Adient plc (ADNT)

Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Forward-Looking Statements

This section and other parts of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q contain forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Forward-looking statements can also be identified by words such as "future," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "will," "would," "could," "can," "may," "forecast," "project," "should," or similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and Adient's actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Adient cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond Adient’s control, that could cause Adient’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks related to: the effects of local and national economic, credit and capital market conditions (including the persistence of high interest rates, vehicle affordability and volatile currency exchange rates) on the global economy, increased competitive pressures in the EMEA and Asia regions from Chinese OEMs, uncertainties in U.S. administrative policy regarding trade agreements, tariffs and other international trade relations, automotive vehicle production levels, mix and schedules, as well as the concentration of exposure to certain automotive manufacturers particularly new entrants in the China market, shifts in market shares among vehicles, vehicle segments or away from vehicles on which Adient has significant content, changes in consumer demand, risks associated with Adient’s joint ventures, volatile energy markets, Adient’s ability and timing of customer recoveries for increased input costs, the availability of raw materials and component products (including components required by Adient’s customers for the manufacture of vehicles), risks associated with warranty and product recall and product liability exposures, geopolitical uncertainties such as the Middle East and Ukraine conflicts and the impact on the regional and global economies and additional pressure on commodities, supply chain and vehicle production, the ability of Adient to effectively launch new business at forecast and profitable levels, the ability of Adient to successfully identify suitable opportunities for organic investment and/or acquisitions and to integrate such investments and/or acquisitions, work stoppages, including due to strikes, supply chain disruptions and similar events, wage inflationary pressures due to labor shortages and new labor negotiations, the ability of Adient to execute its restructuring plans and achieve the desired benefit, the ability of Adient to meet debt service requirements and terms of future financing, the impact of global tax reform legislation, the impact of more aggressive positions taken by tax authorities, potential adjustment of the value of deferred tax assets, global climate change and related emphasis on sustainability matters by various stakeholders, and the ability of Adient to achieve its sustainability-related goals, cancellation of, or changes to, commercial arrangements, and the ability of Adient to identify, recruit and retain key leadership. Additional information regarding these and other risks related to Adient’s business that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is contained in the forward-looking statements is included in the section entitled "Risk Factors," contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2026 and the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included within this report as well as within Part II, Item 8 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025. All information presented herein is based on Adient's fiscal calendar. Unless otherwise stated, references to particular years, quarters, months or periods refer to Adient's fiscal years ended in September and the associated quarters, months and periods of those fiscal years. The forward-looking statements included in this Form 10-Q are made only as of the date of this report, unless otherwise specified, and Adient assumes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements for any reason, except as required by law.

Overview

Adient is a global leader in the automotive seating supply industry and maintains relationships with the largest global automotive original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs. Adient's proprietary technologies extend into virtually every area of automotive seating solutions, including complete seating systems, frames, mechanisms, foam, head restraints, armrests and trim covers. Adient is an independent seat supplier with global scale and the capability to design, develop, engineer, manufacture and deliver complete seat systems and components in every major automotive producing region in the world.

Adient designs, manufactures and markets a full range of seating systems and components for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and light trucks, including vans, pick-up trucks and sport/crossover utility vehicles. Adient operates approximately 200 wholly- and majority-owned manufacturing, assembly or sequencing facilities, with operations in 29 countries. Additionally, Adient has partially-owned affiliates in China, Asia and Europe. Through its global footprint and vertical integration, Adient leverages its capabilities to drive growth in the automotive seating industry.

Adient plc | Form 10-Q | 35

Adient manages its business on a geographic basis and operates in the following three reportable segments for financial reporting purposes: 1) Americas, which is inclusive of North America and South America; 2) Europe, the Middle East, and Africa ("EMEA") and 3) Asia Pacific/China ("Asia").

Adient evaluates the performance of its reportable segments using an adjusted EBITDA metric defined as income (loss) before income taxes and noncontrolling interests, excluding net financing charges, restructuring and impairment costs, restructuring-related costs, net mark-to-market adjustments on pension plans, transaction gains/losses, purchase accounting amortization, depreciation, stock-based compensation and other non-recurring items ("Adjusted EBITDA"). Also, certain corporate-related costs are not allocated to the segments. The reportable segments are consistent with how management views the markets served by Adient and reflect the financial information that is reviewed by its chief operating decision maker. Refer to Note 15, "Segment Information," of the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information on Adient's reportable segments.

