Malibu Boats Q4 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 27, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Strong fourth-quarter execution: Net sales rose 42.7% to $295.5 million and adjusted EBITDA increased 72.7% to $33.9 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin expanding 200 basis points to 11.5%. Legacy sales also grew 13.2% before Saxdor’s contribution.
  • Positive Sentiment: Saxdor expands growth opportunities: The acquisition contributed $61.2 million of fourth-quarter revenue and opens access to the adventure day-boat category, European markets and a younger affluent customer base. Malibu expects Saxdor revenue to grow at a low-teens rate in fiscal 2027, with margins improving toward 10%-11% as Fort Pierce production scales.
  • Positive Sentiment: Fiscal 2027 outlook calls for substantial growth: Management forecast net sales of $1.080 billion-$1.120 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $101 million-$109 million, supported by low- to mid-single-digit growth in legacy brands and mid-teens growth at Saxdor.
  • Negative Sentiment: Industry demand remains pressured: Management expects the broader market to be flat to down in fiscal 2027, with weakness concentrated in the first half and payment-sensitive buyers slower to return. Fiberglass segments remain more pressured than the overall market, while low- to mid-single-digit input-cost inflation and tariffs are embedded in guidance.
  • Positive Sentiment: Balance sheet and capital returns improved: Malibu ended the year with $74.4 million of cash, approximately 1.2 times net leverage and $43.2 million of free cash flow. A refinancing extended debt maturity to 2031, and the board authorized a new $70 million share-repurchase program.
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Earnings Conference Call
Malibu Boats Q4 2026
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Operator

Good morning, and welcome to Malibu Boats' conference call to discuss fourth quarter and annual fiscal 2026 results. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. Please be advised that reproduction of this call, in whole or in part, is not permitted without written authorization of Malibu Boats. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. On the call today from management are Mr. Steve Menneto, Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. David Black, Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Black to get it started. Please go ahead, sir.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Malibu Boats' fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings conference call. I am David Black, Chief Financial Officer, and joining me today is Steve Menneto, our President and Chief Executive Officer. A press release covering the company's fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026 results was issued today, and a copy of that press release can be found in the investor relations section of the company's website. I also want to remind everyone that our remarks on this call may contain certain forward-looking statements, including predictions, expectations, estimates, and other information that might be considered forward-looking, and that actual results could differ materially from those projected on today's call. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of today, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these for any new information or future events.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Factors that might affect future results are discussed in our filings with the SEC, and we encourage you to review our SEC filings for a more detailed description of these risk factors. Please also note that we will be referring to certain non-GAAP financial measures on today's call, such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, adjusted net income, and free cash flow. Reconciliations of these GAAP financial measures to non-GAAP financial measures are included in our earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Steve.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Thank you, David. Good morning, everyone. Our fourth quarter marked a strong finish to fiscal 2026 and demonstrated the power of our strategic execution. Net sales increased 42.7% to $295.5 million, and adjusted EBITDA increased 72.7% to $33.9 million, with margins expanding 200 basis points versus the prior year. Importantly, that strength showed up in our legacy business before layering in Saxdor's full quarter contribution. This is a direct result of the MBI Advantage operating framework, which is the operational excellence, central sourcing, and channel discipline we've been building into this company over the past year. Zooming out to the full fiscal year, net sales came in at $914.6 million, roughly $29 million above the top end of the range we raised in May, driven by better than expected performance across the portfolio and the addition of Saxdor.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

We also delivered adjusted EBITDA of $73.9 million in the upper half of our guided range. In addition to a strengthened financial performance in nearly all aspects, fiscal 2026 was also a year filled with milestones, and it is worth walking through some of the highlights along the way. In September, we hosted our first Investor Day since 2018, where we introduced the Build, Innovate, Grow framework that is anchoring our strategy. We laid out the four focus areas where we intend to compete in marine. We framed the mid-cycle opportunity in front of us, roughly $1.5 billion of revenue at a 20% adjusted EBITDA margin and over $200 million of free cash flow. In that same month, we announced a six-year global partnership with the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation, naming Malibu the exclusive official towboat partner beginning this past January.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

