Culp, Inc.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

We have prepared this Management’s Discussion and Analysis as an aid to understanding our financial results. It should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes and other exhibits included elsewhere in this report. It also includes management’s analysis of past financial results and certain potential risk factors that may affect future results, as well as approaches that may be used to manage those risks. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” at the beginning of this report, together with the section of this report titled “Item 1A. RISK FACTORS,” for a discussion of factors that may cause results to differ materially.

General

Our fiscal year is the 52 or 53-week period ending on the Sunday closest to April 30. Fiscal 2025, 2024, and 2023 each included 52- weeks periods. We refer to the year ended April 27, 2025 as “fiscal 2025,” the year ended April 28, 2024 as “fiscal 2024” and the year ended April 30, 2023 as “fiscal 2023.”

Our operations are classified into two reportable segments: mattress fabrics and upholstery fabrics.

On April 24, 2025, the company announced a strategic transformation of its operating model that will combine certain activities within the mattress fabrics and upholstery fabrics business segments and become a more integrated Culp-branded business.

Mattress Fabrics

The mattress fabrics segment manufactures, sources, and sells fabrics and mattress covers primarily to bedding manufacturers. Currently, we have a mattress fabric manufacturing operation located in Stokesdale, North Carolina, and a sewn mattress cover operation located in Ouanaminthe, Haiti.

On April 29, 2024 (first quarter of fiscal 2025), our board of directors made a decision to: (1) consolidate the company's North American mattress fabrics operations, including the closure and sale of the company's manufacturing facility and related land (collectively referred to as the "Property") located in Quebec, Canada; (2) move a portion of the knitting and finishing capacity from the facility located in Quebec, Canada to the company's manufacturing facility located in Stokesdale, North Carolina; (3) transition the mattress fabrics segment's weaving operation to a strategic sourcing model through the company's long standing supply partners; and (4) consolidate the company's sewn mattress cover operation located in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, from two leased facilities into one building and reduce other operating expenses at this location. See Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements for further details regarding the restructuring activities announced on May 1, 2024.

All the above restructuring activities related to the May 1, 2024, announcement have been completed, including the sale of the Property located in Quebec, Canada, effective April 30, 2025. See Note 8 located in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for further details regarding the sale of the Property.

During the last half of fiscal 2023, we rationalized our domestic cut and sewn cover platform, which included the termination of agreements to lease two facilities located in High Point, North Carolina, and moved our R&D and prototyping capabilities from these facilities to our facility located in Stokesdale, North Carolina.

Upholstery Fabrics

The upholstery fabrics segment develops, sources, manufactures, and sells fabrics primarily to residential, commercial, and hospitality furniture manufacturers. As of April 27, 2025, we had upholstery fabric operations located in Shanghai, China, and Burlington, North Carolina. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, we established a wholly owned subsidiary, Culp Fabrics Vietnam Limited, with an administrative office located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for the purpose of enhancing our strategic sourcing capabilities and to further diversify our supply chain in Asia.

On April 24, 2025, we announced as part of our strategic transformation noted above, that we will close our leased facility located in Burlington, North Carolina, and transition its production and distribution activities utilizing a shared management model within our owned facility located in Stokesdale, North Carolina. Our Stokesdale, North Carolina facility has historically been solely operated by our mattress fabrics segment. We expect this transition to be substantially completed by December 31, 2025.

During fiscal 2023, Culp Upholstery Fabrics - Haiti, Ltd. entered into an agreement to terminate a lease agreement for a facility located in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, and relocated a scaled down upholstery cut and sewn kits operation into our existing mattress cover facility also located in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. During the first quarter of fiscal 2024, demand for upholstery cut and sewn kits declined more than

31

previously anticipated, resulting in a strategic action to discontinue production of upholstery cut and sewn kits in Haiti. See Note 10 of the consolidated financial statements for further details regarding this restructuring plan.

