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Item 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

About Third-Party Information

In this report, we rely on and refer to information regarding industry data obtained from market research, publicly available information, industry publications, United States government sources and other third parties. Although we believe this information is reliable, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information and have not independently verified it.

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

Our Company

Quanex was incorporated in Delaware on December 12, 2007, as Quanex Building Products Corporation. The majority of these components can be categorized as window and door (fenestration) components, and kitchen and bath cabinet components. We use low-cost production processes and engineering expertise to provide our customers with specialized products for their specific applications. We believe these capabilities provide us with unique competitive advantages.K., and also serve customers in international markets through our operating locations in the U.K., Germany, Mexico, Canada, and Italy, as well as through sales and marketing efforts in other countries.

Our History

Our predecessor company, Quanex Corporation, was organized in Michigan in 1927 as Michigan Seamless Tube Company, and was later reincorporated in Delaware in 1968. In 1977, Michigan Seamless Tube Company changed its name to Quanex Corporation. On December 12, 2007, Quanex Building Products Corporation was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary in the state of Delaware, in order to facilitate the separation of Quanex Corporation's vehicular products and building products businesses. This separation became effective on April 23, 2008, through a spin-off of the building products business to Quanex Corporation's then-existing shareholders. Immediately following the spin-off, our former parent company, consisting principally of the vehicular products business and all non-building products related corporate accounts, merged with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gerdau S.A.

Since the spin-off in 2008, we have evolved our business by making investments in organic growth initiatives and taking a disciplined approach to new business and strategic acquisition opportunities, while disposing of non-core businesses. On August 1, 2024, we completed our acquisition of Tyman plc, a company incorporated in England and Wales. This strategic acquisition creates an enlarged group with significant cross-selling opportunities amongst a highly complementary customer base, increases the Company’s global reach by adding Tyman’s international footprint, enhances scale, optimizes the Company’s asset portfolio, and moves Quanex closer to being a comprehensive solutions provider.

As of October 31, 2024, we operated 35 manufacturing facilities located in 18 states in the U.S., seven facilities in the U.K., three facilities in Mexico, two facilities in Italy, one facility in Germany, and one facility in Canada. These facilities feature efficient plant design and flexible manufacturing processes, enabling us to produce a wide variety of custom engineered products and components primarily focused on the window and door segment of the residential building products markets. We are able to maintain minimal levels of finished goods inventories at most locations because we typically manufacture products upon order to customer specifications. We believe the primary drivers of our operating results are residential remodeling and replacement activity and new home construction in the markets we serve.

Our Industry

Our business is largely based in North America and dependent upon the spending and growth activity levels of our customers which include national and regional residential window, door and cabinet manufacturers and distributors, and commercial construction contractors. Our international presence includes vinyl extruded lineals for large house systems to smaller individual customers, as well as window and door hardware, seals, and extrusions to OEMs, system houses, and distributors. Additionally, we also have insulating glass and window and door hardware businesses in the U.K., Germany and Italy.

We use data related to housing starts and window shipments in the U.S., as published by or derived from third-party sources, to evaluate the fenestration market. We also use data related to cabinet demand in the U.S. to evaluate the residential cabinet market, and commercial building starts to evaluate the commercial access market.

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The following table presents calendar-year annual housing starts information as of November 2024 from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) (units in thousands):

Ducker Worldwide LLC, a consulting and research firm, indicated in November 2024 that window shipments in the residential remodeling and replacement (R&R) market are expected to decrease approximately 5.9% for the calendar-year 2024 and increase approximately 4.0% in 2025. Derived from reports published by Ducker, the overall decrease in window shipments for the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2024 was 0.7%. During this period, new construction activity decreased 2.5% and R&R replacement increased 1.1% respectively.

