Lakeland Industries, Inc.

Good day and welcome to the Lakeland Fire and Safety 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. On this call, we'll also discuss financial measures derived from our financial statements that are not determined in accordance with the 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 Fire and Safety's President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman, Jim Jenkins. and Chief Financial Officer and Security Secretary, Roger Shannon. Mr. Jenkins, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss the results of our fiscal 2026 second quarter and the July 31, 2025. We continue to build momentum in the second quarter of 2026, despite the challenging tariff environment, as we focus 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. 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. Margins in the acquired businesses were impacted by increased material costs and amortization of the write-up and inventory as part of purchase accounting. A largely anticipated $3.1 million boot order through Jolly Scarpe 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 JOLI boot 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. market in the first half of 2026. YALI's 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 support our M&A activity. The sale was part of the company's previously disclosed financial and operational initiatives aimed at streamlining global operations and improving profitability. Lakeland has begun a search for a new upgraded warehouse, logistics, and lab facility in a more strategic location to replace the Decatur facility. Combined with our previously announced closures, which include the planned closures of our warehouse facility in Hull, England, and Viridian Manufacturer 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 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. 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. 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 services 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. Efforts to integrate and optimize our recent fire services product acquisitions are going well. We are particularly excited about our recent Viridian 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 five-minute fire market, we are continuing to pursue M&A opportunities within the fire suit rental, decontamination, and services business, particularly within the United States. Our acquisition pipeline remains strong with its 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. With the four recently completed acquisitions, which added product line extensions, either 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.

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 from 35.9 percent from 39.6 percent for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, while our adjusted gross margin decreased to 37.4 percent as compared to 41.4 percent 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 the second quarter of fiscal 2026, primarily due to inorganic growth. Net income was $800,000 or eight cents per basic and diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2026, compared to a net loss of $1.4 million or 19 cents 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 31st, 2025, compared to $17.5 million on January 31st, 2025. 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 for $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. Sales to the fire services product line increased by $13.6 million year-over-year, driven by $5.2 million in sales from Viridian and a net increase in sales of $7.3 million from LHD and Jolly, as well as organic fire services 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. Adjusted gross profit is 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 but 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. 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 $600,000 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. It increased 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%. Revenue for the trailing 12 months in the July 31st, 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 services acquisitions supporting Lakeland's continued revenue growth. Threading 12 months adjusted EBITDA, excluding the impacts of FX, was $16.5 million, compared to $14.5 million for the prior quarter's drilling 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 requires some time, we believe the resulting synergies and efficiencies will begin to translate into even stronger financial performance in the coming quarters. 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 and 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. Adjusted gross margins did increase sequentially by 220 basis points as previously mentioned from the first quarter of fiscal 2026 due primarily to anticipated partial reversal of the purchase price variance expense recognized and 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 viridian and lower profit in the 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. Reviewing our performance for the second quarter, our most recent acquisition, Viridian, 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 services 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, and our recently acquired LHC business, grew 113% to $15.1 million. We continue to see very good sales opportunities in Europe and are committed to its growth trajectory. 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% of sales.

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 of 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. 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 26, 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, JALI, LHD Australia, and Viridian, 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. $6.4 million of the acquired inventory's increase came from viridian acquisition, and LHD'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 are $33.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 26, 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.

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 services, 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 services 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 services and industrial PPE verticals through our strategically located company-owned capital light model. By maintaining its focus on operating and manufacturing efficiencies, we believe we are positioned to grow faster than the markets we serve. Our acquisition 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 services 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 million 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. 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 9th Annual Best Ideas Growth Big 9 Conference this Thursday in New York City. and the D.A. Davidson 24th Annual Diversified Industrials and Services Conference next week in Nashville, Tennessee. With that, we will now open the call for questions. Operator?

Thank you. We're now conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to be placed in the question queue, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 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 Mike Schleske from DA Davis, Interlight is not live.

Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. Hey, Mike. Hey, there. I wanted 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 numbers later, but roughly $8 million and a quarter in EBITDA to round out the, you know, 20 to 24 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. Is that the right run rate to, like, look at beyond 25 into 27? And in this sense, I swear, are there any large lumps year over year in the fiscal 27 outlook?

