease the land associated with our building under a long-term lease, which expires in 2071. In addition, in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada, we lease the land associated with our building under a long-term lease, which expires in 2032. Our principal engineering and manufacturing facilities are located in:
Jining, China Sidney, British Columbia, Canada Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Vitry-le-François, France Lohja, Finland Tualatin, Oregon, United States
Lebanon, Ohio, United States
Material Handling Segment
We own approximately 342,000 square feet and lease approximately 525,000 square feet, under leases expiring on various dates ranging from 2025 to 2034. Our principal manufacturing and office space is located in:
Georgsmarienhütte, Germany Crown Point, Indiana, United States Alfreton, England
Corporate
We lease approximately 18,000 square feet in Westford, Massachusetts, United States, for our corporate headquarters under a lease that expires in 2026.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Not applicable.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Market Price of Common Stock
Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KAI." The closing market price on the New York Stock Exchange for our common stock on February 14, 2025 was $388.46 per share.
Holders of Common Stock
As of February 14, 2025, we had 1,645 holders of record of our common stock. This does not include holdings in street or nominee name.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
On May 16, 2024, our board of directors approved the repurchase of up to $50.0 million of our equity securities during the period from May 16, 2024 to May 16, 2025. We have not repurchased any shares of our common stock under this authorization or under our previous $50.0 million authorization, which expired on May 18, 2024.
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Performance Graph
This performance graph compares the cumulative, five-year total shareholder return assuming an investment of $100 (and the reinvestment of dividends) in our common stock, the Russell 3000 Stock Index, and the Dow Jones U.S. Industrial Machinery TSM Index. Because our fiscal year ends on a Saturday, the graph values are calculated using the last trading day prior to the end of our fiscal year.
Item 6. [Reserved]
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Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations should be read together with the consolidated financial statements and related notes set forth in Item 8, "Financial Statements and Supplementary Data." The following discussion also contains forward-looking statements, including the outlook for our business, that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. See Part I, "Forward-Looking Statements," for a discussion of the forward-looking statements contained below and Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors," for a discussion of certain risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in such forward-looking statements.
A detailed discussion of the year-over-year results for 2023 compared with 2022 can be found in Part II, Item 7, "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2023, filed with the SEC.
Overview
Company Background
We are a global supplier of technologies and engineered systems that drive Sustainable Industrial Processing®. Our products and services play an integral role in enhancing efficiency, optimizing energy utilization, and maximizing productivity in process industries while helping our customers advance their sustainability initiatives with products that reduce waste or generate more yield with fewer inputs, particularly fiber, energy, and water. Producing more while consuming less is a core aspect of Sustainable Industrial Processing and a major element of the strategic focus of our businesses.
Our financial results are reported in three reportable segments consisting of our Flow Control segment, Industrial Processing segment, and Material Handling segment. We have aggregated our operating segments into reportable segments where they contained similar products and economic characteristics, and shared similar types of customers, and production and distribution methods. Our Flow Control segment consists of our fluid-handling and doctoring, cleaning, & filtration operating segments and our Industrial Processing segment consists of our wood processing and fiber processing (formerly referred to as stock-preparation) operating segments. See Note 11, Business Segment and Geographical Information, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for a description of and financial information on our reportable segments.
Industry and Business Overview
Bookings were a record $981.1 million in 2024, increasing 7% compared to 2023 due to strong contributions from our 2024 acquisitions. Organic bookings, which is defined as bookings excluding acquisitions and the effect of foreign currency translation, decreased 5% in 2024 compared to 2023 due to weaker demand for our capital equipment products driven by several factors, including economic uncertainties, macroeconomic conditions abroad, and the consolidation of some of our large customers.
While demand for our parts and consumables products remained strong in 2024, there was a lengthening in the timing for securing capital orders as customers became more cautious with some delaying large capital expenditures into 2025. From a geographic perspective, our operations in North America and Europe were also impacted by the consolidation of some large customers in the paper industry causing disruption and delays in their normal spending levels. In Europe, sluggish market conditions have been impacted by high interest rates and energy costs. Additionally, depressed conditions in China led to a tightening of available credit and more cautious capital spending.
