Alliance Laundry (ALH) Baird 2026 Global Industrial Conference summary

Market position and demand

• Global #1, 2x the second-largest competitor and nearly 2x its margin; demand is primarily replacement-driven, with new construction also relevant.

• Markets served include on-premise laundry, vended common and retail laundries, and commercial-in-home products; buyers value reliability, durability and low total cost of ownership.

• Mature U.S. and Western European markets are seeing renovation, particularly in vended laundry; urbanization and compact housing support shared and retail laundry demand in emerging markets.

Vended-market economics and refresh

• Self-service demand is described as resilient through the GFC and COVID, with prepaid usage and lean staffing; financing has exceeded $3B across 30,000+ loans, with a 0.002% loss ratio over 30 years.

• U.S. laundromat investments typically range from $1M to $3M, with 10%–20% down; cited yearly cash-on-cash returns are 30% for well-selected and operated locations.

• The U.S. has ~26,000 retail laundry locations, including many older stores needing refresh; better-capitalized, multi-location operators are entering the market, a trend described as early-stage.

• Replacement upgrades favor larger-capacity machines that speed customer turnaround and add engineering content, face fewer competitors and support richer product mix.

International growth opportunities

• Europe has nearly 2,000 licensed stores, supporting growth in a mature market; vended laundry is nascent in many other countries, where thousands of locations are being added annually.

• Brazil and Thailand are cited as growth markets; urbanization, family size and small dwellings support further expansion, while conflict has restrained investment in parts of the Middle East.

• Investment seminars help operators identify locations, design and set up stores, and operate effectively, using industry experience to seed demand.