Hey, Mike, it's Roger.

I don't believe that's going to be the right run race. 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 LATAM in Mexico. We talked about very nice, strong growth in the U.S., resumption in growth really in most areas around the world. And even that comes during a period where we're seeing fire services, large tenders and RFPs in both the U.S. and Europe come out, roll out at a slower pace than expected due to different types of physical policy in Europe as well as just kind of some weighting in the U.S. So, you know, even with that, we were pleased with U.S. performance. But if you look at, you know, what we had in LATAM with almost 4 million kind of down year over year, that region specifically has kind of taken a a larger share of the impact. And 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 US and fire services and in Europe, we expect that RFP activity to pick up. And we expect LATAM 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.

Okay, got it.

And the organic growth of 14% seems very strong as well. In trying to untangle the full-year outlook and kind of the longer-term trends, what's your up-to-date expectation for full-year organic growth and kind of the broader, into fiscal 27, the approximate organic growth that you might be expecting?

You know, I think that, I think those,

percentages are still pretty consistent with kind of mid-teens in the organic growth. Again, 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 services RFPs and certain large orders that we believe are kind of backlogged and expect to hit, that could increase in this year. We're just not with it yet.

I mean, Mike, there's some lumpiness. Obviously, as I've said this before on the fire, there's lumpiness in that revenue. So you could get some quarters where you do see mid-teens organic growth followed by a lower number. I'm still staying with the high single-digit, low double-digit organic growth. That's what we're modeling. That's what we're striving towards. And 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.

Okay, got it. Just one last one. You mentioned in your comments 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 in that termination? Do you have any deals that might be more imminent than others or is still very much in the early stages for

We're in the throes of, I mean, 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 that 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. As I said, those are going to be smaller deals than the deals we've been doing historically, but from a strategic perspective, very important to us. As I said, 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. So, you know, I think that when we say the acquisition pipeline is robust, it's also imminent.

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

Thank you. Thank you. Next question is coming from Mark Smith from Lake Street Capital. Your line is now live. Hi, guys.

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

Yeah, the tariffs, that's a great question, great point. I appreciate you bringing that up. The impact of the tariffs is, during this past quarter was about 1.2 margin points. And a large portion of that's 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 So 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 July, the most recent month, or even in August, really, as we look at that, that is starting to balance out more. So the benefit of the price increases is really kind of catching up more to the impact of the tariffs. 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 from Q1 that kind of got us back into the higher 30s. But we do anticipate improvement in gross margin over Q1. over the coming quarters. 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.

Okay.

While we're on that, just as we look at the inventories, 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?

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 real line of sight on opportunities in both the high performance and the turnaround business, which I think we talked about earlier about some buildup associated with that. You know, we've identified LHD in Australia. They've got a buildup of inventory similarly in the high-performance area as well that we would expect to move downward. And then Jolly's got additional buildup in some boots that they have in stock that will be doing some promotionals, introducing some new boots into new customers in Jolly to help drive that activity. But, yeah, I want that inventory to turn into cash as quickly as I possibly can, and there's a sense of urgency here to be doing that.

And just to give you some indication, 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. But just for some context, For Q2, our high-performance business was up 64% year-over-year, almost a million dollars. And then even over quarter one, it was up 39% over quarter one. So we're seeing some acceleration in that. Our disposables business was overall was up 12% year-over-year. Of course, fire, we talked about chemicals up 7% year-over-year. It really is that. Wovens in in LATAM and I think there is also inventory associated with that That you know that will will and needs to move but there's you know, I really make most no mistake about it We're not happy with the level of where inventory is We're certainly certainly taking action to make sure that we balance production versus, you know, just producing on open order type items and things that are must stock or that are under a container program, et cetera. So, you know, we've taken some actions in anticipation of the tariffs. I think we're, you know, let's say well stocked and critical environment. We're gonna be doing some things to work that down if that's a problem at this point. But certainly, we're gonna work to get those inventory levels you know, probably back at least back into the 80 millions.

