William M. Thalman
Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. I will begin my comments covering the fourth quarter highlights on Slide 8. As always, the schedules in the appendix provide more information on our results, including the non-GAAP disclosure reconciliations. Fourth quarter net sales of $160.4 million increased 25.1%, with higher organic volumes realized in both Rail and Infrastructure. While gross profit grew 10.6%, gross margins declined 260 basis points to 19.7% due to the weaker results in the UK, coupled with unfavorable sales mix in the Rail segment, partially offset by improvements realized in Infrastructure. More to come on segment sales and margins in a minute. SG&A as a percentage of sales of 14.4% was down 470 basis points due to lower personnel and administrative costs, despite the substantially higher sales volume. I will mention here that we completed a further restructuring of our UK Rail business in the fourth quarter. The total restructuring charge in Q4 was $2.2 million, with $1.0 million recorded in gross margin and $1.2 million recorded in SG&A. We expect this program, including staff reductions and two facility closures, to deliver approximately $1.5 million to $2.0 million in run-rate savings in 2026. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $13.7 million, up 89% versus last year due to the higher sales volumes and the resulting improved gross profit, coupled with the lower SG&A expenses. I will cover cash flow performance along with segment orders and backlog later in the presentation. We would like to remind everyone of the financial performance seasonality we typically see over the year, reflected on Slide 9. Our sales and profitability are typically strongest in the second and third quarters, with the first and fourth quarters a bit weaker. This is due to the construction season for our customers in the spring and summer months. The phasing was skewed a bit in 2025, with the abnormally soft Q1 start for the Rail business related to the Doge government funding impacts, with both segments having an exceptionally strong fourth quarter. As a result, combined Q2 and Q3 sales and profitability as a percentage of the full year are slightly lower than what we would typically see with the strong performance in Q4. And as we have seen over the last three years, free cash flow is strongest in the second half of the year, as working capital needs unwind in line with the end of the construction. I will next cover segment details starting with Rail on Slide 10. Rail fourth quarter revenues totaling $98.0 million were up 23.7% over last year. The increase was driven by higher volumes in Friction Management and Rail Products, up 41.6% and 31.1%, respectively. Softer demand in both the UK and North American markets. Rail margins of 17.8% were down 440 basis points due primarily to lower sales volumes, higher costs, unfavorable sales mix, and the $1.0 million restructuring costs associated with our downsizing efforts in the UK. Rail margins were also adversely impacted by the dilutive impact of higher Rail product sales volumes. While Rail orders were softer in the quarter, Rail backlog was up 55.3% year over year, with substantial gains realized across all three business units. Turning to Infrastructure Solutions on Slide 11. Segment revenue increased $13.4 million or 27.3%, with sales growth realized in both business units. Steel product sales were up 58.2% led by a 206.5% improvement in protective coatings. Precast concrete also continued its strong run with sales up 18.7% for the quarter and 19.9% for the year. Infrastructure gross margins were up 20 basis points to 22.8%, with gains in steel products offsetting lower precast margins. Higher sales volumes and improved business mix drove steel product margins up, while precast concrete margins were weaker due to unfavorable sales mix, coupled with a $600,000 increase in start-up costs related to our new facility in Florida. And finally, the lower Infrastructure backlog reflects the $19.0 million Summit order cancellation reported back in Q3, as well as lower open orders for both Bridgeforms and precast concrete. We started last year with an elevated backlog for Infrastructure, especially for precast concrete. This year reflects a normal level that we expect will increase in the coming months as we enter the construction season. I will briefly cover the full-year highlights on Slide 12. As John mentioned, 2025 sales were up 1.7%, with the strong Q4 results delivering sales growth for the full year. Infrastructure realized sales growth in every quarter in 2025, while Rail achieved growth in the fourth quarter only, due to the weaker start to 2025. 2025 adjusted EBITDA was $39.1 million, up $5.5 million compared to last year, driven by substantially lower SG&A expenses, partially offset by lower margins resulting from the weakness in Rail. It should be highlighted that 2025 results included approximately $2.2 million in start-up costs related to our new precast facility in. In addition, reported gross margins and SG&A reflect the costs and charges associated with the UK automated material handling product line exit announced in Q2 and the UK restructuring completed in Q4. Such costs totaled $1.4 million and $2.2 million, respectively. And finally, I will mention here that the year-over-year decline in net income was driven primarily by last year's federal valuation allowance release, coupled with a relatively higher effective tax rate this year due to higher UK pretax losses not being tax-effective. We expect our effective tax rate to be substantially lower in 2026 with an improved outlook for the UK, which John will touch on in his closing remarks. I will now cover our liquidity and leverage on Slide 13. We have successfully managed our leverage and levels in line with our business profitability and capital allocation priorities, and the chart on Slide 13 reflects a consistent pattern of steady improvement over time. In 2025, we generated $35.6 million in operating cash flow and $25.2 million in free cash flow. Over the last three years, our average free cash flow was approximately $28.0 million, excluding the Union Pacific settlement payments, which were completed at the end of 2024. As a result, we have maintained significant financial flexibility while also executing our capital allocation priorities. Our capital-light business model, along with the modest cash tax requirements provided by our federal NOL, further enhances our cash generation and financial flexibility to fund our capital allocation priorities, which I will now cover on Slide 14. Managing our debt and leverage levels remains our top capital allocation priority, and we maintain a disciplined, prudent approach to capital allocation with leverage in mind. At the end of 2025, the gross leverage ratio for our revolving credit facility was just under 1.0x, a low point in recent years and at the low end of our target range of 1.0x to 1.5x. Seasonal working capital needs are expected to elevate our debt and leverage somewhat in early 2026, but we should stay around our target range and realize improvements in the second half of the year in line with our normal cash cycle. Capital spending in 2025 totaled $10.4 million, or 1.9% of sales. We have several targeted organic growth programs within our Precast Concrete business that we expect will increase the CapEx rate of sales to 2.7% in 2026. Share repurchases are an important capital allocation priority for us, and we have $28.7 million remaining to spend on our buybacks under the most recent authorization approved in February 2025. We repurchased approximately 121,000 shares for $3.3 million in Q4, and we repurchased just over 1,000,000 shares, or approximately 9% of the shares outstanding, at an average price of just under $23 per share since restarting the program back three years ago. And finally, we also continue to evaluate tuck-in acquisitions to add breadth to our growth platforms, primarily in the precast concrete market space. My closing comments will refer to Slides 15 and 16 covering orders, revenues, and backlog trends by business. The trailing twelve-month book-to-bill ratio at the end of Q4 was 1:1, improved from Q4 last year but down from Q3 with the strong Q4 sales. Rail order rates have begun to recover with the TTM ratio at 1.11:1, and I will highlight that Friction Management orders were up 58.4% in Q4. Lower net orders in Infrastructure drove the lower trailing twelve-month ratio to 0.87:1; the Summit order cancellation reported in Q3 was the driver of the decline. And lastly, the consolidated backlog reflected on Slide 16 totaled $189.3 million, up $3.4 million over last year, with substantial improvements across all Rail businesses, partially offset by lower Infrastructure backlog. The shifts in the backlog suggest a stronger start for our Rail business in 2026 compared to last year, with Infrastructure growth developing later in the year after the strong results achieved in 2025. John will cover some additional backlog details and developments in his closing remarks. I will wrap up by saying we are very pleased with our financial performance in 2025 and excited about the prospects for further progress in 2026. Thanks for your time this morning. Back to you, John.