ZWS US Equity☆

rxn-20200331

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

_________________________________________________

FORM 10-K

(Mark one)

For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020

For the transition period from to

_________________________________________________

REXNORD CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (414) 643-3739

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 RXN The 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 Exchange 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 checkmark whether the registrant has submitted electronically, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§229.405 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 is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

As of September 30, 2019, the end of the Registrant's second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the shares of common stock (based upon the $27.05 closing price on the New York Stock Exchange on September 30, 2019, the last trading day of that quarter) held by non-affiliates (excludes shares reported as beneficially owned by then-current directors and executive officers - does not constitute an admission as to affiliate status) was approximately $2.9 billion.

As of May 8, 2020, there were 119,725,005 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III of this Annual Report on Form 10-K incorporates by reference certain information from the Proxy Statement for the Registrant's annual meeting of stockholders, to be held on or about July 23, 2020, which Proxy Statement will be subsequently filed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I

Item 1. Business 5

Item 1A. Risk Factors 14

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 24

Item 2. Properties 25

Item 3. Legal Proceedings 26

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosure 26

Information about our Executive Officers 27

Part II

Item 6. Selected Financial Data 30

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk 49

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 51

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures 117

Item 9B. Other Information 117

Part III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 118

Item 11. Executive Compensation 118

Item 14. Principal Accounting Fees and Services 118

Part IV

Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules 119

2

PART I

CAUTIONARY NOTICE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements we make concerning our plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events, future revenues or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs and other information that is not historical information and, in particular, appear in Items 1, 1A and 7 hereof. When used in this report, the words "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "forecasts," "plans," "believes," "foresees," "seeks," "likely," "may," "might," "will," "should," "goal," "target" or "intends" and variations of these words or similar expressions (or the negative versions of any such words) are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us on the date of this report.

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things, the matters discussed in this report in the Items identified above. Some of the factors that we believe could affect our results include:

•the impact of our indebtedness;

•our competitive environment;

•general economic and business conditions, market factors and our exposure to customers in cyclical industries;

•the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic on our business, financial condition, employees, customers, distributors and supply chain, including the impact related to governmental actions;

•performance, and potential failure, of our information and data security systems, including potential cyber security threats and breaches;

•the costs and uncertainties related to strategic acquisitions or divestitures or the integration of recent and future acquisitions into our business;

•the effect of local, national and international economic, credit and capital market conditions on the economy in general, and on our customers and the industries in which we operate in particular;

•risks associated with our international operations;

•the loss of any significant customer;

•dependence on independent distributors;

•increases in cost of our raw materials, including as a result of tariffs, trade wars and other trade protection matters, and our possible inability to increase product prices to offset such increases;

•impact of weather on the demand for our products;

•changes in technology and manufacturing techniques;

•the costs of environmental compliance and/or the imposition of liabilities under environmental, health and safety laws and regulations;

•legislative, regulatory and legal developments involving taxes;

•the costs associated with asbestos claims and other potential product liability;

•our access to available and reasonable financing on a timely basis;

•changes in governmental laws and regulations, or the interpretation or enforcement thereof, including for environmental matters;

•reliance on intellectual property;

•work stoppages by unionized employees;

•loss of key personnel;

•changes in pension funding requirements;

•potential impairment of goodwill and intangible assets;

•an inability to realize intended benefits from our ongoing supply chain optimization and footprint repositioning initiatives;

•terrorism, conflicts, wars, weather events, as well as other events outside our control, including other outbreaks of infectious diseases; and

•the other factors set forth herein, including those set forth under "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A.

3

There are likely other factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results referred to in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements attributable to us apply only as of the date of this report and are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements included in this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law.

4

ITEM 1. BUSINESS.

Our Company

Rexnord Corporation, a Delaware corporation incorporated in 2006, is a growth-oriented, multi-platform industrial company with what we believe are leading market shares and highly-trusted brands that serve a diverse array of global end markets. We currently operate our business in two strategic platforms — Process & Motion Control and Water Management, both of which have expanded significantly by means of acquisitions of other companies or operations; see "Acquisitions and Divestitures" below for further information as to recent transactions. Our heritage of innovation and specification have allowed us to provide highly-engineered, mission-critical solutions to customers for decades and affords us the privilege of having long-term, valued relationships with market leaders. We operate our Company in a disciplined way and the Rexnord Business System ("RBS") is our operating philosophy. Grounded in the spirit of continuous improvement, RBS creates a scalable, process-based framework that focuses on driving superior customer satisfaction and financial results by targeting world-class operating performance throughout all aspects of our business.

Our strategy is to build the Company around global strategic platforms that participate in end markets with sustainable growth characteristics where we are, or have the opportunity to become, the industry leader. We have a track record of acquiring and integrating companies and expect to continue to pursue strategic acquisitions within our existing platforms that will expand our geographic presence, broaden our product lines and allow us to move into adjacent markets. Over time, we may add strategic platforms to our Company.

We believe that we have one of the broadest portfolios of highly engineered, mission and project-critical Process & Motion Control products for industrial, consumer goods and aerospace applications worldwide. Our Process & Motion Control portfolio includes products and services used to safely, reliably and efficiently solve a wide range of demanding process and discrete automation and motion control applications. Our Water Management platform is a leader in the multi-billion dollar, specification-driven, commercial and institutional construction market for water management products and, to a lesser extent, the municipal water and wastewater treatment and residential construction markets. Our Water Management product portfolio includes building and site water management solutions that enhance water quality, safety, flow control and conservation.

Our products are generally "specified" or requested by end users across both of our strategic platforms as a result of our products’ reliable performance in demanding environments, our custom application engineering capabilities and our ability to provide global customer support. Typically, our Process & Motion Control products are initially incorporated into products sold by original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") or sold to end users as critical components in large, complex systems where the cost of failure or downtime is high, and thereafter replaced through industrial distributors as they are consumed or require replacement.

The demand for our Water Management products is primarily driven by new commercial and institutional building construction, the retrofit of existing structures (to make them more energy and water efficient) and, to a lesser extent, new infrastructure and residential construction. We believe we have become a market leader in the industry by developing innovative products that meet the stringent third-party regulatory, building, and plumbing code requirements and by subsequently achieving specification of our products into projects and applications.

We are led by an experienced, high-caliber management team that employs RBS as a proven operating philosophy to drive excellence and world-class performance in all aspects of our business by focusing on the "Voice of the Customer" process and ensuring superior customer satisfaction. Our footprint encompasses 46 principal Process & Motion Control manufacturing, warehouse, and repair facilities and 17 principal Water Management manufacturing and warehouse facilities located around the world which allow us to meet the needs of our increasingly global customer base as well as our distribution channel partners.

Unless otherwise noted, "Rexnord," "we," "us," "our" and the "Company" means Rexnord Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries. Fiscal years presented in this report prior to and including fiscal year 2020 refer to the period from April 1 until March 31 of the corresponding calendar year. For example, our fiscal year 2020, or fiscal 2020, means the period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Following the end of fiscal 2020, as previously announced, we are transitioning to a December 31 fiscal year-end date. The nine-month period from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, will serve as a transition period, and we will provide one-time, nine-month transitional financial statements in a transition report on Form 10-K to be filed in 2021. Prior to filing the transition report, we will continue to report our quarterly financial results on Form 10-Q. Our fiscal year 2021 will commence on January 1, 2021.

5

RBS

RBS creates a scalable, process-based framework that focuses on driving superior customer satisfaction and financial results by targeting world-class operating performance throughout all aspects of our business. RBS is based on the following principles: (1) strategy deployment (a long-term strategic planning process that determines annual improvement priorities and the actions necessary to achieve those priorities); (2) measuring our performance based on customer satisfaction, or the "Voice of the Customer;" (3) involvement of all our associates in the execution of our strategy; and (4) a culture that embraces Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. We believe applying RBS can yield superior growth, quality, delivery and cost positions relative to our competition, resulting in enhanced profitability and ultimately the creation of stockholder value. As we have applied RBS over the past several years, we have experienced improvements in growth, productivity, cost reduction and asset efficiency and believe there are opportunities to continue to improve our performance as we continue to apply RBS.

Our Platforms

Process & Motion Control

Our Process & Motion Control platform designs, manufactures, markets and services a broad range of specified, highly-engineered mechanical components used within complex systems where our customers' reliability requirements and costs of failure or downtime are high. The Process & Motion Control portfolio includes motion control products, shaft management products, aerospace components and related value-added services. Our products and services are marketed and sold globally under widely recognized brand names, including Rexnord®, Rex®, Addax®, Euroflex®, Falk®, FlatTop®, Cambridge®, Link-Belt®, Omega®, PSI®, Shafer®, Stearns®, Highfield®, Thomas®, Centa® and TollokTM.

We sell our Process & Motion Control products and services into a diverse group of attractive end markets, including food and beverage, aerospace, mining, energy and power generation, cement and aggregates, forest and wood products, agriculture, petrochemical, marine, general industrial and automation applications.

We have established long-term relationships with OEMs and end users serving a wide variety of industries. As a result of our long-term relationships with OEMs and end users, we have created a significant installed base for our Process & Motion Control products, which are consumed or worn in use and have a relatively predictable replacement cycle. We believe this replacement dynamic drives recurring maintenance, repair, and operations ("MRO") demand for our products. We estimate that approximately half of our Process & Motion Control net sales are to distributors, who provide an aftermarket channel to primarily serve OEM and end-user MRO demand generated by the installed base of our products through approximately 2,600 distribution points across 110 countries.

Most of our products are critical components in large scale manufacturing processes, where the cost of component failure and resulting down-time is high. Many customer facilities have a range of requirements and applications for multiple products across our expansive product portfolio. We believe our reputation for superior quality, reliability, application expertise, and ability to meet lead time expectations are highly valued by our customers, as demonstrated by their preference to specify and purchase Rexnord products when it is time to replace an installed Rexnord product, or "like-for-like" product replacements. We believe this replacement dynamic for our products, our focus on capturing first-fit installations, our significant installed base, and our global supply chain and manufacturing footprint enables us to achieve premium pricing, world-class customer satisfaction, recurring revenue generation, and a competitive advantage.

Water Management

Our Water Management platform designs, procures, manufactures, and markets products that provide and enhance water quality, safety, flow control and conservation. The Water Management product portfolio includes professional grade water control and safety, water distribution and drainage, finish plumbing, and site works products primarily for nonresidential buildings. Our products are marketed and sold under widely recognized brand names, including Zurn®, Wilkins®, Green Turtle®, World Dryer®, StainlessDrains.comTM and JUST®.

Over the past century, the businesses that comprise our Water Management platform have established themselves as innovators and leading designers, manufacturers and distributors of highly engineered products and solutions that control the flow, delivery, treatment and conservation of water to the institutional and commercial construction end markets and, to a lesser extent, the infrastructure and residential construction end markets. Segments of the institutional construction end market include government, healthcare, and education. Segments of the commercial construction end market include: lodging, retail, dining, sports arenas and warehouse/office. Segments of the infrastructure end market include: municipal water and wastewater and transportation. The demand for our Water Management products is primarily driven by new commercial and institutional building construction, the retrofit of existing structures (to make them more energy and water efficient) and, to a lesser extent, new infrastructure and residential construction.

Our Water Management products are principally specification-driven and project-critical and typically represent a low percentage of the overall project cost. We believe these characteristics, coupled with our extensive distribution network, create

6

a high level of end-user loyalty for our products and allow us to maintain leading market shares in the majority of our product lines. We believe we have become a market leader in the industry by meeting the stringent country specific regulatory, building, and plumbing code requirements and subsequently achieving specification of our products into projects and applications. The majority of these stringent testing and regulatory approval processes are completed through the Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research at the University of Southern California, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials ("IAPMO"), the National Sanitation Foundation ("NSF"), the Plumbing and Drainage Institute ("PDI"), the Underwriters Laboratories ("UL"), Factory Mutual ("FM") and the American Waterworks Association ("AWWA") prior to the commercialization of our products.

