Magnera achieves $839 million in fourth quarter sales, projects 9% earnings growth for 2026 amid cautious market outlook

OPERATOR - (00:00:25)

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the McNaira fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press Star one one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message device and your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press Star one one again. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Robert Wildminster. Please go ahead.

Robert Wildminster - (00:00:54)

Thank you Operator and thank you everyone for joining McNaira's fourth fiscal quarter 2025 earnings call. Joining me, I have McNaira's Chief Executive Officer Kurt Begley and Chief Financial Officer Jim Till. Following our prepared remarks, we will have a question and answer session. To allow everyone the opportunity to participate, we ask that you limit yourself to one question with a brief follow up, then fall back into the queue for any additional questions. A few things to note before handing over the call on our website@magnera.com you can find today's press release and earnings call presentation under Investor Relations. You can also go directly to ir.mcnaira.com to review the investor presentations from our recent conference attendance as referenced on slide 2. During the call we will be discussing certain non GAAP financial measures. These measures are reconciled to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings press release and in the appendix of the presentation available on our website. Additionally, a reminder that we will make certain forward looking statements. These statements are made based upon management's expectations and beliefs concerning future events impacting the company and therefore are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward looking statements. Some factors that could cause the results or outcomes to differ are in the company's latest SEC filings and our news releases. These statements speak only as of today and we undertake no obligation to update them. I will now turn the call over to McNaira's CEO Kurt Begley.

Kurt Begley - Chief Executive Officer - (00:02:35)

Thank you Robert Good morning and thank you for joining our call. I am pleased to present our fourth quarter results and discuss the significant progress achieved as we mark our first anniversary as McNaira. During this update I would like to emphasize three key takeaways. First, our strategy to establish ourselves as a leader in advanced specialty materials is yielding positive results. Our global status as an innovative organization with substantial scale and strategic geographic presence has enabled us to consistently succeed in. The current bid cycle with top tier. Customers, we've been able to gain share in markets and product segments of our choosing. Second, the macroeconomic conditions across our operating regions remain challenging with a cautious outlook. As we begin fiscal year 2026. Third, our focus remains on controllable factors. We have made measurable improvements in our Synergy run rate performance and have already demonstrated substantial advancement with Project CORE introduced last quarter. The McNaira team delivered robust results to close the fiscal year, achieving 839 million in sales and adjusted EBITDA of 90. Million for the quarter. For the full year, revenues reached 3.2 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA standing at 362 million. We generated 126 million of free cash flow representing a yield exceeding 30%. I wish to express my gratitude to our teams who have collaborated effectively stabilized our organization, developed optimization plans and taken decisive actions positioning us for continued success. These financial outcomes were underpinned by several notable successes with our customers in a subdued personal care market, we experienced ongoing product mix enhancements as consumers increasingly opted for for premium softness and comfort. Our adult and continence products experienced mid single digit growth through increased adoption rates and our customers increasingly seeking innovative features similar to those found in baby care items within consumer solutions. Increased demand for wipes and infrastructure contributed to our segment's portfolio, increasing from 51% to 53% of our total revenue. Our consumer solutions portfolio utilization is tracking nicely with growth projects and targeted asset upgrades. Sales of infection prevention wipes rose 10% year over year with balanced growth from both branded and private label customers. Demand for convenient surface cleaning and disinfecting remains strong across households and institutional use. Our strong positioning in cable wrap and specialty solutions has benefited from ongoing electrification and infrastructure growth worldwide. In response to growing sustainability requirements, we have provided advanced material solutions for wipes, tea and coffee filtration and compostable offerings for in home and away from home usage. Looking forward to 2026, we anticipate an earnings improvement of approximately 9% driven by synergy realization, Project Core initiatives and further advances in product mix and innovation. The Company has successfully completed its stabilization phase following our formation and maintained uninterrupted delivery of premium products to our customers over the past year. Now entering the optimization phase of our transformation, we are cultivating an innovative culture of aligned with our commitments to our customers, our commercial teams have been integrated to ensure consistent service, operational metrics and processes are being standardized and efficiency initiatives are underway throughout the organization. We continue to be action oriented with our purpose, promise and beliefs providing our guiding compass. At this point, I will conclude my opening remarks and invite Jim to provide a detailed overview of our financial performance.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:06:50)

