Brady Corporation (BRC) Q4 FY2026 Earnings Call: IPS Acquisition Drives 2027 Outlook

Key Takeaways

• Brady Corporation reported 10.0% sales growth in fiscal Q4 2026, including 8.4% organic growth, 1.1% from acquisitions and 0.5% from foreign currency translation.
• Adjusted diluted EPS rose 17.5% to $1.48, while GAAP diluted EPS was $0.96 versus $1.04 a year earlier. Gross margin increased to 52.9% from 50.4%.
• Quarterly operating cash flow increased 35.8% to $79.2 million, and free cash flow rose 22.9% to $60.7 million. Brady ended July 31 with $172.2 million of net cash.
• The Americas and Asia region delivered 11.6% organic growth, led by Wire Identification and data center demand. Asia organic sales increased 20.3%, while Europe and Australia grew 2.1% organically.
• Following the Honeywell PSS acquisition, Brady will report Identification Solutions, or IDS, and Intelligent Productivity Solutions, or IPS, as separate segments beginning in fiscal Q1 2027.
• Management expects fiscal 2027 adjusted diluted EPS of $6.25 to $6.75, including approximately $0.80 of IPS accretion. IDS organic revenue is expected to grow about 5%, while IPS is expected to contribute approximately $1.15 billion of revenue.

Core Financial Data

Brady recorded its sixth consecutive year of record earnings in fiscal 2026. Full-year sales grew 10%, while adjusted EPS increased 15% from fiscal 2025. Operating cash flow rose nearly 35% for the year.

Business and Operating Performance

Printer unit sales increased 25% in fiscal Q4 and 10% for the full year. Printers and related consumables accounted for slightly more than 40% of the legacy Brady business and generated nearly 10% organic growth in fiscal 2026. Management attributed the performance to end-market demand and new products, including the i4311 printer.

Americas and Asia quarterly sales reached a record $296.1 million, up 13.5% overall. Organic growth was 10.3% in the Americas and 20.3% in Asia. Wire Identification sales grew nearly 20% in the quarter and 16% for the full year, supported by data centers, commercial construction and industrial manufacturing.

Americas and Asia segment profit rose 43.9% to $74.3 million, with margin increasing to 25.1% from 19.8%. Excluding the tariff refund, segment profit still grew 36% and margin reached 23.7%.

Europe and Australia organic sales increased 2.1%. Europe grew 2.0%, while Australia rose 3.1%. Segment profit increased 23.9% to $18.7 million, and margin improved to 13.3% from 11.0%. Management said manufacturing conditions in Europe remained challenging, although defense spending and new regulatory programs provided areas of demand.

Asia’s growth was broad-based across China, India, Japan and Southeast Asia. India sales increased 23% for the year following prior investments in local manufacturing capacity.

The IPS acquisition expands Brady into scanners, mobile computing, software and services for large enterprise customers. Management said the combined company now operates in more than 40 countries, employs over 9,000 people and addresses an approximately $14 billion market. The combined organization has more than 1,000 engineers and scientists and nearly $200 million in R&D investment.

Management Guidance

Management expects most of the projected $0.80 IPS accretion to occur in the second half of fiscal 2027 as integration progresses. One-time integration costs will be excluded from reported IPS results to provide a clearer view of underlying performance.

The company expects IPS adjusted EBITDA of approximately $175 million in the upcoming year. Management continues to target about $25 million of synergies by year three and net leverage below 2x within the first two years after the acquisition.

Risks and Areas to Watch

• Management identified rising input costs, particularly memory and other electronics components, as a pressure across the business.
• Higher diesel prices linked to conflict in the Middle East were described as an additional cost headwind.
• Europe remains a slower-growth market, with manufacturing conditions challenging for several quarters.
• The IPS acquisition had been under Brady’s ownership for only about 30 days at the time of the call. Management emphasized that integration, systems work and commercial planning remain at an early stage.
• IPS revenue guidance assumes low-single-digit growth. Management said the outlook reflects the limited ownership period and the need to learn more about the business.
• The Q4 gross-margin result included an approximately $4 million tariff refund, net of incremental tariffs incurred.

Analyst Q&A Highlights

Management attributed the performance gap between the Americas and Europe mainly to different macroeconomic conditions. The U.S. benefited from stronger manufacturing activity and data center capital spending, while Europe remained a lower-growth environment.

On IPS capital requirements, management described the acquired operation as capital-light. Its Suzhou, China, manufacturing facility was characterized as efficient and not requiring major near-term investment. Brady’s fiscal 2027 capital expenditure guidance also reflects the completion of a $12 million to $13 million headquarters build-out incurred during fiscal 2026.