We expect stronger capital bookings in 2025, especially in our Industrial Processing segment. However, the timing of securing capital orders can be uncertain and could shift by quarter and into 2026 due to macroeconomic uncertainty or other factors. We expect steady demand for our aftermarket products to continue in 2025.
We see long-term strength in our end markets as customers continue to rely on our products to help maximize productivity through more efficient production processes. In addition, we see growth opportunities from proposed and adopted legislation in the U.S. and abroad aimed at fueling investment.
An overview of our business by reportable segment is as follows:
•Flow Control – Our Flow Control segment bookings increased 1% in 2024 compared to 2023, including a 5% increase from acquisitions. Organic bookings decreased 3% in 2024 compared to 2023 primarily due to sluggish manufacturing activity, especially in Europe. Weaker demand for paper led to low mill operating rates and mill closures. In Europe, these challenges were further impacted by weak macroeconomic conditions and aggressive competition, which led to decreased demand for our capital equipment products. We expect steady demand in our Flow Control segment in 2025 and long-term strength in our end markets.
•Industrial Processing – Our Industrial Processing segment bookings increased 15% in 2024 compared to 2023, including an 18% increase from acquisitions. Organic bookings decreased 2% in 2024 compared to 2023 led by decreased demand for our capital equipment products at our wood processing business in North America. High mortgage rates and economic uncertainty led to a decline in new construction in the U.S., leading to reduced demand
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for OSB, lumber, and our products. Consequently, the number of dormant or idle lines in the North American lumber industry remained high as lumber producers waited for market conditions to improve. We anticipate that the significant pent up demand for housing, coupled with the continued focus on remodeling, will lead to increased demand for our wood processing products in 2025. Demand for our capital equipment and aftermarket parts products at our fiber processing businesses remained stable compared to 2023, except at our Chinese operations due to challenging market conditions. Overcapacity led to the closure of several smaller mills, while declining prices reduced profit margins at the remaining mills. These unfavorable conditions led to delays in capital project activity. In addition, the consolidation of some large customers in the paper industry disrupted and delayed their normal spending patterns, leading to decreased demand for our products in North America and Europe. In this environment, customers are increasingly focused on projects aimed at reducing input costs, which is expected to drive increased demand for our products in this segment.
•Material Handling – Our Material Handling segment bookings increased 5% in 2024 compared to 2023, including a 17% increase from acquisitions. Organic bookings decreased 13% led by a reduction in capital equipment bookings. At our conveying and vibratory business, a large $12 million capital order for a conveying line in 2023 resulted in comparatively weaker capital bookings in 2024. This impact was coupled with constrained capital spending by customers in the aggregates industry. However, the long-term outlook for the aggregates industry remains strong, particularly in North America, fueled by new infrastructure projects as a result of significant federal and state investment. At our baling businesses, organic bookings decreased both in North America and Europe, as customers were reluctant to commit to capital expenditures towards the end of the year. While quote activity was active, a drop in used paper prices, constrained market conditions in Europe, and uncertainty related to borrowing costs all contributed to customers’ hesitation. We expect customers will place these orders in 2025. For the overall Material Handling segment, planned infrastructure projects and asset modernization in the recycling and waste management sectors are expected to lead to increased demand in 2025.
Our global operations have been and continue to be impacted by complex market conditions fueled by inflationary pressures, geopolitical tensions, labor availability and uncertainty in the markets. While the U.S. economy has proven more resilient, growth in the European economy has slowed due to high interest rates, elevated inflation, and geopolitical tensions and China's manufacturing industry has contracted. We expect our operating environment to continue to be challenging, which creates continued uncertainty for 2025. However, we believe that the fundamentals of our business remain strong, particularly given our solid market position in key product lines, strong global operations teams, and long-term strength of our end markets.