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

We're we are starting to see some movement in Latin America. We, you know, we, we had some delay in shipments, particularly in the fire space that we're going to see in the second half of the year that we're, we're, we're, very comfortable with because obviously we've got a lot of sight of that. Latin America has got a very close relationship with end users and they're 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. So they've also got some visibility on the industrial side. So Roger made the point, we're going to see some substantial recovery, but not enough to get where we needed them to be earlier in the year. So we're not going to make up for all the lost value that we had 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.

Excellent. Thank you, Gus.

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

Good afternoon, Jim. Hey, Jim, Roger, how are you guys doing? Fantastic. 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, et cetera, 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, et cetera. 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 that manpower, which potentially could take away from... sales, optimization, and just running the everyday business?

You know, Jerry, that's an interesting question. I think the answer is we are getting used to the uncertain environment. You know, and we are certainly coping with it, I think, in a much better way than maybe we were even 90 days ago. You know, operations has a lot of initiatives that they're working on, from our Lean Six Sigma initiative that we're working through to, you know, shipping costs, warehousing consolidations. You know, those things serve to benefit, you know, the bottom line. And they may not be an immediate quick fix, although some of them can be, as we witnessed sort of in the equipment consolidation in Arkansas. and the hall closure, those are things that longer term will continue to be focused on. And yeah, I mean, 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, and it'll be a different world. So 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, it is, we get a punch. We think a punch is coming with a right hand and it comes from a left hand. So we do have to adjust. But 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.

Got it. And I apologize, I'm not sure if this was asked, talked about RFPs coming out, and they were a little bit slower than you probably anticipated. You know, 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. Not sure if they've been issued and you're applying for them or what have you.

Well, we're in the throes of several of them at this point. And, you know, as I've said before, these things sort of ebb and flow. And we're seeing – real activity. Um, but that activity will likely hit end of this fiscal year early into next year. Um, okay. But good news is that we've got, you know, lots of inventory to roll out to, uh, to entice folks to, to purchase. Um, and you know, 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, right? Those are not a boot. You know, those are things firefighters, you know, just like my wife, they lose gloves, you know, and they got to go buy more. So it's, you know, it's not, and so those are things that, you know, my senior sales leadership is driving, is driving their team to do. You know, when we've tried things like tariff-free sales, we've, and we're seeing some, we're And then as we start getting those consistent sales with some of those products, 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. Obviously, the goal for me is to have a significant amount of that services-driven revenue decontamination revenue recurring for us, driving other opportunities.

Got it. No, that's helpful. And listen, I mean, I certainly appreciate, you know, terrorists. We come into the office every day and we see different headlines. So I get being in the trenches can be challenging. So we definitely appreciate that. Maybe a question for Roger. OpEx expense, I think you highlighted a million dollars worth of savings, but, you know, targeting 50%. three million, I think, in the second half of this fiscal year. You know, as much as you can say, you know, what are some of those, what is that three million and sort of what is the timeline? Are they going to come sort of towards the end of the year or sometime in the fiscal three Q and then some more fiscal four Q?

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 We really started this initiative about halfway through the current quarter. I think we made pretty tremendous progress over, say, half of June and all of July. And then 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. So, you know, I would expect to see it pretty consistently over the rest of the year. So, you know, like I said, we had targeted four. We hope it will actually be more than that. We've got, you know, 1.1 million of it in the barn so far. And then, you know, just kind of keep on executing. But, you know, and to that point, we really haven't stopped either. We've identified some big rocks, but we're still chipping away and working on some things.

I mean, we're working on some consolidation of warehousing in different parts of the world that my ops team has been looking at. You know, we're looking at even local shipping, you know, sort of consolidating that into one shipper. Those things, you know, that's saving money 50 grand in this area and 100 grand in this area, and all of a sudden it adds up.

Okay.

Okay. I appreciate that.

All right, I'll turn it back to you, sir. I appreciate it, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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.

Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us for today's call, and 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, and we'd be more than happy to assist. Thank you.

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