Unifi (UFI) Q3 2026 Earnings Transcript

Chief Executive Officer — Edmund M. Ingle

Chief Financial Officer — Andrew J. Eaker

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Albert P. Carey: Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining our call. We are pleased to report that our yearlong effort to reduce our cost base and improve cash generation is providing results. As a matter of fact, we are a bit ahead of expectations for Q3. Andrew is going to take you through the full story in a few minutes, but here are the three top headlines. The Madison plant closure is complete. Number two, the much improved efficiencies in our current plant. And three, we have optimized our product lines and SKUs so that we do not have products that contribute no profitability to our lineup.

These actions set us up for improved profitability, especially as revenue begins to pick up and we are able to see higher levels of capacity utilization. There was one area that did not see a reduction in cost over the last 12 months, and that was the work that we are doing on product innovation. These products will provide revenue growth for the future, so they are very important. We have begun to get traction with our customers on these products, and that will move us into a very important priority right now, which is to begin to commercialize these innovations.

The innovations are, first, textile-to-textile recycling, second, products for categories that are outside of apparel and provide higher profitability, and third, products with performance benefits that customers and consumers are looking for. Now Edmund is going to take you through the full story on that in just a minute. The textile industry still has plenty of headwinds, especially as our customers navigate around the tariff complexities and the oil prices. We believe those headwinds will diminish and our profits will improve even in the current environment that we are in right now. I would like to say one last thing and turn it over to Edmund.

We are very proud of our team, the executives, the managers, and the front employees as well. Over the last 12 to 15 months, it has been a rough road. But the team has worked through the challenges collaboratively. There really is a special resiliency about the people from Unifi, Inc., and their loyalty has been very evident throughout this entire time frame. So we are grateful for their big efforts over the last several months, and we are looking forward to returning to growth. So now I would like to turn the call over to Edmund and Andrew who will provide you with the full story. Thank you.

Edmund M. Ingle: Thanks, Al. And, as Al just noted, this really was a stronger quarter for Unifi, Inc., and it clearly highlights the benefits of the actions we have taken to realign our cost structure, optimize our operations, and improve the conversion margins through portfolio management and, of course, targeted pricing that Al has inferred. We have kept our inventories flat. Spend was managed with discipline, and the margin improvement that you see in the numbers in part reflects this strong operational progress. We are a significantly more resilient business today, and despite geopolitical headwinds, we have managed our balance sheet very effectively.

Structural changes to our customer contracts, combined with faster commercial decision-making, have positioned us well to be able to respond more proactively to today's market conditions. I am going to turn the call over to Andrew now to walk you through the financial details for the quarter, and then I will come back shortly to discuss our near-term priorities, our innovation progress, and what lies ahead for Unifi, Inc. Andrew?

Andrew J. Eaker: Thank you, Eddie, and good day, everyone. I will start off by discussing our consolidated financial highlights for the quarter on slide four. Consolidated net sales for the quarter were in line with our expectations, down 11% year-over-year but up 7% sequentially. Our markets continue to be impacted by geopolitical events, as well as trade- and tariff-related uncertainties. Consolidated gross profit was 9.1 million dollars, and gross margin was 7% during the period compared to a gross loss of 400 thousand dollars and gross margin of negative 0.3% for the prior-year period.

SG&A was 11.2 million dollars during the quarter, a 9% improvement from one year ago, while adjusted EBITDA during the period was 4 million dollars, a nearly 9 million dollar improvement on a year-over-year basis. These stronger results during the quarter, as Eddie and Al mentioned, reflect serious operational improvements, both on the cost and efficiency side, that we have implemented over the last several quarters now translating into real results. Turning now to slide five. In the Americas, net sales were down 16%, as the region continues to face volume headwinds. Despite the lower sales during the quarter, we did generate gross profit of 3.6 million dollars in that segment.

This is the first time we have been able to deliver positive gross profit in the Americas for some time now, which further highlights the benefits of footprint consolidation and cost actions we have taken to improve our domestic operational efficiency. Slide six displays our Brazil segment, which saw net sales increase by 1 million dollars and gross profit decline just slightly by 200 thousand dollars. Overall, the performance in Brazil during the period was solid due to a particularly strong March with both volume and pricing contributing. This March for Brazil was our best sales volume month on record because of cost and price dynamics where the scales tipped in our favor.

While this dynamic may normalize soon, we expect to see robust results in the fourth quarter for Brazil. On slide seven, our Asia segment net sales and gross profit declined to 22.6 million dollars and 2.7 million dollars respectively, primarily due to lower sales volumes associated with the tariff uncertainties and pricing dynamics in the region. Margins have continued to hold up well in Asia given the asset-light model we employ there, and we did see some momentum in the region improve during March that we are hopeful will continue. Slide eight outlines our improving balance sheet and capital structure.

