Albany International (NYSE:AIN) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Thank you for standing by. My name is Cass, and I will be your operator for today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the First Quarter twenty twenty six Albany International Corp Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be question and answer session. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Karen Blomquist, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Albany International's First Quarter twenty twenty six Earnings Call.

0:47 As a reminder for those listening on the call, please refer to our press release issued this morning detailing our quarterly financial results. Contained in the text of the release is a notice regarding our forward looking statements and the use of certain non GAAP financial measures and their reconciliation to GAAP. For the purposes of this conference call, those same statements apply to our verbal remarks this morning. Additionally, our remarks today may reference our earnings presentation, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website, albint.com. Today, we will make statements that are forward looking and contain a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied. For a full discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please refer to both our earnings release of 04/30/2026, as well as our SEC filings, including our 10 Q and our 10 ks.

1:41 Now, I'll turn the call over to Gunnar Cleveland, our President and CEO, who will provide opening remarks. Gunnar? Thank you, Karen. Good morning and welcome everyone. Thank you for joining our first quarter earnings call. We entered 2026 as a more focused and disciplined organization with a clear strategy centered on our core strengths. Our culture begins with caring for our people, and it was an honor to recently have our Engineered Composites segment recognized as one of America's safest companies. Safety is a priority at Albany and is embedded in how we design processes and operate each day, and a strong safety culture translates to a strong quality culture. This operational philosophy is also manifested in our outstanding on time delivery performance.

2:34 Our focus on safety, quality, and operational excellence creates a solid foundation for our reliable operations while our value proposition remains grounded in our shared expertise in industrial weaving and material science, which connects our two businesses and differentiates us in the markets we serve. I'd like to take a minute to address the conflict in The Middle East. We're continuously monitoring and working closely with our suppliers and customers, and to date, we have not seen any impact and have made only slight adjustment to delivery routes. Raw materials are generally protected by either long term contracts or customer directed contracts. We will continue to monitor and work to minimize any supply chain risk.

3:21 At the same time, we're seeing increased demand on our weapons programs and are maximizing production on key programs. In machine clothing, the team did an outstanding job taking corrective actions to make up the downtime of a machine malfunction, and we expect that recovery to be completed in the back half of the year. More broadly, demand conditions across our end markets stabilized in the first quarter. In engineered composites, our focus remains on refining our operating model and prioritizing higher value add applications, particularly within our advanced weaving technologies, including three d weaving, braiding, winding, and resin transfer molding that serve end markets such as commercial and defense propulsion systems, missile production, and space exploration.

4:14 We're seeing volume increase across key programs, reflecting both higher production rates and the benefit of the actions we have taken over the past twelve months. Importantly, we're winning new business with new and existing customers, and demand remains strong across defense platforms, and the lead production continues to increase. Our current pipeline of new business opportunities remains robust and continues to expand as we focus on new applications where our expertise and products offer greater strengths and wider weight solutions. We believe the actions we have taken and the trends we see across both segments position us well to drive strong free cash generation and build on the baseline we established exiting 2025.

5:02 This provides us with the flexibility to continue allocating capital in a balanced and disciplined manner, including reinvesting in the business to support long term growth, while also returning cash to shareholders. Turning to the quarter, we're off to a solid start to 2026 with revenue of $311,000,000 up 7.8% year over year, which translated to adjusted EBITDA of 48,000,000 In Machine Clothing, revenue for the quarter was $166,000,000 and came in ahead of our expectations across all regions, including North America, Europe, and China. Despite the recent stabilization in China and improved order rates, which are positive developments, visibility beyond the near term remains limited.

5:52 As we previously disclosed, at the start of the first quarter, we experienced an equipment failure at one of our facilities, and I'm pleased to report that we were able to recover more of the lost production related to the unplanned downtime than we initially anticipated in the first quarter. Assuming the equipment continues to operate as expected, we believe we are well positioned to recover the remaining lost volume by the end of the year. We're actively managing the situation and are relocating a machine from a closed facility to have a long term solution in place by year end. Adjusted EBITDA margin for MC was 25.9%. On a constant currency, margins were stable, driven by a meaningful improvement across Europe as we continue to realize the benefits of integration activities.