We have noted the following trends which we believe affect our industry:

•the recent growth in the housing market over the past several years has been predominately in new construction which has outpaced the growth in the residential remodeling and replacement sector;

•programs in the U.S. such as Energy Star have improved customer awareness of the technological advances in window and door energy-efficiency, but the government has been reluctant to enforce stricter energy standards;

•supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures related to transportation, labor, and raw materials have increased causing delays in production and higher prices;

•foreign currency rates in the U.K. and other European nations have changed significantly relative to the United States Dollar due in part to Brexit in the U.K., as well as other international unrest or uncertainties;

•commodity prices have fluctuated in recent years, and to the extent we cannot pass this cost to our customers, this impacts the cost of critical materials used in our manufacturing processes such as resin, which affects margins related to our vinyl extrusion products; oil products such as butyl, which affects our insulating glass products; and stainless steel, zinc, aluminum, wood, polypropylene and silicone products used by our other businesses; and

•higher energy efficiency standards in Europe should favorably impact sales of our insulating glass spacer and weather seal products in the short- to mid-term.

Strategy

Our vision is to be the preferred supplier to our customers in each market we serve and exceed expectations of all stakeholders. Our strategy to achieve this vision includes the following:

•focus on growth with a purpose and explore markets that are synergistic with existing manufacturing capabilities and expand our market share with our customers and collaborative partnerships by providing: (1) a quality product; (2) a high level of customer service; (3) product choices at different price points; and (4) an expanded product portfolio or enhancements to existing product offerings. These enhancements may include higher thermal efficiency, enhanced functionality, improved weatherability, better appearance and best-in-class quality for our fenestration and cabinet door products;

•realize improved profitability in our manufacturing processes through: (1) ongoing preventive maintenance programs; (2) better utilization of our capacity by focusing on operational efficiencies and reducing scrap; (3) marketing our value added products; and (4) focusing on employee safety;

•offer logistics solutions that provide our customers with just-in-time service which can reduce their processing costs;

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•recognize the importance of sustainability by continually looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint, protect the health and safety of our employees and communities, engage diverse workers and leaders, and remain committed to doing good in our community;

•pursue targeted business acquisitions that allow us to expand our existing footprint, enhance our existing product offerings, acquire complementary technology, enhance our leadership position within the markets we serve, and expand into adjacent markets or service lines; and

•exit unprofitable or non-core service lines or customer relationships.

Our Strengths

We believe our strengths include design expertise, new technology development capability, high quality manufacturing, just-in-time delivery systems, customer service and the ability to generate unique patented products.

Raw Materials and Supplies

We purchase a diverse range of raw materials, which include PVC resin, epoxy resin, butyl, titanium dioxide (TiO2) desiccant powder, silicone and EPDM rubber compounds, polypropylene, coated and uncoated aluminum sheet, steel, stainless steel, zinc and wood (both hardwood and softwood). These raw materials are generally available from several suppliers at market prices.

Competition

Our products are sold under highly competitive conditions. We compete with a number of companies, some of which have greater financial resources than us. We believe the primary competitive factors in the markets we serve include price, product quality, delivery performance, and the ability to manufacture to customer specifications. The volume of engineered building products that we sell in the U.S. represents a small percentage of annual domestic consumption. Similarly, our subsidiaries in the U.K. compete against some larger vinyl producers and smaller window manufacturers. The U.K. and International fenestration components market is highly fragmented and we compete with a large number of other component suppliers. For our kitchen and bathroom cabinet door business, we believe we are the largest supplier to OEMs in the U.S., but we compete with other national and regional businesses, including OEMs who are vertically integrated.

We compete against a range of small and mid-size metal, vinyl and wood products suppliers, wood molding companies, and the in-house operations of customers who have vertically integrated fenestration operations. We also compete against insulating glass (IG) spacer manufacturing firms. IG systems are used in numerous end markets including residential housing, commercial construction, appliances and transportation vehicles, but we primarily serve the residential housing market. Competition is largely based on regional presence, custom engineering, product development, quality, service and price. Competitors in the vinyl extrusion business in the U.K.K. Extrusions Ltd., Eurocell and others. Primary competitors in the cabinet door business in the U.S. include Conestoga, Appalachian Wood, Olon, Northern Contours and others. Primary competitors in the U.K. and European hardware and seals businesses include Assa Abloy, Roto, Siegenia, Hoppe, GU, Maco, and Tecseal.

Sales, Marketing, and Distribution

We sell our products to customers in various countries. Therefore, we have sales representatives whose territories essentially cover the U.S., Canada, Europe, and to a lesser extent, the Middle East, Latin and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Our sales force is tasked with selling and marketing our complete range of components, products and systems to national and regional OEMs through a direct sales force in North America and Europe, supplemented with the use of distributors and independent sales agents.

