Getting it started again, we are very excited to have Ingersoll Rand with us. We've got Vik Kini, who is the CFO of Ingersoll Rand. And Vik, as I walk over to you, it's been about five years since you closed the RMT. A lot's gone on. I think you had a vision then, to be the premier industrial compounder. So maybe what's gone right, and if there's anything that, you know, you wish you could do better?
Yeah, for sure. So, first of all, Andy, thanks for having us, as always, here. It's great to be here. Yeah, first and foremost, it's, it is kind of crazy to think it's been, it's, six years now, you know, since, 2020 till now, so we're coming up on the six years here, very shortly. You know, I think first and foremost, incredibly proud of, of kind of the Ingersoll Rand that we've kind of built and developed here over the last six years since the RMT.
You know, if we think about what the business has executed and operated through to first have completed the merger in the midst of COVID, integrating two companies, you know, I'd say, delivering on and exceeding synergy targets, but then really setting up what I would say is, you know, a real industrial kind of premier compounder that you've seen, you know, solid organic growth momentum over the course of that 5-6 years, complemented by what I would say, you know, solid margin profile, kind of, you know, obviously, margin profile that's improved over the years, strong free cash flow, and then really being able to recompound that into M&A. And so if you think about the last 6 years, we've done.
Since the merger, we've actually done 76 acquisitions to date, and they've really been, I would say, global in nature across the entire portfolio. So I think we're really encouraged, you know, by what we have built to date. You know, I think it's all underpinned by our kind of ownership mentality. You know, as I think everyone's aware here, all of our employees are owners in the company, and I think that really drives a culture and a mentality of how we can continue to drive the company together, 20,000 plus employees strong, kind of moving forward.
Now, that being said, I feel like it's still early days, right? You know, we're, you know, approaching a roughly $8 billion in revenue in a $65 billion+ addressable market. As far as what are those areas that we can continue to push on, you know, I would say, as much as we're encouraged by what we've seen, I feel like all those areas have continued room for opportunity.
Mm.
Whether it be on the organic growth side of the equation, continuing to push on innovation, demand generation, and recurring revenue, which I know we'll talk about-
Mm.
While we've done a great job on the margin front, I think there still are very much areas for opportunity on margin expansion, particularly in areas like PST.
Mm-hmm.
You know, the free cash flow side of the equation. You know, we're continuing to look for ways to optimize. You know, as much as we're encouraged by, you know, the $1.2 billion-$1.3 billion of cash that we've been generating on an annual basis here the last few years, are there areas for optimization, whether it be working capital? I'd be remiss if I didn't look at myself and think around things, you know, tax rate and things like that, of course. So I think we still have plenty of levers and plenty of opportunity moving forward, and clearly, you know, the inorganic side, right?
Mm.
The M&A engine is not slowing down, you know, bolt-on driven.
Mm.
We did, like I said, 16 deals last year. We've already gotten one bolt-on completed this year, and I'd see no reason why you won't continue to see that momentum continue.
Got it. So Vik, I like having you up here 'cause you're, like, the owner of the guidance, so I can ask you about it. And just, you know, this is the third year in a row, right? Where we're all kind of, like, seeing some hints of short cycle recovery. But, you know, if I look at your guidance, doesn't look like you're baking much of any recovery, you know, in your numbers. Maybe you can talk about that. Did you take a different approach this year than past years, in how you set your guidance?
Sure, yeah. So, you know, I think a couple things to say here. So first and foremost, I think, whether it be Q4 or the second half of 2025, I think we're encouraged by the momentum that we're seeing kind of across the enterprise. Obviously, you've seen organic growth from an orders perspective, kind of, you know, be on the positive side.
Mm.
I think Vikente mentioned it on our earnings call. You know, for example, in ITS, we saw organic orders momentum across all of our regions from a total year perspective. If you look at the second half of the year, you know, roughly speaking, low single digit organic orders momentum. And so as we look to 2026, yes, encouraged by that momentum we're seeing. I'd say PMIs being above 50, albeit for 1 month.
Mm.
We wanted to take what I would call a prudent view-
Mm
F rom a guidance perspective. And so, yes, we set organic growth expectations 0%-2%, so that midpoint 1%, so very consistent with that kind of low single digit kind of momentum we've been seeing for a few quarters. And, you know, as far as, you know, our guidance, it doesn't bake in what I would call any kind of, you know, I'd say, broader industrial recovery or things of that nature at this point in time. We want to see that kind of materialize a bit more, see a few more months of what I would say, momentum. You know, obviously, we want to continue to watch the leading indicators.
Hopefully, organic volumes are something that we can kind of revisit as the year goes on, and that's something that's, you know, hopefully a little bit of upside opportunity. But yes, I think as we think about the guide this year, I think there was a conscious effort to be a, you know, a bit prudent in the-
Mm
K ind of expectation setting up front, and that's hopefully something we can revisit here as the year unfolds.
