COLUMBUS MCKINNON CORP (CMCO)

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

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 45% derived from customers outside the U.S. for the three months ended June 30, 2026. 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.

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 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 complement the previous acquisitions of both Dorner and Garvey, and these acquisitions collectively helped to accelerate the Company’s shift to intelligent motion solutions and serve as a platform to expand capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.

On February 3, 2026, the Company completed its acquisition of Kito Crosby for $2,811,907,000, including acquired cash of $184,307,000. The Kito Crosby Acquisition has meaningfully improved the Company's scale, enhanced our collective geographic reach, significantly expanded our lifting securement and consumables portfolio and enhanced our customer value proposition.

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 $428.2 million in fiscal 2026 (or 51% of Cost of products 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

35

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.

Results of Operations

Three months ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025

Net sales in the three months ended June 30, 2026 were $531,461,000, an increase of $295,541,000 or 125.3% from the three months ended June 30, 2025 net sales of $235,920,000. Net sales were positively impacted by $304,764,000 related to the Kito Crosby acquisition as well as a $16,061,000 of favorable sales volumes offset by $34,848,000 of sales loss due to the divestiture of the U.S. Power Chain Hoist and Chain Manufacturing Operations. Foreign currency translation favorably impacted sales by $2,438,000 for the three months ended June 30, 2026.

Gross profit in the three months ended June 30, 2026 was $146,269,000, an increase of $69,047,000 or 89.4% from the three months ended June 30, 2025 gross profit of $77,222,000. Gross profit margin was 27.5% in the fiscal 2027 first quarter compared to 32.7% in the fiscal 2026 first quarter. Gross profit increased due to $72,972,000 related to the Kito Crosby acquisition, inclusive of $55,198,000 in inventory step-up amortization expense, offset by $13,889,000 related to the divestiture of the U.S. Power Chain Hoist and Chain Manufacturing Operations. The Company additionally saw increases in gross profit driven by price increases, sales volume and other benefits to material costs specific to the quarter, partially offset by inflation in the cost of products sold. The translation of foreign currencies had a favorable impact on gross profit of $870,000 during the three months ended June 30, 2026.

Selling expenses were $54,689,000 and $28,531,000, or 10.3% and 12.1% of net sales, in the three months ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025, respectively. Selling expenses increased in the period for $26,227,000 related to the Kito Crosby Acquisition. Foreign currency translation had a $445,000 unfavorable impact on selling expenses in the three months ended June 30, 2026.

General and administrative expenses were $65,362,000 and $30,743,000, or 12.3% and 13.0% of net sales, for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025, respectively. General and administrative expenses increased $23,580,000 as a result of the Kito Crosby Acquisition, higher net integration and acquisition costs and an increase in the Company's incentive compensation, partially offset by acquisition related cost saving synergies. Foreign currency translation had an unfavorable impact of $224,000 on general and administrative expenses in the three months ended June 30, 2026.

Research and development expenses were $8,541,000 and $4,821,000, or 1.6% and 2.0% of net sales, in both the fiscal 2027 and 2026 first quarter, respectively. Kito Crosby contributed an additional $3,853,000 to research and development expenses.

Amortization of intangibles was $34,808,000 and $7,635,000 in the three months ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025, respectively, with the increase related to amortization of new intangible assets acquired in the Kito Crosby Acquisition.

Interest and debt expense was $47,610,000 in the first quarter ended June 30, 2026 compared to $8,698,000 in the first quarter ended June 30, 2025. The increase is related to borrowings to finance the Kito Crosby Acquisition.

Investment income was $1,692,000 in the first quarter ended June 30, 2026 compared to $1,049,000 in the first quarter ended June 30, 2025. Investment income relates to the mark-to-market adjustments on the marketable securities held in the Company’s wholly owned captive insurance subsidiary and the Company's equity method investment in EMC, described in Note 6 of the financial statements.

Income tax expense as a percentage of the pre-tax income was (31)% and (16)% in the three months ended June 30, 2026 and June 30, 2025, respectively. Typically, these percentages vary from the U.S. statutory rate of 21%. For the current quarter, the rate was primarily impacted by the establishment of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance related to interest expense carryforwards which the Company does not expect to be able to recognize. The realization of these tax benefits depends on the Company's ability to generate sufficient taxable income, of the appropriate character and jurisdiction, in future periods. Because the Company is in a cumulative loss position for the most recent three year period, the Company has concluded that it is appropriate to record a valuation allowance for these tax benefits until additional positive evidence of future period earnings, in the relevant jurisdictions, is available. The Company estimates these valuation allowances will unfavorably impact the tax rate by approximately 40% to 50% for the fiscal year ended in 2027.

36

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash totaled $98,866,000 at June 30, 2026, an increase of $1,843,000 from the March 31, 2026 balance of $97,023,000.

Liquidity

We manage our funding and liquidity risk in an integrated manner in support of the current and future cash flow needs of our business. Our primary sources of liquidity are funds generated by operating activities, cash and cash equivalents, available capacity for borrowings on our 2026 Revolving Credit Facility and available capacity for borrowings on our AR Securitization Facility. 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 June 30, 2026 was $567,148,000 comprised of cash and cash equivalents of $98,410,000 and $468,738,000 of availability on the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility. There was no additional capacity under the AR Securitization Facility. Our liquidity as of March 31, 2026 was $561,216,000 comprised of cash and cash equivalents of $96,562,000, $458,933,000 of availability on the 2026 Revolving Credit Facility and $5,721,000 of availability on the AR Securitization Facility.

