What changed in this filing

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Item 1. Business

2026-02-24 compared with 2025-02-18 · 99 added, 94 removed, 115 unchanged (63% of the section changed)

13 unchanged sentences

In April 2024, the Company sold its Infrastructure business, comprised of the attachment and handheld hydraulic tools business, for net proceeds of $729 million.

These recent divestitures are part of the Company's strategic commitment to simplify and streamline its portfolio to focus on its leading market positions in tools and outdoor, as well as engineered fastening systems.

Most recently, the Company announced in December 2025 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing ("CAM") business for $1.8 billion in cash.

These divestitures reflect the Company's ongoing strategic commitment to simplify and streamline its portfolio to focus on its leading market positions in tools and outdoor, as well as engineered fastening systems.

Refer to Note S, Divestitures , of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 for further discussion.

Leveraging the benefits of a more focused portfolio, the Company initiated a business transformation in mid-2022 that includes reinvestment for faster growth as well as a $2.0 billion Global Cost Reduction Program through 2025.

The Company’s primary areas of multi-year strategic focus remain unchanged as follows:

• Advancing innovation, electrification and global market penetration to achieve mid-single digit organic revenue growth (2 to 3 times the market);

• Streamlining and simplifying the organization, and investing in initiatives that more directly impact the Company's customers and end users;

• Returning adjusted gross margins to historical 35%+ levels by accelerating the operations and supply chain transformation to improve fill rates and better match inventory with customer demand;

• Prioritizing cash flow generation and inventory optimization.

In terms of capital allocation, the Company remains committed, over time, to returning excess capital to shareholders through a strong and growing dividend as well as a preference toward opportunistically repurchasing shares.

In the near term, the Company intends to direct any capital in excess of the quarterly dividend on its common stock toward debt reduction and internal growth investments.

The Company’s business strategy is designed to drive long-term value for its stakeholders by creating a simplified and focused organization, investing in core growth and innovation to be a market leader, and delivering for its customers, end users and shareholders.

The Company has accordingly focused its sustainability efforts to better align with this business strategy.

In mid-2022, the Company initiated a business transformation that included reinvestment for faster growth as well as a Global Cost Reduction Program designed to achieve $2.0 billion of pre-tax run-rate cost savings by optimizing its cost base across its supply chain and selling, general, and administrative (“SG&A”) functions.

The Company completed this program as of the end of 2025 and generated approximately $2.1 billion of pre-tax run-rate savings, exceeding the original program target.

The Company is guided by its mission to build a world-class branded industrial company, by solving end users’ most pressing and complex challenges.

The strategy to achieve this mission is anchored by three core imperatives:

activating our brands with purpose, driving operational excellence, and accelerating innovation.

Activating our brands with purpose is rooted by the Company's brands standing for quality, safety and productivity.

The Company is investing resources to continue to deepen connections with end users, with every product, solution and service aligned with their evolving needs.

Driving operational excellence is centered on continuous improvement to deliver stronger results, including more effective resource allocation with higher return on investment.

The focus on driving annual net productivity will contribute to continued margin expansion and reinvestment into brand health and innovation.

Accelerating innovation is required to advance and expand the end-to-end workflow solutions that end users demand.

The Company's platforming method enables faster speed to market and leverages modularity combined with specialization to deliver uncompromised productivity and value.

With a strengthened foundation and a more streamlined organization, focused on its core imperatives, the Company is well-positioned to drive performance towards its long-term financial targets as further discussed in "Strategic Objectives" in Item 7 .

In terms of capital allocation, the Company’s top priority is funding organic growth investments that drive long-term value.

The Company also remains committed, over time, to maintaining a strong and growing dividend and has a preference toward opportunistic share repurchases.

In the near-term, the Company intends to utilize the net proceeds from the pending CAM divestiture to reduce debt.

The Company continues to focus on sustainability efforts that align with its business strategy.

The Company’s sustainability approach is comprised of three impact pillars of People, Product, and Planet–which guide the Company’s focus and initiatives for sustainable performance.

