Central Garden & Pet Company

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Central Garden and Pets' fourth quarter and fiscal 2025 earnings call. My name is Paul, and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the prepared remarks, we'll hold a question and answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. If you require assistance at any point during the call, please press the star followed by zero on your touch-tone phone. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Frederique Edelman, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining Central's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2025 earnings call. Joining me today are Nico Lahanas, Chief Executive Officer, Brad Smith, Chief Financial Officer, John Hansen, President of Pet Consumer Products, and JD Walker, President of Garden Consumer Products. Nico will start by sharing today's key takeaways, followed by Brad, who will provide a more in-depth discussion of our results. After their prepared remarks, JD and John will join us for the Q&A session. Before they begin, I would like to remind everyone that all forward-looking statements made during this call are subject to risk and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from what those forward-looking statements express or imply today. A detailed description of Central's risk factors can be found in our annual report filed with the SEC. Please note that Central undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events, or other developments. All press release and related materials, including gap reconciliation for the non-gap measures discussed on this call, are available at ir.central.com. Last but not least, unless otherwise specified, all comparisons discussed during this call are made against the same period in the prior year. If you have any questions after the call or at any time during the quarter, please don't hesitate to contact me directly. And with that, let's get started.

Nico? Thank you, Frederic, and good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to begin by highlighting three themes we will focus on today. First, fiscal 25 was a year of meaningful progress and tangible accomplishments across Central. Our record bottom line performance underscores the strength of our business model, the rigor of our execution, and the relentless commitment of Team Central. Second, we continue to strengthen our foundation by streamlining operations, consolidating facilities, optimizing our portfolio, and driving efficiencies that enhance our cost structure and position us for sustained profitable growth. And third, as we enter fiscal 26, we're energized by our momentum and the opportunities ahead. Powered by our central-to-home strategy and sharp, disciplined execution, we're poised to accelerate our long-term agenda with even greater focus and agility. Now let me expand on each of these points. First, our fiscal 25 achievements. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our more than 6,000 employees, we closed the year with expanded gross margins, record EBITDA, and record earnings per share. These results underscore the strength and resilience of our business model, as well as the drive and commitment of our people. We delivered consistent performance while advancing portfolio optimization and maintaining disciplined cost management. Throughout the period, we upheld operational rigor, streamlined our footprint, and drove efficiency initiatives across both segments. We also navigated variable weather conditions by simplifying our business and tightly managing costs, actions that have made our model even more resilient and predictable. Results reflected the transition of two third-party product lines in our garden distribution business to a direct-to-retail model At the same time, we continue to deliberately reduce our exposure to low margin durable products in both pet and garden. A strategic move that while creating short term top line pressure, strengthens our portfolio and positions us for sustainable profitable growth. We ended the year with record results of fortress balance sheet and strong momentum as we head into fiscal 26. Second, advancing our cost and simplicity agenda. Our initiatives continue to deliver measurable, sustainable benefits, enhancing productivity, expanding margins, and positioning us to fuel future growth. We've largely completed our multi-year supply chain network design project, a major milestone that has strengthened customer alignment, increased service speed, and improved cost efficiency across our logistics network. The project also established enterprise-wide e-commerce fulfillment capabilities and modernized our distribution footprint. Together with the sale of our garden