ACCO Brands - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Executive Summary

• Q1 2025 delivered net sales of $317.4M (-11.6% YoY) with gross margin expanding 60 bps to 31.4%; adjusted EPS of ($0.02) beat prior outlook and Wall Street consensus, while revenue was modestly below consensus.
• Demand remained soft across office-related products and gaming accessories; computer accessories grew, aided by a one-time B2B sale in International, and Brazil returned to growth in notebooks.
• Management withdrew full-year guidance due to tariff-driven uncertainty and gave Q2 guidance for reported sales down 8–12% and adjusted EPS of $0.28–$0.32; pricing actions and supply-chain relocations (China+1) are underway to protect margins.
• Capital allocation remained active: $15M in share repurchases (3.2M shares) and $6.8M dividends paid; consolidated leverage ratio ended at 3.65x, below the 4.5x covenant.
• Stock narrative catalysts: tariff mitigation (sourcing shift, pricing), back-to-school demand timing shifts, and Nintendo Switch 2-linked PowerA product launches in June.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Gross margin expanded by 60 bps to 31.4% on favorable mix and cost savings, despite lower volumes; adjusted operating income of $6.9M reflects disciplined execution in a seasonally small quarter.
• International computer and gaming accessories grew mid-single digits, driven by a large B2B computer accessory sale; Brazil returned to volume growth in premium notebooks and licensed products.
• Cost program momentum: $7M incremental savings in Q1, tracking toward ~$40M in 2025 under the multi-year $100M program; leverage ratio at 3.65x provides balance sheet flexibility.

Management quotes:

• “A combination of favorable sales mix and our proactive approach to managing costs enables us to expand our gross margin by 60 basis points.”
• “We have had a China Plus 1 approach that today enables us to react quickly to the changing tariff landscape.”
• “We are confident in our long-term strategy to improve revenue trends and optimize our cost structure…”

What Went Wrong

• Reported net sales fell 11.6% YoY to $317.4M on softer global demand for office-related products and gaming accessories; Americas and International segments both declined double-digit percentages.
• GAAP operating swung to a loss of ($6.7)M vs. $5.9M a year ago; adjusted operating income fell to $6.9M from $16.2M on volume deleveraging.
• Cash generation softened given Brazil timing: operating cash flow $5.5M vs. $28.2M prior year; free cash flow $3.3M vs. $25.9M prior year.

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Hello everybody and welcome to the ACCO Brands first quarter 2025. My name is Elliot and I'll be your coordinator today. If you'd like to register a question during today's event, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Now I'd like to hand over to Chris McGinnis, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Chris McGinnis (Senior Director of Investor Relations)

Good morning and welcome to the ACCO Brands first quarter 2025 conference call. This is Chris McGinnis, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Speaking on the call today is Tom Tedford, President and Chief Executive Officer of ACCO Brands Corporation. Tom will provide an overview of our first quarter results and provide an update on our 2025 priorities. Also speaking today is Deb O'Connor, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, who will provide greater detail on our first quarter results and second quarter outlook. We will then open the lines for questions. Slides that accompany this call have been posted to the Investor Relations section of accobrands.com. When speaking about our results we may refer to adjusted results.

Adjusted results exclude amortization and restructuring costs, non-cash goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges and other non-recurring items and unusual tax items and include adjustments to reflect estimated annual tax rate on a quarterly earnings schedules of adjusted results and other non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are in the earnings release and slides that accompany this call. Due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts, we do not reconcile our forward-looking non-GAAP measures. Forward-looking statements made during the call are based on the beliefs and assumptions of management based on information available to us at the time the statements are made. Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and our actual results could differ.