Our Water Management platform has an extensive sales and marketing network spanning approximately 30 countries, which consists of approximately 1,200 independent sales representatives across 200 sales agencies. Specifically, it has been our experience that, once an architect, engineer, contractor, or owner has specified our product with satisfactory results, that person will generally continue to use our products in future projects. The inclusion of our products with project specifications, combined with our ability to innovate, engineer, and deliver products and systems that save time and money for engineers, contractors, builders and architects has resulted in growing demand for our products. Our distribution model is predicated upon maintaining high product availability near our customers. We believe that this model provides us with a competitive advantage as we are able to meet our customer demand with local inventory at significantly reduced lead times as compared to others in our industry.

Our Markets

We evaluate our competitive position in our markets based on available market data, relevant benchmarks compared to our relative peer group and industry trends. We generally do not participate in segments of our served markets that have been commoditized or in applications that do not require differentiation based on product quality, reliability and innovation. In both of our platforms, we believe the end markets we serve span a broad and diverse array of commercial and industrial end markets with solid fundamental long-term growth characteristics. Despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19, we believe that there is still long-term growth potential.

Process & Motion Control Market

The market for Process & Motion Control products is very fragmented with most participants having single or limited product lines and serving specific geographic markets. While there are numerous competitors with limited product offerings, there are only a few national and international competitors of a size comparable to us. While we compete with certain domestic and international competitors across a portion of our product lines, we do not believe that any one competitor directly competes with us across each of our product line categories. The industry's customer base is broadly diversified across many sectors of the economy. Growth in the Process & Motion Control market is closely tied to overall growth in industrial production, which we believe has fundamental and significant long-term growth potential despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19. In addition, through innovating to meet customer demand changes and focusing on higher growth end-markets, we believe Process & Motion Control growth rates can exceed overall United States industrial production.

The Process & Motion Control market is also characterized by the need for sophisticated engineering experience, the ability to design and produce a broad number of niche products with short lead times and long-standing customer relationships. We believe entry into our markets by competitors with lower labor costs, including foreign competitors, will be limited due to the fact that we manufacture highly specialized niche products that are critical components in large-scale manufacturing processes. In addition, we believe the industry trend of customers increasingly consolidating their vendor bases should allow Process & Motion Control, with our broad product offerings to capture additional market share.

Water Management Market

The markets in which our Water Management platform participates are relatively fragmented with competitors across a broad range of industries, sectors, and product lines. Although competition exists across all of our Water Management businesses, we do not believe that any one competitor directly competes with us across all of our product lines. We believe that our served markets are growing long term at relatively strong rates, and that the growing demand for water conservation, quality, and safety can potentially support market growth above that of overall United States industrial production. We believe that we can continue to grow our platform long term at rates above the growth rate of the overall market and the growth rate of our competition, by focusing our efforts and resources towards end markets that have above-average growth characteristics despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

We believe the areas of the Water Management industry in which we compete are tied to growth in commercial and institutional construction, as well as, to a lesser extent, infrastructure. We believe these areas have significant long-term growth fundamentals despite the ongoing impact of COVID-19. Historically, the commercial, institutional and infrastructure construction sectors have been more stable and less vulnerable to down-cycles than the residential construction industry. Compared with residential construction cycles, downturns in infrastructure, commercial and institutional construction have been

7

shorter and less severe, and upturns have lasted longer and had higher peaks in terms of spending as well as units and square footage. In addition, we believe that water management manufacturers with innovative products, like ours, are able to grow at a faster pace than the broader infrastructure, commercial, and institutional construction markets, as well as mitigate cyclical downturns in market growth.

The Water Management industry's specification-driven end-markets require manufacturers to work closely with engineers, contractors, builders and architects in local markets to design specific applications on a project-by-project basis. As a result, building and maintaining relationships with architects, engineers, contractors and builders, who specify products for use in construction projects, and having flexibility in design and product innovation are critical to compete effectively in the market. Companies with a strong network of such relationships have a competitive advantage. Specifically, it has been our experience that, once an engineer, contractor, builder, or architect has specified our product with satisfactory results, that person often will continue to use our products in future projects.

Our Products

Process & Motion Control Products

Our Process & Motion Control products are generally critical components in the machinery or plant in which they operate, yet they typically account for a low percentage of an end user's total production cost. We believe, because the costs associated with a Process & Motion Control product failure to the end user can be substantial, end users in most of the markets we serve focus on Process & Motion Control products with superior quality, reliability, and availability, rather than considering price alone, when making a purchasing decision. We believe that the key to success in our industry is to develop and maintain a reputation for quality and reliability, as well as create and maintain an extensive distribution network, which we believe leads to a strong preference to replace products "like-for-like" while driving recurring MRO revenues and linking first-fit specifications to market share gain. Our leading Process & Motion Control brands include Rexnord®, Rex®, Addax®, Euroflex®, Falk®, FlatTop®, Cambridge®, Link-Belt®, Omega®, PSI®, Shafer®, Stearns®, Highfield®, Thomas®, Centa® and TollokTM.

Motion Control Products

We are a leading manufacturer and supplier of highly engineered mechanical power transmission components used to affect and control material movement within heavy-duty process automation and discrete automation applications. Our motion control products include table top conveying chain and related accessories, metal conveying and engineered woven metals, gearing & gear drives, conveying equipment, industrial chain and custom assemblies. Our FlatTop highly-engineered table top conveyor chain and related conveyor system accessories are used in discrete automation applications such as high-speed beverage-filling operations and is primarily sold to the food and beverage processing and packaging, consumer products, warehousing and distribution, automotive and parts processing industries. Our Cambridge products provide users with metal conveying and engineered woven metal solutions, primarily used in food processing end markets, as well as in architectural, packaging and filtration applications. Our gear drives reduce the output speed and increase the torque from an electronic motor or engine to the level required to drive a particular piece of equipment or an element of a larger mechanical system (such as a conveyor system). We produce a wide range of heavy, medium and light-duty gear drives for bulk and unit material handling, mixing, pumping and general gearing applications. Our conveying equipment components and industrial chain products are used primarily in heavy-duty process automation applications in numerous industries, including mining, construction and agricultural equipment, forest and wood products, cement and aggregates processing and hydrocarbon processing.

We also produce custom-engineered, application-specific miniature gearboxes and motion control assemblies and components that are supplied to a variety of end markets, including aerospace and defense, medical equipment, robotics, semiconductor, instrumentation, and satellite communications.

Shaft Management Products

We are a leading manufacturer and supplier of highly engineered mechanical power transmission components used to control, support and protect rotating shafts within machinery, process automation and discrete automation applications. Rotating shafts transmit system power to the moving elements in machinery and equipment. Our shaft management products include couplings, torque limiters, electromagnetic clutches and brakes, industrial bearings and shaft locking assemblies. Couplings are primarily used in high-speed, high-torque applications and are the interface between two shafts that permit power to be safely and efficiently transmitted from one shaft to the other. Torque limiters, clutches, and brakes are used in machinery applications to safely control shaft engagement and stopping. Industrial bearings are components that support, guide and reduce the friction of motion between fixed and moving machine parts. We primarily produce mounted bearings, which are offered in a variety of specialized housings to suit specific industrial applications, and generally command higher margins than unmounted bearings. Shaft locking assemblies are used to secure machine shafts to hubs through a mechanical interference fit that eliminates shaft backlash and improves transmission of high torques and axial loads. Our shaft management products are used in a wide range of end markets that include food and beverage, mining, energy and power generation, aggregates processing,

8

pulp and paper, steel, chemical, forest and wood products, construction and agricultural equipment, marine, and general industrial and automation.

During fiscal 2018, we acquired Centa Power Transmission (Centa Antriebe Kirschey GmbH) ("Centa"), a leading manufacturer of premium flexible couplings and drive shafts for industrial, marine, rail and power generation applications. This acquisition added complementary product lines to our existing Process & Motion Control platform.

Aerospace Components

We supply our aerospace components primarily to the commercial and military aircraft end markets for use in door systems, engine accessories, engine controls, engine mounts, flight control systems, gearboxes, landing gear and rotor pitch controls. The majority of our sales are to engine and airframe OEMs that specify our aerospace bearing and mechanical seal products for their aircraft and turbine engine platforms, often based on proprietary designs, capabilities and solutions. We also supply highly specialized gears and related products through our aerospace-focused build-to-print manufacturing operations.

Water Management Products

Water Management products tend to be project-critical, highly-engineered and high value-add and typically are a low percentage of overall project cost. We believe the combination of these features creates a high level of end-user loyalty, reinforced by our investments in developing innovative new product solutions. Demand for these products is influenced by regulatory, building and plumbing code requirements. Many Water Management products must meet the stringent country-specific regulatory, building, and plumbing code requirements prior to the commercialization of our products (such as IAPMO, NSF, UL, FM, PDI and AWWA). In addition, many of these products must meet detailed specifications set by water management engineers, contractors, builders, and architects. Among our leading brands are Zurn® and Wilkins®.

Water Safety, Quality, and Flow Control Products

Our water safety, quality, and flow control products are sold under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names and encompass a wide range of valve products, distribution and drainage products and site works products. Key valve products include backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves and thermostatic mixing valves. These highly-specified and engineered flow control devices protect and control the potable water supply and emergency water supply within a building or site. Designed to meet the stringent requirements of independent test labs, such as the Foundation for Cross Connection Control and Hydraulic Research at USC, NSF, UL and FM, they are sold into commercial, institutional, and industrial new construction and retrofit applications as well as the fire protection, municipal water and wastewater and irrigation end markets.

Engineered water distribution solutions that protect human health and gravity drainage products that protect the environment are sold under the Zurn brand and are typically required in the early stages of a construction or retrofit project, when potable water and non-potable water distribution and drainage systems are installed. Specification drainage products include point drains (such as roof drains and floor drains), hydrants, fixture carrier systems, and chemical drainage systems that are used to control storm water, process water and potable water in various commercial, institutional, industrial, civil and irrigation applications. Water distribution products include PEX piping, valves, fittings and installation tools. PEX tubing is manufactured from cross-linked polyethylene and is designed for high temperature and pressure fluid distribution piping applications for both potable water and radiant heating systems in the residential and nonresidential construction industries. These systems are engineered to meet stringent NSF and ASTM standards helping water professionals provide safe and efficient building and site water management solutions.

Site works products are commonly installed within a building or on a site to manage storm water and wastewater. Linear drainage systems are used to capture and direct storm water in a wide variety of commercial, institutional, industrial and transportation infrastructure applications. Our wastewater pre-treatment products include oil and grease interceptors and separators, acid neutralization systems and remote monitoring systems and are marketed under the Zurn and Green Turtle brands. Interceptors are used to separate and capture fats, oils, and greases from wastewater before it is discharged into the municipal wastewater collection system. Our proprietary designs are primarily fabricated from fiberglass reinforced polyester, which we believe is gaining market share from traditional concrete products due to its reliability, service life, ease of service, and lowest cost of ownership. Applications include restaurants and institutional foodservice operations, office buildings, hotels, entertainment venues, schools, grocery and convenience stores, airports, vehicle service garages, and fleet operations and maintenance facilities; acid neutralization systems are primarily used in schools, hospitals and laboratories.

In fiscal 2020, we acquired substantially all the assets of East Creek Corporation (d/b/a StainlessDrains.com) ("StainlessDrains.com"), a leading manufacturer of highly specialized stainless steel drains for industries focused in foodservice, food and beverage production, retail, chemical, commercial, and amusement parks. This acquisition added complementary product lines to the Company's existing Water Management platform.

9

Water Conservation and Finish Plumbing Products

Water conservation and finish plumbing products are typically required in the latter stages of a construction or retrofit project, when interior spaces are being outfitted with fixtures, valves and faucets. Zurn's finish plumbing products include manual and sensor-operated flush valves marketed under the Aquaflush®, AquaSense® and AquaVantage® names and heavy-duty commercial faucets marketed under the AquaSpec® name. Innovative water conserving fixtures are marketed under the EcoVantage® and Zurn One® names. These products are commonly used in office buildings, schools, hospitals, airports, sports facilities, convention centers, shopping malls, restaurants, and industrial production buildings. The Zurn One Systems® integrate valve and/or faucet products with fixtures into complete, easily customizable plumbing systems, and thus provide a valuable time and cost-saving means of delivering commercial and institutional bathroom fixtures. The EcoVantage fixture systems promote water-efficiency and low consumption of water that deliver savings for building owners in new construction and retrofit bathroom fixture installations.