Factors Affecting Adient’s Operating Environment

The results presented below are not necessarily indicative of full-year results as Adient, along with the automotive industry, continues to face a dynamic environment surrounding future production volume. This dynamic environment is the result of a combination of factors experienced over the recent past including the impact of higher energy, freight and other costs resulting from the conflicts in the Middle East and other parts of the world, softening consumer demand due in part to vehicle affordability, the direct and indirect impacts resulting from the imposition of U.S. and foreign tariffs, market share loss for foreign/luxury OEMs in the Asia reporting unit combined with modest expected margin declines as Adient continues to win new business with local OEMs in China, intensifying competition from Chinese imports and lower exports to China from EMEA as domestic brands expand in China, overcapacity in the EMEA reporting unit resulting in pricing pressure, continued disruptions caused by slower EV adoption rates, and interruptions from other suppliers due to production downtime and shortages of critical components or raw materials. Adient has also been experiencing increased levels of discussions with taxing authorities and more aggressive negotiations by the tax authorities as part of tax audits and related inquiries, resulting in higher levels of uncertainty on tax assessment outcomes. These factors may continue to negatively impact Adient’s results in the foreseeable future. Adient has also been monitoring developments associated with the Supreme Court decision related to tariffs issued under IEEPA. During the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Adient recorded receivables of approximately $52 million related to refunds that it believes are probable of collection from the U.S. government stemming from the Supreme Court decision to nullify tariffs issued under IEEPA. The receivable is recorded in the Americas within other current assets and the corresponding benefit has been reflected as a reduction on cost of sales. A large portion of the refunds is expected to be passed on to Adient's customers to the extent Adient had previously collected such tariff reimbursements under separate agreements with its customers. Amounts expected to be repaid to customers have been reflected as reductions in net sales and accounts receivable. The net benefit associated with these IEEPA refunds is immaterial. Refer to the consolidated results of operations and segment analysis discussion below for additional information on the impacts of these items on Adient's results.

Global Automotive Industry

Adient conducts its business globally in the automotive industry, which is highly competitive and sensitive to economic, political and social factors in the various regions. During the three and nine months ended June 30, 2026, global light vehicle production increased 1.3% and 0.9%, respectively, primarily driven by higher production volumes in Asia, outside of China.

Light vehicle production levels by geographic region are provided below:

Adient plc | Form 10-Q | 36

Financial Results Summary

Significant aspects of Adient's financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2026 include the following:

•Adient recorded net sales of $3,929 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, representing an increase of $188 million, or 5%, when compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2025. The increase in net sales is primarily attributable to higher overall production volumes largely in Americas and Asia and the favorable impact of foreign currencies.

•Gross profit was $235 million, or 6.0% of net sales, for the third quarter of fiscal 2026 compared to $237 million, or 6.3% of net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Gross profit was impacted by the unfavorable impa

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Presentation of Information

Unless the context requires otherwise, references to “Adient plc” or “Adient” refer to Adient plc and its consolidated subsidiaries. The information presented herein are based on management’s perspective of Adient’s results of operations.

Forward-Looking Statements

Adient has made statements in this section and other parts of this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are management’s perspective of forward-looking information and, therefore, are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements in this Form 10-K other than statements of historical fact are statements that are, or could be, deemed “forward-looking statements”, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In this Form 10-K, statements regarding Adient's future financial position, sales, costs, earnings, cash flows, other measures of results of operations, capital expenditures or debt levels and plans, objectives, outlook, targets, guidance or goals are forward-looking statements. Words such as “future,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “can,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “should,” “forecast,” “predict,” “project” or “plan” or terms of similar meaning are also generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Adient cautions that these statements are subject to numerous important risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, some of which are beyond Adient’s control, that could cause Adient’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks related to: the effects of local and national economic, credit and capital market conditions (including the persistence of high interest rates, vehicle affordability and volatile currency exchange rates) on the global economy, increased competitive pressures in the EMEA and Asia regions from Chinese OEMs, uncertainties in U.S. administrative policy regarding trade agreements, tariffs and other international trade relations, automotive vehicle production levels, mix and schedules, as well as the concentration of exposure to certain automotive manufacturers particularly new entrants in the China market, shifts in market shares among vehicles, vehicle segments or away from vehicles on which Adient has significant content, changes in consumer demand, risks associated with Adient’s joint ventures, volatile energy markets, Adient’s ability and timing of customer recoveries for increased input costs, the availability of raw materials and component products (including components required by Adient’s customers for the manufacture of vehicles), risks associated with warranty and product recall and product liability exposures, geopolitical uncertainties such as the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts and the impact on the regional and global economies and additional pressure on supply chain and vehicle production, the ability of Adient to effectively launch new business at forecast and profitable levels, the ability of Adient to successfully identify suitable opportunities for organic investment and/or acquisitions and to integrate such investments and/or acquisitions, work stoppages, including due to strikes, supply chain disruptions and similar events, wage inflationary pressures due to labor shortages and new labor negotiations, the ability of Adient to execute its restructuring plans and achieve the desired benefit, the ability of Adient to meet debt service requirements and terms of future financing, the impact of global tax reform legislation, the impact of more aggressive positions taken by tax authorities, potential adjustment of the value of deferred tax assets, global climate change and related emphasis on sustainability matters by various stakeholders, and the ability of Adient to achieve its sustainability-related goals, cancellation of, or changes to, commercial arrangements, and the ability of Adient to identify, recruit and retain key leadership. Factors that might cause differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in Part 1, Item 1A of this Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors,” which are incorporated herein by reference. All information presented herein is based on Adient's fiscal calendar. Unless otherwise stated, references to particular years, quarters, months or periods refer to Adient's fiscal years ended in September and the associated quarters, months and periods of those fiscal years. The forward-looking statements included in this Form 10-K are made only as of the date of this report, unless otherwise specified, and, except as required by law, Adient assumes no obligation, and disclaims any obligation, to update such statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this Form 10-K.