Regarding memory availability, IPS has redesigned products to support different memory configurations, qualified additional suppliers and entered long-term contracts. The company has also implemented price increases and supply-chain cost actions to mitigate higher memory costs.

Management said the main strategic objective is to return IPS to sustainable growth through product development, expanded sales coverage and investment in channel partners. Cross-portfolio opportunities include print, scanning, RFID, healthcare and software, with IPS emphasizing interoperable software that is not tied exclusively to its own hardware.

Full Earnings Call Transcript

Complete Earnings Call Transcript

Management Remarks

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 2026 Brady Corporation Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Ann Thornton, CFO. Please go ahead.

Ann Thornton

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the Brady Corporation Fiscal 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. The slides for this morning's call are located on our website at www.bradycorp.com. We will begin our prepared remarks on Slide #3.

Please note that during this call, we may make comments about forward-looking information. Words such as expect, will, may, believe, forecast and anticipate are just a few examples of words identifying a forward-looking statement. It's important to note that forward-looking information is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties, which could significantly impact expected results. Risk factors were noted in our news release this morning and in Brady's fiscal 2026 Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC this morning.

Also, please note that this teleconference is copyrighted by Brady Corporation and may not be rebroadcast without the consent of Brady. We will be recording this call and broadcasting it on the Internet. As such, your participation in the Q&A session will constitute your consent to being recorded.

I'll now turn the call over to Brady's President and Chief Executive Officer, Vineet Nargolwala. Vineet?

Vineet Nargolwala

Thank you, Ann, and good morning, everyone. I was appointed by the Board nearly 3 months ago to succeed Russell Shaller as he transitioned into retirement. Over his tenure as CEO, Russell built a strong foundation for growth at Brady, and I would like to thank him for his contribution towards Brady's success.

As you may know, I've had the privilege to serve on Brady's Board for the last 4-plus years. This has given me a great perspective on Brady and the transformation of the business leading to the PSS acquisition. With my decade-long tenure at Honeywell and my extensive technology background, the Board asked me to be appointed on the PSS acquisition along with the management team, and I championed that opportunity. My diligence, which included discussions with former colleagues at Honeywell and numerous other executives in the industry, provided conviction that the PSS business would help create the next chapter of growth for Brady, not just by adding a business of scale, but also by growing our addressable markets. With the PSS acquisition closed as of a month ago, Brady is now pivoting from a classic industrial company to an industrial technology company that is able to put more connected devices, software, services and media to work to solve the most challenging customer problems. We're entering new markets and immediately garnering the #2 market position in the AIDC sector.

With this acquisition and the beginning of fiscal year 2027, we are reorganizing our 2 business units into 2 separate reportable segments. Ann will discuss this more in detail in a few minutes, but for clarity of discussion, we now refer to the existing Brady business as Identification Solutions, or IDS, and the former PSS business from Honeywell as Intelligent Productivity Solutions, or IPS. Olivier Bojarski, who previously was the President of Americas and Asia for Brady, will now lead the IDS business; and David Barker, who was the President of PSS at Honeywell, will now lead our newly acquired IDS business. Olivier and David are both with us today on this call, and they will be available to answer questions during our Q&A session.

Let me take a moment now to discuss the significant opportunity before us and how we intend to capitalize on that opportunity to drive long-term growth and shareholder value. Brady has over a 100-year history of helping organizations identify and protect assets and people even in the world's most demanding environments. We're known for our specialty materials, printers and consumables serving small- to medium-sized customers across numerous markets with unique solutions. We have a history of strong cash generation and over 40 years of increasing dividends to our shareholders. With the acquisition of Honeywell's PSS business, Brady becomes a leading identification, safety and productivity solutions partner for businesses globally. The acquisition combines Brady's capabilities with PSS' strengths in scanners, mobile computing, software and services designed for large demanding enterprise customers, creating end-to-end solutions across critical workflows.

We now operate in over 40 countries with over 9,000 employees worldwide and address a market of approximately $14 billion. Combined, we have over 1,000 engineers and scientists and nearly $200 million in R&D investment. As Ann will discuss in more detail in a few minutes, our top line revenue will increase by over 70% on an annualized basis, and we expect the IPS (sic) [ PSS ] acquisition to be immediately accretive in this first fiscal year under our ownership.