It's helpful, Vik, and I wanna delve a little bit more into the, like, leading indicators you talked about. For the earnings call, you kind of said, "Look, MQL to order," that's marketing qualified leads for everyone, "to order is still kind of, like, a little bit slow. It hasn't really changed much, and in terms of large project timing, it's still kind of, like, little bit slow," is kind of what I heard. But at the same time, your shipments in Q4 did pick up a bit, versus, I think, your own expectations. So is that a sign that customer delays are starting to unlock?
Sure. You know, I mean, I think customer conversations, definitely constructive. You know, I think, we'd say maybe the peak of uncertainty is kind of in the rear view, and that every month that transpires thereafter, I think hopefully, you know, you can say the, customer dialogue is getting more and more constructive.
Mm.
You know, as far as the comment around MQLs or long cycle funnel, you know, I think as we indicated on the call, still healthy from a growth perspective year-over-year. Yes, we would acknowledge that that kind of elongation in the context of MQL to order is still existent. You know, and from a long cycle funnel or funnel perspective, similar. Funnel itself, healthy. Yeah, maybe there's still a little bit of elongation in terms of getting to the finish line on POs, but in the same breath here, you did see good project momentum even in 2025. You know, you saw book-to-bill from a full year perspective being slightly above 1, so we did build a little backlog here coming into 2026. I think the simple answer here is.
You know, continue to have constructive discussions. We do continue to see things getting, you know, better, as that uncertainty kind of continues to be behind us. You know, and I think this is an area where, you know, Q4, for example, was just solid execution. Typically, Q4 is a quarter where you see a healthy amount of long-cycle project shipments.
Mm-hmm.
Just from a seasonality perspective, Q4 of 2025 was no different. So, you know, I think, you know, generally, things continuing to play themselves out as we would expect. Q4 was no different.
So Vik, I wanted to ask you, because I get this question a fair amount, so I kind of need to ask you. As you know, you're compared to a large European competitor, a compressor-focused competitor, quite often, and certainly other large U.S. short-cycle-focused industrial peers. When we look at those peers, at least lately, they tend to have orders in the mid-single digit plus range, and you guys are kind of low single digits. So maybe you can give more color why you think your growth is trailing some of these peers.
Sure.
What do you think could be a catalyst to get your growth to be equal or higher than these peers?
Sure. You know, I, I'll take the first part of the question, at least compared to kind of that larger other peer. You know, I think the simple answer here is there are some product technologies that are not similar between the two portfolios.
Mm.
which I think is driving that, kind of that wedge.
Mm.
We cap out at a certain horsepower range from a compressor perspective. That peer plays in a much higher range, which I think is where a lot of that said growth, and at least that differential, is coming from. When you look at what I would consider to be the more classical, you know, we'll call it more small, medium-type compressors, whether it be on the, you know, legacy oil-lubricated or even on the oil-free side, I think you'll see performance to be much more in line.
Mm.
You know, even areas where, you know, in North America and areas where you can kind of measure share, and there's some third party, I think those third parties would reiterate and kind of reinforce that as well.
Mm.
So, you know, I think from a market performance, whether we look at North America or any of the international markets, whether we look at the product technologies, we actually feel pretty comfortable with where we're operating and where we're executing to. You know, as far as the broader industrial peer set, obviously, tough to comment. There's a lot of differing end market exposures. We don't have what I'll call classical, you know, for example, data center or aerospace exposure-
Mm
A nd things like that. But that all being said, you know, I think the second half momentum that we saw, which you did see a little bit broad-based, right? We can talk about fourth quarter here, that you saw momentum, not just in the kind of classical short cycle industrial compression side.
Mm.
You saw good momentum in our precision technologies business, which is the niche legacy, kind of, positive displacement pump business, as well as the life sciences business, which was actually up roughly mid-teens from an orders perspective in Q4. So I think we're really encouraged by, I'd say, the pockets of growth that we're seeing. And that, you know, like I said, things continue in this respect. Hopefully, there's, you know, a little bit more, you know, organic volume type of upside that we can continue to see, hopefully here as the year plays itself out.
Yeah, so Vik, you just mentioned it, life sciences is actually your biggest business. It's almost 20% of the company, right? And it was up mid-teens, so I don't have to be very good at math to know that if it continues in mid-teens, you're and everything else is flat, you do the high end of your organic range for the year, right? So how do you feel about life sciences? Is that kind of momentum sustainable?
Yep
A nd where is it coming from?
Yeah, so maybe, maybe just to, you know, level set on the math here for a few seconds. First and foremost, so the comment about mid-teens up on life sciences, that's really pertaining to the classical, well, say, life sciences business within Precision and Science Technologies-
Mm
W hich is a component of life science. We also then have what I would call the compressors and air compression technology.
I'm not really good at math. That's what I'm saying.
Yeah. So no, no, no, it's just to clarify here that the mid-teens is much more from the Precision and Science Technologies life sciences, but the point is still valid.
Yeah.
Very, very encouraged by what we're seeing there. You know, our life sciences exposure, you've got kind of three different components of life sciences and precision technologies.
Mm.
