MSA Safety Inc (MSA) Business

Item 1. Business

Overview—MSA Safety Incorporated (the "Company" or "MSA") is the global leader in advanced safety products, technology and solutions. Driven by its singular mission of safety, the Company has been at the forefront of safety innovation since 1914, protecting workers and facility infrastructure around the world across a broad range of diverse end markets while creating sustainable value for shareholders. The Company's comprehensive product line, which is governed by rigorous safety standards across highly regulated industries, is used to protect workers and facility infrastructures around the world in a broad range of markets, including fire service, energy, utility, construction, and industrial manufacturing applications as well as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration ("HVAC-R"). The Company's principal product categories are detection, fire service and industrial personal protective equipment ("PPE").

In addition to its principal product categories, MSA continues to deploy and grow its MSA+™ ecosystem, its turnkey approach to MSA hardware, software, and services to simplify and improve safety operations for customers while delivering recurring revenue.

The Company’s leading market positions across various products in our portfolio are supported and enabled by a strong commitment to investing in new product development that continually raises the bar for safety equipment performance, all while upholding an unwavering commitment to integrity. We dedicate significant resources to research and development, which allows us to produce innovative safety products and solutions that are often first to market and usually protected by intellectual property. Our global product development teams include cross-functional associates throughout the Company, including research and development, marketing, sales, operations and quality management. Our engineers and technical associates work closely with the safety industry’s leading standards-setting groups and trade associations to develop industry-specific product standards and to anticipate their impact on our product line.

We leverage the MSA Business System ("MBS") to develop and introduce innovative safety solutions, secure new business opportunities, and operate with greater efficiency. The MBS is our approach to working at our best - at our most efficient and most empowered. It is a combination of behaviors, processes and tools that provide a framework to run the business and continuously improve. We strive to serve our customers and help them solve their safety and compliance challenges while creating value for our shareholders. As part of our differentiated development process, we embed ourselves with our customers to deeply understand their processes, pain points and desired outcomes. Our commitment to MBS has enabled us to drive customer satisfaction and profitable growth while generating significant improvements in operating results.

Segments—We tailor our product and solution offerings and distribution strategy to satisfy distinct customer preferences that vary across geographic regions. To best serve these customer preferences, we have organized our business into four geographic operating segments that are aggregated into two reportable segments: Americas and International. Segment information is presented in Note 9—Segment Information of the consolidated financial statements in Part II Item 8 of this Form 10-K.

Because our consolidated financial statements are stated in U.S. dollars and much of our business is conducted outside the U.S., currency fluctuations may affect our results of operations and financial position and may affect the comparability of our results between financial periods.

Products and solutions —We design, manufacture, and sell a comprehensive line of safety products and solutions to protect workers and facility infrastructures around the world. Our products and solutions protect people and critical infrastructure against a wide variety of hazardous or life-threatening situations.

The following is a brief description of our primary products within each of our Detection, Fire Service and Industrial PPE product categories, each of which we sell in both our Americas and International Segments:

Detection

FGFD systems. Our permanently installed fixed gas and flame detection ("FGFD") products and solutions are used in energy and utility applications, HVAC-R, water and wastewater, food retail and general industrial production facilities to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air. Typical applications of these systems include detecting combustible or toxic gases as well as leaks of refrigerants. FGFD products and solutions generate a meaningful portion of overall revenue from recurring business including replacement components and related service. Key products and solutions include:

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•Fixed gas detection monitoring systems. This product line is used to monitor for combustible and toxic gases and oxygen deficiency in a wide variety of applications where continuous monitoring is required. Our systems are used for gas detection in energy, pulp and paper, wastewater, refrigerant monitoring, pharmaceutical production and general industrial applications. Some of our flagship products in this category include the Ultima®X5000 and S5000 gas monitors, which utilize a wide array of sensor technologies to enhance facility and worker safety.

•Flame detectors and open-path infrared gas detectors. These instruments are used for plant-wide monitoring of toxic gases and for detecting the presence of flames. These systems use sensor technology to detect potentially hazardous conditions across long distances, making them suitable for use in applications such as processing industries, storage vessels and HVAC ducts.

•Refrigerant detection and identification. Our refrigerant leak detection monitors, such as the MSA Bacharach® Multi-Zone Gas Monitor and the MSA Chillgard® 5000 Refrigerant Leak Monitor, help identify and mitigate refrigerant leaks. Users can enhance their leak detection and mitigation efforts by utilizing MSA+ solutions, like the MSA Parasense Refrigerant Tracking and Compliance software and the MSA Parasense Enterprise Leak Detection software. These solutions provide users with real-time monitoring and alerts.