Since I became the CEO 3 months ago, I've taken every opportunity to meet with our employees, our customers and our channel partners in both the IDS and IPS segments of our business. I've also met with several of our key shareholders. My listening to reveal to me that my excitement about the future of Brady is not unique. First, there is overwhelming support across our organization. In town halls and roundtables across the businesses globally, there is genuine excitement about building new Brady and the opportunities it offers to our teams to learn and grow while serving our customers in many new ways. Second, there is positive feedback from the VAR community that the IPS business is now part of Brady. Our partners are excited about having a true market alternative and in fact, rooting for our success. And third, our major shareholders are supportive of the direction and the trajectory of new Brady. They too see the opportunity ahead and understand our commitment to a continuation of Brady's history of operational excellence and focus on shareholder returns.

Although it is only a month since the close of the transaction, the IPS business joins Brady with momentum and is growing sales in the low single digits over the trailing 12 months. IPS' new product pipeline is strong, and we will augment that as we have line of sight to the meaningful opportunity ahead of us with our combined businesses. Similarly, as you can see from Brady's financial results, the core Brady business is executing incredibly well as we achieved record revenue and adjusted earnings per share. Our strong organic growth with the additional contributions from acquisitions and foreign exchange drove 10% top line growth for the quarter and the year. In addition, expanding margins drove a 15% increase in adjusted earnings per share in 2026 versus 2025. We enter fiscal 2027 with momentum and with clear strategic imperatives and distinct operational and financial objectives. Of course, there is much work to be done to integrate the organizations and the underlying systems, and our integration teams have been planning these processes for months, and we are well underway. We will keep you updated on our progress as the year unfolds.

Now I will turn it over to Ann to review the results of the quarter and the year just ended as well as our initial outlook for fiscal 2027. Ann?

Ann Thornton

Thank you, Vineet. We reported record high revenue and adjusted earnings per share results in fiscal year 2026, which also represents our sixth consecutive record earnings year. Our focus on new product development and in particular, on the ease-of-use capabilities of our Printers is driving consistent organic sales growth from our Printers and our Specialty Adhesive materials, and you're seeing this in our record high earnings and cash flow results.

This quarter, organic sales grew 8.4%, Acquisitions added 1.1% and foreign currency translation increased sales 0.5% for total sales growth of 10% in the quarter. Gross profit margin improved to 52.9% compared to 50.4% in the fourth quarter of last year. Last year, we took actions to streamline our cost structure, and we closed manufacturing facilities in Beijing, China and in Buffalo, New York. Costs resulting from these actions reduced our gross profit margin by 50 basis points in the fourth quarter last year. Now we're realizing the benefits of this reduced footprint in 2026. One favorable item in the fourth quarter of this year was our tariff refund, which benefited our gross profit margin by approximately $4 million, which was net of incremental tariffs incurred. Adjusting for the negative impact of facility consolidations in Q4 of 2025 and adjusting for the positive impact from tariff refunds in Q4 of 2026, our gross profit margin increased by 110 basis points.

Our continued growth from our Printers and Specialty Adhesive materials is the primary driver of the improvement in our gross profit margin and in our overall profitability. SG&A was $148.1 million in the fourth quarter compared to $117.9 million in the fourth quarter of last year. If you exclude amortization expense from both periods as well as acquisition-related expenses from the current year and exclude facility closure and other re-org costs incurred last year, then SG&A decreased to 26.2% of sales compared to 26.8% of sales, a reduction of 60 basis points. The actions we took last year to reduce our cost structure continue to drive benefits.

Looking at R&D, we continue to focus on printer development and software capabilities as well as our specialty adhesive materials, and we're absolutely seeing the growth from these efforts. Printer unit sales were up 25% in the fourth quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year. For the full year 2026, printer unit sales are up 10% compared to 2025. This is exactly where we're looking to drive growth because we know that what follows our sales of our specialty adhesives. R&D expense was $22.9 million or 5.2% of sales, which was a slight decrease from $23.1 million or 5.8% of sales in last year's fourth quarter. Our results come together with GAAP diluted earnings per share of $0.96 compared to $1.04 last year. And adjusted diluted earnings per share were $1.48 compared to $1.26 last year, which is growth of 17.5%.

Operating cash flow increased 35.8% from $58.3 million to $79.2 million in the fourth quarter, and free cash flow increased 22.9% from $49.4 million to $60.7 million in the fourth quarter. Operating cash flow increased nearly 35% in fiscal year 2026 compared to fiscal 2025. This demonstrates our consistent focus on cash-based decision-making and our high-quality earnings. And at July 31, we were in a net cash position of $172.2 million, which was more than double our net cash position from 1 year ago. Our financial strength and our ability to generate cash enables us to continue to invest in our organic business through R&D as well as our sales force while consistently increasing our dividends. Yesterday, we announced our 41st consecutive annual dividend increase, which is a streak that we're incredibly proud of.

