Lakeland Industries Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
September 9, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Q2 net sales reached a record $52.5 million, up 36% year-over-year, driven by fire service products and recent acquisitions.
  • Positive Sentiment: Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX rose 89% to $5.1 million and improved sequentially by 740%, reflecting strong operational leverage.
  • Negative Sentiment: Adjusted gross margin fell to 37.4% from 41.1% year-over-year due to lower acquired business margins, higher material costs, and tariffs.
  • Positive Sentiment: Facility closures and a $6.1 million sale-and-leaseback are on track to deliver ~$1 million in annual savings, with an additional $3 million of cost reductions targeted.
  • Negative Sentiment: Fiscal 2026 guidance for adjusted EBITDA excluding FX was lowered to $20–24 million and revenue is expected near the low end of the $210–220 million range amid tariff uncertainties.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Lakeland Industries Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

Skip to Participants
Operator

Good day and welcome to the Lakeland Industries Fiscal Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for questions and comments following the presentation. During today's call, we may make statements relating to our goals and objectives for future operations, financial and business trends, business prospects, and management's expectations for future performance that constitute forward-looking statements under federal securities laws. Any such forward-looking statements reflect management expectations based upon currently available information and are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties that are more fully described in our SEC filings. Our actual results, performance, or achievements may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or developments after the date of this call.

Operator

On this call, we'll also discuss financial measures derived from our financial statements that are not determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, including adjusted EBITDA excluding FX, and adjusted EBITDA excluding FX margin, organic sales, adjusted gross profit, adjusted organic gross margin, and adjusted operating expenses. A reconciliation of each of the non-GAAP measures discussed in this call to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is presented in our earnings release and/or the supplemental slides filed with our earnings release. A press release detailing these results was issued this afternoon and is available in the Investor Relations section of our company's website, ir.lakeland.com. At this time, I'd like to introduce your host for this call, Lakeland Industries' President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, Jim Jenkins, and Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, Roger Shannon. Mr. Jenkins, the floor is yours.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the results of our fiscal 2026 second quarter ended July 31, 2025. We continued to build momentum in the second quarter of 2026 despite a challenging tariff environment, as we focused on recent acquisition synergies, increasing our market share within the fragmented $2 billion fire protection sector in the largest global markets, and growing our global industrial products business. Roger will go over the financials in more detail shortly, so I'll provide you with a brief overview. We achieved record net sales of $52.5 million, representing a 36% year-over-year increase, driven by a 113% increase in fire service products and the ongoing momentum from our recent acquisitions. In the U.S., our net sales increased 78% year-over-year to $22.1 million, and in Europe, our net sales increased 113% year-over-year to $15.1 million.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

We anticipate continued robust growth in our fire services, both organically and through acquisitions, as well as in our industrial segments in the months and years ahead. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding FX, was $5.1 million, an increase of $2.4 million, or 89% compared with the $2.7 million for the comparable year-ago period. Sequentially, our adjusted EBITDA increased $4.5 million, or 740%. Adjusted gross profit as a percentage of net sales in the second quarter was 37.4% versus 41.1% in the comparable year-ago period, but increased 220 basis points sequentially from 35.2% in the first quarter. Our adjusted gross margin percentage decreased in the second quarter for fiscal 2026 compared to the same period last year, primarily due to lower acquired company gross margins, increased material costs, and tariffs, partially offset by a reduction in profit and ending inventory.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Margins in the acquired businesses were impacted by increased material costs and amortization of the write-up in inventory as part of purchase accounting. A largely anticipated $3.1 million boot order through Jolly Boots also contributed materially to the quarter as part of our previously awarded four-year supply contract from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, which provided 47,500 intervention boots for firefighters. Our manufacturing facility in Romania provides high production flexibility, and every detail of the boot was custom designed to fully meet the fire brigade's requirements. Additionally, we are diligently working to bring an NFPA Certified fire glove and Jolly Boots to the U.S. markets, the world's largest market for fire turnout gear. While this launch has taken longer than originally anticipated due to certification backlogs, we expect to bring the boot to the U.S.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