Thank you, Kurt and good morning everyone. Before we dive into our results, I want to remind everyone that when we compare our performance to the prior quarter, all the prior period figures are adjusted on a constant currency basis to eliminate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations. Additionally, last year's results incorporate the full impact of the merger. For those interested in the details, the reconciliations between our adjusted and reported results are included in the appendix of today's presentation. Now turning to our financial results on slide 9, we delivered performance that aligns with the expectations that we shared during the previous quarterly call volumes and earnings came in as anticipated while cash flows exceeded our projections, reflecting the strong execution and discipline of our global teams. Our teams have done an exceptional job advancing synergy realization since the merger, implementing new robust cost reduction initiatives, and optimizing our product mix capacity and allocations across the portfolio during the quarter. These efforts helped offset softer baby demand in South America as well as general market softness in Europe. Despite the external challenges, adjusted EBITDA remained essentially flat for the quarter. Looking at the full year results, fiscal 2025 was a year of disciplined execution, strategic progress and solid cash generation. Our teams delivered strong operational performance, advanced merger synergies and maintained financial discipline. Free cash flow for the year exceeded the high end of our originally provided guidance range, reflecting an intense focus on capex and prudent working capital improvements. This strong cash generation is a testament to the dedication of our operational focus of our teams worldwide. Since the merger, we've generated $126 million of free cash flow, representing a free cash flow yield of more than 30% relative to our year end market capitalization. This performance has allowed us to strengthen our balance sheet and reduce our debt leverage to 3.8 times at the end of the fourth quarter. We concluded the year with approximately $600 million of available liquidity, providing a solid financial foundation to support strategic investments, pursue growth opportunities and maintain flexibility in a dynamic market environment. Moving forward, we'll continue to prioritize strengthening the balance sheet and maintaining operational agility. Moving on to my fourth quarter segment reviews starting with the rest of World On Slide 10, revenues declined 3% for the quarter as stronger performance in the select consumer solutions categories was offset by the pass through of lower raw material costs and weaker consumption levels in Europe. Adjusted EBITDA for The segment increased $4 million, reflecting operational efficiencies, rigorous cost reduction programs and continued synergy benefits from the integration. These Improvements underscore our resilience of our business model and effectiveness of our disciplined global operations. Turning to Americas on Slide 11, revenues were down 9% for the quarter as a result of the pass through of lower raw material costs and competitive pressures from imports in South America for the full year. Headwinds were partially offset by stronger demand in infrastructure and wipes end markets which helped stabilize our overall annual results. Adjusted EBITDA in the Americas segment declined $5 million for the quarter, largely reflecting the volume and product mix challenges in South America. Despite the decline, we are confident that our ongoing improvement initiatives and synergy realization will support margin recovery in the coming quarters as operational excellence remains a central focus. Looking ahead to fiscal 2026, our guidance assumptions are shown on Slide 12. At the $395 million midpoint, we are expecting EBITDA growth of approximately 9% year over year. This growth reflects continued synergy realization and ongoing benefits from Project Core, including cost reductions and capacity rationalizations. In terms of the free cash flow, we expect a range of 90 million to $110 million, including $80 million of capital investments which includes 10 million from it conversion related CAPEX this guidance reflects a prudent assessment of the near term environment and a disciplined execution of our operational and financial strategies. This concludes my financial review and I'll now turn it back over to Kurt.