In fiscal 2018, we acquired World Dryer Corporation ("World Dryer"), a leading global manufacturer of commercial electric hand dryers. In fiscal 2020, we acquired Just Manufacturing Company ("Just Manufacturing") a leading manufacturer of stainless steel sinks and plumbing fixtures primarily used in institutional and commercial end markets. The combination of World Dryer’s eco-friendly hand dryers, Just Manufacturing's stainless steel product portfolio and Zurn's water-efficient plumbing products allows us to deliver more finish plumbing content to new and existing buildings.

Acquisitions and Divestitures

Mergers and acquisitions are a critical part of the Rexnord growth strategy. Our strategy is to build around our global strategic platforms by acquiring leading industrial manufacturing companies in attractive markets with businesses that we believe will benefit from RBS to increase customer satisfaction, revenue growth and operating margins. In our last three fiscal years, we have completed several acquisitions within our Process & Motion Control and Water Management platforms focused on expanding our product portfolio and global presence in the end markets we serve; those acquisitions are further described below. The respective purchase prices for these transactions are stated net of cash acquired and exclude transaction costs.

Process & Motion Control

•February 9, 2018 - We acquired Centa, a leading manufacturer of premium flexible couplings and drive shafts for industrial, marine, rail and power generation applications for a cash purchase price of $129.7 million plus assumed debt. Centa, headquartered in Haan, Germany, added complementary product lines to our existing Process & Motion Control platform.

In completing the acquisition of Centa, we also acquired a non-controlling interest in two previously established joint venture relationships. On January 23, 2019, we acquired an additional 47.5% interest in one of these joint venture relationships for $21.4 million. As a result, the results of operations of that entity have been consolidated within our consolidated financial statements subsequent to January 23, 2019.

Water Management

•January 28, 2020 - We acquired substantially all of the assets of Just Manufacturing for a total preliminary cash purchase price of approximately $59.4 million. Just Manufacturing, based in Franklin Park, Illinois, manufactures stainless steel sinks and plumbing fixtures primarily used in institutional and commercial end markets and complements the offerings of our existing Water Management platform.

•May 10, 2019 - We acquired substantially all of the assets of StainlessDrains.com, a manufacturer of stainless steel drains, grates and accessories for industrial and commercial end markets, for a cash purchase price of $24.8 million. StainlessDrains.com, headquartered in Greenville, Texas, added complementary product lines to our existing Water Management platform.

•September 24, 2018 - We acquired certain assets associated with the design and distribution of various roof drains, spouts and flow sensors for institutional, commercial and industrial buildings for $2.0 million. The acquisition of these assets added complementary product lines to our existing Water Management platform.

•October 4, 2017 - We acquired World Dryer, a leading global manufacturer of commercial electric hand dryers, for a cash purchase price of $50.0 million. This acquisition broadened the product portfolio of our existing Water Management platform and continues to enable us to bring greater value to commercial building owners in the form of lower operating costs.

In addition to making acquisitions, we periodically review our operations to determine whether it would be in our interest to divest of certain non-core or non-strategic businesses. Information regarding divestitures within our Water Management platforms during recent fiscal years is included below.

10

•November 26, 2018 - We sold the net assets of our VAG business within our Water Management platform pursuant to our previously disclosed plan to divest of this business. In connection with the sale, we received net cash proceeds of $7.7 million following all final working capital adjustments. All results associated with this business are presented as a discontinued operation in our consolidated financial statements. Refer to Item 8, Note 4, Discontinued Operations for additional information.

Customers

Process & Motion Control Customers

Our Process & Motion Control components are either incorporated into products sold by OEMs or sold to end users for their MRO requirements either directly in certain regions or, more commonly, through industrial distributors as aftermarket products. While approximately 44% of our Process & Motion Control net sales are through our distribution partners, OEMs and end users ultimately drive the demand for our Process & Motion Control products. With approximately 2,600 distributor locations worldwide, we have one of the most extensive distribution networks in the industry.

Rather than serving as passive conduits for delivery of product, our industrial distributors participate in the overall competitive dynamic in the Process & Motion Control industry. Industrial distributors play a role in determining which of our Process & Motion Control products are stocked at their distributor centers and branch locations and, consequently, are most readily accessible to MRO buyers, and the price at which these products are sold.

We market our Process & Motion Control products both to OEMs and directly to end users to create preference of our products through end-user specification. We believe this customer preference is important in differentiating our Process & Motion Control products from our competitors' products and preserves our ability to create channel partnerships where distributors will recommend Rexnord products to OEMs and end users. In some instances, we have established a relationship with the end user such that we, the end user, and the end user's preferred distributor enter into a trilateral agreement whereby the distributor will purchase our Process & Motion Control products and stock them for the end user. We believe our extensive product portfolio positions us to benefit from the trend towards rationalizing suppliers by industrial distributors.

Water Management Customers

Our water safety, quality, flow control and conservation products are sold for new construction, remodeling and retrofit applications to customers in our commercial construction, institutional, infrastructure and residential construction end markets and are distributed through independent sales representatives, plumbing wholesalers and industry-specific distributors in the waterworks, foodservice, industrial, janitorial, sanitation and siteworks industries. Our independent sales representatives work with architects, engineers, building owners and operators, contractors, and builders, to specify our water safety, quality, flow control and conservation products for their use and with wholesalers to assess and meet the needs of building contractors in construction projects. They also combine knowledge of our products’ installation methods and delivery availability with knowledge of the local markets to provide contractors with value-added service. We use approximately 1,200 independent sales representatives, along with a network of regional distribution centers and third-party warehouses, to provide our customers with same-day service and quick response times. Zurn and Wilkins benefit from strong brand recognition, which is further bolstered by a strong propensity to replace "like-for-like" products.

In addition to our domestic Water Management manufacturing facilities, we have maintained a global network of independent sources that manufacture high quality, lower-cost component parts for our commercial, institutional, infrastructure, and residential products. These sources fabricate parts to our specifications using our proprietary designs, which enables us to focus on product engineering, assembly, testing and quality control. By closely monitoring these sources and through extensive product testing, we are able to maintain product quality and be a cost-competitive producer of commercial and institutional products.

Product Development

The majority of our new product development begins with our extensive "Voice of the Customer" operating philosophy. We have a team of approximately 380 engineers and technical employees who are organized by product line. Each of our product lines has technical staff responsible for product development and application support. The Rexnord Innovation Center provides additional support through enhanced capabilities and specialty expertise that can be utilized for product innovation and new product development. The Rexnord Innovation Center is a certified lab comprised of approximately 30 specialists that offers testing capability and design support during the development process to all of our product lines. Our existing pipeline and continued investment in new product development are expected to drive revenue growth as we address key customer needs.

In both of our Process & Motion Control and Water Management platforms, we have demonstrated a commitment to developing technologically advanced products within the industries we serve. In the Process & Motion Control platform, we had approximately 200 United States active patents and approximately 900 active foreign patents as of March 31, 2020. In

11

addition, we thoroughly test our Process & Motion Control products to ensure their quality, understand their wear characteristics and improve their performance. These practices have enabled us, together with our customers, to develop reliable and functional Process & Motion Control solutions. In our Water Management platform, we had approximately 200 United States active patents and approximately 100 foreign active patents as of March 31, 2020. Product innovation is crucial in the commercial and institutional plumbing products markets because new products must continually be developed to meet specifications and regulatory demands. Zurn's plumbing products are known in the industry for such innovation.

In fiscal 2018, we launched DiRXNTM (pronounced "Direction"), our digital enterprise initiative. DiRXNTM is an internet-based customer productivity platform based on the integration of innovative Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and e-commerce technologies with Rexnord's leading portfolio of tools, products and services. DiRXNTM directly connects customers to data and information that allows them to optimize productivity across all stages of their life cycles. During fiscal 2018 and 2019, we began adding Smart Tags to our Process & Motion Control and Water Management products in order to provide our customers with a direct digital link to asset information and digital support for the installation and maintenance of our products. We also began to deliver Process & Motion Control products with embedded sensors to collect real-time operational and contextual information regarding product performance, and we extended these capabilities to select Water Management products in fiscal 2019. Our secure online portal, plumbSMARTTM, allows for real-time insights from Zurn Connected Products including wireless monitoring of usage trends, water consumption, possible issues and alerts through digitally-connected product solutions that can be retrofit to the installed base of our products. This information is used by our customers’ operations and maintenance staff through their facility and automation control systems and cloud-based portals to minimize unplanned system downtime and improve the productivity and safety of our customers’ operations.

Suppliers and Raw Materials

The principal materials used in our Process & Motion Control and Water Management manufacturing processes are commodities and components available from numerous sources. The key materials used in our Process & Motion Control manufacturing processes include: sheet, plate and bar steel, castings, forgings, high-performance engineered plastic and a variety of components. Within our Water Management platform, we purchase a broad range of materials and components throughout the world in connection with our manufacturing activities that include: bar steel, brass, castings, copper, zinc, forgings, plate steel, high-performance engineered plastic and resin. Our global sourcing strategy is to maintain alternate sources of supply for our important materials and components wherever possible within both our Process & Motion Control and Water Management platforms. Historically, we have been able to successfully source materials, and consequently are not dependent on a single source for any significant raw material or component. As a result, we believe there is a readily available supply of materials in sufficient quantity from a variety of sources to serve both our short-term and long-term requirements. Additionally, we have not experienced any significant shortage of our key materials and have not historically engaged in hedging transactions for commodity supplies. We generally purchase our materials on the open market. However, in certain situations we have found it advantageous to enter into contracts for certain commodity purchases. Although currently we are not a party to any unconditional purchase obligations, including take-or-pay contracts or through-put contracts, these contracts generally have had one to five-year terms and have contained competitive and benchmarking clauses to ensure competitive pricing.

Backlog

Our backlog of unshipped orders was $381 million and $373 million as of March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2019, respectively. As of March 31, 2020, approximately 11% of our backlog was scheduled to ship beyond March 31, 2021. Also, see Item 1A Risk Factors of this report for more information on the risks associated with backlog.

Seasonality

We do not experience significant seasonality of demand for our Process & Motion Control products, although sales generally are slightly higher during our fourth fiscal quarter as our customers spend against recently approved capital budgets and perform maintenance and repairs in advance of spring and summer activity. Our Process & Motion Control end markets also do not experience significant seasonality of demand.

Demand for our Water Management products is primarily driven by commercial and institutional construction activity, remodeling and retrofit opportunities, and to a lesser extent, new home starts as well as water and wastewater infrastructure expansion. Accordingly, weather has an impact on the seasonality of certain end markets. With the exception of our remodeling and retrofit opportunities, weather is an important variable as it significantly impacts construction. Spring and summer months in the United States and Canada represent the main construction season for increased construction in the commercial, institutional and infrastructure markets, as well as new housing starts. As a result, sales generally decrease slightly in the third and fourth fiscal quarters as compared to the first two quarters of the fiscal year. The autumn and winter months generally impede construction and installation activity.

12

Our business also depends upon general economic conditions and other market factors beyond our control, and we serve customers in cyclical industries. As a result, our operating results have been, and in the future could be, negatively affected during economic downturns, including the current economic slowdown caused by COVID-19. See Item 1A Risk Factors of this report for more information on the risks associated with general economic conditions and COVID-19.

Employees

As of March 31, 2020, we had approximately 6,800 employees, of whom approximately 3,500 were employed in the United States. Approximately 200 of our United States employees are represented by labor unions. We are currently party to three collective bargaining agreements in the United States. The remaining three collective bargaining agreements have expiration dates in November 2021, May 2022 and June 2022. Additionally, approximately 1,200 of our employees reside in Europe, where trade union membership is common. We believe we have a strong relationship with our employees, including those represented by labor unions.

Environmental Matters

Our operations and facilities worldwide are subject to extensive laws and regulations related to pollution and the protection of the environment, health and safety, including those governing, among other things, emissions to air, discharges to water, the generation, handling, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes and other materials, and the remediation of contaminated sites. A failure by us to comply with applicable requirements or the permits required for our operations could result in civil or criminal fines, penalties, enforcement actions, third-party claims for property damage and personal injury, requirements to clean up property or to pay for the costs of cleanup or regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring corrective measures, including the installation of pollution control equipment or remedial actions.