You've got, you know, the legacy, what we used to call Gardner Denver, Ingersoll Rand medical business, which is kind of more OEM components to medical lab, life sciences, diagnostic tools manufacturers. You've got our biopharma business, and then you've got a kind of medical deVike manufacturing business. And the good news is you're seeing momentum across all three. They're all playing in slightly different aspects of the life sciences business. But they're, you know, one, I'd say, showed healthy growth in Q4, and I think the expectation of whether you call it short to medium term, I think those trends are still encouraging going forward. So we're very, I think, pleased with the growth that we're seeing on the life sciences side. I would also correlate that to some of the margin expansion you've continued to see now on the precision and science technology side.
As you've seen those life sciences businesses grow, you've obviously seen some of the commensurate flow-through come with that, which is why you've seen now margins sustained over 30% for a number of quarters-
Mm
W hich we'd expect to continue going forward.
Got it. So I wanted to ask you about your demand by region, because, you know, you're known as, you know, more exposed to regions such as Asia and China, right? I think you said three quarters now in a row of positive organic order growth, and you're growing low single digit there. You've got product innovation. You're bringing acquired technology to China. So is it fair to say that, you know, at least the underlying China market is stabilized for you guys, and then, you know, your ability to outperform the market seems like it's improving, so maybe talk about that?
Yeah, maybe we'll just look on a level set on, on China in general.
Mm.
So first and foremost, China, for us, is about 10%-11%.
Mm
E xposure from a total company perspective on a revenue base, actually comparable levels of exposure across both ITS and PST. Now, it's worth mentioning that, you know, roughly 2-3 years ago, that number was probably closer to 15%. So yes, you have seen, obviously, China reset a little bit, which is not unexpected, given the market in China and things of that nature. Now, that being said, I, I think that team has done a, a really good job from an execution perspective in what has been a pretty tough macro backdrop. To your point, if you think about kind of what we've seen in 2025, you know, multiple quarters of what we call low single digit organic orders momentum, and, you know, this is a market that, you know, it's, it's a competitive market out there.
Obviously, the business there historically has been largely compressor centric. That's because the roots of our China business are much more on the Ingersoll Rand compressor side of the business.
Mm.
Where you've seen, I think, a lot of that outperformance, outgrowth is what I'll say, is solid performance on the compressor side, but then also leveraging what I would say, those differentiated technologies that our China business historically didn't have as much access to. So whether that be the blower or vacuum portfolio from the Gardner Denver side, whether that be even you know, relaunching the Gardner Denver compressor series itself-
Mm.
Air treatment technology, as we've bought SPX Flow and things of that nature, and, you know, seeing some of those, those technologies. And then, like I said, 76 bolt-ons over the last six years-
Mm.
some of those acquired technology being localized.
Mm.
I think that's where the team is showing nice, differentiated performance in what is still a pretty tough market. So, yeah, I mean, we're encouraged by what that team is doing. You know, the China business is still 10%, it's still a very healthy business-
Yeah
V ery healthy margin profile. And that business continues to execute well in what is obviously a, you know, a different backdrop than it was 3, 4 years ago.
Do you think the potential now is different? Like, can you grow mid-single digits plus in that business, or like-
Yeah, I mean, that's not necessarily our expectation at this point in time.
Yeah.
And again, I think it's probably, you know, a bit of just, you know, one waiting to see the China market in general get to some degree of what I would call, you know, rebound, like I said.
Growth.
Yeah, I don't think we expect it to be back to where it used to be once upon a time, but, you know, some degree of sustainable growth. And also just, you know, making sure that, you know, level setting expectations from a prudence perspective. But that being said, you know, I'd say that team has done a really nice job, and it's also worth noting, and probably a question we'll touch upon here.
Mm
T hat the team has also done a great job doubling down on the non-China components-
Yeah, so-
-of APAC.
So let me ask you about that, Vik. So you're up 20% in Q4 in organic orders in the rest of Asia. That's a big number, right? I know it's a small part of Ingersoll, but that kind of growth is difficult to ignore. So maybe talk about that. Should we be paying attention to that?
Sure.
How big is that versus, you know, China?
Yeah, for sure. So, obviously, it's the smaller piece of the equation.
Yeah.
The non-China pieces of APAC we're really referring to would be Korea, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
Mm.
You know, would I say we should be paying attention? Yes. You know, in the context of, yes, it's smaller. Obviously, China's, you know, a bigger component of the equation, comparatively speaking. But we have mentioned a number of times that there are certain areas of the world that we kinda consider to be under-penetrated, from an Ingersoll Rand perspective. And what we mean by that is, there are kind of four key regions that we've talked about explicitly, that we have a presence in, we have had a presence in, but our share in those respective markets, we know is not at the same levels as what you see in more developed markets like the U.S., Western Europe, and China.
Mm.
Those areas would be Latin America, particularly Brazil-
Mm
O r Latin America in general, with Brazil being kind of our biggest component-
Mm
Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia.
Mm.
Yeah, Southeast Asia, obviously there's, you know, I'd say some dovetails to places like Australia and areas like that. So in Q4, I think what you're seeing there is a combination of that focus and some, you know, I'd say, good momentum in certain areas, as well as some nice project wins. Obviously, you're not gonna see 20% type growth every single quarter. That's not the expectation. But I do think this is an area much like Brazil, much like India, much like Middle East, where you should continue to see, I'd say, comparative outperformance. Just because, you know, we know our share has room to grow there. And, you know, we're making the targeted investments, and I think that's also the key part here.
