Earnings Call Transcript - AVNT Q3 2025

Operator, Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Avient Corporation's webcast to discuss the company's third quarter 2025 results. My name is Dede, and I will be your operator for today. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the call over to Joe Di Salvo, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations. Please proceed.

Joe Di Salvo, Vice President, Treasurer and Investor Relations

Thank you, and good morning, everyone joining us on the call today. Before we begin, we'd like to remind you that statements made during this webcast may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements will have current expectations or forecasts of future events and are not guarantees of future performance. They're based on management's expectation and involve a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. We encourage you to review our most recent reports, including our Form 10-Q or any applicable amendments for a complete discussion of these factors or other risks that may affect our future results. During the discussion today, the company reviews both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the presentation posted on the Investor Relations section of the Avient website, where the company describes the non-GAAP measures and provides a reconciliation to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. A replay of this call will be available on our website. Information to access the replay is provided in today's press release, which is also available at avient.com in the Investor Relations section. Joining me today is our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ashish Khandpur; and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jamie Beggs. I will now hand the call over to Ashish to begin.

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone. I am pleased to report third quarter adjusted EPS of $0.70, in line with our guidance despite slightly weaker-than-anticipated sales. The subdued market demand in several of our key markets affected revenue growth compared against our strongest quarter in 2024, where we had realized 8.5% organic revenue growth in the third quarter last year. Our focus on increased productivity, cost containment, and portfolio prioritization helped expand adjusted EBITDA margin 60 basis points to 16.5%. This offset the slightly lower sales compared to the prior year third quarter to still grow adjusted earnings year-over-year. Strong operational performance resulted in adjusted EPS growth of 7.7% as reported and 4.5%, excluding the impact of foreign currency translation. On a year-to-date basis, through the third quarter, our team's ability to execute in a tough and uncertain macro environment has resulted in 4.1% adjusted EPS growth on flat year-over-year sales. This earnings growth is attributable to a favorable mix from consistent innovation-driven growth in the healthcare and defense portfolios as well as our ongoing productivity initiatives which have year-to-date enabled 40 basis points of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion compared to last year. In our last two earnings calls, we have referenced our operational playbook for the current low demand, high uncertainty environment, which is primarily to focus on our customers and what we can influence in particular, efficiency gains. As a result, we are on track to realize approximately $40 million of productivity benefits in 2025 versus last year. These benefits come from a combination of initiatives in sourcing, Lean Six Sigma, operations productivity, plant footprint optimization, and tight SG&A and discretionary spending control. Our team's execution has more than offset inflation, primarily from wages as well as our investments in growth vectors that are critical for advancing our strategy. Additionally, we have been able to convert our profits into robust cash generation, which is helping us to strengthen our balance sheet. General market conditions remain largely unchanged from August when we reported our second quarter results. This includes an uncertain global macro environment where customers in most markets and regions are waiting for clarity on trade policies, geopolitics is fast reshaping global businesses and supply chains, and the war in Europe continues. While the general market conditions are consistent with what we saw in the second quarter, there have been changes in certain end markets that affect customer demand. We want to provide some context around how things are playing out in our markets especially versus our previous expectations. Consumer and Packaging, which are our two largest markets, remain subdued in the third quarter. Packaging demand was lower than anticipated, especially in EMEA, our largest packaging market. Consumer sales were down high single digits in the third quarter. Notably, the weakness in consumer demand was broad-based globally. Following a weak Q2, we had expected continued negative growth in Q3, but the customer demand was weaker than what we had anticipated in Asia where our consumer sales ended being down double digits for the quarter. Having said that, we did see some encouraging trends for our global consumer business in September. And while it is too early to call if it is inflecting to growth, we do expect year-over-year consumer sales performance to be better in the fourth quarter. Industrial and Building & Construction have been in negative demand territory and we don't see signs of a significant recovery in the fourth quarter. Energy, while a small percentage of total company sales, was down much more than anticipated in Q3. The U.S. government's pause of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to utilities in early 2025 has not fully resumed impacting both grid modernization and green energy projects. Moreover, additional and changing tariffs, higher interest rates as well as shortages of long lead-time critical components for grid infrastructure is causing project delays and/or changes. Our customers remain hopeful that this is a temporary situation and believe that the inventory levels at both utilities and distributors are once again in a healthy state. However, as a matter of caution, we have now modeled continued weak Q4 demand for our energy markets. We experienced some growth in transportation, driven by incremental light vehicle production and an increase in demand for our Dyneema materials used in marine applications. In the fourth quarter, we expect flat to modest growth for this end market. As expected, defense, healthcare, and telecommunications remained resilient in Q3 with high single-digit growth in all three markets. We expect these markets to continue to do well in Q4. Overall, for Q4, we expect growth in our Color, Additives, and Inks business to be under pressure due to the subdued market demand for packaging and consumer applications while our Specialty Engineered Materials business is expected to grow, supported by customer demand and growth of some of our recently launched innovative products in healthcare and defense markets. Though we remain cautiously optimistic that end market demand will improve in the near future, there continue to be many unknowns and uncertainties surrounding our macro. Accordingly, we are proactively working on an action plan in the event that the slow or no growth period ensues for an extended period. This includes additional productivity actions and organizational complexity reduction so we can continue to grow our margins and earnings. I'll now hand the call to Jamie to cover our third quarter segment and regional performance as well as provide some color on our updated guidance.