International Sales
Approximately 50% of our sales are to customers outside the United States, mainly in Europe, Asia, and Canada. As a result, our financial performance can be materially affected by currency exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies. To mitigate the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, we generally seek to charge our customers in the same currency in which our operating costs are incurred. Additionally, we may enter into forward currency exchange contracts to hedge certain firm purchase and sale commitments denominated in currencies other than our subsidiaries' functional currencies. We currently do not use derivative instruments to hedge our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations created by the translation into the U.S. dollar of our foreign subsidiaries' results that are in functional currencies other than the U.S. dollar.
Global Trade
The United States has imposed tariffs in the past and more recently proposed and implemented new tariffs on certain imports, which has and will continue to increase the cost of some of the parts and equipment we import. In addition, foreign countries may implement retaliatory tariffs in response to these actions by the United States, which may negatively impact our operations. Although we are working to mitigate the impact of tariffs through pricing and sourcing strategies, we cannot be sure these strategies will effectively mitigate the impact of these costs. For more information on risks associated with our global operations, including tariffs, please see Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors."
Acquisitions
We expect that a significant driver of our long-term growth will be through the acquisition of businesses and technologies that complement or augment our existing products and services or may involve entry into a new process industry. We have acquired several businesses in recent years and continue to pursue acquisition opportunities.
On January 1, 2024, we acquired Key Knife for $153.4 million, net of cash acquired and subject to a post-closing adjustment. Key Knife is a global supplier of engineered knife systems for custom chipping, planing, and flaking solutions for wood products industries, with revenue of approximately $65.0 million for the twelve months ended September 30, 2023, and is part of our Industrial Processing segment.
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On January 24, 2024, we acquired KWS for $79.4 million. KWS is a leading manufacturer of conveying equipment for the bulk material handling industry, with revenue of approximately $45.0 million for the twelve months ended September 30, 2023, and is part of our Material Handling segment.
On May 31, 2024, we acquired DSTI for $53.6 million, net of cash acquired. DSTI is a leading manufacturer of engineered fluid sealing and transfer solutions for rotating applications, with revenue of approximately $25.0 million for the twelve months ended March 31, 2024, and is part of our Flow Control segment.
We funded these acquisitions primarily through borrowings under our revolving credit facility. We expect several synergies in connection with the acquisitions, including expansion of product sales into new markets by leveraging our global sales network and relationships, broadening our product portfolio, and strengthening our position in the various markets we serve.
We also completed several smaller acquisitions in 2024. See Note 2, Acquisitions, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further details.
Results of Operations
2024 Compared to 2023
Revenue
The following table presents changes in revenue by segment between 2024 and 2023, and those changes excluding the effect of acquisitions and foreign currency translation, which we refer to as change in organic revenue. Organic revenue excludes the effect of acquisitions for the four quarterly reporting periods following the date of the acquisition. The presentation of the change in organic revenue is a non-GAAP measure. We believe this non-GAAP measure helps investors gain an understanding of our underlying operations consistent with how management measures and forecasts its performance, especially when comparing such results to prior periods. This non-GAAP measure should not be considered superior to or a substitute for the corresponding GAAP measure.
Revenue by reportable segment in 2024 and 2023 is as follows:
(Non-GAAP)Change in Organic Revenue
Consolidated revenue increased 10% in 2024, including a 12% increase from acquisitions. Organic revenue decreased 2% primarily due to weak demand in our Material Handling segment, partially offset by stronger demand at our Industrial Processing segment, especially for our capital equipment products. From a geographic perspective, organic revenue was impacted by softening demand in Europe due to weak macroeconomic conditions.
Revenue at our Flow Control segment increased 2% while organic revenue decreased 1% in 2024 driven by lower demand for our capital equipment products in Europe reflecting challenging market conditions and a slowdown in manufacturing activity. This decrease was partially offset by higher demand for our capital equipment products in North America, especially our fluid handling products that help customers optimize energy utilization and maximize productivity.