Customers

Certain of our businesses or product lines are largely dependent on a relatively few large customers. See Note 1, “Nature of Operations, Basis of Presentation and Significant Accounting Policies - Concentration of Credit Risk and Allowance for Credit Losses,” of the accompanying financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for related disclosure.

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Sales Backlog

Given the short lead times involved in our business, we have a backlog of approximately $61.6 million as of October 31, 2024. The criteria for revenue recognition has not been met with regard to sales backlog, and therefore, we have not recorded revenue or deferred revenue pursuant to these sales orders. If these sales orders result in a sale, we will record revenue in fiscal 2025 in accordance with our revenue recognition accounting policy.

Seasonal Nature of Business

Our business is impacted by seasonality. We have historically experienced lower sales for our products during the first half of our fiscal year as winter weather reduces homebuilding and home improvement activity. Our operating income tends to decline during this period of lower sales because a higher percentage of our operating expenses are fixed overhead. We typically experience more favorable results in the third and fourth quarters of the fiscal year. Our exposure to seasonality was somewhat tempered with the entry into the kitchen and bathroom cabinet door industry, which is focused "inside the house" and less susceptible to inclement weather. Expenses for labor and other costs are generally semi-variable throughout the year.

Working Capital

We fund operations through a combination of available cash and cash equivalents, cash flow generated from our operations, and borrowings from our revolving credit facility. We extend credit to our domestic customers in the ordinary course of business generally for a term of 30 days, while the terms for our international customers vary from cash advances to 90 days. Inventories of raw materials are carried in quantities deemed necessary to ensure a smooth production process, some of which are governed by consignment agreements with suppliers. We strive to maintain minimal finished goods inventories, while ensuring an adequate supply on hand to service customer needs.

Service Marks, Trademarks, Trade Names, and Patents

Our federally registered trademarks or service marks include QUANEX, QUANEX and design, “Q” design, TRUSEAL TECHNOLOGIES, DURASEAL, DURALITE, SOLARGAIN, ENVIROSEALED WINDOWS, EDGETHERM, EDGETECH, ECOBLEND, SUPER SPACER, TSS, TRUE WARM, E & Design, QUIET EDGE, HEALTH SMART WINDOWS, ENERGY WISE WINDOWS, DESI-ROPE, 360 and design, INTELLICLIP, SUSTAINAVIEW, MIKRON, MIKRONWOOD, MIKRONBLEND, MIKRON BLEND and design, ENERGYCORE, FUSION INSULATED SYSTEM, AIRCELL, SUPERCOAT, SUPERCAP, STYLELOCK, STYLELOCK and design, MIKRON and design, HOMESHIELD, HOMESHIELD and design, STORM SEAL, and TENON. Through Liniar, we hold a number of registered designs, patents and trademarks registered in the U.K., which include: MODLOK, LINIAR, SUPER CUT, ENERGY PLUS & Device, FLAMSTEAD HOLDINGS & Device, HL PLASTICS & Device, VINTAGE WINDOWS & Device, RESURGENCE, FUSE, ELEVATE, SWITCHBOARD and various other trademarks and patents which are pending approval. Generally, our business does not depend on patent protection, but patents obtained with regard to our vinyl extrusion products and processes, fabricated metal components and IG spacer products business remain a valuable competitive advantage over other building products manufacturers. We obtain patent protection for various dyes and other tooling created in connection with the production of customer-specific vinyl profile designs and vinyl extrusions. Our fabricated metal components business obtains patent protection for its thresholds. Our window sealant business unit relies on patents to protect the design of several of its window spacer products. Although we hold numerous patents, the proprietary process technology that has been developed is also considered a source of competitive advantage.

Environmental and Employee Safety Matters

We are subject to extensive laws and regulations concerning worker safety, the discharge of materials into the environment and the remediation of chemical contamination. To satisfy such requirements, we must make capital and other expenditures on an ongoing basis. The cost of worker safety and environmental matters has not had a material adverse effect on our operations or financial condition in the past, and we are not currently aware of any existing conditions that we believe are likely to have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial condition, or cash flows.