Jamie Beggs, Senior Vice President and CFO

Thank you, Ashish, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin with the performance of our Color, Additives, and Inks segment. Continued strength in healthcare was not enough to offset demand conditions in consumer, packaging, and building and construction which led to a 4% decline in organic sales for the segment in the third quarter. Despite lower top line results, the segment expanded EBITDA margins 20 basis points through favorable mix and cost improvement initiatives. This included ongoing plant footprint optimization and streamlining the segment's organizational structure, which has not only reduced costs but is also allowing us to serve our customers more efficiently. Organic sales for the Specialty Engineered Materials segment were down 1%, excluding FX, as strong growth in defense and healthcare largely offset lower sales in consumer, energy, and industrial end markets. Healthcare continues to deliver growing high single digits due to our innovative and specified materials for use in medical devices, equipment, and supplies. Defense also grew high single digits, supported by strong demand in the U.S. and Europe, underpinned by increased law enforcement and military spending. We are also benefiting from new product innovations in our Dyneema line which provides next-level performance through our recently launched next-generation materials. Favorable mix and productivity initiatives also resulted in margin expansion in SEM, which was up 50 basis points compared to the prior year. This margin expansion led to modest EBITDA growth despite slightly lower sales on a constant currency basis. Looking at regional performance. U.S., Canada, and EMEA sales decreased 5% and 3%, respectively, versus the prior year quarter. Trade policy uncertainty, inflation, and higher interest rates, particularly in the U.S., have weighed on Consumer, Packaging, Industrial, Energy, and Building and Construction markets, which account for approximately 65% of sales in these regions. In Asia, sales were down 1%, primarily due to consumer. Nearly offsetting this was growth in packaging, healthcare, and telecommunications. The enhanced focus on high-performance computing and semiconductor manufacturing in Asia is creating new opportunities for our materials, and we continue to see robust growth in this area, supported by secular trends. And lastly, Latin America grew revenue 1%. Though a modest increase, this marks the seventh consecutive quarter of growth, and last comparison where the region grew 27% in the third quarter last year. Credit for the region's consistent performance goes out to our local team who is winning new business and gaining share. Turning to our guidance for the remainder of the year. We are narrowing our range to account for the third quarter results, the end market dynamics that Ashish shared earlier, and current customer order patterns. For the fourth quarter, we expect year-over-year sales performance to be slightly better than what we experienced in the third quarter. Strong growth in defense, healthcare, and telecommunications is expected to continue while sales in other key end markets will be flat to slightly down versus the prior year quarter. We are also acknowledging that there is added uncertainty related to the U.S. federal government shutdown and how that may affect demand in the U.S. Overall, we expect organic sales will likely be flat to down low single digits in the fourth quarter, but still with the potential for low single-digit growth depending on the timing of certain defense orders as well as the restart of certain energy projects in the U.S. Accordingly, our updated adjusted EBITDA range for the year is now $540 million to $550 million. Lower interest expense from paying down debt and a favorable tax benefit in the third quarter are offsetting the slightly lower adjusted EBITDA range, allowing us to maintain our previous adjusted EPS guidance range of $2.77 to $2.87. For the full year, adjusted EPS growth will be driven by higher margins from favorable mix and productivity initiatives as well as lower interest expense. We expect to reduce debt in total by $150 million this year, having already repaid $100 million year-to-date. We have made no changes to our expected capital expenditures forecast for the year of approximately $110 million, and we anticipate free cash flow will range from $190 million to $210 million, also unchanged. I'll now turn the call back over to Ashish for some closing comments.