distribution business and the intentional exit of the pottery business, this work has enabled us to close 16 legacy facilities to date. By the end of the calendar year, we will be operating a modern high-performing infrastructure anchored by DTC-enabled fulfillment centers in Salt Lake City, Easton, Pennsylvania, and Covington, Georgia, a network built for speed, efficiency, and growth. Across our footprint, systems and processes, we're streamlining operations, boosting productivity, and freeing up resources to reinvest in the business. These actions are making Central simpler, stronger, and better positioned to scale, creating a more resilient, cohesive, and predictable company that delivers consistent performance, adapts with flexibility, and is poised to capture the full potential of the opportunities ahead. Third, outlook for fiscal 26. We entered the year with strong momentum, clear priorities, and a unified focus on delivering results. Our diversified portfolio, operational agility, and prudent cost management give us confidence in our ability to deliver profitable growth Despite current global macro environment and policy shifts, we expect consumers to remain focused on value and performance with a promotionally active but stable retail environment and continue channel shifts from pet specialty to e-commerce. We're delivering with precision to offset cost inflation, tariffs, and supply chain complexity through productivity gains driven by our cost and simplicity agenda and pricing discipline. After incorporating these factors and our operating plans, we expect fiscal 26 non-GAAP earnings per share to be $2.70 or better, supported by margin expansion and operational performance. As always, our outlook excludes potential impacts from acquisitions, divestitures, or restructuring actions, including activities related to our ongoing cost and simplicity agenda. We remain confident that the central-to-home strategy is the right path and the foundation for long-term value creation. We're combining the agility of a startup with the strength and scale of a category leader, empowering business units to innovate quickly while leveraging central operational and financial capabilities to accelerate growth. By sharing tools, data, and talent across the organization, we're building a connected enterprise. one that learns faster, executes smarter, and compounds its competitive advantage over time. This approach enables us to bring new ideas to the consumer faster, capture opportunities sooner, and scale what works across our platform. Looking ahead, we'll continue to balance sensible cost and cash management with targeted investments that fuel organic growth, particularly in innovation, e-commerce, and digital technologies. A key priority is making our data AI-ready, improving accessibility, quality, and integration to generate deeper insights and unlock meaningful value and competitive advantage across the business. These strategic investments are already translating into stronger innovation momentum. Recent launches highlight how we're combining insights, performance, sustainability, and consumer impact. Examples include Wild Bird Feed, a redesigned Pennington Feeding Frenzy and 3D Pro lines that elevate visibility and engagement both online and at retail, supported by a robust digital marketing program. Worry-Free 30% Vinegar, a high-performance, multi-purpose cleaner six times stronger than standard vinegar. Barnum Endure Goldfly Spray, a next-generation EPA-approved formula that delivers long-lasting and highly effective fly control, bringing advanced performance and care to horse owners. In parallel, M&A remains a strategic lever for growth. We're actively pursuing margin-accretive consumable businesses that complement our portfolio and expand our presence in attractive categories. While market engagement has increased, deal flow in our core categories remains somewhat limited. We expect activity to accelerate as market conditions continue to improve. I want to thank our team across Central for a record year of meaningful progress and unwavering focus. We've done a tremendous amount of foundational work, and as a result, we're entering fiscal 26 with a business performing at a very high level. With strong financial flexibility and an improving M&A landscape, we're confident in the road ahead. That confidence is reinforced by the strength of our retail partnerships, which continue to deepen and drive mutual growth. As recognition of that strength, we were honored to be named Lowe's' Lawn and Garden Vendor Partner of the Year, and KT was recently recognized with the NCAPS 2025 Pet Amazon Best-in-Class PDP Award for Excellence in Product Content and Presentation. And with that, I'll hand it over to Brad. Brad?

