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spk02: Greetings and welcome to Liat Corporation's second quarter 2022 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Michael Mason, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
spk00: Thanks, Maria. Good morning and welcome to the Liat Corporation Investor Conference call to discuss the financial results for the second quarter 2022. The company issued a press release today, Thursday, August 11, at 8 a.m. Eastern, and also filed its report with the SEC. The press release is posted on Liat's website at liat-corp.com. This call is being broadcast live and may be accessed on the company's website. An audio replay of this call will be available for seven days and may be accessed from North America by calling 1-844-512-2921 or 1-412-317-6671 for international callers. The replay PIN number is 1-373-1945. A replay of the webcast will be available immediately following this call and will continue for 30 days. Certain statements in this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the call. Liet Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update such statements made in this call. Please refer to the complete cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements in today's press release dated August 11, 2022. The company will make a presentation on the quarterly results and then open the call to questions. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Sean McDonald, CEO of Liat Corporation. Good afternoon to you in Cape Town, Sean.
spk01: Good morning, and thank you, Mike, and thank you all for joining us this morning. The results of the 2022 second quarter once again demonstrates our ability to grow revenue, gain sales traction in important product categories, and continue our momentum in building Liat's as a consumer brand recognized for innovation and exhilaration globally. The second quarter was our 17th consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth. Consumers continue to participate in outdoor riding activities, a global trend that we expect to continue. Our MTB and motor distribution partners and dealer customers around the world are enthusiastic about the momentum and penetration that the Lear brand and our head-to-toe offerings of exceptional protective gear have achieved over the past several quarters. Total revenues for the quarter were $17.94 million, which in terms of growth was lower than previous extraordinary quarters, but was still up 25% over the 2021 second quarter. Gross profit and net income were also up by double digits compared to the second quarter of 2021. For the first six months of 2022, total revenue was $42.2 million, up by 55% compared to $27.2 million for the same period last year. Net income for the first six months was $6.9 million, up by 55% as compared to the same period last year. And basic earnings per share increased to $1.20 compared to 82 cents for the same period last year. We continue to achieve double-digit revenue growth in all of our expanding product categories, with the exception of our most established category, neck braces, where sales decreased this quarter compared to a very strong 2021 second quarter. Apparel, helmet, and off-road motorcycle boot sales have been particularly strong, energizing our entire team and our international distribution network. We are continuing to build out a global team of sales and brand managers, who are focused on regional marketing dynamics and support for our distribution partners and dealer networks. Building a multinational sales organization that is regionally relevant and can operate on a global scale has become an important revenue driver for Liat, and perhaps more importantly, a key tool to deliver exceptional consumer engagement. International revenues continue to grow, with $13.9 million in total international revenues for the 2022 second quarter, up 45% over the same period last year. Although sales in the US did contract as a result of industry-wide logistical import challenges that created some stocking issues and ultimately affected our dealers' ability to reorder, these delays have started to ease as we continue to drive consumer demand to stores with coordinated marketing campaigns designed to relieve congestion. In addition, we are investing heavily in our US sales and distribution capacity to reach a wider group of motor and MTB dealers around the country. Our new Reno, Nevada warehouse is also fully up and running, and we have grown our warehouse headcount by 30% over the past year to be able to ship stock to our customers efficiently. We believe that Liat USA is now well stocked with fast-moving items that should cover stock requirements and dealer promotions very well into the rest of the year. Our entire team remains focused on our ability to gain brand and revenue traction while striving for excellence in operating efficiency, controlling costs, and investing in key growth areas in the midst of a widespread global inflationary environment. Operating expenses increased by 28%, driven by our investments in sales and distribution channels and marketing campaigns designed to build a global sustainable consumer brand. These are investments that we believe will continue to fuel global growth moving forward. Of course, we will continue to monitor customer stocking, consumer buying patterns, and worldwide geopolitical and economic risks, as well as potential lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic that may result in potential headwinds. Our team remains committed to building Liat on a sustainable basis, that creates lasting, ongoing shareholder value. Now let me turn to a bit more detail on our product sales. Sales of our body armor products, including