LEGGETT & PLATT INC (LEG) Business

Item 1. Business.

Summary

Leggett & Platt, Incorporated (Leggett & Platt, Company, we, us, or our), a pioneer of the steel coil bedspring, is an international diversified manufacturer that conceives, designs, and produces a wide range of engineered components and products found in many homes and automobiles. As discussed below, our operations are organized into 13 business units, which are divided into six groups under our three segments: Bedding Products; Specialized Products; and Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products. On August 29, 2025, we divested our Aerospace Products Group which was reported in our Specialized Products segment, as discussed in Note S to the Consolidated Financial Statements on page 121, and under Divestitures and Acquisitions in Item 1. Business on page 6.

Overview of Our Segments

Bedding Products Segment

Our Bedding Products segment has its roots in the Company's founding in 1883 with the manufacture of steel coil bedsprings. Today, we support our customers' product needs from raw materials to components to finished mattresses and foundations and provide distribution and fulfillment capabilities. Our industry-leading innerspring and specialty foam technologies, innovative product development, and vertical integration allow us to create value for our customers at each step, from raw material to end consumer.

We operate a steel rod mill in the United States with annual capacity of approximately 500,000 tons. Approximately half of the rod mill's output is used internally by our wire drawing mills to supply virtually all of the wire consumed by our domestic innerspring operations and other businesses. We also supply steel rod and wire to trade customers that operate in a broad range of markets. Our innerspring operations produce coils and semi-finished mattress products with internally designed and manufactured wire-forming machines.

In Specialty Foam, we blend polyols and chemical additives to enhance foam properties and pour and fabricate foam for use in bedding and furniture applications. We utilize our specialty foam capabilities to produce mattress accessories and private label boxed mattresses, which often also incorporate our innersprings in hybrid mattress designs.

We are a major supplier of adjustable beds, with North American manufacturing and distribution, and global sourcing capabilities. Internationally, primarily in Europe, we produce innersprings, specialty foam, and finished mattresses. We also produce machinery for internal production and assembly of our bedding products. Our range of products offers our customers a single source for many of their component and finished product needs.

These innovative proprietary products and our efficient vertical integration have made us one of the largest U.S.-based manufacturers in many of these businesses. We strive to understand what drives consumer purchases in our markets and focus our product development activities on meeting end-consumer needs. We believe we attain a cost advantage from efficient manufacturing methods, internal production of certain raw materials, large-scale production, and purchasing leverage. Sourcing components and finished products from us allows our customers to focus on designing, merchandising, and marketing their products.

3

Table of Contents

PART I

PRODUCTS

Bedding Group

CUSTOMERS

Specialized Products Segment

Our Specialized Products segment designs, manufactures, and sells products including automotive comfort and in-car motion systems and hydraulic cylinders for the material handling and heavy construction industries. In our Automotive business, our technical capability and deep customer engagement allows us to compete on critical functionality, such as comfort, size, weight, and noise. We believe our reliable product development and launch capability, coupled with our global footprint, makes us a trusted supplier to our Tier 1 and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) customers.

PRODUCTS

Automotive Group

Hydraulic Cylinders Group

CUSTOMERS

4

Table of Contents

PART I

Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products Segment

In our Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products segment, we design, manufacture, and distribute a wide range of components and finished products for residential and commercial markets, and select structural fabric and geo component markets. We supply components used by home and work furniture manufacturers to provide comfort, motion, and style in their finished products and manufacture select lines of private-label finished furniture. We produce carpet cushion and hard surface flooring underlayment for residential and commercial use. We convert fabrics into components used by bedding and furniture manufacturers and in other applications such as filtration, hospitality, automotive, and packaging. We also convert and distribute geo components for erosion control, subgrade stabilization, and storm water management.