Thank you, Nico. Building on Nico's remarks, I will begin with our fiscal 25 results. Net sales were $3.1 billion, a decrease of 2%. While variable weather and softer demand and pet durables created meaningful headwinds, the overall sales decline for the year was driven entirely by two key factors. First, Our proactive decision to reduce exposure to lower margin businesses, including pet and garden durables, as well as our UK operations. This step is part of our ongoing effort to optimize the portfolio, improve margins, and strengthen the foundation for sustainable growth. Second, the transition of two third-party product lines in our garden distribution business to a direct-to-retail model. Importantly, our remaining portfolio grew slightly for the year. and delivered record sales across several key businesses, including Wild Bird, Dog Treats, Equine, and our professional portfolio, a clear sign that our underlying business is strong and that our strategy is working. Non-GAAP gross profit was $1 billion, up 4.5%, and non-GAAP gross margin expanded up 210 basis points to 32.1%. largely supported by productivity initiatives. Both segments contributed to the improvement. Non-GAAP SG&A expense was $738 million, roughly in line with the prior year. As a percentage of sales, non-GAAP SG&A was 23.6% compared with 23%, mostly due to lower volume and the sequencing of productivity and commercial investments. Throughout the year, we balanced sensible cost management with continued investment and long-term growth drivers. Non-GAAP operating income for the year increased to $265 million from $223 million, and non-GAAP operating margin expanded to 8.5% from 7%, supported by structural cost improvements and overall strong execution. Non-GAAP adjustments totaled $15 million in fiscal 25, all related to our cost and simplicity agenda. In our garden segment, these adjustments largely reflected the consolidation of two legacy distribution facilities, one in Ontario, California, and another in Salt Lake City, Utah, into a single larger and more modern site in Salt Lake City. That work began in the third quarter and continued into the fourth quarter. resulting in 5 million in SG&A charges. In our pet segment, the adjustments were mainly related to the strategic wind down of our UK operations and the transition to a more profitable direct export only model. This initiative spanned the second through fourth quarters and resulted in $10 million in total charges, 6 million in cost of goods, and 4 million in SG&A. Below the line, Net interest expense was $33 million compared with $38 million, helped by higher interest income from larger average cash balances. Other expense was $500,000 compared with $5.1 million, as we lapped the prior year impairment charge on two minority investments. Non-GAAP net income totaled $174 million, up 22%. We delivered record GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per share of $255,000 up 93 cents, and 273, up 60 cents, respectively, exceeding both our guidance and last year's performance. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $371 million, compared to $334 million. Our effective tax rate for the year was 24.4%, compared to 23.2%, due primarily to the non-deductibility for tax purposes of losses incurred in connection with a wind down of our UK operations. Now turning to the consolidated financials for the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter net sales were 678 million, up 1% versus the prior year, led by strength in Garden. Non-GAAP gross profit for the quarter was 197 million, compared with 174 million, and non-GAAP gross margin expanded 310 basis points to 29.1%. It's worth noting that we lapped a significant grass seed inventory charge that was taken in last year's fourth quarter. Excluding the impact of that charge, our gross margin rate was consistent with the prior year as productivity improvements effectively offset the initial impact of tariffs. Most of our actions to mitigate tariff-related cost increases are only now beginning to flow through the P&L, positioning us for additional benefit going forward. Non-GAAP SG&A expense for the quarter was $198 million, a 7% increase, and as a percentage of net sales was 29.2% compared with 27.7%. The increase largely reflects the cadence of investments tied to our productivity and commercial initiatives. Non-GAAP operating loss for the quarter was $649,000 compared with $11 million, and non-GAAP operating margin improved to negative 0.1% from negative 1.7%. Non-GAAP adjustments for the quarter totaled $6 million, including $3 million related to our UK operations and $3 million associated with the garden facility consolidation. Of the total, $5 million was recorded in SG&A and $1 million in cost of goods. Below the line, net interest expense was in line with the prior year. Other expense for the quarter was $600,000 compared with $6 million. Non-GAAP net loss for the quarter was $5 million compared with $12 million. GAAP loss per share was $0.16 compared with $0.51, and non-GAAP loss per share was $0.09 compared with $0.18. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $26 million compared with $17 million. Now, let me provide highlights from the fourth quarter from our two segments, starting with pet. Net sales for the pet segment was $428 million, a decrease of 2%, due to the closure of our UK operations and lower durable sales, both the result of deliberate actions to simplify the business and enhance profitability. These impacts were partially offset by strong growth in our animal health businesses, particularly within our professional portfolio and equine. While demand for durables remained soft, consumables performance continued to be relatively stable, supported by positive point of sales trends in the fourth quarter. Consumables now represent roughly 84% of total pet segment sales, an all-time high, highlighting the strength and resilience of our core business. Across the pet segment overall, we maintained our market share and delivered gains in dog chews, pet bird, equine, and flea and tick, as well as in our professional portfolio. E-commerce continues to play an important role in our channel mix, representing 27% of total pet segment sales, consistent with the prior two quarters and reflecting steady consumer engagement across digital platforms. Non-GAAP operating income was $31 million, compared with $35 million, due to slightly lower volumes combined with the timing of investments in productivity and commercial initiatives. Non-GAAP operating margin contracted to 7.2% from 8%. Adjusted EBITDA for the segment was $41 million compared with $45 million. Now, moving to garden. Net sales for the garden segment were $250 million, a 7% increase. We benefited from an extended selling season driven by favorable fourth quarter weather following a cool and wet third quarter. We also saw improved sell-through aided by additional product placements, strong retail execution, and disciplined inventory management. Our wild bird, grass seed, fertilizer, and packet seed businesses delivered particularly strong quarters with growth in both sales and share across retailers and channels. The strong fourth quarter rebound made this our biggest point of sale year ever in Garden, despite the reduction in our distribution business, variable weather earlier in the year, and lower home center traffic, a testament to the agility of our teams and the strength of our retail partnerships in Garden. Garden e-commerce sales grew at a double digit rate across every category, surpassing 10% of total segment sales for the first time. Enhanced product content, improved videos, and targeted new item introductions increased click-through, add to cart, and conversion rates across retailer platforms. Results remained especially strong in wild bird and grass seed, where we continue to lead the category and deliver robust growth across both pure play and omnichannel partners. Given the garden industry's relatively low digital penetration today, We see significant runway for sustained online growth across our categories in future quarters. Non-GAAP operating income came in at $1 million, an increase of $26 million, with non-GAAP operating margin expanding to a positive 0.4% from a negative 10.6%. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $11 million, an improvement of $25 million, underscoring the strong finish to the year. Turning now to the balance sheet and cash flows. Cash flow from operations was $333 million in fiscal 25, compared with $395 million a year ago. Our ongoing focus on working capital efficiency resulted in an additional $36 million reduction in inventory, our 10th straight quarter of year-over-year improvement. CapEx for the year was $41 million, about 4% lower than last year. reflecting prudent investments primarily in productivity-enhancing initiatives and essential maintenance projects. Depreciation and amortization were $85 million, 7% below prior year, consistent with our focus on efficient capital deployment. At year end, cash and cash equivalents totaled $882 million, up $129 million, underscoring our strong liquidity and consistent cash generation. Total debt was $1.2 billion, unchanged from the prior year. Gross leverage into the year at 2.8 times, both below last year and our target range of 3 to 3.5 times. Net leverage was approximately 0.8, supported by our solid cash position, and we had no borrowings outstanding under our credit facility at year end. This balance sheet strength provides the flexibility to invest in growth maintain financial resilience, and return value to shareholders. Looking ahead to fiscal 2026, and as Nico mentioned earlier, we are guiding non-GAAP EPS to $2.70 a share or better, reflecting continued focus on operational excellence, margin expansion, and discipline cost management. While the tariff environment remains fluid, we currently project incremental year-over-year gross tariff exposure of roughly $20 million over the next 12 months. The majority of the exposure is within the pet segment. We're expecting to offset most of the tariffs through pricing and portfolio and supply chain actions. We plan to invest approximately $50 to $60 million in CapEx, primarily in maintenance and productivity initiatives across both segments, underscoring our commitment to high-return projects that strengthen operations and enhance profitability. For the first quarter, we expect non-gap earnings per share of approximately 10 to 15 cents, consistent with normal seasonal trends. It's important to note that last year's first quarter benefited meaningfully from favorable timing of both shipments and promotional activity. This year, we also have one less shipping day between Christmas and the end of our fiscal quarter, ending December 27th. In addition, the results will reflect a temporary shipment hold we initiated with a large retailer and the shifting of certain orders into the second quarter. As a reminder, the first quarter is typically one of our smaller periods and not indicative of full-year performance. As always, our outlook excludes any potential impacts from acquisitions, divestitures, or restructuring activities that may occur during fiscal 26, including projects under our cost and simplicity agenda. That concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up the handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Thank you. Our first question is from Brad Thomas with KeyBank Capital Markets.

