MSA Safety - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Q2 2025 delivered a clear beat vs. Street: revenue $474.1M vs. $446.8M consensus (+6.1%); adjusted EPS $1.93 vs. $1.76 consensus (+10.0%). Strength in Detection and better-than-expected backlog conversion offset softer Fire Service and FX/tariff headwinds. Estimates from S&P Global*.
• Profitability compressed YoY on gross margin pressure (46.6%, -170 bps YoY) from transactional FX, early tariff impacts, and lower organic volume; GAAP operating margin 18.1% (-350 bps YoY), adjusted operating margin 21.4% (-200 bps YoY).
• Outlook reaffirmed: low single-digit organic sales growth for 2025; FX now a modest 0–1% tailwind; M&C TechGroup expected to add ~2 pts to 2025 revenue growth and ~$0.10 to adjusted EPS; interest expense now guided to $29–32M (incl. acquisition).
• Strategic updates: acquisition of M&C TechGroup ($188M net), dividend declared ($0.53/sh payable Sep 10), $30M buybacks, and a footprint investment at the Detection Center of Excellence; net leverage remains conservative at 1.1x net debt/adj. EBITDA.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

• What Went Well
  • Detection led growth: +13% reported, +6% organic YoY; connected MSA+ portables and fixed gas projects were key drivers; M&C contributed ~$11M to Q2 sales and ~3¢ to adjusted EPS accretion in the quarter.
  • Strong capital allocation: closed M&C TechGroup acquisition; repurchased $30M of stock; declared $0.53 quarterly dividend; invested $29M in capacity at Cranberry Township Detection COE.
  • Better backlog conversion than expected in Fire Service and Detection supported the top-line beat; book-to-bill slightly below 1 consistent with seasonality.
• What Went Wrong
  • Margins compressed: gross margin 46.6% (-170 bps YoY) on transactional FX (notably LATAM), early tariff impacts, inflation, and lower organic volume; adjusted EBITDA margin 24.6% (-180 bps YoY).
  • Fire Service sales declined mid-single digits organically; U.S. order pace slowed late in Q2 amid 2025 NFPA standard timing; AFG funding awards had not started by the call date (expected to begin in August).
  • International margins weakened (adjusted op margin 13.1%, -330 bps YoY) on lower organic volume and inflation; FX headwinds remained a drag.

Transcript

Speaker 0

Good day and welcome to the MSA Safety second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Lawrence De Maria. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to MSA Safety's second quarter 2025 earnings conference call. This is Larry De Maria, Executive Director of Investor Relations. I'm joined by Steve Blanco, President and CEO, Elyse Brody, Interim CFO, and Stephanie Sciullo, President of our America segment. During today's call, we will discuss MSA's second quarter financial results and provide an update on our full year 2025 outlook. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that the matters discussed during this call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, all projections and anticipated levels of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may caus

Speaker 0

Thanks, Larry, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for your continued interest in MSA Safety. I'm on slide four. In the second quarter, consolidated reported sales growth was 3%, or flat organic, and adjusted earnings per share were $1.93. Our team continued to execute well in a dynamic environment. Financial results for the second quarter exceeded our original expectations. This was primarily due to the better-than-expected backlog conversion in fire service and detection. The M&C Tech Group acquisition contributed $11 million to reported sales for the quarter. Operating margins declined compared to last year due to gross margin pressures, primarily from transactional foreign currency headwinds and inflation. We also saw the impacts of lower organic volume, as well as the early impacts of tariffs on input costs. These pressures were partially offset by pricing and improved productivity. Overall demand was stable and varied across our product categories.

A decline in fire service was offset by growth in detection and industrial PPE. Sequentially, the backlog declined more than expected in the second quarter, though it remains within normalized levels. Consistent with seasonal patterns, our book-to-bill was slightly below one. Moving to our product categories, detection's mid-single-digit organic growth was driven by expansion in both fixed and portable gas detection. Despite a challenging year-over-year comparison, detection grew 6% organically on top of high single-digit growth in 2024. Organic sales in fire service declined mid-single digits year over year. We were pleased to ship several large orders from our backlog and get product into the hands of our customers, notably the Orange County Fire Department order. Domestically, market dynamics surrounding the NFPA standard change began to impact order pace towards the end of the quarter.