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Safety and Environmental Policies

For many years, we have maintained compliance policies that are designed to help protect our workforce, to identify and reduce the potential for job-related accidents, and to minimize liabilities and other financial impacts related to worker safety and environmental issues. These policies include extensive employee training and education, as well as internal policies embodied in our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. We plan to continue to focus on safety in particular as a core strategy to improve our operational efficiency and financial performance.

Remediation

Under applicable state and federal laws, we may be responsible for, among other things, all or part of the costs required to remove or remediate wastes or hazardous substances at locations we, or our predecessors, have owned or operated. From time to time, we also have been alleged to be liable for all or part of the costs incurred to clean up third-party sites where there might have been an alleged improper disposal of hazardous substances. At present, we are not involved in any such matters.

Environmental Compliance Costs

From time to time, we incur routine expenses and capital expenditures associated with compliance with existing environmental regulations, including control of air emissions and water discharges, and plant decommissioning costs. We have not incurred any material expenses or capital expenditures related to environmental matters during the past three fiscal years, and do not expect to incur a material amount of such costs in fiscal 2025. While we will continue to have future expenditures related to environmental matters, any such amounts are impossible to reasonably estimate at this time. Based upon our experience to date, we do not believe that our compliance with environmental requirements will have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Human Capital

We track human capital metrics that we consider to be key to our business, including employee headcount, temporary workers, health and safety, and turnover. As of October 31, 2024, we had 7,068 employees located throughout our global organization.

Employee turnover rates are monitored monthly at the division and plant levels. Both voluntary and involuntary terminations, including retirements, are used to calculate the turnover rate. Our human capital objectives include attracting, developing, motivating, rewarding, and retaining our existing and new employees. We offer our employees online training courses and on-the-job training on job duties, safety requirements, and leadership skills.

For Investors

We periodically file or furnish documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other reports as required. These reports are also available free of charge from the Investor Relations Section of our website at http://www.quanex.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material or furnish it to the SEC. As permitted by the SEC rules, we post relevant information on our website. However, the information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K and should not be considered part of this report.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

The following risk factors, along with other information contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other public filings with the SEC, should be carefully considered before deciding to invest in our securities. Additional risks and uncertainties that are not currently known to us or that we may view as immaterial could impair our business if such risks were to develop into actual events. Therefore, any of these risks could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. This listing of risk factors is not all-inclusive and is not necessarily presented in order of importance.

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Industry Risks

Any sustained decline in residential remodeling, replacement activities, or housing starts could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The primary drivers of our business are residential remodeling, replacement activities and housing starts. The home building and residential construction industry is cyclical and seasonal, and product demand is based on numerous factors such as interest rates, general economic conditions, consumer confidence and other factors beyond our control. Declines in the number of housing starts and remodeling expenditures resulting from such factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If the availability of critical raw materials were to become scarce or if the price of these items were to increase significantly, we might not be able to timely produce products for our customers or maintain our profit levels.

In addition, logistical challenges such as port strikes or transportation delays could further impact the supply chain, potentially curtailing our access to key raw materials.

Compliance with, or liabilities under, existing or future environmental laws and regulations could significantly increase our costs of doing business.

We are subject to extensive federal, state and local laws and regulations concerning the discharge of materials into the environment and the prevention and/or remediation of chemical contamination. To satisfy such requirements, we must make capital and other expenditures on an ongoing basis. Future expenditures relating to environmental matters will necessarily depend upon whether such regulations and future governmental decisions or interpretations of these regulations apply to us and our facilities. It is likely that we will be subject to increasingly stringent environmental standards, and we will incur additional expenditures to comply with such standards. Furthermore, if we fail to comply with applicable environmental regulations, we could be subject to substantial fines or penalties and to civil and criminal liability.

Our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets may become impaired and could result in a charge to income.

We evaluate our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets at least annually to determine whether we must test for impairment. In making this assessment, we must use judgment to make estimates of future operating results and appropriate residual values. Actual future operating results and residual values associated with our operations could differ significantly from these estimates, which may result in an impairment charge in a future period, resulting in a decrease in net income from operations in the year of the impairment, as well as a decline in our recorded net worth. Goodwill totaled $574.7 million at October 31, 2024. The results of goodwill impairment testing are described in the accompanying notes to the audited financial statements, Note 7, “Goodwill and Intangible Assets” of the accompanying financial statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property.

