Columbus McKinnon Corp: Form 10-K for the period ended Mar 31, 2025

General

Founded in 1875, Columbus McKinnon Corporation (referred to in this Form 10-K as “we,” “us,” “our,” “Columbus McKinnon” or the “Company”) is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions for material handling that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, rigging tools, light rail workstations and digital power and motion control systems. These are highly relevant, professional-grade solutions that solve our customers’ critical material handling requirements.

The Company is focused on commercial and industrial applications that require the safety, reliability and quality provided by its superior design and engineering know-how. Our products are used for mission critical applications where we have established, trusted brands that are well known in the industry. Our targeted market verticals include manufacturing, transportation including EV production and aerospace, energy and utilities, process industries, industrial automation, construction and infrastructure, food and beverage, entertainment, life sciences, consumer packaged goods, e-commerce, supply chain and warehousing.

In the United States, we are a market leader for hoists, material handling digital power control systems and precision conveyors, our principal lines of products, and have strong market positions with certain chain, forged fittings, and linear actuator products. Additionally, in Europe, we believe we are a market leader for manual hoists and a market leader in linear actuators used for heavy load, rail and niche custom applications for actuation. We have achieved this leadership position through strategic acquisitions, our extensive, diverse, and well-established distribution channels and our commitment to product innovation and quality. We believe the substantial breadth of our product offerings and broad distribution channels in the United States and Europe provide us a strategic advantage in our markets.

Our Transformation

Building on 150 years of industry experience, Columbus McKinnon has transformed into a scaled provider of material handling solutions with a broad variety of offerings, including lifting, automation, linear motion, and precision conveyance. Most recently the Company expanded into the precision conveyance sector, expanding our Total Addressable Market (“TAM”) and providing pathways for growth in a highly fragmented industry.

A foundation for our transformation is our Columbus McKinnon Business System ("CMBS") and growth framework to be market-led, customer-centric and operationally excellent with our people and values at the core.

With CMBS as the foundation, we are well positioned to execute our Core Growth Framework ("Framework") strategy. The Framework defines four parallel paths for Columbus McKinnon’s growth and provides clear organic and strategic initiatives. Our Framework includes:

• Strengthening the Core which is a foundational path focused on initiatives that will strengthen competencies and improve our competitive position within our existing share of our Serviceable Addressable Market ("SAM”). Initiatives include further developing commercial and product management competencies and improving our digital tools for a better, more efficient customer experience.
• Growing the Core is a path that is focused on increasing market share, both organically and through acquisitions, within our SAM. We are making progress on this path with product localization, new product development and advancements in automation and aftermarket support for our distributors.
• Expanding the Core is a path that is focused on improved channel access and geographic expansion. Here we expand beyond our SAM into the broader Total Addressable Market (“TAM”). This involves building out our presence both geographically and in new verticals with expanded offerings, which we expect to accomplish organically as well as with selective acquisitions.
• Reimagining the Core is a more transformational path that rethinks our TAM and targets strategic expansion beyond our existing TAM. As we think more broadly about material handling and increasing trends in intelligent motion, not just lifting, but solutions for how materials move throughout customer environments, there are some compelling ideas that emerge. The acquisitions of our conveyor businesses is an example of reimagining Columbus McKinnon’s core,

which added approximately $5 billion to our TAM, with the specialty conveying microsegment growing at an estimated 6% to 8% rate annually.

In fiscal 2022, the Company expanded into the precision conveyance sector with its acquisitions of Dorner Mfg. Corp. ("Dorner") and Garvey Corporation ("Garvey") followed by its acquisition of montratec GmbH (“montratec”) in fiscal 2024. Columbus McKinnon’s precision conveyance platform provides leading automation solutions with unique, patented technologies in the design, application, manufacturing and integration of high-precision conveying systems. Specifically:

• Dorner is a leading supplier to the stable life sciences, food processing, and consumer packaged goods markets as well as the higher growth industrial automation and e-commerce sectors. The addition of Dorner has provided attractive complementary adjacencies to the Company. Dorner offers a broad range of precision conveying systems to our product offerings, which include low profile, flexible chain, large scale, sanitary and vertical elevation conveyor systems, as well as pallet system conveyors.
• Garvey is a leading accumulation systems solutions company providing unique, patented systems for the automation of production processes whose products complement those of Dorner.
• montratec is a leading supplier of asynchronous conveying technology in the precision conveyance sector. montratiec provides automation solutions by designing and developing intelligent automation and transport systems for interlinking industrial production and logistics processes. montratec product offerings compliment the previous acquisitions of both Dorner and Garvey.

Together, our acquisitions within the precision conveyance industry established a platform for growth organically as well as through further acquisitions as the industry is highly fragmented.

On February 10, 2025, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kito Crosby Limited (“Kito”) (the “Kito Acquisition”). The Kito Acquisition closing is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approval as required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”) and other customary closing conditions described in the stock purchase agreement entered into by the Company and Kito in connection with the Kito Acquisition. The Kito Acquisition is expected to meaningfully improve the Company's scale, enhance our collective geographic reach, significantly expand our lifting securement and consumables portfolio and enhance our customer value proposition.

With global engineering, manufacturing, distribution, and operations, Kito provides a broad range of products and solutions for the most demanding applications. Kito’s people, products, solutions, and service have innovated the lifting and securement industry throughout its long history. Kito's iconic brands include Kito, Crosby, Harrington, Gunnebo Industries, and Peerless. We expect that the Kito Acquisition will strengthen our core lifting business and further the Company's position as a leading worldwide, designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. The Company anticipates the Kito Acquisition to close during fiscal 2026.

We intend to fund the acquisition through a combination of committed debt financing of $3,050,000,000 from J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC including a $500,000,000 revolving credit facility and $800,000,000 of perpetual convertible preferred equity investment from Clayton, Dubliner & Rice (“CD&R”). Terms of the CD&R investment include a 7% coupon, payable in cash or payment-in-kind at Columbus McKinnon’s option, and a conversion price of $37.68, resulting in CD&R as-converted ownership of approximately 43% of the Company following completion of the transaction. CD&R has agreed to a customary lock-up on its shares.

Business Description

We design, manufacture, and distribute a broad range of material handling products for various applications. Products include a wide variety of electric, air-powered, lever, and hand hoists, hoist trolleys, explosion-protected hoists, winches, and aluminum work stations; alloy and carbon steel chain; forged attachments, such as hooks, shackles, textile slings, clamps, and load binders; mechanical and electromechanical actuators and rotary unions; below-the-hook special purpose lifters; and power and motion control systems, such as AC and DC drive systems, radio remote controls, push button pendant stations, brakes, and collision avoidance and power delivery subsystems. Our legacy Lifting business is sensitive to changes in general macro-economic conditions, including changes in industrial capacity utilization, industrial production, and general macro-economic activity indicators, like GDP growth.

Our products are typically manufactured for stock or assembled to order from standard components and are sold primarily through a variety of commercial distributors and, to a lesser extent, directly to end-users. Our STAHL subsidiary brings market leadership with independent crane builders and EPC firms. The diverse end-users of our products are in a variety of industries including manufacturing, power generation and distribution, utilities, wind power, warehouses, commercial construction, oil and gas exploration and refining, petrochemical, marine, ship building, transportation and heavy-duty trucking, agriculture, logging and mining. We also serve a niche market for the entertainment industry, including permanent and traveling concerts, live theater, and sporting venues.

Our precision conveyance acquisitions expanded our product offerings to include a broad range of highly engineered, precision conveying solutions. The acquisitions of Dorner and Garvey expand the Company's reach to include the stable life sciences, food processing and consumer packaged goods markets and high growth industrial automation and e-commerce sectors. montratec’s principal markets include aerospace and electric vehicle battery cell production amongst others.

Products

Of our fiscal 2025 sales, $537,549,000, or 56%, were U.S. and $425,478,000 or 44% were non-U.S. The following table sets forth certain sales data for our products, expressed as a percentage of net sales for fiscal 2025 and 2024:

Hoists - We manufacture a wide variety of electric chain hoists, electric wire rope hoists, hand-operated hoists, winches, lever tools, and air-powered hoists. Load capacities for our hoist product lines range from one-eighth of a ton to nearly 275 tons. These products are sold under our Budgit, Chester, CM, Coffing, Little Mule, Pfaff, Shaw-Box, STAHL, Yale, and other recognized brands. Our hoists are sold for use in numerous general industrial applications, as well as for use in the construction, energy and utilities, steel and metals processing, mining, transportation, entertainment, and other markets. We also supply hoist trolleys, driven manually or by electric motors, which are used in conjunction with hoists.

We also offer several lines of standard and custom-designed, below-the-hook tooling, clamps, and textile strappings. Below-the-hook tooling, textile, and chain slings and associated forgings, and clamps are specialized lifting apparatus used in a variety of lifting activities performed in conjunction with hoisting or lifting applications.

Last year, the Company announced that along with a strategic partner we have developed a cutting-edge battery hoist. Combining our industry-leading hoist design with our partner's expertise in lithium-ion battery and brushless motor technology, the innovative BatteryStar™ hoist provides the lifting strength and speed of an electric chain hoist and the portability of a manual hoist without the need for time-consuming manual operation or access to a power source.

We also manufacture explosion-protected hoists and custom engineered hoists, including wire rope and manual and electric chain hoists. These branded products are sold to a variety of end markets including automotive, general manufacturing, oil and gas, steel and concrete, power generation as well as process industries such as chemical and pharmaceuticals.

High-precision conveying systems – Dorner and Garvey expanded our product offerings to include high-precision, specialty conveyor system solutions. These conveyor systems range from build to order modular standard systems to highly engineered custom solutions. These products offer customers high quality and reliable solutions that enhance productivity and profitability.

The montratec acquisition provides asynchronous conveying solutions, which complements both Dorner and Garvey product offerings. This furthers our shift to intelligent motion solutions and provides capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.

Digital Power Control and Delivery Systems - Through our Magnetek brand, we are a leading provider of innovative power control and delivery systems and solutions for overhead material handling applications used in a number of diverse industries, including aerospace, automotive, steel, aluminum, paper, logging, mining, ship loading, nuclear power plants, and heavy movable structures. We are a major supplier in North America of power and motion control systems, which include AC and DC drive systems, radio remote controls, push button pendant stations, brakes, and collision avoidance and power delivery subsystems. While we sell primarily to original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") of overhead cranes and hoists, we engage with end users to understand their needs and gain specification. We can combine our products with engineered services to provide complete customer-specific system solutions.

We are also a leading independent supplier of AC and DC digital motion control systems for underground coal mining equipment. Our systems are used in coal hauling vehicles, shuttle cars, scoops, and other heavy mining equipment.

Actuators and Rotary Unions - Through our Duff-Norton and Pfaff brands, we design and manufacture industrial components such as mechanical and electromechanical actuators and rotary unions. Actuators are linear motion devices used in a variety of industries, including the transportation, paper, steel, energy, aerospace, and many other commercial industries. Rotary unions are devices that transfer a liquid or gas from a fixed pipe or hose to a rotating drum, cylinder or other device. Rotary unions are used in a variety of industries including pulp and paper, printing, textile and fabric manufacturing, rubber, and plastic.

Chain and Rigging Tools - We manufacture alloy and carbon steel chain for various industrial and consumer applications. U.S. federal regulations require the use of alloy chain for overhead lifting applications because of its strength and wear characteristics. A line of our alloy chain is sold under the Herc-AlloyTM brand name for use in overhead lifting, pulling, and restraining applications. In addition, we also sell specialized load chain for use in hoists, as well as three grades and multiple sizes of carbon steel welded-link chain for various load securing and other non-overhead lifting applications.

We produce a broad line of alloy and carbon steel closed-die forged chain attachments, including hooks, shackles, HammerloksTM, and master links. These forged attachments are used in chain, wire rope, and textile rigging applications in a variety of industries, including transportation, mining, construction, marine, logging, petrochemical, and agriculture.

In addition, we manufacture carbon steel forged and stamped products, such as load binders, logging tools, and other securing devices, for sale to the industrial and logging markets through industrial distributors, hardware distributors, mass merchandiser outlets, and OEMs.

Industrial Cranes - We manufacture and market under our Unified Industries brand overhead aluminum light rail workstations primarily used in automotive and other industrial applications. We also manufacture crane components and crane kits through our STAHL branded products.

Elevator Application Drive Systems - Through our Magnetek brand we also design, build, sell, and support elevator application-specific drive products that efficiently deliver power used to control motion, primarily in high-rise, high-speed elevator applications. We are recognized as an industry leader for DC high-performance elevator drives, as well as for AC drives used with low- and high-performance traction elevators, due to our extensive application expertise and product reliability. Our elevator product offerings are comprised of highly integrated subsystems and drives, sold mainly to elevator OEMs. In addition, our product options include a number of regenerative controls for both new building installations and elevator modernization projects that help building owners save energy.