In November, David stepped into the CFO role, leading the finance team with focus and discipline, and most importantly, setting forth expectations that we know we can deliver. At the Miami International Boat Show in February, we were recognized with the NMMA Customer Satisfaction Index Awards across five of our brands. on March 2nd, we closed the acquisition of Saxdor Yachts, the most significant milestone in our company's history that reinforces our premium positioning and expands our portfolio to the adventure day boat segment and provides international growth opportunities for our legacy brands. Just last month, we celebrated 50 years of Pursuit Boats, one of the founding brands of our saltwater fishing segment. Congratulations to that whole team on five decades and an amazing legacy of building award-winning sport fishing boats. Here is to the next 50. It is worth pausing on the backdrop this represents.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

This time last year, the marine industry was still working through one of the most difficult stretches in its history, and our own results reflected that, with legacy volumes under pressure across the portfolio. This quarter tells a different story. We saw unit volume growth in both our Cobalt and saltwater fishing segments, consolidated gross margin expansion of 190 basis points, and a meaningful, stronger bottom line. This is the kind of finish to a demanding year that reinforces our conviction in the Build, Innovate, Grow framework. On build, we are deepening vertical integration and scaling centralized sourcing and category management, which contributed to our strong margin performance this year. On innovate, we are holding a pace of new product introduction no one else in the industry matches.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

On grow, we are not only growing with what we already have and taking share in our legacy businesses, but also adding to our portfolio in ways that drive value creation through M&A. Which brings me to the second part, Saxdor. The integration is progressing well in these first four months, and our early experience continues to reinforce the thesis we laid out when we announced the transaction. It has opened a new category, a new geography, and access to a younger, affluent buyer profile that we believe is highly attractive in the current environment and can compound for decades as conditions improve. The adventure day boat category that Saxdor competes in is one of the fastest-growing in the industry, and families are drawn to it because it functions like a living room on the water, built for spending the day together rather than any single activity.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Our first domestically built Saxdor boat remains on schedule to be completed at our Fort Pierce, Florida, facility later this fall in the first half of this fiscal year. This is an important step in unlocking that facility's capacity and extending Saxdor's reach into North America. We are also laying the operational foundation underneath the brand, bringing Saxdor into our sourcing organization, giving that business the benefit of our procurement scale. In just the first few months of ownership, Saxdor has cleared the high bar for acquisitions we described at Investor Day, a premium brand where we could add real value through our scale, our centralized sourcing, and a dealer network that is the envy of the industry. On the product side, Saxdor will introduce two new models at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September, continuing to build out that brand's lineup.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