Some environmental laws and regulations impose requirements to investigate and remediate contamination on present and former owners and operators of facilities and sites, and on a potentially responsible party ("PRP") for sites to which such parties may have sent waste for disposal. Such liability can be imposed without regard to fault and, under certain circumstances, may be joint and several, resulting in one PRP being held responsible for the entire obligation. Liability may also include damages to natural resources. On occasion we are involved in such investigations and/or cleanup, and also have been or could be named as a PRP in environmental matters.

Additional Information

The address of our principal executive office is 511 West Freshwater Way, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204. Our phone number is (414) 643-3739. Our website address is www.rexnordcorporation.com. We make available free of charge, on or through our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and proxy statements on Schedule 14A, as well as amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Copies of any materials that we file with the SEC can also be obtained free of charge through the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. In addition, the (i) charters for the Audit, Nominating and Corporate Governance, and Compensation Committees of our Board of Directors; (ii) our Corporate Governance Guidelines; and (iii) our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics are also available on our website. We will also post any amendments to these documents, or information about any waivers granted to directors or executive officers with respect to the Code of Ethics, on our website. Our website and the information contained on or connected to that site are not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K.

13

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS.

The risks described below are not the only risks facing Rexnord. Additional risks and uncertainties not currently known to us, or those risks we currently view to be immaterial, may also materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, see Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in Item 7 for a further discussion of some of the factors that could affect future results. If any of these risks materialize, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.

Strategic Risks

Strategic risk relates to the Company's business plans and strategies, including the risks associated with: competitive threats; the global macro-environment in which we operate; international uncertainties, including increasing tariffs or other trade protection measures as well as trade wars; restructuring initiatives; mergers and acquisitions; protection of intellectual property; and other risks, including customer concentration, reliance on independent distributors and retention of key personnel.

Our business and operations, and the operations of our suppliers, business partners and customers, have been, and are expected to continue to be adversely affected by the recent Coronavirus (or COVID-19) outbreak, and may be adversely affected by future outbreaks of infectious diseases.

We face risks related to the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”), which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization as the disease has spread across the globe to many countries in which we do business and is impacting worldwide economic activity. The full impact of COVID-19 is unknown and rapidly evolving. Health epidemics or outbreaks of communicable diseases such as COVID-19 could result in widespread or localized health crises that could adversely affect general commercial activity and the economies and financial markets of many countries or localities in which we operate, sell, or purchases good and services. A public health epidemic, including COVID-19, poses the risk that we or our employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, transportation providers, and other business partners may be prevented or impaired from conducting ordinary course business activities for an indefinite period of time, either at specific branches or on a broader scale, including due to shutdowns necessitated for the health and well-being of our employees, the employees of our business partners, or shutdowns that may be requested or mandated by governmental authorities. For example, actions taken by various governments and third parties around the world to combat the spread of COVID-19 (including, in some cases, mandatory quarantines and other suspensions of non-essential business operations) have led to disruptions in our manufacturing and distribution operations and supply chains, including temporary reductions or suspensions of operations at certain of our manufacturing and distribution locations around the world. In addition, our suppliers, business partners and customers are also experiencing similar negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

There can be no assurance that COVID-19 will not impact our business generally as a result of the virus’ potential impact on delays in supply chain, production and/or our customers. While each of our operations has prepared customized business continuity plans to address COVID-19 concerns, in an effort to ensure that we are protecting our employees, continuing to operate our business and service our customers’ needs, and mitigating the potential impacts of COVID-19 or other similar epidemics or outbreaks of infectious diseases, there is no guarantee that such plans will anticipate or fully mitigate the various impacts the pandemic or epidemic may have, much of which is still entirely uncertain. While it is not possible at this time to estimate the scope and severity of the impact that COVID-19 could have on our operations, the continued spread of COVID-19, the measures taken by the governments of countries affected, actions taken to protect employees, actions taken to shutdown or temporarily discontinue operations in certain locations, and the impact of the pandemic on various business activities in affected countries and the economy generally, could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. The extent to which COVID-19, or its broader ramifications, impacts our business will depend on the severity, location and duration of the spread of COVID-19, and the actions undertaken by local and world governments and health officials to contain the virus or treat its effects, and the actions undertaken by the leadership and employees of our Company as well as those of our suppliers, customers and other business partners.

The markets in which we sell our products are highly competitive; an inability to effectively compete may adversely affect our financial conditions and results of operations.

We operate in highly competitive markets in both of our platforms. Some of our competitors have achieved substantially more market penetration in certain of the markets in which we operate. Some of our competitors are larger and may have greater financial and other resources than we do, and our competitors may adopt more aggressive sales policies and devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we do, all of which could result in a loss of customers and in turn adversely affect our results of operations.

We operate in highly fragmented markets within the Process & Motion Control platform. As a result, we compete against numerous companies. Competition in our business lines is based on a number of considerations, including product performance, cost of transportation in the distribution of products, brand reputation, quality of client service and support, product availability and price. Additionally, some of our larger customers continue to attempt to reduce the number of vendors

14

from which they purchase in order to increase their efficiency. If we are not selected to become one of these preferred providers, we may lose access to certain sections of the markets in which we compete. Our customers increasingly demand a competitively priced broad product range and we must continue to develop our expertise in order to manufacture and market these products successfully. To remain competitive, we will need to invest continuously in manufacturing, customer service and support, marketing and our distribution networks. We cannot assure that we will have sufficient resources to continue to make these investments or that we will maintain our competitive position within each of the markets we serve.

Within the Water Management platform, we compete against both large international and national rivals, as well as many regional competitors. Significant competition in any of the markets in which the Water Management platform operates could result in substantial downward pressure on product pricing and our profit margins, thereby adversely affecting the Water Management platform's financial results. Furthermore, we cannot provide assurance that we will be able to maintain or increase the current market share of our products successfully in the future.

We may be unable to realize intended benefits from our ongoing Supply Chain Optimization and Footprint Repositioning initiatives, restructuring and divestiture efforts, and as a result our profitability may be hurt or our business otherwise might be adversely affected.

In order to operate more efficiently, control costs and refine our business focus, we undertake from time to time restructuring plans, which can include global facility consolidations, product rationalizations, workforce reductions and other cost reduction initiatives. We also choose to divest operations that we no longer believe are additive or complementary to our platforms or strategic direction, such as our fiscal 2019 disposition of the VAG business. These plans are intended to reduce operating costs, to modify our footprint to reflect changes in the markets we serve, to reflect changes in business focus, to strengthen focus on our core business and/or to address overall manufacturing overcapacity, including as a result of acquisitions. In addition to our announced Supply Chain Optimization and Footprint Repositioning initiatives, we may undertake further restructuring actions, workforce reductions or divestitures in the future as we evaluate our business in connection with the economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These types of activities are complex. If we do not successfully manage our current restructuring activities, or any other restructuring activities or divestitures that we may undertake in the future, expected efficiencies, benefits and cost savings might be delayed or not realized, and our operations and business could be disrupted.

In addition, as a result of such actions, we expect to incur restructuring expenses and other charges (including, for example, potential impairment charges related to fixed assets, goodwill and other intangibles), which may be material, and may exceed our estimates. Several factors could cause restructuring or divestiture activities to adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These include potential disruption of our operations, customer relationships and other aspects of our business. Employee morale and productivity could also suffer or result in unwanted employee attrition. These activities require substantial management time and attention and may divert management from other important work or result in a failure to meet operational targets. Divestitures may also give rise to obligations to buyers or other parties that could have a financial effect after the transaction is completed. Moreover, we could encounter changes to, or delays in executing, any restructuring or divestiture plans, any of which could cause further disruption and additional unanticipated expense.

If we are unable to effectively manage risks associated with changing technology, product innovation and new product development, manufacturing techniques, distribution channels and business continuity, we may be at a competitive disadvantage.

The successful implementation of our business strategy requires us to continuously evolve our existing products and introduce new products to meet customers' needs in the industries we serve. Our products are characterized by stringent performance and specification requirements that mandate a high degree of manufacturing and engineering expertise. If we fail to meet these requirements, our business could be at risk. We believe that our customers rigorously evaluate their suppliers on the basis of a number of factors, including product quality, price competitiveness, technical and manufacturing expertise, development and product design capability, new product innovation, reliability and timeliness of delivery, operational flexibility, customer service and overall management. Our success will depend on our ability to continue to meet our customers' changing specifications with respect to these criteria. We cannot ensure that we will be able to address technological advances or introduce new products that may be necessary to remain competitive within our businesses. Further, such new products and technologies may create additional exposure or risk. We cannot ensure that we can adequately protect any of our own technological developments to produce a sustainable competitive advantage. Furthermore, we may be subject to business continuity risk in the event of an unexpected loss of a material facility or operation. We cannot ensure that we can adequately protect against such a loss.

General economic and financial market weakness, as well as overall challenging market cycles, may adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations.

Our business operations have been adversely affected from time to time by volatility and weaknesses in the global economy and financial markets. The current economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to adversely

15

affect our future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, though we are unable to predict the extent of the impact at this time due to the uncertainty regarding the duration and economic impact of the pandemic. Weak, challenging or volatile economic conditions in the end markets, businesses or geographic areas in which we sell our products are expected to reduce demand for products and result in a decrease in sales volume, which would have a negative impact on our future results of operations.

Our financial performance depends, in large part, on conditions in the markets that we serve in the U.S. and the global economy generally. Some of the industries we serve are highly cyclical, such as the aerospace, energy and industrial equipment industries, and some industries are expected to experience greater COVID-19-related impacts than others. We have undertaken cost reduction programs as well as diversified our markets to mitigate the effects of economic downturns; however, such programs may be unsuccessful. Any sustained weakness in demand or downturn or uncertainty in the economy generally, would materially reduce our net sales and profitability.

For example, sales to the construction industry are driven by trends in commercial and residential construction, housing starts and trends in residential repair and remodeling. Consumer confidence, employment rates, weather conditions, mortgage rates, credit standards and availability of consumer credit and income levels play a significant role in driving demand in commercial and residential construction, repair and remodeling sector. A drop or weakness in consumer confidence, prolonged adverse weather conditions, lack of availability or increased cost of credit, credit standards or unemployment could delay a recovery of commercial and residential construction levels and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. This may express itself in substantial downward pressure on product pricing and our profit margins, thereby adversely affecting our financial results.

Additionally, some of our products are used in the energy, mining and cement and aggregates markets. Reductions and volatility in the prices of petroleum-related products and certain other mined raw materials costs have historically adversely affected the energy and mining industries, reducing their capital investments and the demand for certain of our products. Some customers may defer or cancel anticipated expenditures, projects or expansions until such time as these projects will be profitable based on the underlying cost of commodities compared to the cost of the project. Weakness in those markets may also affect pricing of our products that are sold for use in those markets.

Volatility and disruption of financial markets, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could limit the ability of our customers to obtain adequate financing to maintain operations and may cause them to terminate existing purchase orders, reduce the volume of products they purchase from us in the future or impact their ability to pay their receivables. Adverse economic and financial market conditions may also cause our suppliers to be unable to meet their commitments to us or may cause suppliers to make changes in the credit terms they extend to us, such as shortening the required payment period for outstanding accounts receivable or reducing or eliminating the amount of trade credit available to us.

An inability to effectively integrate acquisitions could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Acquisitions are part of our growth strategy. We cannot ensure that we will be able to complete any such acquisition, that we will be able to successfully integrate any acquired business or operations, or that we will be able to accomplish our strategic objectives as a result of any such acquisition. Nor can we ensure that our acquisition strategies will be successfully received by customers or achieve their intended benefits.

Acquisitions are often undertaken to improve the operating results of either or both of the acquirer and the acquired company and we cannot ensure that we will be successful in this regard. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be able to fully realize the intended benefits from our acquisitions. We have encountered, and may encounter, various risks in acquiring other companies including the possible inability to integrate an acquired business into our operations, potential failure to realize anticipated benefits, diversion of management's attention, issues in customer transitions, potential inadequacies of indemnities and other contractual remedies and unanticipated problems, risks or liabilities, including environmental, some or all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our international operations are subject to uncertainties, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our business remains subject to certain risks associated with doing business internationally. A significant portion of our sales are international; approximately 29% of our total net sales in fiscal 2020 originated outside of the U.S. Additionally, we have significant manufacturing operations outside of the U.S. Accordingly, our future results could be harmed by a variety of factors relating to global operations, including:

•tariff increases, import duties, trade wars or other retaliatory or trade protection measures instituted by the U.S. or other countries;

•fluctuations in currency exchange rates, particularly fluctuations in the Euro against the U.S. dollar;

•foreign exchange controls;

16

•compliance with export controls, import and export licensing requirements, and other trade compliance regulations;

•changes in tax laws;

•interest rates;

•differences in business practices in various countries;

•changes and differences in regulatory requirements in countries in which we operate or make sales;

•differing labor regulations, practices and standards;

•significant natural disasters, terrorist activities, the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, other outbreaks of infectious diseases and other events or factors impacting local economies and/or infrastructure.