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the operating margin at a high level. You all have been doing a tremendous job of driving improvements and efficiencies, and so as we think about this upcoming fiscal year, I was hoping to talk about some of those puts and takes and how they sort of are expected to net out between cost and simplicity, tariffs, demand challenges, et cetera. Thank you.

Hey, Brad. This is Nico. Yeah, we're going to continue the work on cost and simplicity. So we have every intention of expanding margin into 26. We may not get as dramatic a result as we've got in the last few years because we're seeing that the low-hanging fruit has been picked in a lot of ways. The other thing I would say, don't underestimate the effect that product mix has. So we have to see how that plays out as well. But I would say for right now, as we put together our plans for 26, we are expecting to continue to expand margin.

Great. And if I could ask a follow-up with respect to the garden segment. Seems like some really strong execution there. I know that the months ahead will be important as we try to figure out what sell-in can look like for the spring 2026 garden season. But can you give us a little more color about how you're feeling about that and what the outlook of that garden category may be for next year?

Hi, Brad. It's J.D. I'll take that question. Thanks for the question. I'd say that we're, you know, looking forward. Of course, you know, everything's dependent on what takes place in season, particularly around weather. But I'd say going into it, we are cautiously optimistic. I think one of the things that gives us reason to believe is our year-over-year points of distribution or total distribution points. That's SKU store combinations, distribution gains, if you will. We feel great about that. We're gonna show an increase year over year. If you exclude the pottery business that we exited, our points of distribution will be up 8% year over year. And if you look at manufactured products, products that we manufacture in our plants, it'll be up double digits. So I think that strong distribution base, execution by our team going into season, the controllable, controllable causal factors we feel great about. Now it's up to Mother Nature to do her part. But I'd say cautiously optimistic would be my terminology, looking at the season.

That's very helpful. Thank you so much.

Our next question is from Jim Charriker with Moness, Crespi, and Hart.

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. I just want to talk about, it looks like corporate expense was up about $11 billion in fourth quarter after being down in the first three quarters. So I just wanted to get some more color on that. And then can you quantify the impact of tariffs on fourth quarter, please? Thanks.

So corporate expenses, that means a lot of it had to do with kind of quarterly variation of timing expenses during the year. when compared to last year. So there was that element. But on top of that, we had some investments that we made to support commercial growth in 26, some of which that we recorded in corporate. And then we also had some other miscellaneous true-ups we had related to certain reserves and whatnot. So it was really a combination of three different elements. Nothing that would be kind of suggesting anything structural on a full-year basis going into this year.

Great. And then on the tariff quarter? Yeah.

So tariffs, gross tariffs were, I want to say, roughly $7 million, $8 million in the fourth quarter.

Okay. And then last quarter you talked about investing behind, I think, a new product launch for PET and You know, just curious, you know, what that spend looked like and then how that product performed for you.

Yeah, we've got a – this is John. The product launch we mentioned was the Farnam Endure Gold Fly Spray, and that's a new EPA-approved product. And the efficacy, you know, is significantly better. We're in the process of launching it right now. Customer feedback is really strong, but it's a bit of a seasonal business, so we don't really see that takeaway really until next season, kind of March, April, May, June.

We also made some incremental investment at Farnam in Q4 that ended up paying off quite well where we took several share points in equine. during the quarter.

Yeah, we did. You know, we continued to, you know, invest where we see high opportunity and high return, and that was one of them. You know, and that was focused on digital and content and paid off.

Great to hear. Thank you.

Our next question is from Bob Labig with CJS Security.

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. Kind of sticking with the tariff theme, obviously you're navigating it through it like everyone else as well. You said price is going to be one lever. Can you talk, have your retail customers accepted your pricing? Have they passed it along? And kind of when will you know consumer, I guess, acceptance and elasticity? How are you thinking about those?

Maybe I'll answer the first part where we are in the negotiations. And John, maybe you can jump in on the others. Yeah, I would say we're more than half the way there in terms of negotiations with customers. It's almost exclusively on the pet side of it and garden. And they've obviously been very challenging. We had to hold some shipments. as a result of those discussions with one of our customers, which we mentioned a bit earlier. So we are expecting to be done with those discussions, I think, kinda into this quarter, maybe early Q2. John, you wanna comment on consumer part and passing through to retailers?

