Allegion Q4 2025 Earnings Call - Betting on non-residential Americas, electronics and M&A to offset soft residential
Summary
Allegion closed 2025 with steady execution, reporting Q4 revenue above $1 billion, up 9.3% year over year and organic growth of 3.3%. Adjusted EPS in the quarter was $1.94, and management set 2026 Adjusted EPS guidance of $8.70 to $8.90, reflecting mid-single digit enterprise revenue growth and a modestly higher tax rate weighing about $0.10 per share. The company leaned into acquisitions in 2025, deploying roughly $630 million to bulk up electronics, software and mid-tier mechanical offerings, while electronics and Americas non-residential remain the primary growth engines.
That said, the call was candid about a persistent soft spot, U.S. residential. Residential volumes weakened materially in Q4, and management assumes residential will remain soft into 2026. Allegion is relying on pricing, productivity and accretive M&A to offset inflationary pressure and residential weakness, with Net Debt/Adjusted EBITDA at a conservative 1.6 times and available cash flow of $685.7 million for the year.
Key Takeaways
- Q4 revenue topped $1 billion, increasing 9.3% year over year, with organic revenue up 3.3% driven by Americas non-residential and price realization.
- Adjusted EPS for Q4 was $1.94, up $0.08 or 4.3% versus prior year, with over 10 points of EPS growth attributed to operational performance and accretive acquisitions, partly offset by a higher tax rate.
- Full year 2026 guidance is Adjusted EPS $8.70 to $8.90, about 8% growth at the midpoint, incorporating an approximate $0.10 headwind from a higher tax rate.
- Management expects 2026 total revenue growth of 5% to 7%, and organic growth of 2% to 4%, which includes about 1 point from FX and 2 points carryover from 2025 M&A.
- Americas revenue was $795.5 million in Q4, up 6.1% reported and 4.8% organic, with high single-digit organic growth in non-residential and high single-digit declines in residential volumes.
- Enterprise adjusted operating margin in Q4 was 22.4%, up 30 basis points year over year; Americas adjusted operating margin declined about 30 basis points in the quarter due to residential volume deleverage and tariff carryover effects.
- Electronics remains a strategic growth pillar, up low double digits for the quarter and full year 2025, and expected to outpace mechanical growth in 2026, notably led by Western Europe and DACH-related businesses.
- Allegion deployed approximately $630 million of capital to acquisitions in 2025, targeting mechanical core, electronics, and complementary software, and describes the M&A pipeline as active but disciplined.
- Available cash flow for 2025 was $685.7 million, up 17.6% year over year, with expected 2026 cash conversion of roughly 85% to 95% of adjusted net income.
- Balance sheet discipline preserved, Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA is 1.6 times, supporting continued capital deployment across M&A, dividends and selective buybacks.
- Capital allocation highlights: $175 million paid in dividends in 2025, a 12th consecutive annual dividend increase for 2026, and $80 million of share repurchases executed in 2025, with share repurchase used opportunistically.
- Working capital as a percent of revenue rose due to acquired working capital, which does not impact cash flow, management emphasized this is a timing and acquisition-related effect.
- Q1 2026 faces a tough margin comparable because Q1 2025 did not yet show the full inflation and tariff impacts, so near-term margins are expected to feel that carryover pressure.
- Management flagged U.S. residential markets as softer than expected late in 2025, characterizing Q4 residential as “choppy” and asserting that any channel destocking is typically short-lived due to low inventory levels in the channel.
Full Transcript
Stefan, Conference Operator: Good day, everyone. My name’s Stefan, and I’ll be your conference operator today. At this time, I’d like to welcome you to the Allegion fourth quarter and full year earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there’ll be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, and if you’ve joined via the webinar, please use the Raise Hand icon, which can be found at the bottom of your webinar application. At this time, I’d like to turn the call over to Josh Pokrzywinski, Vice President of Investor Relations.
Josh Pokrzywinski, Vice President of Investor Relations, Allegion: Thank you, Stefan. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Allegion’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call. With me today are John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mike Wagnes, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Allegion. Our earnings release, which was issued earlier this morning, and the presentation, which we will refer to on today’s call, are available on our website at investor.allegion.com. This call will be recorded and archived on our website. Please go to slide 2. Statements made in today’s call that are not historical facts are considered forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of federal securities law. Please see our most recent SEC filings for a description of some of the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from our projections. The company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Today’s presentation and commentary include non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the reconciliation in the financial tables of our press release for further details. Please go to slide three, and I’ll turn the call over to John.
John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allegion: Thanks, Josh. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining the call. Allegion delivered a strong year marked by high single-digit enterprise revenue growth, more than $600 million of accretive M&A, and solid execution in a dynamic and inflationary environment. I’m proud of the Allegion team’s performance in 2025. I see our results as a testament to the talent and dedication of our people, the strength of our brands and channel partnerships, and our sound strategy as we deliver on our commitments to shareholders. As we enter 2026, our broad end market exposure supports continued growth, led by America’s non-residential. U.S. residential markets were softer than expected in the fourth quarter, and our outlook contemplates that residential remains soft in 2026. However, our team has a proven track record of execution across a variety of macro conditions.
We’re initiating fiscal year 2026 Adjusted EPS guidance of $8.70-$8.90 per share. I’ll provide more detail on our outlook later in the call. Please go to slide four. Let’s take a look at capital allocation for 2025, starting with our investments for organic growth. A core element of Allegion’s portfolio strength is our brand’s legacy of innovation. Brands like Schlage, Von Duprin, and LCN invented their product categories 100 years ago and are known as pioneers in our industry. Allegion has built on that legacy by expanding our offerings of mid-tier commercial product lines. Last September, we launched our Schlage Performance Series Locks, providing more ways to win in the non-residential aftermarket, alongside the mid-price point Von Duprin 70 Series exit devices that were released in 2024.
These are complemented by our mid-tier offerings with LCN enclosures, where we now have a full suite of commercial-grade offerings from the industry’s leading brands at more price points to meet customers’ needs. As you know, 2025 was an active year for acquisitions for the company, with approximately $630 million of capital deployed. These acquisitions align to the strategy we outlined at our May Investor Day, including additions to our core mechanical portfolio, as well as electronics and complementary software solutions that meet end-user needs for safety and convenience. As we enter 2026, the pipeline is active, and we will remain disciplined to drive returns and continue positioning Allegion as a leading pure play in security and access. Allegion continues to be a dividend-paying stock. In 2025, we paid $175 million in dividends to shareholders.
Looking ahead to 2026, we’ve also just announced our 12th consecutive annual increase in dividends. While we did not repurchase shares in the fourth quarter, share repurchase was part of our capital allocation in 2025, totaling $80 million. At a minimum, we intend to offset the creep from share-based compensation. You can expect Allegion to be balanced, consistent, and disciplined with capital deployment over time, with a clear priority of investing for growth. Mike will now walk you through the fourth quarter financial results.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining today’s call. Please go to slide number 5. As John shared, our Q4 results reflect continued strong execution from the Allegion team as we delivered high single-digit revenue growth for the enterprise. Revenue for the fourth quarter was over $1 billion, an increase of 9.3% compared to 2024. Organic revenue increased 3.3% in the quarter, led by our Americas non-residential business. The organic revenue increase was driven by price realization, partially offset by volume declines in our Americas residential and international businesses. Q4 adjusted operating margin was 22.4%, up 30 basis points compared to last year. Price and productivity exceeded inflation and investment by $12 million, driving 20 basis points of margin expansion in the quarter.