PRODUCTS

Home Furniture Group

Work Furniture Group

Flooring & Textile Products Group

CUSTOMERS

Somnigroup Discussions

In December 2025, we announced the Company received an unsolicited proposal from Somnigroup International Inc. (Somnigroup) to acquire the Company in an all-stock transaction. In January 2026, our Board of Directors, in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, announced that it had determined that the

5

Table of Contents

PART I

Somnigroup offer undervalues the Company and publicly declined the Somnigroup proposal. Our Board also publicly announced that it has entered into a customary non-disclosure agreement and six month standstill with Somnigroup to facilitate customary due diligence and to determine if a transaction can be reached that delivers appropriate value and certainty to the Company and its shareholders. There can be no assurance that the Board's evaluation will result in a transaction and, if there is a transaction, the price, form of consideration, or other terms and conditions of any such transaction.

Strategic Initiatives

We continuously seek opportunities to improve our operating efficiency and profitability, evaluate the market attractiveness and competitive position of all our businesses, and assess opportunities for profitable, long-term growth.

Restructuring

In 2024, we committed to a restructuring plan (the 2024 Restructuring Plan or 2024 Plan). The 2024 Plan is substantially complete and was primarily associated with our Bedding Products segment and included, to a lesser extent, our Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products segment, Specialized Products segment, and general and administrative cost structure initiatives.

For more information about the 2024 Restructuring Plan, please see the discussion under Operational Risk Factors beginning on page 14 in Item 1A. Risk Factors, Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations on page 39, and Note E to the Consolidated Financial Statements on page 94.

We continue to seek opportunities to improve our cost structure and profitability in all of our businesses.

Divestitures and Acquisitions

In August 2025, we divested the Aerospace Products Group for a net cash price of $280 million and recognized a pretax gain of $91 million after final adjustments for working capital were completed in December 2025. We collected the final working capital adjustment of $4 million in January 2026. The proceeds from the sale were primarily used to reduce debt. Our Aerospace Products Group was a supplier of complex, highly-engineered tube and duct assemblies for use primarily in commercial and military aircraft platforms and space launch vehicles. The business was comprised of seven manufacturing facilities located in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, with approximately 700 employees at the time of the sale, and had approximately $130 million in sales through August 2025 which were reported in the Specialized Products segment.

Also in 2025, we divested a small U.S. machinery business within our Bedding Products segment for $1 million and a small Mexican Work Furniture operation within our Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products segment for $4 million.

For additional details, see Note S on page 121 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

We did not have any divestitures of businesses in 2023 or 2024, and no businesses were acquired in the last three years.

Disciplined Growth

We will continue to make investments to support expansion in current businesses and in product lines where we have an opportunity to grow profitably. Within our Bedding Products segment, we have begun exploring alternative sales channels (including private-label initiatives) to expand our market position, increase profitability, and drive growth.

We also envision periodic acquisitions that add capabilities in our businesses. We expect all acquisitions to have a clear strategic rationale, a sustainable competitive advantage, a strong fit with the Company, and be in attractive and growing markets.

6

Table of Contents

PART I

Foreign Operations

The percentages of our trade sales related to products manufactured outside the United States were 39%, 40%, and 41% in 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively. In comparison to our other two segments, our Specialized Products segment has a larger percentage of trade sales manufactured outside the United States, which ranged between 84% and 86% over the last three years.

Our international operations are principally located in Europe, China, Canada, and Mexico. Our products in these foreign locations primarily consist of:

Europe

China

Canada

Mexico

7

Table of Contents

PART I

Geographic Areas of Operation

As of December 31, 2025, we had 104 manufacturing facilities in 18 countries; 61 located in the United States and 43 located in foreign countries, as shown below. We also had various sales, warehouse, and administrative facilities. However, our manufacturing facilities are our most important properties.

Dependence on Market Demand for Key Product Families

The following table shows our approximate percentage of trade sales by product family for the last three years, which indicates the degree of dependence upon market demand:

1 In August 2025, we divested our Aerospace Products Group.

We do not have a material amount of sales derived from government contracts subject to renegotiation of profits or termination at the election of any government. As such, our business is not materially dependent upon governmental customers.

8

Table of Contents

PART I

Distribution of Products

We sell and distribute our products primarily through our own personnel. However, many of our businesses have relationships and agreements with outside sales representatives and distributors. We do not believe any of these agreements or relationships would, if terminated, have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, operating cash flows, or results of operations.