Distribution and Markets

We sell our products and solutions through various distribution channels and direct to certain end users. The following describes our global distribution channels:

General Distribution Channels - Our global general distribution channels consist of:

• Industrial distributors that serve local or regional industrial markets and sell a variety of products for maintenance repair, operating, and production, or MROP, applications through their own direct sales force.
• Rigging shops that are distributors with expertise in rigging, lifting, positioning, and load securing. Most rigging shops assemble and distribute chain, wire rope and synthetic slings, and distribute manual hoists and attachments, chain slings, and other products.
• Independent crane builders that design, build, install, and service overhead crane and light-rail systems for general industry and also distribute a wide variety of hoists and crane components. We sell electric wire rope hoists and chain hoists as well as crane components, such as end trucks, trolleys, drives, and electrification systems to crane builders.

Specialty Distribution Channels - Our global specialty distribution channels consist of:

• National and regional distributors that market a variety of MROP supplies, including material handling products, either exclusively through large, nationally distributed catalogs, or through a combination of catalog, internet, and branch sales and a field sales force.
• Material handling specialists and integrators that design and assemble systems incorporating hoists, overhead rail systems, trolleys, scissor lift tables, manipulators, air balancers, jib arms, and other material handling products to provide end-users with solutions to their material handling problems.
• Entertainment equipment distributors that design, supply, and install a variety of material handling and rigging equipment for concerts, theaters, ice shows, sporting events, convention centers, and night clubs.

Service-After-Sale Distribution Channels - Service-after-sale distributors include our authorized network of 17 chain repair service stations and over 229 certified hoist service and repair stations globally. This service network is designed for easy parts and service access for our large installed base of hoists and related equipment in that region.

OEM/Government Distribution Channels - This channel consists of:

• OEMs that supply various component parts directly to other industrial manufacturers as well as private branding and packaging of our traditional products for material handling, lifting, positioning, and special purpose applications.
• Government agencies, including the U.S. and Canadian Navies and Coast Guards, that primarily purchase load securing chain and forged attachments. We also provide our products to the U.S. and other governments for a variety of military applications.

Independent Crane Builders and EPC firms - In addition to the Distribution Channels mentioned above, we sell explosion-protected hoists and custom engineered non-standard hoists to independent crane builders and EPC firms. Independent crane builders are lifting solution developers and final crane assemblers that source hoists as components. EPC firms are responsible for project management or construction management of production facilities that purchase lifting solutions from crane and hoist builders.

Backlog

Our backlog of orders at March 31, 2025 was approximately $322,517,000, compared to approximately $280,824,000 at March 31, 2024. Our orders for standard products are generally shipped within one week. Orders for products that are manufactured to customer specifications are generally shipped within four to twelve weeks. In addition, fluctuations in backlog can reflect the project-oriented nature of certain aspects of our business.

Competitive Conditions

The material handling and precision conveyance industries remains fragmented. We face competition from a wide range of regional, national, and international manufacturers globally. In addition, we often compete with individual operating units of larger, highly diversified companies.

The principal competitive factors affecting our business include customer service and support as well as product availability, performance, functionality, brand reputation, reliability, and price. Other important factors include distributor relationships and territory coverage as well as the robustness of our digital tools which impacts the customer experience.

Major competitors for hoists are Konecranes (and its subsidiaries Demag, R&M, Verlinde, SWF), GH, Detroit Hoists, ACE World Companies, Abus, Kito (and its U.S. subsidiary Harrington), Lifket/ChainMaster, Jet, AMH, Elephant, Ingersoll Rand, Tractel and Street. Major competitors for chain are Campbell Chain, Kito (and its subsidiaries Gunnebo and Peerless), Pewag Chain, Laclede Chain Manufacturing, and American Chain and Cable Company. Major competitors for digital power control systems are Konecranes, Power Electronics International, Inc., Cattron Holdings (a division of Harbour Group), Conductix-Wampfler (a division of Delachaux Group), Control Techniques (a division of Nidec Corporation),

OMRON Corporation, KEB GmbH, and Fujitec. Major competitors for forged attachments are Kito (and its subsidiaries Gunnebo and Peerless), Campbell Chain, Laclede Chain Manufacturing, Van Beest, Pewag, RUD, AMH Cartec, Yoke, Brewer Tichner Company and Chicago Hardware and Fixture Company. Major competitors for actuators and rotary unions are Deublin, Joyce-Dayton, and Nook Industries, a division of Altra Industrial Motion Corp., which was acquired by Regal Rexnord. Major competitors for precision conveyors and accumulators are FlexLink, Bosch Rexroth AG, MK North America, Inc., Duravant,

Nercon Eng. & Mfg. Inc and Arrowhead Systems, which was acquired by Regal Rexnord. As discussed herein, the Company announced the Kito Acquisition in February 2025 and expects the Kito Acquisition to close in fiscal 2026.

Human Capital Management

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Columbus McKinnon’s global footprint includes offices, warehouses and manufacturing facilities in 25 countries across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. At March 31, 2025, we had 3,478 employees globally. Approximately 3.7% of our employees are represented under one U.S. collective bargaining agreement that expires in May 2027. We also have various labor agreements with our non-U.S. employees that we negotiate from time to time. We have good relationships with our employees and positive, productive relationships with our unions. We believe the risk of employee or union led disruption in production is remote.

Our employees are our most significant assets, critical to the delivery of our transformation and our continued strategic progress. Successful execution of our strategy is dependent on attracting, developing, and retaining key employees and members of our management team, which we achieve through the following:

• We always begin with people and values at the center of all that we do and at the heart of our corporate social responsibility efforts. The Company’s people and the behaviors they display define our success, including integrity, respect and teamwork. Many of our Human Capital Management priorities, including Occupational Health and Safety, Succession and People Development, Culture & Respect, and Local Communities, are directly connected to our commitment to people and values. Our people enable us to grow, and our values ensure we grow responsibly and sustainably.
• The Company places the highest priority on workplace safety. We believe it is critical to ensure that our most valuable assets, our employees, have a safe environment to work in every day. Our first value, “Connect safety to everything you do” highlights the importance of safety to our culture. As a permanent agenda item at all management meetings, safety comes first. For fiscal 2025 and 2024, the Company had an overall safety incident rate of 0.54 and 0.71, respectively (number of injuries and illnesses multiplied by 200,000, divided by hours worked).
• We have built an open culture where great people have the opportunity to achieve their full potential. We are committed to creating an environment that embraces diverse perspectives, knowing the positive impact it has on our business, customers, and the communities we serve. We want to build a company that future generations can be proud of where all associates are encouraged to achieve their career goals through ongoing development and objective performance management and promotion processes that recognize results regardless of age, background, race, ethnicity, ability, religion, gender or sexual orientation. As such, our “We Are CMCO” approach to culture and inclusion ensures that we continue to do the work to make sure the Company remains stable and our employees feel safe, supported, and valued.

We also recognize our corporate responsibility to advance our Environmental Social and Governance (“ESG”) efforts and to be accountable for making progress. We are making investments in our people, processes and systems to enable meaningful progress in areas including, but not limited to, environmental stewardship, employee safety, workplace inclusion, connecting with our communities, and ensuring a strong governance and risk management culture. We are taking deliberate steps to fully integrate ESG into our enterprise strategy, our business system, and our daily actions.

In addition, we set the following objectives for fiscal 2025:

• Drive a people-first culture through engagement, training and development opportunities;
• Perform extensive data collection and analysis to identify areas for improvement;
• Build upon our progress toward ESG targets and goals;
• Further align with global reporting standards and increasing global regulatory requirements; and
• Be more transparent with internal and external stakeholders through communications and public disclosures.

As we look forward to fiscal 2026 and beyond, we have additional plans that will continue to move our ESG initiatives forward. We continue to collect and analyze data to set realistic, yet challenging goals and be transparent about our progress against our commitments.

Raw Materials and Components

Our principal raw material and component purchases aggregated to approximately $375 million in fiscal 2025 (or 59% of Cost of product sold in fiscal 2025) and included steel, consisting of rod, wire, bar, structural, and other forms of steel; electric motors; bearings; gear reducers; castings; steel and aluminum enclosures and wire harnesses; electro-mechanical components; and standard variable drives. We purchase most of these raw materials and components from a limited number of strategic and preferred suppliers under agreements that are negotiated on a Company-wide basis through our global purchasing group. Generally, as we experience fluctuations in our costs, we are able to reflect these increases in costs with additional price increases to our customers with the goal of being margin neutral.

Trademarks

We believe that our rights in our intellectual property, including trademarks and domain names, as well as contractual provisions and restrictions on access to our proprietary technology, are important to our marketing efforts to develop brand recognition and differentiate our brand from our competitors. We own a number of trademarks that have been registered, or for which registration applications are pending, in the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions. These trademarks include, but are not limited to, Hammerloks™ and Herc-Alloy™.

The current registrations of these trademarks are effective for varying periods of time and may be renewed periodically, provided that we, as the registered owner, or our licensees where applicable, comply with all applicable renewal requirements including, where necessary, the continued use of the trademarks in connection with similar goods. We expect to pursue additional trademark registrations to the extent we believe they would be beneficial and cost-effective.

In addition to trademark protection, we own domain names, including www.cmco.com (http://www.cmco.com). We also enter into, and rely on, confidentiality and proprietary rights agreements with our employees, consultants, contractors and business partners to protect our trade secrets, proprietary technology, and other confidential information. We further control the use of our proprietary technology and intellectual property through provisions in both our customer terms of use on our website and in our vendor terms and conditions.

Environmental and Other Governmental Regulation

Like most manufacturing companies, we are subject to various federal, state, and local laws intended to protect public health, natural resources, and the environment. To address the requirements of such laws, we have adopted a corporate environmental protection policy which provides that all of our owned or leased facilities must comply, and all of our employees have the duty to comply, with all applicable environmental regulatory standards, and we have initiated an environmental auditing program for our facilities to ensure compliance with such regulatory standards. We have also established managerial responsibilities and internal communication channels for dealing with environmental compliance issues that may arise in the course of our business. We have made, and could be required to continue to make, significant expenditures to comply with environmental requirements. Because of the complexity and changing nature of environmental regulatory standards, it is possible that situations will arise from time to time requiring us to incur additional expenditures to ensure environmental regulatory compliance. However, we are not aware of any environmental condition or any operation at any of our facilities, either individually or in the aggregate, which would cause expenditures to have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Our operations are also governed by many other laws and regulations, including those relating to workplace safety and worker health, principally the Occupational Health and Safety Administration ("OSHA") in the U.S. and others outside the U.S. and regulations thereunder. The penalties for any breach of these regulations can vary and may be substantial. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with these laws and regulations and do not believe that future compliance with such laws and regulations will have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition, or liquidity.

See Note 16 to our March 31, 2025 consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K for more information on our matters involving litigation.

Available Information

Our internet address is www.cmco.com (http://www.cmco.com) and our investor relations website is investors.cmco.com. We promptly make available on our investor relations website, free of charge, the reports that we file or furnish with the SEC, corporate governance information, and select press releases. We file Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, proxy and information statements and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a), 14, and 15(d) of the Exchange Act. The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding Columbus McKinnon and other issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K, and such content should not be considered part of this Form 10-K, unless expressly noted otherwise.

Columbus McKinnon is subject to a number of risks that could negatively affect our business, financial condition or results from business operations or cause our actual results to differ materially from those projected or indicated in any forward-looking statement. You should carefully consider the risks described below, as well as the other information contained elsewhere in this Form 10-K, in evaluating your investment in us. The risks and uncertainties described below are those that we have identified as material, but are not the only risks or uncertainties facing Columbus McKinnon. This list is not all-inclusive, and our business could also be materially adversely affected by additional risks that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial. As a result, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment in our common stock.

Business Risks

Our business is affected by industrial economic and macroeconomic conditions.