During the third quarter, we generated 7.2 million dollars of free cash flow, bringing year-to-date free cash flow to 20.5 million dollars. The positive free cash flow in the third quarter was a major beat against our expectations, as we were originally anticipating that we would experience some cash burn during this quarter. But thanks to our operational improvements and diligence, we experienced a nice increase in cash flow generation. CapEx for the quarter came in at just 800 thousand dollars, and our CapEx on a year-to-date basis was 3.9 million dollars, a 50% decline compared to the prior-year period as we continue to closely manage all spending.

Net debt was reduced to 68 million dollars, a stark improvement from recent levels, and our working capital remains balanced, healthy, and lower due to our leaner operations in the U.S. This significant improvement to our balance sheet and capital structure was directly attributable to the hard work that our whole team has executed across the globe over the last few years. We aligned our cost, consolidated our footprint, and drove improved efficiencies, all of which have helped us establish a more efficient manufacturing base in the U.S. Looking at the fourth quarter, we do anticipate a moderate increase in working capital to accommodate a modest increase in sales and the higher-cost raw materials purchased thus far.

We estimate between 4 million and 7 million dollars of working capital impact to the fourth quarter, which will obviously fluctuate in terms of amount and duration based on current geopolitical events. This concludes my financial review, and I will now pass the call back to Eddie.

Edmund M. Ingle: Thank you, Adrian. And as you have just heard from Andrew in quite a amount of detail, we are continuing to see the benefits of our operational improvements and the business is demonstrating improved resilience and flexibility in what I would consider an ever-changing business environment. So let us turn to slide nine for an overview of our priorities going forward. As we look ahead, our focus continues to remain on returning Unifi, Inc. to long-term growth and enhanced profitability. In order to achieve this goal, we are keeping our efforts focused on four key areas.

First, we will continue to build on the operational improvements that we have implemented and ensure we do not lose any of the enhancements to the business that we have made. At the same time, we will continue to invest in our capabilities and technologies and reinforce and scale our platform of sustainable solutions. Next, we have a culture built around innovation, and as Al mentioned, we have not given up on those efforts. In new product developments, we will continue to invest in resources necessary to advance the customer adoption of our innovative solutions to support future growth.

And finally, we are focused on making sure we do everything we can to navigate the current trade and geopolitical environment that is creating some challenges for us. We are also maintaining a sharp focus on positioning the business to drive more consistent top-line growth as some of these global economic headwinds subside. It is good to see some momentum in a number of our innovative initiatives, especially in the U.S., with what we have called Beyond Apparel. You have heard us talk a lot about the potential we are seeing for our Beyond Apparel business, and while Q3 was still a work in progress, we are seeing real commercial success in Q4. Moving on to slide 10.

A key highlight for the last quarter was the global launch of Luxel, a new yarn technology that delivers the look and feel of linen while adding performance benefits like moisture management, wrinkle resistance, and odor control. It is made with REPREVE recycled polyester, including a minimum of 30% textile-to-textile recycled content with our REPREVE Take Back. Luxelle is designed to help brands reduce environmental impact while maintaining the look and feel of linen with easy care. The innovation can be used in a wide range of applications from footwear, apparel, and home goods.

And Luxelle is just another example of how we at Unifi, Inc. have continued to develop yarn technologies that can replicate the performance of natural fibers and enhance the technical performance beyond what nature can actually provide. And in our military and tactical markets, much of the success we are seeing is centered around our Fortisyn brand. We are seeing success here because we offer enhanced strength nylon yarns, natural white, all with color embedded into the yarns, and in addition, these products can be made with REPREVE nylon as the base polymer.

These advancements that we have made in this market, with the performance promise backed up by Unifi, Inc.'s quality systems, alongside a sustainable offering, are finally starting to move into the serious commercialization stage. So alongside the Beyond Apparel growth of military and tactical, carpeting is getting more traction. Packaging has continued to perform well, with volumes growing in both these markets too. We expect to see further growth in the periods ahead. In Asia, we are beginning to see more activity in both REPREVE Take Back, our textile-to-textile fiber platform, and Thermal Loop, our innovative circular insulation product.

In a couple of quarters, I expect to be able to discuss openly which additional brands and retailers have been adopting these offerings once they themselves go public. Turning to slide 11. In February, we released fiscal year 2025 sustainability snapshot highlighting progress in scaling our REPREVE recycled materials platform and advancing sustainable manufacturing. We announced a new goal to recycle 65 billion plastic bottles by 2030, and updated our other established goals, such as converting the equivalent of 1.5 billion T-shirts worth of textile waste into REPREVE products.