Additionally, Read Window Products, LLC (“Read”), a wholly owned subsidiary with operations located in Knoxville, Tennessee, and our upholstery fabrics facility located in Burlington, North Carolina, provide window treatments and sourcing of upholstery fabrics and other products, as well as related measuring and installation services to customers in the hospitality and commercial markets. Read also supplies soft goods such as decorative top sheets, coverlets, duvet covers, bed skirts, bolsters, and pillows. The activities located at our Burlington, North Carolina, facility will transition to our facility located in Stokesdale, North Carolina, as part of our integration and shared management initiative noted above.

Executive Summary

Our Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") is our Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), who regularly reviews the financial results of the company on a consolidated and business segment basis for the purpose of evaluating financial and operating performance, allocation of resources to the individual segments noted above, and determining executive compensation. Accordingly, our CODM reviews certain financial metrics that include net sales and (loss) income from operations before unallocated corporate expenses and other items that are not expected to occur on a regular basis (i.e., restructuring activities), as well as (i) cost of sales, (ii) gross profit, (iii) selling, general, and administrative expenses, including unallocated corporate expenses, (iv) assets used in operations, which generally include accounts receivable, inventory, property, plant, and equipment, right of use assets, and assets held for sale; and (v) capital spending.

Cost of sales for each segment includes costs to develop, manufacture, or source our products, including costs such as raw material and finished goods purchases, direct and indirect labor, overhead, and incoming freight charges. Unallocated corporate expenses primarily represent compensation and benefits for certain executives and their support staff, all costs associated with being a public company, amortization of intangible assets, and other miscellaneous expenses.

Consolidated Results of Operations

Net Sales

Our consolidated net sales decreased by 5.4% in fiscal 2025 compared with a year ago, with mattress fabric net sales decreasing 2.1% and upholstery fabric net sales decreasing 8.8%.

The decrease in net sales in our mattress fabrics business was driven by lower sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2025 due to pressure from muted demand across the industry and related challenges from weaker consumer spending and housing market trends. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, sales for the segment improved compared to the prior-year fourth quarter, driven in part by new business with larger customers and an emphasis on targeted areas within the mattress fabrics and cut and sewn covers segments.

The decrease in net sales in our upholstery fabrics business was primarily attributable to the pressure on residential furniture fabric sales from continued demand deterioration in the home furnishings industry driven by a challenging macroeconomic environment and its impacts on consumer discretionary spending and home sales. Sales in our upholstery fabrics business in fiscal 2025 were also negatively affected by the market uncertainty stemming from the global trade negotiations and tariff-related actions in the fourth quarter.

See the Segment Analysis located in the Results of Operations section below for further details.

32

Loss Before Income Taxes

Overall, our consolidated loss before income taxes was $(18.7) million for fiscal 2025, compared with loss before income taxes of $(10.8) million for the prior year.

Operating performance for fiscal 2025, as compared to the prior year, decreased as a result of the decline in net sales described above and was significantly impacted by restructuring and restructuring-related expenses totaling approximately $9.4 million, compared to approximately $676,000 in fiscal 2024. Operating performance in fiscal 2025 benefited from consistent operating improvement during the year in the mattress fabrics segment driven by the fixed cost and efficiency benefits derived from the Fiscal 2025 restructuring, the upholstery fabrics segment’s ability to generate profitability despite a low-revenue environment in the residential home furnishings market throughout the year and tariff-related challenges in the fourth quarter, and lower inventory markdowns in the fourth quarter resulting from a change in accounting estimate which aligned our markdown policy for finished goods inventory with current market trends and product life cycles.

See the Segment Analysis located in the Results of Operations section below for further details.

Income Taxes

We recorded income tax expense of $392,000, or (2.1)% of loss before income taxes, for fiscal 2025, compared with income tax expense of $3.0 million, or (28.3)% of loss before income taxes, for fiscal 2024.

