Ecolab Stock

Ecolab Inc. and its subsidiaries (Ecolab) operate as a global sustainability leader offering water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services that protect people and the resources vital to life.

On December 1, 2021, the company acquired Purolite, a leading and fast-growing global provider of high-end ion exchange resins for the separation and purification of solutions that is highly complementary to the company’s offering and critical to safe, high quality drug production and biopharma product purification in the life sciences industries. It also provides purification and separation solutions for critical industrial markets like microelectronics, nuclear power and food and beverage. Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, Purolite operates in more than 30 countries. Purolite is reported within the company’s Life Sciences operating segment.

The company sells to customers in more than 170 countries around the world. The company delivers comprehensive science-based solutions, data-driven insights and world-class service to advance food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, and optimize water and energy use. The company’s innovative solutions improve operational efficiencies and sustainability for customers in the food, healthcare, life sciences, hospitality and industrial markets.

The company pursues a ‘Circle the Customer – Circle the Globe’ strategy by providing an array of innovative programs, products and services designed to meet the specific operational and sustainability needs of the company’s customers throughout the world. Through this strategy and the company’s varied product and service mix, one customer may utilize the offerings of several of the company’s operating segments. Important in the company’s business proposition for customers is its ability to produce improved results while reducing their water and energy use.

Sustainability is core to the company’s business strategy. The company delivers sustainable solutions that help companies around the world achieve their business goals while reducing environmental impacts. The company partners with customers around the world to reduce water and energy use, as well as greenhouse gas emissions through the company’s high-efficiency solutions. By partnering with the company’s customers to help them do more with less through the use of the company’s innovative and differentiated solutions, the company intends to help its customers conserve more than 300 billion gallons of water annually by 2030. In 2022, the company helped its customers conserve more than 219 billion gallons of water and avoid more than 3.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Segments

The company operates through three reportable segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences.

Global Industrial segment

This reportable segment consists of the Water, Food & Beverage and Paper operating segments, which provide water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions, primarily to large industrial customers within the manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, primary metals and mining, power generation, global refining, petrochemical, pulp and paper industries.

Water

Water serves customers across industrial and institutional markets. Within Water, the company’s light industry markets include food and beverage, manufacturing and transportation, institutional clients, including commercial buildings, hospitals, universities and hotels, and global high technology serving customers, including data centers and microelectronics. Heavy industries served include power, chemicals and primary metals, mining and petroleum refining and fuels industry.

Water provides water treatment products and technology programs for cooling water, wastewater, boiler water and process water applications. In addition to these solutions, the company offers specialty programs to the petroleum and fuels industry – refining process applications, fuels and feedstocks additives. The company’s cooling water treatment programs are designed to control challenges associated with cooling water systems — corrosion, scale and microbial fouling and contamination — in open recirculating, once-through and closed systems. The company’s wastewater products and programs focus on improving overall plant economics, addressing compliance issues, optimizing equipment efficiency and improving operator capabilities and effectiveness. The company provides integrated chemical and digitally-based solutions, process improvements and mechanical component modifications to optimize boiler performance and control corrosion and scale build-up. The company’s programs assist in more effectively managing water use for plant processes by optimizing the performance of treatment chemicals and equipment in order to minimize costs and maximize returns on investment.

The company’s offerings include specialty products, such as scale and corrosion inhibitors, antifoulants, pre-treatment solutions, membrane treatments, coagulants and flocculants, anti-foamers, hydrogen sulfide removal, cold flow improvers, lubricity inhibitors, crude desalting and reactive monomer inhibitors, as well as the company’s 3D TRASAR technologies, which combine chemistry, remote services and monitoring and control. The company provides products and programs for water treatment and process applications aimed at combining environmental benefits with economic gains for the company’s customers. The company’s offerings are sold primarily by its corporate account and field sales employees.

The company is one of the leading global suppliers of products and programs for chemical applications within the industrial water treatment and petroleum refining industries.

Food & Beverage

Food & Beverage provides cleaning and sanitation products and programs to facilitate the processing of products for human consumption. Food & Beverage provides detergents, cleaners, sanitizers, lubricants and animal health products, as well as cleaning systems, digitally-based dispensers, monitors and chemical injectors for the application of chemical products, primarily to dairy plants; dairy, swine and poultry farms; breweries and soft-drink bottling plants, as well as meat, poultry and other food processors. Food & Beverage is also a leading developer and marketer of antimicrobial products used in direct contact with meat, poultry, seafood and produce during processing in order to reduce microbial contamination. Food & Beverage also designs, engineers and installs CIP (‘clean-in-place’) process control systems and facility cleaning systems for its customer base. Water savings, energy savings, and operating efficiency are among the company’s sources of value creation for its customers. Products for use in processing facilities are sold primarily by the company’s corporate account and field sales employees, while products for use on farms are sold through dealers and independent, third-party distributors.