The sustainability snapshot, as we call it, really helps telegraph to the brands and retailers how serious we are about helping them meet their sustainability targets and, of course, how committed we are at Unifi, Inc. to product innovation and building out our already substantial sustainable product portfolio. Turning to slide 12. In April, which is recognized globally as Earth Month, we celebrated our partners through our Champions of Sustainability program, announcing the winners of our ninth annual REPREVE Champions of Sustainability Awards, recognizing brands and mills who are advancing circularity and responsible manufacturing across the textile industry.

This year's program introduced new textile waste awards to spotlight partners accelerating circular solutions, reinforcing our commitment to scaling recycled and traceable materials globally. And since the event was held in our main U.S. manufacturing location in Yadkinville, North Carolina, it gave those who attended a view into the production of REPREVE Take Back and the process. Moving to slide 13 for an overview of our outlook and how we anticipate sustaining our financial momentum. For the fourth quarter, we expect to see our Brazil segment benefit financially from the supply chain dynamics that currently exist in the market, and we will be able to leverage the long supply chain to our advantage in the coming months.

In the Asia segment, there is an expectation that we will see increased adoption resulting in revenues from our technologies and circular solutions. The Americas segment should improve in terms of volumes and revenues, primarily from pricing actions and our value-added Beyond Apparel portfolio. However, we are still facing some demand challenges with our underlying business, specifically in Central America. To wrap up, we are encouraged by the progress that we have made, which is now being reflected in our financial results.

Our business is in a stronger position today than it has been in some time, and we are continuing to remain focused on ensuring that our operational enhancements translate into sustained financial improvements that will help create value for our shareholders. And before I hand the call over to the operator, I would like to acknowledge that the improvements to the business were a team effort, and I want to take the opportunity to thank each of the teams in the regional businesses for their hard work and efforts. With that, let us open the line for questions. Operator?

Operator: We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To withdraw your question, press 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your question comes from the line of Anthony Lebiedzinski with Sidoti. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst: Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions, and yes, certainly nice to see the improvement in the earnings results and also the pretty good cash flow in the quarter as well. So first, just can you talk about pricing versus unit volumes in Q3 and how that might change in the fourth quarter here given the increased input costs and some of the supply chain dynamics?

I think Brazil is probably the one where you would probably see the most in terms of pricing actions, but just wondering if you could comment on the quarter that you just reported, plus also give some more details about the pricing and volume dynamics that you may anticipate here in the fourth quarter?

Andrew J. Eaker: Sure, Anthony. It is Andrew. A bit of a mixed bag. I will try to go slow on some of that and ask Eddie to help as well. But if we start from a year-over-year perspective, we have the majority of decline in the Americas is volume-based. There is some price and mix in there, but predominantly volume. When we look at Brazil, their year-over-year was predominantly price movement—again, Q3 versus Q3—that was based on a lot of the competitive activity, lower prices coming from imported product. And third, in Asia, year-over-year, we did have a larger pricing impact versus volume impact as well.

So now when we look sequentially, Q3 to Q4, like you asked, we do see generally flat volumes in the Americas but certainly some pricing as we have had to make some responsive pricing actions given the movement in petrochemical markets. In Brazil, we will also see meaningful pricing increase, but also a bit of volume. And in Asia, we see a mix of volume and price there, again partly with petrochemical-related inflation and partly with some of the recovery that we mentioned beginning with the month of March in Asia headed into Q4. And I will ask Eddie to add on any more there.

Edmund M. Ingle: Yes, he has covered most of it. I just want to add one specific thing around the velocity of the pricing. We are in a situation today where more of our pricing is order-to-order and not index like it had been in the past. So we are able to react more responsibly. We are being careful, of course, to talk to customers and be responsible suppliers. But because of the nature of the raw materials and the speed at which they have increased, we have had to react faster than we normally do.

So during the fourth quarter, especially by the time we exit, we expect to be caught up on any raw material increases, unfortunately, that we have to pass on.

Analyst: Got it. Thank you both. So just to clarify, you expect the pricing actions to essentially fully offset any of the cost headwinds that you are seeing at the moment, right?

Edmund M. Ingle: I think there will be a little bit of lag in the U.S., but primarily most of the cost increases will be passed on as we move through this quarter, and we are seeing that already.

Analyst: Got it. Okay. Thanks for clarifying that, Eddie. And then, in terms of the Asia segment, you highlighted that you expect improved adoption of innovative and sustainable platforms. Can you give some additional details in regards to that? And then as far as some of the new products that you have talked about, which one do you think has the most potential to make a difference in terms of the sales contributions?