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Thank you, Jamie. Thus far, 2025 has been characterized by trade wars, shifting supply chains, labor market challenges, weak consumer sentiment, and most recently, a U.S. government shutdown, all of which have negatively impacted demand. But amidst all of that, our teams have navigated the challenging operating environment and delivered positive earnings growth. I would like to thank the Avient team for their tireless and focused efforts on serving our customers and executing with discipline. With that, we would be happy to take any of your questions. Operator, please begin the Q&A session.

Operator, Operator

And our first question comes from Michael Sison of Wells Fargo.

Michael Sison, Analyst

Nice quarter. I know it's a little early, but when you think about 2026, Ashish and most companies that have reported have suggested sort of similar difficult slow conditions heading into the first half. What do you think your growth algorithm for next year could be if this environment persists?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes. Thanks, Mike, for the question. Obviously, the uncertainty is continuing and not much clarity has happened. So although we are hoping for the best, we are also preparing for Plan B, which is in case things don't turn around. And we'll provide more details on our guidance in the next call. But just from where we are sitting and based on the business segment, I think if the market conditions persist like this then, the consumer business, the CAI business not consumer, the CAI business will probably continue to face headwinds while we have good growth coming from SEM based on some new product launches and some innovation and growth vectors kicking in there. So overall, it's going to be a mixed bag between the two segments. But I think we should still be able to grow in an environment where assuming that those things don't change much. Of course, as we telecasted in the presentation, if things get worse because of the enhanced shutdown or consumer sentiment deteriorates further, then we have additional productivity and plans in place that we will enact as things go in this quarter and early first quarter of next year.

Michael Sison, Analyst

Got it. And then as a follow-up, it sounds like your innovation, new product momentum is gaining some traction. You might see some growth there in the fourth quarter in Consumer, which is great. How much momentum do you have heading into 2026? Is there sort of a base level of growth you're going to see from those initiatives next year?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

I want to emphasize that our growth strategy is focused on specific growth vectors, which are currently driving most of our growth. When we examine our portfolio, these growth vectors are outperforming GDP and are the main contributors to the company's overall growth. However, the rest of our portfolio, excluding these growth vectors, is not performing well. We expect these vectors to continue to drive growth into next year, particularly as we introduce new products and innovations to the market. It's important to note that these growth vectors represent a smaller portion of our total portfolio, less than 20%. Therefore, the remaining 80% will need external support from market trends to achieve consistent growth. We are making significant strides in this area, and I want to highlight that our growth vectors are present in both our core offerings and in the new scalable platforms we are developing around emerging trends. This year, our healthcare and defense sectors have been strong growth vectors, and we may identify additional ones as we approach the new year, particularly related to trends in artificial intelligence and data center developments. As a significant player in this space, we aim to enhance our presence, and while we've been working on that quietly, we plan to share more information in the future.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from Frank Mitsch of Fermium Research.

Frank Mitsch, Analyst

Nice result in a difficult period. Just curious, on Slide 8, the geographic sales changes, the EMEA depiction had always been a tool up field and windmills. And now you're showing a German castle. Are you signaling a new initiative to expand into Germany with that change? Is that how we should be assessing that?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

We just thought that we would be bored of the windmills. But no, Frank, it's just a choice of a picture. So nothing related to that, don't read too much into that.

Frank Mitsch, Analyst

Okay. The discussion of the government shutdown, are you seeing any changes with respect to defense order patterns? You did indicate something with the Inflation Reduction Act or what have you. But what are you seeing on the defense side of things potentially being impacted by the government shutdown?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Not a lot right now, Frank. I mean, our orders for defense remain robust. And actually, we expect demand to continue both in the United States as well as in Europe because of the things that have been happening in the world. So right now, we don't expect much issue from the U.S. government shutdown. However, if the shutdown continues for a very long time, maybe into Q1 or something, then at some point in time, our products have to go through inspections and clearances by certain third-party and government agencies. And at that point, it would start affecting the outflow from us. We don't expect change in orders or the demand part, but these products cannot be sometimes delivered until they are cleared by these agencies. So if the agencies are closed, that might create some issues. But for now, in Q4, we don't expect any of that to happen.