So in Southeast Asia, we've been making some very concerted, I would say, commercial investments to make sure that we have the right feet on the street. India and Latin America, commercial investments, well, we actually opened two new facilities last year for in-region manufacturing. In India, our second compressor manufacturing facility. In Brazil, our first ever compressor manufacturing facility, to really just be able to have more in-region, for-region presence, which is very consistent with our in-region, for-region model, or else, around the rest of the globe. So I think we're really encouraged. You know, obviously, Q4, we specifically talked about Southeast Asia or the-
Yeah
T he non-China piece of APAC. But I think we're very encouraged by the momentum here that we'll continue to see for the medium to long term.
Got it, and just, just as an aside, when you build all these things out, I think to myself, you know, that it could add extra cost. So you're being careful about keeping. 'Cause you have very high margins, as you know. You can get the margins you need in a place like India, for example?
For sure. You know, I think one thing that's important to note here is that, you know, obviously, we talked about a lot of the headwinds and whatnot that existed in 2025.
Yeah
W hether it be tariffs and things of that nature, which obviously created uncertainty from a growth perspective, so forth and so on. But I think it's worth noting that, you know, from an ITS perspective, for example, still maintained 29-ish% EBITDA margins-
Yeah
R ight? So to your point, what we consider to be very healthy margin profile, that was in the face of, I'd say, some known macro headwinds, like tariffs, an environment that didn't, frankly, have a lot of organic volume,
Nope
M omentum, and we were still investing for growth, right? And you can see that in the SG&A dollars and things like that. And that's a concerted effort, whether it be in areas like that, whether it be for recurring revenue, things of that nature, we're gonna continue to make those investments. In fact, we have a requisite amount of investments still baked into, for example, 2026. But I think it also speaks to the ability of the teams to be able to, whether it be drive pricing excellence, drive productivity. You know, you saw in our financials here, in the second half of the year, we took some very targeted restructuring actions enterprise-wide.
Yeah.
And that really continues to be, I'd say, bolster the quality of earnings, continue to rightsize, particularly back office and things of that nature, while still being able to invest for growth in areas like you mentioned.
For sure. So I wanna do the other two big regions for one second, just in Europe.
Mm-hmm.
I think orders were down in Q4, but Vikente mentioned strong growth in Central Europe in 2025. And, you know, you seem positive for Europe to have some growth in 2026. So where does it come from? I know Europe is more of a sustainability market. Like, is that growing? Like, what do you think about it?
Yeah. I mean, I think it's a continuation there. So, you know, I think from our Europe perspective, encouraged by what was probably over the course of the last 18 months, probably our most stable region, comparatively speaking-
Yeah
T o China, and what we saw in North America. You know, seeing good momentum in areas like, for example, you know, France, Italy, Spain.
Mm
Y ou know, countries of that nature. Yes, sustainability kind of being a driver there, but I'd say also, you know, good execution across both short cycle as well as some of the long cycle project-type opportunities.
Yeah.
India is an area that we obviously also kind of manage together with Europe. And India, obviously, is it's arguably, probably, for the last five years, been our single best growth region itself where you've been seeing double-digit type momentum in India.
Interesting.
Like I said, we've invested in a second compressor manufacturing facility there, and we actually have very good presence in both our ITS and PST businesses. You've even seen inorganic opportunities there.
Yeah.
We've done multiple bolt-on acquisitions in India, just given the attractiveness of that market. So, you know, I think continue to be encouraged by what we're seeing there. Will we expect to see dramatically different, you know, performance or con-? No, I think it's, you know, continuing to be relatively stable-
Mm-hmm
I n those markets that we play. You know, a continued, you know, I'd say, balance of execution. It's also worth noting, and I know we'll talk about it here probably shortly-
Mm-hmm
The recurring revenue piece of the equation. You know, continuing to see very good traction outside of just the U.S., where that recurring revenue model kind of grew up.
Mm.
So that's what you're also seeing, I think, help bolster not just the top line side of the equation, but also the margins, 'cause our recurring revenue model is quite margin accretive when it's done at kind of its highest standard, and you're starting to see that pick up momentum in areas like Western Europe and even Asia.
Yeah, no, I'll definitely get to that in a second. I'm gonna open it up to the audience in a minute. Just rounding out into the Americas, I think you've talked about it being sort of, for now, a low single-digit grower. But it seems like things are setting up for you guys over there. You know, you talked about pharma bio, you know, maybe reshoring could help you. Obviously, electricity prices are going up. That should lead to shorter paybacks for things like compressors. So why can't you have a little more torque in the Americas? Is anything holding you back there?
Yeah, no, I mean, I think the factors you mentioned, whether it be life sciences momentum, reshoring or onshoring, obviously energy pricing being higher, and, you know, just to put it in perspective, you know, a compressor typically is at the top of the list in terms of energy consumption. In any degree of a manufacturing setting, you find yourself up to 30%, and in certain cases, it can even be more than that.
Yeah.
I think I'll go back to kind of how we started. Encouraged by the trends we're seeing-
Yeah
B ut we also wanna see that continuation, right?
Yeah.
And so I think from our perspective, it's just prudency as we kinda come into the year. Is there anything holding us back per se? No. I, I think from a capacity perspective, execution perspective, supply chain, no, no concerns whatsoever from that perspective. We just wanna continue to see that momentum build, and obviously, that's an area that we'll, you know, hopefully be able to revisit here as the year goes on.
For sure. Any questions from the audience? Over there.
Thank you, so just, just a question on that, big peer of yours. They, they had very strong growth in gas and process in the quarter where you have less exposure. But, just curious on sort of market share movements on the, larger and small and mid-sized compressors. You mentioned that you're outperforming a bit in China, and I'm just curious, whether you think that you're taking some market share in China on the, on the compressor side? Thank you.
Yeah, sure. So inherently difficult to kind of measure. There's no, like, empirical third party or things like that, that measure this stuff. So I'll say, you know, one, you know, the competitive suite that we operate against is great competition, very what I'd say, prudent, rational, you know, very established, as well as ourselves. I think from a China perspective, you know, I feel like we're holding our fair share without question. Like I said, I think where we're seeing those pockets of incremental opportunity are some of those differentiated technologies, not just compressor, but around the compressor spectrum, where either historically we haven't operated in, or historically, we just haven't had those offerings in region.
Yes, obviously, compressors, without question, is still the biggest piece of our, our China exposure, and so to, to even have low single-digit organic, there has to be contribution from the compressor perspective, right? You can't have compressors going down and the other pieces going up. That, that equation still won't get to low single digits. So you are seeing contributions from the compressor perspective, and I think it's also then leveraging, you know, the Ingersoll Rand name, the channel there, to be able to leverage a lot of the other different technologies that I spoke to earlier.
Quick follow-up is on replacement demand relative to sort of capacity additions on the larger side in China. I mean, what we're hearing is replacement is coming back. The fleet is quite old, but anything growth is basically off the table. Is that, is that how you see China as well, or?
Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, when you look at kind of China growth in general, it's not what it was. So I think your statement is very fair in the context of at least where demand has at least been trending over time. The good news, though, is recurring, like replacement, when we have the presence that we have, then also being able to complement that not only with the differential technologies, but also with the recurring revenue model. We're very comfortable that that is still an equation and an environment where we can do quite well in. And then obviously, yeah, if true growth, greenfield or otherwise, comes back in the future, listen, we're well poised to be able to execute there.
But the concept of just being able to execute on replacement of older technology, serVikes through the aftermarket, and hopefully convert to recurring revenue where possible, that's without question, I would say, more in the control what you can control, almost self-help perspective of continuing to perpetuate where we see a lot of our opportunities, particularly on the recurring revenue side.
Thank you.
Let's talk recurring, Vik.
Yeah.
So you're up to 450 in 2025, 200 a couple of years ago. Your target that you set at your Investor Day a couple of years ago was $1 billion for 2027, so it's a big number versus where we are,
Mm
Y ou know, last year. So, I mean, do I just think big step up in 2026 and 2027 when we get there? Like, how do I think about it?
Yeah, so let me just kind of level set here that it was a little over two years ago at our Investor Day, late 2023, where we kind of rolled out the recurring revenue initiative, and we said at that time, you know, target $200 million of recurring revenue. But it was really a model that existed. I wouldn't say 100%, but it was the preponderance was in the kind of legacy Ingersoll Rand, North America compressor side of the business-
Mm
W hich is really where this model grew up. We saw a meaningful opportunity, the numbers you kind of outlined there, $1 billion by 2027, and we kind of outlined it, and we kind of laid it out at that point in time. You know, if you kind of flash forward here, we've eclipsed $300 million in 2024.
Mm.
A nd now eclipsed $450 million in 2026. So I think the momentum from having gone from roughly $200 million in 2023, and by the way, it was like $100 million, not but a few years before that-
Mm.
T o go from $100 million - $450 million plus in a handful of years, I think it speaks to the power of kind of this model.
Mm.
You know, I think what we're really encouraged by is twofold: one, the fact that you're now seeing this have global adoption, right? So yes, of that $450 million plus is North America compressors still the biggest piece of that? Of course.
Mm-hmm.
But is it at the same, you know, same percentage as what it was? No. Obviously, you've seen the rest of the portfolio start to adopt the model quite nicely. You're also seeing it outside of just compressor-specific technology, so blowers, pumps, even parts of our life sciences portfolio that have parts or serVike needs. There's a care or care-like model that can be adapted.
Mm.
I think we're incredibly encouraged by what we're seeing. As far as the 2026 and 2027, obviously we haven't guided on specifics there, but do we expect to see, I'd say, a continued ramp as we move through the next few years? Yes.
Mm.
You know, I think one thing that we mentioned on the call that I think is a nice milestone that we've hit is, we have, what we said, you know, at the end of 2025, $1.1 billion in the backlog or $1.1 billion in what we'll call the bank.