Revenue at our Industrial Processing segment increased 22% in 2024, including a 17% increase from acquisitions. Organic revenue increased 6% in 2024 led by increased demand for our capital equipment products at our fiber processing business. Capital equipment revenue increased 28% at our fiber processing business due to higher completion rates on large projects recognized on an over time basis in China and increased replacement and refurbishment projects in North America. In addition, maintenance and production requirements at our customers in North America led to increased demand for our parts and consumables products at our wood processing business.
Revenue at our Material Handling segment increased 4% in 2024, including a 17% increase from acquisitions. Organic revenue decreased 13% led by weaker demand for our capital equipment products. At our conveying and vibratory business, a large expansion project for a conveying line in 2023 resulted in comparatively lower capital revenue in 2024. At our baling business in Europe, high interest rates and declines in waste paper prices led to decreased demand for our capital equipment products.
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Gross Profit Margin
Gross profit margin by reportable segment in 2024 and 2023 is as follows:
Consolidated gross profit margin increased to 44.3% in 2024 compared with 43.5% in 2023 due to a favorable increase in the proportion of parts and consumables revenue, which increased to 66% of total revenue compared to 62% in 2023. This increase was partially offset by the inclusion of $5.2 million of amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory, which lowered consolidated gross profit margin in 2024 by 0.4 percentage points.
Within our reportable segments, gross profit margin:
•Increased to 52.5% at our Flow Control segment from 51.8% in 2023 primarily due to higher margins achieved on our capital equipment products. This increase was partially offset by the inclusion of $2.0 million of amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory, which lowered gross profit margin in 2024 by 0.5 percentage points.
•Increased to 41.8% at our Industrial Processing segment from 40.2% in 2023 due to higher margins achieved on our capital equipment products and a higher proportion of parts and consumables revenue. These increases were partially offset by the inclusion of $2.2 million of amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory, which lowered gross profit margin in 2024 by 0.5 percentage points.
•Increased to 36.3% at our Material Handling segment from 35.7% in 2023. The favorable increase in the proportion of parts and consumables revenue in 2024 was partially offset by the inclusion of $1.0 million of amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory, which lowered gross profit margin in 2024 by 0.5 percentage points.
Selling, General, and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses by reportable segment and corporate in 2024 and 2023 are as follows:
Consolidated as a Percentage of Revenue 27% 25%
Consolidated SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenue increased to 27% in 2024 compared to 25% in 2023 principally due to the impact of our acquisitions and acquisition-related costs. Consolidated SG&A expenses increased $43.7 million, or 18%, primarily due to the inclusion of $35.6 million of SG&A expenses from acquisitions, $4.7 million of incremental acquisition-related costs and annual wage increases. Acquisition-related costs included in SG&A consist of amortization expense associated with acquired backlog and acquisition costs.
Within our reportable segments and corporate, SG&A expenses:
•Increased $9.3 million at our Flow Control segment principally due to the inclusion of $5.2 million of SG&A expenses from acquisitions, $2.2 million of acquisition-related costs and increased compensation expense, partially offset by a decrease in commission expense.
•Increased $21.4 million at our Industrial Processing segment due to the inclusion of $19.5 million of SG&A expenses from acquisitions and increased compensation expense. These increases were partially offset by a $0.5 million favorable effect of foreign currency translation.
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•Increased $11.3 million at our Material Handling segment primarily due to the inclusion of $10.9 million of SG&A expenses from acquisitions and $2.4 million of incremental acquisition-related costs, partially offset by a decrease in expense related to external commissions and sales incentives.
•Increased $1.6 million at Corporate due to annual wage increases and consulting costs.
Other Costs, Net
The components of other costs, net in 2024 and 2023 are as follows:
Restructuring and Impairment Costs $ — $ 766
Other Costs (Income) 658 (43)
Restructuring and Impairment Costs
•Restructuring and impairment costs of $0.4 million in 2023 within our Flow Control segment related to our restructuring plan to consolidate a small manufacturing operation into a larger facility in Germany. Restructuring and impairment costs related to this plan consisted of severance costs for the termination of 10 employees, facility and other closure costs, and asset-write downs.