Our negative consolidated effective income tax rates during fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024 were caused by the mix of earnings between our U.S. operations and foreign subsidiaries, as our taxable income stemmed from our operations located in China during fiscal 2025 and both our operations located in China and Canada during fiscal 2024, which jurisdictions have higher income tax rates than the U.S. In addition, we applied a full valuation allowance against our U.S. deferred income tax assets during both fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024. Consequently, an income tax benefit was not recognized for the pre-tax losses associated with our U.S. operations totaling $(18.4) million and $(18.6) million that were incurred during fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024, respectively. Lastly, our negative consolidated effective income tax rates were also caused by pre-tax losses associated with our Haitian operations, which are not currently subject to income tax. As a result, an income benefit was not recognized for the pre-tax losses associated with our Haitian operations totaling $(1.6) million and $(2.1) million that were incurred during fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024, respectively.

During fiscal 2025, we incurred a significantly higher consolidated pre-tax loss of $(18.7) million, compared with a significantly lower pre-tax loss of $(10.8) million incurred during fiscal 2024. As a result, the principal differences between income tax expense at the U.S. federal income tax rate and the effective income tax rate reflected in the consolidated financial statements were more pronounced during fiscal 2024 compared with fiscal 2025.

During fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024, we had income tax payments totaling $2.3 million and $3.3 million, respectively, which primarily represented income tax payments associated with the U.S. federal transition tax associated with the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("TCJA") and our operations located in China.

Refer to Note 12 of the consolidated financial statements for further details regarding our provision for income taxes.

Liquidity

As of April 27, 2025, our cash and cash equivalents (“cash") totaled $5.6 million, a decrease of $4.4 million compared with cash of $10.0 million as of April 28, 2024. This decrease was primarily due to: (i) net cash used in operating activities totaling $17.7 million and (ii) capital expenditures of $2.9 million, that were partially offset by net borrowings from our lines of credit totaling $12.7 million, and proceeds from the sale of property, plant, and equipment totaling $1.9 million related to our restructuring activities.

Our net cash used in operating activities was $17.7 million during fiscal 2025, an increase of $9.5 million compared with net cash used in operating activities of $8.2 million during fiscal 2024. This trend mostly reflects: (i) a significant decrease in cash earnings related to our recent restructuring activities, (ii) an increase in inventory purchases to maintain an appropriate level of inventory to accommodate our customers during the company's restructuring activities as described in the section titled "-Segment Analysis-Mattress Fabrics Segment-Restructuring Activities," and (iii) a decrease in cash flow from accounts receivable primarily due to longer payment trends related to a higher mix with customers with longer payment terms, partially offset by an increase in accounts payable due to an increase in inventory purchases from significant vendors who extended their payment terms during fiscal 2025 compared with fiscal 2024.

We had outstanding borrowings totaling $12.7 million under our line of credit agreements, of which $8.1 million and $4.6 million were reported in line of credit-current and line of credit-long term, respectively, on the April 27, 2025, Consolidated Balance Sheet.

For further discussion, see “—Liquidity and Capital Resources,” below.

33

Results of Operations

The following table sets forth certain items in our consolidated statements of net loss as a percentage of net sales.

* Calculated as a percentage of loss before income taxes.

2025 compared with 2024

Segment Analysis

Mattress Fabrics Segment

Net Sales

Mattress fabrics sales decreased by 2.1% in fiscal 2025 compared to the prior year. The decrease in net sales was chiefly attributable to a year-over-year sales decline for the first nine months of fiscal 2025 driven by subdued industry demand that we believe was brought on by weaker consumer spending and housing market headwinds. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, sales for the segment improved compared to the prior-year fourth quarter, driven by new business with larger customers and a strategic focus on key segments including mattress fabrics and cut-and-sewn covers.