Favorable mix also benefited margin rates. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.94 increased 8 cents, or 4.3%, versus the prior year. Operational performance and accretive acquisitions contributed over 10 points of EPS growth. This was partially offset by higher tax. Finally, year-to-date available cash flow was strong at $685.7 million, up 17.6% versus the prior year. I’ll provide more details on our balance sheet and cash flow a little later in the presentation. Please go to slide number 6. Our Americas segment was resilient in Q4, despite a weak quarter in residential markets. Revenue of $795.5 million was up 6.1% on a reported basis, and up 4.8% on an organic basis, led by our non-residential business.
Our non-residential business increased high single digits organically, driven by a combination of price and volume growth. Demand for our products remains healthy, supported by our broad end market exposure. Our residential business declined high single digits as favorable price was more than offset by volume declines as residential markets remained soft. Electronics revenue was up low double digits for the quarter and for the full year 2025, and continues to be a long-term growth driver for Allegion. Additionally, reported revenues include 1.3 points of growth from acquisitions. America’s adjusted operating income of $216.2 million increased 5.4% versus the prior year. Adjusted operating margin was down 30 basis points in the quarter. Price and productivity, net of inflation and investment, was a 30 basis point headwind to margin rates in the quarter.
However, it was positive on a dollar basis as we were able to offset higher inflation in a dynamic environment. Additionally, mix was favorable to margin rates and offset volume deleverage in residential. Please go to slide number 7. Our international segment delivered revenue of $237.7 million, which was up 21.5% on a reported basis and down 2.3% organically. Growth in our electronic businesses was more than offset by weaknesses in mechanical. Net acquisitions contributed 16 points to segment revenue. Currency was also a tailwind, positively impacting reported revenues by 7.8%. International adjusted operating income of $39.4 million increased 27.5% versus the prior year period. Adjusted operating margin for the quarter increased 90 basis points, driven by accretive acquisitions and favorable price and productivity, net of inflation and investment.
We continue to drive portfolio quality in the international segment through self-help, selective pruning of non-core assets, and adding high-performing businesses where we have a right to win. Please go to slide 8, and I will provide an overview of our cash flow and balance sheet. Year-to-date available cash flow was $685.7 million, up over $100 million versus the prior year, primarily driven by higher EBITDA. I am pleased with the cash flow performance in 2025. For 2026, we anticipate our available cash flow conversion will be approximately 85%-95% of adjusted net income. Next, working capital as a % of revenue increased in 2025 due to acquired working capital, which does not impact cash flow.
Finally, our balance sheet remains strong, and our Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA is at a healthy ratio of 1.6 times, which supports continued capital deployment. I will now hand the call back over to John.
John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allegion: Thanks, Mike. Please go to slide 9. Before we discuss the 2026 outlook, I want to provide an overview of our key end market assumptions. In the Americas, we see continued volume growth in non-residential markets similar to 2025 levels, and this is supported by our Spec Writing trends. Our broad end market exposure and large installed base make for a resilient business model, one that’s less reliant on any single end market vertical to drive growth. We do expect a more modest price contribution, however, to reflect slightly lower inflation as compared to last year. If inflation were to remain higher, the business has proven our ability to manage inputs and drive the necessary pricing, as you saw in 2025. Residential markets were weak throughout 2025. Demand is likely to remain soft in 2026, and we expect America’s residential to be down slightly.
For international, we see modest organic growth, primarily driven by our electronics businesses. We have been focused on improving portfolio quality in international through a combination of self-help and acquisitions, which we believe supports growth in markets that remain sluggish. Please go to slide 10, and I’ll discuss our outlook for 2026. We expect total Allegion revenue growth to be 5%-7% and organic revenue growth to be 2%-4%. Total growth includes approximately 1 point of foreign currency translation and 2 points of carryover contribution from M&A, primarily in Allegion International. We expect organic growth of low to mid-single digits in the Americas from a combination of price and volume led by our non-residential business. We expect electronics to outpace mechanical growth, consistent with our long-term performance and customer trends.
In the international segment, our outlook assumes low single-digit growth led by electronics, with largely stable mechanical markets.