•restrictions on our ability to own or operate subsidiaries, make investments, move operations or acquire new businesses in these jurisdictions;

•requirements relating to withholding taxes on remittances and other payments by subsidiaries;

•restrictions under U.S. tax laws and other laws on our ability to repatriate dividends from our foreign subsidiaries; and

•exposure to liabilities under anti-corruption laws in various countries, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 ("FCPA").

As we continue to expand our business globally, our success will depend, in large part, on our ability to anticipate and effectively manage these and other risks associated with our international operations. However, any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our international operations and, consequently, our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

The loss or financial instability of any significant customer or customers accounting for our backlog could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

A substantial part of our business is concentrated with a few customers, and we have certain customers that are significant to our business. During fiscal 2020, our top 5 customers accounted for approximately 25.8% of our consolidated net sales, our largest customer accounted for less than 10% of consolidated net sales for the year ended March 31, 2020. The loss of one or more of these customers or other major customers, or a deterioration in our relationship with any of them could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our contracted backlog is comprised of future orders for our products from a broad number of customers. Defaults by any of the customers that have placed significant orders with us could have a significant adverse effect on our net sales, profitability and cash flow. Our customers may in the future default on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failure or other reasons deriving from the general economic environment or circumstances affecting those customers in particular. We believe that these risks are heightened due to the global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. If a customer defaults on its obligations to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our backlog, business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. As of March 31, 2020, approximately 11% of our backlog was scheduled to ship beyond March 31, 2021.

We rely on independent distributors. Termination of one or more of our relationships with any of our key independent distributors or an increase in the distributors’ sales of our competitors’ products could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

In addition to our own direct sales force, we depend on the services of independent distributors to sell our Process & Motion Control products and provide service and aftermarket support to our OEMs and end users. We rely on an extensive distribution network, with nearly 2,600 distributor locations nationwide; however, for fiscal 2020, approximately 20% of our Process & Motion Control net sales were generated through sales to three of our key independent distributors, the largest of which accounted for 13% of Process & Motion Control net sales. Within Water Management, we depend on 1,200 independent sales representatives and approximately 60 third-party warehouses to distribute our products; however, for fiscal 2020, our three key independent distributors generated approximately 40% of our Water Management net sales with the largest accounting for 25% of Water Management net sales.

The loss of one of our key distributors or of a substantial number of our other distributors or an increase in the distributors' sales of our competitors' products to our customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

The inability to adequately protect intellectual property, or defend against infringement claims brought against us, could adversely affect our business.

We attempt to protect our intellectual property through a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection, as well as third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements. We cannot assure that any of our applications for protection of our intellectual property rights will be approved and maintained or that our competitors will not infringe or

17

successfully challenge our intellectual property rights. We also rely on unpatented proprietary technology. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. To protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information, we require employees, consultants and advisors to enter into confidentiality agreements. We cannot assure that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, our ability to sustain margins on some or all of our products may be affected, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

In addition, in the ordinary course of our operations, from time to time we pursue and are pursued in potential litigation relating to the protection of certain intellectual property rights, including some of our more profitable products. An adverse ruling or other unfavorable outcome in any such litigation could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Terrorism, conflicts, wars and weather events may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

As a global company with a large international footprint, we are subject to increased risk of damage or disruption to us, our employees, facilities, partners, suppliers, distributors, resellers or customers due to acts of terrorism, political conflicts, wars and weather events, in multiple locations around the world. In addition to the issues created by significant weather events, the potential for future attacks, the national and international responses to attacks or perceived threats to national security, and other actual or potential actions, conflicts or wars have created, and will continue to create, economic and political uncertainties. In addition, as a global company with headquarters and significant operations located in the U.S., actions against or by the U.S. may particularly impact our business or employees. Although it is impossible to predict the occurrences or consequences of any such events, they could result in disruptions to our operations, decreases in demand for our products, difficulty or impossibility in delivering products to our customers or receiving components from our suppliers, delays and inefficiencies in our supply chain and risks to our employees, resulting in, among other things, temporarily closed facilities, travel restrictions or longer-term disruptions, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Operational Risks

Operational risk relates to risks arising from innovation, systems, processes, and external or internal events that affect the operation of our businesses. It includes product life cycle and execution; information management and data protection and security, including cyber security; supply chain and business disruption; and other risks, including human resources and employee relations.

Increases in the cost or availability of raw materials, including as a result of tariffs or other trade protection measures, could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our manufacturing processes depend on third parties for raw materials, in particular bar steel, brass, castings, copper, forgings, high-performance engineered plastic, plate steel, resin, sheet steel and zinc, as well as petroleum and other carbon-based fuel products. While we strive to maintain alternative sources for most raw materials, our business is subject to the risk of price fluctuations, including as a result of, or in reaction to, tariffs, import duties, or other trade protection measures instituted by the U.S. or other countries, inefficiencies in the event of a need to change our suppliers, and delays in the delivery of and potential unavailability of our raw materials. Also, trade wars could impact the cost or availability of goods or materials, both imported and domestic, or adversely affect demand for our products. Any such price fluctuations or delays, if material, could harm our profitability or operations. In addition, the loss of a substantial number of suppliers could result in material cost increases or reduce our production capacity.

We do not typically enter into hedge transactions to reduce our exposure to purchase price risks and cannot ensure that we would be successful in recouping these increases if these risks were to materialize. In addition, if we are unable to continue to purchase our required quantities of raw materials on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, or if we are unable to maintain or enter into our purchasing contracts for our larger commodities, our business operations could be disrupted and our profitability could be impacted in a material adverse manner.

The ongoing updates to our Enterprise Resource Planning ("ERP") systems, as well as failures of our data security and information technology infrastructure and cyber security, could cause substantial business interruptions and/or adversely affect our business.

Utilizing a phased approach, we continue to update our ERP systems across both our Process & Motion Control and Water Management platforms. If these updates are unsuccessful, we could incur substantial business interruptions, including the

18

inability to perform routine business transactions, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance. Further, these updates may not result in the benefits we intend or be implemented on a timely basis.

In addition, we depend heavily on information technology infrastructure to manage our business objectives and operations, including our DiRXN digital productivity platform, support our customers’ requirements and protect sensitive information. There have been significant and increasing instances of data and security breaches, malicious interference with technology systems and industrial espionage involving companies in numerous industries, including cloud providers, and cyber security threats are becoming more complex. Like other companies, we have experienced these types of threats; however, to date, we have not experienced a material threat or incident. In addition, we currently have a large percentage of our workforce working remotely due to governmental order related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may heighten these risks. While we have taken steps to maintain and enhance adequate cyber security and address these risks and uncertainties by implementing additional security technologies, internal controls, network and data center resiliency, redundancy and recovery processes and by obtaining insurance coverage, these measures may be inadequate. As a result, any inability by us to successfully manage our information systems, or respond effectively to any attack on or interference with our systems, including matters related to system and data security, privacy, reliability, compliance, performance and access, problems related to our systems caused by natural disasters, security breaches or malicious attacks, and any inability of these systems to fulfill their intended business purpose, could impede our ability to record or process orders, manufacture and ship in a timely manner, account for and collect receivables, protect sensitive data of the Company, our customers, our employees, our suppliers and other business partners, comply with our third party obligations of confidentiality and care, or otherwise carry on business in the normal course. Any such events could require significant costly remediation beyond levels covered by insurance and could cause us to lose customers and/or revenue, require us to incur significant expense to remediate, including as a result of legal or regulatory claims or proceedings, or damage our reputation, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

We are also subject to an increasing number of evolving data privacy and security laws and regulations that impose requirements on us. We collect, store, access and otherwise process certain confidential or sensitive data, including proprietary business information, personal data or other information that is subject to privacy and security laws, regulations and/or customer-imposed controls. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations could result in the imposition of fines, penalties and other costs. For example, the European Union’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018, the European Union’s pending ePrivacy Regulation and California’s implementation of its Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and Connected Device Privacy Act of 2018 all could disrupt our ability to sell products or use and transfer data because such activities may not be in compliance with applicable law in certain jurisdictions.

Our inability to attract and retain key personnel may adversely affect our business.

Our success depends on our ability to recruit, retain and develop highly-skilled management and key personnel. Competition for these individuals in our industry is intense and we may not be able to successfully recruit, train or retain qualified personnel, or to effectively implement successions to existing personnel. If we fail to retain and recruit the necessary personnel or arrange for successors to key personnel, our business could materially suffer.

Weather could adversely affect the demand for products in our Water Management platform and decrease our net sales.

Demand for our Water Management products is primarily driven by commercial construction activity, remodeling and retrofit opportunities, and to a lesser extent, new home starts. Weather is an important variable affecting financial performance as it significantly impacts construction activity. Adverse weather conditions, such as prolonged periods of cold or rain, blizzards, hurricanes and other severe weather patterns, could delay or halt construction and remodeling activity, which could have a negative effect on our business. For example, an unusually severe winter can lead to reduced construction activity and magnify the seasonal decline in our Water Management net sales and earnings during the winter months. In addition, a prolonged winter season can delay construction and remodeling plans and hamper the typical seasonal increase in net sales and earnings during the spring months.

Disruptions caused by labor disputes or organized labor activities could adversely affect our business or financial results.

As of March 31, 2020, we had approximately 6,800 employees. Our primary risk resides with approximately 1,200 of our employees that reside in Europe, where trade union membership is common. Although we believe that our relations with our employees are strong, if our unionized workers were to engage in a strike, work stoppage or other slowdown in the future, we could experience a significant disruption of our operations, which could interfere with our ability to deliver products on a timely basis and could have other negative effects, such as decreased productivity and increased labor costs. In addition, if a greater percentage of our workforce becomes unionized as a result of legal or regulatory changes which may make union organizing easier, or otherwise, our costs could increase and our efficiency be affected in a material adverse manner, negatively impacting our business and financial results. Further, many of our direct and indirect customers and their suppliers, and organizations responsible for shipping our products, have unionized workforces and their businesses may be impacted by

19

strikes, work stoppages or slowdowns, any of which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Financial Risks

Financial risk relates to our ability to meet our financial obligations. It includes our highly leveraged capital structure, compliance with covenants related to our credit agreement and our 4.875% Senior Notes due 2025 (the "Notes"), limits on access to liquidity and restrictive credit-related agreements.

Our debt levels could adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations, limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, inhibit us from making beneficial acquisitions, adversely impact our ability to implement our capital allocation strategy and prevent us from making debt service payments.

Although we reduced our long-term debt in recent years, we are still a highly leveraged company. Our ability to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to make scheduled payments on our debt will depend on a range of economic, competitive and business factors, many of which are outside our control. Our business may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations to meet our debt service and other obligations, and currently anticipated cost savings and operating improvements may not be realized on schedule, or at all. If we are unable to meet our expenses and debt service and other obligations, we may need to refinance all or a portion of our indebtedness on or before maturity, sell assets or raise equity. We may not be able to refinance any of our indebtedness, sell assets or raise equity on commercially reasonable terms or at all, which could cause us to default on our obligations and impair our liquidity. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flow to satisfy our debt obligations or to refinance our obligations on commercially reasonable terms would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Our substantial indebtedness could also have other important consequences with respect to our ability to manage and grow our business successfully, including the following:

•it may limit our ability to borrow money for our working capital, capital expenditures, strategic initiatives, acquisitions or other purposes;

•it may make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our indebtedness, and any failure to comply with the obligations of any of our debt instruments, including restrictive covenants and borrowing conditions, could result in an event of default under our credit agreement, the indenture governing our Notes (the "Indenture") and our other indebtedness;

•a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations will be dedicated to the repayment of our indebtedness and so will not be available for other purposes;

•it may limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our operations or business, or in taking advantage of strategic opportunities;

•we are and will continue to be more highly leveraged than some of our competitors, which may place us at a competitive disadvantage;

•it may make us more vulnerable to downturns in our business or the economy;

•it may restrict us from making strategic acquisitions or divestitures, introducing new technologies or exploiting business opportunities; and

•along with the financial and other restrictive covenants in the documents governing our indebtedness, among other things, may limit our ability to borrow additional funds, make acquisitions or capital expenditures, acquire or dispose of assets or take certain of the actions mentioned above, or adversely impact our ability to implement our capital allocation strategy (which includes paying dividends on our common stock), any of which could restrict our operations and business plans.