Please refer to our earnings release and SEC filings for an explanation of certain risk factors and assumptions. Our forward looking statements are made as of today and we assume no obligation to update them going forward. Now I will turn the call over to Tom Tedford.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Thank you, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to ACCO Brands' first quarter 2025 earnings call. Last night we reported first quarter sales in line with our outlook and adjusted EPS above our outlook. A combination of favorable sales mix and our proactive approach to managing costs enabled us to expand our gross margin by 60 basis points. Overall demand trends were largely consistent with our expectations across most categories and geographies, highlighted by growth in computer accessories and a return to growth in Brazil. We made progress on our $100 million multi-year cost reduction program, realizing $7 million of additional savings in the first quarter. During the quarter, we repurchased $15 million in stock and closed on a small acquisition. We ended the quarter with a leverage ratio of 3.65 times, which is well below our covenant of 4.5 times.

Before I review in more detail our first quarter results, let me give you an update on the actions the company is taking in response to the recently announced U.S. tariffs. Over the last five years we have lessened our dependency on China. We have had a China plus one approach that today enables us to react quickly to the changing tariff landscape. This strategy has diversified our supplier base by establishing outsourced manufacturing in other countries besides China. However, we are similar to other companies and continue to purchase a meaningful amount of goods globally from China as it has been the cheapest source of high quality manufactured products. Our relationships with these manufacturing partners are strong and we have collaborated with them to accelerate U.S. production into other countries and out of China.

We are confident in our ability to move most of these purchases in the next few months. We are also evaluating our manufacturing network to utilize existing capacity where it makes economic sense. We are temporarily investing in inventory utilizing the 90 day pause on reciprocal tariffs outside of China to mitigate current year financial impacts in the U.S. In addition to our work to optimize the supply chain supporting the U.S., we are implementing price increases in North America. We have communicated two increases with customers and depending on the ultimate tariff resolution, we will adjust price as appropriate. It is difficult to gauge the demand impact from these pricing actions due to the uncertainties related to inflation, consumer confidence and business spending.

I do want to remind everyone that about 60% of our business is outside the United States which is much less impacted by the current tariff situation. Through the strength of our brands and management team, we are confident in our ability to navigate through these uncertainties. Our teams are focused on mitigating the cost due to the global trade dynamics and positioning our brands to better serve our customers and take share in this disruptive time. Now let me highlight our first quarter results. As a reminder, the first quarter is seasonally our smallest in terms of sales and profitability. First quarter comparable sales were down 8%.

The demand environment was challenging throughout the quarter but consistent with our planning assumptions, impacted by soft consumer and business demand in the Americas. Sales were favorably impacted by early purchases of back-to-school products in the U.S. and growth in Brazil, but were more than offset by weakness in all other categories. Forecasting for this year's upcoming back-to-school season in North America is challenging due to the uncertainty surrounding tariffs. Our prior expectation was for the categories we compete in to be down low single digits. Following the tariff announcements by the U.S. Government, our customers have slowed purchases and there remains a lot of uncertainty about how the tariffs will impact the consumer. Retailers are responding by being more cautious with inventories, but we are in close contact with them as we prepare for this important time of year.

Going into this season, our team won several new placements with retailers and as we have previously mentioned, have expanded distribution with alternative channels. Brazil did return to volume growth as it ended its back to school season in Q1 due to the strength of its premium notebooks and products with popular licenses. We were encouraged by the start of the year in Brazil and are pleased with the work our team is doing to enhance the value we offer in our product portfolio. In the international segment, the bright spot was computer and gaming accessories which grew mid single digits in the quarter driven by a large B2B computer accessory sale and our international expansion in gaming. Sales of office products remained sluggish in the segment. Across most markets, our share is stable and we continue to be leaders in bringing innovative solutions to our customers.

In 2025 we are introducing several exciting new products that support the hybrid work environment and our ergonomics product line. We also made a small acquisition in the Australia New Zealand markets that expands our product portfolio and gives us greater scale in that region. Now let me touch on our global technology accessories businesses Kensington and PowerA. Kensington had a strong quarter with mid single digit growth. As expected, sales for our PowerA brand were down in the first quarter due to aging consoles and low consumer spending trends as well as the overall gaming accessories category being down almost 20%. We are excited to support the Nintendo Switch 2 launch which is expected to be in June with several new licensed product.