Frank Mitsch, Analyst

Okay. Great. I don't think that that will happen either. I don't think it's going to last that long. And then lastly, the range that you offered on EPS, you gave us a point range for 3Q and then we have a $0.10 range on 4Q. Can you speak to what gets you to the low end and what gets you to the high end of that EPS range?

Jamie Beggs, Senior Vice President and CFO

Yes. So Frank, I'll take that one. So from a high range perspective, part of this goes into the lumpiness that we sometimes see in defense. And to the high end of that, if we're able to close on some of those orders and get them into Q4, that could definitely be a catalyst to get on the higher end. Ashish also mentioned these energy projects, which we have seen some delays. We've been in close contact with several of our key partners and customer perspectives. And they're optimistic that we may be able to see some of those projects come into Q4. We're not counting on it at this juncture just because of the slowdown in the U.S. and there's a little bit of volatility there. But there are two items that I think could push us on the upper end of that range. From a downside perspective, if we see continued weakness in consumer and packaging which are our two largest markets. There is some uncertainty there. We do have some favorable comparisons in Q4 versus Q3. So we don't anticipate there to be any significant deterioration. If anything, we think things will get better on a year-over-year comparison. But obviously, we're living in a very uncertain macro environment. So we want to be a little bit cautious and that's why the range for Q4 is represented as such in what we provided out in the earnings release.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from Aleksey Yefremov of KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Aleksey Yefremov, Analyst

I wanted to ask you about the level of inventories at your customers. Do you have any insight into whether they're still reducing inventories or they're happy with their level of inventories? Or perhaps if that level is too high or too low?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes. I'll break it down for the two different business segments. In the Color business, our customers have started ordering smaller lots more frequently because we can fulfill orders quickly. This trend emerged during the COVID period and appears to be ongoing. Our customers rely on us for prompt delivery and maintain minimal inventory. Consequently, we typically lack visibility with Color customers beyond two to three weeks. Currently, there is no inventory held in the channel or by customers. Regarding the SEM business, it is mainly a spec-in business, although we do have some sales through distribution. There are no inventory issues there. The only concern we had was related to energy demand, as energy projects were paused, causing customers to stock up on inventory for these large projects. The inventory destocking took time during the pause. Based on our discussions with customers, inventory levels are now returning to normal at their level, distributor level, and utility level. We have begun to receive some orders from the energy side, but we do not anticipate significant orders in Q4. We expect most of that activity will occur in Q1. Overall, inventory levels in the SEM segment are currently healthy.

Aleksey Yefremov, Analyst

And I've seen some headlines about just consumer companies noting a little bit of an uptick of consumer demand in China. I know you have some business that's China for China. What are you seeing on the ground there?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes. I think what we are seeing is that we are seeing more demand coming from local China OEMs versus for export. If you think about our consumer businesses in China, the consumer discretionary is the bigger part of it and most of it gets exported out, which is in textiles and apparel materials and also small appliances are the other part of it. But I think most of it is apparel, about 40% or so is apparel. And that was down double digits in Q3 for us there. So really, China was not exporting much outside. And a lot of that material goes to Europe but some to the United States as well. So China was not exporting a whole lot in Q3 in terms of clothing and textile-related stuff. But we do continue to win share on the flip side with the local OEMs. And so I think to answer your question in a succinct way, we are seeing demand from the local OEMs but not from the global OEMs who are playing in China.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from Graham Panjabi of Baird.

Joshua S. Vesely, Analyst

This is actually Josh Vesely on for Ghansham. Maybe the first one just on Slide 4. You mentioned consumer showing some signs of recovery in September. Can you just help us reconcile those comments relative to what you're hearing in the news and what you're seeing throughout reports through 3Q, just about sequentially weaker consumer? What's specifically driving that for you guys? And is that any particular region that you're seeing that? Or is it more broad-based?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes. Let me explain it this way. Last year, during the third quarter of 2024, our consumer sales were up 11%. This created a challenging comparison for us as we entered this quarter. As I review the performance month by month this year, in July, our consumer sales declined by 14% year-over-year. In August, the decline was 8%, but in September, we saw a slight increase of 1%. This indicates that our results are improving sequentially compared to last year, primarily for two reasons. First, the comparisons are becoming easier each month, and second, we've noticed an increase in our consumer staples business. Our consumer sales are composed of two-thirds discretionary products and one-third staples, and we've particularly seen a boost in the staples segment, especially within the SEM category. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, comparisons will improve significantly. Consumer sales shifted from an increase of 11% to a growth of 4% in 2024, making for a more favorable comparison against last year's numbers. Moreover, we are observing a positive trend in the discretionary segment as well, particularly within SEM, which previously experienced a downturn for specific reasons and is now returning to normal demand. Thus, we are benefiting from some positive momentum in certain areas of our SEM business, contributing to a favorable consumer sentiment, alongside easier comparisons. However, it remains challenging to determine whether this reflects genuine demand or is simply a matter of easier comparisons, given the dramatic shifts. Nevertheless, we believe that aspects of consumer staples and some discretionary segments are showing signs of recovery for us.