Furthermore, a substantial portion of our indebtedness, including the senior secured credit facilities and borrowings outstanding under our accounts receivable securitization facility, bears interest at rates that fluctuate with changes in certain short-term prevailing interest rates, including the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR"). In addition, the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that after 2021 it would no longer persuade or compel panel banks to submit the rates required to calculate LIBOR, and it is unclear whether the banks currently reporting information used to set LIBOR will stop doing so after 2021. Although the consequences of these developments cannot be predicted at this time, should LIBOR or an alternative index no longer be available, the rates under our variable rate indebtedness could increase and access to capital could be limited. During fiscal 2020, the agreement governing our senior security credit facility was amended to provide that if LIBOR becomes unavailable, we would work with our banks to establish an alternate rate of interest that gives due consideration to the then-prevailing market convention for determining interest rates for syndicated loans in the United States. See Item 7A, Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk for additional information on our debt that is subject to the LIBOR rate.

20

Also, in spite of the limitations in our credit agreement and/or the Indenture, we may still incur significantly more debt, which could intensify the risks described above on our business, results and financial condition. For more information about our indebtedness, see Item 8, Note 11, Long-Term Debt.

The agreements governing our financing arrangements impose certain operating and financial restrictions, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Our credit agreement and the Indenture contain various covenants that limit or prohibit our ability (subject to certain exceptions), among other things, to:

•incur or guarantee additional indebtedness;

•pay dividends on our capital stock or redeem, repurchase, retire or make distributions in respect of our capital stock or subordinated indebtedness or make other restricted payments;

•make certain loans, acquisitions, capital expenditures or investments;

•sell certain assets, including stock of our subsidiaries;

•enter into sale and leaseback transactions;

•create or incur liens;

•consolidate, merge, sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets; and

•enter into certain transactions with our affiliates.

These agreements contain covenants that restrict our ability to take certain actions, such as incurring additional debt, if we are unable to meet defined specified financial ratios, which could result in limiting our long-term growth prospects by hindering our ability to incur future indebtedness or grow through acquisitions. Failure to comply with certain covenants in these agreements could result in a default. For more information, see Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.

The restrictions contained in the credit agreement and/or the Indenture could:

•limit our ability to plan for or react to market conditions or meet capital needs or otherwise restrict our activities or business plans;

•restrict our ability to repurchase shares of our common stock and/or adversely impact our ability to implement capital allocation strategy;

•adversely affect our ability to finance our operations, to enter into strategic acquisitions, to fund investments or other capital needs or to engage in other business activities that would be in our interest; and

•limit our access to the cash generated by our subsidiaries.

Upon the occurrence of an event of default under the credit agreement and/or the Indenture, the lenders or the noteholders could elect to declare all amounts outstanding under the senior secured credit facilities and/or the Notes to be immediately due and payable and terminate all commitments to extend further credit. If we were unable to repay those amounts, the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities could proceed against the collateral granted to them to secure the senior secured credit facilities on a first- priority lien basis. If the lenders under the senior secured credit facilities or the noteholders accelerate the repayment of borrowings, such acceleration could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. For a more detailed description of the limitations on our ability to incur additional indebtedness, see Item 7 Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources.

21

Our goodwill and intangible assets are valued at an amount that is high relative to our total assets and in excess of our stockholders equity.

As of March 31, 2020, our goodwill and intangible assets totaled $1,321.9 million and $514.2 million, respectively, and represent a substantial portion of our assets. These assets result from our acquisitions, representing the excess of cost over the fair value of the tangible net assets we have acquired. We assess at least annually whether there has been impairment in the value of our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets. Significant negative industry or economic trends, disruptions to our business, inability to effectively integrate acquired businesses, unexpected significant changes or planned changes to the use of our assets, changes in the structure of our business, divestitures, market capitalization declines, or increases in associated discount rates may impair our goodwill and other intangible assets. Any determination requiring the impairment of goodwill or intangible assets would negatively affect our results of operations, particularly in the period in which we take any related charges, and financial condition.

Our required cash contributions to our pension plans may increase further and we could experience a material change in the funded status of our defined benefit pension plans and the amount recorded in our consolidated balance sheets related to those plans. Additionally, our pension costs could increase in future years.

The funded status of the defined benefit pension plans depends on such factors as asset returns, market interest rates, legislative changes and funding regulations. If the returns on the assets of any of our plans were to decline in future periods, if market interest rates were to decline, if the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ("PBGC") were to require additional contributions to any such plans as a result of acquisitions or if other actuarial assumptions were to be modified, our future required cash contributions and pension costs to such plans could increase. Any such increases could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

The need to make contributions, which may be substantial, to such plans may reduce the cash available to meet our other obligations, including our obligations under our borrowing arrangements or to meet the needs of our business. In addition, the PBGC may terminate our U.S. defined benefit pension plans under limited circumstances, including in the event the PBGC concludes that the risk may increase unreasonably if such plans continue. In the event a U.S. defined benefit pension plan is terminated for any reason while it is underfunded, we could be required to make an immediate payment to the PBGC of all or a substantial portion of such plan's underfunding, as calculated by the PBGC based on its own assumptions (which might result in a larger obligation than that based on the assumptions we have used to fund such plan), and the PBGC could place a lien on material amounts of our assets.

Legal and Compliance Risks

Legal and compliance risk relates to risks arising from conformity with external policies and procedures, government and regulatory compliance, and ongoing environment and legal proceedings. These include customer driven policies, government and regulatory requirements and environmental health and safety litigation. These types of risks may impose additional cost on us or cause us to have to change our business models or practices.

Our failure to comply with government regulations and requirements, third-party certification requirements and policies and standards driven by our customers or other constituencies, including those related to social responsibility, could adversely affect our reputation, business and results of operations.

In addition to complying with laws and applicable government regulations and requirements, prevailing industry standards, competitive pressures and/or our customers may require us to comply with further quality, social responsibility, or other business policies or standards, before customers and prospective customers commence, or continue, doing business with us. These expectations, policies and standards may be more restrictive than current laws and regulations as well as our own pre-existing policies; they may be customer-driven, established by the industry sectors in which we operate or imposed by third-party organizations or other constituencies.

Our compliance with these policies, standards and third party certification requirements could be costly and could in some cases require us to change the way in which we operate. In addition, if we fail to comply, or if our compliance increases our costs and/or restricts our ability to do business as compared to our competitors that do not adhere to such standards, we could experience an adverse effect on our customer relationships, reputation, operations, cost structure and/or profitability.

We are subject to changes in legislative, regulatory and legal developments involving taxes.

We are subject to U.S. federal and state, and other countries' and jurisdictions', income, payroll, property, sales and use, value added, fuel and other types of taxes. Changes in tax rates, enactment of new tax laws, revisions of tax regulations, and claims or litigation with taxing authorities may require significant judgment in determining the appropriate provision and related accruals for these taxes; and as a result, such changes could result in substantially higher taxes and, therefore, could have a significant adverse effect on our results or operations, financial conditions and liquidity.

22

Currently, a significant amount of our revenue is generated from customers located outside of the United States, and a large portion of our assets and employees are located outside of the U.S. The U.S., the EU and member states along with numerous other countries have recently engaged in (and many continue to engage in) establishing fundamental changes to tax laws affecting the taxation of multinational corporations. On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("U.S. Tax Reform"). U.S. Tax Reform incorporated broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code and there have been some initial regulatory and administrative developments with respect to U.S. Tax Reform; however, we expect to continue to see future regulatory, administrative or legislative guidance in this area. The full extent of the impact remains uncertain at this time, and our current interpretations of, and assumptions regarding, U.S. Tax Reform are subject to additional regulatory or administrative developments, including any additional regulations or other guidance promulgated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). As a result, U.S. Tax Reform, including any regulations or other guidance promulgated by the IRS, and other tax laws or developments in the U.S. or other countries could have significant effects on us, some of which may be adverse and could materially and adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, and have a negative impact on our ability to compete in the global marketplace.

We may incur significant costs for environmental compliance and/or to address liabilities under environmental laws and regulations, and our reputation may be adversely affected.

Our operations and facilities worldwide are subject to extensive laws and regulations related to pollution and the protection of the environment, health and safety, including those governing, among other things, emissions to air, discharges to water, the generation, handling, storage, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes and other materials, and the remediation of contaminated sites. A failure by us to comply with applicable requirements or the permits required for our operations could result in civil or criminal fines, penalties, enforcement actions, third-party claims for property damage and personal injury, requirements to clean up property or to pay for the costs of cleanup or regulatory or judicial orders enjoining or curtailing operations or requiring corrective measures, including the installation of pollution control equipment or remedial actions, as well as cause damage to our reputation.

Some environmental laws and regulations impose requirements to investigate and remediate contamination on present and former owners and operators of facilities and sites, and on potentially responsible parties ("PRPs") for sites to which such parties may have sent waste for disposal. Such liability can be imposed without regard to fault and, under certain circumstances, may be joint and several, resulting in one PRP being held responsible for the entire obligation. Liability may also include damages to natural resources. On occasion we are involved in such investigations and/or cleanup, and also have been or could be named as a PRP in environmental matters.

The discovery of additional contamination, including at acquired facilities, the imposition of more stringent environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including cleanup requirements, disputes with our insurers or the insolvency of other responsible parties could require us to incur significant capital expenditures or operating costs materially in excess of our accruals. Future investigations we undertake may lead to discoveries of contamination that must be remediated, and decisions to close facilities may trigger remediation requirements that are not currently applicable. We may also face liability for alleged personal injury or property damage due to exposure to hazardous substances used or disposed of by us, contained within our current or former products, or present in the soil or groundwater at our current or former facilities. We could incur significant costs in connection with such liabilities. See Item 8, Note 18, Commitments and Contingencies for additional information.

Certain subsidiaries are subject to litigation, including numerous asbestos and product liability claims, which could adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Certain subsidiaries are co-defendants in various lawsuits in a number of U.S. jurisdictions alleging personal injury as a result of exposure to asbestos that was used in certain components of our products. The uncertainties of litigation and the uncertainties related to insurance and indemnification coverage make it difficult to accurately predict the ultimate financial effect of these claims. If our insurance or indemnification coverage is not adequate to cover our potential financial exposure, our insurers dispute their obligations to provider coverage or the actual number or value of asbestos-related claims differs materially from our existing estimates, we could incur material costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

23

In addition, we may be subject to product liability claims if the use of our products, or the exposure to our products or their raw materials, is alleged to have resulted in injury or other adverse effects. We currently maintain product liability insurance coverage but we cannot assure that we will be able to obtain such insurance on commercially reasonable terms in the future, if at all, or that any such insurance will provide adequate coverage against claims. Product liability claims can be expensive to defend and can divert the attention of management and other personnel for long periods of time, regardless of the ultimate outcome. In addition, our business depends on the strong brand reputation we have developed; if this reputation is damaged as a result of a product liability claim, it may be difficult to maintain our pricing positions and market share with respect to our products. Therefore, an unsuccessful product liability defense could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. See Item 8, Note 18, Commitments and Contingencies for additional details.

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS.

None.

24

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES.

Within Process & Motion Control, as of March 31, 2020, we had 46 principal manufacturing, warehouse and repair facilities as set forth below:

Total Square Feet

Location Number of Facilities Owned Leased

Within Water Management, as of March 31, 2020, we had 17 principal manufacturing and warehouse facilities as set forth below:

Total Square Feet

Location Number of Facilities Owned Leased

We believe our Process & Motion Control and Water Management properties are suitable for their respective operations and provide sufficient capacity for our current and future anticipated needs.

25

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.

