Gates Corporation Q4 2025 Earnings Call - Exiting downcycle with record EBITDA and cautious 2026 recovery

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Gates Corporation fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad, and if you’d like to withdraw that question again, press star one. I’d now like to turn the conference over to Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy. Rich, please go ahead.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Greetings, and thank you for joining us on our fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. I’ll briefly cover our non-GAAP and forward-looking language before passing the call over to our CEO, Ivo Jurek, who’ll be followed by Brooks Mallard, our CFO. Before the market opened today, we published our fourth quarter and full year 2025 results. A copy of the release is available on our website at investors.gates.com. Our call this morning is being webcast and is accompanied by a slide presentation. On this call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe are useful in evaluating our performance. Reconciliations of historical non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release and the slide presentation, each of which is available in the investor relations section of our website.

Please refer now to slide 2 of the presentation, which provides a reminder that our remarks will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks that could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks include, among others, matters that we have described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in other filings we make with the SEC, including our Q3 quarterly report on Form 10-Q that was filed in October of 2025. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. We will be attending several conferences over the coming weeks and look forward to meeting with many of you. Before we start, please note that all comparisons are against the prior year period, unless stated otherwise.

Also, moving forward, please note we will be making changes to our geographic disclosures in our future presentations. We’ll consolidate China and East Asia and India into an Asia Pacific disclosure, and we will consolidate North America and South America into an Americas disclosure. This approach aligns with how we manage our in-region, for-region strategy. Now, I’ll turn the call over to Ivo.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Thank you, Rich. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Let’s begin on slide three of the presentation. Let me begin with a brief recap of the year. Gates delivered solid results in 2025. We’ve posted nearly 1% core growth and outperformed our end markets, many of which remain in contraction. Our secular growth drivers are accelerating, with personal mobility business exceeding 25% core growth in 2025, and our data center business growing 4x compared to 2024. In addition, the Gates team delivered record adjusted earnings metrics in 2025 during an uneven macro environment, producing both record adjusted EBITDA dollars and record adjusted EPS. Furthermore, we’ve made incremental improvements to our balance sheet, bringing our net leverage ratio down to 1.85x at year-end 2025.

We returned capital to shareholders via share repurchases and were aggressive during the fourth quarter, repurchasing over $100 million of our shares at an attractive valuation. We believe our business is well positioned to accelerate core growth with our various strategic top-line initiatives, as well as to expand margins. In essence, we are exiting the down cycle with a structurally improved business while delivering near-record adjusted EBITDA margin performance. We enter 2026 with cautious optimism about an industrial demand recovery. Our book-to-bill exiting 2025 was nicely above 1x, and order trends in January sustained a positive threshold. We are seeing improving industrial OEM demand activity and are positioned to support an uptick in demand. Our Enterprise Resource Planning system transition has kicked off successfully, and we are operating our business in Europe a bit ahead of our expectations.

Our other footprint optimization initiatives are also on track. Brooks will provide more color on these items and our 2026 guidance later in the presentation. On Slide 4, we show our record performance against key financial metrics for 2025. Adjusted EBITDA dollars grew to an all-time record, and we generated near-record adjusted EBITDA margins. Our adjusted EPS grew 9% to a record $1.52, which was the top end of our guidance, in what we believe was a staffing demand landscape accompanied by uncertain trade policy. Our net leverage ratio decreased by almost 0.4 turns, and we finished below 2x net leverage for the first time.... We are proud of these accomplishments and believe the company is well-positioned moving forward to capitalize on a potential industrial recovery. Please turn to slide 5 to review our full year EPS performance.

Our adjusted EPS grew $0.13, or 9% year-over-year to $1.52. The bulk of the year-over-year growth in adjusted EPS came from operating performance, which contributed $0.10 year-over-year. We were pleased with the operating performance contribution, particularly considering the relatively soft demand backdrop in several of our end markets. On slide 6, I’ll review our fourth quarter results. The sales were $856 million, which represented core growth of nearly 1%. Total revenues grew slightly above 3% and benefited from favorable foreign currency translation. At the end market level, while mixed, we realized growth in our industrial markets, led by the off-highway markets and personal mobility. A decrease in automotive OEM was a partial offset. At the channel level, OEM sales expanded approximately 4%, while aftermarket sales declined about 1%.

Aftermarket did not increase as much as expected, as many of our distributors carefully managed their inventory into calendar year-end. In addition, we faced a difficult comparison from prior year period. We were pleased with the growth in OEM sales, which represented a nice step up from third quarter levels. Our Adjusted EBITDA approximated $188 million in the fourth quarter, and our Adjusted EBITDA margin measured 21.9%, up approximately 10 basis points compared to the prior year period. We managed SG&A spending well, which offset unfavorable mix and lower production output. Our adjusted earnings per share was $0.38, an increase of approximately 7% year-over-year. Higher operating income contributed the year-over-year growth, partially offset by other items. On slide seven, we’ll cover our segment highlights.