market in the first half of 2026. Jolly Boots' strong brand has a well-established reputation for producing high-quality, innovative, professional footwear designs and manufacturing in the growing first responder safety market. Additionally, the recent announcement of our facility closures and the $6.1 million sale and partial leaseback of our Decatur facility further strengthens our balance sheet and supports our M&A pipeline. The sale was part of the company's previously disclosed financial and operational initiatives aimed at streamlining global operations and improving profitability. Lakeland Industries has begun a search for a new upgraded warehouse, logistics, and lab facility in a more strategic location to replace the Decatur facility.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Combined with our previously announced closures, which include the planned closures of our warehouse facility in Holland, England, and Meridian Manufacturing Facility in Quitman, Arkansas, these initiatives are expected to streamline global operations, improve profitability, and generate annual savings of approximately $1 million for the remainder of fiscal 2026. We have further identified and are executing initiatives expected to yield an additional $3 million in annualized savings, with the benefits anticipated to materialize in the second half of fiscal 2026. We believe these efforts will enable higher margins and build a more agile and cost-effective Lakeland Industries in the longer term. On the capital markets front, during the quarter ended June 30, 2025, we saw an increase in reported institutional holdings by 447,000 shares, or 6.2%, to 7,622,035 shares, and the number of institutional holders rose to 94 from 82.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Most notably, our recent inclusion on the Russell Broad Market 3000 Index and Russell 2000 Index, due to our expanding market capitalization, is a significant milestone resulting from our revenue and global momentum. The second quarter reflected the impact of tariff uncertainty and the associated mitigation strategies we have employed since the election. Our diversified manufacturing footprint enables us to adapt effectively to shifting trade dynamics and minimize potential disruptions. This flexibility enables us to maintain stability across our supply chain and production processes, even in the face of uncertainty, including in the Latin American industrial space, one of our high-margin geographies. Our focus remains on strengthening customer relationships, driving operational efficiency, and maintaining sound financial stewardship. Our positioning within two relatively recession-resistant sectors, industrial and fire, continues to provide us with a solid foundation.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

We are not entirely insulated from the uncertainty surrounding global tariff developments, but we are navigating this period with clear priorities, thoughtful planning, and strong confidence in our long-term outlook. Looking ahead into the remainder of fiscal 2026, we remain focused on growing revenue in our fire service products and industrial verticals, implementing operating and manufacturing efficiencies to achieve higher margins, significantly reducing operating expenses, and continuing to navigate tariff uncertainties. We are also continuing to execute on our strategic acquisition strategy by integrating acquired companies and realizing cross-selling and operational synergies to accelerate growth, while also pursuing opportunities in the fire suit rental, decontamination, and services business.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Efforts to integrate and optimize our recent fire service products acquisitions are going well, and we are particularly excited about our recent Meridian acquisition and are very pleased with the efforts of the Meridian and Lakeland sales and operations team to integrate the business and expand sales opportunities. To expand our firefighter protection offerings and further consolidate the fragmented fire market, we are continuing to pursue M&A opportunities within the fire suit rental, decontamination, and services business, particularly within the U.S. Our acquisition pipeline remains strong with this recurring revenue services channel, and we are actively engaged in several strategic discussions that align with our growth strategy, with expected activity in the second half of the year. We will utilize our strong balance sheet to support this acquisition strategy, with a focus on efficiency, reducing costs, and financial and operational agility.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

With the four recently completed acquisitions, which added product line extensions and are made of new products and expanded our global footprint, we are well positioned to grow our global head-to-toe fire portfolio and generate long-term value for our shareholders. With that, I'd like to pass the call to Roger to cover our financial results and updated guidance outlook.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Thanks, Jim. Hello, everyone. I'll provide a quick overview of our fiscal 2026 second quarter financials before diving into the details. Revenue for the quarter grew $14 million year over year to a record $52.5 million, an increase of 36% compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Consolidated gross margin decreased to 35.9% from 39.6% for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, while our adjusted gross margin decreased to 37.4% as compared to 41.4% in the year-ago period. Adjusted operating expense increased by $1.4 million from $13.2 million in Q2 of last year to $14.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, primarily due to inorganic growth.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Net income was $800,000 or $0.08 per basic and diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to a net loss of $1.4 million or $0.19 per basic and diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX was $5.1 million for the quarter, an increase of $2.4 million or 90% compared with $2.7 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX margin in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 was 9.6%, an increase of 270 basis points from 6.9% in the second quarter of fiscal 2025, and an increase of 830 basis points from 1.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Cash and cash equivalents were $17.7 million on July 31, 2025, compared to $17.5 million on January 31, 2025.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