Information with respect to our legal proceedings is contained in Item 8, Note 18, Commitments and Contingencies.

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES.

Not applicable.

* * *

26

Information about our Executive Officers

The following table sets forth information concerning our executive officers as of the date of this report:

Name Age Position(s) In Current Position(s) since

Todd A. Adams 49 President, Chief Executive Officer and Director 2009

Mark W. Peterson 48 Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 2011

Sudhanshu Chhabra 54 Vice President - Rexnord Business Systems 2018

George J. Powers 53 Chief Human Resources Officer 2015

Michael D. Troutman 53 Chief Information Officer 2007

Craig G. Wehr 55 Group Executive, President - Zurn 2013

Patricia M. Whaley 61 Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary 2002

Information about the business experience of our executive officers during at least the past five fiscal years is as follows:

Todd A. Adams became our President and Chief Executive Officer in 2009. Mr. Adams joined us in 2004 as Vice President, Treasurer and Controller; he has also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer and as President of the Water Management platform.

Mark W. Peterson became our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 2011. Mr. Peterson previously served as Vice President and Controller of Rexnord and as a Rexnord Divisional CFO. Mr. Peterson is a certified public accountant.

Sudhanshu Chhabra became Vice President – Rexnord Business Systems in 2018.Mr. Chhabra was Rexnord's President - Consumer Goods and Regional Executive - India from 2016 to 2018 after having joined Rexnord in 2014 as President & Regional Executive for India and the Middle East. Prior to joining Rexnord, Mr. Chhabra served in various positions with Danaher Corporation, a diversified manufacturer, most recently as President – Asia, Gilbarco Veeder-Root Inc. and as Managing Director – India, Gilbarco Veeder-Root Inc.

Rodney Jackson became Senior Vice President – Business & Corporate Development in 2014. Prior to joining Rexnord, Mr. Jackson was a member of Danaher Corporation’s Corporate Development team, most recently as Vice President of Corporate Development and M&A lead for its product identification and motion platforms. Prior to joining Danaher, Mr. Jackson served in various roles of increasing responsibility with Pentair and worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs.

George J. Powers became our Chief Human Resources Officer in 2015. Prior to joining Rexnord, Mr. Powers served in various positions with Schneider Electric, a global energy management company, since 1993, most recently as Senior Vice President, Human Resources – Global Solutions Division, from 2013 to 2015.

Michael D. Troutman became Rexnord's Chief Information Officer at Rexnord in 2007 and an executive officer in 2017. Before joining Rexnord, he was with AT&T, Lucent, and Agere Systems in various senior information technology positions implementing global industry leading solutions and processes.

Craig G. Wehr became President of our Zurn Group in 2013. Mr. Wehr previously served in various positions with Zurn Industries LLC since 1993, including as Vice President / General Manager of Zurn Specification Drain Operations.

Patricia M. Whaley became our Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary in 2002. Ms. Whaley previously served in various legal positions of increasing responsibility with Rexnord and its prior parent corporations, including as Division Senior Counsel for the Automation Systems Division of Invensys plc and corporate counsel for BTR Inc.

Kevin J. Zaba became President of our Process & Motion Control Platform in 2016. He also served as the President of our Power Transmission Group from 2014 to 2016. Prior to joining Rexnord, Mr. Zaba served in various positions with Rockwell Automation, Inc., a leader in industrial automation and information, most recently as Vice President – Solutions, Services & Sales and as Vice President / General Manager – Control & Visualization Products Business.

27

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") under the symbol "RXN." As of May 8, 2020, there was 1 holder of record of our common stock. We believe the number of beneficial owners of our common stock exceeds 1,000.

Dividend Policy

On January 27, 2020, our Board of Directors declared an initial quarterly cash dividend on our common stock of $0.08 per share that was paid on March 6, 2020, to stockholders of record as of February 21, 2020, which represented the first dividend on common stock that we have paid since our 2012 initial public offering and the only dividend on our common stock declared or paid during fiscal 2020. The decision whether to pay future dividends will be made by our Board of Directors in light of conditions then existing, including factors such as our results of operations, financial condition and requirements, business conditions and covenants under any applicable borrowing agreements and other contractual arrangements.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

During fiscal 2015, our Board of Directors approved a common stock repurchase program (the "Repurchase Program") authorizing the repurchase of up to $200.0 million of our common stock from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated transactions. On January 27, 2020, our Board of Directors approved increasing the remaining share repurchase authority under the Repurchase Program to $300.0 million. The Repurchase Program does not require us to acquire any particular amount of common stock and does not specify the timing of purchases or the prices to be paid; however, the program will continue until the maximum amount of dollars authorized have been expended or until it is modified or terminated by the Board. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, we repurchased 3.0 million shares of common stock at a total cost of $80.7 million at a weighted average price of $27.22 per share. The repurchased shares were canceled upon receipt. A total of approximately $223.0 million of repurchase authority remained under the Repurchase Program at March 31, 2020. On April 8, 2020, we announced the temporary suspension of share repurchases as a result of the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Period

(1) See explanation of the Repurchase Program above.

28

Performance Graph

Set forth below is a line graph comparing the cumulative total shareholder return of our common stock with the Standard & Poor's (the "S&P") 500 Index and the S&P 1500 Industrials Index for the five-year period ended March 31, 2020. The graph assumes the value of the investment in our common stock and each index was $100 on March 31, 2015 and that all dividends were reinvested. The shareholder return shown on the graph below is not necessarily indicative of future performance and the indices included do not necessarily reflect management's opinion that such indices are an appropriate measure of the relative performance of Rexnord's stock.

29

ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.

The following table of selected historical financial information is based on our consolidated financial statements, including those included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. This data should be read in conjunction with Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. The Statements of Operations, Other Data and Balance Sheet Data are derived from our audited financial statements. Fiscal years prior to and including fiscal year 2020 ended on March 31 of the corresponding calendar year. For example, our fiscal year 2020, or fiscal 2020, means the period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Following the end of fiscal 2020, we are transitioning to a December 31 fiscal year-end date. The nine-month period from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, will serve as a transition period, and we will provide one-time, nine-month transitional financial statements in a transition report on Form 10-K to be filed in 2021.

30

Statements of Operations:

Non-operating (expense) income:

Gain (loss) on the extinguishment of debt (5) 1.0 4.3 (11.9) (7.8) —

Other (expense) income, net (6) (3.8) (1.6) 4.4 (2.4) 8.4

Equity method investment income — 3.6 — — —

Non-controlling interest income 0.3 — 0.1 — —

Dividends on preferred stock (14.4) (23.2) (23.2) (7.3) —

Basic net income (loss) per share attributable to Rexnord common stockholders:

Diluted income (loss) per share attributable to Rexnord common stockholders:

Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (in thousands):

Other Data:

Net cash provided by (used for):

Common stock dividend per share $ 0.08 — — — —

31

Balance Sheet Data:

_______________________

(1)Consolidated financial data as of and for the year ended March 31, 2020, reflects the acquisitions of Stainlessdrains.com, subsequent to May 10, 2019, and Just Manufacturing subsequent to January 28, 2020. As a result, the comparability of the operating results for the period presented is affected by the acquired operations as well as the revaluation of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed on the respective dates of the acquisitions.

(2)Consolidated financial data as of and for the year ended March 31, 2019, reflects the acquisition of an additional 47.5% interest in Centa China, a joint venture in which we previously maintained a 47.5% non-controlling interest, subsequent to January 23, 2019. Prior to this transaction, we accounted for our non-controlling interest in Centa China as an equity method investment. As a result, the comparability of the operating results for the period presented is affected by the acquired operations as well as the revaluation of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed on the date of the acquisition.

(3)Consolidated financial data as of and for the year ended March 31, 2018, reflects the acquisition of World Dryer subsequent to October 4, 2017, and Centa subsequent to February 9, 2018. As a result, the comparability of the operating results for the period presented is affected by the acquired operations as well as the revaluation of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed on the respective dates of the acquisitions.

(4)Consolidated financial data as of and for the year ended March 31, 2017, reflects the acquisition of Cambridge subsequent to June 1, 2016. As a result, the comparability of the operating results for the period presented is affected by the acquired operations as well as the revaluation of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed on the date of the acquisition.

(5)During fiscal 2020, we recognized a $1.0 million gain on the extinguishment of debt, consisting of a $3.2 million gain in connection with the forgiveness of the remaining net debt associated with the New Market Tax Credit program, partially offset by a $2.2 million loss in connection with the fiscal 2020 refinancing of our term loan and a $100.0 million voluntary prepayment made on our term loan. During fiscal 2019, we recognized a non-cash gain on the extinguishment of debt of $5.0 million in connection with the forgiveness of the net debt associated with the New Market Tax Credit program. This gain was partially offset by the recognition of $0.7 million of accelerated amortization of debt issuance costs in connection with a $75.0 million voluntary prepayment on our term loan during fiscal 2019. During fiscal 2018, we recognized a $11.9 million loss on debt extinguishment associated with the fiscal 2018 amendment to our credit agreement, which was comprised of $3.9 million of refinancing-related costs, as well as a non-cash write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs associated with a fiscal 2017 term loan of $8.0 million. During fiscal 2017, we recognized a $7.8 million loss on debt extinguishment associated with a fiscal 2017 term loan refinancing, which was comprised of $5.4 million of refinancing-related costs, as well as a non-cash write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs associated with the prior term loan of $2.4 million. Refer to Item 8, Note 11, Long-Term Debt for additional information on debt.

(6)Other (expense) income, net for the periods indicated, consists primarily of gains and losses from foreign currency transactions and the non-service cost components of net periodic benefit credits associated with our defined benefit plans. See Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Item 8, Note 16, Retirement Benefits for additional information.

(7)Fiscal 2018 included a net income tax benefit associated with the remeasurement of the Company's net U.S. deferred tax liability as a result of U.S. Tax Reform. Refer to Item 8, Note 17, Income Taxes for additional information.

(8)In fiscal 2019, we completed the sale of the VAG business within our Water Management platform. Accordingly, the results of the VAG business have been reported as discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of operations for all periods presented. Refer to Item 8, Note 4, Discontinued Operations for additional information. In fiscal 2015, we discontinued the Mill Products business within our PMC platform. Accordingly, the results of its operations have been reported as discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of operations for all periods presented.

(9)Amount reflects continuing operations.

(10)Working capital represents total current assets less total current liabilities.

(11)Total debt represents long-term debt, net of an unamortized debt issuance costs, plus the current portion of long-term debt and finance lease liabilities.

32

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.

The following discussion of results of operations and financial condition includes periods prior to the acquisitions of World Dryer Corporation ("World Dryer"), Centa Power Transmission (Centa Antriebe Kirschey GmbH) ("Centa"), Centa MP (Hong Kong) Co., Limited ("Centa China") and the assets of East Creek Corporation ("StainlessDrains.com") and Just Manufacturing Company ("Just Manufacturing"). Our financial performance includes World Dryer subsequent to October 4, 2017, Centa subsequent to February 9, 2018, Centa China subsequent to January 23, 2019, the Stainlessdrains.com business subsequent to May 10, 2019, and the Just Manufacturing business subsequent to January 28, 2020, the respective dates of their acquisitions. Accordingly, the discussion and analysis does not reflect the impact of World Dryer, Centa, Centa China, Stainlessdrains.com or Just Manufacturing transactions prior to the respective closing dates.

We completed the sale of our VAG business on November 26, 2018, and, accordingly, the results of operations and financial condition associated with the VAG bushiness have been reclassified to discontinued operations for all periods presented. As a result, the following discussion of results of operations and financial condition excludes the VAG business from our Water Management platform.

You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations together with Item 6, Selected Financial Data and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data. Fiscal years prior to and including fiscal year 2020 ended on March 31 of each calendar year. For example, our fiscal year 2020, or fiscal 2020, means the period from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020. Following the end of fiscal 2020, we are transitioning to a December 31 fiscal year-end date. The nine-month period from April 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020, will serve as a transition period, and we will provide one-time, nine-month transitional financial statements in a transition report on Form 10-K to be filed in 2021. Our fiscal year 2021 will commence on January 1, 2021.

This discussion contains forward-looking statements and involves numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in the "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of this report. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. See also "Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" found elsewhere in this report.

