Acme United Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
Acme United (AMEX:ACU) released second-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below.
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Summary
Acme United Corporation reported a 16% increase in net sales for Q2 2026, reaching $63 million, with net income rising to $5.1 million and earnings per share up by 5% to $1.22.
The acquisition of MiMedic contributed $4.3 million in sales for the quarter, with plans to expand its product offerings to retail and improve profitability through cost reductions.
Gross margins improved from 41% to 42.6%, largely driven by MiMedic's high-margin products, though U.S. margins were impacted by tariffs.
Strategic growth initiatives include expanding Spill Magic capacity, advancing MedNap's regulatory compliance, and launching new SmartCompliance software for automatic replenishment.
Future outlook is positive with expected growth in first aid and cutting tools, improving profitability at MiMedic, and continued margin expansion as high-tariff inventory is sold off.
SG&A expenses increased due to MiMedic's advertising costs, impacting the bottom line, but net income still showed improvement compared to Q2 2025.
The Canadian segment experienced modest growth, driven by the first aid business, with some weakness in the Westcott segment.
The company is actively pursuing further acquisitions and retail distribution expansion for MiMedic products.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good day and welcome to the Acme United second quarter 2026 financial results conference call. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to your host, Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead, sir.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Good morning. Welcome to the second quarter 2026 earnings conference call for Acme United Corporation. I am Walter C. Johnsen, Chairman and CEO. With me is Paul Driscoll, our Chief Financial Officer, who will first read a safe harbor statement.
Paul Driscoll, CFO
Forward-looking statements in this conference call, including, without limitation, statements related to the company's plans, strategies, objectives, expectations, intentions, and adequacy of capital and other resources, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including, among others, those arising as a result of a challenging global macroeconomic environment characterized by continued high inflation, high interest rates, and the imposition of new tariffs or changes in existing tariff rates. In addition, we have experienced supply chain disruptions, and we may experience these disruptions in the future. We are also subject to additional risks and uncertainties as described in our periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in our current earnings release.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thank you, Paul. Acme United made progress. During the second quarter of 2026, our net sales increased from $54 million to $63 million, an increase of 16%. Net income increased from $4.8 million to $5.1 million, and earnings per share increased 5% to $1.22. As you may remember, we acquired MiMedic in January 2026. This addition to the Acme United family sells high-quality first aid kits designed to save lives. It extends the reach of our product line from simple retail kits to advanced ones with chest seals, tourniquets, and tools to clear airways.
MiMedic today sells mostly directly to consumers and is seasonal. It has high gross margins and also high advertising and marketing costs. Net sales in 2025 were $19 million. MiMedic sales in the second quarter were approximately $4.3 million, with breakeven operations as expected. We are working to increase the core direct-to-consumer business as well as expand the product offering to retail. At the same time, we are addressing the product cost through our strong Asian sourcing team, consolidating freight with other Acme United shipments to reduce costs, and eliminating duplicate corporate functions.
The intention is to have strong profits from MiMedic during all quarters, with particular strength in the fourth quarter. This will take time, but we are realizing savings already. Our core businesses performed well in the second quarter. In the United States, net sales of first aid and medical products increased 10%, with growth in particular at mass market retailers. Other strong contributors in the quarter were the Safety Maid promotional first aid business, MedNap antiseptic wipes, and Spill Magic cleanup products.
Also in the United States, the Westcott cutting tools business increased 8% during the second quarter. As you may remember, our retail business last year was hurt by tariff and cost uncertainty, and many of our customers canceled their seasonal promotions. This has recovered, and we are seeing a resumption of growth. Our Canadian business increased 3%, driven by industrial, retail, and online sales of our first aid business. In Europe, net sales increased 19% with strong growth of our Westcott cutting tools.
Gross margins in the quarter increased for the overall business from 41% to 42.6% due to high margins at MiMedic. Without MiMedic, gross margins in the United States declined approximately 100 basis points due to the costs of high tariffs that were capitalized in our inventory and are now being sold. This is an improvement from the first quarter, and we anticipate continued gross margin expansion as these products are sold in the coming quarters.