•Restructuring costs of $0.4 million in 2023 within our Flow Control segment related to the termination of a contract at one of our operations in Germany.
Other Costs (Income)
•Loss of $0.7 million in 2024 related to the recognition of a cumulative translation adjustment associated with the liquidation of a small foreign subsidiary in the Flow Control segment.
•In 2022, we entered into several agreements with the local government in China to sell our then existing manufacturing building and land use rights of one of our subsidiaries in China (China Transaction). In connection with the China Transaction, we recognized other income of $0.8 million in 2023 related to the outsourcing of demolition and cleanup work of the then existing manufacturing building in China and sale of the remaining fixed assets. In addition, we incurred costs of $0.8 million in 2023 related to the relocation of machinery and equipment and administrative offices to the new manufacturing facility in China.
Interest Expense
Interest expense increased to $20.0 million in 2024 from $8.4 million in 2023 due to increased borrowings under our revolving credit facility, which were primarily used to fund our acquisitions and, to a lesser extent, a higher weighted average interest rate.
Provision for Income Taxes
Our provision for income taxes decreased to $40.5 million in 2024 from $42.2 million in 2023 primarily due to the decrease of $5.9 million in pre-tax income. The effective tax rate was 26.5% in both 2024 and 2023 and was higher than our statutory rate of 21% primarily due to the distribution of our worldwide earnings, state taxes, and nondeductible expenses.
Net Income
Net income decreased to $112.6 million in 2024 from $116.8 million in 2023 primarily due to a $11.6 million increase in interest expense, offset in part by a $5.5 million increase in operating income and a $1.7 million decrease in provision for income taxes (see discussions above for further details).
Non-GAAP Key Performance Indicators
In addition to the financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, we use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including organic revenue (defined as revenue excluding the effect of acquisitions and foreign currency translation), adjusted operating income, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin (defined as adjusted EBITDA divided by revenue), and free cash flow (defined as net cash provided by operating activities less capital expenditures).
We use organic revenue in order to understand our trends and to forecast and evaluate our financial performance and compare revenue to prior periods (see discussion in Revenue above). Adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin exclude amortization expense related to acquired profit in inventory and backlog, acquisition costs,
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restructuring and impairment costs, relocation costs and other income and expense, as indicated. These items are excluded as they are not indicative of our core operating results and are not comparable to other periods, which have differing levels of incremental costs, expenditures or income, or none at all. Additionally, we use free cash flow in order to provide insight on our ability to generate cash for acquisitions and debt repayments, as well as for other investing and financing activities.
We believe these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance by excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our core business, operating results, or future outlook. We believe that the inclusion of such measures helps investors gain an understanding of our underlying operating performance and future prospects, consistent with how management measures and forecasts our performance, especially when comparing such results to previous periods or forecasts and to the performance of our competitors. Such measures are also used by us in our financial and operating decision-making and for compensation purposes. We also believe this information is responsive to investors' requests and gives them additional measures of our performance.
Our non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered superior to or a substitute for the results of operations or cash flows prepared in accordance with GAAP. In addition, our non-GAAP financial measures have limitations associated with their use as compared to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, in that they may be different from, and therefore not comparable to, similar measures used by other companies.
A reconciliation of adjusted operating income, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EBITDA margin from net income attributable to Kadant is as follows:
Net Income Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest 956 737 802
Gain on Sale (a) — — (20,190)
Acquired Profit in Inventory Amortization (b) 5,189 — (218)
Acquired Backlog Amortization (c) 3,252 — 703
Indemnification Asset Reversal, Net (d) 158 102 1,316
Restructuring and Impairment Costs — 766 1,334
Other Costs (Income) (e) 658 (43) —
Adjusted EBITDA Margin (non-GAAP measure) 21.8% 21.0% 20.9%
A reconciliation of free cash flow from net cash provided by operating activities is as follows:
(a) Represents a gain on the China Transaction in our Industrial Processing segment.