chest protectors, full upper body protectors, back protectors, knee braces, knee and elbow guards, off-road motorcycle boots, and mountain biking shoes grew by 11% to $9.5 million, representing 53% of our revenues for the 2022 second quarter. The increase was primarily the result of a continued strong global demand for our off-road motorcycle boots and upper body protective gear. For the first six months of 2022, sales of our body armor products totaled $21.99 million, a 38% increase over the same period last year. The increase was primarily the result of continued shipments of our footwear category consisting of off-road motorcycle boots and mountain biking shoes, and continued demand for our innovative upper body and limb protectors. Our helmet sales for the 2022 second quarter totaled $2.38 million, a 152% increase over last year. The increase was primarily due to a strong increase in sales of our expanded and redesigned motor helmet line for off-road motorcycle use to customers in the US and abroad. For the first six months, helmet sales totaled $8.07 million, a 214% increase over the last year. This increase was due to continued strong demand for our award-winning MTE helmet line designed for a wide range of riders and continued demand for our redesigned motor helmet line for off-road motorcycle use. Second quarter 2022 sales of our other parts and accessories category consisting of goggles, hydration bags, and apparel, including pants, shorts, jackets, and aftermarket support items, totaled $4.73 million, an increase of 51% over last year. And for the first six months of 2022, other parts and accessories sales totaled $9.26 million, a 79% increase over last year. The increase in sales of our other parts and accessories in both periods was primarily due to continued strong demand for our motor and MTB technical apparel lines for off-road motorcycle and mountain biking use. Now I will provide a bit more detail on our financial results for the second quarter of 22. Total revenues for the 22 second quarter increased to $17.9 million, up by 25% compared to $14.3 million for the second quarter of 21. Gross profit for the second quarter increased to $7.6 million, up 23% compared to $6.2 million for the second quarter of 21. Our Net Brace products continue to generate a higher gross profit margin than our other product categories, and although Net Brace revenues accounted for 7% and 11% of our revenues for the quarters ended June 30, 22, and 21 respectively, our gross profit remained consistent. with the 21 period due to a stabilization in global and domestic shipping and logistic costs. Income from operations for the 2022 second quarter increased to $3.7 million, up by 18% compared to $3.1 million for the second quarter of 21. And net income increased to $2.7 million, up by 13% compared to $2.4 million the second quarter of 21, and represented a 15% return on revenues. Liat continued to meet his working capital needs from cash on hand and internally generated cash flow from operations, and on June 30, 2022, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $4.95 million and a current ratio of 3.8 to 1. So to summarize, The second quarter of 2022 was another exceptional quarter in terms of global brand development, growth and sales traction. We expect consumers to continue to actively participate in outdoor riding activities. Most of our important product categories continue to experience double-digit growth, and we have created an exciting pipeline of new, innovative and consumer-centric products that are well differentiated from our competitors and rigorously tested by our team of dedicated product developers, engineers, and passionate family of professional riders and athletes. While we are making important progress, we are very aware of potential economic headwinds that may surface in the current environment. That said, we remain enthusiastic about our ability to continue realizing gains. Many of our popular newly launched products are still in their infancy in terms of market share. and their potential to meet the needs of riders at all levels around the world. As always, we'd like to thank our entire Lear family, our dedicated employees, business partners, and team riders for their continued efforts and support in making Lear the success that it is now. With that, I'll turn the call over for questions. Operator?
spk02: At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate that your line is in the question queue. You may press star two if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. One moment, please, while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from Christopher Mueller. Please proceed with your question.
spk03: Hi, Sean. I hope you're doing well. Congrats on the continued progress in the second quarter.
spk06: Thanks very much, Chris. Nice to hear from you.
spk03: Hey, just a few questions for you today.
spk04: First, could you provide a bit more color around what you're seeing in the U.S. market? I know you mentioned port congestion creating some restocking issues, but at the same time, inventory remains quite elevated from a year ago. So I guess I'm just trying to understand whether demand is also softer in the U.S. than you're seeing in other markets, or is if you're really just expecting some stronger quarters ahead as those logistics issues ease.
spk05: One moment, please. We are experiencing some technical difficulties.
spk02: Okay. We're just going to go back into Q&A right now. Thank you for your patience.
spk05: Thank you.
spk02: Go ahead. Go ahead, sir.
spk01: Hi, Chris. Sorry we lost you there for a second. I'm sorry, the line, we're not sure what happened. But it's not personal, so please continue with your question.