When the war with Iran began, we placed orders for approximately $10 million of extra inventory to buffer potential product shortages and cost increases. We continue to maintain this extra level of stock and are positioned to address issues should they arise. As we look to the coming quarters, we see continued growth of the first aid and medical business, resumption of promotional retail activity with our Westcott cutting tools, improving profitability at MiMedic, and strengthening of our gross margins as high-tariff products are replaced by lower-cost ones.
I will now turn the call to Paul.
Paul Driscoll, CFO
Acme's net sales for the second quarter were $62.7 million compared to $54 million in 2025, an increase of 16%. Excluding MiMedic, sales increased 8%. Sales for the six months ended June 30, 2026 were $115 million compared to $100 million in the same period in 2025, an increase of 15%. Excluding MiMedic, sales increased 7%. Net sales in the U.S. segment increased 17% in the quarter. Excluding MiMedic, sales increased 8%. Sales increased 15% for the six months ended June 30.
Excluding MiMedic, sales increased 6%. The increases for both periods were driven by higher sales across all product lines. Net sales in Europe for both the second quarter and six months of 2026 increased 19% in local currency compared to 2025, partly due to the new line of cutting and sharpening tools. The base business also had a good performance with a sales increase of 12%. Net sales in local currency for Canada increased 3% in the quarter and 6% for the year to date, mainly due to higher sales of first aid products.
The gross margin was 42.6% in the second quarter of 2026 compared to 41% in 2025. The gross margin was 41.3% for the first six months of 2026 compared to 40.1% in 2025. The gross margin as a percentage of sales increased for both periods mostly due to the favorable mix from higher-margin direct-to-consumer MiMedic products. SG&A expenses for the second quarter of 2026 were $19.9 million, or 32% of sales, compared with $15.8 million, or 29% of sales, for the same period of 2025.
SG&A expenses for the first six months of 2026 were $38.9 million, or 34% of sales, compared with $31.3 million, or 31% of sales, in 2025. The higher SG&A was primarily due to the addition of the MiMedic business. The higher percentage of sales was due to the higher amount of advertising needed for the direct-to-consumer MiMedic business. Net income for the second quarter of 2026 was $5.1 million, or $1.22 per diluted share, compared to net income of $4.8 million, or $1.16 per diluted share, for the same period of 2025, increases of 6% in net income and 5% in earnings per share.
Net income for the first six months ended June 30, 2026 was $6 million, or $1.46 per diluted share, compared to $6.4 million, or $1.57 per diluted share, in the comparable period last year, decreases of 6% and 7%. The decline in year-to-date net income was mostly due to the impact of higher tariffs in the first quarter. The higher tariff spending commenced in June of 2025; however, the costs were capitalized into inventory, and we started to realize the full impact to earnings as the high-cost products were sold in the first quarter of 2026.
The impact was lower in the second quarter, and we expect the impact to lessen over the next two quarters as the tariff rate declined in November 2025 and again in February 2026. Now to the balance sheet: Net debt increased from $22.8 million at June 30, 2025 to $27.3 million at June 30, 2026. During the 12-month period ended June 30, 2026, we paid $14 million for the acquisition of the assets of MiMedic, distributed approximately $2.4 million in dividends, and purchased a cutting and sharpening line of products in Germany for $1.6 million.
Additionally, we generated approximately $15 million in free cash flow.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thank you, Paul. I will now open the call to questions.
OPERATOR
Thank you. At this time we'll be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment please, while we poll for questions.
Our first question comes from Timothy Cole with Capital Management Corporation. Your line is live.
Timothy Cole, Analyst at Capital Management Corporation
Congratulations on another strong quarter.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thanks, Tim.