We rely on a combination of copyright, patent, trade secrets, confidentiality procedures and contractual commitments to protect our proprietary information. However, these measures can only provide limited protection and unauthorized third parties may try to copy or reverse engineer portions of our products or may otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property. If we cannot protect our proprietary information against unauthorized use, we may not be able to retain a perceived competitive advantage and we may lose sales to the infringing sellers, which may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

We are subject to various existing and contemplated laws, regulations and government initiatives that may materially impact the demand for our products, our profitability or our costs of doing business.

Our business may be materially impacted by various governmental laws, regulations and initiatives that may artificially create, deflate, accelerate, or decelerate consumer demand for our products. For example, when the government issues tax credits designed to encourage increased homebuilding or energy-efficient window purchases, the credits may create a spike in demand that would not otherwise have occurred and our production capabilities may not be able to keep pace, which could

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materially impact our profitability. Likewise, when such laws, regulations or initiatives expire, our business may experience a material loss in sales volume or an increase in production costs as a result of the decline in consumer demand.

Our operations outside the U.S. require us to comply with a number of U.S. and international anti-corruption regulations, violations of which could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations and consolidated financial condition.

Our international operations require us to comply with a number of U.S. and international regulations, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010. While we have implemented appropriate training and compliance programs to prevent violations of these anti-bribery regulations, we cannot ensure that our policies, procedures and programs will always protect us from reckless or criminal acts committed by our employees or agents. Allegations of violations of applicable anti-corruption laws, may result in internal, independent, or government investigations, and violations of anti-corruption laws may result in severe criminal or civil sanctions or other liabilities which could have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

Failure to achieve and maintain effective internal controls could have a material adverse effect on our business and on our stock price.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to effectively monitor our business, prevent fraud or theft, remain in compliance with our credit facility covenants, and provide reliable financial reports, both to the public and to our lenders. If we fail to maintain the adequacy of our internal controls, both in accordance with current standards and as standards are modified over time, we could trigger an event of default under our credit facilities or lose the confidence of the investing community, both of which could result in a material adverse effect on our stock price, limit our ability to borrow funds, or result in the application of unfavorable commercial terms to borrowings then outstanding.

The impact of foreign trade relations and associated tariffs could result in a global trade war and adversely impact our business.

We currently source a number of raw materials from international suppliers. Import tariffs, taxes, customs duties and/or other trading regulations imposed by the U.S. government on foreign countries, or by foreign countries on the U.S., could result in a global trade war which may significantly increase the prices we pay for certain raw materials, such as aluminum and wood, that are critical to our ability to manufacture our products. In addition, we may be unable to find a domestic supplier to provide the necessary raw materials on an economical basis in the amounts we require. If the cost of our raw materials increases, or if we are unable to procure the necessary raw materials required to manufacture our products, then we could experience a negative impact on our operating results, profitability, customer relationships and future cash flows.

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Company Risks

We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting which may, if not remediated, result in material misstatements in our financial statements.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting, as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As disclosed in Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures,” our controls and procedures were not effective as a result of a material weakness in internal controls over financial reporting. The material weakness related to an error pertaining to the improper inclusion of the equity component of the Company’s purchase of Tyman in the statement of cash flows under “Cash used for Investing Activities” rather than its proper classification as a noncash item. As a result of this material weakness, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting and related disclosure controls and procedures were not effective. We are actively engaged in developing a remediation plan designed to address this material weakness. If our remedial measures are insufficient to address the material weakness, or if additional material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control are discovered or occur in the future, our ability to record, process and report financial information accurately, and to prepare financial statements within required time periods, could be adversely affected. If we are unable to remediate the material weakness, or if we are otherwise unable to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our financial statements may contain material misstatements and we could be required to restate our financial results. If our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis or we are required to restate our financial results, we could be in violation of covenants contained in the agreements governing our debt and other borrowings.