The information contained in this section is provided as a supplement to the consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this Form 10-K to help provide an understanding of our financial condition, changes in our financial condition and results of our operations. This section is organized as follows:

Company Overview. This section provides a general description of our business.

Financial Statement Presentation. This section provides a brief description of certain items and accounting policies that appear in our financial statements and general factors that impact these items.

Critical Accounting Estimates. This section discusses the accounting policies and estimates that we consider to be important to our financial condition and results of operations and that require significant judgment and estimates on the part of management in their application.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements. This section cites to the discussion of new or revised accounting pronouncements and standards in Item 8, Note 2, Significant Accounting Policies of the consolidated financial statements.

Overview of Recent Developments. This section provides a description of the recent events impacting the our results of operations.

Results of Operations. This section provides an analysis of our results of operations for our fiscal years ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, in each case as compared to the prior period's performance.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures. This section provides an explanation of certain financial measures we use that are not in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").

Covenant Compliance. This section provides a description of certain restrictive covenants with which our credit agreement requires us to comply.

Liquidity and Capital Resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows for our fiscal years ended March 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, as well as a discussion of our indebtedness and its potential effects on our liquidity.

Tabular Disclosure of Contractual Obligations. This section provides a discussion of our commitments as of March 31, 2020.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk. This section discusses our exposure to potential losses arising from adverse changes in interest rates and foreign exchange rates.

33

Company Overview

We are a growth-oriented, multi-platform industrial company with what we believe are leading market shares and highly-trusted brands that serve a diverse array of global end markets. Currently, our business is comprised of two platforms, Process & Motion Control and Water Management. Our heritage of innovation and specification have allowed us to provide highly-engineered, mission-critical solutions to customers for decades and affords us the privilege of having long-term, valued relationships with market leaders. We operate our Company in a disciplined way and the Rexnord Business System ("RBS") is our operating philosophy. Grounded in the spirit of continuous improvement, RBS creates a scalable, process-based framework that focuses on driving superior customer satisfaction and financial results by targeting world-class operating performance throughout all aspects of our business.

Our strategy is to build the Company around global strategic platforms that participate in end markets with sustainable growth characteristics where we are, or have the opportunity to become, the industry leader. We have a track record of acquiring and integrating companies and expect to continue to pursue strategic acquisitions within our existing platforms that will expand our geographic presence, broaden our product lines, and allow us to move into adjacent markets. Over time, we may add strategic platforms to our Company.

Refer to Item 1, Business for additional information.

Financial Statement Presentation

The following paragraphs provide a brief description of certain items and accounting policies that appear in our financial statements and general factors that impact these items.

Net Sales. Net sales represent gross sales less deductions taken for sales returns and allowances and incentive rebate programs.

Cost of Sales. Cost of sales includes all costs of manufacturing required to bring a product to a ready for sale condition. Such costs include direct and indirect materials, direct and indirect labor costs, including fringe benefits, supplies, utilities, depreciation, freight and shipping, insurance, pension and postretirement benefits, information technology costs and other manufacturing related costs.

The largest component of our cost of sales is cost of materials, which represented approximately 34% of net sales in fiscal 2020. The principal materials used in our Process & Motion Control manufacturing processes, which are available from numerous sources, include sheet, plate and bar steel, castings, forgings, high-performance engineered plastics and a wide variety of other components. Within Water Management, we purchase a broad range of materials and components throughout the world in connection with our manufacturing activities. Major raw materials and components include bar steel, brass, castings, copper, forgings, high-performance engineered plastic, plate steel, resin, sheet plastic and zinc. We have a strategic sourcing program to significantly reduce the number of direct and indirect suppliers we use and to lower the cost of purchased materials.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses. Selling, General and Administrative expenses primarily includes sales and marketing, finance and administration, engineering and technical services and warehousing. Our major cost elements include salary and wages, fringe benefits, insurance, depreciation, advertising, travel and information technology costs.

Critical Accounting Estimates

The methods, estimates and judgments we use in applying our critical accounting policies have a significant impact on the results we report in our consolidated financial statements. We evaluate our estimates and judgments on an on-going basis. We base our estimates on historical experience and on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Our experience and assumptions form the basis for our judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may vary from what we anticipate and different assumptions or estimates about the future could change our reported results. Within the context of these critical accounting policies, we are not currently aware of any reasonably likely event that would result in materially different amounts being reported.

In addition to the accounting policies disclosed in Item 8, Note 2, Significant Accounting Policies to the consolidated financial statements, we believe the following accounting policies are the most critical to us in that they are important to our financial statements and they require difficult, subjective and/or complex judgments in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

34

Revenue recognition. Effective April 1, 2018, the beginning of fiscal 2019, we adopted Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers ("ASC 606"), under the modified retrospective transition approach. Under ASC 606, a performance obligation is a promise in a contract to transfer a distinct good or service to the customer, and is the unit of account. A contract’s transaction price is allocated to each distinct performance obligation and revenue is recognized when obligations under the terms of a contract with the customer are satisfied. For the majority of our product sales, revenue is recognized at a point-in-time when control of the product is transferred to the customer, which generally occurs when the product is shipped from our manufacturing facility to the customer. When contracts include multiple products to be delivered to the customer, generally each product is separately priced and is determined to be distinct within the context of the contract. Other than a standard assurance-type warranty that the product will conform to agreed-upon specifications, there are generally no other significant post-shipment obligations. The expected costs associated with standard warranties continues to be recognized as an expense when the products are sold.

When the contract provides the customer the right to return eligible products or when the customer is part of a sales rebate program, we reduce revenue at the point of sale using current facts and historical experience by using an estimate for expected product returns and rebates associated with the transaction. These estimates are adjusted at the earlier of when the most likely amount of consideration that is expected to be received changes or when the consideration becomes fixed. Accordingly, an increase or decrease to revenue is recognized at that time.

Sales and other taxes collected concurrent with revenue-producing activities are excluded from revenue. We have elected to recognize the cost for freight and shipping when control of products has transferred to the customer as a component of cost of sales in the consolidated statements of operations. We classify shipping and handling fees billed to our customers as net sales and the corresponding costs are classified as cost of sales in the consolidated statements of operations.

During years prior to fiscal 2019, we recognized revenue in accordance with ASC 605, Revenue Recognition ("ASC 605"). The adoption of ASC 606 did not materially change the timing or methods in which we have historically recognized revenue.

Receivables. Receivables are stated net of allowances for doubtful accounts of $3.4 million at March 31, 2020 and $3.1 million at March 31, 2019. We evaluate future expected credit losses on our receivables to establish the allowance for doubtful accounts based on a combination of specific customer circumstances and historical write-off experience. Credit is extended to customers based upon an evaluation of their financial position. Generally, advance payment is not required. Allowances for doubtful accounts established are recorded within Selling, General and Administrative expenses within the consolidated statements of operations.

Inventory. Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market. Market is determined based on estimated net realizable values. Approximately 61% and 62% of the Company’s total inventories as of March 31, 2020 and 2019 were valued using the "last-in, first-out" (LIFO) method. All remaining inventories are valued using the "first-in, first-out" (FIFO) method.

In some cases we have determined a certain portion of our inventories are excess or obsolete. In those cases we write down the value of those inventories to their net realizable value based upon assumptions about future demand and market conditions. If actual market conditions are less favorable than those projected by management, additional inventory write-downs may be required. The total write-down of inventories charged to expense was $4.6 million, $3.1 million and $4.3 million, during fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Purchase accounting and business combinations. Assets acquired and the liabilities assumed as part of a business combination are recognized separately from goodwill at their acquisition date fair values. Goodwill as of the acquisition date is measured as the excess of consideration transferred over the net of the acquisition date fair values of the assets acquired and the liabilities assumed. We review and consider input from outside specialists, if and when appropriate to develop discount rates, and use estimates and assumptions about the future performance of the business to accurately value assets acquired and liabilities assumed at the acquisition date. We may refine these estimates during the measurement period which may be up to one year from the acquisition date. As a result, during the measurement period, we record adjustments to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed with the corresponding offset recorded to goodwill. Upon the conclusion of the measurement period or final determination of the values of the assets acquired or liabilities assumed, whichever comes first, any subsequent adjustments are recorded in our consolidated statements of operations.

Impairment of intangible assets and tangible fixed assets. The carrying value of long-lived assets, including amortizable intangible assets and tangible fixed assets, are evaluated for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the related carrying amounts may not be recoverable. Impairment of amortizable intangible assets and tangible fixed assets is generally determined by comparing projected undiscounted cash flows to be generated by the asset, or group of assets, to its carrying value. If impairment is identified, a loss is recorded equal to the excess of the asset's net book value over its fair value, and the cost basis is adjusted. Determination of the fair value requires various estimates including internal cash flow estimates generated from the asset, quoted market prices and appraisals as appropriate to determine fair value. Actual results could vary from these estimates.

35

Our recorded goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets are not amortized but are tested annually as of October 1 during the third quarter of each fiscal year, and more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment may exist, using a discounted cash flow methodology based on future business projections and a market value approach (guideline public company comparables). We perform our goodwill impairment test by comparing the fair value of a reporting unit with its carrying amount. If the carrying amount exceeds the fair value of the reporting unit, an impairment charge is recognized for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit's fair value up to the amount of the recorded goodwill. Our annual impairment test performed during fiscal 2020 indicated that the fair value of the Company's indefinite-lived intangible assets and reporting units significantly exceeded their carrying value; therefore, no impairment was present.

In connection with our ongoing supply chain optimization and footprint repositioning initiatives, we have taken several actions to consolidate existing manufacturing facilities and rationalize our product offerings. These actions require us to assess whether the carrying amount of impacted long-lived assets will be recoverable as well as whether the remaining useful lives of such assets require adjustment. While we did not recognize any impairment charges associated with fixed assets in fiscal 2020, during fiscal 2019 and 2018 we recognized impairment charges associated with these fixed assets of $0.3 million and $0.8 million, respectively. We did not recognize any impairment charges associated with intangible assets related to these initiatives during fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018.

See Item 8, Note 5, Restructuring and Other Similar Charges for more information. The impairment of fixed assets and intangible assets was determined utilizing Level 3 inputs within the Fair Value hierarchy, and the Company reviewed and considered input from outside specialists, when appropriate. Refer to Item 8, Note 13, Fair Value Measurements for additional information.

During fiscal 2018, we recognized a non-cash impairment charge of $111.2 million, representing the entire balance of goodwill within the VAG reporting unit, as of March 31, 2018. The fair value of the VAG reporting unit was estimated using both an income valuation model (discounted cash flow) and a market approach in the then market environment. During the period leading up to the disposition of VAG in fiscal 2019, we continuously assessed the carrying value of the net assets of the VAG business compared to the value implied by the bids we received in connection with the sale process. As a result of this assessment, prior to the disposition of the VAG business, we recorded additional non-cash impairment charges of $126.0 million to reduce the carrying value of the VAG business to its estimated fair value less costs to sell. Refer to Item 8, Note 4, Discontinued Operations for additional information.

Retirement benefits. We have significant pension and post-retirement benefit income and expense and assets/liabilities that are developed from actuarial valuations. These valuations include key assumptions regarding discount rates, expected return on plan assets, mortality rates and the current health care cost trend rate. We consider current market conditions in selecting these assumptions. Changes in the related pension and post-retirement benefit income/costs or assets/liabilities may occur in the future due to changes in the assumptions and changes in asset values.

We recognize the net actuarial gains or losses in excess of unrecognized gain or loss exceeding 10 percent of the greater of the market-related value of plan assets or the plan's projected benefit obligation at re-measurement (the "corridor") in the Corporate segment operating results during the fourth quarter of each fiscal year (or upon any re-measurement date). During fiscal 2020, 2019 and 2018, we recognized non-cash actuarial (loss) gain of $(36.6) million, $0.4 million and $3.3 million, respectively, in connection with re-measurements of the plans. Net periodic benefit costs recorded on a quarterly basis are primarily comprised of service and interest cost, amortization of unrecognized prior service cost and the expected return on plan assets. See Item 8, Note 16, Retirement Benefits for additional information.

The obligation for postretirement benefits other than pension also is actuarially determined and is affected by assumptions including the discount rate and expected future increase in per capita costs of covered postretirement health care benefits. Changes in the discount rate and differences between actual and assumed per capita health care costs may affect the recorded amount of the expense in future periods.