Timothy Cole, Analyst at Capital Management Corporation
You've built a long-term track record of sales and earnings growth and the current trajectory looks great. You have many other promising growth initiatives other than what you mentioned today, such as Spill Magic capacity expansion and increased throughput at MedNap and long-term plant certification to expand sales to large new customers like government and hospital systems. Do you?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Well, thank you. Those are long-term initiatives. As people may remember, we bought a plant about a year ago in Tennessee for $6 million. It was a 12-acre site and 78,000 square feet just for Spill Magic growth. And we were constrained in the site that we were in, which we were leasing. We've moved into that facility. And, Paul, what are year-to-date sales growth at Spill Magic? It's like 40%, 35%? Talking like 30%, right? Yeah. So it's just, it's really screaming. And the best part of that is we're putting in automation into that facility that's unlike any of its competitors. And because it's a permanent facility, we can do the proper installation for a long-term growth plan. So there's one example. Another which is possible is the MedNap business in Florida, which makes alcohol prep pads and BZK wipes. And we've been investing a great deal in that facility and working to upgrade our regulatory compliance to possibly be able to address the U.S. hospital market. I would say that's at this stage a challenge, but the certification work is progressing well and we should be done with it by year end. And the MiMedic business in general has grown about a third this year. So that's very exciting. We've also been working for a long time on generation after generation of our SmartCompliance software, which does automatic replenishment in our first aid kits, our industrial first aid kits, and that next generation which automatically scans the contents of a first aid box and then generates replenishment orders through the internet.
That is now in final stages and is about to be going out to early distributors. So it could be a big growth segment. We'll see. And of course, we're looking at acquisitions, and we've got work to be doing at MiMedic, a lot of work. And the operating leverage that we hope should start to become apparent in the fourth quarter and then into the first. One of the big areas is the retail distribution, which MiMedic really didn't have, and we are very strong in that.
We're making presentations now to large mass market retailers and industrial distributors. I think that's quite promising. So we'll see how that works in the coming quarters. But we're excited about the place we're at now, and we're expecting some pretty good performance going forward. So thank you. Tim.
Timothy Cole, Analyst at Capital Management Corporation
Healthcare tends to grow a little bit faster than cutting tools. Do you have an idea of what percentage of the base healthcare is now or should be at year end?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
It's about. Health care is about 70% of the revenues right now. But I have to tell you, the Westcott business is coming back solidly. They're really. Last year was hard because the promotions were all canceled due to uncertainty from tariffs and pricing and retailers just couldn't bring in new items when they didn't know the cost of the existing ones. But this year is very different and we've got a full book of promotional activity, you know, from back to school and into the fourth quarter. First quarter. So Westcott has legs again and we're really pleased with that.
Thank you.
OPERATOR
Our next question comes from Georgi Beshchenko with Freedom Capital Markets. Your line is live.
Georgi Beshchenko, Analyst at Freedom Capital Markets
Thank you, Walter. Paul, good afternoon. And congratulations on the next quarter. The results were very impressive. So I have two questions on gross margin. First, gross margins reached their record levels this quarter. Could you help us understand the key drivers behind the improvement? Specifically, how much of this expansion was attributable to the My Medic acquisition? And my second question is on tariffs. You mentioned that tariffs created some headwinds on margins during the quarter; should we expect additional gross margin expansion as those headwinds begin? Thank you.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Sure. Well, thank you very much. Actually, both questions are quite intertwined. And what you're referring to is our gross margin improvement. Part of that has come, of course, because My Medic has bigger gross margins than our regular business. But they spend it, and it shows up in SG&A. They spend it in advertising. And so when you dig underneath, as I pointed out in my portion of this call in the United States, margins this quarter were reduced by about 100 basis points due to tariffs.
And Paul, what was the number in the first quarter? About 2%. Is that ballpark?
Paul Driscoll, CFO
It was probably like 150 basis points. Most of the increase in gross margin as a percentage of sales is due to the mix of My Medic.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Yeah, by far it is. And as we're looking forward, the impact of tariffs, because they've been reduced and that inventory is being sold, we're getting expansion. And so if we reduce the normal gross margin by 1%, you can picture that as we go through the rest of the year, we will recover that 1%. And relative to other costs, there are certainly other costs. Freight has increased and you can imagine with both bunker fuel for bringing product across the ocean as well as online freight delivery here in the United States and in Europe, the cost of fuel to run the trucks is up.
So there are other costs. And the dollar has weakened against the Chinese currency in the past year. And so for the items that we import from China, that's a headwind. But the net of it all is we've got that pretty much thought through, both in the pricing of our products. And as we pointed out, there's about $10 million of inventory that is either here or is on the way that's been purchased shortly, like within days of the start of the Iran war.
So it's got locked in excellent pricing.
