Mueller Water Products, Inc. (MWA) Business

Item 1.BUSINESS

Our Company

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (“Mueller,” “we,” “our,” or the “Company”) is a leading manufacturer and marketer of products and solutions used in the transmission, distribution and measurement of water in North America. Our products and solutions are used by municipalities and the residential and non-residential construction industries. Some of our products have leading positions as a result of their strong brand recognition and reputation for quality, service and innovation. We believe we have one of the largest installed bases of iron gate valves and fire hydrants in the United States. Our iron gate valve and hydrant products are specified for use in the largest 100 metropolitan areas in the United States. Our large installed base, broad product range and well-known brands have led to long-standing relationships with the key distributors and end users of our products. Our consolidated net sales were $1,429.7 million in 2025.

We operate our business through two segments, Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions. Segment sales, operating results and additional financial data and commentary are provided in the Segment Analysis section in Part II, Item 7. “MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS” and in Note 14. of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8. “FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA” of this Annual Report.

Organization Updates

In January 2025, we announced the appointment of Ms. Melissa Rasmussen as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective March 3, 2025. On March 1, 2025, Mr. Steven S. Heinrichs transitioned from his roles as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Legal Officer to Senior Advisor and remained an advisor until September 30, 2025. In August 2025, we announced the appointment of Ms. Richelle R. Feyerherm as Chief Accounting Officer effective August 15, 2025. Ms. Feyerherm also serves as the Company’s principal accounting officer. On November 6, 2025, we announced that Ms. Marietta Edmunds Zakas will retire as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective as of February 9, 2026 (the “Transition Date”). In connection with Ms. Zakas’ retirement, the Company’s Board of Directors appointed Mr. Paul McAndrew as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective as of the Transition Date.

Water Flow Solutions

The Water Flow Solutions product portfolio includes iron gate valves, specialty valves and service brass products. Net sales of products in the Water Flow Solutions business unit were approximately 58% of fiscal 2025 consolidated net sales.

Water Management Solutions

The Water Management Solutions product and service portfolio includes fire hydrants, repair and installation, natural gas, metering, leak detection, as well as pressure management and control products and solutions. Net sales of products and services in the Water Management Solutions business unit were approximately 42% of fiscal 2025 consolidated net sales.

Business Strategy

Our business strategy is to capitalize on the large, attractive and growing water infrastructure markets worldwide. Key elements of this strategy are as follows:

Improve operational excellence and expand capabilities.

We expect to make disciplined investments in our commercial and operational capabilities to drive additional performance improvements. We are focused on improving operational excellence, increasing supply chain efficiencies and developing advanced manufacturing capabilities to drive productivity and increase domestic capacity across our facilities. We expect these efforts will drive sales growth, improve product margins, and facilitate innovation and new product development. Productivity improvements within our facilities are expected to drive cost reductions to support additional manufacturing initiatives and ongoing investment in product development.

Since 2018, we have prioritized capital investments to modernize our manufacturing facilities and processes, expand capacity and capabilities for domestic manufacturing and accelerate new product development. We believe these investments will drive margin expansion by lowering costs, expanding our product portfolio, and improving product quality. Our new brass foundry in Decatur, Illinois, is operational, and we have closed our legacy brass foundry, which was built in the early 1900s. We expect these investments to support our domestic manufacturing capabilities for specialty and large valves and to capitalize

1

Table of Contents

Index to Financial Statements

on the growing need for highly engineered valves required for water infrastructure projects. Additionally, we expect these investments to drive operational efficiencies, expand capabilities for American-made products, advance our sustainability initiatives, and help accelerate product development.

Accelerate sales growth through enhanced customer experience and innovation.

We plan to continue to invest in process improvements to support our objective of being the preferred partner for our customers. We are making disciplined investments in our commercial teams to enhance our customer experience to further differentiate us in the market and support our opportunities for net sales growth. Expanding our systems and employee capabilities will allow us to improve our customer experience. We continue to invest time and resources to deepen our channel partnerships and end-customer relationships to increase our presence in the fastest-growing markets. Additionally, we seek to attract and retain customers through product training and engineering resources to ascertain, educate and understand project requirements. We plan to continue to invest in our product development capabilities, including our research and development processes, to develop and market new products and services. We expect to add new products to our portfolio and offer new products in different end markets.