The company is one of the leading global suppliers of cleaning and sanitizing products to the dairy plant, dairy, swine and poultry farm, beverage/brewery, food, meat and poultry, and beverage/brewery processing industries.

Paper

Paper provides water and process applications for the pulp and paper industries, offering a comprehensive portfolio of programs that are used in all principal steps of the papermaking process and across all grades of paper, including graphic grades, board and packaging, and tissue and towel. While Paper provides its customers similar types of products and programs for water treatment and wastewater treatment as those offered by Water, Paper also offers two specialty programs that differentiate its offerings from Water—pulp applications and paper applications. The company’s pulp applications maximize process efficiency and increase pulp cleanliness and brightness in bleaching operations, as well as predict and monitor scaling potential utilizing on-line monitoring to design effective treatment programs and avoid costly failures. The company’s paper process applications focus on improving the company’s customers’ operational efficiency, in part through water savings, energy savings and operating efficiency. Advanced digital sensing, monitoring and automation combine with innovative chemistries and detailed process knowledge to provide a broad range of customer solutions. Specialty products include flocculants, coagulants, dewatering aids and digester yield additives. The company’s offerings are sold primarily by the company’s corporate account and field sales employees.

The company is one of the leading global suppliers of water treatment products and process aids to the pulp and papermaking industry.

Global Institutional & Specialty segment

This reportable segment consists of the Institutional and Specialty operating segments, which provide specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the foodservice, hospitality, lodging, government, education and retail industries.

Institutional

Institutional sells specialized cleaners and sanitizers for washing dishes, glassware, flatware, foodservice utensils and kitchen equipment (‘warewashing’), plus specialized cleaners for various applications throughout food service operations, on-premise laundries (typically used by hotel and healthcare customers) and general housekeeping functions. The company also sells food safety products and equipment, water filters, dishwasher racks and related kitchen sundries to the foodservice, lodging, educational and healthcare industries. Institutional also provides pool and spa treatment programs for hospitality and other commercial customers, as well as a broad range of janitorial cleaning and floor care products and programs to customers in hospitality, healthcare and commercial facilities. Institutional develops various digital monitoring and chemical dispensing systems which are used by the company’s customers to efficiently and safely dispense its cleaners and sanitizers, and through these products, systems and the company’s on-site sales and service expertise, develop better results for the company’s customers including water savings, energy savings and operating efficiency. In addition, Institutional markets a lease program consisted of energy-efficient dishwashing machines, detergents, rinse additives and sanitizers, including full machine maintenance. Through the company’s EcoSure Food Safety Management business, Institutional also provides customized on-site evaluations, training and quality assurance services to foodservice operations. With the Lobster Ink business, Institutional provides the company’s customers with end-to-end digital training solutions designed to drive corrective actions and optimal frontline execution.

Institutional sells its products and programs primarily through its direct field sales and corporate account sales personnel. Corporate account sales personnel establish relationships and negotiate contracts with larger multi-unit or ‘chain’ customers. The company also utilizes independent, third-party foodservice, broad-line and janitorial distributors to provide logistics to end customers that prefer to work through these distributors. Many of these distributors also participate in marketing the company’s product and service offerings to the end customers. Through the company’s field sales personnel, the company generally provides the same customer support to end-use customers supplied by these distributors as the company does to direct customers.

The company is one of the leading global suppliers of warewashing and laundry products and programs to the food service, hospitality and lodging markets.

Specialty

Specialty supplies cleaning and sanitizing products and related items primarily to regional, national and international quick service restaurant (‘QSR’) chains and food retailers (i.e., supermarkets and grocery stores). Its products include specialty and general purpose hard surface cleaners, degreasers, sanitizers, polishes, hand care products and assorted cleaning tools and equipment which are primarily sold under the ‘Ecolab’ and ‘Kay’ brand names. QSR’s program also includes a lease program consisted of energy-efficient dishwashing machines, detergents, rinse additives and sanitizers, including full machine maintenance. Specialty’s cleaning and sanitation programs are customized to meet the needs of the market segments it serves and are designed to provide highly effective cleaning performance, promote food safety, reduce labor, water and energy costs and enhance user and guest safety. A number of dispensing options are available for products in the core product range. Specialty supports its product sales with training programs and technical support designed to meet the special needs of its customers.

Both Specialty’s QSR business and its food retail business utilize their corporate account sales force which manages relationships with customers at the corporate and regional office levels (and, in the QSR market segment, at the franchisee level) and their field sales force which provides program support at the individual restaurant or store level. QSR customers are primarily supplied through third party distributors while most food retail customers utilize their own distribution networks. While Specialty’s customer base has broadened significantly over the years, Specialty’s business remains largely dependent upon a limited number of major QSR chains and franchisees and large food retail customers.