Georgi Beshchenko, Analyst at Freedom Capital Markets
Thank you. This is very helpful.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thank you.
OPERATOR
Our next question is from Jim Marone with Singular Research. Your line is now live.
Jim Marone, Analyst at Singular Research
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Good quarter. As I like to say, good quarter as well, given the backdrop of a tougher, you know, environment. And with regards to a tougher environment, I'm trying to get a sense, are you hearing anything about the consumer appetite maybe with regards to the My Medic? You know, is the consumer appetite still going to be just as strong as it was in the past quarters, or are you going to start to find that the consumers, either on the industrial or on the retail end, are a little bit more discerning?
You know, we're hearing from even the grocers that the basket is getting smaller, I guess, as a result of rising fuel costs and other inflationary items, that consumers are a little more discretionary in their spending. And so, you know, how does that relate to both My Medic?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Jim, that's a very good question. You know, consumers only have a certain amount to spend and maybe they get a wage increase each year, but after taxes, that's a small amount. And clearly, for example, in the Northeast, where you have to heat your homes, an increase in fuel cost is expensive. And of course, for cars, it's expensive and there have been price increases. So you would think that the consumer would be more cautious. With regard to My Medic, so far, those sales are right on plan and we're not seeing weakness.
And as demonstrated by the growth of both Westcott and our first aid business, our customer base is buying. In the overall, you have to be aware that the individual consumer is being pressed, but we're not seeing it yet. And I think we would have seen some, especially, for example, in Europe. Europe just had a record quarter, both in sales and in earnings. And the Europeans are facing every bit of the inflation that the U.S. is, plus their cost of oil has gone even higher.
And our business is robust there.
Jim Marone, Analyst at Singular Research
Right. And so are they looking at that more as an essential item rather than a discretionary item, or do you have a competitive advantage over your competitors that they're choosing your product over the others? Like, what is the driver behind that?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Oh, yeah, well, there are clear drivers why people buy our products. First, in the Westcott area, we were the pioneer in coatings—titanium coatings, nonstick coatings—that deliver, honestly, the best performance in the class, and they have for many years. And it's all utility patents. So when you buy a Westcott item and it's a titanium item, for example, it's the best there is. And because we're the largest in the world, we have world-class pricing.
And so you've got innovation in the Westcott area and you've got cost. In first aid, we've got a strong marketing team building around addressing injuries and saving lives. And that marketing team is coming out with products that, frankly, totally differentiate from the competitors, many of whom are selling things in old white boxes or in metal cases. We've also got a strong sourcing team for components in Asia, and it's multi-office, multi-country.
Our competitors don't have that. And that's why we win at places like Walmart and at Grainger and at Fastenal. So there we've also got, I think I probably know, the lowest costs in the world.
Jim Marone, Analyst at Singular Research
Right, okay, thank you, I appreciate that answer. And you also touched upon it and I'm going to bring it up again. Just with regards to the cutting tools. The retailers have already come out with back to school. There's already been headlines with regards to parents being a little bit more discretionary on back to school budgets. Are you hearing anything with regards to that end as far as the back to school sales?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Well, through June—by the time June happens, the second quarter—we've shipped a chunk of the back to school because the retailers are then taking delivery, setting it into the planograms where they're putting them up, you know, online. Through June, it's a record for us, just flat-out record. And we've got a good backlog in the third quarter, which would be the rest of back to school. So for us, I'm not seeing that. But again, perhaps they're trading down on some of the items within the basket of what they buy, you know, to buy less expensive items.
I know that, for example, our dollar store sales have been doing very, very well, but we're also very strong in Walmart and that's doing well. But again, that's delivering value. We seem to be running a little bit counter to what you would think.
Jim Marone, Analyst at Singular Research
Yeah, I appreciate that, Walter, thank you for that visibility. And just one last question. With regards to the Canada segment, that just seems to be the one that's really struggling the most with just the 1% increase in revenue and, you know, single digits with regards to the bottom line. So is that a result just of a struggling Canadian economy or is it tariff related? And what do you see going forward with this renegotiation? What's the driver behind the Canadian segment?