Stefan, Conference Operator: ... Our Adjusted EPS outlook is $8.70-$8.90. This represents growth of approximately 8% at the midpoint, inclusive of an approximate 10-cent headwind from a higher tax rate. You can find more details on our outlook slide and in the appendix. Please go to slide 11. In summary, Allegion is executing at a high level while staying agile and steadily delivering on the long-term commitments we shared with you at our Investor Day. Our strong performance is led by an enduring business model in non-residential Americas, double-digit electronics growth, and accretive capital deployment as we acquire good businesses in markets where we have a right to win. I’m proud of the Allegion team and appreciative of our strong channel partners. With that, we’ll take your questions.
Q&A Moderator: We will now move to the Q&A. For today’s session, we’ll be utilizing the Raise Hand feature. If you would like to ask a question, simply click on the Raise Hand button at the bottom of your screen. Once you’ve been called upon, please unmute yourself and begin to ask your question. We’ll be taking one question and one follow-up question only. Thank you. We’ll now pause for a moment to assemble the queue. Our first question will come from Joe O’Dea from Wells Fargo. Please unmute your line and ask your question.
Joe O’Dea, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Hi, good morning. Can you hear me?
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yep. Hi, John.
Q&A Moderator: Hi, John.
Joe O’Dea, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Hey, good morning. Can we, can we start on the, the resi side in the, in the fourth quarter? I think you did touch on it being kind of softer than anticipated, and so just what you saw develop over the course of the quarter, the, the degree to which that extends into the early part of this year, whether that was more kind of destocking events or sell-through demand and, and what just on the pricing side of things as well, if there was any, you know, need to adjust price there based on the demand environment.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah. Joe, thanks for the question. I think certainly, resi in the Americas ended the year softer than we had contemplated. And honestly, resi throughout the year was a little choppy. Let’s say. You know, we put up mid-single digit growth in the third quarter, really largely on the heels of a very successful new product launch, and then a pretty soft Q4. I would say, yeah, 2026 has started off better, let’s just say. But just looking at resi, it did end softer than we had contemplated. And I think that’s part of the things that just cause us to at least take what we think is a very prudent assumption into 2026, that we would expect resi to be soft.
And certainly should there be an uptick in that market, we’re positioned very well to capture upside there. I would say with your question around pricing, no, there wasn’t any short-term reaction on pricing, nor do I think that contributed to any of the demand softness. The last point would be, our channel doesn’t hold a lot of inventory, and so any inventory correction-type actions are usually very short-lived.
Joe O’Dea, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Got it. And then on the, on the Americas, organic outlook and the low single-digit, mid single-digit, just any color as we think about kind of price and volume components of that. Is that a little bit more price than volume? The price carryover tailwind, and then how you think about that volume progression over the course of the year. Is the volume growth expected to get better, and is that a function of costs or anything that you’re seeing in the spec activity, that would suggest a little bit better demand environment as we go through 2026?
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah, Joe, so thanks for the question. I would say, as you think about Americas for 2026, we expect to see both price and volume growth, but as you suggested, more pricing than volume growth for the year. Don’t like to give quarterly outlook, but I’d be happy to kinda unpack it qualitatively for you. As you know, the Americas, as you start the year in Q1, revenue levels are similar to the revenue in Q4 in total, historically. And then from there, we tend to have higher revenue in the middle two quarters. We expect that same seasonality, where the middle two quarters are our largest quarters, and obviously Q4 a little less. So, as you model this, I think that can help you qualitatively.
In addition, you do have to look at the prior year comp as you think about, you know, pricing and margins for that matter. You have to consider how we finished, in each quarter for 2025 as you think about that pricing impact for the next, the next year. Obviously, Q1 of 2025, we hadn’t yet felt the inflationary impacts from tariffs, so you didn’t have the, the pricing or the inflation. So, hopefully that helps you as you think about unpacking the year from a top line.
Joe O’Dea, Analyst, Wells Fargo: It does. Thanks, man.
Q&A Moderator: Thank you. Our next question will come from Tomohiko Sano from JPMorgan. Please unmute your line and go ahead.
