NEWELL BRANDS INC. (NWL)

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

The following discussion and analysis provides information which management believes is relevant to an assessment and understanding of Newell Brands Inc.’s (“Newell Brands,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”) consolidated financial condition and results of operations. The discussion should be read in conjunction with the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements and notes thereto.

Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law. These statements generally can be identified by the use of words such as “intend,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “target,” “plan,” “expect,” “setting up,” “beginning to,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “resume,” “are confident that,” “remain optimistic that,” “seek to,” or similar statements. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are not guarantees because there are inherent difficulties in predicting future results. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

•the Company’s ability to optimize costs and cash flow and mitigate the impact of soft global demand and retailers’ inventory rebalancing through discretionary and overhead spend management, advertising and promotion expense optimization, demand forecast and supply plan adjustments and actions to improve working capital;

•the Company’s dependence on the strength of retail and consumer demand and commercial and industrial sectors of the economy in various countries around the world;

•the Company’s ability to improve productivity, reduce complexity and streamline operations;

•risks related to the Company’s substantial indebtedness and current leverage profile, ability to refinance upcoming bond maturities on favorable terms or at all, and potential increases in interest rates or changes in the Company’s credit ratings including the failure to maintain financial covenants which if breached could subject us to cross-default and acceleration provisions in our debt documents;

•the impact on the Company’s operations and financial condition resulting from the current global macroeconomic environment, including the impact of tariffs imposed by the U.S. and retaliatory tariffs imposed by foreign countries, and the Company’s ability to effectively execute its mitigation plans;

•competition with other manufacturers and distributors of consumer products;

•major retailers’ strong bargaining power and consolidation of the Company’s customers;

•supply chain and operational disruptions in the markets in which we operate, including as a result of geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions and any global military conflicts including those between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East;

•changes in the prices and availability of labor, transportation, raw materials and sourced products, including significant inflation, and oil price volatility, and the Company’s ability to offset cost increases through pricing and productivity in a timely manner;

•the Company's ability to effectively execute its turnaround plan, including the Productivity Plan announced in December 2025 and other restructuring and cost saving initiatives;

•the Company’s ability to develop innovative new products, to develop, maintain and strengthen end-user brands and to realize the benefits of increased advertising and promotion spend;

•the risks inherent to the Company’s foreign operations, including currency fluctuations, exchange controls and pricing restrictions;

•future events that could adversely affect the value of the Company’s assets and/or stock price and require additional impairment charges;

•unexpected costs or expenses associated with dispositions;

•the cost and outcomes of governmental investigations, inspections, lawsuits, legislative requests or other actions by third parties, including but not limited to those described in Footnote 14 of the Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, the potential outcomes of which could exceed policy limits, to the extent insured;

•the Company’s ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting;

•risk associated with the use of artificial intelligence in the Company’s operations and the Company’s ability to properly manage such use;

•a failure or breach of one of the Company’s key information technology systems, networks, processes or related controls or those of the Company’s service providers;

•the impact of U.S. and foreign regulations on the Company’s operations, including environmental remediation costs and legislation and regulatory actions related to product safety, data privacy and climate change;

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•the potential inability to attract, retain and motivate key employees;

•changes in tax laws and the resolution of tax contingencies resulting in additional tax liabilities;

•product liability, product recalls or related regulatory actions;

•the Company’s ability to protect its intellectual property rights;

•the impact of climate change and the increased focus of governmental and non-governmental organizations and customers on sustainability issues, as well as external expectations related to environmental, social and governance considerations;

•significant increases in the funding obligations related to the Company’s pension plans; and

•other factors listed from time to time in our SEC filings, including but not limited to our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings.

The information contained in this Report is as of the date indicated. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this Report as a result of new information or future events or developments. In addition, there can be no assurance that the Company has correctly identified and assessed all of the factors affecting the Company or that the publicly available and other information the Company receives with respect to these factors is complete or correct.

Overview

Newell Brands Inc. is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz. Newell Brands is focused on delighting consumers by lighting up everyday moments. The Company sells its products in over 150 countries around the world and has operations on the ground in more than 45 of these countries, excluding third-party distributors. The Company has three operating segments: Home and Commercial Solutions (“H&CS”), Learning and Development (“L&D”) and Outdoor and Recreation (“O&R”).

Business Strategy

The Company continues to execute the strategic priorities identified through its 2023 comprehensive capability assessment. These priorities, grounded in defined “where to play” and “how to win” choices, are intended to drive sustainable improvement in revenue performance, margins and cash flow through a redesigned operating model, targeted talent investments and a renewed culture.

The Company remains in the execution phase of its multi‑year transformation. The Company believes that actions taken during 2025 strengthened foundational capabilities across innovation, brand building, productivity and commercial execution, and the Company expects the benefits of these initiatives to continue to phase in over time.