Yeah, so we, you know, we haven't seen the prices go up yet in the marketplace, you know, so a little bit TBD. Now we can, you know, model what we've done in the past, and we do a good job of doing that, you know, and that speaks to probably, you know, around a one elasticity, and it's been pretty consistent. But we do everything we can to in these tariffs, right? We look at country of origin and We look at our SKUs and make sure we got the right SKUs and if we have to optimize them. And then pricing is a partnership with the customer. And we do it as last resort. But we do do it and have done it before.

And we don't price to build margin. We price to offset some of the costs. And that's something we're very, very disciplined about.

Yeah. Nico mentioned earlier that we're in a position to modestly expand margin this year, and it's clearly going to be the ongoing cost and simplicity efforts, including the tariff products as well as other projects we've got going on that really are going to be needed to get us over the line and be able to expand margin.

Okay, great. And obviously, you've had a lot of progress over the last few years with cost and simplicity and the margin improvement. Can you talk about how much you're, you know, you said I guess in Q4 a little bit you reinvested for growth in 26. How do you think about changing the investment level or either promotional activity or brand building, you know, as you continue to get this margin improvement from cost and simplicity?

Yeah, we're definitely up in our game in terms of investment around the consumer, around digital, and also we want to up our game around innovation. So really those are the three areas. we need to get better at and put some money behind. We're trying to stay agile in a lot of ways. So the great thing about digital is we can make an investment and see how it does and pivot based off of that. So when we see something that works, we tend to continue to feed the beast. And then if something doesn't, we'll pivot and continue to tweak. So it's a very dynamic, agile way of promoting product. mainly through retail media. But we're also building out a lot more content than we have in the past. And you can see that with our feeding frenzy wild bird product that's out there now. And we've had some nice results there. And plan on building on that. That's really a really nice case study for the company. And we're going to be doing more of that going forward.

Okay, great. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Our next question is from Brian McNamara with Canaccord Genuity.

Good afternoon, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. So I know you don't guide on the top line, but I was hoping you could provide some kind of high-level thoughts on how you see 2026 potentially playing out and what outside of weather could drive better or worse top-line trends.

Yeah, I mean, our view right now is that top line is going to be challenging once again, as it was in 25. We think 26 is going to be extremely challenging for reasons that we sort of outlined. You know, we've got a little bit of a headwind with tariffs. Consumer confidence is at a low point right now. So we really need to see how the consumer is going to react to pricing and really see their behavior and the whole notion of the bifurcation of income right now is very real. We're seeing it in both of our categories. So it's a little bit of a wait and see. I think, again, we're not going to guide on that top line, but we make every effort possible to grow every year. And that's what we're going to do going into 26. So... That's about all we can say right now. More to come as we get deeper into the year. And then, you know, as always, weather is going to play a pretty big impact, particularly on the garden side.

Hey, Nico, I think one thing that I would add to that is the skew rationalization and some of the portfolio management that we've done has also been a drag on the top line, but it's one of the reasons why our margins have been so strong. So we'll continue to look at skew rationalization. It's an ongoing process.

Yep, that's absolutely right. Great. And then secondly, I know you mentioned I think durables are 16% of your pet sales. How did durables do overall as a category that's still a double-digit decline in Q4?

Yeah, 16% is the right number, and it was a double-digit decline in Q4. Keep in mind what Brad said as well. You know, a big piece of that decline was our proactive decisions to discontinue low-margin, no-margin SKUs. And that was completed in half one. You know, so we're lapping that. We've got another first half of next year to lap that. But that was a huge contributor to the decline.

Yeah, I mean, the hope is kind of as we get into the second half of this year, We'll be at a point where year-over-year durables trends are not significant enough that we're discussing it quarterly.

Great. What's the company's house view on pet ownership trends currently, and what data do you focus on to inform that view?