Tomohiko Sano, Analyst, JPMorgan: Good morning, everyone.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Morning!
Tomohiko Sano, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you for taking my questions. You’ve maintained sector-leading margins despite the higher costs through pricing, productivities, and acquisition synergies. Can you break down the contributions from each of these levers, and which will be most important in 2026, please?
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah, so, we put all that information in our 10-K. So when you get a chance, you can look at it for the fourth quarter and full year. I guess the full year is in the 10-K. I’ll share, obviously, on the enterprise level, we did get some margin tailwind from that, price and productivity in excess of inflation and investment. There was a headwind in the Americas. That’s a function of the tyranny of the math we’ve been talking about all year long. We also had you know, we had a favorable mix, but the residential volume deleverage we experienced kind of mitigated that in the Americas region, as we highlighted. As you think about 2026, you can back into the full year margin expansion.
You know, we give all the components at the enterprise level. As you know, the Americas is our largest business, and we can’t drive the enterprise margin expansion without the, the Americas being in a similar zip code. So it kind of provides you at least a, a framework for the Americas as well. And then as far as the components, I would expect to have pricing and productivity in excess of inflation and investment on a dollar basis. And from a rate basis, I wouldn’t expect that to be a headwind in 2026. It was obviously in the Americas in 2025. We do have that first quarter where you had that carryover impact, that last quarter, as I mentioned in the previous answer.
For the full year, expect price and productivity to be positive on a dollar basis and certainly not negative on a margin rate basis.
Tomohiko Sano, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you, Mike. And a follow-up on international markets: So these markets are expected to see continued sluggishness, with growth primarily from acquisition and electronics. So can you provide more color on specific geographies, particularly Western Europe and Australia, and when you expect the demand recovery, please?
John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allegion: Yeah. Tom, well, this is John. Appreciate that. And I think, yeah, we do see our electronics businesses leading the way. That is primarily a Western Europe-based business. And then within that, primarily a DACH region businesses. But we are expanding pan-Europe with that. And those businesses performed very well in 2025, and we expect continued growth out of them in 2026. I’d say Australia, New Zealand end markets haven’t been great. And you know, so a little bit of improvement there off of pretty weak comps, I think is not totally out of the question. We’ll have to see. And then, largely, I would just say mechanical markets remaining a little sluggish, like we said in the prepared remarks.
Electronics will lead the way for us, along with, again, some carryover contribution from M&A.
Tomohiko Sano, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you, John.
Q&A Moderator: Our next question will come from Brett Linzey from Mizuho. Please unmute your line and ask your question. Brett, please unmute your line and ask your question. Okay, we’ll move on to the-
Brett Linzey, Analyst, Mizuho: Good morning. Hey, good morning. Sorry about that. So yeah, I just want to come back to the pricing dynamics for this year. So it looks like the industry implemented a conversion of the surcharge to list and then some incremental list above that. Maybe just talk about the pricing capture you expect this year on a net basis and what you’re calibrating within the guidance framework.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah, Brett, so obviously, our industry does do, as you know, a combination of some surcharges, mostly list price increases. We expect 2026 to be more list price price increases. Obviously, we’ll be agile and deal with the environment. We’ve learned a lot over the last few years, that if things change, we’ll just adjust accordingly. But our going-in assumption is that inflation will be a little less than what you saw in 2025, so therefore we’ll get a little less pricing in total, as we mentioned in the prepared remarks. And I already talked about the rate benefit of that in a previous question. And then total revenue, enterprise and Americas, just expect a little more pricing than volume.
And then if you get the organic within the framework we’ve provided, you know, you can kind of have an idea of each component.
Brett Linzey, Analyst, Mizuho: I appreciate that, Mike. And then maybe just a follow-up on investments. You know, the $9 million tailwind in Q4 within Americas, is that just a function of the timing of some projects and some spending? And then how do we think about the investment allocation this year, and if there’s some flexibility around that budget?