The Company’s most recent Impact Report provides an overview of the Company’s priority impact goals and progress.

To learn more about the Company’s sustainability strategy and sustainability efforts, please view the most recent Impact Report on the Company's website.

To learn more about the Company’s sustainability strategy and sustainability efforts, please view the

most recent Impact Report on the Company's website.

As explained in the most recent Impact Report, these goals make a number of assumptions and measurements of progress against such goals are based on certain methodologies and there are no assurances that those assumptions or methodologies will be correct or that such goals will be achieved or retained.

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The Company’s operations are classified into two reportable business segments:

Tools & Outdoor and Industrial.

Tools & Outdoor and Engineered Fastening.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Industrial segment was renamed “Engineered Fastening” as a result of a more focused portfolio following recent divestitures.

The Engineered Fastening segment name change is to the name only and had no impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements or segment results.

Both reportable segments have significant international operations and are exposed to translational and transactional impacts from fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.

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Storage products include tool boxes, sawhorses, cabinets and engineered storage solution products.

The Outdoor product line primarily sells corded and cordless electric lawn and garden products, including hedge trimmers, string trimmers, lawn mowers, pressure washers and related accessories, and gas powered lawn and garden products, including lawn tractors, zero turn ride on mowers, walk behind mowers, snow blowers, residential robotic mowers, hand-held outdoor power equipment, garden tools, and parts and accessories to professionals and consumers under the DEWALT®, CRAFTSMAN®, CUB CADET®, BLACK+DECKER®, and HUSTLER® brand names.

The Outdoor product line primarily sells corded and cordless electric lawn and garden products, including hedge trimmers, string trimmers, lawn mowers, pressure washers and related accessories, and gas powered lawn and garden products, including lawn tractors, zero turn ride on mowers, walk behind mowers, snow blowers, residential robotic mowers, hand-held outdoor power equipment, garden tools, and parts and accessories to professionals and consumers primarily under the DEWALT®, CRAFTSMAN®, CUB CADET®, BLACK+DECKER®, and HUSTLER® brand names.

The segment sells its products to professional end users, distributors, independent dealers, retail consumers and industrial customers in a wide variety of industries and geographies.

The majority of sales are distributed through retailers, including home centers, mass merchants, hardware stores, and retail lumber yards, as well as third-party distributors, independent dealers, and a direct sales force.

The Industrial segment is comprised of the Engineered Fastening business and the Infrastructure business prior to its sale in April 2024.

Annual revenues in the Industrial segment, inclusive of the Infrastructure business through the date of sale, were $2.1 billion in 2024, representing 13% of the Company’s total revenues.

Engineered Fastening

The Engineered Fastening segment is comprised of the Engineered Fastening business and included the Infrastructure business prior to its sale in April 2024.

Annual revenues in the Engineered Fastening segment were $2.0 billion in 2025, representing 13% of the Company’s total revenues.

The Engineered Fastening business is a global leader of highly engineered, application-based solutions.

The business primarily sells highly engineered components such as fasteners, fittings and various engineered products, which are designed for specific application across multiple verticals.

The product lines include externally threaded fasteners, blind rivets and tools, blind inserts and tools, drawn arc weld studs and systems, engineered plastic and mechanical fasteners, self-piercing riveting systems, precision nut running systems, micro fasteners, high-strength structural fasteners, axel swage, latches, heat shields, pins, and couplings.

The business primarily sells highly engineered components such as fasteners, fittings and various engineered products, which are designed for specific applications across multiple verticals.

The product categories include externally threaded fasteners, blind rivets and tools, blind inserts and tools, drawn arc weld studs and systems, engineered plastic and mechanical fasteners, self-piercing riveting systems, precision nut running systems, micro fasteners, high-strength structural fasteners, axel swage, latches, heat shields, pins, and

The business sells to customers in the automotive, manufacturing, electronics, construction, and aerospace industries, amongst others, and its products are distributed through a direct sales force and, to a lesser extent, third-party distributors.