Execution of the Company’s strategy continues amid a dynamic operating environment, including shifting consumer preferences, heightened competitive intensity, changes in retailer inventory and promotional behavior, increased adoption of digital and artificial intelligence‑enabled tools, macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, cumulative inflationary pressures on consumers, rising oil and other raw material prices, tariffs imposed by the U.S. in 2025 and early 2026 as well as other countries’ related retaliatory actions, and an evolving regulatory landscape. The Company continues to deploy mitigation actions, including pricing optimization, productivity initiatives and strategic manufacturing relocations, where appropriate.

The Company’s operating focus remains on disciplined execution of its key priorities, including driving top‑line improvement over time through product and commercial innovation and brand investment; protecting margins through productivity, procurement savings, overhead management and disciplined reinvestment; further deleveraging the balance sheet; improving cash flow and balance sheet strength through working capital management and capital allocation; and enhancing commercial and operational execution through complexity reduction, technology standardization, Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) consolidation, stock-keeping unit (SKU) rationalization and supply chain optimization.

As part of these efforts, in December 2025 the Company announced a global productivity plan (the “Productivity Plan”) to further simplify processes, streamline overhead and reallocate resources to higher‑value activities, including workforce reductions and retail footprint optimization. Employee separations in the U.S. were mostly executed by the end of 2025, with international actions expected to occur in 2026, subject to applicable local law and consultation

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requirements. The Company also closed approximately 20 Yankee Candle stores in the U.S. and Canada in January 2026.

In addition, the Company continues to review its operating footprint and portfolio of non-core brands, which will result in future restructuring and restructuring-related charges.

Recent Developments

Update on Tariffs and Geopolitical Conflicts

On February 20, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the imposition of tariffs, invalidating tariffs imposed under that statute in 2025 and early 2026 (the “IEEPA Tariffs”). The ruling, however, did not address the availability, timing or mechanics of potential refunds. On March 4, 2026, the U.S. Court of International Trade (the “CIT”) directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (the “CBP”) to facilitate refunds of IEEPA Tariffs. Subsequently, CBP commenced development of a process to facilitate the refund of previously paid IEEPA Tariffs, including applicable interest. Since the invalidation of the IEEPA Tariffs, the U.S. presidential administration has imposed additional new tariffs affecting the Company on a temporary basis under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and on a long-term basis under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, and has also proposed the imposition of additional tariffs under Section 301.

The Company paid approximately $120 million and $20 million of IEEPA Tariffs during 2025 and 2026, respectively. The Company evaluated the probability and recoverability of IEEPA Tariffs previously paid and concluded that recovery was probable. Accordingly, during the second quarter of 2026, the Company recorded a receivable for the amounts previously paid, representing its best estimate of the expected refund for IEEPA Tariffs, with a corresponding reduction primarily to cost of products sold. During the second quarter of 2026, the Company recorded a pretax benefit of approximately $100 million related to IEEPA Tariffs expensed in the Company's Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations in 2025 and a $38 million pretax benefit related to IEEPA Tariffs expensed in the Company’s Condensed Consolidated Statement of Operations for the six months ended June 30, 2026 (including $26 million expensed during the first quarter of 2026).The

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations section should be read in conjunction with “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company’s audited Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The “Business Strategy” and “Recent Developments” sections below are brief presentations of our business and certain significant items addressed in this section or elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. This section should be read along with the relevant portions of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a complete discussion of the events and items summarized below. The “Results of Operations” section generally discusses 2025 and 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2025 and 2024. Discussions of 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2024 and 2023 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024.

Overview

Newell Brands is a leading global consumer goods company with a strong portfolio of well-known brands, including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz. Newell Brands is focused on delighting consumers by lighting up everyday moments. The Company sells its products in over 150 countries around the world and has operations on the ground in more than 45 of these countries, excluding third-party distributors. The Company has three operating segments: Home and Commercial Solutions (“H&CS”), Learning and Development (“L&D”) and Outdoor and Recreation (“O&R”).

Business Strategy

The Company is actively advancing the strategic priorities identified through its comprehensive capability assessment completed in 2023. These priorities are based on a clear set of “where to play” and “how to win” strategic choices with the goal of improving the Company’s top line, expanding margins and improving cash flows with a new operating model, critical talent upgrades and a culture redesign.

Execution of these strategic imperatives, in combination with other initiatives aimed to build operational excellence, will better position the Company for long-term sustainable growth. One such initiative is the organizational Realignment

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Plan, announced in 2024, which was designed to strengthen the Company’s front-end commercial capabilities, such as consumer understanding and brand communication, in support of the “where to play” and “how to win” strategies the Company initiated in 2023. Actions under the Realignment Plan were implemented by the end of fiscal year 2025.

Further building on the Company’s turnaround strategy, the Company announced the Productivity Plan in December 2025. The Productivity Plan is designed to further simplify processes, streamline overhead and redirect resources to the highest-value activities. See Business in Item 1 for additional information on these initiatives.

Recent Developments

Update on Tariffs

The current U.S. presidential administration has announced and/or imposed a series of new tariffs on foreign imports into the U.S., including without limitation significant tariffs on products manufactured in China. Tariffs on imports into the U.S., most significantly from China, and any retaliatory tariffs on exports from the U.S. to other countries, have increased costs for the Company and could impact the level of trade between the U.S. and its various trading partners around the globe in general.