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah, well, as I like to look at it, I like to look at it in combination of price and productivity has to fund the investments and the inflation. We’ve been talking about that a few years. Quarter to quarter, that can move around a little, but I would say in general, think of it as we’re going to take the necessary pricing actions and drive productivity to fund both. And as I mentioned earlier, I do expect that to be a positive on a full year basis. Obviously, as I mentioned as well, Q1, we do have that tough comparable in the prior year, where you didn’t have the inflation or the investment. So the first quarter of 2026, you do have the, the, the carryover of that last quarter where you didn’t have inflation investment, so that will weigh on margin rates.
But full year, you can back into the enterprise margin expansion and just remember that the Americas will approximate that, enterprise total as well from an expansion perspective.
Andrew O’Brien, Analyst, Bank of America: Appreciate the detail. Pass it on.
Q&A Moderator: Our next question will come from Robert Schultz with Baird. Please unmute your line and go ahead.
Robert Schultz, Analyst, Baird: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe as you think about 2026, in the Americas, what are you assuming for institutional and commercial volume growth? Do you think they’re pretty similar, or do you expect outperformance in one of those verticals?
Stefan, Conference Operator: You know, Bobby, I really, when we think about our business, we wouldn’t want to give volume growth, non-res versus res, so I certainly don’t want to dive into select verticals within the non-res market. I’ll just kind of refer you back to John’s prepared remarks, where he talked about that broad end market exposure and just understanding our business, our outlook, supported by our spec activity as well. But I really don’t want to give sub-vertical details of volume.
Robert Schultz, Analyst, Baird: Understood. And then just on M&A, how does your pipeline look today, and are you seeing any increase in competition for deals now?
John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allegion: Yeah, it’s a good question. This is John. Pipeline is very active, I would say, in both our international and our Americas segments, and largely in line with the strategic overlay we shared with you at Investor Day last May, in terms of a core mechanical portfolio, electronics, and even complementary software. So I think pipeline is busy. I think there’s it, it’s a very encouraging outlook, and with all that being said, you can still count on us to be quite disciplined and making sure we’re sticking very close to our strategy, understanding where we’ve got competitive advantage, right to play and a right to win, and very much focused on our shareholder returns.
Robert Schultz, Analyst, Baird: Got it. Thank you.
Q&A Moderator: Our next question will come from Andrew O’Brien with Bank of America. Please unmute your line and go ahead.
Andrew O’Brien, Analyst, Bank of America: Hi, yes, good morning.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Hi, good morning, Andrew.
Andrew O’Brien, Analyst, Bank of America: Just a question on, I guess M&A and capital allocation. I mean, you know, the markets have been sort of sluggish for a while. You guys have been able to deliver consistent EPS growth, in pretty tough markets. You know, you chose to allocate a lot more capital to M&A this year. I’m just wondering, given that you are laying a foundation, why don’t you think that Allegion stock, is a better sort of, use of cash? Why don’t you think your own stock is the best value out there? And just maybe give us some insights how you and the board have gone through the thought process where you sort of chose M&A acceleration versus Allegion stock this year. Thank you.
John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allegion: Yeah, Andrew, this is John. Appreciate the question, and, you know, I think that’s why we have taken the time to put together a very consistent view of capital allocation across all of the different areas in our quarterly earnings deck as just a standard piece that we speak to. And so, you know, I’d say the priority is towards profitable growth, and that’s why we’ll take time each quarter, this quarter too, talking about some highlights around investing for organic growth. That is the top priority for our use of cash. And then as you look to what are the other elements of it, we’re a dividend paying stock. We will continue to be a dividend paying stock. You can expect that dividend to grow commensurate with our earnings growth.