Edmund M. Ingle: Yes. Here in the U.S. on the Beyond Apparel, in Q4, we are expecting to see about a 2 million dollar uplift in the quarter from these Beyond Apparel initiatives, which is primarily from our military and tactical Fortisyn programs, our carpeting business, and also the packaging business that we have. These are all margin-accretive opportunities for us, and we are—especially on the Fortisyn product—we spent a lot of time. We talked a lot about this on the calls.

It takes a long time to get traction, primarily because it is just such a technically difficult product to make, and then of course the customers are very sensitive to make sure that if they do make a switch, that they are switching to a product that can sustain itself and give them the advantages that we have described to them. We are at the point now where we are getting adoption, and I am very excited about that. I think the volumes potentially, overall for the whole market, will increase because of what is happening with Iran.

But overall, we are certainly very positive about that market and where it can bring us in the next few quarters, but specifically in this quarter. It is not going to be huge, but we have got commercial programs that we did not have just a quarter ago. And then in Asia, it is a mixture of our Thermal Loop—which most of the insulated jackets are made actually in Asia, so we do not expect to see any of that here in the Americas—and we are starting to get traction. This is the season to make insulation for the fall jacket sales. We have good programs there.

We have good programs in our REPREVE Take Back, which is our textile-to-textile, and also our technologies such as TruTemp 365 and SolveJek; they are also starting to create traction. So our revenues in Q4 will be up in Asia, primarily driven by our technologies. And in Brazil, they actually have increased the ratio of value-added sales, which is in part why the revenues will go up.

Analyst: Thanks so much for all that color. This is more of a longer-term, bigger-picture kind of question. As we look at the Americas, it is your very asset-heavy segment where you have taken out a lot of fixed costs. So even with lower revenue, you were able to generate much better gross profit here in Q3. As the segment recovers at some point, how should investors think about gross margin potential here in this segment with better revenue that you may see at some point?

Andrew J. Eaker: Sure, Anthony. I will start that and ask Eddie to add any. We are certainly proud of what was achieved in this third quarter, again beating expectations on what the team was able to accomplish in terms of getting cash back, cost out, and improving efficiencies in the facilities that remain. From a long-term perspective, we certainly want to get back to some of those better levels that were in the around 10 years ago.

Those margin levels were certainly healthy in the Americas, and with a lot of what Eddie has outlined in terms of new programs, new customer penetration, and continued efficiencies and cost management in the Americas, we do see that as a relevant goal and an achievable goal when those catalysts do hit.

Edmund M. Ingle: Yes. I just want to add, we are very, very careful about our spend—more than we ever have been before—and it is across every part of the organization. It is a new mindset. All we need is a little bit of volume to really get those margins that Andrew was talking about. We still expect it to come back, especially in Central America. We are getting the bright signals, but we are still just waiting patiently. While we are waiting, we still believe we can manage our spend relative to the revenues that we have to continue to give us positive profit in the Americas.

Albert P. Carey: Anthony, this is Al. I would add one thing to the Central America business. In many conversations with customers, all indications are they are going to use Central America for near-shoring because it is a good option for them to not be so dependent on China, and it is also a good option for close-in supply chain. We are just waiting. I think what is happening in the sourcing organizations of these companies is they are trying to determine, with the tariffs changing so much, is it a better deal to buy from the U.S.? Is it better to ship from China to Vietnam over to the Americas? It is going to happen, but it has just been very confusing.

We are waiting for it to happen. All indications are it will happen.

Analyst: Understood. Thanks for all that color. And somewhat of a similar question in regards to Brazil. Obviously, the near-term picture looks bright there, but just looking back over the last few years, there has been quite a lot of volatility in the Brazil segment in terms of sales and gross margins. Maybe if you guys could talk about what is different now, other than the supply chain dynamics, and how should we think about the longer-term opportunities and challenges beyond the current quarter?

Edmund M. Ingle: Thanks for the question, Anthony. The market is still continuing to grow because of the population and because of the general economy down there. We are the only large player down in that market. We have talked about the dumping that has been going on from Asia into Brazil. With this higher-cost dynamic, we are advantaged a little bit. So we do expect our margins to become a little bit more stabilized. Like we have said on this call, Q4 should be pretty strong, and going forward, we should get back to more normal EBITDA and more normal gross profits in Brazil on that business segment.

The dumping has lessened simply because the Asians appear to be a little bit more constrained from a petrochemical perspective, and they are passing those costs on to the market.

Analyst: Got it. That is very helpful context. Thank you very much, and best of luck.

Andrew J. Eaker: Great. Thank you, Anthony.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time, and this concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

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Unifi (UFI) Q3 2026 Earnings Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool