The earnings release and presentation to supplement today's call are available for download on our investor relations website at investors.cmco.com. Please see our earnings release and our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information. Also on today's call, we will make references to pro forma metrics, which adjust for both the Kito Crosby acquisition and the divestiture of the legacy Columbus McKinnon U.S. Q1 was our first full quarter operating as a combined company following the Kito Crosby acquisition, the team delivered a solid performance across orders, sales, profitability, and cash flow.
We continue to advance our strategic priorities, operational excellence, commercial effectiveness, and customer experience, these initiatives are improving our competitiveness and strengthening our foundation for sustainable growth. Automotive demand has been spotty general industrial demand in pockets of EMEA remains soft as previously shared. This growth is also supported by ongoing commercial initiatives early revenue synergy wins. Adjusted EBITDA of $111.5 Million increased 242% with adjusted EBITDA margin of 21%.
When normalizing for the impacts of the acquisition and divestiture in the prior year period, Q1 adjusted EBITDA margins expanded approximately 300 basis points. Adjusted EPS grew $0.11 to $0.61 from the prior year period on an as-reported basis. These results exceeded our expectations, driven by strong execution, favorable demand dynamics, some cost benefits specific to the quarter. Given our strong start to the year, today we are raising our sales, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EPS outlooks for fiscal 2027.
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales | FY2027 | Raised |
| Adjusted EBITDA | FY2027 | Raised (full-year margin ~19.5% at midpoint; ~18.9% implied for the rest of the year) |
| Adjusted EPS | FY2027 | Raised |
| Pricing | FY2027 | ~1–2% total price for the year, ramping in the second half |
| Net leverage | By FY2028 | Reaffirmed below 4x by fiscal 2028 |
| Cost synergies | FY2027 / long-term | $70M net run-rate reaffirmed with potential upside; FY2027 synergies weighted to SG&A, guidance not yet raised for synergies |
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales | +125% to $531.5M (pro forma +10%) | Kito Crosby acquisition, volume, pricing and favorable FX, net of the divestiture; low-teens legacy CMCO growth and high-single-digit legacy Kito growth. |
| Orders | +120% to $568.1M (pro forma +9%) | Acquisition plus broad-based Americas/APAC strength; EMEA down on macro and a tough rail comp; 1.1x book-to-bill. |
| Adjusted EBITDA | $111.5M (+242%); 21.0% margin (+720 bps) | Acquisition, scale, synergies and quarter-specific material-cost benefits; ~+300 bps pro forma, ~+100 bps excluding one-time items. |
| Adjusted EPS | $0.61 (+$0.11) | Higher operating profit, partly offset by higher interest expense and a larger preferred-converted share count. |
| GAAP net loss / LPS | $(88.4)M; $(2.05) | $55.2M non-cash inventory step-up amortization, interest expense and integration costs. |
| Adjusted gross margin | 38.1% (+380 bps) | Acquisition, pricing, volume and quarter-specific material-cost benefits, net of COGS inflation and divestiture impact. |
| Free cash flow (ex deal costs) | $32.4M (+$49.7M) | Higher operating profit and ~$20M better working-capital use than the prior-year Q1 – the first positive Q1 FCF in six years. |
| Net leverage | 4.9x (-0.2x sequentially) | $18.4M of debt paydown in the quarter; debt reduction remains the capital-allocation priority. |
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| First full combined quarter | Two months of Kito Crosby in Q4 FY2026 | A clean first full quarter as one company delivered 10% pro forma sales growth, 21% adjusted EBITDA margin and the first positive Q1 free cash flow in six years, exceeding expectations. | — |
| Synergy realization in the P&L | Actions taken, not yet measured | For the first time, synergy benefits are flowing through the P&L (mostly SG&A, ~220 bps improvement as a percent of sales), with COGS synergies expected to build later; confidence to potentially outpace the $70M target. | — |
| One-time cost benefits | — | Late-quarter IEEPA tariff refunds and other net material-cost benefits contributed ~200 bps of the ~300 bps pro forma margin expansion and are not expected to recur, so the underlying core improvement was ~100 bps. | — |
| Regional demand and Middle East | U.S. strong, EMEA soft | Americas and APAC volumes building on defense, infrastructure, energy, e-commerce, data center and pharma; a temporary opening of the Strait of Hormuz boosted Middle East shipments, while EMEA stayed soft and is expected to pressure Q2. | — |
| Leadership transition | Greg Rustowicz as CFO | John Linker joined as Chief Financial Officer during the quarter and participated in his first earnings call, reaffirming the strategy, disciplined operating approach and debt-reduction priority. | — |
| Margin cadence for the year | Back-half weighted | Q2 is expected to be the low point for gross margin, with a ramp through the back half from synergies, pricing and operational execution, tempered by ~30 bps/quarter of FX headwind and EMEA de-leveraging. | — |