In April, the Saxdor 460 GTC was named winner in the Motor Yacht 14 m-16 m category at the Yacht Style Awards 2026 in Singapore. Recognition that reflects Saxdor's continued commitment to innovation and design excellence. We also invested meaningfully in innovation this year across all of our brands, and it starts with the voice of the customer feeding directly into our engineering teams. Our model year 2026 lineup added 11 new models across the portfolio, bringing new features as well as value to our product line and continuing the innovation pipeline that has been the hallmark of this platform. Looking ahead to model year 2027, we are already executing against that plan. Malibu launched the all-new 20 VTX in July. Axis introduced the T220 and T235 in July. Cobalt launched the new R26 and R26 SURF in August.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Pursuit launched the S288 and the OS 445 refresh in late July. We also rolled out a new console design across the Pathfinder 2600 and 2400 hybrid models. For Pursuit, our award-winning dual console lineup transitioned to the Denali series for model year 2027, reconnecting with a name that played an important role in the brand's history while establishing a distinctive identity as Pursuit's premier family adventure platform. In May, the Pursuit S 388 Sport Center Console was recognized as a top product of 2026 by Boating Industry. In total, we plan to bring 13 new models to market across our legacy brands in fiscal 2027, and we have more to share on the remaining new products as we get closer to boat show season.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Zooming back out, while we're seeing early signs of stabilization across the industry, we are contending with macro disruptions that continue to pressure the payment buyer, which is a key link to drive an inflection in this cycle. That said, we have not seen a correlation between rising fuel prices and our retail boat sales at the upper end of the market, and usage has stayed strong. Our MBI customers are still on the water, still buying parts, still spending time at the dock, and that tells us the experience of boating with family remains the priority for our core buyer, even at a higher cost per gallon. For the payment-sensitive buyer who has been slower to return, we continued rolling out MBI Acceptance, giving our dealers financing and extended service tools to help close sales.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Applications have grown steadily since launch, including through the periods when we were not running promotional rate programs, which we think speaks volumes about the broader sensitivity of today's consumer. In marine components, the team continued to build external customer engagement and won additional business during the year. Another proof point that the build pillar creates value well beyond just our own boats. With respect to the channel, dealer inventories decreased over the course of the year, reflecting our disciplined approach on managing wholesale shipments all year. That is the right way to protect our dealers and our brands through a soft cycle, and it is why we enter fiscal 2027 with a healthier channel than we started with. On summer retail, the industry improved modestly as we moved through our fourth quarter.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Registrations were down roughly 3% for the April through June period, an improvement from the mid-single-digit decline in the March quarter. With that, the fiberglass segments where we compete remain more pressured than the broader market, though they improve sequentially as well. That backdrop is consistent with what we've been describing all year, and it is the environment our fourth quarter results were delivered against. We like how we are positioned relative to the industry heading into fiscal 2027, and we expect to build on the momentum we established this year while remaining intentional about our outlook until we see more durable evidence of a broader recovery.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

As we said at Investor Day, our capacity is already in place, so we can meet recovery demand when it comes without a step-up in capital spending, and we do not need to rely on the market inflection to return our company to growth. With that, I'll turn the call over to David for detailed review of our fourth quarter and full year financial results. David?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Thanks, Steve. Our fourth quarter and full year results reflect strong execution across both our legacy business and our first full quarter of Saxdor's contribution following the March 2nd close. Throughout my remarks, I'll make select references to both consolidated results and legacy results, which excludes Saxdor to provide a clear view of underlying sales drivers and year-over-year comparability. Net sales for the fourth quarter increased $88.5 million, or 42.7%, to $295.5 million compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, inclusive of $61.2 million from our new Saxdor segment, ahead of the $57 million-$59 million of Saxdor revenue we guided to in May.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

On a legacy basis, net sales were $234.3 million, an increase of approximately 13.2%, driven by increased unit volumes in our Cobalt and Saltwater Fishing segments, a favorable model mix across all three existing segments, and year-over-year price increases partially offset by decreased unit volumes in our Malibu segment. Total unit volume increased 19.2% to 1,456 units. This was composed of our legacy unit volume, which increased approximately 4.5% to 1,276 units, while Saxdor contributed 180 units in its first full quarter in our results. By segment, net sales attributable to Malibu increased 3.2% to $82.9 million. Saltwater Fishing net sales increased 11.1% to $80.9 million on higher wholesale shipments as dealer inventory levels firmed in pockets of the portfolio. Cobalt net sales increased 31% to $70.5 million, also on higher wholesale shipments and firming dealer inventory.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

From a mix perspective, on a legacy basis, Malibu represented approximately 43% of unit sales, Saltwater Fishing represented 26%, and Cobalt made up the remaining approximately 31%. Saxdor is reported as a new fourth segment, and we intend to build upon the disclosure going forward. Net sales per unit on a consolidated basis increased 19.7% to $203,000, driven by favorable mix, including the addition of Saxdor and year-over-year price increases across the legacy segments. On a legacy basis, net sales per unit increased approximately 8.3% to approximately $184,000. While not included in this metric for the sake of comparability, Saxdor's net sales per unit was $340,000 in the quarter. Turning to profitability, gross profit increased 59.4% to $52.2 million, and gross margin expanded 190 basis points to 17.7%, driven by an increased mix of models that carry higher gross margin.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

For some further context on Saxdor's performance, the segment delivered fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA margin below the 10%-11% range we guided to in May. Two things drove that. First, we deliberately added resources ahead of the higher volumes we expect this year, including the accelerated ramp of domestic manufacturing in Fort Pierce. Second, we absorbed higher input costs in the quarter. The first of those is best characterized as an investment where we are awaiting a return once we start turning that inventory into production ramps. It is the key to meeting North American demand, and we are very excited about the speed at which our team is moving to get the units to market. Selling and marketing expenses increased 25.7% to $6.8 million, driven primarily by higher personnel-related expenses associated with our new Saxdor segment.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

However, as a percentage of sales, we are pleased to see selling and marketing expenses actually decrease 30 basis points to 2.3%. General and administrative expenses increased 68.8% to $31.8 million, driven primarily by acquisition and related expenses associated with Saxdor, the incremental cost of the new Saxdor segment, and increases in incentive pay. Amortization expense increased $2.6 million to $4.3 million, reflecting the additional intangibles acquired in the Saxdor transaction. GAAP net income for the quarter increased 53.7% to $7.4 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, and net income margin improved to 2.5% compared to 2.3% in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA increased 72.7% to $33.9 million, and adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 11.5% from 9.5% in the prior year period. Included in this amount was Saxdor's adjusted EBITDA contribution of approximately $4 million.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Non-GAAP adjusted net income per share was $0.90, an increase of 114.3% on a weighted average share count of approximately 19.7 million shares of Class A common stock. Turning to the full year, net sales increased 13.3% to $914.6 million, including $84.3 million of revenue from Saxdor since the March 2nd close. On a legacy basis, net sales were $830.3 million, an increase of approximately 2.8%. Unit volume increased 0.9% to 4,944 units as 246 units from Saxdor more than offset the decline in legacy unit volume. Legacy unit volume was approximately 4,698 units, down approximately 4.1% across our three legacy segments, consistent with the lower wholesale shipments we discussed earlier in the year. Gross margin for the year was 16% compared to 17.8% in fiscal 2025, a decline of 180 basis points driven primarily by higher per unit material and labor costs.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $73.9 million, a decrease of 1.1%, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 8.1% compared to 9.3% in fiscal 2025. GAAP net income for the year decreased 88.8% to $1.7 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, primarily reflecting the acquisition and integration-related expenses tied to Saxdor. Adjusted net income per share for the year was $1.52 on a weighted average share count of approximately 19.3 million shares. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. We ended the fiscal year with $74.4 million of cash and $165 million of long-term debt, giving us ample flexibility to support continued investment and return of capital to shareholders.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

For the full year, we generated $67.5 million from cash from operations, an increase of approximately $11 million year-over-year, and invested $24.7 million in capital expenditures, resulting in free cash flow of approximately $43.2 million and roughly 58% of adjusted EBITDA. Subsequent to year-end, on July 10th, we completed a refinancing of our credit facility, extending the maturity date to July of 2031 and enhancing our financial flexibility. The new structure includes a $100 million term loan facility alongside a $250 million revolving credit facility, replacing our $350 million revolving credit facility, and adds multi-currency capability that directly supports our Saxdor European operations. This strengthens our liquidity position and gives us increased capacity to support our investment in the business, the Saxdor integration, and disciplined growth opportunities.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