Food Safety Solutions supplies a digital platform that combines software, hardware and multiple services to automate kitchen procedures for efficiency and compliance. It also offers a unique variety of products, tools and equipment for food preparation, food rotation labeling, temperature management, cleaning and employee safety across all food service customers.

The company is one of the leading suppliers of cleaning and sanitizing products to the global QSR market and a leading supplier of cleaning and sanitizing products to the global food retail market.

Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segment

This reportable segment consists of the Healthcare and Life Sciences operating segments, which provide specialized cleaning and sanitizing products to the healthcare, personal care and pharmaceutical industries.

Healthcare

Healthcare provides infection prevention and surgical solutions to acute care hospitals, surgery centers and medical device Original Equipment Manufacturers (‘OEM’). Healthcare’s proprietary infection prevention and surgical solutions (hand hygiene, hard surface disinfection, digital monitoring systems, instrument cleaning, patient drapes, equipment drapes and surgical fluid warming and cooling systems) are sold primarily under the ‘Ecolab,’ ‘Microtek,’ and ‘Anios’ brand names to various departments within the acute care environment (Infection Control, Environmental Services, Central Sterile and Operating Room). Healthcare sells its products and programs principally through its field sales personnel and corporate account personnel but also sells through healthcare distributors.

The company is one of the leading suppliers of infection prevention and surgical solutions in the United States and Europe.

Life Sciences

Life Sciences provides end-to-end cleaning and contamination control solutions to pharmaceutical and personal care manufacturers. These products are primarily sold under the ‘Ecolab’ brand name, and include detergents, cleaners, sanitizers, disinfectants, surface wipes, as well as cleaning systems, electronic dispensers and chemical injectors for the application of chemical products. With the acquisition of Purolite, the portfolio now includes premium fluid treatment and purification solutions with a broad range of unique products sold under the ‘Purolite’ brand name, particularly focusing on biopharma purification solutions, active pharmaceutical ingredients (‘API’s’) and high value industrial applications. The Life Sciences portfolio also includes decontamination systems and services utilizing hydrogen peroxide vapor, which are sold under the ‘Bioquell’ brand name. The pharmaceutical clean room environment is the primary area that Ecolab and Bioquell products are utilized. Purolite products are primarily used in the purification of biologic therapeutics, API’s and high value industrial applications. Products and programs are sold primarily through the company’s field sales and corporate account personnel, and to a lesser extent through distributors.

Life Sciences is consisted of customers and accounts related to manufacturing in the following industries: pharmaceutical, animal health and medicine, blood purification and dialysis, biologic products, cosmetics and medical devices. The company’s tailored, comprehensive solutions and technical know-how focus on ensuring product quality, safety and compliance standards are met while improving operational efficiency in customers’ cleaning, sanitation and disinfection processes. The company is one of the leading suppliers of process purification solutions in Europe and North America and of contamination control solutions in Europe, with a growing presence in North America and other regions.

Other

Other consists of the Pest Elimination, Textile Care and Colloidal Technologies Group operating segments.

Pest Elimination

Pest Elimination provides services designed to detect, prevent, and eliminate pests, such as rodents and insects in full-service and quick-service restaurants, food and beverage processors, hotels, grocery operations and other commercial segments, including education, life sciences and healthcare.

In addition to the United States, which constitutes the company’s largest operation, the company operates in various countries in Asia Pacific, Greater China, Western Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

Pest Elimination is a leading service provider of effective, high-quality pest elimination programs that deliver high quality outcomes to commercial segments in the geographies it serves.

Textile Care

Textile Care provides products and services that manage the entire wash process through custom designed programs, premium products, dispensing equipment, water and energy management and reduction, and real time data management for large scale, complex commercial laundry operations including uniform rental, hospitality, linen rental and healthcare laundries. Textile Care’s programs are designed to meet the company’s customers’ needs for exceptional cleaning, while extending the useful life of linen and reducing the company’s customers’ overall operating costs. Products and programs are marketed primarily through the company’s field sales employees and, to a lesser extent, through distributors. The company is one of the leading global suppliers in the laundry markets.

Colloidal Technologies Group

The Colloidal Technologies Group (‘CTG’) produces and sells colloidal silica, which is consisted of nano-sized particles of silica in water. These products and associated programs are used primarily for binding and polishing applications. CTG serves customers across various industries, including semiconductor manufacturing, catalyst manufacturing, chemicals and aerospace component manufacturing.

CTG incorporates strong collaboration with customers to develop customized solutions that meet the technical demands of their operations. The company’s silica-based applications are widely used for polishing of silicon wafers, semiconductor substrates and the precision surface finishing of optics, watch crystals and other glass components. The company offers a variety of silica-based particles that can be used as binders in heterogeneous catalyst systems and as silica nutrients for manufacturing specialty zeolites. The company’s silica products are used worldwide as a binder for precision investment casting slurries, which ultimately facilitate the manufacture of near net-shape metal parts such as turbine blades and golf club heads.

The company’s products are sold primarily by its corporate account employees. The company is one of the leading global suppliers of colloidal silica.

International Operations

The company directly operates in approximately 100 countries outside of the United States through wholly-owned subsidiaries, or in some cases, through a joint venture with a local partner. In certain countries, selected products are sold by the company’s export operations to distributors, agents or licensees, although the volume of those sales is not significant in terms of the company’s overall revenues. In general, the company’s businesses conducted outside the United States are similar to those conducted in the United States.

The company’s business operations outside the United States are subject to the usual risks of foreign operations, including possible changes in trade and foreign investment laws, international business laws and regulations, tax laws, currency exchange rates and economic and political conditions. The profitability of the company’s international operations is generally lower than the profitability of the company’s businesses in the United States, due to (i) the additional cost of operating in numerous and diverse foreign jurisdictions with varying laws and regulations, (ii) higher costs of importing certain raw materials and finished goods in some regions, (iii) the smaller scale of international operations where certain operating locations are smaller in size, and (iv) the additional reliance on distributors and agents in certain countries which can negatively impact the company’s margins. Proportionately larger investments in sales and technical support are also necessary in certain geographies in order to facilitate the growth of the company’s international operations.

Sales

The company’s products, systems and services are primarily marketed in domestic and international markets by the company’s Company-trained direct field sales personnel who also advise and assist the company’s customers in the proper and most efficient use of the products and systems in order to meet a full range of cleaning and sanitation, water treatment and process chemistry needs. Independent, third-party distributors and, to a lesser extent, sales agents, are utilized in several markets, as described in the segment descriptions found above.

Patents and Trademarks

The company owns and licenses a number of patents, trademarks and other intellectual property, including intellectual property from the company’s recent acquisition of Purolite.

Patents related to the company’s TRASAR and 3D TRASAR technology, which are material to the company’s Global Industrial reportable segment. U.S. and foreign patents protect aspects of the company’s key TRASAR and 3D TRASAR technology until at least 2024.

Trademarks related to Ecolab, Nalco and 3D TRASAR, which collectively are material to all of the company’s reportable segments. The Ecolab, Nalco and 3D TRASAR trademarks are registered or applied for in all of the company’s key markets and the company anticipates maintaining them indefinitely.

Seasonality

The company experiences variability in its quarterly (year ended December 2023) operating results due to seasonal sales volume and business mix fluctuations in the company’s operating segments.

Environmental and Regulatory Considerations

The company manufactures and sells certain disinfecting, sanitizing and material preservation products that kill or reduce microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) on hard environmental surfaces, in process fluids and on certain food products. Such products constitute ‘pesticides’ or ‘antimicrobial pesticides’ under the current definitions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, the principal federal statute governing the manufacture, labeling, handling and use of pesticides. The company maintains various product registrations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Various laws and regulations have been enacted by federal, state, local and foreign jurisdictions regulating certain products manufactured and sold by the company for controlling microbial growth on humans, animals and foods. In the United States, these requirements are administered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The company is also required to register with the FDA as a medical device and drug manufacturer, comply with post-market reporting (e.g., Adverse Event Reporting, MDR and Recall) requirements, and to comply with the FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practices and Quality System Regulations, which require that the company has a quality system for the design and production of its products intended for commercial distribution in the United States and satisfy recordkeeping requirements with respect to its manufacturing, testing and control activities.

The company’s products are dispensed by equipment that is subject to state and local regulatory requirements, as well as being subject to UL, NSF, and other approval requirements.

The primary federal statutes that apply to the company’s activities in the United States are the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The company is also subject to the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, which imposes certain reporting requirements as to emissions of hazardous substances into the air, land and water. The products that the company produces and distributes into Europe are also subject to directives governing electrical waste (WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU) and restrictive substances (RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU).

Along with various other potentially responsible parties, the company is involved with waste disposal site clean-up activities imposed by the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act or state equivalents at 16 sites in the United States.

Research and Development Expenditures

Research expenditures that relate to the development of new products and processes, including significant improvements and refinements to existing products, are expensed as incurred. Such costs were $192 million in 2023.

History

Ecolab Inc. was founded in 1923. The company was incorporated as a Delaware corporation in 1924.