U.S. and global markets are experiencing volatility and disruption related to the escalation of geopolitical tensions and the military conflict currently ongoing in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. These conflicts could lead to market or operational disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain interruptions. Russia, Europe’s largest provider of natural gas, has significantly reduced the export of natural gas compared to the beginning of the conflict resulting in the increase in natural gas prices and the potential for natural gas shortages. In many European countries, including Germany, alternatives to natural gas have limited capacity. This has had and may continue to have a negative impact on the energy costs of our European manufacturing facilities and may also negatively impact our customers and their demand for our products. In addition, one of the suppliers of a vapor barrier used in the production of our insulating glass spacers is located in Israel and may experience a disruption as a result of the ongoing conflict in Gaza. If supply chain interruptions or other disruptions result in the unavailability of raw materials or an increase to the price of raw materials or other commodities, we could experience a negative impact on our operating results, profitability and future cash flows.

Our business will suffer if we are unable to adequately address potential supplier or customer pricing pressures, both with respect to OEMs that have significant pricing leverage over suppliers, and to large suppliers who have significant pricing leverage over their customers.

Our primary customers are OEMs, who have substantial leverage in setting purchasing and payment terms. In addition, many of our suppliers are large international conglomerates with numerous customers that are much larger than us, which lessens our leverage in pricing and supply negotiations. We attempt to manage this pricing pressure and to preserve our business relationships with suppliers and OEMs by negotiating reasonable price concessions when needed, and by reducing our production costs through various measures, which may include managing our purchase process to control the cost of our raw materials and components, maintaining multiple supply sources where possible, and implementing cost-effective process improvements. However, our efforts in this regard may not be successful and our operating margins could be negatively impacted.

Our revenues could decline or we may lose business if our customers vertically integrate their operations, diversify their supplier base, or transfer manufacturing capacity to other regions.

Certain of our businesses or product lines are largely dependent on a relatively few large customers. Although we believe we have an extensive customer base, if we were to lose one of these large customers or if one such customer were to materially reduce its purchases as a result of vertical integration, supplier diversification, or a shift in regional focus, our revenue, general financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

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Our credit facility contains certain operational restrictions, reporting requirements, and financial covenants that limit the aggregate availability of funds.

Our revolving credit facility contains certain financial covenants and other operating and reporting requirements that could present risk to our operating results or limit our ability to access capital for use in the business. For a full discussion of the various covenants and operating requirements imposed by our revolving credit facility and information related to the potential limitations on our ability to access capital, see Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations-Liquidity and Capital Resources,” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

We may not be able to successfully manage or integrate acquisitions, and if we are unable to do so, then our profitability could be adversely affected.

We cannot provide assurance that we will successfully manage or integrate acquisition targets once we have purchased them, including Tyman. If we acquire a business for which we do not fully understand or appreciate the specific business risks, if we overvalue or fail to conduct effective due diligence on an acquisition, or if we fail to effectively and efficiently integrate a business that we acquire, then there could be a material adverse effect on our ability to achieve the projected growth and cash flow goals associated with the new business, which could result in an overall material adverse effect on our long-term profitability or revenue generation.

If our information technology systems fail, or if we experience an interruption in our operations due to an aging information system infrastructure, then our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

The failure of our information technology systems, our inability to successfully maintain, enhance and/or replace our information technology systems when necessary, or a significant compromise of the integrity or security of the data that is generated from our information technology systems, could adversely affect our results of operations and could disrupt business and prevent or severely limit our ability to respond to data requests from our customers, suppliers, auditors, shareholders, employees or government authorities.

We are subject to data security and privacy risks that could negatively affect our results or operations.

In addition to our own sensitive and proprietary business information, we collect transactional and personal information about our customers and employees. Any breach, including ransomware attacks or other cybersecurity breaches, of our or our service providers’ network or other vendor systems, may result in the loss of confidential business and financial data, misappropriation of our consumers’ or employees’ personal information or a disruption of our business. Any of these outcomes could have a material adverse effect on our business or our vendor and customer relationships, and could also result in unwanted media attention, reputational damage, or the imposition of fines, lawsuits, or significant legal or remediation expenses.

Epidemics, pandemics or other disease outbreaks could significantly disrupt our operations or those of our customers or suppliers.

If an epidemic or pandemic, such as COVID-19, disrupts the worldwide economy, or if similar widespread disease outbreaks occur in the future, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be negatively affected to the extent such event harms the economy or region in which we operate.

Our business could be materially and adversely affected by the occurrence of a widespread health epidemic or pandemic. In addition to this potential direct impact on our facilities and operations, continuing outbreaks of the virus could negatively impact our industry and end markets as a whole, or result in a longer-term economic recession. Any of these factors could negatively affect our business, financial condition, cash flows, profitability, and results of operations.