We believe that the Company is well-positioned to respond to the current tariff environment, primarily because the Company maintains a significant U.S. manufacturing presence of 15 production facilities and manufacturers, in the U.S. and two of its facilities in Mexico, products representing over half of the Company’s U.S. revenues that are not presently subject to the recently announced U.S. tariffs. This manufacturing presence is expected to provide a competitive advantage to the Company in certain categories where its competitors are exposed to import tariffs. The Company also has a scaled, centralized procurement team that is proficient in sourcing raw materials and finished products from over 50 countries around the world.

The Company incurred incremental cash tariff cost of approximately $174 million in 2025 due to the currently announced and imposed tariffs as well as retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports, prior to any offsetting impact from mitigating actions. There will be a timing difference between the operating cash outflow and the recognition of cost of products sold arising from the tariffs. As a result, the Company recognized approximately $114 million of incremental costs of products sold in the Consolidated Statement of Operations in 2025. The Company continues to deploy a mitigation strategy designed to offset the impact of this tariff exposure through a number of actions, including pricing, productivity and in some cases relocation of manufacturing. At this time, it is difficult to predict the rate or duration of these tariffs, and there can be no assurance as to the extent to which the Company will be able to offset the impact through mitigation actions. Additional tariffs or further increases to the U.S. tariffs, retaliatory actions taken by other countries, or failure to effectively deploy the Company’s mitigation plans could have a significant negative impact on the Company.

Global Productivity Plan

In December 2025, the Company announced the Productivity Plan, as further described in the preceding section. The Company expects to record $75 million to $90 million of restructuring and restructuring-related charges in connection with the Productivity Plan, primarily for severance and related costs, with most of the charges to be recognized by the end of 2026. The Company commenced separation of professional and clerical employees during December 2025 and recorded $40 million of restructuring charges for severance and other termination benefits and restructuring-related charges. See Risk Factors in Item 1A, and Footnote 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Asset Impairment

During the fourth quarter of 2025, as a result of the Company’s annual impairment testing, the Company recorded an aggregate non-cash impairment charge of $340 million related to two tradenames in the H&CS segment and one in the L&D segment, as the carrying values of the tradenames exceeded their fair values. The decline in the fair values resulted primarily from a downward revision of the forecasted cash flows and an increase in the reporting unit’s discount rate, primarily due to the increased risk premium applied to enable reconciliation to the Company’s total enterprise value given the decline in the Company’s stock price since the last annual impairment test. See Critical Accounting Estimates and Footnotes 1 and 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

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Debt Redemption

In November 2025, the Company repaid the outstanding principal amount of its 3.900% senior notes due 2025 (the “2025 Notes”), plus accrued and unpaid interest upon maturity for total consideration of $48 million.

Debt Rating Downgrades

During the fourth quarter of 2025, Moody’s further downgraded the Company’s senior unsecured debt rating to “B2”, without any further impact to the interest rates on any of the Company’s senior notes, as the Company has reached the maximum provision on the affected bonds.

See Footnote 8 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information on debt redemption and debt rating downgrades.

Results of Operations

Consolidated Operating Results 2025 vs. 2024

Net sales decreased 5% compared to the prior year. Net sales were unfavorably impacted by soft demand across all segments, primarily by our H&CS and O&R segments, net distribution losses and product line exits. These unfavorable factors were partially mitigated by launches of product innovations. Changes in foreign currency unfavorably impacted net sales by $2 million, or less than 1%.

Gross profit decreased by approximately $116 million, or approximately 5% compared to the prior year, primarily driven by our H&CS segment. Gross margin improved to 33.8% as compared with 33.6% in 2024. The improvement in gross margin was driven by gross productivity and pricing and lower restructuring-related charges of approximately $32 million, partially offset by volume impact of lower sales, additional tariffs of approximately $114 million and inflation.

Notable items, other than the aforementioned, impacting operating income for 2025 and 2024 are as follows:

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(a)See Footnotes 1 and 6 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

(b)Restructuring-related costs reported in cost of products sold and selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) for 2025 were $4 million and $24 million, respectively, and primarily relate to facility closures associated with the Realignment Plan and various discrete initiatives as well as previously disclosed but substantially completed restructuring activities. Restructuring-related costs reported in cost of products sold, SG&A and in impairment of goodwill, intangibles and other assets for 2024 were $36 million, $13 million and $8 million, respectively, and primarily relate to facility closures associated with previously disclosed but substantially completed restructuring activities, as well as other discrete initiatives. Restructuring costs for 2025 and 2024 were $62 million and $45 million, respectively. See Footnote 3 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further information.

(c)Transaction costs and other for 2025 includes expenses for certain legal proceedings and completed divestitures, costs of a product recall, fire-related losses and hyperinflationary currency movements. Transaction costs and other reported in cost of products sold and SG&A for 2025 were $29 million and $10 million, respectively. Transaction costs and other for 2024 primarily relate to release of a bad debt reserve due to a recovery of a receivable from an international customer

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