In 2025, we acquired M&C TechGroup and its affiliated companies ("M&C"). Headquartered in Ratingen, Germany, M&C provides a comprehensive range of gas analysis systems that detect, measure and monitor gases in critical environments. M&C’s product portfolio includes systems and solutions for gas sampling, gas conditioning, as well as advanced process control. Refer to Note 15—Acquisitions to the consolidated financial statements in Part II Item 8 of this Form 10-K for further information.

Portable gas detection instruments. Our handheld portable gas detection instruments are used to detect the presence or absence of various gases in the air. The product line is used by energy, utility, general industrial workers as well as first responders or anyone working in a confined space environment. Our single and multi-gas detectors provide portable solutions for detecting the presence of oxygen, combustible gases and various toxic gases, including hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and chlorine, either singularly or up to six gases at once. Our multi-gas detectors include the ALTAIR® 2X, ALTAIR 4XR and ALTAIR 5X, all of which utilize our internally developed XCell® sensor technology for fast response times. Our newest multi-gas detectors, the ALTAIR io™ 4 and ALTAIR io 6, are portable gas detection wearables designed with fully integrated connectivity through MSA+ solutions for real-time visibility across worksites.

Fire Service

Breathing apparatus products. The Company's primary breathing apparatus solution is the self-contained breathing apparatus ("SCBA"). SCBA are used by first responders, manufacturing and process industry plant workers and others entering an environment deemed immediately dangerous to life and health. The SCBA functions together with various MSA cloud-based software modules and proprietary accessories to create a complete and customizable solution for our customers. Our primary breathing apparatus product in the Americas segment, the MSA G1 SCBA, is a platform that offers many differentiated features. With new hardware and software upgrades always under development, this platform continues to evolve to meet our customers’ needs. The MSA M1 SCBA, which is our primary breathing apparatus product in the International segment, represents the most advanced and ergonomic SCBA that we have launched in the International markets. The “M” stands for modular, which is a critical design element that allows this platform to meet the needs of customers around the world.

Firefighter helmets and protective apparel. We offer a complete line of fire helmets that includes our Cairns® and Gallet® helmet brands. Our Cairns helmets are primarily used by firefighters in North America while the Gallet helmets are primarily used by firefighters across our International segment. Our Cairns® 1836 Fire Helmet includes embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, providing the ability to quickly locate assets, through MSA’s FireGrid Inventory Management software. Globe Holding Company, LLC ("Globe") and B T Q Limited ("Bristol Uniforms"), two of our subsidiaries, are both leading innovators and providers of firefighter protective apparel products in the Americas segment and International segment, respectively.

Industrial PPE and Other

Industrial head protection. We offer a complete line of industrial head protection and accessories that includes the iconic V-Gard® helmet brand, a bellwether product in MSA's portfolio for over 50 years. We offer customers a wide range of color choices for V-Gard helmets, and we are a leader in the application of customized logos. Our V-Gard H2™ safety helmet incorporates the latest technology to help protect against lateral impacts. The optional Mips® brain protection system for industrial safety helmets adds another layer of protection designed to help reduce the risk of brain trauma. Our industrial head protection products have a wide user base, including energy, utility, non-residential construction and industrial workers.

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Fall protection. Our broad line of fall protection equipment includes harnesses, lanyards, self-retracting lifelines, engineered systems and confined space equipment. Fall protection equipment is used by workers in the construction, energy, utilities and aerospace industries as well as general industrial applications and anyone working from height in both our Americas and International segments. MSA’s V-Series® fall protection equipment has transformed the Company’s harness and self-retracting lanyard portfolio, with over 50 fall protection products launched over the past several years. Additionally, our V-TEC® io1 self-retracting lifeline has a patented smart hook connector that uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to alert wearers when they are not secured to an anchorage point.

Other. Key other products that we sell include air-purifying respirators, eye and face protection, ballistic helmets and gas masks.

Customers—Our customers generally fall into two categories: distributors and end-user customers. In our Americas segment, the majority of our sales are made through distribution. In our International segment, sales are made through both indirect and direct sales channels. For the year ended December 31, 2025, no individual customer represented more than 10% of our sales.

Sales and Distribution—Our sales and distribution team consists of marketing, field sales and customer service organizations. In most geographic areas, our field sales organizations work jointly with select distributors to call on end-users and educate them about hazards, exposure limits, safety requirements and product applications, as well as the specific performance attributes of our products. We believe that understanding end-user requirements is critical to increasing MSA's market share.

The in-depth customer training and education provided by our sales associates to our customers is critical to ensuring proper use of many of our products, such as SCBA and detection instruments. As a result of our sales and marketing associates working closely with end-users, they gain valuable insight into customer preferences and needs. To better serve our customers and to ensure that our sales and marketing associates are among the most knowledgeable and professional in the industry, we place significant emphasis on training our sales associates in product application, industry standards and regulations.