On a consolidated basis for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, domestic sales were $22.1 million, representing 42% of total revenues, and international sales were $30.4 million, accounting for 58% of total revenues, as our recent Meridian acquisition contributed to increased U.S. revenue. This compares with domestic sales of $12.4 million or 32% of the total and international sales of $26.1 million or 68% of the total in the second quarter of fiscal year 2025. Looking at our second quarter of 2026, our quarterly revenue continued to grow both organically and through acquisitions. Sales from our recent acquisitions accounted for $9 million of the year-over-year revenue increase, while organic sales increased $5 million or 14% over the prior year.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Sales to the fire service products line increased by $13.6 million year over year, driven by $5.2 million in sales from Meridian and a net increase in sales of $7.3 million from LHD Group and Jolly Boots, as well as organic fire service products growth of $1.2 million. Adjusted gross profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 was $19.6 million, an increase of $3.8 million or 24% compared to $15.8 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, due primarily to higher organic and inorganic sales, partially offset by lower gross margins.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Adjusted gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased to 37.4% for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 from 41.1% for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, though we did see a sequential increase of 220 basis points from the first quarter of fiscal 2026, due primarily to an anticipated partial reversal of a purchase price variance expense recognized in the prior quarter. On an adjusted basis, operating expenses excluding foreign exchange were $14.6 million in the fiscal second quarter, more accurately showcasing the decreases in both our organic and inorganic segments resulting from the new cost reduction initiatives. On a sequential basis, adjusted operating expenses decreased by $1.3 million or 8.1% due to focused cost control measures in the previously mentioned initiatives.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX was $5.1 million for the fiscal second quarter, an increase of $2.4 million or 90% compared to $2.7 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, and an increase of $4.5 million or 740% compared with $0.6 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. This significant increase was the result of record revenue and OPEX improvements, along with sequential margin improvement, which drove adjusted EBITDA excluding FX margin higher by 270 basis points to 9.6% in the most recent quarter, an increase from 6.9% in the second quarter of fiscal 2025 and 1.3% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX margin in the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 was 9.6%, an increase of 270 basis points from 6.9%.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Revenue for the trailing 12 months ended July 31, 2025, was $191.6 million, an increase of $53.9 million or 39% versus the Q2 fiscal 2025 trailing 12-month revenue of $137.7 million, with our recent fire service acquisitions supporting Lakeland Industries' continued revenue growth. Trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA excluding the impacts of FX was $16.5 million compared to $14.5 million for the prior quarter trailing 12 months. The improvement was driven by higher revenue and expense reductions resulting from initiatives undertaken beginning midway through Q2. We expect this positive trend to continue into the second half of fiscal year 2026. Considering that we've completed four major acquisitions in the past 12 months, the full integration and implementation of which require some time, we believe the resulting synergies and efficiencies will begin to translate into even stronger financial performance in the coming quarters.