Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Waco Group third quarter 2026 earnings release call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Chief Financial Officer Judy Anderson. Please go ahead. Thank you.

Good morning and welcome to Waco Group's conference call to discuss third quarter 2026 results. On the call with me today are Tom Florsheim, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and John Florsheim, President and Chief Operating Officer. Before we begin to discuss the results for the quarter, I will read a brief cautionary statement. During this call, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding our current expectations concerning future events and the future financial performance of the company. We wish to caution you that these statements are just predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We refer you to the section entitled Risk Factors in our most recent annual report on 510 , which provides a discussion of important factors and risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our projections. These risk factors are incorporated herein by reference. They include, in part, the uncertain impact of US trade and tariff policies, which remain highly dynamic and unpredictable, the impact of inflation on our costs and consumer demand for our products, increased interest rates, and other macroeconomic factors that may cause a slowdown or contraction in the US or Australian economies. Overall net sales for the third quarter of 2026 were $77 million, up 5% compared to the third quarter of 2025. Consolidated gross earnings were 49.7% were all in the third quarter of 2025. Earnings from operations were $13.7 million for the quarter, up from $8.1 million in 2025. Net earnings totaled $11.5 million, up from $6.6 million last year. Diluted earnings per share were $1.19 per share in 2026, up from 69 cents per share in the prior year. In early 2026, IEPA tariffs were invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. We paid approximately $19.8 million of IEPA tariffs 18.6 million dollars of Phase 1 entries and 1.2 million dollars of Phase 3 entries. In April of this year, we submitted refund claims for our Phase 1 entries, substantially all of which were approved and recognized during the second quarter. During the third quarter, 3.3 million dollars in refunds previously recorded in inventory were recognized as a reduction to cost of sales upon the sale of the related inventory. Our Phase 3 entries were submitted in early October with $400,000 of entries approved for liquidation while the other $800,000 remain under review. The timing and amount of these recoveries remain uncertain and subject to execution by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Accordingly, no refunds related to Phase III entries were recognized in the third quarter. Under a separate statutory authority, incremental tariffs on imports from China, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam were 12.5% during the quarter, while our other imports remained at 10%. U.S. trade policies continue to evolve and remain unpredictable, creating near-term gross margin uncertainty. We have mitigation strategies in place and will continue to adjust as appropriate in response to future policy development. Wholesale net earnings were $64 million for the quarter, up 6% from $60.2 million in the third quarter of 2025. The increase was due to higher sales of our Florsheim, Stacey Adams, and Boggs brands. Nunn-Busch sales were down slightly for the current quarter. Last year's third quarter sales were negatively impacted by reduced business with a large customer who failed to timely adopt our new pricing structure that was effective July 1, 2025, resulting in order cancellations during the period. Wholesale gross earnings as a percent of net sales were 46% and 35.7% in the third quarters of 2026 and 2025, respectively. The increase was primarily due to lower incremental tariff rates compared to last year and the recognition of approximately $3 million in tariff refunds in the segment as discussed earlier. Wholesale selling and administrative expenses were $16 million or 25% of net sales for the quarter versus $14 million or 23% of net sales last year. The increase in 2026 was primarily due to higher employee costs. Wholesale operating earnings were $13.4 million for the quarter, up from $7.5 million in 2025, due mainly to higher sales and gross margins. Nest sales in our retail segment totaled $7.2 million for the quarter, up 3% from $7 million in 2025. The increase was primarily due to higher sales on our Florsheim website, largely offset by lower sales resulting from store closures. Retail growth earnings as a percent of net sales were increased to 70.7% in the third quarter of 2026, up from 66.4% in the third quarter of 2025, driven by lower incremental tariff rates this year. Retail operating earnings totaled $700,000 for the quarter and $600,000 in last year's third quarter. Our other operations consist of our retail and wholesale businesses in Australia and South Africa, collectively known as Florsheim Australia. Net sales of Florsheim Australia were $5.8 million in the third quarter of 2026, down 3% from $6 million in 2025. In local currency, its net sales were down 10% for the quarter, mainly at wholesale. The local currency decrease translated to a 3% decline in U.S. dollars due to the strengthening of the Australian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar year over year. Florsheim Australia's gross earnings as a percent of net sales were 63.8% and 61% in the third quarters of 2026 and 2025 respectively. Its third quarter operating losses were $400,000 in 2026 versus $100,000 last year. Operating losses were higher for the quarter due to lower wholesale sales. At September 30th, 2026, our cash and marketable securities totaled $95.2 million and we had no debt outstanding on our $40 million revolving line of credit. During the first nine months of 2026, we generated $26.6 million in cash from operations and used funds to pay $29.4 million in dividends. We also had $1.9 million of capital expenditures. We estimate that annual capital expenditures in 2026 will be approximately $3 million. On November 3rd, 2026, our Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 28 cents per share to all shareholders of record on November 17th, 2026, payable January 8th, 2027. Additionally, on November 3rd, 2026, our Board of Directors declared a special cash dividend of $2 per share to all shareholders of record on November 17th, 2026, payable January 8th, 2027. I would now like to turn the call over to John Florsheim, Jr., Chairman and CEO.