As we've discussed in the past, NFPA standard years often carry short-term volatility as customers evaluate when to renew their fleets. The pipeline of business opportunities remains intact. It's a matter of customer timing. As a reminder, we continue to expect the NFPA standard to promulgate sometime later this year or early next. We've managed through approval cycles before and successfully navigated similar market dynamics. I'm confident we will continue to be well prepared to serve our customers in the fire service. Industrial PPE organic sales were down low single digits as contractions in head protection and ballistic helmets offset strength in fall protection. We've invested in fall protection as part of our accelerated strategy to capitalize on strong market growth, and it's encouraging to see double-digit growth in this area in the second quarter, which remains one of the fastest growing areas of the safety market.

Turning to slide five, as we move through the year, we continue to utilize the principles of the MSA business system and lean into our accelerated strategy actions to drive long-term value creation. Let me highlight a few strategic actions and commercial successes in the quarter before I delve deeper into our capital allocation progress and strategy on the next slide. First, we continue to expand our leadership in industrial safety technology while making a positive impact. I'm proud to share that we recently published our annual impact report for 2024. You can see some report highlights in the appendix on slide 15. I want to draw your attention to the call out of 40 million workers protected, which we reaffirmed with this report. This demonstrates our scale and commitment to our mission.

Second, on the operational side, we implemented targeted price increases in the second quarter and continued to build our pipeline of tariff mitigation and productivity actions. We plan to take further actions in the second half based on the tariff developments. Third, strong commercial and operating performance enabled us to fulfill some customer needs ahead of schedule, leading to similar levels of backlog conversion as last year. I'm also pleased to see our strategies in detection and fall protection yielding results. Turning to slide six, now that we are more than a year removed from our 2024 Investor Day, I'd like to update you on our recent actions regarding capital deployment and the investments we're making for our future. As you know, we have a disciplined, growth-oriented approach to capital allocation that focuses on organic growth, M&A, and cash returns to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.

Fundamentally, we continue investing in our business and people to achieve profitable organic growth. Our R&D investments support new product development and contribute to our mid-30s product vitality index. This proven R&D engine focuses on delivering market-leading innovation to our customers in the industrial safety technology markets we serve. Here are two examples of this engine yielding results. First, we've seen exponential growth in our connected portables business, and for the past couple of quarters, over half of our absolute growth in portables has come from our MSA+ solutions driven by the Altair io 4. Second, we've been very intentional with our lean into fall protection. Our recent launches of the VTEC and VSHOC platforms are performing well in the market and have been major catalysts for our double-digit growth in the area.

During the second quarter, we also strategically invested in our future at Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, which is home to our Detection Manufacturing Center of Excellence and our largest R&D center. This footprint investment supports our accelerated strategy by enabling us to scale our R&D efforts effectively and provide flexibility on additional manufacturing expansion over time. It also aligns with our plan to foster a more collaborative, in-person workforce and keeps us well positioned to attract and retain top talent. On the inorganic front, I'm excited to welcome M&C Tech Group to the MSA family. M&C Tech Group is a German-based manufacturer of gas analysis solutions and technologies that enhance our fixed gas offerings. Their technology complements our fixed gas detection business and expands our TAM by $500 million. The team's doing a great job engaging for our collective success, and we're on track with our integration plans.

Slide 14 in the appendix provides more details on the transaction. We maintain an active pipeline of potential strategic targets focused on high growth and differentiated product categories. We continue to build out our capabilities to enable a more consistent M&A flywheel. Finally, we also return cash to shareholders. For the 55th consecutive year, we increased our annual dividend. We also repurchased $30 million of stock this quarter and $40 million year to date. Increased share repurchases were enabled by our strong balance sheet, expected cash flow generation, and having our net leverage remain below our target range following the acquisition of M&C Tech Group. I'll reiterate what I said at last year's Investor Day. You can count on us to be responsible stewards of capital, focused on allocating effectively to create value for our stakeholders, all focused on advancing our mission of safety.

I'd like to now turn the call over to Elyse to discuss our financial performance in the second quarter. Elyse?

Speaker 1

Thank you, Steve, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining the call. Let's start on slide seven with the quarterly financial highlights. Second quarter sales were $474 million, an increase of 3% on a reported basis, or flat organic over the prior year. Revenue was supported by stronger backlog conversion. M&C added 2% to overall growth, and currency translation was less than a 1% tailwind based on the strengthening euro. As expected, gross margins continued to be pressured in the quarter at 46.6%, down 170 basis points from last year. Gross margins primarily reflect transactional effects and inflation headwinds, and to a lesser degree, volume and the early impacts of tariffs, which were partially offset by price and improved productivity. We will start to see the tariff impact become more pronounced in the second half, coinciding with our mitigating pricing actions.