In Power Transmission segment, we generated revenues of $537 million in the quarter and flat core growth versus prior year period. Our Personal Mobility business grew 28% year-over-year, and our Off-Highway business expanded low single digits. At the channel level, our Automotive OEM business decreased, but our Industrial OEM sales grew solid double digits year-over-year. In the Fluid Power segment, our sales were $320 million and approximated 1% core growth. Our Off-Highway markets grew low double digits, partially offset by declines in On-Highway, Diversified Industrial, and Energy. At the channel level, industrial aftermarket sales declined mid-single digits, partially offset by a mid-single digits increase in industrial OEM sales. Our automotive aftermarket increased high single digits compared to prior year period. I’ll now pass the call over to Brooks for further comments on our results.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Thank you, Ivo. I’ll begin on slide 8 and discuss our core sales performance by region. In North America, core sales decreased about 2.5% in Q4 compared to the prior year period. At the channel level, aftermarket sales decreased low single digits and OEM sales were about flat. The aftermarket decrease was influenced by distributor inventory management that Ivo referenced earlier in his remarks, as well as a tough automotive aftermarket comparison as we started loading new product for the North American distribution partner we secured in 2024 during the fourth quarter of last year. We saw a nice increase in OEM industrial sales, which were up approximately 4%, offset by lower automotive OEM sales. At the end market level, core sales in diversified industrial, commercial on-highway, and automotive fell versus a year ago period, while off-highway and personal mobility increased.

In EMEA, core sales grew 5.8% in Q4 compared to the prior year period. Industrial markets are beginning to recover, with construction, agriculture, and personal mobility all producing double-digit growth. Commercial on-highway and diversified industrial also posted solid growth, while automotive OEM was a headwind. At the channel level, OEM sales increased double digits, while aftermarket sales expanded low single digits. China core sales grew about 3.5% year-over-year. Industrial markets were mixed, but we experienced strong growth in commercial, on-highway, personal mobility, and construction. Automotive OEM declined. East Asia and India realized a slight decrease in core sales versus last year. Declines in diversified industrial and automotive more than offset growth in agriculture and commercial on highway.

In South America, our core sales in Q4 grew slightly compared to prior year period, fueled by commercial on-highway and agriculture, partially offset by automotive OEM, energy, and construction. Slide 9 shows the components of our year-over-year improvement in adjusted earnings per share. Operating performance contributed $0.03 of benefit, and foreign exchange related to favorable currency translation represented $0.01 of improvement. Other items combined to be approximately a $0.02 offset. Slide 10 provides an overview of our free cash flow and balance sheet position. Our free cash flow conversion was 238% of adjusted net income for the fourth quarter, which brought our full-year 2025 free cash flow conversion to 92%.

Of note, our 2025 free cash flow conversion included over $30 million of cash restructuring related to footprint optimization initiatives and other restructuring, which is above average spending for our business. Our net leverage ratio declined to 1.85x at the end of the year, which was over a 0.3 turns improvement relative to year-end 2024. We finished 2025 with a record low net leverage ratio and over $800 million of cash on the balance sheet. In December, S&P upgraded our credit rating to double B from double B minus with a stable outlook. Further, we believe a strength of our business is return on invested capital, which ended the year at 23.4%.

We continue to make investments in capital projects and enterprise initiatives that we believe will deliver enhanced efficiencies and improve profitability over the medium to long term. Turning to slide 11, we outline our initial 2026 guidance. We believe the majority of our end markets should grow in 2026, and Eva will address this in more detail in a few minutes. As such, we estimate our core sales to grow in a range of 1%-4% versus the prior year period. We forecast our adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $775 million-$835 million. At the midpoint, we estimate our adjusted EBITDA margin rate to be up slightly year-over-year.

Please recall, we are incurring costs related to our ERP transition in Europe, as well as our footprint optimization initiatives that we anticipate will dampen our Adjusted EBITDA margin performance during the first half of the year. Collectively, we estimate the cost will represent about a 100 basis points drag year-over-year on our Adjusted EBITDA margin during the first half of 2026, all else equal. We anticipate these costs to run off by the middle of the year and expect benefits from our footprint optimization initiatives to contribute approximately $10 million of Adjusted EBITDA in the second half of the year. We have initiated an adjusted earnings per share range of $1.52 per share-$1.68 per share, which represents 5% growth at the midpoint. Our adjusted earnings per share guidance assumes no incremental share repurchases.

At the end of the year, we had approximately $194 million outstanding under our current share repurchase authorization. We have budgeted $120 million of capital expenditures for 2026. We project 90%+ free cash flow conversion, assuming above average spending on CapEx and cash restructuring. For the first quarter, we are guiding to a range of $845 million-$875 million in revenue, which factors a core sales decline of 2%-2.5% year-over-year at the midpoint. Our core sales guidance incorporates a 500 basis points core growth headwind related to this quarter having two fewer business days relative to the prior year period, as well as estimated efficiencies related to our ERP transition.