Many of the end-users of our products are in industries affected by changes in industrial economic and macroeconomic conditions, such as manufacturing, power generation and distribution, commercial construction, oil and gas exploration and refining, transportation, agriculture, logging, and mining that are sensitive to changes in general macroeconomic conditions. Their demand for our products, and thus our results of operations, are directly related to the level of production in their facilities, which changes as a result of changes in general macroeconomic conditions, including, among others, movements in interest rates, tariffs and other trade regulations, inflation, changes in currency exchange rates, higher fuel and other energy costs, and other factors beyond our control, and is vulnerable to economic downturns. Decreased capital and maintenance spending by these customers has in the past, and could in the future, have a material adverse effect on the demand for our products and our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In particular, higher interest rates have in the past, and could in the future, result in decreased demand for our products from end-users, which would have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations, and concurrently result in higher interest expense related to borrowings under our credit facilities. In addition, inflation can also result in higher interest rates and negatively impact our results of operation. During an inflationary period, the cost of capital will often increase, and the purchasing power of our end users’ cash resources will decline, which can negatively affect demand from our customers. Current or future efforts by the government to stimulate the economy may increase the risk of significant inflation, which could have a direct and indirect adverse impact on our business and results of operations. If there is deterioration in the general economy or in the industries we serve, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. Furthermore, even if demand for our products improves, it is difficult to predict whether any improvement represents a long-term improving trend or the extent or timing of improvement. There can be no assurance that historically improving cycles are representative of actual future demand. In addition, general macro-economic conditions could at times also adversely affect our liquidity and ability to borrow under our Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility (as defined herein) and limits our ability to make accurate long-term predictions about the performance of the Company.

Our business, particularly with respect to our material handling and precision conveyance products, is highly competitive and subject to consolidation of competitors. Increased competition could reduce our sales, earnings, and profitability.

The principal markets that we serve within the material handling and precision conveyance industries are fragmented and highly competitive. Competition is based primarily on customer service and support as well as product availability, performance, functionality, brand reputation, reliability, and price. Our competition in the markets in which we participate comes from companies of various sizes, some of which have greater financial and other resources than we do. Increased competition could force us to lower our prices or to offer additional services at a higher cost to us, which could reduce our gross margins and net income.

The greater financial resources or the lower amount of debt of certain of our competitors may enable them to commit larger amounts of capital in response to changing market conditions. Certain competitors may also have the ability to develop product or service innovations that could put us at a disadvantage. In addition to the general competitive challenges we face, tariffs and other international trade policies could negatively affect the demand for our products and services and reduce our competitive position in such markets. In addition, through consolidation, some of our competitors have achieved substantially greater market penetration in certain of the markets in which we operate than we have been able to achieve. If we are unable to compete successfully against other manufacturers of material handling equipment and precision conveyors, we could lose customers and our revenues may decline. There can also be no assurance that customers will continue to regard our products favorably, that we will be able to develop new products or product developments that appeal to customers, that we will be able to improve or maintain our profit margins on sales to our customers or that we will be able to continue to compete successfully in our core markets.

Our growth strategy depends on successful integration of acquisitions, including upon closing of such transaction, the Kito Acquisition.

Acquisitions are a key part of our growth strategy. Our historical growth has depended, and our future growth is likely to depend, on our ability to successfully execute our acquisition strategy, and the successful integration of acquired businesses into our existing business, including, upon closing of such transaction, the Kito Acquisition. Such a strategy involves the potential risks inherent in assessing the value, strengths, weaknesses, contingent or other liabilities, and potential profitability of acquisition candidates and in integrating the operations of acquired companies. Furthermore, the price we pay for any business acquired may overstate the value of that business or otherwise be too high. In addition, any acquisitions of businesses with foreign operations or sales may increase our exposure to risks inherent in doing business outside the U.S.

We intend to continue to seek additional acquisition opportunities in accordance with our acquisition strategy, both to expand into new markets and to enhance our position in existing markets throughout the world. If we are unable to successfully integrate acquired businesses into our existing business or expand into new markets, our sales and earnings growth could be reduced. Inherent in connection with any acquisition is the risk of transitioning company cultures and facilities and the corresponding risk of management and employee turnover. In addition, the focus on the integration of operations of acquired entities may divert management’s attention from the day-to-day operation of our businesses. The failure to efficiently and effectively achieve such transitions could increase our costs and decrease our profitability. Furthermore, the failure to achieve the anticipated synergies of our recent significant acquisitions or recognize the anticipated market opportunities or integration from our recent acquisitions, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our future operating results may be affected by price fluctuations and trade tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other raw materials purchased to manufacture our products. We may not be able to pass on increases in raw material costs to our customers.

The primary raw materials used in our chain, forging and crane building operations are steel, aluminum, and other raw materials such as motors, electrical and electronic components, castings and machined parts and components. The industries that produce these critical components and materials are also themselves highly cyclical and at times pricing and availability can be volatile due to a number of factors beyond our control, including general macroeconomic conditions, inflation, labor costs, competition, import duties, quotas, tariffs, trade regulations and agreements, and currency exchange rates. This volatility can significantly affect our raw material costs.

The United States has maintained tariffs on certain imported steel, aluminum and items originating from China, which have increased the cost of raw materials we purchase. The imposition of tariffs by the United States has resulted in retaliatory tariffs from a number of countries, including China, which also increase the cost of raw materials we purchase. The new U.S. presidential administration has implemented or announced plans to implement, as the case may be, new or increased tariffs, particularly relating to imports from China, the European Union and other Asian countries, though it remains unclear exactly what actions will be taken or implemented. Any escalation of trade tensions, additional tariffs, retaliatory measures by foreign governments or shifts in U.S. or international trade policies could adversely impact our supply chain, increase our costs for raw materials, including significantly, or reduce demand for our products. A trade war or other significant changes in trade regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

In an environment of increasing raw material prices and trade tariffs, duties and quotas, competitive conditions will determine how much of the price increases we can pass on to our customers. In the future, to the extent we are unable to pass on any steel, aluminum, or other raw material price increases to our customers, our profitability could be adversely affected, including materially.

Our results of operations could be materially adversely affected if we are unable to obtain sufficient pricing for our products and service to meet our profitability expectations.

If we are unable to obtain favorable pricing for our products and services in a timely manner, our revenues and profitability could be materially adversely affected. For example, current conditions in our supply chain have resulted in rapid increases in the prices for the raw materials we use. Furthermore, the prices we are able to charge for our products and services are affected by a number of other factors, including:

• general macroeconomic and political conditions;
• our customers' desires to reduce their costs;
• the competitive environment in our industry;
• our ability to accurately estimate our costs, including our ability to estimate the impact of inflation on our costs over long-term contracts; and
• the procurement practices of our customers.

Our inability to pass increased prices along to our customers in a timely manner could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

If critical components or raw materials used to manufacture our products become scarce or unavailable, then we may incur delays in manufacturing and delivery of our products, which has damaged, and could continue to damage, our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Due to increased demand across a range of industries, the global supply chain for certain critical components and raw materials used in the manufacture of our products has experienced significant constraints in recent periods. Particularly, the markets for motors, computer chips, and other components are experiencing increased demand, creating substantial uncertainty regarding the availability of key components and raw materials used to manufacture our products. This constrained supply environment has materially adversely affected, and could further materially adversely affect, availability, lead times and cost of components and raw material, and has materially impacted, and could continue to materially impact, our ability to respond to accelerated or quick-turn delivery requests from customers, or meet customer demand and product delivery dates for our end customers where we cannot timely secure adequate supply of these components and raw materials. Moreover, if any of our suppliers become financially unstable, or otherwise unable or unwilling to provide us with raw materials or components, we may have to find new suppliers. It may take several months to locate alternative suppliers, if required, or to redesign our products to accommodate components from different suppliers. We cannot predict if we will be able to obtain replacement components within the timeframes that we require at an acceptable cost, if at all. In addition, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, significant delays in receiving shipments of key component and raw materials and in shipping our completed products to customers. We have incurred, and may continue to incur, additional shipping and delivery costs to seek to expedite the delivery of critical components and raw materials.

In an effort to mitigate these risks, in some cases, we have incurred higher costs to secure available inventory, or have extended or placed non-cancellable purchase commitments with suppliers, which introduces inventory risk if our forecasts and assumptions prove inaccurate. While we may attempt to recover the increased costs through price increases to our customers, we may be unable to mitigate the effect on our results of operations. We also have multi-sourced and pre-ordered components and raw materials inventory in some cases in an effort to reduce the impact of the adverse supply chain conditions we have experienced. Despite our attempts to mitigate the impact on our business, these constrained supply conditions are expected to adversely impact our costs of goods sold. Limits on manufacturing availability or capacity or delays in production or delivery of components or raw materials for our suppliers could further delay or inhibit our ability to obtain supply of components and raw materials and produce finished goods. These supply chain constraints and their related challenges could result in shortages, increased material costs or use of cash, engineering design changes, and delays in new product introductions, each of which could adversely impact our growth, gross margins and financial results. These types of negative financial impacts on our business may become more acute as supply chain pressures increase.

Our backlog is subject to modification, termination or reduction of orders, which could negatively impact our sales.

Our backlog is comprised of the portion of firm signed purchase orders or other written contractual commitments received from customers that we have not recognized as sales. The dollar amount of backlog as of March 31, 2025 was $323 million. Our backlog can be significantly affected by the timing of orders for large projects, and the amount of our backlog at March 31, 2025 is not necessarily indicative of future backlog levels or the rate at which backlog will be recognized as sales. Although modifications and terminations of our orders may be partially offset by cancellation fees, customers can, and sometimes do, terminate or modify these orders. We cannot predict whether cancellations will accelerate or diminish in the future. Cancellations of purchase orders, indications that the customers will not perform under their existing purchase orders or contracts or reductions of product quantities in existing contracts could substantially and materially reduce our backlog and, consequently, our future sales. Our failure to replace canceled orders could negatively impact our sales and results of operations.

We rely in large part on independent distributors for sales of our products.

We depend on independent distributors to sell our products and provide service and aftermarket support to our end-user customers. Distributors play a significant role in determining which of our products are stocked at their locations, and hence are most readily accessible to aftermarket buyers, and the price at which these products are sold. Almost all of the distributors with whom we transact business offer competitive products and services to our end-user customers. For the most part, we do not have written agreements with our distributors. The loss of a substantial number of these distributors or an increase in the distributors' sales of our competitors' products to our ultimate customers could materially reduce our sales and profits.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract, develop, engage and retain qualified employees.

Because of the complex nature of many of our products and services, we are generally dependent on an educated and highly skilled workforce, including our engineering talent and our sales professionals. Failure to attract, develop, engage and retain qualified employees, whether as a result of an insufficient number of qualified applicants, difficulty in recruiting new employees, or inadequate resources to train, integrate and retain qualified employees, could impair our ability to execute our business strategy, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Low rates of unemployment in key geographic areas in which we operate may lead to high rates of turnover and loss of critical talent, which could lead to higher labor costs.

Our ability to understand our customers’ specific preferences and requirements, and to develop, manufacture and market products that meet customer demand as we expand into additional international markets, could significantly affect our business results.

Our ability to match new product offerings to diverse global customers’ anticipated preferences for different types and sizes of equipment and various equipment features and functionality, at affordable prices, is critical to our success. This requires a thorough understanding of our existing and potential customers on a global basis. Failure to deliver quality products that meet customer needs at competitive prices ahead of competitors could have a significant adverse effect on our business.

Financial Risks

In connection with the completion of the Precision Conveyance acquisitions, our indebtedness has increased significantly. Our indebtedness could limit our cash flow available for operations and our flexibility.

In connection with the montratec acquisition, the Company entered into an Amended and Restated Credit Agreement increasing the size of the Revolving Credit Facility by $75,000,000 to a total of $175,000,000. The Company subsequently borrowed additional funds in accordance with the Accordion feature under its existing Term Loan B facility to increase the principal amount of the Term Loan B facility by $75,000,000 in both fiscal years 2022 and 2024. The Company also borrowed an additional $25,000,000 under a new credit agreement secured by the Company's U.S. accounts receivable balances (the "AR Securitization Facility"). As of March 31, 2025, the outstanding principal balance of the Term Loan B facility was $437,560,000, which includes $75,000,000 in principal balance from the Accordion exercised in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 as described above. We had $175,000,000 available for borrowing under the Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility (before deducting approximately $15,417,000 of letters of credit outstanding as of March 31, 2025).

The degree to which we are leveraged could have important consequences to our shareholders, including the following:

• we may have greater difficulty satisfying our obligations with respect to our indebtedness;
• we must dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of principal and interest on our indebtedness, reducing the funds available for our operations;
• our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other purposes may be impaired;
• we may be limited in our ability to make additional acquisitions or pay dividends on our common stock;
• our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in the markets in which we compete may be limited;
• we may be at a competitive disadvantage relative to our competitors with less indebtedness; our inability to comply with covenants in, and potential for default under, our debt instruments
• we may be rendered more vulnerable to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
• we may be unable to pay off in full or refinance any of our indebtedness at maturity;
• our credit ratings may be downgraded; and
• we are exposed to increased interest rate risk given that a portion of our indebtedness obligations are at variable interest rates.

If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we may be forced to sell assets, seek additional capital or seek to restructure or refinance our indebtedness. These alternative measures may not be successful and may not permit us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. We may be unable to consummate those asset sales to raise capital or sell assets at prices that we believe are fair and proceeds that we do receive may be inadequate to meet any debt service obligations then due.

Furthermore, we may be able to incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future and, in connection with the completion of the Kito Acquisition, expect to incur substantial additional indebtedness. The terms of our current debt instruments do not fully prohibit us from doing so and the terms of any new debt instruments we enter into in the future, including in connection with the incurrence of indebtedness for the Kito Acquisition, may not fully prohibit us from doing so. Any additional indebtedness we incur could further exacerbate the risks that we face.

Our ability to raise capital in the future may be limited.

Our business and operations may consume resources faster than we anticipate. In the future, we may need to raise additional funds through the issuance of new equity securities, debt, or a combination of both. Additional financing may not be available on favorable terms or at all. If adequate funds are not available on acceptable terms, we may be unable to fund our capital requirements. If we issue new debt securities, the debt holders would have rights senior to holders of our common stock to make claims on our assets and the terms of any debt could restrict our operations, including our ability to pay dividends on our common stock. If we issue additional equity securities or securities convertible into equity securities, existing shareholders will experience dilution and the new equity securities could have rights senior to those of our common stock. Because our decision to issue securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing, or nature of our future offerings and their impact on the market price of our common stock.

Our operations outside the U.S. pose certain risks that may adversely impact sales and earnings.

We have operations and assets located outside of the U.S., primarily in Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, China, Malaysia and Mexico, including our new facility in Monterrey, Mexico. In addition, we import a portion of our hoist product line from Asia and sell our products to distributors located in approximately 50 countries. In our fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, approximately 44% of our net sales were derived from non-U.S. markets. These non-U.S. operations are subject to a number of special risks, in addition to the risks of our U.S. business, including but not limited to differing protections of intellectual property, trade barriers, labor unrest, geopolitical conflicts, exchange controls, regional economic uncertainty, differing (and possibly more stringent) labor regulation, risk of governmental expropriation, U.S. and foreign customs, quotas and duties, and tariffs (in particular, the new tariffs implemented and additional tariffs proposed to be implemented by the new U.S. presidential administration on goods imported into the U.S. from Mexico and other countries where we have manufacturing operations), political and economic instability in the jurisdictions in which we operate, foreign receivables collection risk, current and changing regulatory environments, difficulty in obtaining distribution support, difficulty in staffing and managing widespread operations, differences in the availability, and terms of financing, political instability and risks of increases in taxes. In particular, in connection with our Mexican manufacturing operations, as a result of the tariffs or other trade restrictions implemented or proposed to be implemented by the U.S. or other countries, the cost of our products manufactured in Mexico or other countries and imported into the U.S. or other countries have increased and could continue to increase further, which, in turn, has adversely affected, and could continue to adversely affect, the demand for these products, make our products less competitive and have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and margins. Any of these factors, individually or together, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Also, in some foreign jurisdictions, we may be subject to laws limiting the right and ability of entities organized or operating therein to pay dividends or remit earnings to affiliated companies unless specified conditions are met. These factors may adversely affect our future profits.

Part of our strategy is to expand our worldwide market share and reduce costs by strengthening our international distribution capabilities and sourcing components in lower cost countries, such as China, Mexico, Hungary and Malaysia, including through the use of our new facility in Monterey, Mexico. Implementation of this strategy may increase the impact of the risks described above, and we cannot assure you that such risks will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

Other risks of doing business in international markets include the increased risks and burdens of complying with different legal and regulatory standards, difficulties in managing and staffing foreign operations, recruiting and retaining talented direct sales personnel, limitations on the repatriation of funds and fluctuations of foreign exchange rates, varying levels of internet technology adoption and infrastructure and our ability to enforce contracts and our intellectual property rights in foreign jurisdictions. Additionally, there are risks associated with fundamental changes to international markets, such as those that may occur as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In addition, in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. has imposed, and is likely to impose material additional, financial and economic sanctions and export controls against Russia and certain Russian organizations and individuals, with similar actions either implemented or planned by the European Union and the U.K. and other jurisdictions. While the Company’s business operations relating to Russia constitute an immaterial part of the Company’s overall business, we may decide to, or be required to, exit from our operations in Russia in their entirety, which could result in a loss of revenues from our Russian operations (approximately $836,000 for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025) or may necessitate the need to incur a bad debt reserve or an asset write-off related to our Russian operations. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that the current Russian invasion of Ukraine will not draw military intervention from other countries or further retaliation from Russia, which, in turn, could lead to a much larger conflict beyond its current geographic, political and economic scope. If such escalation should occur, supply chain, trade routes and markets currently served by the Company could be adversely affected and other risks discussed in this Form 10-K may be exacerbated. In addition, a further escalation could disrupt the supply of oil and natural gas in Europe, impacting our ability to operate our European manufacturing facilities, which, in turn, could materially adversely affect the Company’s business operations and financial performance.

In addition, our success in international expansion could be limited by barriers to international expansion such as adverse tax consequences and export controls. Changes in applicable tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation and application, including the possibility of retroactive effect, could affect our income tax expense and profitability. Certain provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, including a 15% corporate alternative minimum tax, as well as the similar 15% global minimum tax under the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Pillar Two Global Anti-Base Erosion Rules, may impact our income tax expense, profitability, and capital allocation decisions and may negatively impact our effective tax rate. If we cannot manage these risks effectively, the costs of doing business in some international markets may be prohibitive or our costs may increase disproportionately to our revenue.

We are subject to currency fluctuations from our sales outside the U.S.

Our products are sold in many countries around the world. Thus, a portion of our revenues (approximately $425,478,000 in our fiscal year ended March 31, 2025) are generated in foreign currencies, including principally the Euro, the British Pound, the Canadian Dollar, the South African Rand, the Brazilian Real, the Mexican Peso, and the Chinese Yuan, and while much of the costs incurred to generate those revenues are incurred in the same currency, a portion is incurred in other currencies. Since our financial statements are denominated in U.S. dollars, changes in currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and other currencies have had, and will continue to have, a currency translation impact on our earnings. Currency fluctuations may impact our financial performance in the future.

We are subject to debt covenant restrictions.

Our Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility contains a financial leverage covenant, which will only be tested if any extensions of credit (other than letters of credit) are outstanding under the Amended and Restated Revolving Credit Facility at the end of any fiscal quarter, and other restrictive covenants. A significant decline in our operating income or cash generating ability could cause us to violate our leverage covenant in our bank credit facilities. Other material adverse changes in our business could also cause us to be in default of our debt covenants. Any breach of any such covenants or restrictions would result in a default under such agreement that could result in our being unable to borrow under our bank credit facilities and would permit the lenders to declare all borrowings under such agreement to be immediately due and payable and, through cross-default provisions, could entitle other lenders to accelerate their loans to us. In such an event, the Company would need to modify or restructure all or a portion of its indebtedness. Depending on prevailing economic conditions at the time, the Company might find it difficult to modify or restructure the debt on attractive terms, or at all.

A ratings downgrade or other negative action by a ratings organization could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.

Credit rating agencies continually revise their ratings for companies they follow, and we have faced, and may continue to face, downgrades from credit rating agencies. The condition of the financial and credit markets and prevailing interest rates have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. In addition, developments in our business and operations, including with respect to sustainability matters, could lead to further ratings downgrades for us or our subsidiaries. Any fluctuation in the rating of us or our subsidiaries may impact our ability to access debt markets in the future or increase our cost of future debt, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition and may adversely affect the trading price of shares of our common stock.

Risks related to the Kito Acquisition

The Kito Acquisition is contingent upon the satisfaction of a number of conditions, including regulatory approval, that may be outside either party’s control and that either party may be unable to satisfy or obtain that could cause the stock purchase agreement to be terminated in accordance with its terms.

The closing of our acquisition of Kito remains subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions, including the expiration or early termination of the waiting period applicable to the consummation of the Kito Acquisition under the HSR Act and the receipt of certain other regulatory approvals. These conditions to the completion of the Kito Acquisition, some of which are beyond our control and/or the control of Kito, may not be satisfied or waived in a timely manner or at all; accordingly, the Kito Acquisition may be delayed or not completed.

As a condition to granting required regulatory approvals, governmental entities may impose conditions, limitations, obligations or costs or place restrictions on our conduct after the closing of the Kito Acquisition. Such conditions or changes and the process of obtaining regulatory approvals could, among other things, have the effect of delaying completion of the Kito Acquisition or of imposing additional costs or limitations on us following the Kito Acquisition, any of which may have an adverse effect on us.

Additionally, either we or Kito may terminate the stock purchase agreement under certain circumstances specified therein, subject to the payment of a “termination fee” in certain cases.

The Kito Acquisition may present certain risks to our business and operations prior to the closing.

Our business and operations are subject to various risks related to the Kito Acquisition prior to closing, including:

• uncertainty about the effect of the Kito Acquisition on employees, customers, suppliers and other persons with whom we or Kito Crosby have a business relationship having an adverse effect on our business, operations and stock price;
• our operations may be restricted by the terms of the stock purchase agreement for the Kito Acquisition, which may cause us to forgo otherwise beneficial business opportunities;
• the proposed transaction may disrupt our current business plans and operations;
• our management’s attention may be directed toward the completion of the Kito Acquisition and diverted away from our day-to-day business operations;
• we may incur significantly higher transaction costs than we currently anticipate, such as legal, financing and accounting fees, and other costs, fees, expenses and charges related to the Kito Acquisition, whether or not the transaction is completed; and
• the Kito Acquisition may not be completed, which may have an adverse effect on our stock price and future business and financial results.

We may fail to successfully close the Kito Acquisition, and if we do successfully close the Kito Acquisition, we may fail to realize all of the anticipated benefits of the Kito Acquisition or those benefits may take longer to realize than expected.

We expect to devote significant management attention to closing the Kito Acquisition and, if it closes, integrating the business practices and operations of Kito with Columbus McKinnon. In the event the Kito Acquisition successfully closes, we may experience disruptions to our business and, if integrated ineffectively, such disruptions could restrict the realization of the full expected benefits of the Kito Acquisition. The failure to meet the challenges involved in the integration process and to realize the anticipated benefits of the Kito Acquisition could cause an interruption or loss of momentum in our operations.

If the Kito Acquisition successfully closes, difficulties in integrating Kito into our business may include rationalizing the operations, processes and systems of the acquired business, retaining and motivating key management and employees, and integrating existing business relationships with suppliers and customers. Even an integration of Kito is successful, the financial and operational results may differ materially from our assumptions and forecasts due to unforeseen expenses, delays, conditions and liabilities. In addition, we may incur unanticipated costs or expenses following an acquisition, including post-closing asset impairment charges, expenses associated with eliminating duplicate facilities, and other liabilities.

Furthermore, the successful closing of the Kito Acquisition and the subsequent integration of Kito into our business may result in material unanticipated problems, expenses, charges, liabilities, competitive responses, loss of customers and other business relationships, and diversion of management’s attention. Additional integration challenges may include difficulty in achieving anticipated cost savings, synergies, business opportunities and growth prospects from the acquisition; difficulties in the integration of operations and systems, including pricing and marketing strategies; and difficulties in conforming standards, controls, procedures, financial reporting and accounting and other policies, business cultures and compensation structures. Many of these factors will be outside of our control and any one of them could result in increased costs, including restructuring charges, decreases in revenues and diversion of management’s time and energy, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Upon closing of the Kito Acquisition, the Kito business may underperform relative to our expectations.

Following completion of the Kito Acquisition, we may not be able to maintain the levels of revenue, earnings or operating efficiency that Kito and we have achieved or might achieve separately. The business and financial performance of Kito are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including the risk of the loss of, or changes to, its relationships with its customers.

Upon the closing of the Kito Acquisition, we may be unable to achieve the same growth, revenues and profitability that Kito has achieved in the past.

We will issue a substantial number of Preferred Shares (as defined below) and incur a substantial amount of indebtedness in connection with the financing of the Kito Acquisition.