We expect FX pressure on gross margins to continue in the second half due to Latin American currencies. GAAP operating margin was 18.1%, with an adjusted operating margin of 21.4%, down 200 basis points from a year ago due to the contraction in gross margins. We are diligently focused on controlling the controllables through SG&A productivity, pricing, and tariff mitigation plans to counter the pressure on raw material costs. While operating margins were pressured compared to 2024, the longer-term trend is indicative of the operational and commercial capabilities that we've built through the MSA business system deployment and customer-led innovation. Compared to 2019, first half operating margins are up 300 basis points. Quarterly GAAP net income totaled $63 million, or $1.59 per diluted share. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share were $1.93, down 4% from last year, and includes $0.03 of accretion from M&C.

Now I'd like to review our segment performance. In our America segment, sales increased 2% year over year on a reported and organic basis, as double-digit growth in detection was offset by a mid-single-digit contraction in fire service and a low single-digit contraction in industrial PPE. Currency translation was a 1% headwind in the quarter. Adjusted operating margin was 29.1%, down 220 basis points year over year. Margin contraction was mainly due to inflation, transactional FX headwinds in Latin America, and tariffs, partially offset by price and improved productivity. In our international segment, sales increased 4% year over year on a reported basis with a contribution of M&C and tailwind from FX, and decreased 4% on an organic basis, on a mid-single-digit decline in fire service and low single-digit declines in detection and industrial PPE.

Adjusted operating margin was 13.1%, 330 basis points below last year due to lower organic volume and inflation, partially offset by price and improved productivity. Now turning to slide eight, free cash flow was $38 million, or 60% of earnings. Quarterly operating cash flow increased more than 25% from a year ago, which provided support to fund the footprint investment that Steve highlighted. As far as CapEx, we'd expect the second half to return to a more normalized range following the strategic investment that we made in the second quarter. Year to date, free cash flow is $89 million, up $10 million from last year. As Steve highlighted earlier, we took additional steps to deploy capital in the second quarter in line with our accelerated strategy. These growth investments demonstrate our confidence in the future, as well as our dedication to a disciplined M&A approach and returning cash to shareholders.

Specifically, we paid $188 million net of cash acquired for M&C, invested $29 million in CapEx, and returned more than $50 million to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends. Net debt at the end of the quarter was $532 million compared to $331 million in the first quarter. The increase is primarily due to the acquisition. We were able to utilize cash on hand and a mix of euro and USD denominated borrowings from our newly upsized revolver to fund the transaction. We ended the quarter with net leverage of 1.1 times. Our balance sheet continues to position us well to invest in our business, and we maintain an active M&A pipeline. Let's turn to our 2025 outlook on slide nine. We maintain our low single-digit full-year organic growth outlook and have had a solid start in 2025 with first half organic sales up 2%.

While the business remains healthy, there are some dynamics to watch. We're encouraged by the continued robust performance in detection and momentum in fall protection. In contrast, fire service execution in the second half will be predicated on the timing of the NFPA standard approval and AFG funding release. Additionally, industrial head protection demand has generally been soft due to weaker market conditions. In addition to our low single-digit organic growth outlook, we'd expect M&C to add approximately two points to full-year revenue growth and be approximately $0.10 accretive to adjusted EPS. We retain our confidence in the resilience of our business and ability to navigate macro uncertainty. For modeling purposes, our revenue expectations for the full year are unchanged outside of the M&C contribution and more favorable FX translation impact of 0 to 1% tailwind.

Though we realized a bit more sales in the first half based on first quarter order acceleration and second quarter backlog execution, we expect interest expense to be approximately $29 to $32 million, which includes the acquisition. With that, I'll now turn the call back to Steve.

Speaker 0

Thanks, Elyse. I'm on slide 10. To close, I'm proud of our team's execution and thank all of our associates for their continued commitment to serving our mission and advancing our accelerated strategy in the second quarter. With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for Q&A. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question is from Ross Sparenblek with William Blair. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. This is Sam Parlovan for Ross. Thanks for taking my questions.

Morning, Sam.

I want to start with the catch-in. Can you break out and quantify the growth between fixed gas, non-connected portables, and connected portables in the quarter, and then maybe provide some color on the adoption of the MSA+ Connected Worker Platform between new and existing customers?

