Mativ NYSE: MATV reported second-quarter 2026 results that included its highest quarterly adjusted EBITDA since the company’s formation, as pricing actions, cost management and footprint optimization supported profitability and cash generation.
Net sales totaled $532 million, up more than 1% from a year earlier on a reported basis and nearly 2% organically. Adjusted EBITDA rose nearly 12% year over year to $75 million, while adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 130 basis points to 14.1%. Free cash flow increased to $60 million from $49 million in the prior-year quarter.
President and CEO Shruti Singhal said the quarter reflected the company’s efforts over the past 18 months to transform its operating model, commercial organization and capital-allocation approach. She cited value-based pricing, cost programs and strategic footprint actions as contributors to the results.
Segment Results
The company’s Filtration & Advanced Materials, or FAM, segment generated approximately $202 million in sales. Organic sales were largely flat, while reported sales declined 1% from the prior year. Mativ said lower filtration volume mix and the impact of its exited Wilson, North Carolina, facility were partly offset by favorable selling prices and foreign-currency translation.
FAM adjusted EBITDA increased 1% to $35 million, and the segment’s margin improved 50 basis points to 17.6%. The company said pricing gains and lower selling, general and administrative expenses outweighed higher manufacturing costs and lower volume mix.
Sales in the Sustainable & Adhesive Solutions, or SAS, segment rose more than 2% year over year to $330 million, supported by higher selling prices and currency effects. Tapes and labels sales expanded nearly 10%, led by finished tape categories and tape backings, according to Singhal. Commercial print and packaging delivered flat to modest growth despite what management described as a declining underlying market.
SAS adjusted EBITDA increased more than 18% to a quarterly record of $50 million. Segment margin rose 210 basis points to 15.3%, as proactive pricing more than offset inflation and higher manufacturing, distribution and SG&A expenses.
In healthcare, Mativ said operations at its Knoxville facility returned to normal in early in the second quarter after a temporary outage. The resulting volume recovery offset the continuing effect of separate customer destocking actions during the period. The company expects healthcare to remain a minor headwind to consolidated results during the second half of 2026.
Cash Flow, Debt and Inflation
Chief Financial Officer Scott Minder said free cash flow benefited from lower restructuring expenses and capital-expenditure timing. Working capital represented 11.5% of sales, an improvement of 150 basis points from a year earlier, even as the company invested in inventory to support growth initiatives.
Net debt was $908 million at the end of the quarter, down $61 million sequentially. Net leverage improved to 3.8 times, a 300-basis-point improvement from the first quarter and a 700-basis-point improvement over the past year, Minder said.
Mativ refinanced much of its capital structure early in the second quarter, pushing its nearest debt maturity to more than three years away and staggering other anticipated maturities beyond 2029. The company said it expects leverage to reach the mid-to-high 3-times range by year-end and fall within its 2.5-times to 3.5-times target range by mid-2027.
The company continues to expect full-year inflation of $40 million to $50 million, in line with its prior forecast. Management said the Middle East conflict contributed to higher crude oil and derivative prices during much of the second quarter, affecting costs for raw-material inputs. Mativ expects commodity costs to remain elevated through the rest of the year.
Although pricing produced a favorable price-to-cost relationship during the second quarter, Minder said that benefit is expected to contract in the second half as higher raw-material costs are recognized. Mativ took pricing actions in late first quarter and early second quarter to address inflation in inputs, manufacturing and distribution.
Growth Strategy and Aerospace Program
Singhal outlined Mativ’s growth strategy around three technology platforms: coating and saturation, extrusion manufacturing, and fiber solutions and specialized assembly. The company said the platforms are intended to guide capital deployment, connect technical capabilities across its portfolio and target higher-growth, higher-return markets.
Mativ also highlighted a new aerospace and defense opportunity involving a customized lightweight specialty film for a global leader in space exploration. Singhal said the customer continues to test the product and that the program is ramping as planned. She did not disclose expected revenue because of confidentiality restrictions.
Minder said the aerospace and defense film program is expected to support modest volume growth in the third quarter, excluding the impact of a tornado on the company’s paper and packaging operations. He said the company’s organic sales were about flat in the first quarter before growing nearly 2% in the second quarter, primarily driven by price, and that the company expects to add modest volume growth in the third quarter outside of the weather-related disruption.
Mativ is also piloting artificial intelligence and data analytics tools to improve production scheduling and reduce process waste. The company said it plans to scale the efforts across its network if the pilot programs are validated.
Wisconsin Tornado Expected to Weigh on Third Quarter
On July 27, a severe tornado damaged Mativ’s primary third-party paper and packaging distribution center in Menasha, Wisconsin. The company said all Mativ and third-party personnel were safe, and no production assets were affected beyond a short power outage. Manufacturing facilities remain fully operational.
Mativ began limited customer shipments within 72 hours of the storm and has secured alternative warehouse space while rebuilding inventory and restoring distribution capacity. The company expects the event to reduce third-quarter sales by $20 million to $25 million, with modest recovery of those sales beginning in the fourth quarter.
Management said it expects insurance coverage to substantially offset inventory losses and business-disruption costs, though the amounts and timing of recoveries have not yet been determined. Mativ said the impact should be manageable and largely contained to the third quarter.
Before the tornado, the company expected to be modestly ahead of its record third-quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA result of $67 million. Mativ did not provide an estimate for the storm’s third-quarter EBITDA impact, citing ongoing recovery work and assessment of the financial effects.
About Mativ (NYSE:MATV)
Mativ is a global supplier of specialty fiber-based materials and engineered solutions, established in April 2021 through the spin-off of Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s global filtration and engineered materials business. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MATV, the company focuses on designing and manufacturing high-performance products for a broad range of end markets, including life sciences, energy storage, industrial filtration, and consumer products.
Through its Advanced Solutions segment, Mativ produces innovative materials such as lithium-ion battery separators, specialty release liners, and pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes.
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