Mm.
What that really means is $1.1 billion in future contracts that we already have kind of inked.
Mm-hmm.
So, you know, that by no means is the ending point. That's just a nice solid building block as we now execute now for the next couple of years. Obviously, we expect to see continued momentum and ramp on in-year orders and as we go into 2027, and as expected, you know, as expected, you know, a nice ramp as we move from the 450. But if you look at even the sequential momentum we've seen, you've seen solid double-digit growth here, which we would expect to continue here moving forward.
Got it. That's helpful, Vik. And then I think one of the ways that you're getting there is by focusing on the digitization of your products. So maybe given AI is a dominant theme right now in industrials, how are you using AI to improve your deliverables, deliverables such as improving the connectability-
Yeah
Efficiency of products?
Yeah, I mean, exactly. You know, I think when you think about some of the kind of mega trends here, AI obviously has strong applicability in our space, and that's kind of going from more, you know, historical, kind of mechanical industrial assets-
Yeah
- to more smart, connected-
Mm
industrial assets. And so yes, using AI to, you know, the connectivity, the preventive maintenance, kind of those predictive models, how can we use AI embedded in our machines to actually drive that type of, you know, efficiency and whatnot? Also, just from an efficiency of our commercial force, right? How do we actually make doing business with Ingersoll Rand? How do we equip our commercial teams to be able to execute, deliver quotes in a-
Mm
Much more faster, real-time manner? You're seeing applicability on both sides. So I would say one, from a true product technology perspective, and one from just what I would call it, a sales and commercial efficiency perspective.
Mm.
Of course, things in the back office, stuff like that, of course, you know, we'll continue to focus on that. But I think we're hyper-focused on how do we improve the connected aspect of our machines, and then sales force efficiency, which are still, I would say, early days, but areas that we are hyper-focused on from an AI perspective.
Got it, and then, Vik, with the understanding that you do have high margins, like when I look at your price versus cost, right, I look at tariffs in particular, it's been kind of holding you back a little bit on the margin side, as you know. Price-cost neutral in the first half of 2026, positive in the second half. That leads to margin expansion in the second half. But maybe talk about why there does seem like there's a lag for you guys versus maybe some other short cycle industrial peers. And, you know, how do we feel about the risk that, you know, commodity prices are still all over the place? Can you price that?
Yeah, for sure. So you know, I think as far as the price cost or the tariff equation, you know, I think we've been pretty transparent about the fact that, you know, a couple things. One, we weren't looking, we're not looking to make margin first per se on tariffs, right? We've been very clear that, you know, where we have to take price, it's really meant to offset tariffs from a one-for-one perspective. Other than a little bit of timing aside, where, yeah, there are situations where tariffs hit you a little bit more kind of real time.
Mm.
And then, you know, when you have to go take price increases, you all, you know, have to give the channel a certain time of notice and things like that. So there may be a little bit of a lag there. We indicated that even in, you know, as we moved into Q4 of last year, and I'd say the teams actually executed quite nicely. You actually saw us kind of deliver at the higher end of both our revenue and our earnings expectations in Q4 specifically.
Mm.
I'd say, yeah, maybe a little bit of lag, but I'd say even that, the team has done a nice job executing.
Mm.
As we move into 2026, I think the simplest way to think about it here is, those pricing actions have largely been taken as we, as we've indicated, really in the back half of this year. So, you know, the fact that price is offsetting tariffs in the first half, that's a fair statement. I would call it price, cost, dollar neutral.
Mm.
Obviously, that is a bit of a headwind to margins.
Mm.
And then as we lap that tariff equation moving into the second half of the year, as well as I'd say, a combination of maybe some targeted normal course in-year pricing actions that will materialize more in the back half of the year, some of the normal productivity that you would expect, which typically follows your cost of goods sold and seasonality, which tends to be a little bit more back half weighted, as well as some of that restructuring we talked about materializing through. Probably be partially offset by some of the commercial investments for growth we can make. That's that equation overall, and I'd say second half margin expansion.
Mm.
I think the team has done a really nice job executing. It's been a very, for lack of a better way to say this, dynamic environment-
Mm
I n the sense of tariffs. And I think the team has executed quite nicely in terms of taking the requisite actions, moving with pace, and yeah, generally speaking, a little bit of timing aside, you've seen those match up pretty nicely.
So Vik, we already talked about, you know, again, ITS, 29% margins, nothing to sneeze at, but it's been kind of flattish for a while, right? And I think it's just easily because organic growth has also been flattish. So if you start to see better organic growth, let's say, starting in the second half, can you get sort of normalized incrementals of 35-40, or should maybe you see even more torque than that? You've been doing a lot during the time. You mentioned some restructuring.
Mm.
You're always doing IT, I2V. So, you know, can you get inflection in margins that maybe is better?
