Magnera Corporation 2026 Q3 Earnings Call

Please go ahead. Thank you, operator, thank you everyone for joining Magnera's third fiscal quarter 2026 earnings call.

Joining me are Magnera's Chief Executive Officer, Curt Begle, and Chief Financial Officer, Jim Till. Following our prepared remarks, we will have a question and answer session. To allow everyone the opportunity to participate, we ask that you limit yourself to one question with a brief follow-up, then fall back into the queue for any additional questions. A few things to note before handing over the call, on our website at magnera.com, you can find today's press release and earnings call presentation under Investor Relations. You can also go directly to ir.magnera.com to review the investor presentations from our recent conference attendance. Our annual report and proxy statements with the SEC can be found on our website under Investor Relations.

As referenced on slide two during the call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. These measures are reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings press release and in the appendix of the presentation available on our website. A reminder that we will make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made based upon management's expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the company, and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Some factors that could cause the results or outcomes to differ are in the company's latest SEC filings and our news releases. These statements speak only as of today, we undertake no obligation to update them. I will now turn the call over to Magnera's CEO, Curt Begle.

Thank you, Robert. Good morning, thank you for joining our call. This quarter's strong performance reflects the organizational transformation initiatives we executed following our merger, as well as the proactive initiatives taken by our global teams. Magnera leadership set high expectations for action-oriented execution, operational rigor, and performance guided by our purpose, promise and beliefs. The team continues to deliver against those expectations despite a volatile macroeconomic backdrop. I am pleased to report that we produced our strongest earnings quarter as Magnera, driven by focused execution. For the quarter, revenue was $857 million, with adjusted EBITDA of $99 million. Earnings grew 9% with a 70 basis point improvement versus the prior year quarter. Continued investment in differentiated products supported strong growth in our global wipes and infrastructure businesses, enabled by our commercial excellence discipline.

Based on our performance this quarter and our outlook for the full fiscal year, we are reaffirming the free cash flow guide and moving adjusted EBITDA to the lower end of the previous guidance range. Jim will cover the details later in the call. Our earnings performance and strategic investments in essential mission-critical products continue to advance our scale and financial targets. As I reflect on the quarter's results, I'll start with focused execution. Three strategic pillars continue to drive our business. Improving our cost position to create a leading global competitive chassis, winning with customers through product leadership and innovation, and strengthening commercial excellence. Our synergy and Project CORE transformation programs delivered strong savings globally. I appreciate our team's discipline, action-oriented approach, including the difficult decisions required to drive this earnings improvement. We are also investing strategically in product lines and higher growth end markets that require product expertise.

Our wipes portfolio grew across all four key end market applications: disinfecting, Personal Care, including baby, moist toilet tissue, and specialty industrial. A highlight of the quarter was the launch of our new Universa product line, which I will discuss shortly. In infrastructure, we experienced growth in housewrap and accessories as we strategically expanded our national supply partner network in North America. Outside North America, infrastructure grew with continued strength in cable wrap and sustained growth in air and liquid filtration. At Magnera, the strength and resilience of our businesses are grounded in the deliberate balance we have built across our Consumer Solutions and Personal Care portfolios. These products span tea bags, coffee filters, wipes, dryer sheets, filtration, baby diapers, adult incontinence, and medical garments. Categories anchored in everyday, non-discretionary consumer demand. This balance is by design.

It reflects a broad platform of 44 global manufacturing facilities and technology capabilities that position Magnera as a global leader supplying critical materials for customers' products in key end markets. When one end market faces cyclical pressure, the resilience of the broader portfolio provides ballast, supporting stable earnings, diversified customer exposure, and the flexibility to invest through the cycle. Our leading polymer and fiber technologies, backed by an extensive patent portfolio, provide a broader range of solutions and greater customer choice, strengthening our reach in both developed and emerging markets. The culmination of this balance will drive stable cash flows, volume growth, and earnings improvement. Universa is a strong example of this balance. We have one of the broadest portfolios of sustainable wipes solutions globally, including several leading products enabled by proprietary technology. In June, we launched Universa to deliver performance across a wide range of customer needs.