Our strong balance sheet also allows us to buy back shares when the opportunity is there. And this quarter, we purchased 333,000 shares for $28.1 million, which was an average price of $84.36 per share. During the full year fiscal 2026, we purchased 517,000 shares for $42.2 million, which was an average price of $81.65 per share. And we still have $44 million remaining within our current plan authorization, giving us continued flexibility to be opportunistic with buybacks.

Turning to our regional segment. Organic sales growth was incredibly strong at 11.6% in the Americas and Asia region, finishing at a record high $296.1 million in the quarter. Acquisitions added 1.7% growth and foreign currency translation increased sales 0.2% for total sales growth of 13.5%. We grew sales in all of our key product lines and growth was once again led by Wire Identification, which had nearly 20% sales growth in the quarter. Wire ID represents 20% of the sales in the Americas and Asia region, and this product line grew 16% in fiscal year 2026. Data centers continue to be a key end market for this product category with commercial construction as well as industrial manufacturing also helping to drive growth.

Breaking the region down further, organic sales grew 10.3% in the Americas and grew 20.3% in Asia. Our reported segment profit in the Americas and Asia region increased 43.9% to $74.3 million, and segment profit as a percentage of sales increased 530 basis points from 19.8% to 25.1% in the fourth quarter. The tariff refund of $4 million benefited our Americas and Asia region. But even after adjusting for the tariff benefit, segment profit still grew 36% and segment profitability grew from 19.8% of sales to 23.7% of sales. Sales growth in our Engineered Products, along with the cost reduction activities from last year are driving our improvement in both profit and profitability.

Turning to the Europe and Australia region. We grew organic sales 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Foreign currency translation added 1.1% to sales for total sales growth of 3.2%...

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Ann Thornton

Excuse me, Latanya, we just have a few more prepared remarks here before we want to open up for Q&A.

Operator

Our first question will be coming from the line of Keith Housum of North Coast Research.

Question-and-Answer Session

Keith Housum

I'm sorry, go ahead with your remarks.

Ann Thornton

Thanks, Keith. One moment, Latanya. We do still have just a few more prepared remarks. Thanks so much, Keith.

All right. I think we were on the Americas and Asia region. So we did finish the second half of the year with momentum, and we closed fiscal year 2026 with organic sales growth of 1.2%. Manufacturing has been a challenging end market in Europe and Australia for several quarters now, and we view closing our year with growth as meaningful looking ahead to 2027. We grew sales in most of our major product lines in the quarter and the full fiscal year with growth led by Safety and Facility ID and Wire ID.

Our reported segment profit in Europe and Australia increased 23.9% in the quarter to $18.7 million, and segment profit as a percentage of sales increased from 11% to 13.3%. Breaking the region down further, organic sales grew 2% in Europe and 3.1% in Australia. Vineet mentioned at the beginning of the call that starting with this fiscal year 2027, we will be organized with 2 reportable segments. Our first segment will consist of the existing Brady business, which we'll refer to as Identification Solutions, or IDS. And the second segment will consist of our acquisition of Honeywell's PSS business, which we will refer to as Intelligent Productivity Solutions, or IPS. We will begin reporting our new segments starting in the first quarter of 2027.

For fiscal 2027, we expect revenue from IDS to grow approximately 5% organically, and we expect IPS to contribute revenue of approximately $1.15 billion. On a combined basis, we expect Brady to deliver $6.25 to $6.75 of adjusted diluted EPS, which includes approximately $0.80 of accretion from the IPS business. We expect the majority of the $0.80 of accretion from IPS to be weighted towards the second half of the fiscal year as we work through the early stages of integration during the first half. We plan to exclude any onetime integration-related costs from our reported IPS business' results in fiscal year 2027 in order to provide a clear view of the business' financial performance. After these adjustments, we expect the IPS business' reported segment profit to be in the low double digits as a percentage of sales during this first year. Meanwhile, we expect our reported IDS segment profit to be approximately 20% of sales in 2027.