We believe our sales and distribution strategy allows us to deliver a customer value proposition that differentiates our products and solutions from those of our competitors, resulting in increased customer loyalty and demand.

In areas where we use indirect selling to general industry, we promote, distribute and service our products through authorized national, regional and local distributors. In areas where we use indirect selling to fire service, we distribute fire service products primarily through specially trained local and regional distributors who provide advanced training and service capabilities to volunteer and paid municipal fire departments. Because of our broad and diverse product line and our desire to reach as many markets and market segments as possible, we have over 1,800 authorized distributor locations worldwide.

Competition—The global safety products and solutions market is broad and highly fragmented with few participants offering a comprehensive line of safety products and solutions. The sophisticated safety products market in which we compete is a subset of the larger safety market. We maintain leading positions across various products in our portfolio. Over the long-term, we believe global demand for safety products and solutions will continue to grow. Purchases of these products and solutions are non-discretionary, protecting workers' health and critical infrastructure in hazardous and life-threatening work environments. Their use is often mandated by government and industry regulations, which are increasingly enforced on a global basis.

The safety products and solutions market is highly competitive, with participants ranging in size from small companies focusing on a single type of PPE to several large multinational corporations that manufacture and supply many types of sophisticated safety products and solutions. Our main competitors vary by region and product. We believe that participants in this industry compete primarily on the basis of product characteristics (such as functional performance, technology, cost of ownership, comfort, design and style), brand name recognition and after-market service support.

We believe we compete favorably within each of our operating segments and product categories as a result of our high quality, innovative offerings and strong brand trust and recognition.

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Research and Development—To achieve and maintain our market leading positions, we operate several sophisticated research and development facilities. We believe our dedication and commitment to innovation and research and development allows us to produce state-of-the-art safety products and solutions that are often first to market and exceed industry standards. Our primary engineering groups are located in the United States, Germany, France, China and South Africa. Our global product development teams include cross-geographic and cross-functional members from various areas throughout the Company, including research and development, marketing, sales, operations and quality management. These teams are responsible for setting product line strategies based on their understanding of customers' needs and available technology, as well as the opportunities and challenges they foresee in each product area. Our cross-geographical and cross-functional approach to the new product development process allows us to tailor our product offerings and product line strategies to satisfy distinct customer preferences and industry regulations that vary across our operating segments.

We believe another important aspect of our approach to new product development is that our engineers and technical associates work closely with the safety industry’s leading standards-setting groups and trade associations. These organizations include the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ("NIOSH"), the National Fire Protection Association ("NFPA"), American National Standards Institute ("ANSI"), International Safety Equipment Association ("ISEA") and their overseas counterparts. Key members of our management team understand the impact that these standard-setting organizations have on our new product development pipeline. As such, management devotes significant time and attention to anticipating a new standard's impact on our sales and operating results. Our understanding of customer needs, membership on global standards-setting bodies, and investment in research and development and our unique new product development process positions us well to anticipate and adapt to changing product standards. While the length of the approval process can be unpredictable, we believe that we are well positioned to gain the approvals and certifications necessary to meet new government and multinational product regulations.

Patents and Intellectual Property—We own significant intellectual property, including a number of domestic and foreign patents, patent applications and trademarks related to our products, processes and business. Although our intellectual property plays an important role in maintaining our competitive position in a number of markets that we serve, no single patent, or patent application, trademark or license is, in our opinion, of such value to us that our business would be materially affected by the expiration or termination thereof, other than the “MSA” trademark. Our patents expire at various times in the future not exceeding 20 years. Our general policy is to apply for patents on an ongoing basis in the United States and other countries, as appropriate, to perfect our patent development. In addition to our patents, we have also developed or acquired a substantial body of manufacturing know-how that we believe provides a significant competitive advantage over our competitors.

Raw Materials and Suppliers—Many of the components of our products are formulated, machined, tooled or molded in-house and by select tier one supplier partners. Material costs comprise approximately two-thirds of our cost of sales. For example, we rely on integrated manufacturing capabilities for breathing apparatus, gas masks, ballistic helmets, hard hats and circuit boards. The primary materials that we source from third parties include electronic components, high density polyethylene, chemical filter media, rubber and plastic components, eye and face protective lenses, air cylinders, certain metals and ballistic resistant, flame resistant and non-ballistic fabrics. We purchase these materials both domestically and internationally, and we work to ensure our supply sources are both well established and reliable. Demand for certain industrial-based electronic components is gradually aligning with supply. For key components, lead times are improving, and market conditions are showing signs of stabilization across the industry. We continue to effectively navigate these supply chain issues, as we have close supplier relationship programs with our key raw material distributors and strategic supplier partners. Although we do not have long-term supply contracts with all suppliers, we have engaged in formal supply agreements with select strategic supplier partners. We work to establish long term agreements with all key partners to ensure a robust supply pipeline and have not experienced any significant problems in obtaining adequate raw materials.

Please refer to MSA's Form SD filed on May 29, 2025, for further information on our conflict minerals analysis. Form SD may be obtained free of charge at www.sec.gov.

Human Capital—As of December 31, 2025, the Company employed approximately 5,300 people worldwide, of which approximately 2,200 were employed in the United States and 3,100 were employed outside of the United States. Approximately 20% of our global workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements or works councils. Overall, we consider our employee relations to be good. Our culture is important to our success. To that end, we maintain seven core values that define our culture. They are Integrity, Customer Focus, Diversity and Inclusion, Innovation and Change, Engagement, Teamwork, and Speed and Agility. Our core values are encircled by “A Culture of Safety.”

•Workplace Health & Safety—As a company whose mission is dedicated to worker safety, MSA places great emphasis on the health and safety of our own associates. The Company maintains a global Environmental, Health and Safety Management System, deploys a variety of programs to reduce and eliminate injuries and promote safety and regularly measures the progress of those programs. These programs promote personal responsibility for workplace safety and encourage associates to set a meaningful example as safety ambassadors.

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•Employee Health and Well-Being—To support mental health and emotional well-being, all associates and their dependents worldwide have access to an Employee Assistance Program, at no cost to them. This includes access to visits with mental health care providers through the program.

•Culture—The Company seeks a wide variety of thoughts, perspectives, experiences and ideas. MSA strives to provide an inclusive work environment, paired with a culture of excellence in which associates feel comfortable openly sharing thoughts and ideas. Creating an inclusive environment helps to recruit and retain talent, promoting engagement, fostering innovation, and achieving MSA’s business objectives. MSA also partners with a number of non-profit and community-based organizations to help to build a pipeline of future talent with differing backgrounds, thoughts, experiences, and perspectives.

•Leadership and Development—MSA provides programs to enable continuous learning, growth and development opportunities.

First, our "MOVE" (Meaningful, Ongoing, Vital Exchanges) Performance Management philosophy is a core element of associate engagement. Exchanges between associates and supervisors provide a flexible, ongoing feedback loop to drive and enhance the engagement of associates, while facilitating the achievement of our strategic goals.

Second, the MSA Leadership model sets the expectations of MSA people leaders. Grounded in our culture, values and the MBS that define MSA’s high performance culture of excellence, the MSA Leadership model guides the development of current and aspiring leaders. The model is the foundation of leadership development at MSA. By combining leadership development, culture, and business acumen, leaders are better prepared to drive a high-performance culture while maintaining an engaged workforce with opportunities for development and growth.

Beyond these core programs, MSA designs and delivers a variety of associate leadership and development programs to further enhance the associate experience and opportunities for growth. Associates are empowered to own their career development through business-aligned resources, tools and programs.

•Compensation and Rewards—MSA’s global compensation philosophy strives to provide total compensation for all associates at the market median, utilizing base salary, cash incentives and, in some cases, equity grants to achieve this goal. We further strive to provide above-market compensation opportunities for associates who exceed goals and expectations. This approach to total rewards is designed to help MSA attract, retain and motivate high-performing individuals who foster an innovative culture and drive business results.

Environmental Matters—Our facilities and operations are subject to laws and regulations relating to environmental protection and human health and safety. In the opinion of management, compliance with current environmental protection laws will not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition. See Item 1A—Risk Factors, for further information regarding our environmental risks which could impact the Company.

Seasonality—Our operating results are not significantly affected by seasonal factors. During periods of economic expansion or contraction and following significant catastrophes, our sales by quarter have varied. Government-related sales tend to increase in the fourth quarter. Americas segment sales tend to be strong during the energy sector's turnaround seasons late in the first quarter, early in the second quarter and then again at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter. International segment sales are typically weaker for the Europe region in the summer holiday months of July and August and seasonality can be affected by the timing of delivery of larger orders. The fourth quarter is also impacted by holidays which reduces the number of working days and may impact the timing of delivery of orders at year end. Invoicing and the delivery of larger orders can affect sales patterns variably across both reportable segments.

Available Information—Our Internet address is www.MSAsafety.com. We make the following filings available free of charge on the Investor Relations page on our website as soon as they have been electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"): our annual reports on Form 10-K, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, our current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as our proxy statement. Information contained on our website is not part of this annual report on Form 10-K or our other filings with the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet site at www.sec.gov that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers like us who file electronically with the SEC.