Sources and Availability of Raw Materials

The products we manufacture require a variety of raw materials. We believe that worldwide supply sources are available for all the raw materials we use, as explained below. Among the most important raw materials we use are:

We supply our own raw materials for many of the products we make. For example, we produce steel rod that we make into steel wire, which we then use to manufacture innersprings and static foundations for mattresses. Our domestic wire drawing mills purchase nearly all of their steel rod requirements from our rod mill. Our wire drawing mills supply nearly all of our U.S. requirements for steel wire.

Customer Concentration

We serve thousands of customers worldwide, sustaining many long-term business relationships. Our largest customer represented approximately 7% of our 2025 consolidated revenue. Our top 10 customers accounted for approximately 31% of these consolidated revenues. The loss of one or more of these customers could have a material adverse effect on the Company and the respective segments in which the customer’s sales are reported.

9

Table of Contents

PART I

Patents and Trademarks

As of December 31, 2025, we had 1,247 patents issued, 486 patents in process, 909 trademarks registered, and 62 trademarks in process. No single patent or group of patents, or trademark or group of trademarks, is material to our operations as a whole. A significant number of our patents relate to products manufactured in each of our three segments, while over half of our trademarks relate to products manufactured by the Bedding Products segment. The expiration of any single patent would not have a material negative effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Some of the most significant trademarks used in our businesses include:

Product Development

One of our strongest performing product categories across the Company is ComfortCore®, our fabric-encased innerspring coils used in hybrid mattresses. ComfortCore® represented more than 75% of our U.S. innerspring units in 2025. Our ComfortCore® innersprings can be further enhanced with Quantum® Edge and Eco-Base® features. Quantum® Edge units are narrow-diameter, fabric-encased coils that form a perimeter around an innerspring set, replacing a rigid foam perimeter in a finished mattress. In 2025, over 50% of our ComfortCore® innersprings in the United States had the Quantum® Edge feature.

Our Specialty Foam business formulates many of the chemicals and additives used in the production of specialty foams for the bedding and furniture industries. These branded, specialty polyols and additives enhance foam performance by reducing heat retention and improving mobility, support, and durability. Our innovations enable us to produce high-quality, differentiated compressed mattresses.

We are leveraging our innerspring and specialty foam technologies to develop unique products that meet end-consumer needs while streamlining mattress manufacturing for our customers by reducing labor constraints and simplifying supply chain and inventory requirements. In 2023, we launched CombiCore®, a semi-finished mattress featuring fabric-encased perimeter edge innerspring and specialty foam columns that minimize motion disturbance from a sleeping partner and improve airflow. In 2024, we launched our pre-foam encased product, which features foam rails automatically attached to an Eco-Base® innerspring set during the innerspring production process.

Our Automotive business designs and engineers lightweight components for comfort and in-car motion systems that help reduce overall vehicle weight and improve fuel efficiency (and thus reduce noise and greenhouse gas emissions), while maintaining performance, safety, and functionality. These products help auto manufacturers meet emission standards and their environmental goals for both internal combustion engines and electric vehicles.

Across our other businesses, we are engaged in product development activities to improve product quality, increase efficiency, support ongoing growth, and help our customers achieve their goals.

10

Table of Contents

PART I

Human Capital Management

Our success depends on our ability to attract and retain talent, foster a culture of inclusion, respect, and equal opportunity, provide a safe and healthy work environment, train and develop our employees, and ensure productive succession planning efforts. The Board’s Human Resources and Compensation Committee has oversight of our human resources policies and programs, officer and director compensation, compensation plans, executive succession planning, and senior management leadership development. This oversight is designed to support our business objectives, to attract, retain, and develop high-quality leadership, and to link compensation with business performance.