Other elements of our guidance include depreciation expense of approximately $45 million, capital expenditures of approximately $40 million and a full year income tax rate of approximately 21%. We will continue to exclude amortization expense from our adjusted EPS results in fiscal year 2027, which is consistent with the last several years. And we will provide you with an update on the amount of amortization that we expect for 2027 during our first quarter earnings release, which is when our purchase price allocation of IPS will be complete. Our adjusted EPS guidance range of $6.25 to $6.75 per share represents a range of growth of between 18.1% to 27.6% compared to 2026.

Now I'll turn the call back over. If we could please open the line up to questions. We're ready to go.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from the line of Steve Ferazani of Sidoti.

Steve Ferazani

I guess that Keith was in line, but I guess I'll just go ahead. Welcome, and thanks for the detail this morning. And when we back out the $4 million in the tariff refund, the numbers look pretty much in line with us, but Europe was certainly softer than we were expecting. U.S. was a little bit better. Can you talk a little bit about the divide between the two? Europe in particularly looks like it decelerated sequentially with lower margins. Can you talk about what you're seeing in the two different geographic regions?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes, Steve, thanks for the question. I'll get started and then I'll invite Olivier to maybe add a few comments. I think as we look at the two regions, one of the things that I'm really struck by is how closely our regional businesses track through the GDP performance and some of the macro trends that are driving each of the regions. As an example, we see some really good strength in Europe around defense spending. There is some momentum around the new digital passport and new regulations coming in.

So I think our team has done a really nice job of executing against what has been largely a tough macro, but also picking on some of the trends that have been positive and really pivoting to focus on growth in those areas. And I think on the Americas side, we are continuing to benefit from the continued CapEx investment in data centers. And Olivier, do you want to add more color to that?

Olivier Bojarski

No, I think that's exactly right, Vineet. And thank you for the question, Steve. I think we're executing well in both regions, but the macro environments are very different. In the U.S., we're benefiting from a stronger U.S. manufacturing PMI as well as data center growth. And obviously, we see a lower growth environment in Europe in general. But both regions are executing well with what we can control.

Steve Ferazani

Inflationary pressures?

Vineet Nargolwala

Can you say that again, Steve?

Steve Ferazani

Are you seeing inflationary pressures, particularly in Europe, just looking at your segment margin there even sequentially? Or is that just mix?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes. So I think if you take a step back, we are seeing rising input costs across the board. We're not unique in that. So I think when you think about rising electronics costs, especially memory, I think that's an impact. The conflict in the Middle East is having an impact on diesel prices, which essentially becomes a tax across the board. And so we're certainly seeing that impact. I would say that despite that, our European region executed really well from a segment margin standpoint. And so really proud of the work that the team has done in Europe as well as in Americas and Asia.

Steve Ferazani

Excellent. The one number that surprised us was your CapEx guide for fiscal '27, given that you're almost not quite doubling the size of your facilities, your CapEx as you're guiding a little bit lower. I'm assuming you've reviewed all the assets you've acquired and you think those are in good competitive shape given that Honeywell clearly had been planning to sell it for a little bit. We would have think maybe they would have under-invested. What do you think about the positioning of those facilities right now? And it sounds like you don't think there's a lot of near-term investments necessary?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes, Steve, this is Vineet. So I'll take that and then Ann will jump in as well. I think when you think about the IPS business, first of all, it's a CapEx-light business. So we really like the fact that it's not capital-intensive. I would say the second piece that I think is really remarkable about the business is that it comes with a world-class manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, which really has -- was a star even in the Honeywell portfolio. And so when we look at that facility, it's a highly well-run facility, very efficient facility. And we don't really think any major capital investments are needed there to support the growth that's ahead of us. Ann I don't know if you want to add anything more.

Ann Thornton

Sure. Yes. Good question, Steve. A couple of items that came into the current year that we just reported, our CapEx coming in at $51.5 million for the full year includes a build-out of our headquarters facility, which was an incremental $12 million or $13 million of additional CapEx as we added some capacity, added some automation and really was a part of our facility consolidation efforts last year and closing the Buffalo facility. So what you're seeing this year in our results is a little bit of incremental kind of onetime additional facility build-out. Next year, we expect things to return to normalized levels, which generally for Brady and the IPS business, just as Vineet had just highlighted, generally can run around 2% of sales, and that's what you're seeing in our guide.