Kurt Begley - Chief Executive Officer - (00:10:50)

Closing 2025 I'm pleased with the progress. We made as a new company. We overdelivered on our free cash flow, delivered on our updated EBITDA guidance and CAPEX commitments and strengthen our balance sheet. Looking forward to 2026. We are forecasting an increase in earnings as we continue to leverage our scale, unique value proposition and reliability to deliver for our stakeholders. We are confident in our ability to drive value creation through both EBITDA growth and robust free cash flow generation. Our priorities are clear operational excellence, balance sheet strength, disciplined capital allocation and strategic investment in growth opportunities. These actions position us to continue building long term shareholder value while maintaining flexibility in a dynamic global environment. Operator, Please open the line for questions.

OPERATOR - (00:11:47)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment at this time, please press star 11 on your telephone. If your question has been answered, you wish to move yourself from the queue, please press star 11 again. We will pause for a moment while we compile our Q and A roster. Our first question comes from Richard Carlson with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:12:10)

Hey, good morning guys. Congrats on the progress and happy anniversary.

Kurt Begley - Chief Executive Officer - (00:12:14)

Hey, thanks Richard.

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:12:17)

So, I actually have several questions, but I'll ask The first one, which is a big one, and then I'll get back in the queue for the rest. But I just want to dig in a little bit more to EBITDA and some of the puts and takes, I think your range is plus 5 to plus 13. So what are some of the, the moving parts there? What's maybe the underlying volume assumptions, mix price, things like that. And then it seems like an awful lot of this is from EBITDA margin expansion. So what's driving that too?

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:12:40)

Thank you. Yeah, thanks, Richard. Thanks for the questions. As we think about the guide for. Next year, the margin expansion is really the continued synergy realization that we've highlighted throughout the year. It starts hitting more of a full run rate next year. We've talked about kind of realizing 75% or 70 to 75% of the remaining outstanding unrealized synergies next year as well as Project Core that we highlighted last quarter. So that will begin to ramp up here in the back half of Q1 and then we'll begin to get full realization in Q2, 3 and 4. So that's a lift on the EBITDA side in terms of margin expansion, in terms of the volumes we're expecting sort. Of flattish. For the overall business as we look at it today with some puts and takes between the regions. And that's really the driving factors. And so as you go to the bottom end of the range, the top end of the range volume is going to be kind of the outstanding question for us. And is the reason for the little bit wider range than you may expect?

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:13:42)

Yeah.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:13:42)

Richard, the other comment I would make, as we've highlighted in previous calls and commented again on this quarter, we'll be lapping some of the South America comps from prior year in the first two quarters. And so that's being offset by some of the positive signals of growth that we're seeing in the US And a cautious outlook on Europe.

Kevin McCarthy - Equity Analyst - (00:14:09)

Thank you.

OPERATOR - (00:14:09)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Kevin McCarthy with vertical research Partners. Your line is open.

Kevin McCarthy - Equity Analyst - (00:14:21)

Yes, thank you and good morning everyone. Kurt, in listening to your prepared remarks, it sounds like you're having some success here in bid season. Can you just elaborate on where you're targeting share gains and having success and maybe just put that into the context of what you see unfolding mix wise within the portfolio in 26 and the volume trends that you foresee globally?

Kurt Begley - Chief Executive Officer - (00:14:53)