Pandemics have had and may continue to create inefficiencies or interruptions in the supply chain as our suppliers may be forced to close their own plants or prove unable to obtain their own raw materials. If our suppliers are unable to timely meet our supply needs, it could impact our ability to provide our customers with high quality products on a timely basis, which could result in order cancellations, delivery refusals, price concessions, or other negative customer outcomes, any of which could

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negatively impact our business, revenues, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. We could also be forced to pay higher prices for the supplies we purchase, which could negatively impact our results of operations and profitability.

We may not have the right personnel in place to achieve our operating goals, and the rural location of some of our operations may make it difficult to locate or hire highly skilled employees.

We operate in some rural areas and small towns where the competition for labor can be fierce, and where the pool of qualified employees may be very small. If we are unable to obtain or retain skilled workers and adequately trained professionals to conduct our business, we may not be able to manage our business to the necessary high standards. In addition, we may be forced to pay higher wages or offer other benefits that might impact our cost of labor and thereby negatively impact our profitability.

Equipment failures or catastrophic loss at any of our manufacturing facilities could prevent us from producing our products.

An interruption in production capabilities at any of our facilities due to equipment failure, catastrophic loss, or other reasons could result in our inability to manufacture products, which could severely affect delivery times, return or cancellation rates, and future sales, any of which could result in lower sales and earnings or the loss of customers. Although we have a disaster recovery plan in place, we currently have one plant which is the sole source for our insulating glass spacer business in the U.S. If that plant were to experience a catastrophic loss and our disaster recovery plan were to fail, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition.

Product liability claims and product replacements could harm our reputation, revenue generation and financial condition, or could result in costs related to litigation, warranty claims, or customer accommodations.

We have, on occasion, found flaws and deficiencies in the manufacturing, design, testing or installation of our products, which may result from a product defect, a defect in a component part provided by our suppliers, or as a result of the product being installed incorrectly by our customer or an end user. The failure of products before or after installation could result in litigation or claims by our customers or other users of the products, or in the expenditure of costs related to warranty coverage, claim settlement, litigation, or customer accommodation. In addition, we are currently party to certain legal claims related to a commercial sealant product, and there is no assurance that we will prevail on those claims. We may be required to expend legal fees, expert costs, and other costs associated with defending the claims and/or lawsuits. We may elect to enter into legal settlements or be forced to pay any judgments that result from an adverse court decision. Any such settlements, judgments, fees and/or costs could negatively impact our profitability, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Our insurance coverage may be inapplicable or inadequate to cover certain liabilities, and our insurance policies may exclude coverage for certain matters.

While we maintain a robust insurance program that is reasonably designed to cover our known and unknown risks, there is no assurance that our insurance carriers will voluntarily agree to cover every potential liability, or that our insurance policies include limits high enough to cover all liabilities associated with our business or products. In addition, coverage under our insurance policies may be unavailable in the future for certain products. For example, during a prior renewal of our insurance program, our insurance carriers excluded future coverage of a product line we no longer manufacture or sell. If our insurers refuse to cover claims, in whole or in part, or if we exhaust our available insurance coverage at some point in the future, then we might be forced to expend legal fees and settlement or judgment costs, which could negatively impact our profitability, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Climate change and related extreme weather events could disrupt our supply chain, decrease customer demand for our products, or damage our manufacturing facilities.

We, along with many of our customers and suppliers, operate manufacturing facilities in areas at risk for extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, wildfires, winter storms, or floods. Ongoing climate change has increased the frequency and severity of these events and the related risk of a catastrophic weather event affecting one of our plants, or a plant owned by one of our customers or suppliers. If such an event occurs at a facility belonging to one of our customers, we could see reduced demand for our products. If such an event occurs at a facility belonging to us or one of our suppliers, we may be unable to timely and cost-effectively manufacture products for our customers. These declines in demand or impacts to our ability to manufacture our products could negatively impact our revenues, earnings, cash flow, and other operating results.

Changes in taxation as well as the inherent difficulty in quantifying potential tax effects of business decisions could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations, financial condition, or cash flows.