Again, an orientation towards profitable growth. And so, yeah, as we started the year, we did have some share repurchase. We do have an open authorization with our board, and as that’s the right decision at the right time, when the conditions are there, we can do that, and we have a supportive board there. When we have very attractive acquisition targets that we can bolt on and integrate into an existing business unit structure and drive synergies and drive accretive returns to the shareholders, we’re gonna do that. And so I thought what you saw in really the last two years is this whole theme of expect Allegion to be balanced and disciplined, and consistent with our capital allocation to drive shareholder returns.
Andrew O’Brien, Analyst, Bank of America: Thank you. And maybe a little bit more color on international markets growth. You know, you sort of highlighted DACH. How is Interflex business doing? And maybe a little bit more color what’s happening in AXA. Thanks so much.
John Stone, President and Chief Executive Officer, Allegion: I’m thrilled that you asked that question, Andrew. I’m so proud of our Intraflex team. You know, it’s kind of an interesting business. It tends to-
Stefan, Conference Operator: ... kind of ramp up its revenue and profitability as the year goes on. So, you know, January is kind of slow, and December looks great, right? It’s, it’s just kind of an interesting business that way. Blue chip customer base, we’ve put in, resources to grow the Interflex and the plano solutions, across Europe. Doing very well. They, they had a bang-up year. They’re really delighting their customers. We’re finding ways to get AI into the software offerings, just to help our, our customers get all the reports and the data that they need. And they’re, they’re growing very, very nicely. Just super proud of that business.
Andrew O’Brien, Analyst, Bank of America: We’re making progress moving it beyond the core sort of German manufacturing base?
Stefan, Conference Operator: Absolutely.
Andrew O’Brien, Analyst, Bank of America: Thanks so much.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Thank you.
Q&A Moderator: Thank you. Our final question in the queue comes from Chris Snyder with Morgan Stanley. Please unmute your line and ask your question.
Chris Snyder, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thank you. Hopefully everyone can hear me. I wanted to ask around Americas margins. You know, Q4 came in down year-over-year, modestly. You know, and I understand that obviously, you know, margin dilution via tariffs is a headwind, but that doesn’t seem all that dissimilar from Q2 and Q3, when you guys were growing margins. So, you know, is the Q4 decline just a function of resi volumes turning lower versus Q3? Because it still seems like there was a lot of tailwinds in the quarter between mix and then the productivity seems quite positive as well. So just any other, you know, kind of color unpacking the year-over-year margins for Americas in Q4. Thank you.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah, Chris, you’re thinking about it the right way. If you look at residential in the fourth quarter, down high single digits, and we did, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, had some positive pricing. So when you think about volume, volumes were even worse than the total residential. So that’s a pretty substantial volume decline. That’s the delta when you think of Q3 versus Q4. Q3, right, you’re growing mid-single, and so that’s a 15-point plus or close to that, 10-15, depending on how your rounding works, delta between the two quarters, and that explains why the margins were different.
Chris Snyder, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thank you. I appreciate that. And then, you know, I know you’ve kind of flagged a couple times that, you know, Q1 has this tough margin comp, and we can certainly see that. But I guess if we look past Q1 and, you know, kind of think about Q2 to Q4, does the guide assume that Americas kind of gets back to that, you know, target 35 or so incremental margin rate, you know, Q2 to Q4, once we have all the tariff revenue in the comp? Thank you.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Yeah. If you think about the fundamentals of the business, right? That core incrementals we laid out in Investor Day, after we get through Q1, that still holds. Think about that core incrementals being strong once we get through that Q1. So as you think about the full year, margin expansion in the Americas, like I mentioned earlier, we just had that one more quarter we need to get through. But the business fundamentals remain sound and consistent with what we talked about in Investor Day, where we can leverage that volume once we get through this last quarter of that the tyranny of the math.
Chris Snyder, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thank you. I appreciate all the help. Have a great rest of the day.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Thanks, Chris.
Q&A Moderator: At this time, I see no callers in the queue, so I’ll hand the call back to John Stone for closing remarks.
Stefan, Conference Operator: Thanks very much. Thank you all for the great Q&A. We look forward to connecting with you on our Q1 earnings call in April. Be safe, be healthy.