Leases

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Leases [Abstract]

Leases

Leases

We have operating and finance leases for properties, including manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and office space; as well as vehicles and certain equipment. We make certain judgments in determining whether a contract contains a lease in accordance with ASU 2016-02. Our leases have remaining lease terms of less than 1 year to 20 years, some of which include options to extend the lease for a period of up to 15 years and some include options to terminate the leases within 1 year. We do not assume renewals in our determination of the lease term unless the renewals are deemed to be reasonably certain as of the commencement date of the lease. Our lease agreements do not contain material residual value guarantees, and our variable lease payments were $3.5 million and $3.1 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

We have entered into various short-term operating leases with an initial term of twelve months or less. These leases are not recorded on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2024 or 2023, and the rent expense for short-term leases was not material.

We have certain property and equipment lease contracts that may contain lease and non-lease components, and we have elected to utilize the practical expedient to account for these components together as a single combined lease component.

As the rate implicit in most of our leases is not readily determinable, we use the incremental borrowing rate to determine the present value of the lease payments, which is unique to each leased asset and is based upon the term, commencement date, location, and local currency of the leased asset as well as the credit rating of the legal entity leasing the asset.

The components of lease expense were as follows:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Operating lease cost	$	27,751	$	22,562	$	21,420
Finance lease cost
Amortization of right-of-use asset	$	997	$	780	$	878
Interest on lease liabilities	571		330		258
Total finance lease cost	$	1,568	$	1,110	$	1,136

Supplemental cash flow information related to leases was as follows:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash flows from operating leases	$	22,175	$	19,080	$	18,338

Operating and financing cash flows from finance leases were not material for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022.

Supplemental balance sheet information related to leases was as follows:

	December 31,
	2024		2023
	(In thousands, except lease term and discount rate)
Operating leases:
Total operating lease right-of-use assets	$	118,551	$	89,686
Accrued liabilities	$	19,437	$	18,226
Long-term operating lease liabilities	100,049		74,941
Total operating lease liabilities	$	119,486	$	93,167
Finance leases:
Other long-lived assets, at cost	$	12,257	$	6,560
Accumulated depreciation	(2,322)		(1,347)
Other long-lived assets, net	$	9,935	$	5,213
Accrued liabilities	$	1,648	$	719
Other long-term liabilities	8,845		6,084
Total finance lease liabilities	$	10,493	$	6,803

Weighted Average Remaining Lease Term
Operating leases	10 years	6 years
Finance leases	6 years	9 years
Weighted Average Discount Rate
Operating leases	6.2%	5.0	%
Finance leases	4.8%	4.3	%

The following table summarizes maturities of lease liabilities as of December 31, 2024 (in thousands):

2025	$	28,148
2026	25,596
2027	16,739
2028	14,947
2029	12,820
Thereafter	80,017
Total	$	178,267

The following table summarizes maturities of lease liabilities as of December 31, 2023 (in thousands):

2024	$	18,664
2025	18,173
2026	16,527
2027	9,074
2028	7,350
Thereafter	28,068
Total	$	97,856

In addition, we guaranteed the lease payments for certain property leases of a former subsidiary with expiration dates extending up to 2035. These lease guarantees were retained by Belden and not transferred to the buyer of the former subsidiary. As of December 31, 2024, the fixed, remaining base rent payments were approximately $20 million. In 2024, 2023, and 2022, we recognized $3.3 million, $4.1 million, and $10.1 million, respectively, related to the guarantees in selling, general and administrative expenses. These costs were excluded from Segment EBITDA of our Smart Infrastructure Solutions segment. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had a liability for expected, future payments of $12.3 million and $11.3 million, respectively. The liability is based on certain assumptions that we continually reassess on an ongoing basis. We will update the estimated liability balance for changes in assumptions as needed.

Leases

Leases

We have operating and finance leases for properties, including manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and office space; as well as vehicles and certain equipment. We make certain judgments in determining whether a contract contains a lease in accordance with ASU 2016-02. Our leases have remaining lease terms of less than 1 year to 20 years, some of which include options to extend the lease for a period of up to 15 years and some include options to terminate the leases within 1 year. We do not assume renewals in our determination of the lease term unless the renewals are deemed to be reasonably certain as of the commencement date of the lease. Our lease agreements do not contain material residual value guarantees, and our variable lease payments were $3.5 million and $3.1 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

We have entered into various short-term operating leases with an initial term of twelve months or less. These leases are not recorded on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2024 or 2023, and the rent expense for short-term leases was not material.

We have certain property and equipment lease contracts that may contain lease and non-lease components, and we have elected to utilize the practical expedient to account for these components together as a single combined lease component.

As the rate implicit in most of our leases is not readily determinable, we use the incremental borrowing rate to determine the present value of the lease payments, which is unique to each leased asset and is based upon the term, commencement date, location, and local currency of the leased asset as well as the credit rating of the legal entity leasing the asset.

The components of lease expense were as follows:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Operating lease cost	$	27,751	$	22,562	$	21,420
Finance lease cost
Amortization of right-of-use asset	$	997	$	780	$	878
Interest on lease liabilities	571		330		258
Total finance lease cost	$	1,568	$	1,110	$	1,136

Supplemental cash flow information related to leases was as follows:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022
	(In thousands)
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities:
Operating cash flows from operating leases	$	22,175	$	19,080	$	18,338

Operating and financing cash flows from finance leases were not material for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022.

Supplemental balance sheet information related to leases was as follows:

	December 31,
	2024		2023
	(In thousands, except lease term and discount rate)
Operating leases:
Total operating lease right-of-use assets	$	118,551	$	89,686
Accrued liabilities	$	19,437	$	18,226
Long-term operating lease liabilities	100,049		74,941
Total operating lease liabilities	$	119,486	$	93,167
Finance leases:
Other long-lived assets, at cost	$	12,257	$	6,560
Accumulated depreciation	(2,322)		(1,347)
Other long-lived assets, net	$	9,935	$	5,213
Accrued liabilities	$	1,648	$	719
Other long-term liabilities	8,845		6,084
Total finance lease liabilities	$	10,493	$	6,803

Weighted Average Remaining Lease Term
Operating leases	10 years	6 years
Finance leases	6 years	9 years
Weighted Average Discount Rate
Operating leases	6.2%	5.0	%
Finance leases	4.8%	4.3	%

The following table summarizes maturities of lease liabilities as of December 31, 2024 (in thousands):

2025	$	28,148
2026	25,596
2027	16,739
2028	14,947
2029	12,820
Thereafter	80,017
Total	$	178,267

The following table summarizes maturities of lease liabilities as of December 31, 2023 (in thousands):

2024	$	18,664
2025	18,173
2026	16,527
2027	9,074
2028	7,350
Thereafter	28,068
Total	$	97,856

In addition, we guaranteed the lease payments for certain property leases of a former subsidiary with expiration dates extending up to 2035. These lease guarantees were retained by Belden and not transferred to the buyer of the former subsidiary. As of December 31, 2024, the fixed, remaining base rent payments were approximately $20 million. In 2024, 2023, and 2022, we recognized $3.3 million, $4.1 million, and $10.1 million, respectively, related to the guarantees in selling, general and administrative expenses. These costs were excluded from Segment EBITDA of our Smart Infrastructure Solutions segment. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had a liability for expected, future payments of $12.3 million and $11.3 million, respectively. The liability is based on certain assumptions that we continually reassess on an ongoing basis. We will update the estimated liability balance for changes in assumptions as needed.