Looking ahead, we remain committed to winning market share and generating sales growth in our mattress fabrics business. We believe our products continue to be on-trend and well received by customers, and that our expanded U.S. production capabilities, nearshore manufacturing platform in Haiti on the Dominican Republic border, and dedicated, long-tenured sourcing relationships in Turkey, Vietnam and China provide our customers with valuable mitigation opportunities for global tariff and trade risks going forward. Moreover, the completion of the Fiscal 2025 restructuring and resulting lower fixed cost base and enhancements in our mattress fabrics segment provide us with more operational flexibility to succeed in a variety of industry demand scenarios going forward. We currently anticipate that the macroeconomic environment will continue to weigh on consumer spending, housing market trends, and our net sales going forward, and that broader consumer purchasing activity and macroeconomic improvement will be necessary for a recovery and expansion in the mattress sector. Additionally, ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, such as the current global trade negotiations and

34

conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, remain unpredictable and beyond our control. These factors could disrupt global markets and negatively impact our sales, operations and financial performance.

Gross Profit and Operating Income

The improvement in this segment’s operating loss during fiscal 2025, as compared to fiscal 2024, was primarily driven by the fixed cost reductions and related efficiency gains generated by the Fiscal 2025 restructuring, which drove steady operating improvement in the mattress fabric segment over the course of the year and significant year-over-year improvement in gross margins in the fourth quarter. Operating performance during fiscal 2025 was significantly affected by restructuring and restructuring-related expenses for this segment totaling approximately $8.5 million. Additionally, lower sales during the year, which were driven by the difficult macroeconomic environment and its impact on consumer discretionary spending and housing market trends, pressured operating performance in the mattress fabrics segment.

We anticipate the ongoing slowdown impacting sales volumes across the home furnishings industry to continue pressuring operating performance as we move further into fiscal 2026. However, with the Fiscal 2025 restructuring now completed and our global platform better optimized from a fixed cost perspective, we believe that our mattress fabrics segment is positioned to operate more efficiently and profitably. In addition, we recently initiated price increases in our mattress segment that are intended to soften the cost impacts of recent tariff actions affecting products imported into the U.S. These price increases will become effective beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. We will continue to evaluate further operating adjustments to our mattress fabrics segment as needed to align with demand levels.

Restructuring Activities

Restructuring Activities Announced May 1, 2024

On April 29, 2024 (first quarter of fiscal 2025), our board of directors made a decision to: (1) consolidate the company's North American mattress fabrics operations, including the closure and sale of the Property located in Quebec, Canada; (2) move a portion of the knitting and finishing capacity from the company's manufacturing facility located in Quebec, Canada, to the company's manufacturing facility located in Stokesdale, North Carolina; (3) transition the mattress fabrics segment's weaving operation to a strategic sourcing model through the company's long standing supply partners; and (4) consolidate the company's sewn mattress cover operation located in Ouanaminthe, Haiti, from two leased facilities into one building and reduce other operating expenses at this location.

All the above restructuring activities related to this announcement have been completed, including the sale of the Property located in Quebec, Canada, effective April 30, 2025 (first quarter of fiscal 2026). Accordingly, we expect to record a gain from this sale totaling $4.0 million that will be recorded in restructuring expense (credit) in the consolidated statement of net income (loss) for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. See Note 8 located in the notes to the consolidated financial statements and “—Assets held for sale,” below for further details regarding the sale of the Property.

During fiscal 2025, we incurred restructuring and restructuring related charges totaling $8.7 million related to the above mentioned initiatives, of which $8.5 million and $154,000 relate to the mattress fabrics and upholstery fabrics segments, respectively. As mentioned above, the restructuring activities related to this initiative were completed during the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Accordingly, we expect to record a restructuring credit of $3.8 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, which reflects the the gain on the sale of Property located in Quebec, Canada, partially offset by other expected restructuring expenses. Overall, we expect cumulative net restructuring and restructuring related charges of approximately $4.9 million related to this initiative.

The following summarizes the restructuring and restructuring related charges associated with our mattress fabrics segment for the twelve-month period ended April 27, 2025:

35