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The Company competes on the basis of its reputation for innovation and product quality, its well-known brands, its commitment to customer service, its strong customer relationships, the breadth of its product lines focused on core end-user segments, and customer value propositions.

The Company encounters active competition in the Tools & Outdoor and Industrial segments from both larger and smaller companies that offer the same or similar products and services or that produce different products appropriate for the same uses.

The Company encounters active competition in the Tools & Outdoor and Engineered Fastening segments from both larger and smaller companies that offer the same or similar products and services or that produce different products appropriate for the same uses.

Certain large customers offer private label brands (“house brands”) that compete across a wide spectrum of the Company’s Tools & Outdoor segment product offerings.

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While this consolidation and the domestic and international expansion of these large retailers have provided the Company with opportunities for growth, the increasing size and importance of individual customers create a certain degree of exposure to potential sales volume loss.

Lowe's accounted for approximately 14%, 14% and 15% of the Company's consolidated net sales in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively, while The Home Depot accounted for approximately 14%, 13% and 13% of the Company's consolidated net sales in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

The Home Depot accounted for approximately 15% and 14% of the Company's consolidated net sales in 2025 and 2024, respectively, while Lowe's accounted for approximately 12% and 14% of the Company's consolidated net sales in 2025 and 2024, respectively.

No other customer exceeded 10% of the Company's consolidated net sales in 2025 or 2024.

Working Capital

The Company continues to practice the operating principles encompassed by Operational Excellence, one element of the supply chain transformation, leveraging the principles of sales and operations planning, operational lean, global supply management, order-to-cash excellence, and upskilling the Company's workforce.

Operational Excellence, one of the Company's core imperatives, leverages the principles of sales and operations planning, operational lean, global supply management, order-to-cash excellence, and upskilling the Company's workforce.

The Company aims to develop standardized business processes and system platforms to reduce costs and provide scalability.

Working capital turns were 4.9 at the end of 2024, up 0.7 turns from 2023, driven by the Company's continued focus on strategic inventory management and working capital efficiency.

The Company plans to continue leveraging Operational Excellence to generate ongoing improvements in working capital turns, cycle times, and customer service levels.

The Company plans to continue leveraging Operational Excellence to drive ongoing improvements in working capital and cash flow generation by focusing on strategic inventory management, reducing cycle times, and improving customer service levels.

Raw Materials

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As part of the Company's Enterprise Risk Management, the Company has implemented a supplier risk mitigation strategy in order to identify and address any potential supply disruption or material scarcity issues associated with commodities, components, finished goods and critical services.

The Company does not anticipate difficulties in obtaining supplies for any raw materials used in its production processes and has maintained the proactive measures taken in 2022 to secure energy supply in its European factories to insulate the Company's production from supply constraints in the region.

The Company does not anticipate difficulties in obtaining supplies for any raw materials used in its production processes and has maintained the proactive measures to secure global energy supply insulating the Company's production from supply constraints.

Patents and Trademarks

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The Company has numerous trademarks that are used in its businesses worldwide.

In the Tools & Outdoor segment, significant trademarks include DEWALT®, CRAFTSMAN®, STANLEY®, BLACK+DECKER®, DEWALT FLEXVOLT®, DEWALT POWERSTACK®, DEWALT POWERSHIFT™, IRWIN®, LENOX®, PORTER-CABLE®, BOSTITCH®, FATMAX®, Powers®, Guaranteed Tough®, MAC TOOLS®, PROTO®, Vidmar®, FACOM®, Expert®, LISTA®, MTD®, CUB CADET®, TROY-BILT®, HUSTLER®, and the yellow & black color scheme for power tools and accessories.

Significant trademarks in the Industrial segment include STANLEY®, NELSON®, CribMaster®, POP®, Avdel®, Tucker®, NPR®, Spiralock®, CAM®, Bristol Industries®, Voss™, Aerofit™, EA Patten™, Integra®, and Optia®.