Yeah, thanks Kevin. Appreciate you joining. As we've talked about historically, we had going into this year, obviously there were contracts that we needed to see through and then we needed to understand from a cost profile and a differentiation where we stood from an organization as we realize synergies and make sure that we were getting the value for the products that we were selling. Also maximizing throughput and output on our most contemporary line. So as we've gone through the season and we're probably 70 to 75% through, typically some of this carries into Q1 or Q2 of our fiscal year. We feel very good about how we position not only our ability to service our customers. As you can imagine, when there's a large combination of this size, one of the risks that a customer may see is how will they be treated and will we be able to deliver for them with the quality and service that they deserve and expect. And I'm very proud of what the group's been able to accomplish. So that certainly provided us with the right discussions at the highest levels inside of those organizations. I will say that all of our customers are living in a very competitive environment as well. So finding ways to help them optimize their cost structure, but more importantly provide some differentiated features through products such as lamination and some of our soft applications within the nonwoven segment is really giving. A good mix lift. Particularly in our personal care side, we're seeing healthcare recover a little bit as well, which is a positive signal and in some cases seeing some growth in geographies that we hadn't historically looked at. And that's been a good job by our sales forces across the globe. And we look at consumer solutions. We comment on the fact that the mix of our portfolio shifting from 51 to 53% in consumer solutions, as you look at, it's difficult sometimes to see the forest through the trees. And so we try to really bucket those into major segments. We talked about wipes. We have a great franchise inside of our consumer solutions space. Both our own branded products for dry wipes that goes into institutional services and distribution channels with Sentara and Chicopee, but also as you look at our broad portfolio globally within differentiated substrates, inside of our portfolio, our spinlace technology continues to be preferred by the consumer and a great product and delivery for our customers as well as we round out with Airlaid and Spunlace Technologies, which I think you have a little bit of an idea now that you've had a chance to visit one of the sites. So we're able to kind of capture general surface cleaning, general personal care cleaning, and then also the institutional dry wipes goods. So we're excited about that. I talked about Electrification initiatives. Our cable wrap business continues to build momentum through projects, green energy projects and high voltage cable needs. That product line, we believe is again another great niche application where we have some unique value propositions there and then on the infrastructure side, while you may see some softness in different parts of the world, the broader part of our portfolio is not just the building construction wrap, but it's some of the other products that we've highlighted is a nice complement to those kind of total systems solutions for contractors and various distributors alike. So we continue to lean in on that front. And I don't want to be remiss if I didn't talk about some of the filtration projects we have, particularly we think about the beverage space. The the one thing that we've really. Grown to appreciate over the past year is how significant and how trusted the sites that we had acquired are in that space. Very high quality demands, as you can expect, but more importantly our ability to service and deliver for those customers. It's something that we really pride ourselves on and look to continue to improve in certain areas. And then there's demands on being on the front end of the ever changing needs in the markets on compostable opportunities and addressing the customer's requirements from their ESG metrics, but more importantly the safety and security of the products that they're putting in the market. Make no mistake, across the board we have to maintain the highest quality levels, highest service levels, not only of who we do business with, but the applications, the end use applications that we supply to. We are touching skin, we are in the operating room, we are protecting babies, adults, et cetera. And that's something that we take very seriously, but also something that again is differentiation for us in a space that again can be very competitive at times, but we are the trusted and reliable player in the geographies that we serve.

Kevin McCarthy - Equity Analyst - (00:20:10)

Thank you for that color. Curt, My second question relates to free cash flow. I thought you did a nice job generating cash and deleveraging in the quarter. Specifically, can you unpack the forward looking free cash flow range of $90 million to $110 million in 2026? Just looking for your thoughts on things like cash costs for integration and project Core, what you're baking in for working capital, cash, taxes and other items you may care. Sure.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:20:49)

Thanks, Kevin. Absolutely. So when you know, obviously you start. At the top of the house with. The EBITDA and then we've highlighted the 80 million of capital expenditures which includes 10 million of IT related integration costs. On the integration and tax question, there's roughly 20 million of core. And then we have in the range of 30 to 35 million for cash taxes. We've sort of highlighted that 10 to 11% of EBITDA, but we have some projects we think can offset that next year to help lower that number a little bit. And then the remaining is just our normal integration is we're in year two of sort of a three year path. And so the overall total of that category is roughly $80 million. And we've highlighted that on slide 12 to help you with the walks.

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:21:37)

Okay. And is working capital, Jim, expected to be a, a smallish number? How would you characterize that? I apologize. Right.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:21:46)

In working capital, we assume flat. We have some items that came in at the end of the quarter this year that were one time benefits. Roughly 10 million of that benefit will offset in next year. But we do have some items as we go off of legacy GLT terms, the remaining portion that should offset that. So we assume flat at for next year.

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:22:10)

Excellent. Thanks and good luck to you guys. Thanks, Kevin. Thanks, Kevin.

OPERATOR - (00:22:15)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Roger Spitz with Bank of America. Your line is open.

Roger Spitz - Equity Analyst - (00:22:24)

Thank you and good morning. Maybe I missed it, but for fiscal 2025 overall, on a pro forma basis, what was the volume growth?

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:22:36)

Yeah, thanks, Roger. I think we finished right about 3% negative, 3.5%. And that was for the Americas. You know, the decline was really because of the South America challenges that we had faced from a competitive standpoint. And then Europe was roughly 4%. So in total tonnage sold right about the 3.5, 4% negative for the year.

Roger Spitz - Equity Analyst - (00:23:02)

Got it. And then for thinking about fiscal 2026, you're up 9% year over year. How should we think about the quarterly tempo of outperforming the 2025 fiscal quarters?

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:23:19)

Yeah, so we don't provide quarterly details, but what I will tell you is we've highlighted, you know, we are, we are a good trajectory in terms of the synergy realization. On the procurement side, I'm really proud of what the group, the team has been able to do from offsetting the standalone costs from the SGA front. We continue to make good progress just from our overall BEX programs inside of the facilities to offset other inflation. But Project Core, as we have communicated, will continue to ramp up throughout the year. We're going to see most of that benefit come in Q3, Q4, but we'll see that phased in and a little bit of an impact this quarter and in Q2. So that's in terms of, you know, what we see, not a tremendous hockey stick going into next year, but in general, South America is the big kind of initial lap that we have for Q1, Q2 just because of the, because of the business that we were doing last year. And we've highlighted that in previous quarters. And that was those are the negotiations that are taking place right now. And we feel like we're very well positioned going into 2026, back half of 2026 in particular.

Roger Spitz - Equity Analyst - (00:24:35)

Thank you very much.

OPERATOR - (00:24:37)

Sure.

Edward Brucker - Equity Analyst - (00:24:38)

One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Edward Brucker with Barclays. Your line is open. Hey, thanks for the questions and congrats on the quarter. The first one, would you be able. To just dive into the demand environment? Sounds like you're being cautious, which is prudent given what we've seen from a bunch of other bigger packaging companies. But is it something where it's typical, where the consumer is just weaker right now and buying less product, or you think there's something more structural going on?

Kurt Begley - Chief Executive Officer - (00:25:18)

Ed, thanks for the question. I mean, if you look at the portfolio that we have, these are products that are needed every day, essential goods and products both on the disposable and durable side. You know, yes, we listen very intently and closely to our customers and even through, you know, various negotiations of what we can do to help them, not only secure business on the shelf, but, you know, find ways to cost reduce. So that comes from a number of different areas, whether it's new materials that we can provide, a new platform that we can run it on, but also down gauging as they look for high performance materials at lighter weight. So that's been a major point of emphasis. But in general, I would say that the European market certainly has more caution to it based on what you're hearing, what everybody is talking about in the space. As we communicated before, we sell to both branded and private label. So again, as consumers make choices on the shelf, we're there. The one comment that I would make on the personal care front, there's always the concern about baby and whether birth rates are going to negatively impact this business long term. Fortunately for us, we highlighted it. Our adult incontinence products continue to really expand in terms of the acceptance rate and the need. As you know, aging populations are going on across the world. And when you talk about form, fit and function, that's a really important part of our developments with our customers, both from a discretion standpoint, but ultimately a performance standpoint. I could go into a number of different Chemistries, we just reviewed some PH levels and helping to avoid rashes, things like that. But in terms of overall demand, I would say consumption rates in various product lines maybe a little bit softer in certain geographies with a little bit more positive demand in others. And we see that really by region, even in the South America markets where we've had a more challenging run from import price pressure, which we've highlighted. What our customers have, I think, grown to appreciate is our ability to service them and be able to respond in very short order. And so we're there to service and take care of customers when they need us, but at the same time making sure that we're getting the value for the products that we're manufacturing and selling. So in general, Asia, albeit small for us, pretty stable. Europe, definitely some concerns, and that's why we provided some of that range. And then the Americas, we'll see that North America being positive and offset initially by some of the South America comps, but evening out throughout the year.