Our Employees

At year-end 2025, we had approximately 15,900 employees. Approximately 10,200 were engaged in production and roughly 9,400 were located outside the United States. Of the total employee base, approximately 4,700 worked in Bedding Products, 6,000 in Specialized Products, and 4,500 in Furniture, Flooring & Textile Products, with the remainder serving in other roles across the organization. Also, at year-end 2025, approximately 17% of our employees were represented by labor unions that collectively bargain for work conditions, wages, or other issues. We did not experience any material work stoppage related to labor contract negotiations during 2025, and we are not aware of circumstances likely to result in a material work stoppage during 2026. At year-end 2024, we had approximately 17,700 employees.

Our Ability to Attract, Recruit, and Retain Employees

We operate in competitive labor markets, and accordingly, we attract, recruit, and retain employees through competitive compensation and benefits, training and development programs that support career growth, and employee engagement initiatives designed to foster a strong, inclusive culture.

Compensation and Benefits. We offer cash compensation and benefits designed to attract and retain the talent needed to achieve our business objectives. Depending on location, we offer health, dental, and vision benefits; flexible spending plans and health savings accounts; retirement savings; disability, life, critical illness, accident, and travel insurance; well-being and employee assistance programs; vacation, personal time, and holidays; and a discount stock purchase plan. We also provide incentive programs for management employees based on performance. Finally, we offer part-time jobs, flexible hours, and remote and hybrid working conditions, where applicable.

Training and Development Programs. Developing our talent continues to be part of our ongoing, long-term strategy, which is focused on growing talent, including technical/skilled positions, supervisory and management levels, and other future leaders. We believe that the first step toward achieving our long-term strategic business goals is to maintain a culture of employee development at all levels of the Company. In 2025, we engaged employees in monthly learning and development spotlights covering topics such as career and professional growth, change management, collaboration, feedback, gratitude, and psychological safety.

Employee Engagement and Satisfaction. We analyze employee satisfaction to better enhance engagement. We invite employee participation in a global engagement survey called LPVoice. At many of our locations, we also collect data on employee satisfaction, feedback, and turnover through surveys, employee focus groups, and turnover analysis. From this data, we develop plans designed to improve engagement and reduce turnover.

We rely on a stable workforce to deliver our operating results. In 2025, our turnover rates in the United States were reasonably comparable to average voluntary turnover rates of the manufacturing industry in the United States.

We also maintain a global Ethics Hotline through which employees may confidentially and anonymously report concerns regarding possible violations of ethics, law, or company policies. All reports received are promptly investigated, and appropriate action is taken based on the findings. The Ethics Hotline helps ensure that employees’ voices are heard and that concerns are addressed responsibly.

Our Culture of Inclusion, Respect, and Equal Opportunity

We continue to foster a culture of inclusion in which everyone is respected, valued, and has an equal opportunity to contribute, grow, thrive, and advance. We strive to cultivate inclusive team environments that empower all employees to realize their full potential. We believe that it is important to appreciate people's

11

Table of Contents

PART I

differences and provide equal employment opportunities at all organizational levels, without regard to irrelevant factors such as sex, race, age, etc. Our commitment is to maintain our focus on building a workforce of qualified and talented individuals, who can best contribute to the Company's success. We are taking comprehensive actions to build on our foundational awareness, understanding, engagement, and skills to promote a culture of respect and equal opportunity.

Our Workforce Health and Safety

We are dedicated to the health and safety of our employees through prevention, education, and awareness with the objective of mitigating workplace injuries through accident investigation and process safety. Our dedicated staff of professionals supports health and safety management at our manufacturing facilities, including implementation of a comprehensive program called SafeGuard. SafeGuard develops relevant job hazard analyses, which are undertaken on many processes and used to develop comprehensive job procedures. This allows us to implement job-specific health and safety practices across our business.

Our manufacturing employees receive new hire and annual refresher safety training, weekly “toolbox” talks regarding safety and training, job-specific safety training based on the job hazards analyses developed from our SafeGuard program, and safety stand-down training based on real-time identified and emerging risks, when needed. In addition, the executive leadership team and executive management review safety metrics on a weekly basis.

Succession Development

The Board and Human Resources and Compensation Committee review and oversee the Company’s executive succession planning. We are committed to having strong managers and leadership in critical roles across the Company. Our values and culture guide our talent initiatives, which are designed to create a pipeline of strong, high-performing leadership candidates to serve in progressively important roles throughout the Company. Our internal promotion rate over the last three years for executive officer positions was 100%. We are building on our success in these areas and continue to develop our succession processes to allow us to adapt and grow.

Trends in Market Demand and Competition

Market Demand. Market demand (including product mix) is impacted by several economic factors, with housing turnover and consumer confidence being the most significant. Other important factors include disposable income levels, employment levels, and interest rates. All of these factors influence consumer spending on durable goods, and therefore affect demand for our products and components. Some of these factors also influence spending on infrastructure, facilities, and equipment, which has impacted approximately 30% of our sales. The dynamic macroeconomic environment has pressured most of our end markets and negatively affected the demand for our products. As a result of these uncertainties, we expect 2026 overall demand to be flat or modestly lower than 2025 levels. For more information on our trends in market demand, see Market Demand in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations on page 40.

Competition. Many companies offer products that compete with those we manufacture and sell. The number of competing companies varies by product family, but many of the markets for our products are highly competitive. We tend to attract and retain customers through innovation, product quality, competitive pricing, and customer service. Many of our competitors try to win business primarily on price, but, depending upon the particular product, we experience competition based on quality and performance as well. In general, our competitors tend to be smaller, private companies.

Based on certain industry data, we believe we are a leading supplier, in terms of revenue, of the following:

12

Table of Contents

PART I

We continue to face pressure from foreign competitors, as some of our customers source a portion of their components and finished products offshore. In addition to lower labor rates, foreign competitors benefit (at times) from lower raw material costs. They may also benefit from currency factors and more lenient regulatory climates. We typically compete in market segments that value product differentiation. When we do compete on cost, we typically remain price competitive in most of our business units, even versus many foreign manufacturers, as a result of our efficient operations, automation, vertical integration in steel rod and wire, logistics and distribution efficiencies, and large-scale purchasing of raw materials and commodities. We have also reacted to foreign competition in certain cases by developing new proprietary products that help our customers reduce total costs and by shifting production offshore to take advantage of lower input costs.

For information about antidumping duty orders regarding innerspring, steel wire rod, and mattress imports, please see Competition in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations on page 42.

Seasonality

We generally experience some seasonality in our consolidated sales, earnings, and operating cash flows. Both sales and earnings are typically higher in the second and third quarters, primarily driven by our residential bedding and furniture businesses, as well as our geo components business. Also, historically, our operating cash flows have been stronger in the fourth quarter, primarily related to the timing of cash collections from customers and payments to vendors, and lower in the first quarter, when annual cash incentive payments are paid and as inventories typically increase. However, supply chain disruptions, inflation, and other macroeconomic factors have impacted seasonality in prior years.

Governmental Regulations

Our operations are subject to various federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations, including environmental regulations. We have policies intended to ensure that our operations are conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. While we cannot predict policy changes by various regulatory agencies or unexpected operational or other developments, management expects that compliance with these laws and regulations will not have a material adverse effect on our capital expenditures (including those capital expenditures for environmental control facilities), earnings, and competitive position.

Internet Access to Information

We routinely post information for investors under the Investor Relations section of our website (www.leggett.com). Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and all amendments to those reports are made available, free of charge, on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. In addition to these reports, the Company’s Financial Code of Ethics, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, and Corporate Governance Guidelines, as well as charters for the Audit, Human Resources and Compensation, and Nominating, Governance and Sustainability Committees of our Board of Directors, can be found on our website under the Governance section. Information contained on our website does not constitute part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Industry and Market Data

Unless indicated otherwise, the information concerning our industries contained in this Annual Report is based on our general knowledge of and expectations concerning the industries. Our market share is based on estimates using our internal data, information from various industry analyses, internal research, and adjustments and assumptions that we believe to be reasonable. We have not independently verified data from industry analyses and cannot guarantee their accuracy or completeness.