In the Tools & Outdoor segment, significant trademarks include DEWALT®, CRAFTSMAN®, STANLEY®, BLACK+DECKER®, DEWALT FLEXVOLT®, DEWALT POWERSTACK®, DEWALT POWERSHIFT™, IRWIN®, LENOX®, PORTER-CABLE®, BOSTITCH®, FATMAX®, Powers®, Guaranteed Tough®, MAC TOOLS®, PROTO®, Vidmar®, FACOM®, Expert®, CribMaster®, LISTA®, MTD®, CUB CADET®, TROY-BILT®, HUSTLER®, and the yellow & black color scheme for power tools and accessories.

Significant trademarks in the Engineered Fastening segment include STANLEY®, NELSON®, POP®, Avdel®, Tucker®, NPR®, Spiralock®, Integra®, and Optia®.

Significant trademarks related to the CAM business, within the Engineered

Fastening segment, include CAM®, Bristol Industries®, Voss™, Aerofit™, and EA Patten™.

The terms of these trademarks typically vary from 10 to 20 years, with most trademarks being renewable indefinitely for like terms.

Research and Development Costs

Research and development costs, which are classified in Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A"), were $328.8 million, $362.0 million and $357.4 million, or 2.1%, 2.3%, and 2.1% of net sales, for fiscal years 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

The 2024 investment reflects a modest decline versus prior year due to the Infrastructure divestiture and more focused spend in the outdoor product line.

Research and development costs, which are classified in Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A"), were $321.4 million and $328.8 million for fiscal years 2025 and 2024, respectively, or 2.1% of net sales in both years.

The Company continues to invest in its innovation model targeting key end-user segments with products designed to deliver against the attributes of productivity, quality and safety, and places an emphasis on electrification.

During 2025, the Company achieved 20% faster product development by leveraging a rigorous implementation of the platforming method, which utilizes modularity combined with specialization to deliver uncompromised productivity and value.

Governmental Regulations

The Company's operations are subject to numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations, both within and outside the U.S., in areas such as environmental protection, international trade, anti-corruption, data privacy, tax, consumer protection, government contracts, climate change and others.

The Company is subject to import and export controls, tariffs, and other

trade-related regulations and restrictions in the countries in which it has operations or otherwise does business.

The Company is subject to import and export controls, tariffs, and other trade-related regulations and restrictions in the countries in which it has operations or otherwise does business.

These controls, tariffs, regulations, and restrictions have had, and may continue to have, a material impact on the Company's business, including its ability to sell products and to manufacture or source components.

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As assessments and remediation progress at individual sites, the amounts recorded are reviewed periodically and adjusted to reflect additional technical and legal information that becomes available.

As of December 28, 2024 and December 30, 2023, the Company had reserves of $275.4 million and $124.5 million, respectively, for remediation activities associated with Company-owned properties, as well as for Superfund sites, for losses that are probable and estimable.

As of January 3, 2026 and December 28, 2024, the Company had reserves of $259.2 million and $275.4 million, respectively, for remediation activities associated with Company-owned properties, as well as for Superfund sites, for losses that are probable and estimable.

Of the 2025 amount, $69.5 million is classified as current within Accrued expenses and $189.7 million as long-term within Other liabilities, which is expected to be paid over the estimated remediation period.

As of December 28, 2024, the Company has recorded $17.4 million in Other assets related to funding by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and monies received have been placed in trust in accordance with the Consent Decree associated with the West Coast Loading Corporation ("WCLC") proceedings, as further discussed in Note R, Contingencies , of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 .

Accordingly, the Company's net cash obligation as of December 28, 2024 associated with the aforementioned remediation activities is $258.0 million.

As of December 28, 2024, the range of environmental remediation costs that is reasonably possible is $191.5 million to $408.1 million, which is subject to change in the near term.

As of January 3, 2026, the Company has recorded $15.6 million in Other assets related to funding by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and monies received have been placed in trust in accordance with the Consent Decree associated with the West Coast Loading Corporation ("WCLC") proceedings, as further discussed in Note R, Contingencies , of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 .

Accordingly, the Company's net cash obligation as of January 3, 2026 associated with the aforementioned remediation activities is $243.6 million.