Our core offerings are designed for daily maintenance, facilities cleaning, and janitorial applications where fast absorption and operational efficiency are essential. Universa Plus, using our proprietary spunlace technology, delivers a strong absorbent cloth-like feel for industrial and general purpose cleaning tasks. Universa Max provides low linting and superior abrasion resistance for demanding environments that require durability and reliability. This consolidated range of industrial wipers brings together the trusted performance of our existing Chicopee and Sontara brands. Before I turn the call over to Jim, I want to briefly recap the progress we have made since Magnera was created less than two years ago. In our first year, we set out bold ambitions to better the world with possibilities made real. We built a world-class team, launched our new brand, established a foundation for an integrated organization, and continued to provide mission-critical products to our customers.

We will exit our transition services agreement, including migration off the legacy Amcor ERP systems, before the end of calendar year 2026. Since inception, we have closed a complex merger transaction, integrated swiftly, and focused on the priorities we can control. Synergy delivery, footprint improvements through Project CORE, sales mix improvement, and strengthening our balance sheet with our strong free cash flow generation. Our demonstrated ability to execute against these priorities reinforces Magnera's positive trajectory as a durable, proven business positioned to create shareholder value. I will now turn the call over to Jim for a comprehensive financial update.

Thank you, Curt, and good morning, everyone. Turning to our financial results on slide 11. We delivered a solid third quarter that was generally in line with our expectations. This quarter represents the first period in which we realized the full run rate benefits of both Project CORE and our merger synergies. Those benefits were partially offset by continued inflationary pressures across key raw material inputs. Even with these headwinds, our results demonstrated our disciplined operational execution that has been a hallmark of our organization since the merger. Over the past two years, our teams have remained focused on integrating the business, simplifying our operating model, and driving sustainable cost efficiencies despite a highly dynamic macroeconomic environment. Their execution has positioned us well to navigate inflationary pressures while continuing to strengthen our long-term earnings power of the company. For the quarter, net sales was $857 million.

Solid performance across our wipes and infrastructure product categories drove organic sales growth of 1%, reflecting stable customer demand and effective commercial execution. As we discussed on our previous call, raw material inflation accelerated meaningfully during the quarter. Our commercial organization responded quickly by implementing pricing actions across the portfolio. While these actions substantially offset the increase in input costs, there was naturally some timing lag, particularly in our rest of world operations, where the price realization slightly trailed the Americas segment. We expect those pricing actions to continue flowing through as we move into the fourth quarter. Despite these external cost pressures, adjusted EBITDA increased to $99 million, representing a 9% improvement compared to the prior year quarter. This performance reflects the benefits of Project CORE, synergy realization, disciplined cost management, and the resilience of our operating teams around the globe. Turning to cash flows. Free cash flow for the quarter was negative as expected, but came in better than our internal forecast.

Throughout the quarter, our teams proactively reduced working capital levels by managing inventories, receivables, and purchasing activities to help offset the impact of higher raw material costs. These actions demonstrated both our agility of the organization and our continued focus on disciplined cash management during periods of elevated volatility. Moving now to our segment performance, beginning with Americas on slide 12. Revenue was essentially flat in the Americas compared to the prior year. Organic volume growth of 1%, led by continued strength in our infrastructure product categories, together with higher selling prices implemented to recover raw material inflation, was largely offset by planned portfolio and product mix actions associated with Project CORE. adjusted EBITDA in Americas increased an impressive 16% to $71 million.

The improvement reflects several factors, including full run rate realization of Project CORE benefits, continued merger synergy capture, improved manufacturing efficiencies, and the recovery from the winter storm disruptions that impacted our second quarter results. Overall, the Americas business continues to execute well with strong operational performance and disciplined commercial management. Turning to the rest of world segment on slide 13. Revenue increased modestly compared to the prior year, as higher selling prices and continued strength in both our wipes and infrastructure categories was more than offset by demand softness across Europe, where macroeconomic conditions remain challenging. Adjusted EBITDA declined slightly year-over-year. Continued operational improvements and merger synergies were more than offset by inflationary pressures that moved through the region faster than the pricing actions could fully recover during the quarter. While Europe remains a dynamic operating environment, our regional leadership teams have continued to respond decisively.