Overview

Adient is a global leader in the automotive seating supply industry and maintains relationships with the largest global automotive original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs. Adient's proprietary technologies extend into virtually every area of automotive seating solutions, including complete seating systems, frames, mechanisms, foam, head restraints, armrests and trim covers. Adient is an independent seat supplier with global scale and the capability to design, develop, engineer, manufacture and deliver complete seat systems and components in every major automotive producing region in the world.

Adient designs, manufactures and markets a full range of seating systems and components for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and light trucks, including vans, pick-up trucks and sport/crossover utility vehicles. Adient operates approximately 200 wholly- and majority-owned manufacturing, assembly or sequencing facilities, with operations in 29 countries. Additionally, Adient has partially-owned affiliates in China, Asia, Europe and North America. Through its global footprint and vertical integration, Adient leverages its capabilities to drive growth in the automotive seating industry.

Adient plc | Form 10-K | 32

Adient manages its business on a geographic basis and operates in the following three reportable segments for financial reporting purposes: 1) Americas, which is inclusive of North America and South America; 2) Europe, the Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) and 3) Asia Pacific/China (“Asia”).

Adient evaluates the performance of its reportable segments using an adjusted EBITDA metric defined as income (loss) before income taxes and noncontrolling interests, excluding net financing charges, restructuring and impairment costs, restructuring-related costs, net mark-to-market adjustments on pension plans, transaction gains/losses, purchase accounting amortization, depreciation, stock-based compensation and other non-recurring items (“Adjusted EBITDA”). Also, certain corporate-related costs are not allocated to the segments. The reportable segments are consistent with how management views the markets served by Adient and reflect the financial information that is reviewed by its chief operating decision maker. Refer to Note 17, “Segment Information,” of the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information on Adient's reportable segments.

Factors Affecting Adient’s Operating Environment

Adient, along with the automotive industry, faces uncertainties surrounding future production volume within the automotive industry. These uncertainties are the result of a combination of factors including weakening consumer demand due in part to vehicle affordability, the direct and indirect impacts resulting from the imposition of U.S. and foreign tariffs, market share loss for foreign/luxury OEMs in the Asia reporting unit combined with modest expected margin declines as Adient continues to win new business with local OEMs in China, intensifying competition from Chinese imports and lower exports to China from EMEA as domestic brands expand in China, overcapacity in the EMEA reporting unit resulting in pricing pressure, continued disruptions caused by slower EV adoption rates, and interruptions from other suppliers due to production downtime and shortages of critical components or raw materials. Adient has also been experiencing increased levels of discussions with taxing authorities and more aggressive negotiations by the tax authorities as part of tax audits and related inquiries, resulting in higher levels of uncertainty on tax assessment outcomes. These factors are expected to continue to exist into fiscal 2026 at varying degrees which will continue to negatively impact Adient’s results for the foreseeable future. Refer to the consolidated results of operations and segment analysis discussion below for additional information on the impacts of these items on Adient's results.

Global Automotive Industry

Adient conducts its business globally in the automotive industry, which is highly competitive and sensitive to economic, political and social factors in the various regions. During fiscal 2025, global light vehicle production increased 3.0%, driven by improved vehicle sales and stronger export activity in China, partially offset by reduced production volumes in North America and EMEA. The current operating environment varies by region, being impacted by weakening consumer demand due to new vehicle affordability and high interest rates along with slower electric vehicle adoption rates.

Light vehicle production levels by geographic region are provided below:

Financial Results Summary

Significant aspects of Adient's financial results for fiscal 2025 include the following:

•Adient recorded net sales of $14,535 million for fiscal 2025, representing a decrease of $153 million, or 1.0%, when compared to fiscal 2024. The decrease in net sales is primarily attributable to lower overall production volumes in EMEA,

Adient plc | Form 10-K | 33

net of higher production volumes in Americas and Asia and unfavorable material economics recoveries, partially offset by the favorable impact of foreign currencies and favorable commercial pricing adjustments.

•Gross profit was $961 million, or 6.6% of net sales, for fiscal 2025 compared to $928 million, or 6.3% of net sales for fiscal 2024. Profitability, including gross profit as a percentage of net sales, was higher due primarily to favorable commercial and supplier pricing adjustments and operating performance, more than offsetting lower overall production volumes, unfavorable product mix and unfavorable material economics, net of recoveries.

•Equity income was $68 million for fiscal 2025, compared to $90 million for fiscal 2024. The decrease is due primarily to the unfavorable impact of the KEIPER supply agreement modifications, partially offset by higher production volumes and favorable operating performance.

•Net loss attributable to Adient was $281 million for fiscal 2025, compared to net income attributable to Adient of $18 million for fiscal 2024. The net loss in fiscal 2025 is primarily attributable to the $333 million non-cash goodwill impairment charge recorded in the EMEA segment and the $8 million non-cash impairment on Adient’s investment in Adient Aerospace, lower overall production volumes, unfavorable material economics, net of recover

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]