We anticipate recovering most of the sales impacted during the balance of the year. For the first quarter, we estimate an adjusted EBITDA margin decrease of 140 basis points at the midpoint, again, negatively impacted by the aforementioned headwinds of working days and the ERP transition. On Slide 12, we outline the key drivers of our anticipated year-over-year adjusted earnings per share growth for 2026. Moving from left to right, we estimate contribution from operating performance will contribute about $0.03 per share. Importantly, this estimate is net of anticipated costs associated with our ERP implementation in Europe and footprint optimization activities. The weaker US dollar is anticipated to yield favorable translation benefit of approximately $0.04 per share. Tax, interest, share count, and other items net to $0.01 of adjusted earnings per share contribution. I will now turn the call back to Ivo.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Thank you, Brooks. On Slide 13, we show our assumptions for end markets for 2026. Relative to 2025, we believe most of our end markets will be flat to up in 2026. Specifically, we estimate end markets that represent almost 80% of our sales should grow this year, including improved demand dynamics for our industrial off-highway and diversified industrial end markets. We believe these end markets have dropped and anticipate some recovery in 2026. Furthermore, we expect stable demand for automotive OEM and industrial on-highway in 2026. We continue to expect auto aftermarket and personal mobility market demand to remain constructive in 2026. In general, we believe our business will have some market tailwinds this year. As a reminder, this would be the first time in about 3 years that our business would be experiencing end market support.

With that, let me provide some closing thoughts on Slide 14. First, 2025 was a record year for our company. We generated record annual adjusted EBITDA dollars and adjusted earnings per share, and reduced our net leverage ratio to under 2x. We delivered these results in what we believe was dropping demand environment for some of our key end markets. Second, with more demand stability, we are optimistic about 2026 top-line potential. While our book-to-bill was solidly above 1x exiting 2025, and we are realizing improved order rates to start the year, we remain pragmatic this early in the year. That said, while we are incrementally optimistic about our near-term growth prospects, we do not anticipate a sharp recovery in 2026. Third, we are highly focused on our key strategic revenue initiatives to generate market outgrowth.

We continue to invest resources in personal mobility and data center markets, in which we expect to increase our market share through the end of the decade. We anticipate both verticals to grow at significantly higher rates than our fleet average. While we are intent on driving attractive core growth, our balance sheet is well positioned to support potential inorganic growth opportunities that may become available. Before taking your questions, I want to thank all of our global Gates associates for their effort and commitment, supporting our customers’ needs and helping make 2025 a successful year for Gates. With that, I will now turn the call back over to the operator for Q&A.

Conference Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you’d like to withdraw that question, again, press star one. We also ask that you limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. For any additional questions, please requeue. Your first question comes from the line of Andy Kaplowitz with Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Good morning, everyone.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Morning, Andy.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Good morning.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Ivo, can we delve into your commentary a little more regarding that book-to-bill over one in Q4 and January orders confirming that trend? As you know, we’ve kind of seen green shoots before, and they haven’t fully developed. So maybe you can give us a little more color on what’s driving your order acceleration. Would you call it more broad-based, and have you seen your aftermarket distributors stock destocking, which you said was happening in Q4 yet?

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, Andy, thank you. Look, we’ve actually seen probably the most positive order trend exiting 2025 in maybe two or three years. And in general, you know, when I kind of look, as you know, I have a reasonably good tenure here. As I look through my past two cycles, I think that we have seen here, you have to see recovery in industrial OEM segment that in general leads the other end markets or the other applications where we participate. And so this was the first time that we have seen in a while that we have seen a reasonably nice recovery or a very strong recovery in order trends in the industrial OEM. So that was a very positive sign for us.

You know, I would say that, you know, both, you know, I think that the end markets in the, off-highway... are stabilizing and, you know, we are, we are clearly seeing a, a nice outperformance, over those markets. In Q4, we did see, kind of a choppiness in the, particularly in the industrial distribution. I think that folks were kind of exiting the year trying to manage their inventories. Nothing that I would say was disconcerting to me, but, I would anticipate a, a little better recovery as we progress through Q1 to Q2 in the industrial aftermarket, in particular. In January, we kind of seen continuation of that trend, of what we have seen exiting 2025. So as I said in the prepared remarks, we are cautiously optimistic.

To your point, Andy, I would like to see PMI, you know, a few months north of 50. As you said, we have seen that head fake both years in 2024 and in 2025. So hopefully we will be seeing that validation of that PMI activity, and we can confirm ultimately over the next couple of months that that’s occurring, and I think that would bode really well, particularly for the latter parts of the year as we progress through the year. So cautiously optimistic, would say that, you know, based on what we have seen so far, you know, should indicate should bode well for 2026.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Ivo, that’s helpful. And I just want to go back to Q4 for a minute. Your Adjusted EBITDA margin was down a little bit sequentially on flatter sales. I know you mentioned mix. Maybe it was just aftermarket destock. Was there anything else that sort of hit you there, you know, difficult price cost, any sort of dynamics there? Because I think you mentioned mix too, for Q4.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. I would say the other thing is, you know, we managed our output, you know, as we exited the year, and we were really focused on, you know, making sure that we had our working capital positions in a good position as we exited the year. So we trimmed our production output, you know, that resulted in better than forecasted cash flow, as we ended up over 90%, you know, a little bit over 92%. And, you know, our best leverage metrics ever. And also, we bought back, you know, $105 million worth of stock in Q4. So it was really around managing, you know, our internal output and setting ourselves up, you know, to make sure that we had a good, strong start to 2026.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Yeah, Brooks, that’s what I thought. Thank you.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. Thanks, Andy.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Julian Mitchell with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Julian Mitchell, Analyst, Barclays: Hi, good morning. Maybe, just wanted to try and understand sort of the phasing of the year a little bit more clearly. So first quarter, I think, is something like 20% of the EBITDA for the year, and you’ve obviously got a lot of the ERP and footprint headwinds loaded into that. Trying to understand kind of how you’re thinking about the second quarter. You know, could we expect organic growth in that quarter? Is that what’s embedded? And maybe I missed it, but any sense of kind of the first half of the year, how much of EBITDA that should be? I think often it’s about 50%, but realize this year has some first half dynamics going on.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, Julian. So if you think about it in halves, you know, we have about 100 basis points net headwind, you know, kind of in the first half of the year, relative to, you know, relative to the ERP implementation and the footprint optimization. So, you know, you kind of think about it in pieces, right? We kind of have the, you know, the 50 basis points, 150 basis points midpoint in Q1, so that would lead you to believe, you know, kind of be 50 basis points midpoint in Q2. I would say that, you know, once we get through Q1, you know, given that our midpoint is 250 basis points of core growth, you should expect organic core growth each quarter, as we move through the year.

