Acco Brands Corporation

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to the Akko Brands third quarter 2026 earnings call. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now hand the conference over to Chris McGinnis, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Chris, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to Atco Brands conference call to review our third quarter results. Speaking on the call today is Tom Tedford, President, Chief Executive Officer of Atco Brands, and Deb O'Connor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Slides that accompany this call have been posted to the investor relations section of atcobrands.com. When speaking about our results, we may refer to adjusted results. Adjusted results exclude amortization and restructuring costs, Non-cash goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges, bargain purchase gain, unusual tax items, and other non-recurring items and include adjustments to reflect the estimated annual tax rate on quarterly earnings. Schedules of adjusted results and other non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are in the earnings release and slides that accompany this call. Thank you for joining us today. Our forward-looking statements are made as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them going forward. Now, I'll turn the call over to Tom Tedford.

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the Akko Brands third quarter earnings call. Our third quarter results demonstrate continued progress against our strategic priorities. Sales were in line with our outlook. Underlying operating performance met our expectations and adjusted EPS benefited from net tariff refunds. Back-to-school performance was solid in North America and Mexico. Workspace solutions trends continue to stabilize and we remain disciplined in navigating cautious enterprise and consumer spending in technology peripherals. Importantly, we use tariff refund proceeds to reduce debt and on October 1st, completed the acquisition of Trust, our second technology peripherals acquisition of the year. Deb will provide additional financial details on the transaction later in the call. We are executing a clear strategy built around three priorities, scaling technology peripherals as a growth platform, stabilizing our learning and creative and workspace solution categories, and expanding earnings and cash flow We made meaningful progress on each priority this quarter, and I will address them in turn. The first of our near-term strategic priorities is to scale technology peripherals to improve the long-term growth profile of the company. The acquisition of trust marks another important step in building this growth platform. Trust is a 40-year-old brand that designs and markets computer and gaming peripherals across Europe and Latin America through retail, e-commerce, and B2B channels. The Trust acquisition broadens our portfolio, strengthens our position in consumer channels, and creates attractive cross-selling opportunities across our global platform. Our technology peripherals portfolio now includes Kensington, Epos, PowerA, and Trust. Together, pro forma sales from these categories will approach $500 million annually, or about 30% of our future sales. We now offer a complete range of computer and gaming accessories with greater scale across both B2B and consumer channels. This provides a strong foundation for organic growth through innovation, broader distribution, market share gains, cross-selling, and disciplined strategic expansion. Over the longer term, we expect technology peripherals to deliver mid-single-digit growth. The near-term operating environment remains challenging, and we are managing it with focus and discipline. Higher hardware costs and limited memory availability are affecting computer accessory purchases. while enterprise budgets are shifting towards AI priorities. Gaming accessories are also experiencing pressure from higher console prices and cautious consumer discretionary spending. These conditions do not change our conviction in the long term growth opportunity. We compete in large technology categories with durable growth drivers. and computer accessories, hybrid work and duplicate setups, multi-monitor workstations, ergonomics and wellness, and security and privacy continue to support demand. In gaming accessories, the expanding player base, new console launches, technology upgrades, and major AAA game releases provide compelling avenues for growth. As hardware costs normalize and category demand improves, we believe ACCO Brands will be well positioned to capture the recovery through new product innovation, expanded distribution, and cross-selling across our global channels. We are expecting several positive near-term catalysts, such as the fourth quarter release of Grand Theft Auto VI and continued switch to adoption, as well as our own new product introductions. Epos, our premium audio offering, continues to perform in line with expectations. The integration is progressing well. Epos is now being sold alongside Kensington in both the U.S. and EMEA, and we are already seeing early cross-selling wins. Our recent acquisitions have added exceptional industry talent and deep category expertise. We retained key leaders from EPOS and Trust to lead our technology platform, bringing proven knowledge of the markets, consumers and channels we serve. The platform serves retail and enterprise customers, each with a tailored go-to-market approach, innovation roadmap and service model. With the right leadership, portfolio, and operating structure now in place, we are confident in our ability to execute with greater focus and speed to unlock the full potential of these businesses and to return the categories to sustainable growth. Our second priority is to stabilize learning and creative and workspace solutions. In these categories, we are established category leaders with trusted brands resilient market positions, and strong cash flow generation that supports investment and growth and debt reduction. Learning and creative represents approximately 30% of pro forma annualized sales. This back to school season, the categories grew in North America and Mexico with early improvement emerging in Brazil. Over the longer term, we expect the category to remain stable or grow modestly through innovation, market share gains, and pricing actions. In workspace solutions, the rate of decline moderated in 2026, and the category now represents approximately 40% of annualized pro forma sales. We are managing the categories for value through skew rationalization, discipline cost control, pricing, and a greater emphasis on attractive adjacent categories such as ergonomics and wellness. Our third priority is to improve earnings and cash flow. We remain on track to deliver $100 million multi-year cost reduction target. This program is simplifying our operating platform and strengthening profitability, cash generation, and earnings power. Additionally, we are realizing EPOS cost synergies. with $6 million of annualized savings expected in 2026 and approximately $15 million expected by the end of 2027. For trust, we have identified $5 to $8 million of cost synergies to be realized during the first 18 months of ownership. Our capital allocation priorities remain debt reduction in support of the dividend. We will maintain a disciplined approach to leverage. Any near-term transaction must meet rigorous financial and strategic criteria and be leverage neutral. Let me close with three key takeaways. First, our established categories are stabilizing and generating meaningful cash flow, providing a strong foundation for the company. Second, our cost actions are expanding earnings power and cash flow, making ACCO Brands leaner, more resilient, and better positioned for the future. Third, we are building a scaled technology peripherals platform across Kensington, EPOS, PowerA, and Trust in categories with significant long-term growth and earnings potential. As market conditions improve and hardware costs normalize, we believe we are well positioned to accelerate performance. I am confident in our strategy, encouraged by our progress, and energized by the opportunities ahead. With that, let me turn the call over to Deb, our Chief Financial Officer, who will review the financial results and our outlook.