(b) Represents expense (income) within cost of revenue associated with amortization of acquired profit in inventory.
(c) Represents intangible amortization expense associated with acquired backlog.
(d) Represents the provision for or reversal of indemnification assets related to the establishment or release of tax reserves associated with uncertain tax positions.
(e) Includes a loss of $0.7 million from the recognition of a cumulative translation adjustment associated with the liquidation of a small foreign subsidiary in our Flow Control segment in 2024.
(f) Includes capital expenditures of $7.4 million in 2023 and $10.4 million in 2022 associated with the China Transaction.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Consolidated working capital was $250.8 million at December 28, 2024, compared with $225.8 million at December 30, 2023. Cash and cash equivalents were $94.7 million at December 28, 2024, compared with $103.8 million at December 30, 2023, which included cash and cash equivalents held by our foreign subsidiaries of $73.8 million at December 28, 2024 and $94.6 million at December 30, 2023.
Cash Flow
Cash flow information is as follows:
Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities $ 155,265 $ 165,545
Net Cash Used in Investing Activities (319,137) (30,790)
Net Cash Provided by (Used in) Financing Activities 159,914 (111,111)
Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities decreased to $155.3 million in 2024 from $165.5 million in 2023 primarily due to an increase in cash used for working capital. Our operating cash flows are primarily generated from cash received from customers, offset by cash payments for items such as inventory, employee compensation, operating leases, income taxes, and interest payments on outstanding debt obligations.
During 2024, significant operating cash outflows were associated with accounts receivable, customer deposits and other liabilities. A decrease in customer deposits used cash of $29.8 million due to a reduction in capital equipment orders and an increase in accounts receivable and contract assets used cash of $9.8 million primarily due to our revenue growth. Other liabilities used cash of $21.2 million primarily due to cash outflows from incentive compensation and operating lease payments. These uses of cash were offset in part by cash provided from the shipment of inventory of $24.0 million and increases in accounts payable of $10.6 million related to inventory purchases and the timing of payments.
During 2023, significant operating cash inflows were associated with working capital related to inventory, other liabilities and unbilled revenue. Shipments of inventory provided cash of $14.1 million and increases in other liabilities provided cash of $9.2 million due to the timing of payments to subcontractors and outside vendors. In addition, a reduction in unbilled revenue provided cash of $6.5 million. These sources of cash were offset in part by $28.9 million of operating cash outflows associated with accounts payable and customer deposits primarily due to the timing of payments.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $319.1 million in 2024 compared with $30.8 million in 2023. Consideration paid for acquisitions, net of cash acquired, was $300.3 million in 2024. Additionally, capital expenditures were $21.0 million in 2024 and $31.9 million in 2023, which included capital expenditures associated with the China Transaction of $7.4 million.
Financing Activities
Cash provided by financing activities was $159.9 million in 2024 compared with cash used of $111.1 million in 2023. Borrowings under our revolving credit facility were $305.2 million in 2024, which were primarily used to fund our 2024 acquisitions. Repayments of short- and long-term obligations were $124.5 million in 2024 compared to $94.0 million in 2023. Cash dividends paid to stockholders were $14.7 million in 2024 and $13.2 million in 2023. In addition, taxes paid related to the vesting of equity awards were $5.9 million in 2024 compared to $3.9 million in 2023.
Exchange Rate Effect on Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Restricted Cash
The exchange rate effect on cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash represents the impact of translation of cash balances at our foreign subsidiaries. The $6.5 million decrease in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash in 2024 related to exchange rates was primarily attributable to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the euro and the Canadian dollar and, to a lesser extent, the Brazilian real and Mexican peso. The $3.1 million increase in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash in 2023 was primarily attributable to the weakening of the U.S. dollar against the euro, the Canadian dollar, and Mexican peso.
Borrowing Capacity and Debt Obligations
Our unsecured multi-currency revolving credit facility originally entered into on March 1, 2017 (as amended and restated to date, the Credit Agreement) matures on November 30, 2027 and has a total borrowing capacity of $400.0 million.