Yeah, we've got a variety of sources of data. The view is it's stabilizing and is pretty stable right now. We do have a live animal business as well. And in Q4, we saw that stable kind of up slightly, also slightly, but we'll take it, right? So as we look forward into next year, we do believe that's stabilized. You know, and if I looked at the categories that we compete in for the year, You know, I would hope they'd be up, they'd be stable or up slightly, you know, those single digits.

Just to pile on to what John said, our live goods, our live animal business sequentially had less and less declines and actually Q4 posted about a 1% gain. And, you know, that gives us some optimism because it's quite a trend. you know, we can see the trend heading in a very positive way.

Great. And then just the last one on capital allocation. I know the company repurchased quite a bit of stock from Q1 to Q3 and very little in Q4. You're sitting on a record cash balance. So I'm curious how we should read that. Has the M&A pipeline improved? Are you keeping dry powder or is it something else?

We're definitely keeping dry powder. We're actively on the hunt. We are, as you know, Brian, the market is not as robust as we'd like it to be in terms of interesting opportunities, particularly in margin-accreted pet consumables, which is a bit our bullseye. But we continue to be optimistic that we're going to find some deals to do this year.

But we're also still remaining opportunistic on the stock price. You know, even this quarter, we bought back about $18 million in the quarter. And so when we see dips, we're going to take advantage of those because we do have conviction that it's undervalued and there's a tremendous opportunity here. So we'll always be there to return money to shareholders.

Great. I appreciate the call.

Thank you. Our next question is from Andrea Taxiera with JP Morgan.

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking the question. First, can you comment on the pricing that you're embedding into fiscal 26? And understandably, you mentioned durables may still have a double-digit decline. I understand the first half, similar to what happened in this quarter. given the timing of some of the skew rationalization. So maybe if you can kind of like let us know how the underlying pricing embedded into your guide. And then my second question also related to the guidance in fiscal 26 on the margin front, you obviously made significant progress in your rationalization process. What should we be thinking about margins going forward? Should we be keeping that same progress? I mean, taking the fourth quarter, of course, there's some seasonality there. So if you can help us kind of parse out what we should be thinking about margins. Thank you.

Thanks, Andrea. Yeah, pricing, we're looking to take some price fairly modest, about 1% going into 26%. really designed to just offset tariffs and some commodity exposure. So pretty modest overall, nothing like we had a few years ago when inflation went completely bananas. In terms of margin, we go into every year wanting to expand margin. That's really part of our financial algorithm. Q4, we expanded by 310 basis points. Going forward, it's going to be a little bit more modest. We've gotten through a lot of the low-hanging fruit, but we are planning on expanding margin into 26 for total company.

Okay. Thank you.

Our next question is from William Rauder with Bank of America.

Hi. So my first question is in lawn and garden. So you said your points of distribution, excluding the exit of pottery, was up, looks to be up 10% for next year. It sounds like there maybe is like 1% price in there. If weather were to be equal, I don't see why we wouldn't see a lot of growth in the lawn and garden revenues next year. I guess, what is the conservatism that's offsetting that and that your tone doesn't sound more bullish?

Well, I did say cautiously optimistic, but just to add a little more color. So X, excluding the pottery exit, will be up high single digits. And items that we manufactured will be up double digits. So yes, we're optimistic, very bullish with regard to that. Weather is always an unknown, and we don't plan for improvement in weather year over year. However, if there is improvement in weather, then I think we have a very bullish outlook on the year. So again, just trying to keep it somewhat cautious before the season. We are a seasonal business. Last year, during the peak 16 weeks of the season, We had rain on eight of those weekends. So hopefully year over year, there's improvement there. And if there is, then I think we feel great about our prospects for the year.

I would say, too, on the top line, we are also, remember, we're still unwinding a large vendor that has chosen to go direct. And so that's going to be a headwind in 26 as well, similar to what we had in 25.

The same vendor.

Yeah.