Ed Brucker - (00:28:06)

Got it. That's helpful.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:28:07)

And then the debt pay down the term loan was a pleasant surprise. Would you be able to explain the rationale behind paying down that debt? And do you expect to use excess cash flow next year to do the same? Yeah, look, that was part of the capital allocation priorities that we've laid out that we address that we review with. The board every quarter. So that was just doing what we said we were going to do. At this point, we'll continue down that path with a focus on deleveraging and making sure that we're appropriately managing our cash and liquidity, as you can appreciate. You know, working with our vendors and, you know, negotiating the best terms that we possibly can, the best prices we possibly can, proving that we have a very sound and solid liquidity and robust balance sheet. And so we'll continue to evaluate with. Our board of directors. But, you know, we believe that, you know, at this point, we'll continue down the path of the focus on deleveraging and debt reduction.

OPERATOR - (00:29:19)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Richard Carlson with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:29:31)

Hey guys, thanks for the follow up. And actually just piggybacking on that last question with the delevering, of course, this is something you've been telling us that you plan on doing, but just wondering, based on where your stock price has been recently, did the thought of spending that cash on repurchases come up at all or the thought of buying your debt in the open market?

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:29:51)

Richard, thanks for the question. You Know, as I mentioned, this is something that we have, we review every quarter with our board of directors and you know, certainly it's a part of the conversation. But again for us, we continue to believe that sticking to our original plan of debt reduction, you know, as we talked about before, this is a, an opportunity for us to do what we say we're going to do and focus on the deleveraging portion in terms of, you know, buying back debt. Again, I would, I'm not really in a position to answer that other than I can fall back on the fact that we continue to keep, you know, all of those discussions in front of our board of directors and have robust dialogue each quarter.

Richard Carlson - Equity Analyst - (00:30:37)

Understood. And then a couple modeling questions. Jim, I think DNA was down quite a bit in the fourth quarter. How should we think about that? Is this the new run rate going forward or is that just some catch up to end the year? And then I don't think there's a share count in your press release. So is it safe to assume it. Was flat quarter over quarter? Yeah, the share count was flat. Correct on that. And then for the DNA look at.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:31:01)

The year to date, there was some. Just a purchase accounting finalization that got. Caught up for the year as you highlighted. So I'd look at our year to. Date number as a better representative of the go forward. And then just one more if I could squeeze it in. Capex is running in line with what you guys have been telling us for a year now. But I guess we're still just a little wondering if that 2 to 3% of sales, how long does that last and are you able to properly capitalize the business at that level? I think there was a mention of eventually stepping that up a little bit. But I guess maybe just remind us maybe from what you told us a. Year ago as far as how you. See your capex projecting of a multi year period. Yeah, thanks. Very good question. You know we coming into, you know, the combination of the two organizations, we had the opportunity to review and do a number of site visits. You know, there was, I think, you know, some expectation that plants or sites or lines were under capitalized and that certainly wasn't the case. We felt very comfortable coming into the year that we both had well capitalized facilities, well capitalized businesses. And so the one thing that we've been able to put into our overall spending discipline is the capital committee that we have internally that reviews projects both on standalone from an ROIC standpoint, but also our maintenance and safety CAPEX which I will tell you with 100% certainty we've not sacrificed in any of those areas. So the normal maintenance, PM programs, site maintenance, but, but more importantly the safety guarding, et cetera is the top priority. As you look at growth projects inside of the businesses as well, we have a large fleet of contemporary assets and also niche assets. And so our ability to upgrade some of those lines falls within the capex spend where we're not having to go out and buy a new line for 50 or $90 million. We can take with what we have and provide that. The other thing that has been really good work by the team is understanding where we had like vendors for things such as belts on our lines that we process through every year from an expense standpoint, but also from spare parts on the capital side. So lining up vendors on that front, coordinating that with our procurement team and making sure that again, offsetting that inflation that normally takes place in equipment supply, the team's done an excellent job there. So in terms of the foreseeable future, as we highlighted before, there will be a time that we'll pivot to large growth investments, new lines as the market warrants it and as we pick our places to put that capacity. But it goes back to our initiatives with Project Core and prioritizing where we're going to spend that capex and where we have the greatest, what business has the greatest right to win, opportunity to win and take care of our sites and ultimately the safety of our employees.

