Company Description
Tennant Company (NYSE: TNC) is a manufacturing company focused on cleaning equipment and solutions that help create cleaner, safer and healthier environments. According to the company’s profile in multiple news releases, Tennant designs, manufactures and markets products used to maintain surfaces in industrial, commercial and outdoor environments, along with detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, cleaning tools and supplies. The company is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and traces its founding back to 1870, giving it a long operating history in the cleaning equipment industry.
Core business and products
Tennant’s business centers on equipment and technologies for floor and surface maintenance. Company profile disclosures state that its products include equipment for maintaining surfaces in industrial, commercial and outdoor environments. This includes solutions that support cleaning in settings such as manufacturing and logistics facilities, municipal environments and other high-traffic spaces, as reflected in product announcements for the Z50 Citadel Outdoor Sweeper and the T360 walk-behind scrubber. Tennant also offers detergent-free and other sustainable cleaning technologies, as well as cleaning tools and supplies, which complement its equipment portfolio.
In addition to equipment and technologies, Tennant provides aftermarket parts and consumables, equipment maintenance and repair service, specialty surface coatings, and business solutions such as financing, rental and leasing programs, and machine-to-machine asset management solutions, as described in the Polygon company summary. These offerings are intended to support the lifecycle of Tennant machines and help customers manage their cleaning operations and assets.
Geographic footprint and operations
Company disclosures note that Tennant has manufacturing operations throughout the world and sells products directly in more than 21 countries and through distributors in more than 100 countries. Earlier descriptions also reference four geographic business units: North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC). Quarterly results are reported by region, with Americas (including North America and Latin America), EMEA and APAC as key reporting categories.
This global structure allows Tennant to serve industrial, commercial and outdoor cleaning needs across a wide range of markets. The company’s global field service network is described in its news releases as the most extensive in the industry, underscoring the importance of service and support in its business model.
Industry positioning and technology focus
Tennant is described in its own company profile as a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of solutions that help create a cleaner, safer and healthier world. Its activities fall within the Other Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing industry in the Manufacturing sector. The company emphasizes sustainable cleaning technologies, including detergent-free solutions, and has made robotic and automated cleaning a significant part of its offering.
In a news release highlighting the sale of its 10,000th autonomous mobile robot (AMR), Tennant characterizes itself as a world leader in cleaning equipment and solutions and notes that robotic solutions have become a core strategy for organizations seeking consistent, efficient cleaning in industrial and commercial environments. The company’s AMR portfolio has evolved through products such as the T7AMR, T380AMR, T16AMR, and more recent X4 ROVR and X6 ROVR robotic floor scrubbers, which are designed for different facility sizes and layouts. Tennant also references an exclusive technology agreement with Brain Corp to accelerate AI-enabled AMR development in the floor cleaning industry.
Product innovation: indoor and outdoor equipment
Recent product announcements illustrate how Tennant develops equipment for specific use cases. The Z50 Citadel Outdoor Sweeper is described as an outdoor sweeper that combines mechanical and vacuum sweeping technologies to handle fine dust, light litter and heavy, bulky debris in large outdoor spaces. It features the TwinLift Debris Management System, which integrates a mechanical broom, high-powered airflow and an industrial shredder to capture a wide range of debris and fine particulates. The Z50 Citadel is positioned for industrial sites such as mining, manufacturing and logistics, as well as municipal settings including urban centers and transportation hubs.
The T360 walk-behind scrubber is presented as a mid-sized, self-propelled scrubber with intuitive controls and a productivity-focused design. It is built for fast onboarding and easy maintenance, with features such as one-button Stop-Start control, a magnetic-assisted brush and pad change-out system, and easy-access maintenance touchpoints. Tennant notes that the T360 is intended for environments like retail, education, hospitality and healthcare, where clean, safe floors are essential.
Financial profile and capital allocation
In its quarterly earnings releases, Tennant reports net sales, net income, adjusted EBITDA and related metrics, along with regional sales performance across the Americas, EMEA and APAC. While specific figures vary by quarter, the company highlights order growth, gross margin trends, and the effects of pricing, volume and foreign currency on its results. Tennant also discusses the impact of macroeconomic factors such as tariffs, demand conditions and product mix.
The company emphasizes disciplined capital allocation. Earnings releases describe how Tennant generates cash flow from operations, invests in capital expenditures and enterprise resource planning (ERP) modernization, and returns capital to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. Tennant has paid a cash dividend for many consecutive years and has increased its dividend payout for 54 consecutive years, according to its dividend-related news releases. The company also reports maintaining a revolving credit facility and a net leverage ratio based on adjusted EBITDA.
Dividend history
Tennant’s Board of Directors periodically declares regular quarterly cash dividends, as documented in multiple news releases. The company notes that it has paid a cash dividend for more than 80 consecutive years and has increased the dividend payout for 54 consecutive years. These disclosures indicate a long-standing practice of returning cash to shareholders through dividends, supported by the company’s approach to cash management and capital allocation priorities.
Business segments and customers
While Tennant’s disclosures do not list customer names or detailed segment revenue breakdowns, they describe the company’s focus on industrial, commercial and outdoor environments. Examples from product announcements point to applications in logistics and manufacturing facilities, mining and industrial sites, municipal environments, urban centers, transportation hubs and high-traffic indoor settings such as retail, education, hospitality and healthcare. Tennant’s robotic scrubbers and outdoor sweepers are designed to address cleaning needs in these types of facilities.
The company also highlights the role of its global field service network and service offerings, which support customers in operating and maintaining Tennant equipment. In the context of robotic cleaning, Tennant emphasizes service and support as part of helping organizations adopt automation, implement technology, train employees and integrate AMRs into daily workflows.
Use of non-GAAP measures
Tennant’s earnings releases explain that the company uses certain non-GAAP financial measures, such as adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income and adjusted diluted earnings per share, to evaluate operating performance. These measures exclude items such as ERP modernization costs, restructuring-related costs, transaction-related costs, legal contingency costs and amortization expense. The company provides reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to GAAP results in its financial tables and notes that management uses them to monitor ongoing operating results and trends.
Regulatory filings and corporate information
Tennant Company is incorporated in Minnesota and files reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under Commission File Number 1-16191, as indicated in its Form 8-K filings. These filings reference the company’s news releases on quarterly results as exhibits and provide the legal entity and jurisdiction of incorporation. Tennant’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TNC.
Summary
In summary, Tennant Company is a long-established manufacturer in the cleaning equipment and technologies space, with a global footprint and a focus on industrial, commercial and outdoor environments. Its portfolio includes surface maintenance equipment, sustainable cleaning technologies, robotic scrubbers, outdoor sweepers, tools, supplies and related services. The company reports its financial performance across major geographic regions, uses both GAAP and non-GAAP measures, and maintains a long record of dividend payments and increases, reflecting its stated capital allocation priorities.