Foster culture through purpose, collaboration, inclusion and effectiveness.

We believe our employees are our greatest asset, and we strive to provide a safe, inclusive, high-performance culture where our people can thrive. We endeavor to recruit, develop, engage, train and protect our workforce. Our core values of respect, integrity, trust, safety and inclusion shape our culture and define who we are. We continue to make investments to enhance collaboration and teamwork throughout the organization to create a culture of talent development, enabling us to execute on our strategic opportunities and make Mueller a preferred place to work. We prioritize employee engagement and transparency by implementing programs and processes to provide our employees with opportunities to ask questions, voice concerns and share feedback. This communication is accomplished in part by conducting employee experience surveys, global town halls and facility employee meetings.

Continue to seek, acquire, and invest in businesses and technologies that expand our existing portfolio or allow us to enter new markets.

We will continue to evaluate the acquisition of strategic businesses, technologies and product lines that have the potential to strengthen our competitive position, enhance or expand our existing product and service offerings, expand our technological capabilities, leverage our manufacturing capabilities, provide synergistic opportunities, enhance our customer relationships or allow us to enter new markets.  As part of this strategy, we have pursued, and may continue to pursue, international opportunities, including acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships.

Description of Products and Services

We offer a broad line of water infrastructure, and flow control products and services primarily in the United States and Canada. Water Flow Solutions sells iron gate and specialty valves, and service brass products. Water Management Solutions sells fire hydrants, repair and installation, natural gas, metering, leak detection and pressure management and control products and solutions. Our products are designed, manufactured and tested in compliance with relevant industry standards. Our water distribution products are manufactured to meet or exceed American Water Works Association (“AWWA”) standards and, where applicable, certified to National Science Foundation (“NSF”)/American National Standards Institute (“ANSI”) Standard 61 for potable water conveyance. Underwriters Laboratory (“UL”) and FM Approvals (“FM”), two third-party certification companies, have approved many of these products. Additionally, our products are typically specified by a water utility for use in its infrastructure system.

Water Flow Solutions

Water Flow Solutions’ product portfolio includes iron gate valves, specialty valves and service brass products. We recognized $824.9 million, $755.5 million and $634.4 million of net sales in our 2025, 2024 and 2023 fiscal years, respectively, for Water Flow Solutions products and solutions.

Water Valves and Related Products.  Water Flow Solutions manufactures valves for water systems, including iron gate, butterfly, tapping, check, knife, plug, and ball valves, and sells these products under a variety of brand names, including Mueller®, Pratt®, and U.S. Pipe Valve and Hydrant. These valve products are used to control distribution and transmission of potable water and non-potable water. Water valve products typically range in size from ¾ inch to 36 inches in diameter. Water Flow Solutions also manufactures significantly larger valves as custom orders through some of its product lines. Most of these valves are used in water transmission or distribution, water treatment facilities or industrial applications.

2

Table of Contents

Index to Financial Statements

Water Management Solutions

Water Management Solutions’ portfolio includes fire hydrants, repair and installation, natural gas, metering, leak detection and pressure management and control products and solutions. We recognized $604.8 million, $559.2 million and $641.3 million of net sales in our 2025, 2024 and 2023 fiscal years, respectively, for Water Management Solutions products and solutions.

Fire Hydrants.  Water Management Solutions manufactures dry-barrel and wet-barrel fire hydrants. Water Management Solutions sells fire hydrants for new water infrastructure development, fire protection systems and water infrastructure repair and replacement projects.

Our fire hydrants consist of an upper barrel and nozzle section and a lower barrel and valve section that connect to a water main. In dry-barrel fire hydrants, the valve connecting the barrel of the hydrant to the water main is located below ground at or below the frost line, which keeps the upper barrel dry. Water Management Solutions sells dry-barrel fire hydrants under the Mueller and U.S. Pipe Valve and Hydrant brand names in the United States and under the Mueller and the Canada Valve™ brand names in Canada. Water Management Solutions also makes wet-barrel fire hydrants, where the valves are located in the hydrant nozzles and the barrel contains water at all times. Wet-barrel fire hydrants are made for warm weather climates, such as in California and Hawaii, and are sold under the Jones® brand name.