Yeah, so you know, like you said, I mean, I think it's probably worth noting here that 29% margins, despite all the headwinds we've mentioned here, it speaks to the fact that the team has been, I'd say, very deliberate and focused on maintaining margins despite a, you know, some known headwinds that we've been moving against this last few years. So very encouraged by what the team has done there. As far as to your point, yes, with, you know, I would say organic volume, if, you know, you see any degree of kind of torque on that side or return to kind of organic volume growth as you indicated, the concept of what I call 30%-40% incrementals, and it'll play across that spectrum depending on month and quarter, and things like that.
Yeah, there's no reason that those types of numbers aren't possible. Can you see potentially higher than that in certain periods? Perhaps. You know, I'd say that's. You've seen that before, so there's no reason to say you couldn't see that again. But I do think you're gonna continue to see prudent reinvestment. You know, for us, it's about maintaining that organic growth momentum for not just a quarter or two, but sustainably over the medium to long term. So we are continuing to be very focused on the requisite investments, whether it be a lot of the areas we talked about, innovation, R&D, feet on the street, and those under-penetrated markets, commercial resources, even our developed markets, and the recurring revenue model. We're gonna continue to reinvest in that.
And so you saw that even in 2025, in an environment where, you know, you obviously did not see as much growth, but we're committed to that kind of reinvestment in the business. So, you know, I think the answer here is, yes, normalized incrementals absolutely should be part of the equation.
Mm-hmm.
But, you know, we also wanna be very conscious of making the reinvestments from a growth perspective that we need to make.
Sure. So PST, you finished just over 30% EBITDA margin, and you're guiding toward triple-digit margin expansion in 2026. You seem pretty optimistic, actually, about margin expansion for 2026. But I know you're aware you still have a mid-30s PST adjusted EBITDA margin target for 2027. Does seem like kind of a big jump. Well, can you get there?
Yeah. I mean, so, you know, a couple things here. I think we're really encouraged by what we've now seen. You know, it's no secret that PST margins, if you look kind of from the merger up until even kind of, you know, 2024, 2025, it had gone from roughly 30% to 30%.
Yeah.
You know, if you look under the covers over that timeframe, there were a lot of moving factors. COVID, you know, you saw some upticks there, but then you saw a downturn in the, you know, the legacy IR Medical business, which came with some healthy flow-through. You've seen the CPEX business, which we knew was coming in 15% EBITDA margins. That business now plays around fleet average. So, you know, despite the fact that you went from 30 to 30, there were some known headwinds in there, and the team has done a nice job offsetting that to still, you know, stay at 30. Now, to your point, how do we kind of sustainably kind of get this now moving forward into that kind of mid-30s range? A couple things here.
One, as you saw, I think, you know, good momentum here as we move through 2025, right? We indicated that, you know, a couple aspects here. As you get, I'd say, IRX and kind of some of the I2V and kind of just some of that blocking and tackling mentality really embedded within not just the precision technology side of the equation, but also the life sciences side, particularly the ILC Dover acquisition.
Mm.
that was gonna be a catalyst for opportunity, one. Two, life sciences growth just in general. Obviously, we talked about the orders momentum we saw in Q4.
Mm.
This is a part of the business we expect to see. I'd say, better than the rest of the portfolio, you know, growth moving forward, and it comes with, I would say, a healthy margin profile as well.
Mm.
Then three, we talked about restructuring and some of the productivity measures, and things like that. That's not just an ITS comment, right?
Mm.
So in the second half of the year, when we took, for example, a targeted restructuring, that was enterprise-wide, ITS, PST, as well as even the corporate enterprise. And so, you know, I think those will all be catalysts here, but, you know, I think the simple answer here is, again, we're being prudent on the growth expectations. Excuse me. I think incremental organic volume will obviously be an even, you know, a kicker on top of that, for lack of a better way to say that. And, you know, even things like recurring revenue, again, very small, comparatively speaking, in PST versus ITS, but even starting to see some, you know, I'd say, you know, early wins there and some momentum in parts of the portfolio that historically never thought about recurring revenue.
Yeah.
I think that'll also be a help as well.
It's helpful, Vik. So you ended up having a good year, I think, in M&A in 2025, 16 acquisitions, $275 million of acquired revenue. So we know you're guiding to, again, 400-500 basis points of annualized inorganic revenue, for 2026. But maybe characterize the environment in terms of the pipeline you have from. You know, we always, we sit here together in February. Like, how does it compare to last year? Is it the same, better, worse? How do you think about it?
Yeah, I'd say it's very comparable, and the reason I say that is, you know, our M&A engine and model isn't necessarily predicated on, you know, waiting for third parties to come to us, and bankers, and whatnot. You know, our deal model and the way we kind of run it, you know, 90% of our deals are sole sourced, right?
Mm.
So we are typically going out and cultivating deals. A lot of these are multi-year kind of duration in terms of the cultivation of these assets. You know, to put this in perspective, you know, last year we did 16 bolt-on acquisitions, kind of at the low end of the 400-500 basis points, but still, you know, very comfortably kind of executing to what we expected. As we sit here today, and, you know, we did earnings last week, we announced, you know, one, we've already done 1 bolt-on in January, actually in our life sciences business-
Mm.
a nice complementary bolt-on to our kind of parts of our legacy kind of Ingersoll Rand medical business. Two, we have nine additional deals under LOI, and I would say those 9 are very much down the middle of the fairway, smaller bolt-on type deals. Three, we have, you know, roughly over 200 types of, you know, types of assets in the funnel itself, which indicates the health of said funnel, and I would point to the fact that it's a very good equitable mix across-
Mm
the entire portfolio. Otherwise, to say we're not diverting capital to just one business or another, you're actually seeing a good, healthy mix across the business.