As of January 3, 2026, the range of environmental remediation costs that is reasonably possible is $179.1 million to $395.7 million, which is subject to change in the near term.

The Company may be liable for environmental remediation of sites it no longer owns.

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Human Capital Management

The Company has a strategic vision to grow as an employer of choice with leading market positions in each of its major categories.

The Company’s human capital management fuels every part of the path to this vision, supporting long-term growth.

It begins with its Purpose (why we do what we do), Values (intrinsically what we prioritize), Leadership Behaviors (how we lead), Focus Forward Priorities (what we work on), Operating Model (how we work), and Key Performance Indicators (how we measure success).

To achieve this vision, the Company will continue to focus intently on its Focus Forward strategy, which details the long-term focus areas that will guide the journey forward.

The priorities and core focus areas include a strong foundation of attracting, developing and retaining talent, building organizational capabilities, and evolving the Company's culture.

The People & Culture pillar of this strategy is something that everyone is responsible for – especially people managers.

To drive this focus and build a workforce that can execute its Focus Forward strategy, the Company introduced a new People goal.

The objective is focused on attracting, developing and retaining the workforce of the future with top talent across the Company, so that it can serve its customers and end users with best-in-class brands and innovation.

To do this, the Company strives to create an environment that drives increased employee engagement.

As of December 28, 2024, the Company had approximately 48,500 employees in 60 countries.

To achieve its mission of building a world-class branded industrial company and solving end users' most pressing and complex challenges, the Company continues its focus on human capital management to grow as an employer of choice with leading market positions in each of its major categories.

The Company’s human capital management approach is guided by its purpose (why we do what we do), values (intrinsically what we prioritize), leadership capabilities (how we lead to drive growth), core imperatives (what we focus on), operating model (how we work), and key performance indicators (how we measure success).

The focus areas that will guide this journey forward include a strong foundation of attracting, developing and retaining talent, building organizational capabilities, evolving the Company's culture in line with the business strategy and values and enabling Human Resources functional excellence.

To drive this focus and build a workforce that can execute its strategy, the Company prioritizes attracting, developing, and retaining top talent across the Company, so that it can serve its customers and end users with best-in-class brands and innovation.

To achieve this, the Company is committed to cultivating an environment where employees feel connected to its mission and to one another.

In addition, the Company has developed a new Stanley Black & Decker Leader Profile, which lays out a distinct set of capabilities and behaviors meant not only for executives but all employees.

As of January 3, 2026, the Company had approximately 43,500 employees in 59 countries.

Approximately 35% of total employees were employed in the U.S.

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The employee workforce is comprised of approximately 66% hourly-paid employees, principally in manufacturing and distribution centers, and 34% salaried employees.

As of December 28, 2024, there were approximately 900 U.S.

employees covered by collective bargaining agreements dispersed among 8 different local labor unions, and a majority of European employees are represented by Works Councils.

collective bargaining agreements are scheduled for renegotiation in the next 12 months.

As of January 3, 2026, there were approximately 840 U.S.

employees represented by 9 different local labor unions, and a majority of European employees are represented by Works Councils.

collective bargaining agreement is scheduled for renegotiation in the next 12 months.

The Company strives to maintain a positive relationship with all its employees, as well as the unions and Works Councils representing them, where applicable.

Talent Attraction, Development, and Retention

In 2024, the Company continued to invest in developing a global talent acquisition center of excellence, building on the work started in 2022 within the regions to better focus on skill shortages locally, while providing a consistent, candidate experience.

Additionally, the Company continues to work with a dedicated focus on improving the candidate experience, from attraction through onboarding to enhance the ease of application for job seekers.

The Company plans to continue this work through 2025.

The Company also commenced work to develop an Employee Value Proposition and Employer Brand to help articulate Company values and culture to potential candidates in the attraction process.

This work is expected to continue into 2025.

Talent development is a key enabler of the People & Culture pillar of the Company's Focus Forward strategy.

A foundation of development includes clearly defined goals and performance feedback.

The annual performance feedback process has been simplified and encourages both self-reflection and leader feedback against goals to support ongoing development.

The new process started in the fourth quarter of 2023 and was implemented in 2024.

This shift is designed to ultimately improve leader and employee feedback skills and facilitate a continuous cycle of feedback and employee development, enabling employees to grow and develop while enhancing their overall experience.

Lifelong learning is supported through a combination of the Company's internal human capital management system and external third-party providers.

Central to meeting customer and end-user needs are skilled operations professionals working in the Company's manufacturing and distribution facilities.

The Company has invested in its hourly operations workforce with dedicated enablement programs focused on upskilling initiatives and future career opportunities, as well as job-specific training.

Through digital learning technology, the Company delivers on-demand visual training on how to get things done right.

This powerful efficiency tool has expanded from the factory floor and is being integrated into onboarding and mandatory safety training, helping the Company’s operations employees learn outside of the classroom and increasing uptake for on-the-job training.

In 2024, the program had over 5,000 published knowledge videos with approximately 89,000 views.

The Company’s leadership development is anchored in values that highlight important attributes like agility, integrity, and accountability.

To further development, the Company has embarked on a robust leadership talent review process and has invested in a 360-assessment process and dedicated coaching for many of its leaders.

These practices provide valuable feedback and insights to leaders on their strengths and opportunities, as well as offer information on enterprise talent strength to help further shape leadership development.

In 2024, the Company strove to advance leadership capability anchored to its values and priorities with the launch of a new in-person manager training for over 2,000 leaders globally.

In 2025, the Company plans to continue to evolve its Leadership and Development framework by developing enterprise-wide training and development experiences at all levels.

This framework will focus on accelerating the development of the Company’s current and future leaders and building competencies in all employees to further its Focus Forward strategy.

The Company monitors organizational health through a variety of channels including employee engagement surveys, town halls, roundtables, listening sessions, and an internal communications platform.

The Company recently improved its Human Capital Management tool which will enable the Company’s Human Resources data team to continuously share new metrics, reports and dashboards related to headcount, hiring, and retention to provide value-driven insight from people data.

In 2025, the Company continued to expand its global talent acquisition center of excellence, building on the work started in 2022 within the regions to better focus on acquiring top talent and addressing skill shortages locally, while providing a consistent, candidate experience.

Additionally, the Company continues to work with a dedicated focus on improving the candidate journey and increasing manager capabilities to facilitate a more effective approach to the recruitment process.

This improved approach includes everything from attraction through onboarding with a more efficient application process and streamlined interviews and communication for job seekers.

The Company also continued work to develop an Employee Value Proposition and Employer Brand to help articulate Company values and culture to potential candidates in the attraction process, which it expects to begin launching in the first quarter of 2026.

Talent development continues to be a key enabler of the Company's strategy.

The Company's annual performance enablement process encourages self-reflection and leader feedback on goals, supporting a continuous cycle of development.

Building on its foundation of clearly defined goals and performance feedback, the Company expanded its process in 2025 to include a dedicated mid-year performance and development conversation.

This enhancement facilitated meaningful conversations between eligible employees and their managers focused on strengths, growth opportunities and development goals, reflecting its commitment to ongoing growth.

By continuing to evolve the process introduced in late 2023, the Company is further enhancing the achievement of personal and business goals through a regular cycle of feedback and employee development.

The Company believes a skilled workforce is central to meeting customer and end-user needs, both in the Company's professional roles and in its manufacturing and distribution facilities.

In 2025, salaried employees completed more than 89,500 courses and programs, resulting in over 67,000 hours of training, through a combination of in-person and online learning.

The Company continues to invest in its hourly operations workforce with dedicated enablement programs focused on upskilling initiatives and future career opportunities, as well as job-specific training.

Through digital learning, the Company delivers on-demand visual training to empower employees with flexible, accessible, and relevant learning opportunities that support personal growth, compliance, and organizational success while ensuring the Company remains competitive and innovative.

This powerful efficiency tool has expanded from the factory floor and is integrated into onboarding and safety training, helping the Company’s operations employees learn outside of the classroom and increasing uptake for on-the-job training.

The Company’s leadership development is anchored in its core values and newly-introduced strategic capabilities aligned to drive the business strategy.

These capabilities, Customer Centricity, Enterprise Mindset, Change Leadership and People Focus, are the foundation of how the Company’s leaders can drive growth in their daily work interactions.

Throughout 2025, the Company cultivated understanding and embedded these leadership capabilities across performance and development processes.

In addition, the Company has invested in deploying development programs to build skill and capability in these areas, including feedback, coaching skills, and inclusive leadership.

The Company has continued its robust leadership talent review process and remains invested in dedicated coaching for many of its leaders.

In 2026, the Company plans to continue to evolve its Leadership and Development portfolio through enterprise-wide and role-specific training and development experiences at all levels.

The Company monitors organizational health through a variety of channels including employee engagement surveys, town halls, roundtables, listening sessions, and an updated internal communications platform.

The Company maintained its track record of a strong participation rate with its 2025 employee engagement survey.

The recent implementation of robust leader dashboards enables the Human Resources data team to regularly deliver new metrics, reports and dashboards related to headcount, hiring and retention.

These enhanced tools empower leaders with timely, value-driven insights from people data, supporting informed decision-making and ongoing organizational improvement.

Total Rewards and Employee Well-being

Total Rewards programs consist of compensation, benefits, recognition, and well-being programs.

Program designs incorporate both global and country-specific considerations to effectively attract, retain, and reward employees.

The Company’s portfolio of

programs is designed to deliver market-competitive remuneration aligned with shareholder interests and supports internal talent objectives.

In addition to standard compensation and benefits packages, a sizable portion of managers and select individual contributors are eligible to earn annual incentive payouts contingent on the achievement of business objectives, and employees are generally eligible for special recognition awards.

Program designs incorporate both global and market-specific considerations that are externally competitive and internally equitable for employees, reflecting the Company’s commitment to attract, engage and retain a high caliber workforce.

For a sizable portion of the Company’s workforce, its programs also differentiate talent impact and drive/reinforce positive business outcomes through incentive awards, promote an ownership mindset and enable mobility across our workforce.

The Company is committed to fostering a culture of holistic well-being, recognizing that employees who thrive individually are best equipped to achieve sustainable high performance and contribute positively to the Company culture.

The Company’s comprehensive approach incorporates multiple dimensions of well-being, including mental and emotional health, physical health, occupational satisfaction, financial stability, and social connections.

Grow the Trades Program

Through its “Grow the Trades” program, the Company has maintained its commitment to reducing the tradesperson deficit and continues to invest in education and upskilling programs for skilled trades through strategic partnerships with non-profits across the regions in which it operates.

The Company believes that the increase in demand for tradespeople —driven, in part, by investments in infrastructure, an increased need for additional housing, and a shortage of trained craftspeople—is creating a significant influx of opportunities for individuals coming into the skilled trades.

Against this backdrop, the Company has advanced initiatives designed to provide both new and experienced workers with the necessary training, products, and solutions they need to succeed in the industry.

This includes facilitating networking, education, and support initiatives for specialized trade skills in pipe, mechanical, concrete, finishing and electrical.

Since the Company introduced its goal to invest $30 million over 5 years (by 2027) into programs that train tradespeople, it has invested over $19 million, which includes a mix of its hand and power tools as well as financial support.

These investments are increasingly directed to organizations that serve the Company’s priority trades in its priority markets, representing its core end users.

The Company is also providing resources to improve accessibility of the trades to underserved populations, and in 2024, the Company provided scholarships to students pursuing secondary education aligned with its business priorities.

Through the Stanley Black & Decker Leadership Scholarship, the Company awarded scholarships to high school and college scholars, affording them with access to expanded experiential learning beyond their classrooms and enabling them to pursue their education while working to achieve their leadership and academic aspirations in business, technology, and STEM fields.

Environmental, Health and Safety

The Company maintains an Environmental, Health and Safety (“EHS”) management system that establishes its standard of care and the framework for consistent EHS program implementation across global sites, in alignment with the Company’s Code of Business Ethics, applicable laws and site-specific needs.