Is it the economy? Is it tariffs? What's going on with that one?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Well, there's two parts. There's the First Aid Central business, which is doing very, very well. That's our first aid business. We've just moved into another new facility. That's the third move in four years because we keep growing. And this is a fabulous new facility outside of Montreal. So the first aid side is strong. The Westcott side is weaker, and there it seems to be hit more by the economy and also just it's sort of sluggish in Canada. So, you know, it's growth but it's not much.
Actually, in the third quarter they seem to have done a little bit better. But, you know, it's a small part of the overall company and we're certainly cheering for our Canadian colleagues. The impact of tariffs in Canada versus the United States probably impacts their shopping selections in total, but relative to our products we ship in Canada with Canadian items and so there's no tariff impact.
Jim Marone, Analyst at Singular Research
Great. Thank you for that answer, Walter.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thank you.
OPERATOR
As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. One moment please while we poll for questions. Our next question comes from Richard Danley with Longport Partners. Your line is now live.
Richard Danley, Analyst at Longport Partners
Thank you. Good morning. The My Medic business, being a direct-to-consumer business, I'm surprised that, you know, emergency response and trauma and so on—that it's... Do emergency responders, you know, does the local fire department order direct? I'm surprised it's a DTC business.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Well, that's where it started and it's built half a million social media followers, which is a very big number. And we've got videos coming out at least twice a week, new videos with either training or education on how to use things or new product introductions or success stories. And so you've got a following of people that are using the products, you know, long term. There are parts of the country—and I'm not saying this is My Medic, but in general—where there are fewer hospitals, fewer clinics, fewer doctors.
And this direct to consumer is a way to train and it's a way to deliver products directly to a consumer because maybe it's in a rural area. We do sell some My Medic items to fire departments and police departments and, you know, ambulances. But that will probably be a much bigger chunk as our salesforce starts to do that. That's the Acme United salesforce. Not currently buying it. This is mostly direct to consumer today. And the exciting thing is we know we can get it placed elsewhere because they've done the hard work, which is just world-class products. And that's the challenge. That's what we're working.
Richard Danley, Analyst at Longport Partners
And is there seasonality strong in the fourth quarter because the people have a budget and spend it or lose it?
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
No, these are individuals. They're doing it for gifts. You've got Amazon, Black Friday. It's just holiday sales. You know, hunting, it's all being rolled into that fourth quarter.
Paul Driscoll, CFO
There's a bit of an impact of the FSA spending at the end of the year, to your point, but mostly it's just holiday spending. Dick.
Richard Danley, Analyst at Longport Partners
So is the seasonality such that the fourth quarter is 25, 30% larger than the other quarters?
Paul Driscoll, CFO
It's probably like 35% of the sales in the fourth quarter of the year. I mean, of the year.
Richard Danley, Analyst at Longport Partners
Right. Okay, great. Thank you.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thank you, Dick.
OPERATOR
Our next question comes from Jake Patterson with Talent Investment Group. Your line is now live.
Jake Patterson, Analyst
Hey guys, just a quick one. I know you said Westcott was up 8% during the quarter. I was curious if you had any data that could really break out pricing versus actual volume. I was under the impression that you guys had, I think, close to a double-digit price increase. So if you only grew 8%, it would imply units down a little bit. But just given kind of what last year looked like versus year-end, seemed like that would make sense. Okay. So, I mean, if you passed price last year, I guess is that—I mean, should have been flowing through your numbers, like first quarter being down 2%.
That's kind of—I’m just curious. That's pretty much all volume in there. Yeah, no, that's definitely good to hear. Awesome. Yep, that's it for me. I appreciate it.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
So most of it was volume. Most of it's volume, yeah. Yeah, it's volume. You know, the price increases can't be applied directly to each product evenly. And, for example, in the back-to-school items they may be more price sensitive and maybe there's not much of a price increase on those, and others that are more specialty get bigger price increases. So the second quarter was really—it was volume. But again, you can picture the retailers are putting new promotions in place. You know, you're moving more, and that's the really exciting thing that we didn't have at all last year.
Thank you. Sure.
OPERATOR
We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to management for any closing remarks.
Walter Johnsen, Chairman and CEO
Thank you.
OPERATOR
If there are no further questions, this call is complete and I'd like to thank you for joining us. Goodbye. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and we thank you for your participation.
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