It was a proactive step that extends our duration and adds flexibility with no change in our capital allocation priorities. On capital allocation, during fiscal 2026, we completed a repurchase program for the year, buying back approximately 1.24 million shares for approximately $33.9 million at an average price of $27.34, which is well below where we trade today and our 200-day moving average. While we chose to pause our open market purchases during the lender negotiations, our board authorized a new $70 million share repurchase program for fiscal 2027 in June, and we closed our refinancing in July. This reflects our confidence in the business and our continued commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Net leverage finished the year at approximately 1.2x and trends towards 1x on a pro forma basis, well inside our stated maximum of 2.5x, even after financing the Saxdor acquisition. With that flexibility back in place, we remain opportunistic on capital allocation and well-positioned to keep investing in the business as we move through fiscal 2027. Turning to our outlook for fiscal 2027. For the full fiscal year, we anticipate net sales of $1.080 billion-$1.120 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $101 million-$109 million. This returns us to a single consolidated outlook as we committed to in May and includes a full year ownership of Saxdor.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Our guidance takes a prudent view of the industry retail demand, given the macro backdrop in fiscal 2027, while still contemplating that MBI continues to outpace the broader powerboat market, with low to mid-single-digit growth across our legacy brands and mid-teens growth at Saxdor. Following the investments we made into the brand over the last four months, we expect Saxdor's segment adjusted EBITDA margin to improve throughout the year as domestic manufacturing scales and this year's investment in the platform annualizes. More broadly, our outlook also reflects tariff costs embedded at the currently enacted rates and the pricing actions we have already in market. As always, reconciliations of our guidance measures are addressed in our earnings release. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, we anticipate net sales of $255 million-$265 million and adjusted EBITDA of $14 million-$16 million.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Please note, first half's margins will be lower than the second half, primarily driven by our investment and ramp at Saxdor. To close, we delivered a strong finish to fiscal 2026 on both sides of the business. Our legacy operations executed with discipline through a demanding environment. The Saxdor integration is progressing well in its first four months, and we ended the year with a stronger balance sheet and renewed capacity to return capital to shareholders. With a refinanced credit facility, a new buyback authorization, and a differentiated portfolio, we are well-positioned to execute through fiscal 2027 and to capture the mid-cycle opportunity we framed for you at the Investor Day. With that, I'd like to open the call up for questions.

Operator

As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star then one on your touch-tone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Craig Kennison with Baird. Please go ahead.

Craig Kennison
Craig Kennison
Analyst at Baird

Hey, good morning, Steve and David. Thanks for your time here. Question on Saxdor. Appreciate the breakout, David. Wondering if you can maybe shed more light on the Saxdor impact on all of fiscal 2027 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah, sure, Craig. As we think about next year, having a full year's worth of Saxdor in the numbers, the way that we're thinking about the top line is, a growth rate in the low teens on the revenue side of things and working a ramp up to that 10%-11% range that we talked about on the EBITDA front. I think the first quarter, as you saw, will be a little bit weighted down, just given the investment that we're making on the higher volumes that we're expecting through the remainder of the year. But if you take that piece and then consider our expectation for the legacy brands, which is around low single digit to mid-single digit growth on a year-over-year basis, that should get you the building blocks to see where our guidance is coming out for fiscal year 2027.

Craig Kennison
Craig Kennison
Analyst at Baird

Thanks, David. Could you just give me the base on which you expect to grow low teens revenue?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. So if you look at our year this year for Saxdor, we're looking at a $180 million number on a full year pro forma basis.

Craig Kennison
Craig Kennison
Analyst at Baird

Okay, perfect. On Saxdor in Fort Pierce, I know you have a lot of capacity there and you plan to ramp production. What's the right level of unit production out of Fort Pierce for Saxdor when you're fully ramped?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

I think what we've said, Craig, in the past, is that we could do upwards of 200+ units out of that facility without any incremental CapEx investment. I think that will be our first goalpost that we'll be working for. Obviously, mix has some determination associated with that. Bigger boats take more space. I think that's the original kind of number we were working with.

Craig Kennison
Craig Kennison
Analyst at Baird

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Joe Altobello with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Joe Altobello
Joe Altobello
Analyst at Raymond James

Thanks. Hey, guys. Good morning. I guess first question on fiscal 2027 and the outlook here. I appreciate the breakout between legacy and Saxdor, but could you tell us what you're thinking in terms of retail growth for the legacy business within that guidance?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. We're expecting the market to be flat to down next year. I think it's going to be a similar cadence to what we've seen this year, where it's going to be a little softer in the first half and progressively getting closer to a flattish year as we move into the back half of that. As you think about the year-over-year comp, that's what we're baking into our guidance for next year.