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In 2024, we borrowed $305.2 million under our revolving credit facility, which was primarily used to fund our acquisitions.
As of December 28, 2024, our outstanding balance under the Credit Agreement was $278.4 million, including $71.4 million of euro-denominated borrowings. We also had $121.8 million of available borrowing capacity, along with a $200.0 million uncommitted, unsecured incremental borrowing facility. Borrowings under our revolving credit facility bear variable rates of interest and adjust frequently based on prevailing market rates and the terms of our Credit Agreement. Under our debt agreements, our leverage ratio must be less than 3.75 or, if we elect, for the quarter during which a material acquisition occurs and for the three fiscal quarters thereafter, must be less than 4.25. As of December 28, 2024, our leverage ratio was 0.99 and we were in compliance with our debt covenants. See Note 6, Long-Term Obligations, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for additional information regarding our debt obligations.
Additional Liquidity and Capital Resources
In addition to the obligations on our consolidated balance sheet at December 28, 2024, which include, but are not limited to, long-term obligations (Note 6), unrecognized tax benefits (Note 5), leases (Note 9), and contingent consideration associated with a 2024 acquisition (Note 2), we have outstanding letters of credit and bank guarantees of $13.9 million at December 28, 2024, primarily relating to performance obligations and customer deposit guarantees (Note 7).
On May 16, 2024, our board of directors approved the repurchase of up to $50.0 million of our equity securities during the period from May 16, 2024 to May 16, 2025. We have not repurchased any shares of our common stock under this authorization or under our previous $50.0 million authorization that expired on May 18, 2024.
We paid cash dividends of $14.7 million in 2024. On November 14, 2024, we declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share totaling $3.8 million that was paid on February 6, 2025. Future declarations of dividends are subject to our board of directors' approval and may be adjusted as business needs or market conditions change. The declaration of cash dividends is also subject to our compliance with the covenant in our Credit Agreement related to our consolidated leverage ratio.
We plan to make capital expenditures of approximately $24.0 to $26.0 million during 2025 for property, plant, and equipment.
As of December 28, 2024, we had approximately $296.1 million of total unremitted foreign earnings. It is our intent to indefinitely reinvest $255.3 million of these earnings to support the current and future capital needs of our foreign operations, including debt repayments, if any. In 2024, we recorded withholding taxes on the earnings in certain foreign subsidiaries that we plan to repatriate in the foreseeable future. The foreign withholding taxes that would be required if we were to remit the indefinitely-reinvested foreign earnings to the United States would be approximately $5.3 million.
We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, along with cash generated from operations and our existing borrowing capacity will be sufficient to meet the capital requirements of our operations for the next 12 months and the foreseeable future.
Application of Critical Accounting Estimates
Management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of these consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of our consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Critical accounting policies and estimates are defined as those that entail significant judgments and uncertainties and could potentially result in materially different results under different assumptions and conditions. For a discussion on the application of these estimates and other accounting policies, see Note 1, Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies, in the accompanying consolidated financial statements. We believe that our most critical accounting policies and estimates upon which our financial position depends, and which involve the most complex or subjective decisions or assessments, are those described below.
Income Taxes
We operate in numerous countries under many legal forms and, as a result, are subject to the jurisdiction of numerous domestic and non-U.S. tax authorities, as well as to tax agreements and treaties among these governments. Determination of taxable income in any jurisdiction requires the interpretation of the related tax laws and regulations and the use of estimates and assumptions regarding significant future events, such as the amount, timing and character of deductions, permissible revenue recognition methods under the tax law and the sources and character of income and available tax credits. Changes in tax laws, regulations, agreements and treaties, currency-exchange restrictions or our level of operations or profitability in each taxing jurisdiction could have an impact upon the amount of current tax and deferred tax balances and our results of operations.
We compute our provision for income taxes using the asset and liability method, and we recognize deferred tax assets
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