Alliance Laundry Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Alliance Laundry posted a strong first quarter, with revenue up 10% to $427 million and adjusted net income jumping 85% to $63 million, helped by pricing, volume growth and lower interest expense.
• The company raised the low end of its 2026 outlook, now expecting revenue growth of 6% to 7% and adjusted EBITDA growth of 7% to 8%, while continuing to target lower leverage by year-end.
• Management said demand was broad-based across North America and international markets, and noted that pricing actions were covering tariff costs while digital adoption, including Scan-Pay-Wash, continued to expand rapidly.

Alliance Laundry NYSE: ALH reported double-digit revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026 and raised the low end of its full-year outlook, citing broad-based demand across end markets, pricing actions and continued momentum in its digital offerings.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Schoeb said the quarter reflected the company’s position in a “resilient, replacement driven, essential industry,” adding that results were achieved despite a volatile macroeconomic environment. “Every day is laundry day,” Schoeb said, emphasizing that commercial laundry serves non-discretionary applications across diversified geographies and end markets.

Revenue rises 10% as adjusted net income nearly doubles

Chief Financial Officer Dean Nolden said first-quarter net revenue increased 10% year-over-year to $427 million. He said unit volume contributed roughly 3 percentage points of growth, consistent with the company’s full-year outlook, while the remainder came from pricing and about a 1 percentage point benefit from foreign currency.

Gross profit rose 8% to $157 million, representing a gross margin of 37%. Operating expenses totaled $73 million, or 17% of revenue, reflecting public company costs and investments in digital, engineering and commercial capabilities, Nolden said.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 9% from the prior year to $109 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.5%. Nolden said volume leverage, operational execution and supply chain efficiency would have driven higher margin expansion, but were offset by incremental public company costs. Adjusted net income rose 85% year-over-year to $63 million, helped by lower interest expense following debt reduction over the past 12 months.

The company generated $80 million in operating cash flow during the quarter. Alliance Laundry paid down $65 million of debt, ending the period with total debt of $1.3 billion and net debt of $1.2 billion. Net leverage declined 0.2 turns during the quarter to 2.6 times adjusted EBITDA.

Guidance raised after strong first quarter

Management raised the low end of its 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance. Alliance Laundry now expects full-year revenue growth of 6% to 7%, up 1 percentage point at the low end of the prior range. Nolden said the company expects equal contributions from volume and price for the year.

The company also updated its adjusted EBITDA growth outlook to a range of 7% to 8%, citing price and volume increases and cost reduction initiatives. Nolden said the company continues to expect adjusted EBITDA margin expansion for the full year.

Alliance Laundry reaffirmed its expectation to reduce leverage by approximately three-quarters of a turn in 2026, targeting net debt leverage in the low two-times range by year-end.

North America and international segments both grow

In North America, revenue increased 9% to $320 million, while adjusted EBITDA rose 8% to $87 million. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA margin was 27.2%. Nolden said growth was broad-based across end markets, although mix modestly affected margin in the quarter.

The company saw strength in vended markets, including retail laundromats and communal laundry in multi-housing locations. Nolden said growth was driven by new store development and existing operators modernizing fleets with higher-capacity, digitally connected equipment. On-premise laundry delivered solid results, supported by replacement demand, while commercial and home products continued to outpace the industry, according to management.

International revenue grew 10% to $107 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased 13% to $33 million. The international adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.4%. Nolden said Europe continued to show strong momentum, with operators investing in fleet upgrades and energy efficiency. Schoeb said Europe was strong across vended and on-premise channels, particularly in countries where Alliance Laundry has direct offices, including Italy, Spain and France.

Management also cited growth in Asia-Pacific, especially in nascent vended markets. Schoeb specifically noted a strong start to the year in Thailand, largely on the vended side. The Middle East and Africa region, which Nolden said represents roughly 2% of total revenue, also grew during the quarter.

Tariffs, pricing and manufacturing footprint remain in focus

Tariffs remained a key topic during the call. Schoeb said Alliance Laundry’s “local for local” manufacturing strategy continues to be a competitive advantage, particularly compared with competitors that rely more heavily on imports and more complex supply chains.

Nolden said pricing actions already in place continue to offset the company’s approximately $20 million annualized tariff exposure. He said Alliance Laundry had a tariff headwind of about $4.5 million to $5 million in the first quarter, which was covered by pricing. He also said the company has locked in key commodities such as steel and stainless steel for the year, providing cost visibility.

Asked about changes to Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, Schoeb said the effect was “slightly favorable” but close to the prior situation.

Nolden said pricing will provide a larger benefit to revenue in the first half of the year because of the timing of price increases taken in 2025 and early 2026. For the full year, the company still expects revenue growth to be split about evenly between price and volume.

Digital adoption continues as company prioritizes connected machines

Schoeb said Alliance Laundry’s connected equipment base now exceeds 250,000 machines. The company’s Scan-Pay-Wash cashless payment solution, which does not require an app download, processed more than 100,000 transactions in March, and first-quarter transactions doubled the total recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025.

During the question-and-answer session, Schoeb said the company is focused on adoption rather than near-term monetization. “We do clip a little bit of a fee on the Scan-Pay-Wash, but it is not really meaningful,” he said. Schoeb described the platform as part of a broader digital strategy intended to improve uptime, servicing, costs, revenue and customer stickiness.

The company also completed a distributor acquisition in New York during the quarter, which Schoeb said brought the Speed Queen, UniMac and Huebsch brands together under one team in a major commercial laundry market. Asked about future acquisitions, Schoeb said Alliance Laundry remains capable and engaged but described M&A as complementary rather than necessary to the company’s growth strategy.

On capital allocation, Nolden said deleveraging remains the company’s top priority, while Alliance Laundry continues to invest in the business and evaluate potential tuck-in acquisitions. He also said the company expects to maintain flexibility for share repurchases in the near term and could consider dividends over the longer term as the balance sheet strengthens.

About Alliance Laundry NYSE: ALH

Alliance Laundry Systems NYSE: ALH is a manufacturer and distributor of commercial and residential laundry equipment and related services. The company designs, produces and sells a range of coin-operated and vended machines, on-premises washers and dryers, and allied equipment for laundromats, multi-housing, hospitality, healthcare and other institutional customers. Alliance’s product strategy emphasizes durable, high-throughput machines for professional laundry operators as well as appliances geared to self-service and multi-dwelling applications.

Its product portfolio includes coin-operated and card-operated washers and dryers, stacked and single-pocket models, industrial-grade on-premises equipment, and parts and accessories.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.