Joe Altobello
Joe Altobello
Analyst at Raymond James

Okay. If we think about the low to mid single digit growth for Malibu, it sounds like you're thinking all of that and then some is going to come from ASPs with volumes probably down a little bit.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Part of it will be ASP, but part of it is also the de-stocking that we've had this year. Right? You're going to get some of that benefit back next year just as the market stabilizes as we move along.

Joe Altobello
Joe Altobello
Analyst at Raymond James

Okay. But I guess in terms of volumes, in terms of absolute units, you think wholesale and retail roughly in line

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah.

Joe Altobello
Joe Altobello
Analyst at Raymond James

For this fiscal year.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

That's right.

Joe Altobello
Joe Altobello
Analyst at Raymond James

Okay. Just one quick one on the input cost pressures you mentioned at Saxdor. Maybe talk about that a little bit more and why you didn't see that in the legacy business.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

I think we saw some of that in the legacy business. I think it was known. The centralized sourcing has been well underway, and we have been able to offset a lot of that in the legacy business. Obviously, one of the work streams that we are focused on the integration side of things is the sourcing component as it relates to Saxdor. So we will continue to focus on that and start to see some of those benefits, albeit later in the year.

Joe Altobello
Joe Altobello
Analyst at Raymond James

Okay, great. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Mike Albanese with StoneX. Please go ahead.

Mike Albanese
Analyst at StoneX

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my question.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

You are welcome.

Mike Albanese
Analyst at StoneX

Can we just lift up the hood a little bit more on Cobalt volumes up 19%? Can you just remind us, were we comping some production cuts in that segment? Or is this kind of results some of your initiatives within MBI Advantage? What is kind of underlying that volume growth?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. I think, obviously, we did take production down in the prior year as we were managing through dealer inventory. But that brand continues to perform well from a market share perspective, and so you are seeing some of that translate through as the retail has continued to be strong and the demand is there for those brands.

Mike Albanese
Analyst at StoneX

Got it. Okay, thanks. Can we just bifurcate a little bit on the margin improvements regarding some of the maybe absorption leverage with some of your volumes being up here versus your centralized sourcing and kind of procurement initiatives and things of that nature?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. As you think about it for the quarter, I would say it's about half and half, right? As you think about the breakout, right? There's some volume leverage that you're getting just by just kind of the pure units piece of that. But then also as we think about the centralized sourcing and it running through the P&L that's been sitting on the inventory side of things. So that's how I would characterize it for the quarter.

Mike Albanese
Analyst at StoneX

Perfect. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Sure.

Operator

Our next question comes from Gregory Miller with Truist. Please go ahead.

Gregory Miller
Gregory Miller
Analyst at Truist

Thanks. Good morning, Steve and David. First, I'd like to ask about Saxdor. Have you made any changes to the plant operations in Finland and Poland from your due diligence post-ownership?

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

No, Greg, we haven't made any plant changes. We're still manufacturing in Poland and in Larsmo. We've introduced the 460 production, so of course, standing up a large boat such as that and with the amount of orders that we have, we're working hard to be able to satisfy those. As we've said before, the Fort Pierce, I guess you can consider that a new operating line. But we're well underway in that integration work stream and already down the path of doing pilot boats. So we're on schedule for that. So no major changes to the production side of Saxdor.

Gregory Miller
Gregory Miller
Analyst at Truist

Okay. Switching gears, you mentioned the earnings release about firming dealer inventory levels in pockets of the portfolio, specific to Cobalt and saltwater fishing. I was hoping if you could elaborate on what you're seeing lately in trends.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. On inventory as a whole, I think, as the year progressed, inventories have decreased on a year-over-year basis. What's very important is the health of that inventory, and aged inventory across the portfolio. All the portfolio is in one of the best spots that we've seen in some time. So there's not a ton of inventory that we're concerned out there that's going to have to be cleared because of aging and required promotional dollars. We're feeling pretty good about where we're landing at this time of the year.