We expect gaming accessories sales to be down in the first half before rebounding later in the year as our new products gain traction in the market. Now let me touch on the progress we are making to improve our revenue trends. We continue to be energized by the response from our channel partners on our initiatives. I previously mentioned we are expanding our ergonomics line in the international segment, which has been a highly successful endeavor for us in some of our EMEA markets. We are evaluating other countries and channels to introduce these innovative new products in Brazil.

We have repositioned key products with features and prices to meet a more constrained consumer and as we aim to maintain our category leading position in student note taking, we are looking for additional opportunities to expand our share with existing and new channel partners through new product introductions and category leading service. We continue our strategic focus on optimizing our cost structure, realizing more than $7 million in savings in the quarter, building upon the $25 million of savings achieved in 2024. In response to the increased uncertainties, we are deferring most discretionary spending and pausing CapEx spend except for new product development and certain IT projects. Until we have a firm understanding of the impact of tariffs on consumer and business spending, I am confident that we are taking the right actions to protect and reposition our business as we navigate this dynamic period.

I will now hand it over to Deb and we'll come back to answer your questions.

Deb?

Deb O'Connor (EVP and CFO)

Thank you Tom and good morning everyone. As Tom mentioned, first quarter sales were in line with our outlook and EPS was better than our outlook. In the first quarter, the overall demand environment remained soft as discretionary spending by both consumer and business remained constrained due to the heightened uncertainty in the markets. Reported sales in the first quarter decreased approximately 12%. Comparable sales excluding foreign exchange were down 8% versus the prior year. The sales decline was due to lower volumes. Globally, gross profit for the first quarter was $100 million, a decrease of 10% with the margin rate expanding 60 basis points. This improvement reflected a favorable mix of sales as well as cost savings from our footprint rationalization program. SG&A expense of $93 million was down versus the prior year as cost reduction actions were partially offset by higher inflation and merit.

Adjusted operating income for the first quarter was $7 million versus $16 million a year ago. Now let's turn to our segment results.

For the first quarter.

In the Americas segment, sales declined 12% and comparable sales declined 8%. This decline was due to lower sales of technology accessories and office products. Early back-to-school shipments were higher as certain customers took delivery earlier than last year. This shift will reduce second quarter sales. The Americas adjusted operating income margin for the first quarter decreased 40 basis points to 5.8% compared to the prior year as our higher gross margins and cost savings were more than offset by fixed cost deleveraging from lower volume. Now let's turn to our international segment. For the first quarter, comparable sales declined 8% as the demand environment remained soft for our business essential categories. This was somewhat offset by growth in technology accessories driven by the large B2B sale that Tom mentioned.

International adjusted operating income margin for the first quarter decreased to 6.7% due to volume declines and fixed cost deleveraging as well as higher foreign exchange and inflation. In the quarter we generated free cash flow of $3 million, which was in line with our expectations, but as anticipated down to the prior year due to the timing and performance of our sales in Brazil for their back to school season. At quarter end we had almost $236 million available for borrowing under our revolver, which is more than adequate for our needs. We finished the quarter with a consolidated leverage ratio of 3.65 times, well below our four and a half times covenant ratio. During the quarter we returned $15 million to shareholders in the form of share repurchases while also using $7 million to support our dividend.

While we continue to believe a balanced capital allocation is appropriate, in the near term we will be focused on paying down debt. The dynamics of the changing tariff landscape has caused the current economic environment to be uncertain. Given this uncertainty, we are not providing full year guidance until we gain more clarity. Customer demand, price elasticity, and various tariff scenarios, as well as the outcome of changing our sourcing locations, makes it difficult to predict our sales volume beyond the second quarter. In certain circumstances, we are seeing customers limit purchases as they lower inventory levels and in some cases are pausing purchases until there is greater clarity on tariffs and consumer demand. As Tom said, we are uniquely positioned to accelerate our sourcing to lower cost countries due to the initiatives put in place prior to the tariff announcements.

By the end of 2025 there will remain an insignificant amount of high tariff China sourced product which will represent slow moving, low volume and secular declining categories. Given our broad and diverse product portfolio, we will take advantage of this opportunity to rationalize our SKUs and offer item substitutions for high cost products. In addition, the teams have passed price and anticipate more pricing actions may be needed. We are providing an outlook for the second quarter based on what we currently know. We have assumed that sales will be impacted by muted consumer and business demand. The second quarter will be impacted by changes in buying patterns for back to school. There were significant back to school purchases in the first quarter which were pulled forward in anticipation of the tariffs.

We are also anticipating that orders may be delayed or canceled as customers wait to gain additional clarity on demand. For the second quarter, we expect reported sales to be down 8%-12% with a lessening foreign exchange impact from the weakening of the U.S. Dollar. We anticipate adjusted EPS to be in the range of $0.28-$0.32. Even though the current year poses challenges, we remain confident in the long term future of our company and our ability to navigate this dynamic period. We have a strong balance sheet with no debt maturities until 2029 and a long history of productivity gains and cost management. We continue to anticipate longer term that we can grow sales modestly from organic and inorganic initiatives with a target gross margin rate of 33%-34% and consistent cash flow generation.

Now let's move on to Q&A, where Tom and I will be happy to take your questions. Operator.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. First question comes from Joe Gomes with Noble Capital. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Joe Gomes (Senior Generalist Equity Analyst)

Good morning.

Deb O'Connor (EVP and CFO)

Hey, Joe.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Good morning, Joe.

Joe Gomes (Senior Generalist Equity Analyst)

First question I wanted to ask on that, the large B2B contract that you discussed, is that going to have any additional impact in say the second or third quarter or was that all complete in the first quarter?

I don't know if you can.

Give us any more color as to what that added. I think you said Kensington was up mid single digits. You know, what would it have been if we did not get that one contract?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah, good question, Joe. First of all, to answer the first part of your question, we will not see incremental impact to sales in the balance of the year. It was a one-time shipment that we realized in the first quarter. Had the one-time B2B order not been realized, the business would have been roughly flat. As a reminder, you know, we have significant one-time events with Kensington throughout the years, throughout the quarter. This is not a unique thing. It was just a bit bigger. Bigger than what we typically get.

Joe Gomes (Senior Generalist Equity Analyst)

Right.

Okay, thank you for that.

You talked about internationally, you benefited from some price increases and I do not know if you would give us any more detail or quantify what they were. I know you just mentioned, I think you have indicated two price increases here in the Americas. I do not know if you can give us any more detail to those.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Sure.

For the international segment, roughly 2% was the price increase that was communicated to customers going into this year. That is likely going to be the only price actions we will take in most of those markets as we do not anticipate further inflationary pressures to impact the business outside of the United States. Obviously, as you know, the U.S. business is under some unique circumstances as we navigate the tariff environment. We have announced price increases already this year. We anticipate another price increase in response to the reciprocal tariffs to be implemented by July. There is a lot of price action happening across all of our categories in the U.S. market.

Joe Gomes (Senior Generalist Equity Analyst)

Okay, thank you. Thank you.

You mentioned the acquisition. I'm assuming it was relatively small since you didn't really speak a little bit much about it.

I was just wondering if you could.

Give us a little more color about that acquisition, what it was. I know you mentioned Australia and New Zealand, but you know, kind of sizing and you know where that you think.

That's going to benefit the company.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah. Our team has done some nice strategic work, particularly in Australia, looking at categories that they believe are growing and we are either under indexed or have no presence in. This opportunity came about through some strategic work that they had done. We acquired the business to enter a category which is ergonomic seating and business seating, so chairs and other types of seating accessories in the market. We're excited about that. I think the Australian team's done a nice job of integrating and we're looking now at what we can do to potentially expand the offering into other markets. That likely won't be near term as we want to make sure we stabilize and take advantage of all the opportunities in Australia and New Zealand.

Long term, we see that as an opportunity to expand into that category in other markets globally.

Joe Gomes (Senior Generalist Equity Analyst)

Okay, great.

Thanks.

I'll get back in queue.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Okay, Joe, thank you.

Operator (participant)

We now turn to Greg Burns with Sidoti. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Greg Burns (Analyst)

Okay, just a follow up on the acquisition. Tom, I know that was a small deal. Given the demand environment, what's your appetite still for acquisitions and maybe what does the funnel of opportunities look like for you?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah, Greg, that is a good question. We still believe that acquisitions will be a part of our future strategy. I will say that we will probably be a bit more cautious in the near term until we get a better understanding of all that is going to happen as a result of the trade dynamics that we are currently navigating through. To reiterate, long term, we still think that is an important part of our strategy.

Greg Burns (Analyst)

Okay.

In terms of some of the new product development that you mentioned, do you maybe what is the timing of the introduction of some of these new products? When do you expect to start to see revenue flowing from them? And do you have a target on, you know, how much growth or x % of revenue you'd like to generate from new products in any given year?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah. Let me take the first part of the question first. We have in our business plan for 2025 revenue from new products and in most of our markets. They are hitting the shelves literally as we speak. Our probably most notable line is going to be products that are going to be supporting the Switch 2.0 launch in June. Those products are starting to leave factory and should be in market and on shelf in time to support the launch in June. We have product that will be launching throughout the year in most of our markets, both for retail and commercial customers. That work is robust.

I think our pipeline has improved quite significantly over the last couple of years, particularly in our Kensington business, where the expectation is going to be almost 2x of new product, not revenue, but new product coming out of their product pipeline. Good progress is being made really across the business on new product development. Yes, we do have a target. We're working with an outside consultant to refine how we think about NPD and how we think about product vitality on a move forward basis. I don't believe we're ready to publicly talk about that at the moment. We will be at some point in the near future. That is a part of our business, a part of our business planning. We build in revenue from new products annually and we anticipate that to grow moving forward.

Greg Burns (Analyst)

Okay.

Lastly, I just wanted to understand the dynamic in the first quarter. I know on a consolidated level you hit your number or in line from a revenue perspective, but it feels like maybe by segment, it shaped up different than you were looking for with a little bit of pull forward. I guess based on my model, the International was a little bit lighter than we were looking for. Maybe if you could just talk about some of the segment dynamics and how they shaped up versus maybe what the expectations were going in.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah, you know, International got off to a bit of a slow start this year, predominantly driven by our business in EMEA. What we are seeing there is really driven by two factors. One, at the end of 2024, we had certain customers decide to chase rebate targets. They pulled in some inventory, pulled in some purchases from the first part of this year, which obviously impacted sales in January and February. Two, in Germany, we are seeing a bit of softness in our categories. I think those two factors really were the drivers of soft performance in Q1 in the International segment. The rest of the markets, I think, performed close enough to our expectations. Those two factors were really the key drivers in International.

Greg Burns (Analyst)

Okay, and then looking forward, I guess, are those dynamics, have they normalized or where are we at in terms of what you're seeing so far in the.

First part of this quarter?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah, I mean, as you see, we've given our Q2 guidance. You know, it's close to the way we finished the first quarter. We haven't seen really any drastic changes in trend in Germany. Again, the rest of the markets in International are performing pretty consistent.

Deb O'Connor (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, we do think that International will perform a little bit better than the first quarter, offset by some of the North America challenges.

Greg Burns (Analyst)

Okay, all right, great.

Thank you.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Kevin Steinke with Barrington Research. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Kevin Steinke (Managing Director)

Thank you. Just wanted to start off by asking about the favorable sales mix in the first quarter that you mentioned helped gross margin. Was that the large Kensington sale or was there something else at play there?

Deb O'Connor (EVP and CFO)

No, I think that was part of it. We also had a pull forward of some of our back-to-school, which is a bit more profitable. That happened in the first quarter this year, just due to the timing of when it was purchased. That helps the North America side.

Kevin Steinke (Managing Director)

Okay, thank you. You mentioned a target gross margin of 33%-34%. I think that's up from the prior target of 32-33%. Maybe if you can just talk.

About.

You know, what's driving that increase to the longer term gross margin target?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah. We have been on a journey to optimize our cost structure and to reduce our fixed cost. As we realize those savings, that should positively impact gross margins for the mid to long term.

Kevin Steinke (Managing Director)

Okay, great. I know you said you'd be able to move purchasing or most purchasing out of China within the next few months, but could you just maybe give us a ballpark on, like, you know, the size of purchasing out of China currently? Maybe, I don't know, in terms of the dollar amount of cost of products sold or, you know, some other way, maybe you could, you know, quantify it.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah.

Just to make sure we're clear on the statement that we made, right. It's really, we're moving products supporting the U.S. Business out of China. As a reminder, and of important note, 60% of our business, roughly, is outside of the United States. And, you know, China is still a very viable option for the other markets that aren't impacted by the current tariffs. The work that we're doing right now is really to optimize the supply chain supporting the U.S. Business. By the end of the year, Kevin, we anticipate an insignificant amount of products supporting the U.S. coming out of China. That work will be moved to either lower cost or lower tariff markets, including markets like Vietnam or our own manufacturing assets, likely in the Americas. Hopefully that adds a little bit more color.

It is important to note that the work that we do supporting the businesses outside the United States that is in China is not being resourced at the moment.

Kevin Steinke (Managing Director)

Okay, got it.

Lastly, you mentioned $7 million of cost savings in the first quarter from the restructuring program.

Is.

Is the target for 2025 still about $40 million? I believe that's what you had talked about previously.

Deb O'Connor (EVP and CFO)

Yeah, that's right, Kevin. We're still targeting the $40 million and the $7 million was in the first quarter and it was nicely split between the COGS and SG&A.

Kevin Steinke (Managing Director)

Okay, great. That's helpful. Thanks for taking the questions.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Thank you, Kevin.

Operator (participant)

We now turn to Hale Holden with Barclays. Your line is open. Please go ahead. Hi.

Hale Holden (Managing Director)

Good morning.

I had I guess two questions. The pull forward in sales for us back to school from 2Q into 1Q. How much of normal order flow for.

Back to school, would that be?

Because you know there's typically a replenishment process and it would be a couple months early. You know, what will your big partners there are planning for and if, if you think there's a scenario where there's just a short, we're just short product in that channel and or how that would get filled. I know, I know you're very cautious on giving us like thoughts on what that looks like. But conceptually, how would you walk through it?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah. You know, the timing of back to school orders both for the first and the second quarter often sit right on the quarter end. This year we saw a little bit more of an aggressive approach by a certain retailer to pull orders forward into Q1 in anticipation of avoiding the tariffs and potential supply chain disruptions due to the tariffs. You know, it is not uncommon that we see this. It is just a call out that we made because it did happen where we had orders that we had planned to happen in Q2 move forward into Q1. You know, I think it is a relatively insignificant amount for the full circumstances season over the three quarters that we support back to school.

The second piece of your question, the answer would be, you know, we don't see an environment where retailers will be short on our inventory. We're well inventory to support the season and if they come in late with orders, we'll be prepared to assist them in replenishment to ensure that they're supporting their consumers. I think we're uniquely positioned with a really balanced supply chain to react quickly to increase demand or order shortages by our customers.

Hale Holden (Managing Director)

That's great. I was wondering if the two price increases or the price increase you've taken and the one that you've announced, if you'd be willing to share what the quantum is on that.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah. The big one, obviously, is the one sitting in front of us as we react to reciprocal tariffs. We are working through that as we speak. We want to be a bit cautious in talking about that until we understand where the reciprocal tariffs ultimately end up. What we can reinforce is that we're going to protect our gross margins through our pricing efforts and our resourcing efforts. I think that's the important message to deliver. The exact percentage is still a bit in limbo, but we are absolutely going to protect our margins through this work.

Hale Holden (Managing Director)

That sort of depends on what happens on the 90 day expiration, which.

Way we go.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Exactly.

Hale Holden (Managing Director)

Got it.

All right, thank you very much.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

As a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad now. We now turn to William Reuter with Bank of America. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

William Reuter (Managing Director)

Good morning. Appreciate that 60% of your sales are.

Outside of the U.S., can you share.

With us at this point what percentage of your cost of goods sold are sourced in China and then sold in.

The U.S.

Deb O'Connor (EVP and CFO)

You know, I think the answer to that question is that we typically have sourced quite a bit from China because of its low cost, high quality aspect of it. As Tom said, we're currently moving a lot of the production out of China and into other countries in Asia so that by the time we get to the end of the year, we'll have an insignificant amount coming out of China. We're in the process of moving all of that. It's difficult to get any percentages before and after because there's so much work being done.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Bill, just another note on that point that I think is important that we have not said is we are doing some pre buying ahead of tariffs to build up inventories in certain categories to mitigate any intermediate impact to our cost. We should have sufficient inventory from low tariff countries while we are transitioning production to other markets out of China. I think we are uniquely positioned to navigate this challenge in 2025.

William Reuter (Managing Director)

Cool.

Thank you.

I know that you know certain products, other Southeast countries have gotten pretty good at producing and are at least somewhat price competitive with China. I thought a lot of kind of computer accessory products, there were still pretty substantial price premiums. If you go to Vietnam or other countries, can you talk about when you move to those other countries, what types of price increases or cost increases you may be seeing?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah, yeah, there's a modest cost increase as we move out of China to other countries. Obviously we're doing things that make the most economic sense for the company. If the benefit of moving, which in most cases the benefit is far better than staying for us, production is there, we realize that. Any inflation from our baseline costs, we're going to pass through in price. I want to reiterate, our objective is to support the long term 33%-34% gross margin targets while remaining competitive at shelf with the consumer or in business spend. It's important to note that any increase in costs will be offset in price. You know, the supply chain has evolved pretty significantly over the last five years and we have good alternatives outside of China in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam and Malaysia.

Our Kensington business has been deploying the same strategy as the rest of our business in the U.S., China plus one. We have a good footprint, well positioned to navigate these challenges. I think as Deb said, by the end of the year we are going to have an insignificant amount of our volume coming from China.

William Reuter (Managing Director)

Got it. I apologize for a little bit revisiting Hale's question. I appreciate that the largest increase in prices will be the reciprocal tariffs. What you put through thus far, has it been kind of again like the 10% range in the first round that's already been put in place and then the subsequent one that you've communicated but is not in place yet?

Is that the context it's in?

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Yeah. I would say the context on the first round is in the single digits from a price increase and then our reciprocals will be, you know, up to 20% depending on where it ultimately ends.

William Reuter (Managing Director)

Great, thanks so much.

That's all for me.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Okay, good. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

We have no further questions. I'll now hand back to Tom Tedford for any final remarks.

Tom Tedford (President and CEO)

Thank you everyone for joining us. We are pleased to deliver first quarter sales in line with outlook and loss per share better than our outlook. I am confident that our proactive actions are better positioning us for long term growth. We have a strong balance sheet and generate consistent cash flows which we will use to invest in both organic and inorganic revenue growth opportunities. We appreciate your interest in ACCO Brands and look forward to talking with you when we report our second quarter results in August.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, today's call is now concluded. We'd like to thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.