We expect to finance a portion of the purchase price for the Kito Acquisition through the issuance of 800,000 Series A Cumulative Convertible Participating Preferred Shares, par value $1.00 per share (the “Preferred Shares”), in connection with the closing of the Kito Acquisition, to CD&R XII Keystone Holdings, L.P., a Cayman Islands exempted limited partnership (together with its affiliated funds, the “CD&R Investors”) pursuant to the terms of an investment agreement, dated February 10, 2025 (the “Investment Agreement”). Once issued, the Preferred Shares will have rights, preferences, and privileges that are not held by, and are preferential to, the rights of our common stock and will reduce the relative voting power of the holders of our common stock. Subject to certain restrictions on conversion and voting as described in greater detail in the Investment Agreement and the form of Certificate of Amendment to the Company’s Certificate of Incorporation for the Preferred Shares (the "Certificate of Amendment"), the aggregate number of shares of common stock of the Company into which the Preferred Shares may be converted will initially be equal to 21,231,440 common shares, based on the initial conversion price for the Preferred Shares of $37.68, and result in the CD&R Investors owning, on an as converted basis, approximately 43% of the Company’s outstanding common stock upon completion of the issuance. Under the terms of the Investment Agreement, the CD&R Investors will have the right to designate up to three directors on our Board of Directors, subject to specified ownership requirements. With such representation on our Board of Directors, the CD&R Investors will have influence over the appointment of Company management and any action requiring the vote of our Board of Directors. If the Preferred Shares are issued, circumstances may occur in which the interests of the CD&R Investors could conflict with the interests of our other shareholders.

We also expect to finance a portion of the purchase price for the Kito Acquisition by incurring additional third-party indebtedness. We face risks associated with increases in overall indebtedness. We cannot guarantee that the combination of Kito and Columbus McKinnon will be able to generate sufficient cash flow to pay dividends at a rate of 7% per annum, compounded quarterly on our Preferred Shares (but subject to an increase to 10% per annum if certain events occur) and service and repay this indebtedness, or that we will be able to refinance such indebtedness on favorable terms, or at all. If we are unable to service our indebtedness and fund our operations, we may be forced to, among other things, reduce or delay capital expenditures, seek additional capital, sell assets, or refinance our indebtedness. Any such action may not be successful, and we may be unable to service such indebtedness. Any of the above risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operation, cash flows and/or stock price.

We expect to incur substantial expenses related to the Kito Acquisition and to the integration of Kito into our business, and the expenses may be greater than anticipated due to unexpected events.

We have incurred and expect to incur a number of significant non-recurring costs associated with the Kito Acquisition and, upon closing of the Kito Acquisition, the integration of Kito into our business. These costs include legal, financial advisory, accounting, consulting and other advisory fees, severance and employee benefit-related costs, public company filing fees and other regulatory fees, financial printing and other printing costs and other related costs. In addition, we expect to incur integration costs following the closing of the Kito Acquisition as we integrate Kito’s business with ours, including facilities and systems consolidation costs and employment-related costs. There are a large number of processes, policies, procedures, operations, technologies and systems that may need to be integrated, including purchasing, accounting and finance, payroll, compliance, treasury management, branch operations, vendor management, risk management, lines of business, pricing and benefits.

While we have assumed that a certain level of costs will be incurred, there are many factors beyond our control that could affect the total amount or the timing of these expenses. Moreover, many of the expenses that we will incur are, by their nature, difficult to estimate accurately. These expenses could, particularly in the near term, exceed the savings that we expect to achieve from the elimination of duplicative expenses and the realization of economies of scale. These expenses may result in us recording increased expenses as a result of the Kito Acquisition or the integration of Kito into our business, and the amount and timing of such charges are uncertain at the present and could exceed initial estimates.

Pursuant to the terms of the Investment Agreement, we are required to recommend that our shareholders approve certain matters and terms relating to the Preferred Shares. We cannot guarantee that our shareholders will approve these matters.

Under the terms of the Investment Agreement and the Certificate of Amendment, we have agreed to seek to obtain, at our first meeting of shareholders following the date of the Investment Agreement (the “First Meeting”), among other things, shareholder approval of (i) the issuance of the common shares underlying the Preferred Shares to be issued in connection with the Kito Acquisition in excess of 19.99% of the number of common shares outstanding prior to the transaction, in accordance with

NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635, and (ii) an amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized but unissued common shares to 100 million and permit certain preemptive rights (collectively, the “Requisite Shareholder Approval”). If the Requisite Shareholder Approval is not obtained at the First Meeting, subject to applicable law and the exercise of the fiduciary duties of our Board of Directors, we will continue to use our reasonable best efforts to obtain such approval at each subsequent meeting of shareholders, and if the Requisite Shareholder Approval is not obtained on or prior to July 31, 2026, we have agreed to hold a special meeting of our shareholders to be held between August 1, 2026 and December 31, 2026 to seek such approval, which would be time consuming and costly.

Legal Risks

Our products involve risks of personal injury and property damage, which exposes us to potential liability.

Our business exposes us to possible claims for personal injury or death, property damage or economic loss resulting from the products that we sell and to potential warranty, contractual or other claims. These product liability risks are inherent in the design, manufacture and sale of our products. Our products are complex and may contain defects, errors, or experience failures or unsatisfactory performance, due to any number of issues, including issues in materials, design, fabrication, packaging and/or use within a system or item of equipment. Further, because of the complexity of our products, defects or errors might only be detected when the products are in use. As a result, we could experience material product liability or warranty costs in the future and incur significant costs to defend ourselves against associated claims. Development of new products increases complexity and adds risk to manufacturing reliability, and increases the likelihood of product defects or errors. In addition, defects in our products could result in failure to achieve market acceptance, a shifting of business to our competitors, and litigation or regulatory action against us, and could harm our reputation or the reputation of the various brands under which we sell our products, our relationships with customers and our ability to attract new customers, as well as the perceptions of our brands. Other potential adverse impacts of product defects include shipment delays, write-offs of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and losses on unfavorable purchase commitments.

We maintain insurance through a combination of self-insurance retentions and excess insurance coverage. We monitor claims and potential claims of which we become aware and establish accrued liability reserves for the self-insurance amounts based on our liability estimates for such claims. We cannot give any assurance that existing or future claims will not exceed our estimates for self-insurance or the amount of our excess insurance coverage. In addition, we cannot give any assurance that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically reasonable terms or that our insurers would not require us to increase our self-insurance amounts. Claims brought against us that are not covered by insurance or that are in excess of insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on our results, financial condition, or liquidity. In addition, warranty and certain other claims are not typically covered by insurance.

In addition, like many industrial manufacturers, we are also involved in asbestos-related litigation. In continually evaluating costs relating to our estimated asbestos-related liability, we review, among other things, the incidence of past and recent claims, the historical case dismissal rate, the mix of the claimed illnesses and occupations of the plaintiffs, our recent and historical resolution of the cases, the number of cases pending against us, the status and results of broad-based settlement discussions, and the number of years such activity might continue. Based on this review, we estimate our share of liability to defend and resolve probable asbestos related personal injury claims. This estimate is highly uncertain due to the limitations of the available data and the difficulty of forecasting with any certainty the numerous variables that can affect the range of the liability. We continue to study the variables in light of additional information in order to identify trends that may become evident and to assess their impact on the range of liability that is probable and estimable. We believe that the potential additional costs for claims will not have a material effect on the financial condition of the Company or its liquidity, although the effect of any future liabilities recorded could be material to earnings in a future period. See Note 16 to our March 31, 2025 consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K.

As indicated above, our self-insurance coverage is provided through our captive insurance subsidiary. The reserves of our captive insurance subsidiary are subject to periodic adjustments based upon actuarial evaluations, which adjustments impact our overall results of operations and financial condition. These periodic adjustments can be favorable or unfavorable.

We are subject to various environmental laws, which may require us to expend significant capital, incur substantial cost and could lower our margins.

Our operations and facilities are subject to various federal, state, local, and foreign requirements relating to the protection of the environment, including those governing the discharges of pollutants in the air and water, the generation, management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes, and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Increased public awareness and concern regarding climate change and other ESG matters at numerous levels of government in various jurisdictions may lead to additional international, national, regional and local legislative and regulatory responses, and compliance with any new rules could be difficult and costly. We have made, and will continue to make, expenditures to comply with such requirements.

Violations of, or liabilities under, environmental laws and regulations, or changes in such laws and regulations (such as the imposition of more stringent standards for discharges into the environment), could result in substantial costs to us, including operating costs and capital expenditures, fines and civil and criminal sanctions, third party claims for property damage or personal injury, clean-up costs, or costs relating to the temporary or permanent discontinuance of operations. Certain of our facilities have been in operation for many years, and we have remediated contamination at some of our facilities. Over time, we and other predecessor operators of such facilities have generated, used, handled, and disposed of hazardous and other regulated wastes. Additional environmental liabilities could exist, including clean-up obligations at these locations or other sites at which materials from our operations were disposed, which could result in substantial future expenditures that cannot be currently quantified and which could reduce our profits or have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, operations, or liquidity.

We may face claims of infringement on the intellectual property of others, or others may infringe upon our intellectual property.

Our future success depends in part on our ability to prevent others from infringing on our proprietary rights, as well as our ability to operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others. Our efforts to protect our intellectual property through patents, trademarks, service marks, domain names, copyrights, trade secrets and confidentiality agreements may not adequately protect us against infringements, and pending patent or trademark applications may not result in issued patents or trademarks. Our patents, registered trademarks and patent applications, if any, may not be upheld if challenged, and competitors may develop similar or superior methods or products outside the protection of our patents. This could reduce demand for our products, reduce our market share and materially decrease our revenues. We may need to spend significant resources monitoring and enforcing our intellectual property rights and we may not be aware of or able to detect or prove infringement by third parties. We may be required at times to take legal action to protect our proprietary rights and, despite our best efforts, we may be sued for infringing on the intellectual property rights of others. Intellectual property-related litigation is costly and, even if we prevail, the cost of such litigation could adversely affect our financial condition. The protection and enforceability of our intellectual property rights is also subject to uncertainty in certain countries where we operate that have less rigorous intellectual property protection laws than the U.S. In addition, we could be adversely affected financially should we be judged to have infringed upon the intellectual property of others, and we could be required to modify the design of our products, change the name of our products or obtain a license for the use of some of the technologies used in our products.

We rely on subcontractors or suppliers to perform their contractual obligations.

Some of our contracts involve subcontracts with other companies upon which we rely to perform a portion of the services we must provide to our customers. There is a risk that we may have disputes with our subcontractors, including disputes regarding the quality and timeliness of work performed by our subcontractor or customer concerns about the subcontractor. Failure by our subcontractors to satisfactorily provide on a timely basis the agreed-upon supplies or perform the agreed upon services may materially and adversely impact our ability to perform our obligations as the prime contractor. A delay in our ability to obtain components and equipment parts from our suppliers may affect our ability to meet our customers' needs and may have a material adverse effect upon our profitability.

General Risks

The market price of our common stock has been, and may in the future continue to be, volatile.

The market price of our common stock has been volatile in the past and may become volatile again in the future. The closing prices of our common stock on Nasdaq during fiscal 2025 ranged from $15.95 to $45.78 per share. The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly for many reasons, including: fluctuations in our quarterly operating results; reasons unrelated to our operations, such as reports by industry analysts, investor perceptions or negative announcements by our customers, competitors or suppliers regarding their own performance; general stock market and industry conditions; general financial, economic and political instability; and in response to the risks described in this Item 1A, Risk Factors, and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The volatility in the market price of our common stock may make it difficult for you to resell your shares of our common stock when desired or at attractive prices.

In addition, our quarterly operating results are likely to fluctuate in the future While we believe that operating results for any particular quarter are not necessarily a meaningful indication of future results, fluctuations in our quarterly operating results could limit or prevent investors from readily selling their shares and may otherwise negatively affect the market price and liquidity of our shares.

Adverse changes in global economic conditions may negatively affect our industry, business, and results of operations.

Our industry is affected by changes in economic conditions outside our control, which can result in a general decrease in product demand from our customers. Such economic developments, like inflationary pressures in the U.S. and elsewhere, the China trade wars, the war between Russia and Ukraine may affect our business in a number of ways. Reduced demand may drive us and our competitors to offer products at promotional prices, which would have a negative impact on our profitability. In addition, the tightening of credit in financial markets may adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations and could result in a decrease in, or cancellation of, orders for our products. If demand for our products slows down or decreases, we will not be able to maintain our revenue and we may run the risk of failing to satisfy the financial and other restrictive covenants to which we are subject under our existing indebtedness. Reduced revenue as a result of decreased demand may also reduce our planned growth and otherwise hinder our ability to improve our performance in connection with our long-term business strategy.

Climate change, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change, may materially adversely affect our financial condition and business operations.

Climate change resulting from increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could present risks to our future operations from natural disasters and extreme weather conditions, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires, droughts or flooding. Such extreme weather conditions could pose physical risks to our facilities and disrupt operation of our supply chain and may impact operational costs. The impacts of climate change on global water resources may result in water scarcity, which could in the future impact our ability to access sufficient quantities of water in certain locations and result in increased costs. Furthermore, the potential physical impacts of climate change on our customers, and therefore on our operations, are speculative and highly uncertain, and would be particular to the circumstances developing in various geographical regions.

Concern over climate change may result in new legal or regulatory requirements designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. For example, the European Union (“EU”) recently adopted the European Sustainability Reporting Standards and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) that may require robust disclosure of certain social and environmental information and data. However, the European Commission has also proposed an “Omnibus simplification package” aimed at simplifying sustainability regulatory requirements, which may introduce changes to regulations such as the CSRD (among possible other EU sustainability-related regulations). It is currently unclear to what extent any such changes will be implemented, and the extent to which these changes could impact Columbus McKinnon. We are evaluating and will continue to evaluate the applicability of the CSRD as regulatory guidance is issued and as the European countries in which we operate adopt implementing legislation, and we will establish a compliance program to address any applicable requirements. Further, our customers and the markets we serve may impose emissions reduction or other environmental standards and requirements. These requirements could result in a need to change our manufacturing processes or product offerings, or undertake other activities which may require us to incur additional expense. In addition, we may experience increased compliance burdens and operational costs and raw material sourcing, manufacturing operations and the distribution of our products may be adversely affected. Moreover, we may not be able to timely meet these requirements due to the required level of capital investment or technological advancement. While we have been committed to continuous improvements to meet anticipated regulations and preferences, there can be no assurance that our commitments will be successful, that our products will be accepted by the market, that proposed regulations will not have a negative competitive impact or that economic returns will reflect our investments in new product development. There also continues to be a lack of consistent climate legislation, which creates economic and regulatory uncertainty. These factors may impact the demand for our products, obsolescence of certain products and adversely affect our results of operations. A failure, or perceived failure, to respond to investor or customer expectations related to ESG concerns in areas such as climate change and supply chain management could materially adversely affect our business and reputation.

Our business operations may be adversely affected by information technology systems interruptions or intrusion.

We depend on various information technology systems throughout the Company to administer, store, and support multiple business activities, including to process the data we collect, store and use in connection with our business. If these systems are damaged, cease to function properly, or are subject to cyber-security attacks, such as those involving unauthorized access, malicious software and/or other intrusions, and if our systems for protecting against such cybersecurity attacks prove insufficient, we could experience production downtimes, operational delays, other detrimental impacts on our operations or ability to provide products and services to our customers, the compromising of confidential or otherwise protected information, destruction or corruption of data, security breaches, other manipulation or improper use of our systems or networks, financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business or potential liability, litigation, including individual claims, consumer class actions and commercial litigation; regulatory intervention and sanctions or fines; and prolonged negative publicity and/or damage to our reputation. Our information technology systems may be damaged or cease to function properly due to any number of causes, such as catastrophic events, power outages and security breaches (including destructive malware such as ransomware) resulting in unauthorized access or cyber-security attacks. As the breadth and complexity of our information technology systems continue to grow, including as a result of the increasing reliance on, and use of, mobile technologies and cloud-based services, the risk of security incidents and cyber-security attacks has increased. While we attempt to mitigate these risks by employing a number of measures, including employee training, technical security controls, and maintenance of backup and protective systems, our systems, networks, products, and services remain potentially vulnerable to known or unknown cybersecurity threats, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. Furthermore, cybersecurity threats are constantly expanding and evolving and becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex, including attacks from highly organized adversaries such as nation state actors and attacks using emerging technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence, which create more targeted and sophisticated phishing narratives or otherwise strengthen social engineering capabilities. These new risks increase the costs associated with our cyber-security defense measures and procedures and increasing the difficulty of detecting and defending against them and maintaining effective security measures and protocols. Further, third-party providers we utilize may incorporate generative artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies into their operations, and these tools may not meet existing or rapidly evolving regulatory or industry standards with respect to privacy and data protection, and it is possible that these providers may suffer a cyber-security attack that negatively impacts us.

We are also subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the U.S., Europe and around the world, as well as contractual obligations, regarding data privacy, security and protection. For example, in 2023, the SEC adopted new cybersecurity rules requiring disclosure of material cybersecurity incidents and processes assessing, identifying, and managing material cybersecurity risks and the corporate governance structure designed to address such risks. These laws and regulations continue to evolve, are increasing in complexity and number and increasingly conflict among the various countries in which we operate, which has resulted in greater compliance risk for us. In addition, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, such data privacy laws and regulations, including those of the EU and the UK which are, in some respects, more stringent than U.S. standards, could be significant. Any failure or perceived failure by us, or any third parties with which we do business, to comply with our posted privacy policies, changing consumer expectations, evolving laws, rules and regulations, industry standards, or contractual obligations to which we or such third parties are or may become subject, may result in actions or other claims against us by governmental entities or private actors, the expenditure of substantial costs, time and other resources or the incurrence of significant fines, penalties or other liabilities. In addition, any such action, particularly to the extent we were found to be guilty of violations or otherwise liable for damages, could damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our liability insurance, which includes cyber insurance, might not be sufficient in type or amount to cover us against claims related to security incidents, cyber-security attacks and other related incidents.

We operate in many different jurisdictions, and we could be adversely affected by violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and similar worldwide anti-corruption laws generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our internal policies mandate compliance with these anti-corruption laws, and we incur meaningful costs complying with these laws. We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced corruption to some degree, and in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-corruption laws may conflict with local customs and practices. Despite our training and compliance programs, we cannot assure you that our internal control policies and procedures always will protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. In the event that we believe or have reason to believe that our employees or agents have or may have violated applicable anti-corruption laws, including the FCPA, we may be required to investigate or have outside counsel investigate the relevant facts and circumstances. In addition, we are subject to and must comply with all applicable export controls and economic sanctions laws and embargoes imposed by the U.S. and certain other governments. Changes in export control or trade sanctions laws may restrict our business practices, including cessation of business activities in sanctioned countries or with sanctioned entities, and may result in modifications to compliance programs and increase compliance costs, and violations of these laws or regulations may subject us to fines, penalties and other sanctions, such as loss of authorizations needed to conduct aspects of our international business or debarments from export privileges. Violations of the FCPA or export controls or sanctions laws and regulations may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions, and we may be subject to other liabilities, which could negatively affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. Our continued expansion outside the U.S., including in developing countries, could increase these risks in the future.

We depend on our management team and the loss of any member could adversely affect our operations.

Our success is dependent on the management and leadership skills of our management team, including our senior team. The loss of any of these individuals or an inability to attract, retain, and maintain additional personnel could prevent us from implementing our business strategy. We cannot assure you that we will be able to retain our existing management personnel or to attract additional qualified personnel when needed.

Risk Management and Strategy

In connection with our enterprise risk management process, we identify, prioritize, monitor and seek to ameliorate key risks that may affect the Company, including risks from or relating to cyber threats. We have enterprise-wide security policies, standards and controls that seek to incorporate best practices in security engineering, technology architecture and data protection. Our policies and controls include security measures designed to protect our systems against unauthorized access. We also maintain cybersecurity protection measures with respect to our information technology systems, including with respect to the protection of our customer data, vendor data and employee information. We have also implemented specialized training and education programs to seek to guard against cybersecurity events, such as enterprise-wide communications, presentations, phishing simulations and focused training for specific roles, as well as a general cybersecurity training program required for all employees. We also engage third parties to perform regular reviews of our security framework controls to promote objectivity. Our processes to identify, assess and manage material risks relating to cyber threats include risks associated with third party service providers, including cloud-based platforms. We believe that these policies and controls provide us with an appropriate comprehensive assessment of potential cyber threats.

The sophistication of cybersecurity threats, including through the use of artificial intelligence, continues to increase, and while additional measures are continually deployed to mitigate risks and protect our systems, the risk of a breach continues to increase. To address this increased risk we are continually enhancing our Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity capabilities enabling system and data recovery and reducing the overall length our systems would be unavailable for normal operations.

To date, risks from cybersecurity threats have not materially affected the Company, and we do not believe these threats are reasonably likely to materially affect the Company, including its business strategy, financial condition or results of operations. However, the risks from cybersecurity threats and incidents continues to increase, and the preventative actions we have taken and continue to take to reduce the risk of cybersecurity threats and incidents may not successfully protect our systems against all such threats and incidents. Refer to Item 1A – Risk Factors under the heading “Our business operations may be adversely affected by information technology systems interruptions or intrusion" for additional information.

Governance

Our cybersecurity program is overseen by a cross-functional committee of senior business leaders and is led by our Senior Vice President of Information Services and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). This management committee meets regularly and is charged with overseeing our cybersecurity strategy, seeking to ensure that cyber risks relating to the Company and its operations are managed, and that the program is aligned with the Company's business goals and objectives. The CDO has a formal education in information technology as well as extensive experience working in the Company’s information and technology function; and receives periodic training and education on cybersecurity-related topics.

The Board of Directors has delegated to the Audit Committee to assist the Board of Directors in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities on cybersecurity matters. The Audit Committee oversees a number of the Company’s risk management practices, including those relating to cybersecurity risks. Our CDO provides updates on cybersecurity risks, threats, key developments in Company policies and practices, and related risk exposures to the Audit Committee regularly. A member of the Audit Committee will then brief the full Board of Directors on items discussed within the Audit Committee, including cybersecurity risks and related matters. Additionally, management provides an update to the full Board of Directors on cybersecurity matters at least once a year, and more often as needed. The Board of Directors annually reviews and approves the capital and operating budgets, ultimately reviewing and approving the amount spent by the Company on cybersecurity measures.

We maintain our corporate headquarters in Charlotte, NC (a leased property) and, as of March 31, 2025, conducted our principal manufacturing at the following facilities:

In addition, we have a total of 43 sales offices, distribution centers, and warehouses. We believe that our properties have been adequately maintained, are in generally good condition and are suitable for our business as presently conducted. We also believe our existing facilities provide sufficient production capacity for our present needs and for our anticipated needs in the foreseeable future. Upon the expiration of our current leases, we believe that either we will be able to secure renewal terms or enter into leases for alternative locations at market terms.

From time to time, we are named a defendant in legal actions arising out of the normal course of business. We are not a party to any pending legal proceeding other than ordinary, routine litigation incidental to our business. In April 2024, a trial involving a product liability claim against us resulted in a jury verdict of approximately $3,000,000 in damages. We, along with our attorneys, believe that we will be successful in reversing this verdict and that payment of the damages is not probable. As such we have not accrued for these damages at March 31, 2025. In addition, we do not believe that any of our current pending litigation will have a material impact on our business. We maintain comprehensive general product liability insurance against risks arising out of the use of our products sold to customers through our wholly owned New York State captive insurance subsidiary of which we are the sole policy holder. The per occurrence limits on the self-insurance for general and product liability coverage were $2,000,000 from inception through fiscal 2003 and $3,000,000 for fiscal 2004 and thereafter. In addition to the per occurrence limits, our coverage is also subject to an annual aggregate limit, applicable to losses only. These limits range from $2,000,000 to $6,000,000 for each policy year from inception through fiscal 2025. In addition, we carry excess liability insurance coverage from independent insurers to cover potential losses.

Like many industrial manufacturers, we are also involved in asbestos-related litigation. In continually evaluating costs relating to our estimated asbestos-related liability, we review, among other things, the incidence of past and recent claims, the historical case dismissal rate, the mix of the claimed illnesses and occupations of the plaintiffs, our recent and historical resolution of the cases, the number of cases pending against us, the status and results of broad-based settlement discussions, and the number of years such activity might continue. Because this liability is likely to extend over many years, management believes that the potential additional costs for claims will not have a material effect on the financial condition of the Company or its liquidity, although the effect of any future liabilities recorded could be material to earnings in a future period.

See Note 16 to our March 31, 2025 consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K for more information on our matters involving litigation.

This section should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data of this Form 10-K.

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

Columbus McKinnon Corporation ("Columbus McKinnon" or the "Company") is a leading worldwide designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. Key products include hoists, crane components, precision conveyor systems, rigging tools, light rail workstations and digital power and motion control systems. These are highly relevant, professional-grade solutions that solve our customers’ critical material handling requirements.

Founded in 1875, we have grown to our current size and leadership position through organic growth and acquisitions. We developed our leading market position over our 150-year history by emphasizing technological innovation, manufacturing excellence and superior customer service. In accordance with our strategic framework, we are building out our business system ("CMBS") and growth framework to be market-led, customer-centric, and operationally excellent with our people and values at the core. We believe this will transform Columbus McKinnon into a top-tier intelligent motion solutions company. We expect our strategy will enhance shareholder value by growing sales and expanding EBITDA margins.

Our revenue base is geographically diverse with approximately 44% derived from customers outside the U.S. for the year ended March 31, 2025. We believe this diversity balances the impact of changes that occur in local economies, as well as benefits the Company by providing access to growing emerging markets. We monitor both U.S. and Eurozone Industrial Capacity Utilization statistics as well as the ISM Production Index as indicators of anticipated demand for our products. In addition, we continue to monitor the potential impact of other global and U.S. trends including, industrial production, trade tariffs, raw material cost inflation, interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, and activity of end-user markets around the globe.

From a strategic perspective, we are investing in new products and channels as we focus on our greatest opportunities for growth. We have leading market positions in hoists, lifting and sling chain, forged attachments, actuators, precision conveyors and digital power and motion control systems for the material handling industry. We are focusing our sales and marketing activities toward select North American and global market sectors including general industrial, energy, automotive, heavy OEM, entertainment, construction and infrastructure, life sciences food and beverage, e-commerce and consumer products.

On May 31, 2023, the Company completed its acquisition of montratec GmbH ("montratec"), a leading automation solutions company that designs and develops intelligent automation and transport systems for interlinking industrial production and logistics processes. montratec product offerings compliment the previous acquisitions of both Dorner and Garvey, and these acquisitions are collectively expected to accelerate the Company’s shift to intelligent motion solutions and serve as a platform to expand capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.

Regardless of the economic climate and point in the economic cycle, we constantly explore ways to increase operating margins as well as further improve our productivity and competitiveness. We have specific initiatives to reduce lead-times, improve on-time deliveries, reduce warranty costs, and improve material and factory productivity. The initiatives are being driven by the implementation of our business operating system, CMBS. We are working to achieve these strategic initiatives through business simplification, operational excellence, and profitable growth initiatives. We believe these initiatives will enhance future operating margins.

Our principal raw materials and components purchases were approximately $375 million in fiscal 2025 (or 59% of Cost of product sold) and include steel, consisting of rod, wire, bar, structural, and other forms of steel; electric motors; bearings; gear reducers; castings; steel and aluminum enclosures and wire harnesses; electro-mechanical components; and standard variable drives and controls. These commodities are all available from multiple sources. We purchase most of these raw materials and components from a limited number of strategic and preferred suppliers under agreements which are negotiated on a company-wide basis through our global purchasing group. Currently, as a result of global inflation and tariffs, we are experiencing higher raw material costs and availability issues for select raw materials and components. To date, we have raised prices to our customers to cover these increased raw material costs and are working with our supply base to prioritize shipments and improve availability of key components.

We operate in a highly competitive and global business environment. We see a variety of opportunities in our markets and geographies, including trends toward automation and increasing labor productivity and the expansion of market opportunities in

Asia and other emerging markets. While we execute our long-term growth strategy, we are supported by our strong free cash flow as well as our liquidity position and flexible debt structure.

On February 10, 2025, the Company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kito. The Kito Acquisition closing is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approval as required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”) and other customary closing conditions described in the stock purchase agreement entered into by the Company and Kito in connection with the Kito Acquisition. The Kito Acquisition is expected to meaningfully improve the Company's scale, enhance our collective geographic reach, significantly expand our lifting securement and consumables portfolio and enhance our customer value proposition.

With global engineering, manufacturing, distribution, and operations, Kito provides a broad range of products and solutions for the most demanding applications. Kito’s people, products, solutions, and service have innovated the lifting and securement industry throughout its long history. Kito's iconic brands include Kito, Crosby, Harrington, Gunnebo Industries, and Peerless. We expect that the Kito Acquisition will strengthen our core lifting business and further the Company's position as a leading worldwide, designer, manufacturer and marketer of intelligent motion solutions that move the world forward and improve lives by efficiently and ergonomically moving, lifting, positioning and securing materials. The Company anticipates the Kito Acquisition to close during fiscal 2026.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion is a comparison between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024 results. For a discussion of our results of operations for fiscal 2024 compared to fiscal 2023, please refer to Item 7 of Part II, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, which was filed with the SEC on May 29, 2024.

Fiscal 2025 Compared to Fiscal 2024

Fiscal 2025 sales were $963,027,000, a decrease of 5.0%, or $50,513,000 compared with fiscal 2024 sales of $1,013,540,000. Fiscal 2025 sales were positively impacted by price increases of $12,548,000 as well as $2,655,000 of incremental sales from the montratec acquisition. Offsetting these increases were lower sales volume of $60,238,000. The translation of foreign currency had an unfavorable impact of $5,478,000.

Gross profit was $325,680,000 and $374,838,000 or 33.8% and 37.0% of net sales in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. The fiscal 2025 decrease in gross profit was $49,158,000 or 13.1%. The decrease in gross profit was due to start-up costs totaling $6,919,000 related to the Monterrey, Mexico facility, $15,178,000 of costs incurred to close our Charlotte Manufacturing Operations and two of our Precision Conveyance operations which includes employee severance costs and asset-related impairments, $33,007,000 due to lower sales volumes, $1,999,000 due to higher product liability expenses, $648,000 of net business realignment costs, and $171,000 of additional costs due to Hurricane Helene's impact on one of our facilities. These decreases were offset by $9,456,000 of price increases net of material inflation and other manufacturing costs changes and $799,000 as a result of the acquisition of montratec. The translation of foreign currencies had a $1,491,000 unfavorable impact on gross profit for the year ended March 31, 2025.

Selling expenses were $110,043,000 and $105,341,000, or 11.4% and 10.4% of net sales in fiscal years 2025 and 2024, respectively. Selling expenses increased by $909,000 as a result of the montratec acquisition, $929,000 for net business realignment costs, $891,000 for net factory and warehouse consolidation cost and $802,000 primarily related to trade show and travel costs including the Company's strategic partner conference that was not held in the prior year. The remaining increase is due to higher employee related costs during the year ended March 31, 2025. Foreign currency translation had a $769,000 favorable impact on selling expenses in the year ended March 31, 2025

General and administrative expenses were $107,249,000 and $106,760,000 or 11.1% and 10.5% of net sales in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. The increase includes $7,803,000 of net deal and integration costs primarily attributable to the Kito Acquisition and $1,299,000 of expense to record a reserve against an accounts receivable balance for a customer who declared bankruptcy in January 2025. These increases were offset by lower employee related costs of $2,485,000 including lower incentive-based compensation. Additionally, the Company had lower stock based compensation costs of $4,903,000 compared to the prior year and lower net headquarter relocation expenses of $1,686,000. Foreign currency translation had a $841,000 favorable impact on general and administrative expenses for the year ended March 31, 2025.

Research and development expenses were $23,869,000 and $26,193,000 in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. As a percentage of consolidated net sales, research and development expenses were 2.5% and 2.6% in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Amortization of intangibles were $29,946,000 and $29,396,000 in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively, with fluctuation attributable to foreign currency translation.

Interest and debt expense was $32,426,000 and $37,957,000 in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. The decrease is a result of a reduction in the Company's long term debt as a result of accelerated principal payments and lower interest rates.

Investment income of $1,302,000 and $1,759,000, in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively, related to earnings on marketable securities held in the Company’s wholly owned captive insurance subsidiary and the Company's equity method investment in EMC, described in Note 7 to our March 31, 2025 consolidated financial statements.

Other expense was $25,775,000 and $7,597,000 in fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024, respectively. The increase primarily relates to the non-cash settlement charge of $23,634,000 associated with the termination of one of the Company's U.S. pension plans in current year ending March 31, 2025 described in Note 13 of the financial statements.

Income tax expense as a percentage of income from continuing operations before income tax expense was 6.7% and 24.2% in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. Typically these percentages vary from the U.S. statutory rate of 21% due to varying effective tax rates at the Company's foreign subsidiaries and the jurisdictional mix of income for these subsidiaries.

In fiscal 2025, the tax effect of the pension termination described in Note 13 reduced the effective tax rate by 17 percentage points.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled $53,933,000 and $114,376,000, at March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Liquidity

Our primary sources of liquidity are funds generated by operating activities and available capacity for borrowings on our $175.0 million revolving credit facility (“Revolver”) maturing May 14, 2026 and our secured asset-based revolving credit facility (“AR Securitization”) maturing June 19, 2026. Our ability to fund our operations, to make planned capital investments, to make scheduled debt payments and to repay or refinance indebtedness depends on our future operating performance and cash flows, which are subject to prevailing economic conditions and financial, business, and other factors, some of which are beyond our control. Our liquidity as of March 31, 2025 was $240,155,000 comprising cash and cash equivalents of $53,683,000 and $159,583,000 of availability on the Revolver and $26,889,000 of availability on the AR Securitization. We believe that our current resources, together with anticipated cash flows from operations and borrowing capacity under the Revolver and AR Securitization facilities, will be sufficient to finance our operations, meet our current cash requirements, and fund anticipated capital investments for at least the next 12 months. We may, however, seek additional financing to fund future growth or refinance our existing indebtedness through the debt capital markets, but we cannot be assured that such financing will be available on favorable terms, or at all.

Cash flow from operating activities

Net cash provided by operating activities was $45,612,000 and $67,198,000 in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. In fiscal 2025, the net loss of $5,138,000 and non-cash adjustments to net loss of $75,503,000 contributed to cash provided by operations. The non-cash adjustments included $48,187,000 of depreciation and amortization, $23,634,000 related to the settlement of one of the Company's pension plans, $10,105,000 of non-cash lease expense, $6,256,000 of stock-based compensation, and $3,911,000 related to the impairment of Charlotte Manufacturing Operation's and two Precision Conveyance leases (refer to Note 3) offset by $20,256,000 of deferred income taxes and related valuation allowance. Changes in working capital reduced cash from operations by $18,664,000 as a result of an increase in prepaid expenses and other current assets of $20,998,000, and an increase of $13,042,000 in inventories, offset by an increase of trade payables of $11,144,000 and a decrease in trade accounts receivable of $4,482,000. Cash provided by operations also included a decrease of $9,587,000 in other non-current liabilities primarily due to lease payments for fiscal 2025.

Cash flow from investing activities

Net cash used for investing activities was $19,891,000 and $133,364,000 in fiscal 2025 and 2024, respectively. The use of cash in fiscal 2025 primarily consisted of $21,411,000 in capital expenditures. The most significant use of cash in fiscal 2024 related to the Company's purchase of montratec for $108,145,000.

Cash flow from financing activities

Net cash used for financing activities was $86,747,000 in fiscal 2025 compared to net cash provided by financing activities of $48,201,000 in fiscal 2024. The most significant uses of cash were for $60,670,000 in debt repayments, $10,000,000 of shares repurchased as treasury stock during the year, a $6,711,000 payment to the former owners of montratec for the contingent consideration agreement (refer to Note 3 for additional information) and $8,042,000 in dividend payments Associated cash flows from hedging activities are classified as financing activities in the Statement of Cash Flows, which resulted in a net cash inflow of $474,000.

We believe that our cash on hand, cash flows, and borrowing capacity under our Amended and Restated Credit Agreement will be sufficient to fund our ongoing operations and debt obligations, and capital expenditures for at least the next twelve months. This belief is dependent upon successful execution of our current business plan and effective working capital utilization. No material restrictions exist in accessing cash held by our non-U.S. subsidiaries. We expect to meet our funding needs with cash provided by our U.S. operations, as well as by repatriating non-U.S. cash. We do not expect to incur significant incremental U.S. taxes as we repatriate funds. As of March 31, 2025, $38,689,000 of cash and cash equivalents were held by foreign subsidiaries.

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES

In addition to keeping our current equipment and plants properly maintained, we are committed to replacing, enhancing and upgrading our property, plant and equipment to support new product development, improve productivity and customer responsiveness, reduce production costs, increase flexibility to respond effectively to market fluctuations and changes, meet environmental requirements, enhance safety and promote ergonomically correct work stations. Our capital expenditures for fiscal 2025 and 2024 were $21,411,000 and $24,813,000, respectively. Excluded from capital expenditures is $318,000 and $690,000, in property, plant and equipment purchases included in accounts payable at March 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. We expect capital expenditure spending in fiscal 2026 to range from $20,000,000 to $30,000,000.

INFLATION AND OTHER MARKET CONDITIONS

Our costs are affected by inflation in the U.S. economy and, to a lesser extent, in non-U.S. economies including those of Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Asia-Pacific. We do not believe that general inflation has had a material effect on our results of operations over the periods presented despite rising inflation due to our ability to pass on rising costs through price increases. We are currently experiencing higher raw material, freight, and logistics costs than we have seen in recent years, which we have been able to recover with pricing actions. In the future, we may not be able to pass on these cost increases to our customers.