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Adjusted gross margin percentage decreased in the second quarter of fiscal 2026 to 37.4% compared to 41.1% in the same period last year due to lower acquired company gross margins, increased material and supply chain costs, tariffs, and higher inventory reserves, partially offset by lower profit and ending inventory expenses versus the prior year. Margins in the acquired businesses were impacted by increased material costs and amortization of the write-up in inventory as part of purchase accounting. Adjusted organic gross margin percentage decreased to 39.3% from 41% for the second quarter of fiscal 2026, primarily due to increased sales in lower margin regions.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Adjusted gross margins did increase sequentially by 220 basis points, as previously mentioned, from the first quarter of fiscal 2026, due primarily to an anticipated partial reversal of the purchase price variance expense recognized, as we discussed in the previous quarter, and a partial quarter of expense reductions from the previously discussed operational cost reductions. Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX for the second quarter of fiscal 2026, as mentioned, was $5.1 million, an increase of $2.4 million compared with $2.7 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The increase was driven by strong performances in North American sales, sales from acquired companies, notably Meridian, and lower profit and ending inventory expenses, partially offset by increased material and supply chain costs and tariffs. We anticipate sequential growth in gross margin and adjusted EBITDA excluding FX in the third quarter.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Reviewing our performance for the second quarter, our most recent acquisition, Meridian, contributed $5.2 million in revenue during the quarter, and LHD added $5.4 million across all three subsidiaries, Germany, Australia, and Hong Kong. We expect sales from all of our fire service subsidiaries to accelerate as we fulfill open orders, capitalize on cross-selling opportunities, and roll out Jolly and Pacific products to the U.S., the world's largest fire market. Looking at our organic business, our U.S. revenue increased 78% to $22.1 million from $12.4 million, driven by continued growth in our Lakeland fire services and industrial businesses. Our European revenue, including Eagle, Jolly Boots, and our recently acquired LHD Group business, grew 113% to $15.1 million. We continue to see very good sales opportunities in Europe and are committed to its growth trajectory.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Our Latin American and Mexican operations experienced a $3.6 million decrease in sales from $9.1 million in the year-ago period to $5.4 million in the current quarter, primarily due to ongoing delayed purchase decisions resulting from tariff uncertainty. In Asia, however, we saw sales increase 6% year over year from $3.5 million to $3.7 million in the current quarter. Regarding product mix for fiscal year to date 2026, our fire services business grew to 47% of revenues versus 38% for fiscal year 2025, driven by a full quarter of Meridian sales and organic gains in the U.S. For our industrial product lines, disposables accounted for 27% of the year-to-date revenue, while chemicals accounted for 12%. The remainder of our industrial products, including FRAR high performance and high VIS, accounted for 14% in sales.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Now turning to the balance sheet, Lakeland ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $17.7 million and long-term debt of $28.1 million. This compares to $17.5 million in cash and $16.4 million in long-term debt as of January 31, 2025. As of January 31, 2025, the long-term debt included borrowings of $24.9 million outstanding under the revolving credit facility with Bank of America, with an additional $15.1 million of available credit under the loan agreement. We were in compliance with all credit facility covenants. Following the Q2 quarter end, we sold our Decatur, Alabama property for $6.1 million, less customary commissions and closing fees, and applied 100% of the proceeds to repay our revolving credit facility. Net cash used in operating activities was $9.7 million in the six months ended July 31, 2025, compared to $4.1 million in the six months ended July 31, 2024.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

The increase was driven by an increase in inventory and AR and a net loss of $4.9 million. Capital expenditures totaled $2.1 million for the six months ended July 31, 2025, primarily related to investments in our new SAP ERP system. We anticipate FY26 capital expenditures to be approximately $4 million. At the end of Q2, inventory was $90.2 million, up from $85.8 million at the end of Q1 fiscal year 2026, and $67.9 million in the same period last year. We have recently initiated a series of targeted actions to optimize inventory levels across specific categories. Our immediate priorities include U.S. critical environment, Jolly Boots, LHD Group Australia, and Meridian, where we see the greatest opportunity to align balances with demand and improve efficiency. Inventory of acquired companies totaled $15.4 million versus $6.4 million last year.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

$6.4 million of the acquired inventories increase came from the Meridian acquisition, and LHD Group's inventory increased by $2.6 million versus last year. Year over year, we saw an increase in our organic inventory of $13.3 million versus the quarter ended July 31, 2024. Organic finished goods were $39.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, up $10.3 million year over year, and up $2 million quarter over quarter. Organic raw materials were $33.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, up $2.4 million year over year, and up $1.2 million quarter over quarter. With that overview, I would now like to turn the call back over to Jim before we begin taking questions.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Thank you, Roger. In conclusion, we continue to demonstrate strong net sales growth, including a 14% increase in organic growth, reflecting the strength of our underlying business. This growth is further supported by a 113% year-over-year increase in our fire service products, as well as strong regional performance in the U.S. and Europe of 78% and 113% respectively. Our near-term strategy is focused on expanding top-line revenue in our fire service products and industrial verticals, while driving operating and manufacturing efficiencies to deliver higher margins, all against the backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainties. Looking long-term, our strategy remains to grow both our fire service products and industrial PPE verticals through our strategically located company-owned capital-light model. By maintaining a focus on operating and manufacturing efficiencies, we believe we are positioned to grow faster than the markets we serve.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Our M&A pipeline also remains robust, with active discussions underway in line with our overall growth strategy. We expect continued top-line revenue growth in our fire service products and industrial verticals, combined with operating and manufacturing efficiencies. However, given the ongoing uncertainty with the global tariff environment, we are adjusting our fiscal year 2026 outlook for adjusted EBITDA excluding FX to the $20 to $24 million range and expect fiscal year 2026 revenue to be near the lower end of the $210 to $220 million range. Looking further ahead, we believe our cost discipline, acquisition strategy, and operational improvements will position the company for accelerated growth over the next three to four years. As we look toward the future, we are confident that our continued focus on cost discipline, targeted acquisitions, and operational enhancements will serve as key growth drivers over the next three to four years.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

As we scale, we anticipate steady expansion in EBITDA margins, moving into the mid to high teens range over the next three to five years, driven by improved efficiencies, a stronger product mix, and disciplined pricing execution across the platform. We look forward to sharing upcoming milestones in the weeks and months ahead, as well as at the Lake Street Capital Markets Annual Best Ideas Growth Big Nine Conference this Thursday in New York City and the D.A. Davidson & Co. 24th Annual Diversified Industrials and Services Conference next week in Nashville, Tennessee. With that, we will now open the call for questions. Operator?

Operator

Thank you. Now to conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to be placed into the question queue, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question is coming from Michael Shlisky from D.A. Davidson & Co. Your line is now live.

Michael Shlisky
Michael Shlisky
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Hey, Mike.

Michael Shlisky
Michael Shlisky
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson

I want to start just by discussing the full-year guidance and what the back half implied numbers are. It's looking like, and we'll get to the exact, we can dig deep into the exact numbers later, but roughly almost $8 million a quarter and even to round out the, you know, $20 to $24 million for the year. I'm kind of curious, and that does suggest a pretty good margin improvement between the second quarter and the third and fourth year. Does that, is that the right run rate to look at beyond 2026 into 2027? There's a sense as to whether there are any large lumps year over year in the fiscal 2027 outlook.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Hey, Mike. It's Roger. I don't believe that's going to be the right run rate. Like we discussed in our comments, we do very much believe that the modestly lower EBITDA that we're seeing in the year that resulted in us kind of resetting the EBITDA to the 2024 range was a result of what we're seeing in Latin America and Mexico. We talked about very nice strong growth in the U.S., resumption in growth really in most areas around the world. Even that comes during a period where we're seeing fire service products, large tenders, and RFP activity in both the U.S. and Europe roll out at a slower pace than expected due to different types of fiscal policy in Europe, as well as just kind of some waiting in the U.S. Even with that, we were pleased with the U.S. performance.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

If you look at what we had in Latin America with almost $4 million kind of down year over year, that region specifically has kind of taken a larger share of the impact. We don't expect that to be the run rate going forward. In fact, from what we're seeing on the ground in both the U.S. and fire service products and in Europe, we expect that RFP activity to pick up. We expect Latin America to pick up in the back half of the year, just unfortunately not at a pace that would make up the year-to-date decrease.

Michael Shlisky
Michael Shlisky
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Okay. Got it. The organic growth of 14% seems very strong as well. In trying to untangle the full-year outlook and the kind of longer-term trends, what's your expectation for full-year organic growth and the broader, I mean, into fiscal 2027, the approximate organic growth that you might be expecting?

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

I think those percentages are still pretty consistent with kind of mid-teens in the organic growth. I think they're depending on the timing of, and I'll let Jim chime in on this, but depending on the timing of when we see those fire service RFPs and certain large orders that we believe are kind of backlogging, expect to hit, that could increase in this year. We're just not, we're thinking about it.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Yeah. I mean, Mike, there's some lumpiness. It's obviously, as I've said this before on the fire, there's lumpiness in that revenue. You could get some quarters where you do see, you know, mid-teens, you know, organic growth, followed by a, you know, a lower number. I'm still staying with that high single-digit, low double-digit organic growth. That's what we're modeling. That's what we're striving towards. Some quarters you get much greater than that, and in some quarters you get a little less than that, all based on the timing of these tenders.

Michael Shlisky
Michael Shlisky
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Okay. Got it. Just one last one. You mentioned towards the end of your comment there, the M&A outlook and the M&A plan. Can you update us on the targets that you're looking at in rentals or any of that termination? Do you have any deals that might be more imminent than others, or is it still very much in the early stages for most of the things that you're talking about?

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

We're in the throes of, I think we've said in the press release and I think in the script, we're in the throes of several conversations that are beyond conversations at this point, and we'd expect a couple of these to close, one or two of them to close in the coming months. As I said, the model for this is they're service-related. It's decontamination. There's an add-on of rental. There's potential add-ons for repairs. Those are going to be smaller deals than the deals we've been doing historically, but from a strategic perspective, very important to us. I think the longer-term goal is to make sure we've got most of the United States covered within the regions that we serve, and then take a look at perhaps greenfielding in other areas within the world. When we say the acquisition pipeline is robust, it's also imminent.

Michael Shlisky
Michael Shlisky
MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson

Okay, I greatly appreciate the comments. I'll pass it along. Thank you.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is coming from Mark Eric Smith from Lake Street Capital Markets. Your line is now live.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Hey, Mark.

Mark Smith
Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Hey, guys.

Mark Smith
Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Hey, I wanted to dig into gross profit margin a little bit more here. Just as we talk about the second half, what's kind of implied for tariffs and any kind of shift in timing for Q3 versus Q4 would be great.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

The tariffs, that's a great question, great point. I appreciate you bringing that up. The impact of the tariffs during the quarter was, during this past quarter, about 1.2 margin points. A large portion of that is due to the fact that the tariff numbers themselves jumped around a lot between the different countries, especially the ones we manufacture, and the timing of when we were able to implement price increases versus when the tariffs began to impact us. There certainly was a gap between the impact of the tariffs in the quarter and when the price increases started to take effect. What we have seen in, like, take July, the most recent month, or even in August, really, as we look at that, that is starting to balance out more. The benefit of the price increases is really kind of catching up more to the impact of the tariffs.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

The second thing we saw in this quarter, if you remember, we had a pretty large negative impact from the widely discussed purchase price variance that we hope to not talk about as much this quarter because we did have a pretty good reversal in that from Q1 that kind of got us back into the higher 30s. We do anticipate improvement in gross margin over the coming quarters. Now, I'm not sure I would see it at a 40 level again for the full year, but I think certainly getting closer to that in the back end of the year.

Mark Smith
Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Okay. While we're on that, just as we look at the inventories, you know, they were up. It sounds like a fair amount of this is kind of pre-stocking stuff for tariffs. How comfortable are you with your inventory levels today?

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Look, we consider them high, okay? I mean, I'll be frank with you. I want to drive that. We are going to optimize our inventory, and we're going to drive them down over the course of the next six months. That is, now we've got a real line of sight on opportunities in both the high performance and the turnaround business, which I think we've talked about earlier about some build-up associated with that. We've identified LHD and in Australia, they've got a build-up of inventory similarly in the high-performance area as well that we would expect to move downward. Then Jolly's got additional build-up in some boots that they have in stock, that will be doing some promotionals, introducing some new, you know, new boots into new customers in Jolly to help drive that activity. I want that inventory turned into cash as quickly as I possibly can.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

There's a sense of urgency here to be doing that.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Yeah. Just to give you some indication that the activity on high performance has started. It has just begun in the quarter, but certainly a significant amount of stocking for that HP program in the U.S. that we've talked about. Just for some context, for Q2, our high-performance business was up 64% year over year, almost $1 million. Even over quarter one, it was up 39% over quarter one. We're seeing some acceleration in that. Our disposables business was overall up 12% year over year. Of course, fire, we talked about. Chemicals up 7% year over year. It really is that woven in, in Latin America. I think there is also inventory associated with that, that will and needs to move. Really, make no mistake about it. We're not happy with the level of where inventory is.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

We're certainly taking action to make sure that we balance production versus just producing on open order type items and things that are must stock or that are under a container program, etc. We had taken some actions in anticipation of the tariffs. I think we're, let's say, well stocked in a critical environment. We're going to be doing some things to work that down. I think that's probably high at this point. Certainly, we're going to work to get those inventory levels probably back at least back into the $80 million.

Mark Smith
Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Okay. If I squeeze in one more here, have you seen any change yet in kind of buying in Latin America, or is it still kind of skittish there today?

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

We are starting to see some movement in Latin America. We had some delays in shipments, particularly in the fire space that we're going to see in the second half of the year. We're very comfortable with that because obviously we've got a line of sight of that. Latin America has got a very close relationship with end users, and they are in a place where we're striving to be, particularly on the industrial side in North America, where they've got strong relationships with end users. They've also got some visibility on the industrial side. Roger made the point that we're going to see some substantial recovery, but not enough to get where we needed them to be earlier in the year.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

We're not going to make up for all the lost value that we anticipated in the year, but we're going to see a substantial catch-up in the second half. We are now sort of twice a week checking in with LATAM and where they are, and getting very comfortable with where they're driving us.

Mark Smith
Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets

Excellent. Thank you, guys.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, that's star one to be placed for the question queue. Our next question is coming from Gerard J. Sweeney from ROTH Capital Partners. Your line is now live.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Hi, Gerard.

Gerry Sweeney
MD & Senior Research Analyst at Roth Capital Partners, LLC

Good afternoon, Jim. Hey, Jim, Roger. How are you guys doing?

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Good afternoon.

Gerry Sweeney
MD & Senior Research Analyst at Roth Capital Partners, LLC

I wanted one more question on tariffs, but maybe from a different angle. I'm just curious. Obviously, you kind of outlined the impact on margins, etc., but I'm wondering about maybe just more normalization, maybe from two perspectives. One, your client perspective, are they getting more comfortable with what's going on and sales are picking up? Obviously, we see some decent organic sales, etc., but even secondarily internally, right? You're a global company. You are small cap, micro cap. Are you getting used to some of the variations and variability in tariffs and just getting your arms around it, manpower, which, you know, potentially could take away from sales optimization and just running the everyday business?

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

You know.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Jerry, that's an interesting question. I think the answer is we are getting used to the uncertain environment. We are certainly coping with it, I think, in a much better way than maybe we were even 90 days ago. Operations has a lot of initiatives that they're working on, from our Lean Six Sigma initiatives that we're working through, to shipping costs, warehousing consolidations. Those things serve to benefit the bottom line, and they may not be an immediate quick fix, although some of them can be, as we witnessed in the equipment consolidation in Arkansas and the haul closure. Those are things that longer term will continue to be focused on.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

The reality is once the tariffs are finalized, either the Supreme Court says one thing or the other, it will be a one-time reality that we all, from a competitive landscape, will deal with for that annual period, and then we'll get through it. It will be a different world. I see a light at the end of the tunnel here. I really do. I'm very optimistic with how we're handling it, and you're right. We are trying to, you know, we get a punch, we think a punch is coming with a right hand and it comes from a left hand. We do have to adjust. I'm really pleased with how we're adjusting. Now, if I can just get the end user customer to stop saying, "Well, let's wait until next month to see what the tariff looks like," that's going to help a lot.