6:41 Turning to Engineered Composites. Revenue for the quarter was $145,000,000 compared to $114,000,000 in the prior year. The increase was driven by broad based growth across our programs with incremental contribution from S35, Littelf Systems, LEAP, seven eighty seven, and the CH-fifty three ks. Segment adjusted EBITDA was $17,000,000 or 11.7% of sales compared to $15,000,000 or 13.5% of sales in the prior year. The increase in EBITDA reflects higher overall volume, while the margins in line with expectations were driven by mix, primarily the impact of CH-fifty three ks aft program revenue, which is now booked at zero margin following the actions taken in the third quarter of twenty twenty five.

7:38 In new business developments, we're excited to announce our new contract with Pratt and Whitney for composite engine components for their GEAR Turbofan. The Turbofan relies extensively on advanced composite materials to achieve its fuel efficiency, noise reduction, and weight targets, which strongly leverages AEC's strengths in high performance composite structures. For both JASSM and LARASSM missiles, we have been requested by our customer to increase production, bringing output to the highest level achievable within our current capabilities, including through the use of overtime. Turning to the strategic review of the Amelia Earhart facility in Salt Lake City, which houses the CSUS-two ks program.

8:23 We continue to make progress and have completed the standalone analysis with PWC. While it is still too early in the process for us to share any conclusions, we remain on schedule and look forward to providing an update as we move towards a resolution. As we look ahead, our priorities remain clear, disciplined execution, continued progress across both segments, and driving improved profitability and cash generation. In machine clothing, we saw stabilization in key markets and remain focused on execution and margin recovery. In engineered composites, we're scaling the business, refining our operating model, and prioritizing higher value application to support long term growth and margin expansion.

9:12 We believe Albany is well positioned to deliver sustainable value for our customers and shareholders, supported by our differentiated capabilities and a more focused disciplined approach. I would like to thank our employees for their continued dedication, as well as our customers, partners, and shareholders for their ongoing support. With that, I will turn the call over to Will to review the financial results in more detail. Thank you, Zennar, and good morning. Before turning to the financials, I would like to remind you that a reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP measures discussed today can be found in this morning's press release. First quarter revenue was $311,300,000 representing growth of 7.8% year over year.

9:59 This increase was driven primarily by high volumes in Engineered Composites as key programs continue to ramp, partially offset by lower volumes in Machine Clothing, particularly in China. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $48,200,000 compared to $55,700,000 in the prior year, reflecting a margin of 15.5%. The year over year decline in margin was primarily driven by a higher mix of revenue from Engineered Composites, which carry structurally lower margins, as well as lower volumes in Machine Clothing and the impact of foreign exchange. In Machine Clothing, results reflect continued softness in Asia markets, particularly in China, resulting in a modest year over year decline in revenue to $166,000,000 compared to $174,700,000 in the prior year.

10:58 Despite this headwind, underlying trends remained stable and operational execution was solid. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $43,000,000 with a margin of 25.9%. The year over year decline was driven primarily by foreign exchange impacts and lower volume in Asia. On a constant currency basis, margins were stable overall, supported by efficiency initiatives and integration progress. In Engineering Composites, performance was solid above our internal expectations. The revenue increased to $145,400,000 from $114,100,000 in the prior year. The growth was driven by higher volumes across multiple programs, including commercial aerospace platforms such as LEAP, as well as defense program.

11:50 The outperformance reflects both the timing of program ramps and strong execution, which enabled us to meet higher than anticipated demand in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $16,900,000 compared to $15,400,000 last year. While margins declined to 11.7%, this reflects the impact of prior year items and mix, including zero margin revenues associated with actions taken on a CH-fifty three ks app program in 2025. Gross profit for the quarter was $99,800,000 with a margin of 32.1% compared to 33.4% in the prior year. The change reflects revenue mix with a greater contribution from Engineered Composites.