SEASONALITY AND QUARTERLY RESULTS

Quarterly results may be materially affected by the timing of large customer orders, periods of high vacation and holiday concentrations, legal settlements, gains or losses in our portfolio of marketable securities, restructuring charges, favorable or unfavorable foreign currency translation, divestitures and acquisitions. Therefore, the operating results for any particular fiscal quarter are not necessarily indicative of results for any subsequent fiscal quarter or for the full fiscal year.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We continually evaluate the estimates and their underlying assumptions, which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of our assets and liabilities. Actual results inevitably will differ from those estimates. If interpreted differently under different conditions or circumstances, changes in our estimates could result in material changes to our reported results. We have identified below the accounting policies involving estimates that are critical to our financial statements. Other accounting policies are more fully described in Note 2 of our consolidated financial statements.

Insurance Reserves. Our accrued general and product liability reserves as described in Note 16 to consolidated financial statements involve actuarial techniques including the methods selected to estimate ultimate claims, and assumptions including emergence patterns, payment patterns, initial expected losses, and increased limit factors. These actuarial estimates are subject to a high degree of uncertainty due to a variety of factors, including extended lag time in the reporting and resolution of claims, trends or changes in claim settlement patterns, insurance industry practices, and legal interpretations. Changes to these estimates could result in material changes to the amount of expense and liabilities recorded in our financial statements. Further, actual costs could differ significantly from the estimated amounts. Adjustments to estimated reserves are recorded in the period in which the change in estimate occurs. Other insurance reserves such as workers compensation and group health insurance are based on actual historical and current claim data provided by third party administrators or internally maintained.

Goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment testing. Our goodwill balance of $710,807,000 as of March 31, 2025, is subject to impairment testing. We test goodwill for impairment at least annually, as of the end of February, and more frequently whenever events occur or circumstances change that indicate there may be impairment. These events or circumstances could include a significant long-term adverse change in the business climate, poor indicators of operating performance, or a sale or disposition of a significant portion of a reporting unit.

We test goodwill at the reporting unit level, which is one level below our operating segment. We identify our reporting units by assessing whether the components of our operating segment constitute businesses for which discrete financial information is available and segment management regularly reviews the operating results of those components. We also aggregate components that have similar economic characteristics into single reporting units (for example, similar products and / or services, similar long-term financial results, product processes, classes of customers, or in circumstances where the components share assets or other resources and have other economic interdependencies). We have three reporting units, Linear Motion Products (formerly referred to as Duff-Norton), Rest of Products and Precision Conveyance, and have goodwill totaling $9,699,000, $305,110,000, and $395,998,000, respectively, at March 31, 2025. montratec, which was acquired in fiscal 2024, has been included in the Precision Conveyance reporting unit.

Annual Goodwill Impairment Test

When we evaluate the potential for goodwill impairment, we assess a range of qualitative factors including, but not limited to, macroeconomic conditions, industry conditions, the competitive environment, changes in the market for our products and services, regulatory and political developments, entity specific factors such as strategy, and changes in key personnel and overall financial performance. If, after completing this assessment, it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value, we proceed to a quantitative impairment test. We also proceed to the quantitative model when economic or other business factors indicate that the fair value of our reporting units may have declined since our last quantitative impairment test. We performed the qualitative assessment as of February 28, 2025 and determined the quantitative test should be performed for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit as the businesses in this reporting unit were recently acquired resulting in a relatively small difference between the reporting unit's book and fair value. We performed sensitivities and other analysis and determined that goodwill is not impaired as of March 31, 2025 for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit.

The qualitative assessment as of February 28, 2025 for the Rest of Products and Linear Motion Products reporting units determined it was not more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting units were less than their applicable carrying value. Accordingly, we did not perform the quantitative goodwill impairment test for the Rest of Products and Linear Motion Products reporting units during fiscal 2025.

Quantitative Test for the Precision Conveyance Group

In order to perform the quantitative impairment test for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit, we used the discounted cash flow method to estimate fair value. The discounted cash flow method incorporates various assumptions, the most significant being projected revenue growth rates, EBITDA margins and cash flows based on internal forecasts, and the discount rate (weighted-average cost of capital). Management projects discounted cash flows based on the reporting unit's current business, expected developments and operational strategies over a seven-year period. In estimating the terminal growth rate, we consider our historical and projected results, as well as the economic environment in which the reporting unit operates. The discount rate utilized for the reporting unit reflects management’s assumptions of marketplace participants’ cost of capital and risk assumptions, both specific to the reporting unit and overall in the economy.

Testing goodwill for impairment under the quantitative method described above requires us to estimate fair value of the reporting unit using significant estimates and judgmental factors. The compound annual growth rate for revenue during the first seven years of our projections was approximately 9.7% for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit. This reflects the higher expected growth rates on our precision conveyor business compared to our other businesses. The terminal value was calculated assuming a projected growth rate of 3.5% after seven years. This rate reflects our estimate of long-term growth into perpetuity in the precision conveyance vertical market and as well as expected increases in the consumer price index. The estimated discount rate was determined to be 12.0% for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit. This was estimated based upon an analysis of similar companies and their debt to equity mix, their related volatility and the size of their market capitalization. We also consider any additional risk of the Precision Conveyance reporting unit achieving its forecast, and adjust the discount rate applied when determining the reporting unit’s estimated fair value. The quantitative test results indicate that the Precision Conveyance reporting unit is not impaired as its fair value exceeds its book value by 2.6%.

Holding all other assumptions constant, a reduction in the compound annual growth rate for revenue in the first seven years of the model by one percentage point would reduce fair value by $42,700,000. Similarly, a 50 basis increase in the discount rate would reduce fair value by $35,600,000 and a 25 basis point reduction in the terminal growth rate would reduce fair value by $15,386,000. While the Precision Conveyance reporting unit was not determined to be impaired, it may be at risk of future impairment if the related business does not perform as projected, or if market factors utilized in the impairment analysis deteriorate, including an unfavorable change in the discount rate. We will monitor the Precision Conveyance reporting unit's performance against its forecasts in fiscal 2026 as part of our quarterly analysis of impairment indicators.

We further test our indefinite-lived intangible asset balance of $46,294,000 consisting of trademarks for acquisitions prior to fiscal 2025. Similar to goodwill, we first assess various qualitative factors in the analysis. If, after completing this assessment, it is determined that it is more likely than not that the fair value of an indefinite-lived intangible asset is less than its carrying value, we proceed to a quantitative impairment test. We performed the qualitative assessment as of February 28, 2025 and determined that it was not more likely than not that the fair value of each of our indefinite-lived intangible assets was less than its applicable carrying value.

Effects of New Accounting Pronouncements

Information regarding the effects of new accounting pronouncements is included in Note 21 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements included in Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, of this Form 10-K.

Market risk is the potential loss arising from adverse changes in market rates and prices, such as interest rates. We are exposed to various market risks, including commodity prices for raw materials, foreign currency exchange rates, and changes in interest rates. We may enter into financial instrument transactions, which attempt to manage and reduce the impact of such changes. We do not enter into derivatives or other financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Commodity Price Risk

Our costs are affected by inflation in the U.S. economy and, to a lesser extent, in non-U.S. economies including those of Europe, Canada, Mexico, South America, and Asia-Pacific. Generally, as we experience fluctuations in our costs, we reflect these increases in costs as price increases to our customers with the goal of being margin neutral. We are currently experiencing higher raw material, freight, and logistics costs than we have seen in recent years, which we have been able to recover with pricing actions. Further, increases in U.S. employee benefits costs such as health insurance and workers compensation insurance have exceeded general inflation levels. In the future, we may be further affected by inflation that we may not be able to pass these increased costs on as price increases to our customers. However, we have been successful in the past, and we expect to be successful in the future, in instituting price increases to pass on these material cost increases. The Company is exposed to trade tariffs, and particularly those recently enacted by the current presidential administration. The Company monitors the impact of tariffs and actively works to mitigate this impact through material productivity actions and pricing strategies, including tariff surcharges.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

In fiscal 2025, 44% of our net sales were from manufacturing plants and sales offices in foreign jurisdictions. We manufacture our products in the United States, China, Germany, United Kingdom, Hungary, Mexico, and Malaysia and sell our products in over 100 countries. Our results of operations could be affected by factors such as changes in foreign currency rates or weak economic conditions in foreign markets. With our fiscal year 2017 acquisition of STAHL, we have an increased presence in the United Arab Emirates, with total assets of approximately $8,201,000. Our operating results are exposed to fluctuations between the U.S. Dollar and the Canadian Dollar, European currencies, the South African Rand, the Mexican Peso, the Brazilian Real, and the Chinese Yuan. For example, when the U.S. dollar weakens against the Euro, the value of our net sales and net income denominated in Euros increases when translated into U.S. dollars for inclusion in our consolidated results. We are also exposed to foreign currency fluctuations in relation to purchases denominated in foreign currencies. Our foreign currency risk is mitigated since the majority of our foreign operations’ net sales and the related expense transactions are denominated in the same currency, which reduces the impact of a significant change in foreign exchange rates on net income. For example, a 10% change in the value of the U.S. dollar in relation to our most significant foreign currency exposures would have had an impact of approximately $2,407,000 on our income from operations. In addition, the majority of our export sale transactions are denominated in U.S. dollars.

The Company has a cross currency swap agreement that is designated as a cash flow hedge to hedge changes in the value of an intercompany loan to a foreign subsidiary due to changes in foreign exchange rates. This intercompany loan is related to the acquisition of STAHL. As of March 31, 2025, the notional amount of this derivative was $72,040,000, and the contract matures on March 31, 2028. From its March 31, 2025 balance of accumulated other comprehensive gain (loss) "AOCL", the Company expects to reclassify approximately $36,000 out of AOCL, and into foreign currency exchange loss (gain), during the next 12 months based on the contractual payments due under this intercompany loan.

The Company has foreign currency forward agreements that are designated as cash flow hedges to hedge a portion of forecasted inventory purchases denominated in foreign currencies. As of March 31, 2025, the notional amount of these derivatives was $36,528,000, and all contracts mature by December 31, 2025. From its March 31, 2025 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $27,000 out of AOCL during the next 12 months based on the expected sales of the goods purchased.

Interest Rate Risk

We are subject to interest rate risk in connection with the Term Loan B and the AR Securitization Facility and Revolving Credit Facility. As of March 31, 2025, we had $437.6 million outstanding under the Term Loan B, $25.0 million outstanding on the AR Securitization Facility and no amounts outstanding under the Revolving Credit Facility. The Term Loan, AR Securitization Facility and the Revolving Credit Facility each bear interest at variable rates.

The Company has entered into interest rate swap agreements which are designated as cash flow hedges to hedge changes in interest expense due to changes in the interest rate of the Company's variable interest rate debt. The Company has five interest rate swap agreements outstanding in which it receives interest at a variable rate and pays interest at a fixed rate. The interest rate swaps have varying maturity dates between March 31, 2027 and March 23, 2029 with an aggregate notional amount of $355,000,000 as of March 31, 2025.

The effective portion of the changes in fair values of the interest rate swaps is reported in AOCL and will be reclassified to interest expense over the life of the swap agreements. From its March 31, 2025 balance of AOCL, the Company expects to reclassify approximately $376,000 out of AOCL, and into interest expense, during the next 12 months.

An increase of 100 basis points in the variable rates on the Term Loan B, AR Securitization and the Revolving Credit Facility as of March 31, 2025 would have increased annual cash interest in the aggregate by approximately $1.1 million. We cannot predict market fluctuations in interest rates and their impact on our debt, nor can there be any assurance that long-term fixed-rate debt will be available at favorable rates, if at all. Consequently, future results may differ materially from estimated results due to adverse changes in interest rates.

Management’s Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of March 31, 2025, an evaluation was performed under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including the Chief Executive Officer (our principal executive officer) and Chief Financial Officer (our principal financial officer), of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act). Based on that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of March 31, 2025 to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control--Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (COSO). Based on that evaluation, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of March 31, 2025.

The effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2025 has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which is included herein.

Our management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, does not expect that our disclosure controls or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all error and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. The design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of controls effectiveness to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There have been no changes in internal control over financial reporting during the three months ended March 31, 2025 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of Columbus McKinnon Corporation

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited Columbus McKinnon Corporation’s (the Company) internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2025, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of March 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, shareholders' equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended March 31, 2025, and the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(2) and our report dated May 21, 025 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Charlotte, North Carolina

May 28, 2025