Most municipalities have approved a limited number of fire hydrant brands for installation as a result of their desire to use the same tools and operating instructions across their systems and to minimize spare part inventories. We believe the large installed base of Mueller fire hydrants throughout the United States and Canada, reputation for superior quality and performance as well as specified position have contributed to the leading market position of our fire hydrants. This large installed base also leads to recurring sales of replacement fire hydrants and hydrant parts.

Repair Products and Services. Water Management Solutions also sells pipe repair products, such as couplings, grips and clamps used to repair leaks, under the HYMAX®, Mueller® and Krausz® brand names.

Natural Gas Distribution Products. Water Management Solutions produces machines and tools for tapping, drilling, extracting, installing and line stopping, which are designed to work with its water and gas fittings and valves as an integrated system. We also provide gas valve products primarily for use in gas distribution systems.

Water Leak Detection and Pipe Condition Assessment Products and Services. Water Management Solutions develops technologies and offers products and services under the Echologics® brand name that can non-invasively (i.e., without disrupting service or introducing a foreign object into the water system) detect underground leaks and assess the condition of water mains comprised of a variety of materials.  We leverage our proprietary acoustic technology to offer leak detection and condition assessment surveys. We also offer fixed leak detection systems that allow customers to continuously monitor and detect leaks on water distribution and transmission mains. We believe Water Management Solutions’ ability to offer non-invasive leak detection and pipe condition assessment services is a key competitive advantage. With our Singer Valve and i2O products, we provide a range of intelligent water solutions including pressure control valves, advanced pressure management, network analytics, event management and data logging.

Water Metering Products and Systems. Water Management Solutions manufactures and sources a variety of water technology products under the Mueller® brand name that are designed to help water providers accurately measure and control water usage. Water Management Solutions offers residential, fire protection and commercial metering solutions. Residential and commercial water meters are generally classified as either manually read meters or remotely read meters via radio technology. A manually read meter consists of a water meter and a register that gives a visual meter reading display. Meters equipped with radio transmitters (endpoints) use encoder registers to convert the measurement data from the meter (mechanical or static) into an encrypted digital format which is then transmitted via radio frequency to a receiver that collects and formats the data appropriately for water utility billing systems. These remotely or electronically read systems are either automatic meter reading (“AMR”) systems or fixed network advanced metering infrastructure (“AMI”) systems. With an AMR system, utility personnel with mobile equipment, including a radio receiver, computer and reading software, collect the data from utilities’ meters. With an AMI system, a network of permanent data collectors or gateway receivers that are always active or listening for the radio transmission from the utilities’ meters gathers the data. Water Management Solutions sells both AMR and AMI systems and related products. Our remote disconnect water meter enables the water flow to be stopped and started remotely via a handheld device or from a central operating facility.

3

Table of Contents

Index to Financial Statements

Manufacturing

See “Item 2. PROPERTIES” for a description of our principal manufacturing facilities.

We will continue to expand the use of Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma business process improvement methodologies where appropriate to safely capture higher levels of quality, service and operational efficiency in our manufacturing facilities in both segments.

Mueller Water Products operates ten manufacturing facilities located in the United States, Israel and China. These manufacturing operations include foundry, machining, fabrication, assembly, testing and painting operations. Not all facilities perform each of these operations. Our existing manufacturing capacity is sufficient for anticipated near-term requirements. Our new brass foundry in Decatur, Illinois, is operational, and we have closed our legacy brass foundry that was built in the 1900s. Our iron foundries use both lost foam and green sand-casting techniques. We use the lost foam technique for fire hydrant production in our Albertville, Alabama, facility and for iron gate valve production in our Chattanooga, Tennessee, facility. The lost foam technique has several advantages, especially for high-volume, larger products, including a reduction in the number of manual finishing operations, lower scrap rates and the ability to reuse some of the materials while the green sand process is better suited for smaller, simpler parts. Over the next few years, we intend to increase capital investments in our facilities to expand production capacity and enhance operational capabilities, including investment in our two iron foundries.