Sure, I'll be glad to. Thanks for the question. If you look at detection overall, it was another strong quarter for us. We talked about it a little bit in the first quarter. We expected this to continue throughout the year, and it really leans into our accelerated strategy. Q2 really was led by fixed and the MSA+ Connected Worker Platform portables activity. The fixed strength just continues in most regions. I would say the energy has been strong from a fixed side. Our diversity in the portfolio was really good. You think of the traditional fixed we've had and the renewables, the clean energy continues to play well in fixed. Our Bacharach business with the HVACR, that diversity has helped that fixed business continue to perform really well. Now we've added to it, as you know, with M&C Tech Group.

We're really excited and optimistic about fixed continuing to play well going forward. The MSA+ Connected Worker Platform story, gosh, we really appreciate what the customers have come back with on this and how they've embraced this technology. We had great growth here, another strong quarter. When we parse out total portables to your question, most of the growth in the second quarter, absolute growth in a dollar, absolute dollar category was on MSA+. It really played well. The customer base continues to lean in on this. We expect that to continue in the second half, certainly. Portables, the traditional portables, was up, but very mildly. Most of the growth we saw in that portable space was MSA+ to your question.

Got it. That's super helpful. Keeping on the topic of portable gas detection, is there anything you can share around the timing of the launch of io 4 and any color on what this could mean for the portable gas detection business?

You know, we've got a number of R&D activities ongoing and some upcoming launches. Certainly, the MSA+ Connected Worker Platform is one that we hope to talk to in the not too distant future. I would add that even as we've had this Altair io 4 Connected Device Platform, we've had a number of iterations even inside that technology. While you don't hear of a different io 4 recently, that technology has refined itself over the last 12 months significantly. It's a different product today than it was 12 months ago. Going forward, I would say you'll see some announcements probably in the next few months.

Got it. I'll look out for those. I will leave it there. Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Speaker 3

The next question is from Sari Boroditsky with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Good morning. This is James from Forseri. Thanks for taking questions.

Morning, James.

I wanted to start with the pricing actions that you guys talked about. How have customers responded to those increases, and what was the magnitude of the pricing actions? Could you elaborate on how the price-cost dynamic played out and your expectation for the second half?

Speaker 0

Yeah, I'll talk about the customer a little bit, and then I'll ask Elyse to talk about the numbers and quantify this a bit, James. One of the things we said, and I said this in the first quarter, is when we think about this, we're really trying to look at how we minimize the impact for our customers and for MSA Safety. This is a combination of efficiencies as well as price. We did take action earlier in the year in the first half for some targeted price increases, which we can parse out here in a bit. We're also going to take further action in the second half. We've got a little more clarity on the tariffs. They are impacting certainly the cost inputs we have, and we need to go back and get more pricing in place to ensure that we're well prepared for the future.

As I said before, I would just add all of this will probably shake out where we will be in a good position sometime in early 2026 from a cost-price balance for tariffs, but it's got to shake out through the rest of the year. The customer, how they've accepted it. Remember, a few years ago, we had a lot of inflation, so the customers absorbed that, and this certainly is playing to that. My concern isn't that the customer accepts it or not. It's really what it does to demand over the longer period of time. Right now, our expectations are we're going to raise price effectively to manage the cost inputs as we would expect our competitors to do the same. Maybe Elyse, you can parse out the numbers.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Steve. Good morning, James. Gross margins came in right about where we expected in the second quarter. Price added a couple points to revenue growth in the second quarter. Though we saw the impacts of inflation and transactional FX headwinds continue from the first quarter, we were able to partially offset with price and improved productivity. We also saw some early impacts from tariffs and the impact of lower organic volume. As we move into the second half, we'd expect that tariff impact to ramp up as it works through the backlog. That's why we took the mitigating pricing actions that we did in the second quarter. We've talked before about a gross margin range for our business currently in the 47 to 48% range, and we are still on track for that this year.

As Steve mentioned, we're looking at additional actions both on the pricing and productivity front for the second half that we think will put us in a good position early 2026.

Got it. Great. Thanks for the color. I guess now I kind of want to touch on the fire services. I just want to get a better understanding of what percentage of your current pipeline consists of customers committed to purchasing before the new standard versus those kind of waiting. I think you guys mentioned that G1 SCBA XR edition kind of let customers buy before the standard. I just want to understand that dynamic better. Thank you.

Speaker 0

Yeah, thanks for the question. Again, we don't disclose actual % of what the customers say for a couple reasons, but one of the most critical is competitive reasons and how competitors respond to that in the market. I would say that we do have line of sight to what the customers have told us. They have the prerogative to change their mind and select one or the other, but that's the reason we went and did the redesign on the XR prior to the new standard coming out and make sure we're prepared for that. We have that available today, and we do expect many fire departments to take advantage of it. For those that do wait, we have the next-gen XR ready once it's approved.

I think in both cases, we're well prepared based on what the dynamics play out for the fire departments and how they want to look at this. I would say either way, we feel like we're well positioned here in the fire service. Those that have followed us for a while know that quarter to quarter can be a little lumpy, and that's something that just comes with this market. Pipeline is solid. We expect our strategy to continue to pay off. By the way, the Orange County order is a great example of that, as that was a follow-on to some really nice orders we had with LA County and LA City. The strategy that we have in place, we feel good about. I think you'll see a little variability perhaps in the second half, depending on what some of the timing categories are with NFPA and AFG.

Pipeline's good. Once that funding's available, once the standard clarity is there, we should be in great shape.

Great. Thanks for taking questions. I'll leave it there.

Speaker 3

The next question is from Shavon Suravastava with Robert W. Baird & Co. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for the question. Just curious as to how you're thinking about timing and disbursement of AFG funding. You mentioned it before with fire service. Just looking, it doesn't look like those awards have started rolling out yet. Just kind of wondering, you know, any ideas to how the funding environment has changed?

Speaker 0

Yeah, thanks for the question. The funding's approved. That's the important first point I would add to the color here. We expect the AFG funding releases to begin here in August. They haven't yet, but the expectation we have is that they'll come through sometime in August. They have to have those done by the end of September. Typically, the sooner they can get started on that, get some of those tranches out to the customer base, I think that helps. The funding's approved. Fire departments are just waiting for its release.

Got it. Got it. One more. How do you guys feel about the fourth quarter seasonality? Is it being influenced by lack of SCBA shipments or detection backlog conversion?

Typically, our fourth quarter is a strong quarter for us. I don't think that's going to be any different in 2025. We would expect that to be the case. It typically is a strong quarter in the fire service and typically strong in detection. I would say that you could expect that for 2025 as well.

Perfect. Great. I'll hand it back.

Speaker 3

Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. The next question is from Brian Brophy with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Good morning, everybody. Appreciate you taking the question. Good morning. I think in the opening comments, you mentioned book-to-bill was slightly below one in the quarter. Can you touch on some of the areas where you're seeing relative strength versus some softness in the order book? Thanks.

Speaker 0

Yeah, thanks for the question, Brian. I would look at it from an order pace. Industrial and our detection business orders were up in the quarter. Fire service was down, and that really matched our expectations. It kind of matches the market. You heard in our prepared remarks some commentary around some of the different product categories. Industrial markets right now are challenged. There are some that are bright spots. Utilities is a good example. I think some of the early North American infrastructure investment is good. There are others like manufacturing and, to some degree, non-resi construction that are softer. It is choppy, but we see our diversity in the portfolio really playing out here and helping us do really well. The product categories, markets, and geographies help us perform throughout the cycle, and that's playing out in 2025 for sure.

I would also say that we talked about the accelerated strategy, the two key categories that we expected to grow more significantly this year, especially with the comps in fire service, are detection and fall protection, and that's playing out exactly as we had planned and hoped. A big part of that is share change as well. We are gaining some nice share in detection. We are gaining nice share in fall protection. I think that helps us out in this dynamic we're playing in right now.

Yeah, that's helpful. I guess just following up on that, you just mentioned, you know, relative strength in fall protection. You mentioned that in some of your comments as well. Just any more color on what's driving this? Is this some of the new product introductions and how you're thinking about growth there in the back half?

Yeah, it is. I think, you know, when we think fall protection, we went through a period where we had some nice growth specific to North America with some strategy we had a few years ago. We stumbled, frankly, coming out of COVID with some supply chain issues. We've done a lot of innovation in this space, which I referenced in the prepared remarks. Now we've got a really nice inventory position with our channel, with the customers. We're leaning into markets that the customers really have a high level of interest for our solutions. This is a segment we think we can really compete in very effectively. We're resourcing it appropriately. It is a combination of what we've done commercially, as well as the innovation we put in place. We do expect this to continue in the second half and beyond.

Thanks. I'll pass it on.

Thanks, Brian.