The 8th of 16 key weekends, when does that period start for you? March through May. Okay. So basically March 1st is the first of those days. Okay. And the second is going to be a little bit of a follow-up, but, you know, you are seeing modest M&A when asked about, you know, you know, share of repurchases, you said you purchased 18 million. It's just so small in the context of how much money you guys have. Do you, I mean, are you just going to sit on the cash until the M&A environment and opportunities become more plentiful? Or, you know, would you consider either a large dividend or share of repurchase at some point?

Well, the 18 million is just this quarter. If you look at last year, we did over 150 million, which is a little more relevant. We're going to probably go through that with our board. It's not something we're prepared to discuss right now. My bias and Brad's bias would be to hang on to the money a little while longer and really look for M&A. For us, that's a lot more exciting, helps grow the top line, helps fill out the portfolio. We believe that's really why a lot of shareholders hold the stock is our ability to do M&A. It's really foundational to the company. So that would be our bias. That said, we want to make sure we're doing right by our shareholders, and that's why we continue to buy the stock back.

Got it. Okay, cool. I'll pass to others. Thank you.

Our next question is from Carla Costello with JPMorgan.

Hi, thanks for the question. First one is around, you mentioned some shipments that were going to move from 1Q into 2Q. Did you quantify that?

No. Will you? No.

Okay.

That number is evolving, so it would just be a guess.

Yeah, you know, Carla, We won't quantify it because there's a number of factors that are at play. It's not only shipments that we know of right now, and we've talked about this a lot over the years. When we get into that December timeframe, so towards the end of Q1, you're competing for trucking with the large retailers as they're kind of winding down Christmas. And a lot of times we don't know if the trucks are going to show up. And so what we had last year was all the stars sort of aligned for Q1. If you recall, last year, Q1, we had a little bit of a call to pull forward. We had shipments that normally ship in Q2 fall into Q1. Our top line was up. And then Q2, early on, was a little bit softer. We have a little bit of the reverse effect that we think is going to happen. And, I mean, the delayed shipments we know about, but then there's also the noise of will those trucks show up sort of at the end of December, which is a bit of a coin flip.

Yeah, Nico, I add a little more color to that. So, Carla, this is JD. On the garden side of the business, at the end of Q1, we receive a lot of the orders for retailers that are setting their stores for the upcoming season, the lawn and garden season. And a lot of that typically ships between Christmas and New Year's. Oftentimes, they don't want to bring in inventory before Christmas. And this year, our fiscal quarter ends on the 27th. So we have one shipping day between Christmas and New Year's. We haven't even received all of those orders yet from retailers. And really, as Nico said, trying to pinpoint exactly what's going to ship in Q1 and what's going to shift into Q2. Intuitively, it tells us that some shift to Q2 will happen, but it's really hard to quantify it this early. Does that make sense?

Okay, great. Yeah, that does, and that's super helpful. The other thing is you talked about that you're seeing the income dispersion that we're also hearing a lot of retailers talk about. Are you seeing also, can you talk about whether you're seeing strengths or weaknesses in any of your different channels, home centers, specialty pet, mass, et cetera?

I mean, the biggest trend we're still seeing is sort of the migration to online, you know, overall across both segments. You know, pet being more developed online than garden, but if you look at the garden growth rate, it's been just tremendous. You know, we have 60% growth on the garden side with some of the online retailers, and it's quickly catching up. And I think you're just seeing some volume leave brick and mortar and go in online and I think some of the retailers that have robust omnichannel strategies are the ones winning right now. So we're seeing some of that. As far as the income and that diversion of income, the bifurcation of income rather, I'm not sure we're seeing it in any specific channel. I'll let John and JD weigh in on it. As far as from where we're sitting, we're not seeing a ton of it.

Yeah, on the pet side, I would add, I don't think we're seeing a ton of it. You know, the pet specialty channel, as we've communicated in the past, you know, remains challenged. Foot traffic, you know, has been a bit of a challenge. I do believe as we see the live animals stabilized, that's going to be good for that channel. But bifurcation of income, you know, we're not I can't call anything specific out.

Okay, great. Thanks a lot.

And that was our last question. Thank you. And with that, we're going to close the call. Happy Thanksgiving, and we'll take your questions if you have any during the quarter.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.