Additionally, we design, manufacture and assemble water metering products in Cleveland, North Carolina. In Atlanta, Georgia, we design and support AMR and AMI systems in our research and development center of excellence for software and electronics. Our facility in Jingmen, China, manufactures and assembles specialty valve products, and our facility in Ariel, Israel, designs, manufactures, and assembles repair products and solutions. Our research and development center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, designs and supports leak detection and pipe condition assessment products and solutions. Product design and support for our intelligent water solutions products and services for pressure management are in Southampton, United Kingdom.

Purchased Components and Raw Materials

Our products are made using various purchased components and several basic raw materials that include brass ingot, scrap steel, sand and resin. Purchased parts and raw materials represented approximately 35% and 8%, respectively, of Cost of sales in 2025.

Patents, Licenses and Trademarks

We have active patents relating to the design of our products and trademarks for our brands and products. We have filed, and continue to file when appropriate, patent applications used in connection with our business and products. Many of the patents for technology underlying the majority of our products have been in the public domain for many years, and we do not believe third-party patents individually or in the aggregate are material to our business. However, we consider our proprietary information consisting of expertise and trade secrets relating to the design, manufacture and operation of our products to be particularly important and valuable. We generally own the rights to the products that we manufacture and sell, and we are not dependent in any material way upon any third-party license or franchise to operate. See “Item 1A. RISK FACTORS - Any inability to protect our intellectual property or our failure to effectively defend against intellectual property infringement claims could adversely affect our competitive position.”

Our brand names include:

4

Table of Contents

Index to Financial Statements

Seasonality

Parts of our business depend upon construction activity, which is seasonal in many areas as a result of the impact of cold weather conditions on construction. Net sales and operating income have historically been lowest in our first and second fiscal quarters ending December 31 and March 31, respectively, when the northern United States and most of Canada generally face weather conditions that restrict significant construction activity. See “Item 1A. RISK FACTORS - Seasonal demand for certain of our products and services may adversely affect our financial results.”

Sales, Marketing and Distribution

We primarily sell to national and regional waterworks distributors in the United States and Canada. Our distributor relationships are generally non-exclusive, but we attempt to align ourselves with key distributors in the principal markets we serve. We believe “Mueller” is the most recognized brand in the United States water infrastructure industry. Our extensive installed base, broad product range and well-known brands have led to many long-standing relationships with the key distributors in the principal markets we serve. Our distribution network covers all of the major locations for our principal products in the United States and Canada. Although we have long-standing relationships with most of our key distributors, we typically do not have long-term contracts with them, including our two largest distributors, which together accounted for approximately 37%, 38% and 35% of our gross sales in 2025, 2024 and 2023 fiscal years, respectively. See “Item 1A. RISK FACTORS - Our business depends on a small group of key customers for a significant portion of our sales.”

Water Flow Solutions

Water Flow Solutions sells its products primarily through waterworks distributors to a wide variety of end user customers, including water and wastewater utilities, and fire protection and construction contractors. Sales of the products are heavily influenced by the specifications for the underlying projects. Approximately 5% of Water Flow Solutions’ net sales were to Canadian customers in fiscal year 2025 and 6% in fiscal years 2024 and 2023.

Water Management Solutions

Water Management Solutions sells its products primarily through waterworks distributors to a wide variety of end user customers, including water and wastewater utilities, gas utilities, integrated suppliers, as well as fire protection and construction contractors. Sales of our products are heavily influenced by the specifications for the underlying projects. Water Management Solutions also sells its water metering, leak detection, including pipe condition assessment, and pressure management and control products and solutions directly to municipalities and to waterworks distributors. Approximately 6% of Water Management Solutions’ net sales were to Canadian customers in fiscal years 2025, 2024, and 2023.

Backlog

We consider backlog to represent orders placed by customers for which goods or services have yet to be shipped. Backlog is a meaningful indicator for many of our product lines. The delivery lead time for certain product lines such as specialty valves can be longer than one year, and we expect approximately 22% of Water Flow Solutions’ backlog at the end of 2025 will be shipped after 2026. Water Management Solutions manufactures or sources water meter systems that are sometimes ordered in large quantities with delivery dates over several years. We expect approximately 4% of Water Management Solutions’ backlog at the end of 2025 will be shipped after 2026. Due to increased demand, particularly for specialty valve and hydrant products, we experienced an increase in our overall backlog compared to the prior year. Backlog for Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions are as follows: