EEX

2025 marked a transformational year for Emerald. Our teams remained focused on execution, translating strategic priorities into measurable progress and positioning the business to be more resilient, better diversified, and structurally stronger as we enter 2026. Over the past year, that strategy has continued to focus on actively reshaping the portfolio to increase our exposure to higher growth and markets while completing the exit of several underperforming brands that didn't recover post-COVID. In 2026, Our focus will be on disciplined execution and building on the strong foundation established across the business. We will continue to drive organic efficiencies through targeted investments in automation, process optimization, and scalable platforms that support margin expansion over time. M&A will also remain a key part of our growth strategy. We will deploy capital selectively, focusing on tuck-in and bolt-on acquisitions that strengthen the portfolio, expand our presence in attractive end markets, and drive long-term value within a disciplined return framework.

For 2026, We expect revenue in the range of 490 million to 495 million and adjusted EBITDA in the range of 137.5 million to 142.5 million. This outlook reflects the benefits of our portfolio repositioning, continued demand for live engagement across our core markets, and ongoing operational efficiencies, while maintaining a balanced view of the broader macro environment.

2025 marked a transformational year for Emerald. Over the course of the year, we delivered solid year-on-year growth in revenue and adjusted EBITDA, excluding insurance proceeds of 16.2% and 26.8% respectively, along with healthy organic growth. Reported organic revenue grew 1.1% in the full year, And if we assume the recently completed acquisitions of This Is Beyond, InsureTech Insights, and Generis were part of the portfolio in 2024, organic revenue for full year 2025 was up a solid 4.8%. For the fourth quarter, revenue was $132.7 million compared to $106.8 million in the prior year quarter. This was driven primarily by the businesses we acquired in 2025, as well as 0.3% reported organic revenue growth, which takes into account the impact of acquisitions, scheduling adjustments, and discontinued events. However, if we assume the recently completed acquisitions of This Is Beyond, InsurTech, and Generis were part of the portfolio in Q4 2024, organic revenue in Q4 2025 would be up 5.3% compared to the prior year quarter. For the full year of 2025, total revenue was $463.4 million, an increase of 16.2% versus the prior year, primarily due to revenue from acquisitions and higher organic revenue. Full-year reported organic revenue increased 1.1% year-over-year. As Hervé mentioned, had the acquisitions of Generic, This is Beyond, and InsurTech been a part of our portfolio during the full year 2024, organic revenue growth would have increased 4.8% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was $36.3 million in the fourth quarter compared to $33.1 million in the prior year period, an increase of 9.7%. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA totaled $127.1 million as compared to $101.7 million in the prior year period, an increase of 25%.

This includes remarks about future expectations, beliefs, estimates, plans, and prospects. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by such statements. For discussion of these risks, uncertainties, and other factors, please refer to the company's SEC filings, including its most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as well as the company's earnings release. The presentation of non-GAAP measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Free cash flow was impacted by the acquisitions of Generis, This Is Beyond, and SureTech Insights for a total of $30 million of cash flow from operations that would have been generated by the company if we had owned the businesses at the beginning of the year as a portion of event-related cash came to the company as an offset to purchase price rather than an Emeralds operating cash flow. Free cash flow was also impacted by $6.5 million of fees related to the January and August 2025 refinancing of our debt that flows through the financials.

Q: First thing I was just kind of curious about was the, you know, you mentioned some of the machinations around free cash flow this year. You know, if we're looking at your guidance for 2026, can you give us a sense of, you know, presuming that this is a normalized period, unlike last year, what the free cash flow conversion of EBITDA should be, in your opinion?

A: Yeah, we have high incremental flow-through of EBITDA to free cash flow. We would expect with that sort of EBITDA growth that free cash flow would be $85 to $90 million. Okay. The one caveat to that is the level of acquisition and integration expense that might come with it as a one-time, but the underlying business That's what we would expect. Okay. And, you know, in terms of, you know, I know you can't really talk about the process that's happening right now, but was there any expense, discreet expense attached to this process that's worth calling out as, or was it just really immaterial to the B&O?

A: There's a moderate amount that's in the one-time bucket related to the transaction. that I don't think is really that much of a needle mover at the end of the day. As this progresses, obviously, it could be a bit more expensive in the first quarter of and first half of 2026. So, we'll have to keep you updated. Okay. And then, you know, I know your direct exposure to kind of the current war, In the Middle East, it's really, you know, you don't really have direct exposure, but indirectly, is this doing anything to the environment for, you know, I know it's still early days and perhaps time will tell, but people's willingness to kind of travel the trade shows?

A: No, I don't think so, Barton. We've been obviously staying very close to the impacts. The exposure that we have is really just about international exhibitors coming from the Middle East to the U.S. events, and it's really limited. It's very, very minimal. Less than 1% of our revenue comes from exhibitors from, I'd say, a very broadly defined Mideast. It's Mideast and contiguous regions. That's right. So the impact is we moderate closely, but we're not seeing anything meaningful at all. Okay. All right. Well, that's great to hear. And then just also just so we kind of understand, you know, as this process is ongoing, there's not really going to be an opportunity for you guys to kind of look at acquisitions on your side. That's really, you know, you guys have been opportunistic purchasers in a consolidating industry, but that has to take a backseat while you go through this process. Is that correct?

A: No. Our board is continuing our strategy of diversifying, as I mentioned in our prepared remarks, and we have a good pipeline, and we're engaged in a number of conversations. So, we don't expect things to change, at least for the foreseeable future. We'll update you as we know more about the process. Okay. All right. Well, that's it for me right now. Thank you guys very much. Thank you, Barton. Thank you, Barton. Your next question comes from a line of Alan Clee from Maxim Group. Your line is open.

Q: Can you give us any, with your guidance, how it maybe takes into effect your visibility into revenues and how that kind of looks?

A: Sure. Our guidance takes into account, obviously, not just our budget and plan, but our sales pacing that we track closely in our The year-over-year change in our sales pacing is tracking the guidance that we've given. At the same time, sitting here today, we've sold over 70% of the year's revenue is already contracted. And obviously, for the first half of the year, much higher and a little bit more to sell in the back half of the year. And any comment on how... the acquisitions you made last year of how they're performing and how you're feeling about integrating them and optimizing them?

A: You know, we're at different phases of integration for the various acquisitions, obviously given the timing of the acquisitions, but they're all on plan to integrate and the performance is meeting our expectations and the plan that we have for them. So we're pleased with the acquisition's performance. Okay, great. Thank you. And then on the Las Vegas Convention Center that had some, due to some construction, had an impact on the business in 25, how, what's the status update there?

A: Yeah, it's a good question. The construction in the Las Vegas Convention Center is now completed, was completed at the end of 2025. And so the worst certain impact of Emerald Brands that were impacted by the construction last year is, as you know and as we've discussed, but we really expect to cycle past that in 2026. When do you have your next event there? Next week. Monday. Or Tuesday. Is it your sense that it's no longer going to be having an impact or you're not sure?

A: Yeah, I think that we need to obviously have the event. I think that we'll cycle through it in 2026. And I think some of the brands that have a couple of events in 2026 will do better in the second edition than in the first as customers see the renovated convention center and the ease of doing business in the new venue. So we expect, you know, we'll keep you updated on that, but we expect to cycle through it through 2026. Okay, great. And then any update on your commerce and content businesses of what your kind of objectives are for 2026?

A: Yes. Sure. I'll start and turn it over to David. On both content and commerce, there are smaller parts of our business, single-digit percent revenue for content and commerce, but our strategy remains the same. Our strategy, as we've discussed in the past, For the commerce business, we continue to look at expanding across different verticals and look for customers in different verticals. And for the content business, we have launched a lead generation business from leveraging the content. And we have early signs of success in that there is customer interest. and sales have begun starting in October of last year, and so we're confident that the lead gen portion of the content business will drive value to customers and that we'll recapture some of that value. I'd say overall, keep in mind the events business at Emerald is over 90% of our revenue. It's the driver of our financial performance, and that includes the growth rate implied in our guidance. The content business has had a tough couple of years post-COVID and broader disruption in digital advertising. The evolution of the offering and those different ways we're beginning to monetize it are helpful stabilizing that business. And we expect a more stable business, but not a meaningful contributor to growth in 26 as the new revenue streams ramp up. Great. Thank you. Can you comment on what you've been doing on the AI front and what your plans are for 26?

A: Sure. On the AI capabilities, we announced, I think it was last quarter, that we were implementing AI agents across several of our events to improve the exhibitor experience. And so the agents essentially enable access to all of the information in real time that the exhibitors will need, and that really improves our service. It helps them get information in real time and really makes it much easier to navigate the event. So that has been going well, and we expect to scale that across many more of our events moving forward. But beyond that, we also have some other AI pilots across the business. There are some in finance, in marketing, in customer service, in content, in, I think I said marketing. So we have some early results, and the adoption is growing within the company, and we will start to measure the gains of all of these AI pilots that we've put in place. There's real incremental scalability that we're already seeing. I think the AI agents for events on their websites It sounds like a kind of obvious thing, but I think what might not be as well understood is that down the line, it means that the number of calls into salespeople or customer success people is dropping, which makes those roles more scalable, allows our salespeople to focus more on selling, not answering calls. questions about the goings-on at an event or how does someone handle something. And so we're already seeing the benefits of that in the shows that have rolled out the agents. And, you know, again, given the cadence of our events, right, our shows roll out all year long. So you have to wait for the show to launch, for the marketing of that event to kick off. for the agent to then go live. So it's not like we could just flip the switch on everything, because it's just not how our business operates. I'd also add, Herve mentioned finance. A key part of our modernization of the finance stack at Emerald is taking place in 2026. And with that, newer, more modern solutions AI might be overstating a term, but there's a whole lot more automation and, again, makes us and will make us a lot more scalable. And a key part of our longer-term margin plans is around automation and scalability to allow us to drive more incremental flow-through of revenue to the bottom line. And we're in the middle right now of some very important projects that as we finish this year and roll into next year will make us that much more efficient and that much more strong. That's great. Thank you. My last question is, could you comment on, since you said earlier that you're continuing to look at M&A, how would you characterize the M&A environment?

A: The M&A environment remains strong. We're such a fragmented industry. There are so many smaller independent entrepreneurs that launch events in so many different sectors. So the amount of opportunity is not lacking. And we've built, as we've shared in the past, our own proprietary database of M&A opportunities in the high growth sectors that are really attractive to us. And so we are pursuing these opportunities and are engaged in meaningful conversations with many of them. We'll update you as things progress. Okay, great. Thank you all so much. Thank you. And we have reached the end of our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Herve Sedky for closing remarks. Very good. Well, thank you all very much for joining us today. 2025 was a transformational year, as I've said, and we made the business stronger, improved its resilience, and delivered strong results. And as we head into 2026, demand remains strong. Our execution is disciplined and we see a clear path to continued building value.