OPERATOR - (00:34:15)

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Kevin McCarthy with vertical research. Your line is open.

Kevin McCarthy - Equity Analyst - (00:34:25)

Yes, thank you. Appreciate you taking the follow up. I wonder if you could review and elaborate on the integration process. Maybe provide a little bit more color on what you've accomplished to date and what still lies ahead for fiscal 26 with regard to procurement, GNA and on the operational side as well. Any additional color there would be helpful.

Jim Till - Chief Financial Officer - (00:34:53)

No thanks, Kevin. You know, as we talked about early on, culture is a big thing, right? And putting organizations together and identifying the Magnera culture and then implementing that is a day to day job and making sure that we're touching, you know, and getting our 9,000 employees walking lockstep with us. So, you know, that journey, you know, will continue on and employee engagement is going to continue to be a main focus for us going into 2026 and beyond. But again, good momentum from that front. Great work from the HR team on, you know, benefits and things like that. As we peeled off of the need for, you know, some of the transition services agreement with Barry, the procurement team is well ahead from where we had anticipated. We've staffed that organization well with, you know, very key talent, done a fantastic job of really taking on the reins and going out and making sure that we're getting our best cost analysis and coordinating that with our innovation team. So good progress made there. And as I think we highlighted in the script or in the call. We'Re. Already seeing a little bit of that. We've experienced some of that procurement savings in Q4, a little bit in Q3, and that run rate coming into this year is part of our overall walk and range. So we continue to build momentum and we continue to increase that pipeline. We're going to be moving away from, hey, this is the synergy realization to just the savings programs and productivity savings that we look for every year. The one thing that I would say that we've made also good progress on is just understanding and really putting together the right key operating metrics that we've populated throughout the organization. Some facilities are further along than others. And so as we're ramping them up and they're looking at the metrics that make the most sense for our business, that's been encouraging to see again, the engagement not only from the shop floor itself, but the entire team, especially when you can see some of the benefits of the run rate. Project Core is certainly something that has a lot of attention on it internally. We review that quite frequently and it does, as a reminder, it does impact all regions, the exception of Asia. And the purpose of that, again, from the capacity optimization standpoint, is the work. That was done throughout this year. And we talked about the ability to cross qualify not only other raw materials with competing vendors, but more importantly, building flexibility in our network to be able to shift product from one asset, one site to another to make sure that we're getting the appropriate load, that it's a benefit to the customer, but it provides us with the lowest cost scenario. And as we continue to progress on the separation with the TSA needs Transition services agreement with Amcor, Barry Amcor, now we're going to be doing that through the systems changes throughout this year. And I would say that we're well ahead of schedule in terms of what our expectations were coming into the combination and encouraged by what we've seen in over the course of the last month.

Kevin McCarthy - Equity Analyst - (00:38:11)

Thank you very much.

OPERATOR - (00:38:13)

Sure.

Kurt Begley - Chief Executive Officer - (00:38:15)

And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I turn the call back to Kurt Begley for any further remarks. We appreciate everybody joining the call today and your interest in Magnera. We continue to be very excited about the business, the future, and despite all the noise that goes on throughout the. World. We'Re in a great position from having the best products and best capabilities to service not only our customers, but the end consumers as we continue to protect the world. Look forward to speaking to many of you through our investment calls and investor calls, as well as some of the investor conferences coming up. So everybody have a great day and we look forward to connecting on our. Next quarter earnings call.

OPERATOR - (00:38:55)

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.