Speaker 3

The next question is from Jeff Van Sinderen with B. Riley FBR. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Just wanted to circle back to fire for a minute if we could. What are the overall elements of timing that you're watching around the new standard? Just wondering, are there milestones that you say, gee, okay, this has happened now. You know, we think it's going to be three months from now that it really ramps. Just wondering about that, how you think about that.

Speaker 0

Thanks for the question. The NFPA standard change is a government approval process. There are a couple of key milestones we look at. First of all, when is testing completed? Once testing is completed, that certainly is a milestone that we can validate. They've got the next key stage that you walk through the process. To be fair, we know when our testing's completed, but we don't necessarily get complete visibility on some of the other categories for competitive situations or any of the discussions they may have. There are some discussions that would be privy to them and NFPA. By and large, when you see the testing completed and you recognize that you've got what you need, this body, the NFPA, will go through a process where they'll need to validate the approvals. They'll have to get all the documentation done, and that takes some time with the government.

That's why we don't have a specific line of sight, but based on historical context, it tells us that we would expect that approval. It could be any time between now and early 2026, which we kind of talked about. I think I did a call in May as well, and we continue to believe that. I don't have much better clarity than that. We tried to put a finer point before, and we've missed it because it is the NFPA, and they've got processes they have to work through, quite frankly.

Okay. Just as a follow-up to that, there's nothing that makes you think that with those or anything else that it would be different this time versus other times as far as the timing?

I think they've been put back to work, and they're fully engaged.

Okay. Good to know. Is it possible to touch a little bit more, delve a little bit more into the margin benefit from MSA+ since that seems to be working really well for you.

Speaker 1

Sure. Thanks for the question, Jeff. We did see a positive impact from Nish in the quarter from MSA+ and the other detection growth. It wasn't overly meaningful, but it certainly does help a bit.

Okay. Anything else to add on the quarterly progression we should expect for gross margin, given tariffs and some of the pricing actions you're taking, and then anything around SG&A for the second half? I guess what I'm trying to get at is, is it feasible here based on everything you're seeing for EBITDA to inflect year over year in Q3?

Sure, Jeff. Thinking about the quarterly gross margin first, we do expect the tariff impact to be more pronounced in the second half, and that's why we took the pricing actions that we did in the second quarter. We'll see those both start to come through in the second half. You may see stronger performance as the volume continues to grow. We typically see that when volume is higher, the margin is better leveraged. On SG&A, we don't expect anything out of the ordinary. What you saw in the second quarter on an organic basis is probably a good run rate to think about for the second half. Of course, you'll have M&C Tech Group come in on top of that.

Okay. Great.

We expect something like $5 million to $6 million per quarter. $107 million to $109 million per quarter is probably a good range to think about.

$5 to $6 million for M&C Tech Group. Is there, I don't know if you've talked about this or not, but what is sort of the organic growth rate of M&C Tech Group?

Tech Group is a mid-single-digit type of grower.

Okay. Fair enough. Thanks. I'll take the rest offline.

Thanks, Jeff.

Speaker 3

The next question is from Mike Shlisky with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

Yes. Hello. Thank you. I hopped on a little bit late. Hey there. I hopped on a little bit late, so if I'm asking anything that's been already said, feel free to have me go to the transcript. First off, M&C Tech Group, I see it's going to be accretive to EPS. I just wanted to see, make sure the business has a stance today. Is it also accretive to margins?

Speaker 1

Sure, Mike. Thanks for the question. The margins of M&C Tech Group are relatively similar to overall MSA Safety, so it didn't have an impact on margins in the second quarter, and that's what we'd expect for the remainder of the year. It's really relatively neutral on margins, but we do expect about $0.10 of accretion for the year in EPS.

Great. Just following up there, I apologize if you've already said this, but the geographic mix from M&C, do you have that handy? Are they mostly Europe? Is there any opportunity to globalize their sales mix and get some synergies that way over the next couple of years?

Speaker 0

Yeah, it is Europe. I mean, they're a German-based company with about a third of their sales there. What we anticipate is over time, we're going to leverage our scale and the channels we have, and the team's very excited by doing that. We think this is a great business in providing premium solutions. We absolutely expect this to scale over time in some of our other key markets.

Okay. Great. I'll leave it there. Thank you so much.

Thanks, Mike.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Mike.

Speaker 3

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Lawrence De Maria for any closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you. We appreciate you joining the call this morning and for your continued interest in MSA Safety. If you missed a portion of today's call, an audio replay will be made available later today on our Investor Relations website and will be available for the next 90 days. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress again next quarter.

Speaker 3

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.