Gregory Miller
Gregory Miller
Analyst at Truist

Great. Thank you both.

Operator

Our next question comes from Anna Glaessgen with B. Riley. Please go ahead.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Analyst at B. Riley

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. First, I would like to follow up on Greg's question on dealer inventory. It seems like we are in a much healthier place than maybe entering the prior fiscal year. As we look to 2027, are we assuming that wholesale and retail are fairly aligned with maybe some pockets for restocking, given how depleted inventory got in certain areas? Thanks.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah, I think as we move along through the year, yes, Anna, I think the market, we expect some softness still to be in that first half of the year. I think by the end of the year, yes, we are in a kind of matching retail to wholesale environment as we progress along.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Analyst at B. Riley

Got it. Thanks. I wanted to ask on margin in 4Q here, pretty meaningful step down or a step down in selling and marketing, sequentially, despite a ramp in sales. Is that a function of Saxdor being layered on? Do they have a lower selling and marketing percentage of sales than the legacy business? Should we expect leverage throughout the year there as that business is layered on? Thanks.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah, a couple things there. Yes, some of that is kind of the leverage by the incremental Saxdor revenue that we have included into the mix. But also as we think about the drivers that we talked about on the earnings release, we did see lower compensation and program related expenses as well. So I think the run rate that you see kind of in that Q4 is a relatively consistent one that you would expect to see carry forward as we move along.

Anna Glaessgen
Anna Glaessgen
Analyst at B. Riley

Got it. Thanks.

Operator

Our next question comes from Noah Zatzkin with KeyBanc Capital. Please go ahead.

Noah Zatzkin
Noah Zatzkin
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first, any anecdotes or green shoots you could share in terms of MBI Acceptance uptake where it's available? Are you seeing a convert incremental payment buyers versus prior? Thanks.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. What we're seeing is momentum behind that. The dealers are really accepting that and using it to retail boats. We are seeing on the payment side, we're seeing momentum in the number of applications coming in. As we stated in our remarks, even when it's non-promotional, it's still a tool that's being used, and it's still a tool that helps the payment buyer be able to enter the market with one of our boats. We're happy with where the program's going so far, and it's basically still only nine months in existence.

Noah Zatzkin
Noah Zatzkin
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital

Is there any way to kind of frame whether it's like innings or percentage of kind of dealers it's available in?

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Not sure. The percentage of dealers that are utilizing it? Or kind of rephrase that question.

Noah Zatzkin
Noah Zatzkin
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital

Yeah.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. We're signing on our dealers, so we're not at 100% of the dealer base across all of our brands. We're continuing to, excuse me, we're continuing to work that and get all the dealers onto the program. Again, the dealers themselves have multiple tools that they can utilize per the buyer. We continue to sell this tool into our dealer base. More work to be done. We're probably a third of the way to 40% of the way there on getting our dealer base signed up.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah, maybe the only thing I'd add there is we are seeing that it's touching on that lower price point. As you think about the dealer makeup, it's going to be those dealers that carry the lower price point brands that we offer today. Hopefully that's helpful context.

Noah Zatzkin
Noah Zatzkin
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital

Yeah, very helpful. Maybe just one more, and this is a longer dated question, but how are you thinking about the opportunity to grow legacy MBI brands in Europe and where are you today? Thanks.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Yeah, we're excited about the opportunity of growing our legacy brand. Where we sit today, international retail for us and shipments are below 5% historically. Now with Saxdor, I think we said before, we're going to take a first step. Let's try to sell boats that are manufactured in the States internationally at a higher pace than 5%. Eventually, as we build that business and Saxdor's greater dealer network who have already been inquiring about carrying our legacy brands, how do we build that up? Eventually, if there's enough volume there, should we manufacture in Europe? That's way down the line, but it's an opportunity that we are looking at.

Noah Zatzkin
Noah Zatzkin
Analyst at KeyBanc Capital

Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jaime Katz with Morningstar. Please go ahead.