Thanks, Judy, and good morning, everyone. Excuse me. We are very pleased with our overall performance in the third quarter, with net sales increasing 5% and wholesale net sales increasing 6%. In a challenging retail environment, we believe we are continuing to gain market share in the categories where we compete. While conditions at retail remain choppy, our portfolio of brands is well positioned and we remain confident about the future. Sales of our combined legacy brands increased 6% in the third quarter, led by Florsheim, which posted a 9% gain. The strength of the Florsheim business is both broad and deep. In Dress for Or, we have a half a dozen distinct product collections that have become go-to programs for both our sales force and our retail partners. Even more encouraging, the success of our dress business has opened doors for us to expand our presence in casual boots, Sneakers, and Hybrids. While these categories still represent a relatively small portion of our business, we are seeing encouraging results and retailers are increasingly giving Florsheim a place in these areas of their merchandising mix. Our Nunn-Busch business declined 1% for the quarter. In today's market, Nunn-Busch competes primarily with retailers' private label offerings and lower-priced footwear licensed under apparel brands. We have maintained the brand's relevance by adding added value through affordable comfort technologies, including gel footbeds, dual density outsoles, and easy access and design. While sales were slightly below last year's levels, we believe Nunn-Busch continues to compete effectively and that our investment in meaningful product differentiation is the right strategy. Stacey Adams shipments increased 9% for the quarter, Dress Footwear is having something of a moment from a fashion perspective, and we are pleased to see Stacey Adams return to growth. While we welcome the lift in our dress business, we remain focused on developing our hybrid and fashion casual offerings to capitalize on the longer-term shift toward more relaxed, lifestyle-oriented wardrobes. Our Boggs brand posted a 6% increase for the quarter. We are gaining traction with our focus on innovation, particularly our seamless construction technology which produces footwear that is lighter and twice as durable as traditional vulcanized construction. We also continue to make progress in diversifying the product line to establish BOGS as a relevant brand 365 days a year. We are expanding our presence in lightly insulated and non-insulated footwear and introducing more non-rubber styles to the collection. While we are still in the early stages of rebuilding Boggs to its previous sales levels, we believe the brand has turned a corner and is positioned for growth. Net sales in our retail segment increased 3% for the quarter. Our retail segment consists primarily of our direct-to-consumer online business. Growth was led by a 17% increase in Florsheim e-commerce sales, reflecting the strength of the brand and its appeal to consumers. We continue to invest in tools and technology for our online platforms to more effectively target customers, improve conversion and increase the productivity of our websites. Florsheim Australia's net sales declined 3% for the quarter and 10% in local currency. The Australian market has been under pressure for some time and conditions have been further exacerbated by higher fuel costs. Our team in Australia remains focused on navigating these headwinds, improving conversion rates in an environment of reduced retail traffic, and carefully managing expenses. We expect market conditions to remain challenging in the near to medium term, and we will continue to align our cost structure with the business environment. Our overall inventory as of September 30, 2026 was $60 million compared to $66 million at December 31st, 2025. As discussed last quarter, we are bringing our inventory levels up to approximately $70 million by the end of the fourth quarter. As Judy mentioned, yesterday our Board of Directors declared a special cash dividend. Over the past few years, we have continued to build up cash in excess of what we need to fund operations and capital expenditures. Looking to the future, we anticipate that our strong balance sheet and liquidity will allow us to fund organic growth and pursue future strategic opportunities as they arise. Therefore, we are returning capital to our shareholders in the form of a special cash dividend alongside our regular quarterly dividend.