Steve Ferazani

Excellent. That's very helpful. If I get one more in. Vineet, now that you're -- I mean, you've been on the Board for a period, so you've seen the different performance of Brady. But now that you're in the CEO seat, I'm curious if there's going to be a review of legacy Brady product lines? Clearly, there have been certain segments you've been -- product lines you've been investing in that are higher margin, but really driving the growth. Others maybe recently have been underperforming. Is there going to be -- how are you thinking about a product line review and maybe a reduction in SKUs? Is that on the table?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes, Steve, thank you for the question. So indeed, I've had a really great vantage point for the last 4-plus years of the Board. I will tell you that as I've transitioned to the CEO seat, just a deeper appreciation for what makes us special, our heritage, our talent, the focus on serving customers. I would say from a portfolio standpoint, we've always been focused on portfolio optimization. Obviously, now with the IPS business coming into the fold, that takes on a whole different meaning for us as well. So we'll keep looking at parts of the portfolio that really fit our strategy going forward and the ones that don't or the ones that we feel don't really support what we want to do going forward, we'll obviously look to -- look for a different direction there.

But I'm excited by the set of products and businesses that comprise Brady today, and really look forward to working with our business leaders and our teams to drive growth and create value for the future.

Operator

That concludes our Q&A session. I would now like to turn the call back to Vineet.

Ann Thornton

We do have one more in the queue, which is Keith Housum.

Operator

And our last question will come from the line of Keith Housum.

Keith Housum

Can you guys hear me okay?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes, we can.

Keith Housum

Glad to hear. Just two questions on the performance for the quarter, then I want to talk about the guidance a little bit. I guess this is probably geared more towards Olivier. Olivier, great job for the quarter. Asia grew 20% organically. Perhaps you guys can provide a little bit of color on the strength there? That really was great for them in that area and how sustainable it might be going forward?

Olivier Bojarski

Yes. Keith, thank you for the kind words and the question. Yes, indeed, we had a very strong quarter in Asia. It was really spread across all of our geographies. So we had strong performance in China, India as well as Japan and Southeast Asia. Part of that is that we're seeing also some growth in data centers and just general manufacturing in Asia across the board. And I want to highlight India, which is a very strong country for us. We had 23% growth this year. As you know, we made some additional investments going back about 2 years, expanded manufacturing in India, and now we're reaping the benefits from that.

Keith Housum

Okay. So it sounds like, again, going through tough comps year-over-year is going to be tough, but there's a lot of tailwinds that you're back here from what I'm hearing.

Olivier Bojarski

Yes. We are generally positive about the environment across the board, certainly in the U.S., but also in Asia as a region.

Keith Housum

Okay. Great. And then, guys, I think you guys noted here, printer volume growth was up 10% for the year, but I think 25% for the fourth quarter if I heard it right. So to me, that's a great acceleration throughout the year. But perhaps talk about, I guess, the cadence of that during the year and perhaps why it grew so much in the fourth quarter versus the rest of the year? And then second, any color on what drove our consumable growth during the year?

Olivier Bojarski

Yes. So the end markets we're in remain very strong. To highlight a couple, data centers, of course, for our Wire Identification product line. That's also leading to more customers buying our automation systems due to the high volume of passport assemblies that are necessary for these hyperscale data centers.

As I mentioned, the manufacturing environment is also very strong. PMI has been in expansion territory since January and the last couple of months, we're around 55%. So we're seeing growth across manufacturing. And construction also remains strong for us as a market. But in addition to the market growth, I think we're having some success with our new products. We mentioned the i4311 in the prior earnings call, and we are having success placing those printers with customers as we identify new use cases.

Ann Thornton

I can jump in on the consumable growth during the fiscal year. As a collective group, I know we've spoken in the past around printers and the petite consumables for those printers representing nearly 40% of our total -- the total organic Brady's sales. And that is still true. We're right at 40% -- just about a little bit over 40%. And the growth coming from printers and consumables together in fiscal year 2026 was nearly 10% organically. So absolutely fantastic year.

Keith Housum

Great. And then if I turn to the guidance, and of course, I want to focus here on the IPS segment and Dave, welcome aboard to Brady. If I look at the guidance of $1.15 billion, that's only slightly higher than the revenue that was reported, at least from what we've seen publicly from FY '25. So as you think about perhaps just on a trailing 12-month basis, how is that guide versus the trailing 12 months?

Vineet Nargolwala

Keith, this is Vineet. So I'll start and then ask David to add a little bit of color. So first of all, we're very excited about the closing on the IPS business. We're 30 days in, and we are confirming a lot of what we had learned in diligence, but also are learning a lot of new things. And I think one of the things that I'm really impressed by is the focus that the team has on new product development. We're already looking at areas where the Brady team, the IDS teams and the IPS teams can start working together on portfolio synergies and fill each other's gaps. We're also starting to work on the commercial side.