Jaime Katz
Jaime Katz
Analyst at Morningstar

Hey, good morning. I am hoping you guys will maybe elaborate a little bit more on the order of your capital allocation priorities, just between return to shareholders through share buybacks or other investment opportunities, be it acquisitions or white space expansion.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. Hey, Jaime, this is David. Yeah, no real change there. I think our priorities are the same. We are going to continue to invest in the business. Obviously, we have some debt on the balance sheet now, so we will pay that down as we have free cash flow as well. But also, as the share price, and we are going to be opportunistic in where we think the intrinsic value is. We will always consider that as one of our priorities. Then finally, M&A, but disciplined M&A. The bar is high, especially when you think about the context of all the other priorities that I just listed for you. So no real change. What I would tell you is we are not going to look at one thing individually, and we showed that this year. We completed one of the largest acquisitions that we had in our history.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

We have refinanced our debt, and we also repurchased 1.2 million shares to our returning value to our shareholders. So as you can see, we will continue to keep that same philosophy as we move forward.

Jaime Katz
Jaime Katz
Analyst at Morningstar

Okay. Can you give us a little insight as to what you are incorporating for input cost inflation? It seems like in some of the earnings calls that have recently occurred, that inflation is ticking up, and I am wondering what percentage you guys are thinking about as you think about what rolls into your EBITDA outlook.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. Right now, embedded, we are in that low to mid-single digit range from an input cost perspective. Obviously, there is a lot of determining factors, and things change on a daily basis it feels like, but that is kind of what we are assuming at this point, given the information that we have in front of us.

Jaime Katz
Jaime Katz
Analyst at Morningstar

Awesome. Thank you.

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Welcome.

Operator

Our next question comes from Gerrick Johnson with Seaport Research Partners. Please go ahead.

Gerrick Johnson
Gerrick Johnson
Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Thank you. Good morning. You discussed Saxdor EBITDA margins and mentioned they were a little bit lower because of the build-out Fort Pierce. Is that because it is more expensive than you thought or happening earlier than you thought, or am I just off on that?

David Black
David Black
CFO at Malibu Boats

Yeah, no, it is just more earlier. We are speeding up the process, right? We are taking the position that we need to invest now because there is enough demand out there that we want to be able to capture. That is more of it, is more of a timing thing there, Gerrick, than anything.

Gerrick Johnson
Gerrick Johnson
Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Okay. On Fort Pierce, do you have any metrics for us, perhaps how much more quickly you can get a boat to market? Or perhaps how much more profitable each boat could be coming out of Fort Pierce going to the U.S.?

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Not yet, Gerrick. It is pretty early. We are just running pilot boats and just building. I was down there two weeks ago with the team when we did the initial builds. A lot of that is being worked out, standard work, setting up stations and so on. Until that is all completed, we will not really have dialed in numbers on what the costs are and the advantages. More to come on that, but like David says, we are trying to go faster than what we had in the plan, and that is what is driving a little bit of the early costs.

Gerrick Johnson
Gerrick Johnson
Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Got you. Okay, if I could just ask one more. You mentioned optimizing the dealer network, I think it was in the press release. What have you guys done recently in the dealer network to optimize it?

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Yeah. When we talk about that is tools that we deliver to the dealer network, how we support them when we talk about optimization. So we have our co-op program, we have our financing program. We are changing the way we do some of our marketing and trying to drive support with our dealer base. So when we talk about optimization, it is a lot about how do we support the retail on an ongoing basis and what tools they need to be successful.

Gerrick Johnson
Gerrick Johnson
Analyst at Seaport Research Partners

Okay, great. Thanks for the clarification. I was not sure if it meant you were expanding the dealer network, consolidating, but this is good. Thank you.

Steve Menneto
Steve Menneto
CEO at Malibu Boats

Okay.

Operator

I am not showing any further questions at this time. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • David Black
      David Black
      CFO
    • Steve Menneto
      Steve Menneto
      CEO
Analysts
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