The framework developed by the Corporate EHS team includes risk assessment processes, compliance management, policies and standards, all enabled by an integrated data management platform that improves line of sight into EHS performance, tracking capabilities and drives proactive leading indicator performance, including risk mitigation.

In 2025, the Company continued to prioritize EHS as a non-negotiable that applies to employees and operating locations and subsidiaries worldwide, including manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, warehouses, laboratories, field service centers, retail locations and office locations and mobile units.

While legal requirements may vary by country and jurisdiction, the Company remains committed to continuous improvement in EHS performance, capabilities and compliance.

In 2025, the Safety Business Impact Group ("Safety BIG") was launched to amplify and advance the Company’s culture of safety & well-being.

Activation areas included the reinforcement of the Company’s Safety Cardinal Rules as a core expectation for all employees and of the need to identify risks associated with non-routine tasks performed by commercial and field-based employees.

Grow the Trades

In 2025, the Company doubled down on its initial “Grow the Trades” commitment to invest $30 million into initiatives that educate tradespeople, by announcing an increased $60 million commitment to those initiatives by 2030.

Through the program, the Company invests in initiatives that educate tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, HVAC techs and others.

Since the original goal was set in 2023, the Company has invested nearly $30 million in these initiatives.

Despite recent improvements in enrollment and demand trends, a large and growing skills gap persists due to an aging workforce, legacy underinvestment in vocational education, and a long-standing emphasis on four-year degrees over trades pathways.

Rapid enrollment growth, continued limited resources and long waitlists, and emerging technologies in the trades all call for increased private sector involvement in addressing the skilled trades gap.

The Company is also providing resources to improve accessibility of the trades to underserved populations, and in 2025, provided scholarships to students pursuing secondary education aligned with its business priorities.

Through the Stanley Black & Decker Leadership Scholarship, the

Company awarded scholarships to high school and college scholars, affording them with access to expanded experiential learning beyond their classrooms and enabling them to pursue their education while working to achieve their leadership and academic aspirations in business, technology, and STEM fields.

Through the DEWALT® Trades Scholarship program, the Company provided scholarships to individuals attending a two-year college or vocational-technical school who are pursuing a trade degree/certificate in fields aligned with the Company's end markets.

The Company is committed to addressing the trade skills gap and investing in communities that support education and training programs for local tradespeople.

Environment, Health and Safety

The Company’s Environmental, Health and Safety (“EHS”) Management System describes the core elements of EHS responsibility and accountability, including policies and procedures that are referenced to global standards and in alignment with the Company’s Code of Business Ethics, applicable laws, and site needs.

In 2023 and 2024, the Company reinforced EHS as a key priority that applies to employees and operating locations worldwide, including manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, warehouses, laboratories, field service centers, retail locations, office locations and mobile units, as well as to the Company's subsidiaries.

The Company drove several improvement efforts including an update of its EHS Management System to better align with its current organization.

This enabled the Company to continue shifting from reactive to more proactive in risk recognition, assessment, and mitigation at all levels.

Legal requirements and responses may vary in the different countries and local jurisdictions in which the Company’s facilities are located.

The Corporate EHS team develops technical and effective capabilities to enable strong performance at the Company’s sites.

The Company is committed to addressing the trade skills gap and investing in education and training programs for local tradespeople and the communities that support them.

Governance and Oversight

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This incorporates a broad range of dimensions, including culture, values, labor and employee relations, leadership expectations and capabilities, talent development, performance management, and total rewards.

Each year, the Company conducts an extensive talent review

with its CEO in which the leadership team, key talent, and succession plans are reviewed.

Each year, the Company conducts an extensive talent review with its CEO in which the leadership team, key talent, and succession plans are reviewed.

Afterward, the CEO or CHRO leads a talent review with the Compensation & Talent Development Committee, which provides strategic oversight and direction regarding the talent development process, as well as with the entire membership of the Board, at least annually.

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Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business