Diane M. McClintock
Thank you, Bob. Let us now turn to slide six, which outlines our fourth quarter results. Sales reached $625,000,000 reflecting a 16% increase on a reported basis and an 8% increase organically. The Americas region delivered strong organic growth of 10% and reported growth of 17%, exceeding our expectations. This performance was supported by favorable price and volume, including the benefit of one additional shipping day and growth from data center sales. Acquisitions accounted for an additional $27,000,000 in sales, contributing seven percentage points to The Americas reported growth. In Europe, organic sales rose by 1% while reported sales increased 10%. Organic growth stemmed from favorable pricing and the extra shipping day, while reported sales also benefited from positive foreign exchange effects. In APMEA, organic sales grew 9% with acquisitions adding 6% for total reported sales growth of 15%. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $134,000,000, an increase of 28%, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 21.4%, up 210 basis points year over year. Adjusted operating income of $119,000,000 increased 31% and adjusted operating margin improved 220 basis points to 19%. These improvements were primarily driven by favorable pricing and productivity gains, more than offsetting inflationary pressures, volume deleverage in Europe, tariffs, and acquisition dilution. Segment margins were as follows. The Americas increased by 150 basis points to 23.3%. Europe increased by 490 basis points to 15.1%, while APMEA decreased slightly by 20 basis points to 17.3%. Adjusted earnings per share equaled $2.62 representing a 28% year-over-year increase, with operational performance, acquisitions, and foreign exchange gains outweighing higher tax and net interest expense. Turning to full year results, please refer to slide seven. As previously noted, we achieved record operating results for 2025. Total company sales were $2,400,000,000, up 8% on a reported basis and 5% organically. Organic growth in The Americas and APMEA reached 8% and 5%, respectively, partially offset by a challenging year in Europe where organic sales declined by 5%. Acquisitions contributed $52,000,000 or 2% of incremental sales growth, and favorable foreign exchange added another 1%. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $534,000,000, up 18%, and adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 180 basis points to 21.9%. Adjusted operating income rose 19% to $477,000,000 resulting in 19.6% operating margin, up 190 basis points. These increases reflect the benefit of price, volume, and productivity gains which more than compensated for inflation, European volume deleverage, tariffs, and acquisition-related dilution. Segment margin in The Americas increased to 24.5%, up 190 basis points. Europe increased to 13.3%, up 160 basis points. And APMEA remained flat at 18.3%. Adjusted EPS was $10.58, up $1.72 or 19% compared to prior year, with benefits from operations, acquisitions, favorable foreign exchange, and lower net interest expense exceeding higher tax costs. For GAAP reporting, after-tax charges of $22,300,000 were recorded related to restructuring and acquisition-related costs, partly offset by an $8,300,000 tax benefit from the reversal of a prior year tax liability. Free cash flow reached $356,000,000, a 7% increase from 2024, setting a new company record. This was primarily driven by higher net income, lower tax payments due to changes in U.S. tax regulations, and contributions from acquisitions, which more than offset higher inventory investment and capital expenditures. Free cash flow conversion was 105%. Our balance sheet remains strong and continues to support our disciplined approach to capital allocation. In 2025, we returned $83,000,000 to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, increasing our annual dividend payout by approximately 20%. On slide eight, we will review our outlook for the first quarter and full year 2026. The outlook for 2026 is based on the anticipated market conditions discussed earlier. For the full year, we anticipate reported sales growth of 8% to 12%, and organic sales growth of 2% to 6%. Excluding the impact of product rationalization, our organic sales growth would be approximately 2% higher. Organic sales in The Americas are expected to increase by 3% to 7% driven by price and volume, especially within data centers, more than offsetting anticipated product rationalization headwinds of $25,000,000 to $30,000,000. Price contribution will be higher in the first half, particularly Q1, due to carryover effect of prior year tariff-related price increases. In Europe, organic sales are projected to range from a 4% decline to flat as favorable price is offset by lower volume, partly due to $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 in product rationalization. APMEA is expected to achieve organic growth between 4% to 8%. Additionally, we anticipate incremental sales from acquisitions of between $110,000,000 and $115,000,000 in The Americas and between $18,000,000 and $20,000,000 in APMEA, with foreign exchange favorability estimated at $18,000,000. We expect adjusted EBITDA margin to be in the range of 21.5% to 22.1%, and the adjusted operating margin between 19.1% to 19.7%. Margin expansion from price, volume leverage, and productivity and restructuring savings is expected to be partially offset by inflation and 50 basis points of acquisition dilution. Regionally, The Americas segment margin is anticipated to decrease by 50 to 110 basis points mainly due to approximately 100 basis points of acquisition dilution. Europe segment margin is expected to be down 30 basis points to up 30 basis points and APMEA is estimated to increase by 30 to 60 basis points. This guidance assumes no changes to the current tariff environment. We expect free cash flow conversion at or above 90% of net income for 2026 reflecting planned investments in automation in our core operations and with our new acquisitions, investments in our data center capabilities, and investment in our SAP implementation. Key considerations for Q1. Reported sales are expected to increase 12% to 16% with organic sales up 4% to 8%. We anticipate high single-digit growth in The Americas, low single-digit decline in Europe, and low single-digit growth in APMEA. These estimates incorporate a negative impact from product rationalization of approximately $1,000,000 in Europe and $6,000,000 in The Americas. Incremental sales from acquisitions projected at $25,000,000 to $30,000,000 for The Americas, and around $5,000,000 for APMEA, with a foreign exchange benefit estimated at $13,000,000. First quarter EBITDA margin is expected to be between 21.1% to 21.7%. Operating margin is expected to be between 18.6% to 19.2%. Price and volume leverage in The Americas and APMEA are anticipated to be offset by volume deleverage in Europe and acquisition dilution of approximately 70 basis points. Additional key assumptions for the first quarter and full year are available in the appendix of the earnings presentation. With that, I will turn the call back over to Bob before moving to Q&A.