Joshua S. Vesely, Analyst

Okay. Great. That's super helpful. And then maybe a question for Jamie on capital allocation. You talked about paying down $150 million in debt this year. It looks like your balance sheet is roughly 2.8x net debt-to-EBITDA current. Just given the year-to-date share performance, is there any preference or opinion from you guys just in terms of being a little aggressive in the near term just when it comes to share repurchases? Any thoughts there would be great.

Jamie Beggs, Senior Vice President and CFO

Yes, Josh, that's a great question. I will tell you, if our leverage is in a better spot, closer to 2.5x, we'd be buying back shares. We do believe our multiple is at a historic low based on the quality of the portfolio changes that we made today. But we also be cautious that this is an uncertain macro environment, and a lot of our major investors really want to ensure that our balance sheet is strengthened as we continue to see this macro uncertainty. We do expect to get to 2.5x probably back half of 2026 at this juncture. And once you see that, if our stock price still hasn't recovered from the standpoint, I imagine we'll have some conversations on what's the best capital allocation to make sure that we're returning value back to our shareholders.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from Vincent Andrews of Morgan Stanley.

Vincent Andrews, Analyst

Just wondering if you could talk a little bit more on the packaging side and just help us understand sort of what the rate of change is in the various end markets within there. And if you're seeing any signs of life in certain areas versus incremental challenges in others?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes. So Vincent, let me just start by saying that year-to-date packaging is plus 1% for us. So it's low single digits positive. And now having said that, let me just tell you what happened in Q3 and so on and so forth going into Q4, what we are seeing. So we saw a negative high single-digit growth, so degrowth of packaging in both the United States and specifically, EMEA, which is our biggest packaging market. But also packaging was negative in Latin America. So the food and beverage industry there utilizes quite a bit of our packaging and that was negative as well. So three out of the four geographies were negative on packaging. The only geography that was positive was in Asia, and part of that was that our team is getting some business there on local food and beverage, but also part of it is our packaging systems that go into semiconductor and wafer packaging and all that. So it's not traditional consumer packaging, so to say. So I think overall speaking, that we saw positive growth in packaging driven by the semiconductor trend. When I go into Q4, I think the big piece is that we are seeing some business gains on packaging in the United States. At least EMEA will continue to be a little bit weak for us. But Latin America, because it's summertime there will be in Q4, we generally have a seasonality of positive food and beverage there. And so that's what's baked into our numbers, and we would expect to grow positively on the Latin America side.

Vincent Andrews, Analyst

No, go ahead, Ashish.

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

I was going to say in Asia, we continue to see positive packaging driven by the semiconductor trend.

Jamie Beggs, Senior Vice President and CFO

Yes, that range is around $350 million. I think we ended the quarter at about $450 million. And maybe as a reminder, we do generate quite a bit of cash in the fourth quarter, mainly as a lot of our cash uses happened in the first half of the year. And then with working capital coming down as sales come back from seasonality, we do expect to have quite a bit of cash generation. So going into the fourth quarter, as we kind of telecasted in our comments earlier is that we do expect to pay down another $50 million within the quarter, and that's going to be reflected once we get to the year-end cash balances.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from Michael Harrison of Seaport Research Partners.

Michael Harrison, Analyst

Was hoping that we could address a couple of questions that I had in packaging. First of all, is there any sense that you might be losing some market share either to competitors or to paper or other types of packaging? Why don't you go ahead on that?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes. We don't think so. Our teams don't think so. And as I said, overall, when we compare ourselves to some of our competitors, it seems like we are printing better numbers. Also, we have pretty good insights with our converters and suppliers on the other side and these suppliers supply to most of our competition as well. So we believe that this is a real slowdown. And both consumer and packaging, if you look so broad-based down across the globe, it's really a reflection of all the uncertainty that the globe is facing, and the consumer sentiment across the globe is bad. And that's what it reflects, Mike. I don't think it's a matter of losing share. I think if anything, we might be gaining share in certain places.