But it's still very early days. And so I think when you think about what to expect in fiscal '27, we're really expecting the team, the IPS team to execute and continue to deliver at the same cadence that they have in the past 12 months. There's a lot we need to learn, a lot we need to sort of augment. There are areas around new product and R&D that we are augmenting. There are areas around sales coverage, investing in the partner program, that we are investing in. So I think there's a lot of work to be done here as we integrate the business. But I'm pleased with what we're seeing so far, and I'll invite David here to add a few more comments.

David Barker

Thank you, and thank you, Keith, for the welcome. It's great to be part of Brady. Immediately, we inherited a much stronger portfolio of value solutions. So in key technologies like RFID, like print, like scan, our portfolio solutions has increased. Our VAR community, our value-added resellers are very excited about that potential. Our end users, of course, are as well, and our commercial teams are chomping at the bit.

Second thing I would say, immediately impactful in Brady is what we're terming Brady speed. So we have a much flatter organization, decision-making happens much more in the regions, much closer to our customers and to our end users. And that means we can act with greater speed and agility in the market, that's appreciated by, of course, both our end users and our commercial teams in the regions.

Keith Housum

Great. And then Ann, just on a trailing 12 months basis, that $1.15 billion guide, does that assume just very low single-digit growth?

Ann Thornton

Yes, exactly right, Keith.

Keith Housum

I guess here's my concern or here's my question for you guys. I understand prices have been raising within the industry as a result of the memory cost significantly over the past year. So there's going to be some of that increase here in prices that we experienced over the next 12 months. So are we expecting volumes to actually go down a little bit? Or are we expecting perhaps it's more of a conservative guidance as you guys kind of get more of the lay of the land here in the combined organization?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes, Keith, that's a really good read. I would say that we are -- it's more of the latter, right? As we -- as I pointed out earlier, there's a lot we're learning as we go. We're only 30 days in. And so I think from -- in terms of our guide, we are expecting, obviously, volumes to go up. We think there's some low single-digit type growth. Obviously, as input costs change, we're going to be very agile and responsive in the market as well. And so I think there's a lot that we will learn, and we'll keep updating you as the year goes. But I think for now, we believe that, that's sort of the right range to be in.

Keith Housum

Okay. And I guess the last question, of course, on the mind of investors here that are familiar with the industry is going to be around the memory cost here and what the current status of memory cost is? And is there a potential that there are supply constraints and how it's going to impact pricing going forward? But just perhaps any discussion you can have about how memory costs are impacting the IPS segment currently?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes, Keith, that's a great question. So I will tell you that what I'm really encouraged by is that David and team have been working very diligently over the past few months to secure memory supply. So I'll let him sort of comment a little bit on where things stand, and also the pricing dynamic, which seems to be changing quarter-to-quarter.

David Barker

Yes. I would say that memory tightness is an industry-wide phenomenon. We've been working very hard on that over the last 12 months with our suppliers, of course, and also with our VAR community and our end-use customers. Two main items. First is availability. We've had great success in that area. We've initiated some product redesigns to be able to use different memory configurations. We've also qualified new suppliers and engaged in some long-term contracts to ensure that, that memory is available to the critical workflows of our customers.

And secondly, addressing the memory cost increases, twofold strategy there. First of all, price, obviously, is a major part of that, and we've implemented price increases appropriately as have many others in the industry. And second of all, addressing costs as well throughout our supply chain to be able to help mitigate some of that memory cost increase.

Keith Housum

Okay. And I guess last question, maybe perhaps this is for you, Ann, but I'll turn to anybody. If we think about, again, from publicly available information and discussion, I think the adjusted EBITDA of the IPS segment was 16% previously. And how does that reconcile to the low double-digit segment profit margin you guys are guiding to?

Ann Thornton

As we look ahead to next year, we basically expect our adjusted EBITDA to be right around the level that we -- at the jump-off point when we acquired the business. So what we announced basically our purchase price, 8x EBITDA implies right around $175 million of adjusted EBITDA for this upcoming year.

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes. I would add, Keith, that our priority here is to bring the IPS business back to growth on a sustainable basis. So there's a lot of calories being spent right now on helping the team double down on the right product areas, on the right sales areas, balance the rising input costs with actions in the market. So I think as we think about the work product over the next few quarters, it's really about the commercial side, it's about the product side, making sure that we are really bringing the business back to being the innovative market leader that it aspires to be.

Operator

And our next question will be a follow-up from Steve Ferazani of Sidoti.

Steve Ferazani

I just wanted to follow up the last string of questions. Really, Vineet to just pull back and if you can discuss, and you were with Honeywell for obviously many years, how the competitive landscape has changed for PSS, which is like a limited competition environment. How that market has changed, how you're thinking about it and what Brady brings to the table to help PSS in that market?

Vineet Nargolwala

Sure. I'll definitely offer a perspective. I will tell you my perspective is very dated. Honeywell was a couple of lifetimes ago, but I will invite David here as well to comment a little bit on the competitive dynamics in the market. What I will tell you is AIDC used to be a very fragmented space. It's obviously way more consolidated now, right? A couple of players, including us, control the majority or have the majority share in the market. It's not to say that there isn't technology disruption and new players coming on. And I think technology is the big leveler. And one of the things that I think we are very focused on is leading with innovation, making sure that we are really listening to customers.

Brady is really known for its maniacal focus on serving customers, the ease-of-use value proposition and really making sure that we are putting the customer at the center of everything we do. And I think it's that mindset that we bring to the IPS team. It's not to say that they aren't of the same mindset already, but I think it's being in the Brady umbrella, I think, is just a better fit for the IPS business. And I'll let David comment a little bit more on what you're seeing from a competitive dynamic standpoint.

David Barker

Yes. I would say even if you look at the name change of the business segment, it's quite subtle, but we've moved from productivity solutions and services to Intelligent Productivity Solutions. And that tells a lot. We've invested significantly in our software portfolio, and that's where the real differentiation will be in the future. We've made our software portfolio interoperable. So many of the different IPS software solutions work together. We've also made it agnostic to our hardware portfolio. So it significantly increases the market. And it unlocks a lot of additional value for our customers, but also makes our solutions much more sticky with them as well.

Steve Ferazani

Got it. Very helpful. And I know it's only a month into the acquisition, but I guess for Vineet and Ann. Any changes -- a couple of questions regarding de-leveraging given the lower CapEx than we're expecting, can you de-leverage faster out of this acquisition as well as any updated thoughts on synergy realization? Have you started thinking about cross-selling opportunities and what that might bring?

Vineet Nargolwala

Yes. I'll start on that, Steven, and then Ann will jump in, I'm sure. So you asked two or three different questions in there. So I would say, let's start with the -- let's start with the synergy piece, right? So I think we've sort of outlined about $25 million of synergies in year 3. But this is really not about synergies, right? We were so excited about the portfolio, the depth of talent. There are some capabilities we are inheriting with the IPS business like a focus on industrial design, which I think really help the broader Brady portfolio.

David talked about the focus on print and scan, the RFID. This is really a case where 1 plus 1 equals 5 as we think about combining our health care teams together to focus on that segment. We think about combining our R&D teams together around print, scan, RFID. Our software teams are starting to work together already just 30 days in. So I think there's a lot of excitement about what we can achieve together, the Brady IDS team and the Brady IPS team. I think from a capital allocation standpoint, I'll start and then Ann will jump in. We are pretty focused on maintaining the balance that we've had in our capital allocation strategy. Certainly, the focus on investing in growth, maintaining our commitment to our shareholders from a dividend standpoint and a buyback standpoint. And I think we have taken on a little bit of debt. It's very comfortable for us. But certainly, we want to get to a point where we feel more comfortable to getting to our target leverage. I think that's going to be a big focus here. Ann, I don't know if you want to add more to it.

Ann Thornton

Yes, absolutely. Thanks for the question, Steve. And you're absolutely right, only 30 days in, but we are incredibly excited and more excited every single day as we continue to work with the IPS team, and that does not change our view or our projections that we've laid out around our intent and our ability to de-leverage to below 2x net leverage within the first 2-years of post ownership of the business. which absolutely gives us the room and the ability to continue to balance our capital allocation approach exactly as Vineet had just mentioned.

Operator

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back to Vineet for closing remarks.

Vineet Nargolwala

Thank you. I'll close by saying we're beginning a new chapter for Brady. Brady has a history of transformation and none bigger than the IPS acquisition. Together, we are taking a significant step forward as we forge a new company with a culture of innovation and collaboration. As we transition from an industrial company to an industrial technology company, we are immediately leveraging the capabilities of a large, well-established and trusted technology business in IPS, giving us entry into new markets, new verticals and new customers. Our entire enterprise is energized. Our teams are excited and already working closely to fulfill our strategic objectives and continue to build shareholder value. We look forward to keeping you apprised of our progress in the coming year. Thank you.

Operator

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.