Gerry Sweeney
MD & Senior Research Analyst at Roth Capital Partners, LLC

Got it. I apologize. I'm not sure if this was asked. You talked about RFPs coming out, and they were a little bit slower than you probably anticipated. Maybe a little bit more color on what you're seeing and just a little bit more confidence in terms of how that's going to develop. I'm not sure if they've been issued and you're applying for them or what have you.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

We're in the throes of several of them at this point. As I've said before, these things sort of ebb and flow. We're seeing real activity, but that activity will likely hit end of this fiscal year, early into next year. The good news is that we've got lots of inventory to roll out to entice folks to purchase. We've acquired what I would call sort of products that don't necessarily need to wait on an RFP, a helmet, a glove, a hood, a boot. Those are things the firefighters, just like my wife, they lose gloves, and they got to go buy more. It's not, and so those are things that my Senior Sales Leadership is driving their team to do. We've tried things like tariff-free sales, and we're seeing some movement with that.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

As we start getting those consistent sales with some of those products, and you get a tender that hits, we have one in the UK. We think we've got real positive signs on where we're going to be with that just because we've had prior relationships there. We've got a few in Europe, several in Asia, and in the APAC region, and more in all the other regions that we reside with that portfolio. We're going to see some pops as a result of that. I would expect those into next year. The other thing is that as we continue to grow the service business, this recurring revenue model that I think we all love, we'll see that in the coming months, hopefully in North America as an add-on to what we're doing in Australia and Hong Kong.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Obviously, the goal for me is to have a significant amount of that services-driven decontamination revenue recurring for us, driving other opportunities.

Gerry Sweeney
MD & Senior Research Analyst at Roth Capital Partners, LLC

Got it. No, that's helpful. I certainly appreciate, you know, tariffs. We come into the office every day and we see different headlines. I get being in the trenches can be challenging. We definitely appreciate that. Maybe a question for Roger. OpEx expense, I think you highlighted $1 million worth of savings, but you know, targeting $3 million, I think, in the second half of this fiscal year. As much as you can say, what are some of those, what is the $3 million and sort of what is the timeline? Are they going to come towards the end of the year or sometime in the, you know, fiscal Q3 and then some more in fiscal Q4?

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Yeah, I think it's going to be probably consistent over the rest of the year because the way you think about it is we really started this initiative about halfway through the current quarter, and I think we made pretty tremendous progress over, say, half of June and all of July. There are other things, for example, like the whole warehouse lease that really didn't even have an impact in Q2 that will start over the rest of the year. I would expect to see it pretty consistently over the rest of the year. Like I said, we had targeted four. We hope it will actually be more than that. We've got $1.1 million of it in the barn so far, and just got to keep on executing. To that point, we really haven't stopped either.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

We've identified some big rocks, but we're still chipping away and working on some things.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

We're working on some consolidation of warehousing in different parts of the world that my ops team has been looking at. We're looking at even local shipping, sort of consolidating that into one shipper. Those things are saving money, $50,000 in this area and $100,000 in this area, and then all of a sudden it adds up.

Gerry Sweeney
MD & Senior Research Analyst at Roth Capital Partners, LLC

I get it. Okay, I appreciate that. All right, I'll jump back in queue. I appreciate it, guys.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Thank you.

Roger Shannon
Roger Shannon
CFO & Corporate Secretary at Lakeland Industries

Thanks, Jerry.

Operator

Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further closing comments.

James Jenkins
James Jenkins
President, CEO & Executive Chairman at Lakeland Industries

Thank you, Operator. Thank you all for joining us for today's call. Thank you to our customers and distributor partners worldwide for trusting us with your lives and safety. Lakeland continues to be well-positioned for long-term growth. If we're unable to answer any of your questions today, please reach out to our IR firm, MZ Group, who would be more than happy to assist. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference webcast. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.

Executives
    • James Jenkins
      James Jenkins
      President, CEO & Executive Chairman
    • Roger Shannon
      Roger Shannon
      CFO & Corporate Secretary
Analysts
    • Michael Shlisky
      MD & Senior Equity Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson
    • Mark Smith
      Senior Research Analyst at Lake Street Capital Markets
    • Gerry Sweeney
      MD & Senior Research Analyst at Roth Capital Partners, LLC
Powered by Quartr