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We file income tax returns, including tax returns for our subsidiaries, with federal, state, local, and foreign jurisdictions. We consider the United States to be our most significant jurisdiction; however, all tax returns are subject to routine compliance review by the taxing authorities in the jurisdictions in which we file tax returns in the ordinary course of business. We make judgments regarding the utilization of existing deferred tax assets and the potential tax effects of various financial transactions and results of operations to estimate our obligations to taxing authorities. Tax obligations include income, franchise, real estate, sales and use, and employment-related taxes. These judgments include reserves for potential adverse outcomes regarding tax positions that have been taken. Changes in federal, state, or local tax laws, adverse tax audit results, or adverse tax rulings on positions taken could have a material adverse effect on the results of our operations, financial condition, or cash flows.

Risks Associated with Investment in Quanex Securities

Our corporate governance documents and the provisions of Delaware law may delay or preclude a business acquisition or divestiture that stockholders may consider to be favorable, which might result in a decrease in the value of our common shares.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us without the consent of our Board of Directors. These provisions include restrictions on the ability of our stockholders to remove directors and supermajority voting requirements for stockholders to amend our organizational documents and limitations on action by our stockholders by written consent. In addition, our Board of Directors has the right to issue preferred stock without stockholder approval, which could be used to dilute the stock ownership of a potential hostile acquirer. Although we believe these provisions protect our stockholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics, and thereby provide for an opportunity for us to receive a higher bid by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors, these provisions apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders.

We are authorized to issue, without stockholder approval, 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, no par value, in one or more series, which may give other stockholders dividend, conversion, voting, and liquidation rights, among other rights, which may be superior to the rights of holders of our common stock. The issuance of additional equity securities or securities convertible into equity securities would result in dilution of existing stockholders' equity interests. Our Board of Directors has no present intention to issue any such preferred shares, but has the right to do so in the future. In addition, we were authorized, by prior stockholder approval, to issue up to 125,000,000 shares of our common stock, $0.01 par value per share, of which 51,266,501 were issued at October 31, 2024. These authorized shares can be issued, without stockholder approval, as securities convertible into either common stock or preferred stock.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Cybersecurity.

The Company’s information technology systems, as well as those of the Company’s third-party service providers, are subject to cybersecurity threats. Significant cybersecurity threats, including intrusions into, compromises of, or disruptions in the information technology systems of the Company or its third-party service providers could adversely affect the Company’s financial condition and results of operations. The Company maintains and updates its information technology systems to mitigate the risk of cybersecurity threats.

The Board of Directors have oversight responsibility for the Company’s cybersecurity risks. While the Company’s employees play a key role in cybersecurity, the Company’s Chief Information Officer, General Counsel and other members of management have shared responsibility for assessing and managing the Company’s cybersecurity risks. The Company’s management has sufficient knowledge, experience and expertise for assessing and managing the Company’s cybersecurity risks. The Board of Directors and Audit Committee receive updates from management regarding cybersecurity risks, cybersecurity threats that could impact the Company and cybersecurity initiatives to enhance the Company’s cybersecurity practices. The Audit Committee also receives updates on the results of assessments and audits of the Company’s information technology systems and controls.

The Company has information technology security practices to protect its information technology systems and data and to monitor for potential cybersecurity threats. These practices are integrated into the Company’s risk management framework and include:

•cybersecurity controls embedded in the Company’s information technology systems;

•implementation of changes to address potential threats and vulnerabilities of the Company’s information technology systems;

•incident response programs, including proactive simulations, to identify and manage cybersecurity threats, risks or incidents;

•participation in industry forums and collaboration with peers;

•security awareness and data protection training for applicable employees; and

•engaging third party services and tools to periodically assess and/or monitor cybersecurity threat environment and the company’s cybersecurity posture.

Additionally, the Company assesses and manages cybersecurity threats associated with its third-party service providers’ information technology systems that could compromise the Company’s information security or data. Identified cybersecurity threats are communicated to management for review, response, and mitigation as appropriate.

The Company assesses cybersecurity risks and changes in the cyber environment and adjusts its practices as deemed appropriate. To date, we have not identified risks from known cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any prior cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our operations, business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. Refer to “Item 1A. Risk Factors” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on risks related to the Company’s business, including cybersecurity risks.

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