As we look at our seasonalization, it’s pretty balanced. It’s pretty balanced for the year. So, I would expect, you know, we’re gonna be less... I mean, if you take that 100 basis points and apply it, you know, absent that, you know, you have 2 less shipping days in the first half, you know, versus the second half, and so that’s gonna affect it a little bit. But absent the 100 basis points of headwind, you know, pretty normalized split between the front and the back.

Julian Mitchell, Analyst, Barclays: Okay, got it. So the first half is maybe like a high 40 share of the year’s EBITDA or something.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Exactly.

Julian Mitchell, Analyst, Barclays: Perfect. And then just to follow up, you know, Ivo, you mentioned data center exposure a couple of times, understandably. I think sales, you said, were up 4x last year. So maybe just flesh out kind of what, what is the dollar kind of revenue base in your data center exposure? Kind of what are the products you’re doing the, the best in, and do you have any sense of kind of backlog there or growth expectations in revenue for the year ahead in data center, please?

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. Look, we anticipate that the business in 2026, again, is going to grow multiples of 2025. You know, that being said, you know, we see obviously a very nice adoption of the liquid cooling and we anticipated that’s gonna be there for an extended period of time. Our products, again, to remind everybody, are, you know, hoses, couplings, fittings, and water pumps. I think that we see a nice penetration across all three of these product lines that we offer. And, you know, we’ve kind of flushed that $100-$200 million target there for 2028. And I think that as I’ve indicated last year, we should see nice progression through 2026 into 2027, you know, to ultimately reach that, you know, that target by 2028.

So everything that I see today, Julian, gives me reasonably good level of confidence that we are getting our fair share. I think that I’ve indicated that I- you know, if I just think about orders, as an example, in, in Q4, sequentially, our orders grew 350, you know, 350%, and year-on-year, our orders grew nearly 700%. So, you know, we are seeing, a, the pipeline being built up nicely. We are seeing good conversion, and yes, it, you know, it was from a reasonably small base last year, or the year prior to that as well, but that’s ramping up nicely. And, you know, again, it’s not gonna be, you know, two or three points of, of, revenue as a percent of our total revenue pie.

That, that’s gonna take, you know, a couple, couple more years, maybe through to 2028. But we, you know, we feel pretty good about where we sit, and, and we see a nice ramp up. But look, we also have, you know, we also have a very, you know, very terrific presence in all of our businesses, and so I think that that’s just gonna be a nice contribution to above-market growth rate.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Great. Thank you.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Tomo Sanio with J.P. Morgan Chase. Please go ahead.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation3: Good morning, everyone.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Hi, good morning, Tomo.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation3: Thank you for taking my questions. I’d like to ask about personal mobilities. It was up 28% in Q4, and how sustainable is this into 2026? And could you give us more color of key demand, product, and supply drivers as well as the cost priorities from the customer perspective? Thank you.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. Thank you for your question, Tomo. That business, you know, has been doing, you know, it’s been performing in an outstanding fashion for us in 2025. What we have indicated is that we anticipate that that business is gonna continue to grow, high 20s, kind of a 30% compound annually through 2028, and we certainly have an incredibly high degree of confidence that that we will continue to do that. We see a continuation of very strong trends. Our pipeline have been very robust, and we’ve been converting that pipeline, you know, as we demonstrate through our invoiced revenue, and now it’s becoming, again, a meaningful part of our revenue contribution. So we, you know, we have a high degree of confidence that that business will continue to grow.

As you’re driving adoption of electrified mobility, two-wheel mobility, you know, that is, you know, extremely well suited for changing that technology from chain to belt. So, you know, we feel that, you know, that’s a great business for a very, very long time, a very long horizon of future visibility.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation3: Thank you, and follow up on a net leverage and M&A pipelines and strategies, please. So if you could talk about the net leverage perspectives into 2026 and any opportunities for inorganic growth, which is M&A, for filling the piece or the bolt-on acquisitions, or are you thinking about more platform types of acquisitions, please?

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. Look, I would remind everybody that, you know, in this metric, we, you know, we are quite nicely ahead of what we’ve committed to the shareholders in terms of deleveraging. I’ll also say that, you know, the business, the cash generation profile and the profitability of this business is so, so terrific that we, you know, in a natural way, delever about half a turn a year. So, you know, that can give you some perspective of what, you know, what the range of leverage could be in you know, as we exit 2026. That being said, coming back to M&A, look, we don’t anticipate that we would be doing any type of transformational M&A. We do have a significantly increased appetite to execute logical and non-transformational M&A.