We believe that our current resources, together with anticipated

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

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

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, 2026. 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.

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 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 helped to accelerate the Company’s shift to intelligent motion solutions and serve as a platform to expand capabilities in advanced, higher technology automation solutions.

On February 3, 2026, the Company completed its acquisition of Kito Crosby for $2,811,907,000, including acquired cash of $184,307,000. The Kito Crosby Acquisition has meaningfully improved the Company's scale, enhanced our collective geographic reach, significantly expanded our lifting securement and consumables portfolio and enhanced our customer value proposition.

With global engineering, manufacturing, distribution, and operations, Kito Crosby provides a broad range of products and solutions for the most demanding applications. Kito Crosby's people, products, solutions, and service have innovated the lifting and securement industry throughout its long history. Kito Crosby's iconic brands include Kito, Crosby, Harrington, Gunnebo Industries, and Peerless. The Kito Crosby Acquisition has already started to strengthen our core lifting business and enhance 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. We expect this to continue as we further integrate our two companies together in fiscal 2027.

31

Table of Contents

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 $428.2 million in fiscal 2026 (or 51% of Cost of products 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.

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion is a comparison between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2025 results. For a discussion of our results of operations for fiscal 2025 compared to fiscal 2024, 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, 2025, which was filed with the SEC on May 29, 2025.

Please note that the Kito Crosby Acquisition closed on February 3, 2026 so fiscal 2026 includes approximately two months of Kito Crosby financial performance. Similarly, the sale of our U.S. power chain hoist and chain manufacturing operations based out of facilities located in Damascus, Virginia and Lexington, Tennessee and certain other assets (the “Divestiture Business”) to Star Hoist (the “Divestiture”) were divested on March 4, 2026, so approximately one month of the financial performance for the Divestiture Business would not be included in the fiscal 2026 results.

Fiscal 2026 Compared to Fiscal 2025

Fiscal 2026 sales were $1,193,451,000, an increase of 23.9%, or $230,424,000 compared with fiscal 2025 sales of $963,027,000. The Kito Crosby Acquisition added $188,089,000 to fiscal 2026 sales. In addition, price increases of $21,535,000 and higher sales volume of $10,151,000 further increased our fiscal 2026 sales. Offsetting these increases were lower sales volumes from our Divested Business of $13,986,000. The translation of foreign currencies had a favorable impact of $24,635,000.

Gross profit was $359,431,000 and $325,680,000 or 30.1% and 33.8% of net sales in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively.  The fiscal 2026 increase in gross profit was $33,751,000 or 10.4%. The Kito Crosby Acquisition contributed $29,159,000 to gross profit after being reduced by $36,798,000 for inventory step up amortization expense. In addition compared to the prior year, net factory consolidation costs were lower by $14,457,000, net start-up costs for our Monterrey Mexico facility were lower by $3,426,000, product liability expense was lower by $261,000 and $171,000 of costs due to Hurricane Helene which occured in the prior year. These increases were offset by $5,875,000 of material inflation, tariffs and other manufacturing cost changes net of price increases, $6,692,000 related to the lost gross profit from the divested businesses, $7,913,000 of unfavorable sales mix, $934,000 of net business realignment costs, and $723,000 of acquisition and integration costs. The translation of foreign currencies had a $8,414,000 favorable impact on gross profit for the year ended March 31, 2026.

Selling expenses were $133,579,000 and $110,043,000, or 11.2% and 11.4% of net sales in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. Selling expenses increased primarily by $17,144,000 as a result of the Kito Crosby Acquisition. Foreign currency translation had a $3,890,000 unfavorable impact on selling expenses in fiscal 2026

General and administrative expenses were $178,325,000 and $107,249,000 or 14.9% and 11.1% of net sales in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. The increase includes $55,243,000 of net deal and integration costs primarily attributable to the Kito Crosby Acquisition and $12,868,000 of incremental expense incurred at Kito Crosby for the period. Foreign currency translation had a $1,578,000 unfavorable impact on general and administrative expenses for fiscal 2026.

32

Table of Contents

Research and development expenses were $21,409,000 and $23,869,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. As a percentage of consolidated net sales, research and development expenses were 1.8% and 2.5% in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively.

Fiscal 2026 net gain on the sale of businesses of $103,306,000 relates to the Divestiture, as described in Note 3.

The Company recorded an impairment of $200,000,000 for the Precision Conveyance reporting unit in fiscal 2026. The sustained reduction in the Company's stock price and market capitalization resulted in the aggregate equity value of the combined company exceeding its market capitalization at its annual assessment date. Given these facts, the Company recorded an impairment during the year as described in Note 9.

Amortization of intangibles were $48,757,000 and $29,946,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively, with the increase related to amortization of new intangible assets acquired in the Kito Crosby Acquisition.

Interest and debt expense was $61,145,000 and $32,426,000 in fiscal 2026 and 2025, respectively. The increase is related to higher interest rates, as well as increased borrowings to finance the Kito Crosby Acquisition.

Fiscal 2026 Cost of debt refinancing and debt issuance of $24,185,000 relates to the Company's financing of the Kito Crosby Acquisition described in Note 3.

Investment income of $2,182,000 and $1,302,000, in fiscal 2026 and 2025, 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.

Other expense was $1,525,000 and $25,775,000 in fiscal

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