This concludes our formal remarks.

Thank you for your interest in Waco Group, and I would now like to open the call to your questions.

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct a Q&A session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of David Wright with Henry Investment Trust. Your line is now open.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

First, I want to just congratulate your city on your recent victory in the World Series. It's a big thing for a smaller town, and for those of us who didn't have a rooting interest, we always want to see it go seven games just to get a little more baseball. But your team was very dominant, and I'm sure the esprit around town is very high, so congratulations there.

Thank you, David. It's been great for Milwaukee. It's been an exciting couple weeks with the Brewers.

Well, I hope things keep going well there. and things are obviously continuing or just going very, very well at your company. And congratulations. Even when I take out the tariff refund, it looks like you were able to expand margin on a year-over-year basis. Your inventory is down. You said you want to build it back up, generating a lot of free cash and giving some of it back to the stockholders. So you're just doing an outstanding job managing that business, and thank you.

Thank you. That means a lot. It means a lot to hear that from you. We all really appreciate it.

Well, you're welcome. Judy, in your prepared remarks when you were talking about tariffs and you said something about potential gross margin pressure and I was distracted when you were speaking at that moment, would you mind just repeating and perhaps elaborating on that?

Let's see where that is.

I think it's the unpredictability of what's yet to come. Yeah, you don't know.

Yeah, we've been, you know, we've been dealing with these tariffs and tariff refunds for, you know, 18 months. And even before that, we had some back in before the pandemic. So we have developed strategies for mitigating, you know, mitigating our any new tariffs that come up and you know I mean we're in a good place right now that the incremental tariffs are lower than they were at the same time last year so they have come down but there is some uncertainty as to what will happen in the future but we feel like you know we have some experience with this and our strategies in the past have seemed to work out nicely.

Just adding to that, there are a lot of inflationary pressures out there from a supply chain standpoint. While tariffs remain unpredictable, some of the inflationary pressures are not. When you look at the market today, it's not a market where you want to increase your wholesale prices because the consumer just doesn't have the money in their pocket. And so we're just cognizant. Our margins are better this quarter. We're glad about that. But when we look towards the future, we just want to make sure that there could be margin pressure down the road based upon what's going on in the supply chain and then the inability to raise prices.

So against that backdrop and kind of a middle market consumer that's supposedly being squeezed, what would you attribute to the increased volume, the more orders from the retailers? It's a good disconnect for you, but it just seems like a mild disconnect with kind of the perceived economic picture.

Yeah, I think there are a couple different reasons for that. Over the past several years, we've seen our competition get weaker. And several brands that we competed with head-to-head were sold where the brand name was bought by one company and then they licensed the brand to another company to run the operation. And that model I think have some issues and so our competition has gotten weaker. The other thing, which is probably more important, is our product really across our brands is performing extremely well at retail. It rarely happens when you have four brands that all four are performing well, but we have that going right now and the retailers, our customers, are very happy with us. We have a lot of our customers come into Milwaukee and we've been working with them over the last few weeks and we've heard their feedback directly. We're in a good place. I'll throw in one last thing. One comment that we heard from many of the big retailers that were in Milwaukee was that athletic business is trending off. It's not trending off by a lot, and it's a huge part of their business. But if the athletic business is down 2%, that gives a lot more budget for brands like ours that are more in the dress and casual category. And so that also we think is helping.

Well, it sounds like you're taking a little market share in the process. So once again, thanks for the great job that you're doing, and I'll yield.

Thanks. Thanks a lot, David.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster.

I am showing no questions at this time.

I would now like to turn it back to Chief Financial Officer Judy Anderson for closing remarks.

Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for attending our call today. We hope you all have a great rest of your week.

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.