12:41 Operating income was $25,400,000 representing a margin of 8.1% compared to 9.8% last year. The decline was driven by higher nonrecurring and restructuring expenses. Net interest expense increased to $5,500,000 reflecting higher borrowing costs. Other income was at a net benefit of $3,200,000 driven primarily by foreign currency and derivative impacts. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 33.1% compared to 26.6% in the prior year, largely due to the absence of favorable discrete items. Free cash flow was at a net use of $3,600,000 compared to a net use of $13,500,000 in the prior year period.

13:32 The year over year improvement reflects timely customer collections. Capital expenditures totaled 9,300,000 focused on facility optimization and investments tied to key customer programs. R and D expense was $13,000,000 reflecting our continued commitment to innovation. We ended the quarter with $122,600,000 in cash and $477,000,000 in total debt, resulting in net debt of approximately $354,000,000 Including revolver availability, we have approximately $446,000,000 of available capital. Providing flexibility to support ongoing investments and return capital to shareholders.

14:21 Looking ahead, current trends support a stable outlook across both segments. In Machine Clothing, we expect modest sequential improvement in volume in the second quarter following typical first quarter seasonality. Assuming no additional equipment downtime, we expect to recover the remainder of lost volume as the year progresses. In Engineered Composites, we expect continued growth supported by ongoing program ramps across both commercial and defense platforms. For the second quarter, we expect consolidated revenue in the range of $335,000,000 to $345,000,000 We anticipate adjusted EPS in the range of $0.70 to $0.80 and an effective tax rate of approximately 31.5%.

15:12 For the full year in Machine Clothing, we continue to see stable demand in Europe and The Americas. And while China shows signs of stabilization, we still have limited visibility for the remainder of the year. In Engineered Composites, we expect continued growth driven by key platforms with margin levels normalizing relative to the prior year. Now I'd like to open the call up for questions. Thank you. This time, I would like to remind everyone, in order to ask a question, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. And your first question comes from the line of Peter Arment with Baird. Your line is open.

16:12 Hey, good morning, Gunnar and Will. Thanks for your time. Hey, Gunnar, maybe you could just give us an update on Salt Lake and discussions around CH-fifty three ks, what you can say about planned divestiture or any kind of anything you could kind of highlight? I know it's obviously challenging given there's ongoing negotiations. Yeah, Arman, I think that the our performance out of our Salt Lake facility, as you can see with the performance in the first quarter, has been very, very good. We stay very close to our customer and continue to deliver both for our customer on the CS-three 62 program, as well as all the other programs, as well as the warfighter. So that is the commitment that we have given through this process.

17:12 The process of the strategic review is progressing to our schedule. We're in the process of finalizing the marketing material so that we can go more directly to the interested parties that have already contacted us and Guggenheim. So I would say we, just like Will said, we are on schedule, and we are staying connected with our customer throughout this process. Appreciate that color. And if I could just ask a follow-up unrelated on the MC business. Could you just give us a little more color on the overcapacity issue in Asia?

18:03 The MC business has been such a resilient business over the years and obviously you've got different regions that it's in. But could you just give us a little more color on what's driving the overcapacity? Is it just economic activity or something specific? Thanks. Yeah, the investment in paper machines and new machines in China specifically has been very high in the last several years. And as you know, Peter, run a paper machine profitably it needs to run at high speeds. That's where we come in and we have the best belts for that, but they overproduce.

18:49 And that overproduction, that's what we are uncertain about. How long does it take to get the paper back to a normal level so that production can pick up again. Then the other uncertainty is, is there too much production capability in China, and is this a cycle that they're going to go through? Because we see new builds there. The positive that we're seeing there is on tissue. We're seeing an increase in tissue, And some of our process belts that are being used there continue to be in favor. So that's what we saw in the first quarter, the stabilization.

19:40 We're taking a conservative outlook for the year in what's happening in China. Thanks, Thank you. I'm not showing any further questions in the queue. I will now turn it back over to Gunnar Cleveland for closing remarks. All right. Thank you, Cath, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call today. We appreciate your continued interest in Albany.

20:28 Thank you, and have a good day. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.