Brady Corporation, established in 1914 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a world-class manufacturer and marketer of complete solutions for identifying and protecting premises, products, and people. The company operates through two main divisions: Identification Solutions (IDS) and Workplace Safety (WPS). The IDS division provides a wide range of products ...Brady Corporation, established in 1914 and headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a world-class manufacturer and marketer of complete solutions for identifying and protecting premises, products, and people. The company operates through two main divisions: Identification Solutions (IDS) and Workplace Safety (WPS). The IDS division provides a wide range of products including safety signs, floor-marking tapes, pipe markers, labeling systems, spill control items, lockout/tagout devices, and RFID/barcode scanners for product tracking. It also supplies wire identification tools, name tags, badges, access control software, and patient safety wristbands. The WPS division focuses on creating secure and compliant work environments, offering safety signage, tags, labels, asset tracking, first aid supplies, personal protective equipment, and labor law posters. Brady serves diverse industries such as electronics, healthcare, chemical, energy, automotive, aerospace, and government, distributing through direct sales, partners, catalogs, and digital channels. With approximately 6,400 employees globally, Brady generates around $1.6 billion in annual revenue. Financially, the company maintains a strong balance sheet with a current ratio of 2.01, low debt (debt-to-equity ratio 0.066), and solid profitability metrics (net margin 12.9%, ROE 16.5%). Brady's commitment to innovation is reflected in its R&D spending (5.8% of revenue) and over 675 patents. The company also offers a dividend yield of about 1% and has a market cap of $4.57 billion, trading on the NYSE under BRC. Under the leadership of CEO Vineet Nargolwala, appointed in 2026, Brady continues to focus on performance, safety, and customer satisfaction, aiming to deliver solutions that perform in ways others simply don't.
Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Brady Corporation Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the call over to Ann Thornton, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.
Ann Thornton: Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Brady Corporation Fiscal 2026 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call. The slides for this morning's call are located on our website at www.bradycorp.com/investors. We will begin our prepared remarks on Slide #3. Please note that during this call, we may make comments about forward-looking information. Words such as expect, will, may, believe, forecast and anticipate are just a few examples of words identifying the forward-looking statement. It's important to note that forward-looking information is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties, which could significantly impact expected results. Risk factors were noted in our news release this morning and in Brady's fiscal 2025 Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC in September. Also, please note that this teleconference is copyrighted by Brady Corporation and may not be rebroadcast without the consent of Brady. We will be recording this call and broadcasting it on the Internet. As such, your participation in the Q&A session will constitute your consent to being recorded. I'll now turn the call over to Brady's President and Chief Executive Officer, Russell Shaller. Russell?
Russell Shaller: Thanks, Ann, and thank you all for joining today. I'm pleased to announce a fantastic quarter. We reported a new record high adjusted earnings per share of $1.50, an increase of 23% versus the third quarter of last year. Organic sales grew 8.2% and gross profit margin was nearly 52%, while both regions reported significant growth in operating income and profitability. We're growing in our key product lines in both of our regions, and we continue to see positive response to the new products that we've introduced over the last several years. Launched in February, our i4311 is a 4" portable printer, which is tailored for plant safety and manufacturing professionals, and it's selling well above expectations. Our development team worked with a wide variety of users create this product and customer feedback has been fantastic. And we're seeing continued growth in wire and identification this quarter, particularly in data centers, which is a key end market for this highly critical identification solution. Our top priorities are profitable sales growth and a constant focus on cash generation, and this quarter absolutely delivered both. In addition to 23% adjusted earnings per share growth in the quarter, our cash generation was nearly $80 million. Operating cash flow is up 35% so far this fiscal year. Last month, we announced that we entered into an agreement to acquire Honeywell's productivity solutions and services business. This marked an exciting …