Mm.
Just to put this in perspective, the 16 deals we did last year, plus the one we just did in January, so the 17,
Mm
F our in the life sciences space.
Mm.
So, you know, you're starting to see some good momentum there, but that also means 13 between the kind of core ITS and precision technologies businesses, so a good equitable mix. And I think as we think about 2026, our expectation right now is you should probably expect to see something very comparable to what you saw in 2025. So, you know, smaller bolt-ons, yes, I know on the earnings call, we did indicate that there's a, you know, a couple of maybe slightly larger bolt-on, maybe $1 billion-ish type.
Yeah
P urchase price, but, you know, don't think of those as outside the norm. Those are still very much within, I'd say, the wheelhouse of compressor, blower, vacuum, pump, life sciences, kind of core technologies. They might just be a slightly larger size, but very comparable to what you've been seeing. And the other thing to note here, you know, and I'll reflect back on the last year, not only have we seen the good momentum, but I think you continue to see us do it from a very prudent perspective. The blended average of those 16 deals, you know, roughly speaking, 9x pre-synergy, adjusted EBITDA purchase multiple return profiles in the double digits, mid-teens, like you've seen us do before. The ability to reduce that purchase multiple, multiple turns, nothing is different.
You know, obviously, I think this year we would expect to see comparable type dynamics.
Vik, I think to your point, 2025 was kind of about getting back to your roots in terms of M&A because, you know, the year before, you did ILC Dover, right? Which was larger and I think, you know, I sometimes in covering industries for a long time, worry about, like, the law of large numbers for companies. You get up to a size, you start competing with private equity, you know, and then you do a big deal, and it's harder to sort of see what's going on a big deal. So I probably asked you this before, but sort of now that you're, you know, further away from ILC Dover, any sort of, you know, thoughts or lessons learned, and, you know, was it really just a one-off around space suits, and there's still, you know-
Oh, sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, first and foremost, maybe to level set, high level, you know, one, we said that, you know, an ILC Dover size type acquisition or something a little bit larger-
Mm
E very few years, no concerns whatsoever about being able to execute on something like that. In between, you're gonna see us kind of be right down the middle of the fairway in terms of the smaller bolt-ons, and that's exactly what you saw in 2025.
Yeah.
As far as lessons learned and things like that, yeah, you know, the space, as we've talked about it, I kind of, you know, at length here, you know, that dynamic's behind us, right? And so, you know, I think what we're more focused on here is, if you look at that business, particularly from a life sciences perspective, a couple things. One, the business has been restructured. You know, it's, you know, now being run exactly like the rest of the enterprise, with new GMs kind of running top to bottom, no matrix PNLs, things of that nature. You've now gotten good foothold on, I'd say, some of the kind of key aspects of IRX, demand generation, things of that nature, the productivity equation. You know, the business themselves, we talked about the order rates in Q4-
Mm
S o we're encouraged by the momentum we're seeing in the life sciences side.
Mm.
Then the other piece here is, you know, and I think one of the parts of the original thesis of the deal that very much is still playing itself out, is that now we have a very established, what I'll call, true life sciences beachhead.
Mm.
You know, that's $600 million-$700 million in revenue that now you can look to start doing that bolt-on routine that you've seen, you know, on the ITS and pump side of the equation historically. And like I mentioned, we've done four now, bolt-ons, by the way, private, you know, largely from private ownership-
Yeah
S ole sourced. The economics, whether it be purchase multiples or return profile, look very similar to what you've seen on the ITS or Precision Technology side. So yes, you know, I'll say, you know, a lot of that noise kind of behind us that you referenced.
Yeah.
More importantly here, I think we're encouraged by what we're seeing going forward, as well as not just the organic side, but also that ability to compound from an inorganic side as well.
So we're out of time, but let me ask you this for 15 seconds, 'cause I just should ask you. What are the top two or three innovations-
Yeah
A nd structural changes affecting your company over the next five years?
Yeah, real quickly here, I think we talked about it, about AI, so I won't belabor that one any further.
Yeah.
The other one is just energy efficiency, right? When you think about a compressor in any degree of, you know, manufacturing setting or wherever it is, it's at the high end of the list in terms of energy consumption and things like that from a total cost perspective. Typically up to 30% in terms of the energy being consumed. In certain cases, it can be even higher than that. So continuing to see energy efficiency, how do we, you know, continue to show good returns for our customers? That's gonna continue to be, I'd say, a focal point, and so that is obviously, probably the single biggest buying criteria, and then how do you serVike it, frankly, through the aftermarket and recurring revenue?
Yeah.
So.
Awesome, Vik. Thank you very much.
Appreciate it. Thank you.