Michael Harrison, Analyst

All right. That's very helpful. And then you had previously been optimistic or at least expected that you could see some growth in packaging as a result of more recycled content starting to drive greater consumption of Color and Additives. I was wondering if you could give an update on what you're seeing with that trend? Are your big CPG customers still committed to increasing the amount of recycled content? Or have they stepped back from some of those goals?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

So Mike, I think that phenomena still very much exists both in Europe and Latin America. We are seeing our customers continue on that front. I think in the United States, it has taken a little bit of a backseat, but it was never a big piece here. But I think that trend continues. And we are seeing supply chains moving from Europe to Latin America. Originally, some of that recycled content was being supplied from Europe to Latin America for their local packaging and now the supply chains are moving into Latin America. So our job in this case is to make sure that we don't lose businesses as they move across the ocean. And that we continue to qualify ourselves as the right partner for our customers. But no, we are not seeing any change outside the United States on that front.

Operator, Operator

And our next question comes from Laurence Alexander of Jefferies.

Laurence Alexander, Analyst

There's been a flurry of announcements of new reshoring capacity in the U.S. around appliances and durable goods. Can you give us a sense for how much visibility that might give you for demand in the back half of '26, '27, like when you think that will start to have an impact? And secondly, can you give a characterization of what you're seeing in terms of competitive intensity in both the color side and the engineered materials from regional players or emerging market players? I mean, is the competitive intensity intensifying given the weak demand environment?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes, I'll address the second question first. From a competitive standpoint, there is significant overcapacity, particularly in the color segment, largely due to competition from China in various markets. This has always been a factor. Our approach focuses on delivering solutions rather than just commodities. We aim to collaborate with customers from the product design phase through to the final launch, ensuring quality global service. Our positioning is not centered on chasing commodity business, which is where much of the competition arises. However, competition is becoming more aggressive, and we are responding effectively. Our teams are performing well, and as you might have noticed, our price/mix remains positive, with consistent margin expansion in the color segment for three consecutive quarters. Regarding competition in the SEM sector, we're seeing growth in our businesses. The less-than-expected performance in Q3 was mainly due to energy dynamics we previously discussed. While competition exists, there are no direct competitors to some of our innovative offerings, particularly in the Dyneema line of our personal protection business, which gives us a unique advantage. Our innovations are starting to set our product lines apart, allowing us to maintain market relevance and share. On the appliance question, we collaborate with global appliance manufacturers. As supply chains shift, it’s challenging to determine if this will generate additional volume for us since most major appliance makers already have our products specified. Our priority in this scenario is to ensure we retain that business as it transitions. That's all I can share for now.

Operator, Operator

And our last question comes from David Begleiter of Deutsche Bank.

David Begleiter, Analyst

Ashish, looking at 2026, can you discuss what's in your control such as productivity and what headwinds you might face from either wage inflation or other costs impacting you?

Ashish Khandpur, Chairman and CEO

Yes, it's a similar situation to this year with flat sales and growth, yet we still achieved EPS growth within the range of 3% to 8%. This illustrates what our team can accomplish under challenging conditions. We believe there is sufficient growth within the SEM side of our business to support some top-line growth, which will also enhance our bottom line. We can influence this by quickly commercializing our innovations at scale since the demand exists. Our ability to supply in various markets will also impact our performance. On the other hand, in areas where demand is weaker, we are focusing on improving productivity, reducing structures, and optimizing our footprint. We have made progress this year and will carry these efforts into next year. Regardless, these actions are necessary. If demand significantly drops, we have contingency plans in place to address that situation more thoroughly. We've just completed the first month of Q4, and it has actually turned out to be slightly better than we anticipated, but it's still early to draw conclusions as things can change rapidly in our business. October performed reasonably well in line with our expectations, and as I mentioned, just a bit better. I don't foresee any major issues; the comparisons are favorable for us, which will be beneficial. Year-over-year, we're looking at an improved situation, although seasonal factors, particularly in Latin America, are also impacting things, but not drastically. It's primarily about managing the comparisons and executing well in the current environment. We're gaining market share in packaging in the U.S., which is advantageous. Overall, nothing out of the ordinary.

Operator, Operator

This concludes the question-and-answer session and also our conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.