You know, that may be businesses that could be nice bolt-ons, and you know, there are things out there that we are looking at today, and there could be businesses that could be of more scale, while not non-transformational, they, you know, they could be nicely additive to our portfolio. So, we’re looking at full spectrum. We’ll be very pragmatic. We also believe that our stock is quite inexpensive, so we will be very carefully measuring the returns, where we can generate the best value creation for our shareholders, and we’ll be very, very committed to deploy our capital in a way that rewards our shareholders. Thank you, Elo.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Thanks-

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Dean Dray with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Dean Dray, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Good morning, Dean.

Dean Dray, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Hey, can we just circle back on the footprint optimization? I know you’ve given us your assumptions, but could you remind us on either the number of facilities or what percent of your manufacturing square footage these actions represent?

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, well, you know, from a facilities perspective, you know, you know, you know, including, you know, manufacturing and, you know, distribution, you know, it’s kind of, you know, in the single digits kinda number. I mean, we’re still working through that. And, you know, from a manufacturing footprint perspective, I don’t have that right in front of me, so I’d have to, I’d have to go back and check on that. I will tell you, you know, we feel, you know, better as we look at the different cost actions we’re taking relative to the footprint optimization and the restructuring and getting our costs aligned. We feel better about where we are in terms of the cost out.

And if anything, you know, remember, we said we were gonna have $10 million year-over-year savings in the back half of 2026, and then another $10 million in the first half of 2027. Probably feel better about the upside related to that as we look at the cost actions we’re taking and kinda how things are unfolding. So I would say, you know, when you, when you look at our target, you know, probably upside and sooner rather than later in terms of achieving that target.

We’ll be in a better position, kind of midway through 2026, I think, to talk about that in more detail, in terms of where we are and what we’re doing, as opposed to where we are right now, ’cause there’s still a lot of things that we have to announce and things we have to talk to different people about. So, but net-net, we feel good about where we are right now in terms of the, you know, the whole savings that we communicated to y’all.

Dean Dray, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: All right. That’s, that’s helpful. I appreciate that. And then as a follow-up, can you... Brooks, can you talk about what the upgraded S&P does for you? Is there, you know, an interest save that we might see? And then related to it, just, yep, a really good quarter on free cash flow conversion, but you, this is seasonally your strongest free cash flow quarter. Is there any opportunity to level out the free cash flow? I know there’s some seasonal aspects, but you just remind us ’cause, you know, instead of having the hockey stick in 4Q. Thanks.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. So on the S&P look, you know, you know, I think on the one hand, you know, you always hope that there’s some upside when you get upgraded. You know, on the other hand, when you look at the way our debt trades and you look at how people pile into our debt, you know, when we either issue new term loans or we reprice or anything like that, I wonder if we don’t trade through a lot of that, and we end up getting really good interest rates and really good participation.

So I don’t know that we would get, you know, I don’t know what the actual impact of that would be, but what we would expect, if anything, there’d be some upside to what was already really good trading in terms of our debt. On the second part of your question, you know, part of the issue is because we’re seasonal, in terms of usually our sales in the first half, a lot of the working capital kinda comes through in the second half, and that’s why you see that hockey stick on the working capital. You know, we get, you know, more sales in the first half and more collections, and things like that in the second half. So we’re always trying to get more seasonal in terms of...

Or we’re trying to get more normalized in terms of our working capital. But I’m not sure how much upside there is to that, to be honest with you.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Dean, let me maybe chime in a couple of, you know, a couple of more points in here, right? So, vis-à-vis SAP implementation, you know,

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: S&P.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: S&P.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. Yeah, in terms of rating.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Never mind.

Dean Dray, Analyst, RBC Capital Markets: Thank you.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Thanks, Dean.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yep.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Hammond with KeyBanc. Please go ahead.

Jeff Hammond, Analyst, KeyBanc: Hey, good morning, guys.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Morning, Jeff.

Andy Kaplowitz, Analyst, Citigroup: Good morning, Jeff.

Jeff Hammond, Analyst, KeyBanc: Just on this, this ERP noise, I think third quarter, you said $30 million-$35 million. Is... You know, one, is that unchanged? And then just, is that inclusive of the revenue disruption, or is that additive? And, you know, how much revenue disruption do you think you have in the first half all in?

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, well, I think most of the revenue disruption is gonna be in Q1. And then we kind of, you know, get it back as we go through the balance of the year. You know, the $30 million-$35 million is really kind of the is the all-in cost, you know, net of, you know, without the revenue in there, right? That’s just the cost headwind, and that’s like the 100 bps of that that’s flowing through Adjusted EBITDA. And so then, so if you think of 100 bps in the first half, that also includes footprint optimization, so it’s not all ERP.

You know, in the first half, that’d be kind of approximately $20 million, and then there’s about $10-$15 million that’s, you know, restructuring and add back that’s in the first half as well. So that’s where that $30-$35 million number comes back, about, about 20 of it- you know, kind of flowing through the adjusted EBITDA number in terms of higher SG&A inefficiencies, stuff that you can’t necessarily add back, and then the $10-$15 million that you, that you could add back. I would say, you know, also, you know, since we’re talking about that, you know, our launch has gone better than planned, I would say. You know, we’re pretty conservative and pragmatic in terms of how we look at things, but, you know, our plants are, are making what they need to make.

You know, we’re working out the parameters in terms of the front to back and, you know, we’re getting the right signals sent to the plants to produce stuff for the distribution centers. I would say right now, you know, what we’re really working on is tweaking some of the kind of external stuff when you think about, you know, advanced shipping notices to customers and different things like that. We’re just tweaking that a little bit to get them aligned with kind of the standard SAP functionality. And so we’re really pleased with the launch. We started up, we’re making stuff, we’re shipping stuff, and we feel really good about where we are with the, the SAP implementation right now.

Jeff Hammond, Analyst, KeyBanc: Okay, great. I think auto aftermarket’s been, you know, a pretty good trend for you guys. Just what are you seeing underlying there? Where do kind of channel inventories stand? And then when do you expect that we lap this kind of new customer comp dynamic? Thanks.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. So, the markets are quite stable. You know, we feel, you know, reasonably good about that. You know, the cars are getting older, people are driving, you know, the ongoing economy is, you know, reasonably okay. So we, you know, we feel very, constructive about that market kind of being what it traditionally is, outside of us acquiring large customer like we did last year. So, you know, I think more green shoots than not. In terms of lapping, we should be, you know, through that tough comp, by the end of Q1. So basically, from Q2 onwards, it should be more normalized.

But, you know, let me remind you, I mean, we, we did, you know, we did see growth in aftermarket in Q4, as well, despite the fact that we had a, you know, reasonably tough comp.

Jeff Hammond, Analyst, KeyBanc: Okay. Thank you.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Thanks, Jeff.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Steve Volkman with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation2: Great. Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Just a couple of quick follow-up, one short term, one longer term. Any words of wisdom as we think about segment margins, both as we go through the transformation and the ERP, and then sort of beyond that, is there anything we should think about sort of first quarter and full year from the segment perspective?

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, I don’t know that. I mean, you know, the footprint optimization stuff is a little bit more weighted toward Fluid Power, but I would say some of the cost alignment stuff, some of the other restructuring we’re doing, may be a little bit more PT. So I don’t know that there’s a material difference in terms of how the margins are gonna shake out. You know, I would say it’s gonna be pretty broad-based. And, you know, EMEA is a little bit more PT, and so, you know, they’ll probably be a little bit more headwind on PT in the first half, and then that’ll come back in the second half, in terms of how the ERP transition project will play out.

So maybe a little bit more of the headwinds, on PT, but then it’ll equal out in the second half.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation2: Okay, great. And then maybe longer term, you know, you obviously, you guys have been on a successful sort of long-term journey here in order to get margins where you want them. It feels like we’re almost to the finish line, and maybe second half of 2026 is sort of the finish line. I don’t know. Correct me if you think I’m wrong, but I guess I’m curious, sort of what’s next after that? Do you become more acquisitive? Do you focus more on growth? Is it a kind of a compounder story from there? What-- How do you envision the company once you kinda get where you wanna be on margin?

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah. Thank you for the question. It’s very thoughtful, Steve. Look, let me kind of start with, you know, the, the journey a little bit, right? So if I look back, and let’s just kind of presume that we, we have troughs and we are exiting the down cycle here. I certainly believe that that’s the case. Again, I’m not going to forecast when it’s going to completely rebound, but let’s just presume that we have troughs and we are exiting the down cycle. We’re exiting the down cycle with over 300 basis points of improved profitability versus the prior down cycle. So we have materially improved the quality of the company. We also believe that we have projects in play that will give us an ability to continue to drive profitability to the midterm target.

And frankly, when I look at what we have been able to achieve in a very negative end market backdrop, we are nicely ahead what we have committed to the shareholders, despite the fact that, you know, the end markets have been very, very negative for the last three years. So that gives me a high degree of confidence that, you know, we have a nice way to go beyond what we have committed in terms of profitability with the improvements that we continue to do structurally to this business. Now, put it aside, we have nicely improved our balance sheet. We’re generating a ton of free cash flow that gives us ton of optionality....

I think that when you listen to some of the things that Brooks said about, you know, how well we have executed on the ERP implementation, I think that when we have a decent plan in place, we execute well, and we manage to execute well despite many different impediments that are unplanned that we have to absorb. So I, I think that we, we now have an optionality to go in and start adding nice pieces to our portfolio that we have within Gates and, you know, drive synergies with potential M&A transactions that would give us the opportunity to get to our company fleet averages. So in a nutshell, Steve, I, I think that it’s a little bit all of the above. I think that we can continue to drive profitability forward on a structural basis.

I believe that the incremental capacity that our balance sheet offers us now, and we were very patient to get to this point in time, gives us the opportunity to add different assets in, improve those assets, and start compounding earnings on a forward-going basis.

Jerry Revich, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Great. I appreciate it.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Thanks, Steve.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mike Halloran with Baird. Please go ahead.

Mike Halloran, Analyst, Baird: Hey, good morning, everyone.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Good morning.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Good morning.

Mike Halloran, Analyst, Baird: Just a quick follow-up to the first half of that last question there. So how do you think about what your incremental margins look like, once you get through the ERP consolidation, and you hit a more normal run rate for growth?

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Well, so, well, it’s, I’m struggling to figure out what normal is. So, after we get to the ERP implementation, you know, we ought to be, as we’re working through, you know, the footprint optimization and restructuring stuff, you know, we ought to be at an enhanced level of drop through, you know, 45% plus, you know, over about a 12-month period, okay? Now, through the cycle, you know, what we’ve said is, we think that the drop through should be more like 35%. And the reason being is, you’re definitely gonna mix toward more OEM-type business through the cycle, as you kind of go to the upside, or as you go to kind of the, you know, the core growth increase.

And that’s why it’s a little bit less, you know, than you might otherwise think, right? You might think more like, you know, 40, but you’re definitely gonna mix to the OEM side, which is gonna be a little bit lower from a gross margin perspective. Now, it’s got some better cash flow characteristics, but from a margin perspective, that’s where it probably is. And then as you move through the cycle, you know, that can flex a little bit up and down, but I would say, you know, second half of 2026 through the first half of 2027, you’re gonna be 45%+, and then after that, more normalized basis, you know, 35 on the low end, you know, maybe moving up to 40, depending on what the mix is.

Mike Halloran, Analyst, Baird: That’s great. Super helpful. And then just a question on how you’re thinking about the year here. If you adjust for the first quarter, the 500 basis points between those two items, are you assuming relatively normal seasonality if you adjust for those factors? It doesn’t sound like you’re embedding some sort of improvement of scale in the revenue build to the year. So maybe just talk about what those assumptions look like.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, that’s the right way to think about it. You know, Mike, we, you know, we’ve quantified the headwinds associated with fewer shipping days in Q1 and some of the efficiency losses due to the ERP implementation. Again, we feel better about the ERP implementation, but, you know, you still need to improve efficiency and get everybody comfortable operating in the new structure. Once that normalizes it from Q3 through Q4, it’s more normalized. You will gain back one day, one calendar day in a, you know, in a Q4 versus kind of the loss of two days in Q1, so, more or less, normal calendar.

Mike Halloran, Analyst, Baird: Great. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Thanks, Mike.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Jerry Revich with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

Jerry Revich, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Yes. Hi. Good morning, everyone. Igor-

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Good morning, Jerry.

Jerry Revich, Analyst, Wells Fargo: I wanted to ask. Hi, I wanted to ask, just given the improved demand environment, if we do see sales move towards above the high end of your guided range, how would you counsel us to think about operating leverage in that scenario?

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: I think that Brooks just highlighted that, Jerry, about, you know, 45%+ incremental-

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: leverage on, on

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: On the back half.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: ... incremental. Yeah, in the back half, on the incremental revenue.

Brooks Mallard, CFO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, and that’s really kind of the, you know, the footprint optimization and restructuring flowing through on top of the kind of 35% normal leverage. But, you know, if we were to see things move more towards the high end, it’s gonna be very OEM-based. It’s gonna be pickup in the industrial OEM side of things, where you start to see those things start to rebound. And like I said, a little bit lower margin profile there, but still, you know, still pretty nice, so.

Jerry Revich, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Got it. That’s constructive. And then in terms of where lead times stand today, you’ve mentioned the year reorders. What, how far out are we from a lead time standpoint? How does that compare versus other periods of time where demand was equally tight? Can you just give us a perspective? And can you just talk about for the industrial replacement side, it feels like we’re seeing a really strong desire to restock across end markets there. Is that part of the driver of the order acceleration that, you know, you stepped through? Any additional color there would be helpful.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, look, I think that, you know, I’ve indicated that the significant inversion in order uptick that we have seen was predominantly on the OE side, presently on the industrial OE side. So we are seeing that our lead times are still, you know, normal. We haven’t seen any creep up at this point in time. We’ve obviously we are in a very good position vis-a-vis our capacity. We have been improving the business over the last three years, spending capital to ensure that we can capitalize on the upcycle when it comes.

I would say that we yet need to see the industrial distributors want to restack, but I would also say that in general, they are quite late to the party, and my anticipation would be, you know, we should start seeing that more maybe in Q2 of this year, if history serves as a guide. So, you know, we are well positioned. Again, we have trimmed our working capital, exiting Q4. We’ve positioned ourselves for a maximum benefit as the recovery stakeholder.

Jerry Revich, Analyst, Wells Fargo: Yeah. Thank you.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Thanks, Jared.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Nigel Coe with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Nigel Coe, Analyst, Wolfe Research: Thanks. Good morning, guys.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Good morning.

Nigel Coe, Analyst, Wolfe Research: We covered a lot of ground here, so here you go. Yeah, so just maybe just kind of piggybacking off that previous question. You laid out your end market assumptions, Ivo, and I’m just wondering, you know, when we look at the industrial off-highway, on-highway, are you seeing any, you know, difference between OE and aftermarket in your plan?

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: So, right now, we are seeing a nice inversion in the OE side. You know, again, I would anticipate, Nigel, that we will start seeing improvements in the industrial aftermarket, kind of into second quarter of this year. But, it gives me a great deal of confidence, I would say, that when you see that inversion, that’s a very good sign. When you combine that with at least the very early indications from the PMI, while I’m not, you know, certainly ready to, you know, to call it yet, because we did have a couple of head fakes last couple of years, this is, you know, this is, this feels better than in 2024 and 2025.

And so we start getting a couple more data points on the PMIs, and I think, you know, things should work out pretty nicely for everybody in the industrial complex, case included.

Nigel Coe, Analyst, Wolfe Research: Yeah. So I’m just curious if, you know, if you’re baking in any sort of mix headwinds for the year, you know, but it doesn’t sound like it is, but that’d be helpful. And then on the pricing, I’m not. I’m sorry if I missed this in your prepared remarks, but what are you baking in for price contribution for the year? And then expanding out to the raw material basket, unlike a lot of the companies we cover, you are facing a whole lot of steel and base metal inflation. In fact, some of your raw materials should be a little bit deflationary or flat. So I’m just curious how you view the price-cost equation through the year.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yes.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Yes.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Oh, you go.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: No, go.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Okay. So, so, yeah, I think, look, we got some carryover, you know, tariff pricing that’s still in. I mean, you know, but pricing is going to be relatively low, you know, kind of, you know, 100-150 basis points for the year. You know, you know, one thing that we’re, you know, we look at, you know, you, you look at tariffs, you look at utilities, you look at material, but also, you know, you’ve heard me talk about labor inflation as well, right? And, especially around the world, where you see kind of outsized labor inflation. So we take all those into account. But right now, things are fairly stable.

You know, we feel like we’ve got, you know, things covered from a pricing perspective, but it’s relatively, you know, it’s relatively normalized, maybe a little bit less than normal given the state of things right now.

Nigel Coe, Analyst, Wolfe Research: Great. Thank you.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: And, you know, Nigel, I maybe I’ll just, you know, pin something in here, too. You know, we’ve done quite a bit of work on raw material improvements over the last couple of years that has, nicely supported our improvement, structural improvement in the business. You know, that, that’s not gonna stop, so we’re gonna continue to drive that, and continue to position ourselves, into, position of strength and better profitability as, as we move, into 2026 and 2027.

Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of David Raso with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead.

David Raso, Analyst, Evercore ISI: Yeah, I was just curious, currency in the guide. I’m just trying to figure out what the overall margin guide is, with the EBITDA number. Are you including about 2% of currency? So we’re, we’re looking at 4.5% total sales growth.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: A little less than that, David. It’s like 1.5 or thereabouts.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, I mean-

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Just the first half.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, it’s very weighted in the first half, and in the second half, it kind of normalizes out. So, you know, let me kind of find my currency stuff here. Yeah, so if you think about it from a translation perspective, you know, it’s a little bit, kind of 125 basis points for the year, but weighted much more in the first half, so.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: ... Okay, 125 basis points in terms of, in terms of kind of growth.

David Raso, Analyst, Evercore ISI: Okay, that’s full year. Okay, following up on the comment-

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Yeah

David Raso, Analyst, Evercore ISI: about pricing 100, 150 basis points. I mean, it’s implying volume up only 1%. And again, I appreciate early year being conservative on extrapolating trends. But I mean, if personal mobility is up 30%, that’s 1% growth for the entire company. So I’m just trying to understand, is it just, hey, we’re just, you know, being cautious in the, in the beginning, or is there some other area of decline? Because, you know, obviously, I’m basing a little bit on slide 13. You only have one market that’s down, right? Energy and resources. And I’m just trying to understand the level of conservatism in the top line.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Yeah, David, I think that you have framed it correctly. You know, I will restate what I said earlier, right? We have seen a couple of head fakes in 2024 and 2025. While I do feel, or we as a management team, feel better when you look backwards into how things progress when you do have a recovery, the signs are very positive, but we are very pragmatic in our outlook for the start of the year. Again, we have only seen one PMI print that you know that has given us I think all of us a nice degree of boosting confidence that things are going to improve. We are seeing that follow through to our industrial orders.

Some of these markets are, you know, reasonably well behaved. Personal mobility is doing really well. You stated it correctly. So, you know, we are more constructive on these end markets, but, you know, there are some markets that, you know, there are question marks, right? What will happen without OE? I mean, you know, I think that, you know, that’s probably gonna be somewhat of a headwind, overall, when you take a look at the consumer, you know, the pricing, you know, the timing of recovery. You know, while we are, again, you know, we are more positive on those end markets, you know, it will not happen on January fifteenth, right? It will not happen on February second. Some of these markets are gonna be progressing through a rolling recovery.

And so while we are positive, we are being pragmatic, and, you know, I would much rather let you know in the next earnings call or the one thereafter, that, you know, we are seeing terrific improvement and great follow through, and I think everybody’s gonna be much happier about that.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: I will remind, we have one less shipping day in 2026 than we did in 2025.

David Raso, Analyst, Evercore ISI: All right. I appreciate that. All right. Thank you.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Yep.

Thanks, David.

Ivo Jurek, CEO, Gates Corporation: Thank you.

Conference Operator: That concludes our question and answer session. I will turn it back over to Rich Kwas for closing comments.

Rich Kwas, VP of Investor Relations and Strategy, Gates Corporation: Thanks, everyone. Thanks, everyone, for your interest in Gates. If you have any follow-up questions, feel free to touch base with me. Have a great day and rest of the week.

Conference Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.