spk04: Yeah, I was nervous there for a minute. Yeah, just to see if you could provide a bit more color around what you're seeing in the U.S. market. You mentioned port congestion and restocking issues. But at the same time, inventory is quite a bit higher than a year ago. So I'm just trying to understand whether – demand in the U.S. is softer than you're seeing in other markets, or if you're expecting a return to stronger U.S. growth as those logistics issues ease?
spk01: Yes. So, to give you some color, I mean, obviously, it's a good question. And, you know, what we've really seen is an industry-wide – a bit of stocking congestion that started at the end of 21 when we had congestion inside the actual ports and there were some trucking delays. And it traditionally would take three to four days to get stock out of a port and into our warehouse and then obviously in turn into the dealers. And this started taking four, five, six weeks. And it was quite unpredictable in terms of the stock that was coming out. So what happened was there was a delay really across the industry. This wasn't just Lear. This was many brands. And then a lot of the stock kind of arrived at the same time on the dealer's doorstep. And then they had to digest a lot of stock at the same time. And that is what they are currently doing. They are digesting the stock. There are still feet in the stores. that are buying stocks. Demand is still there. People are still participating in outdoor activities and are still riding. But there's a bit of an overhang, which, I mean, the original cause really was the poor congestion due to the dynamics that COVID presented. But it created a stock overhang that was industry-wide, All the brands have felt something similar, and we are now pushing hard in order to stimulate demand as much as possible so that the stock that is currently in the dealers can be digested, can move through into the market, and we can then carry on with restocking. So delays have now decreased. We've started to see a pickup. We're obviously in Q3 now, so we have started to see a pickup now in what we are able to ship to our dealers. And, of course, our stock levels are at a level where we can supply stock into the dealers and we can take advantage of some nice promotional opportunities that are out there. So, you know, things are starting to look a bit more positive now because the congestion has started to clear.
spk04: That's good to hear. And I guess more broadly, not just in the U.S., but also abroad, do you see opportunities to increase inventory turns from here? It would seem that with the strong growth in categories such as apparel, as well as the growing e-commerce channel, these things might... benefit inventory turns going forward. Would you say that's a reasonable expectation?
spk01: Yes, I think so. I think the kinds of products that we're selling now lend themselves to better turnovers just because some of them are more seasonal than others that we've had in the past. So we hope to see better stock turnovers as we continue now.
spk04: Okay. And it was good to see you back at the Eurobike conference, you know, finally returned last month. I don't believe you'd even debuted the shoe line yet at the time of the prior conference before COVID. Are there any broad takeaways from your meetings there? How is the 2023 line generally being received?
spk01: So I think, you know, in terms of Lietz positioning, I managed to meet with a lot of our largest customers at Eurobike, which is really, really great because it's the first time that I've been able to travel since COVID with all of the restrictions. And the takeaway really is that Liat as a brand is doing very well for all of our customers around Europe and in the rest of the world. We had some South American customers there. We had some Australian customers. And so Liat is certainly a standout brand in terms of our penetration into the various different markets. Consumers love our products. They're very attracted to the brand. The line was very well received. I think people were refreshed to see that we really have developed into a strong MTB brand as well now. And if you look at our product categories, you know, it's not just a couple of helmets and some protection and a neck brace anymore. We've really got a full head-to-toe offering. And certainly the dealers that attended the show, many of them were very pleasantly surprised that Lyot has got such a full offering, which, of course, is really important because it means that we're an important source of revenue to the dealers and they can really invest in the brand. So that's Lear's positioning in the market. Products well-received, brand very exciting, brand positioning. We're starting to take some market shares from some important players, and we've become a very well-respected brand, particularly in the European MTB sector, which is a very competitive sector. So we're very excited about that, and our customers are very enthusiastic about that. Of course, in Europe, there are some, if you call them geopolitical and macroeconomic issues. I mean, there's widespread inflation everywhere. We also have got, which has affected, obviously, currencies. The dollar has been very strong, which does affect retail pricing in Europe. So those issues are all raised and they're put on the table. Our distributors are themselves monitoring their stock levels very closely because they We have had such a spike in revenues, and they are doing extremely well out of Liat, but they also are monitoring stock levels, looking at stock turnovers very carefully, looking at how much they have invested and how quickly they can turn that around. So there's a cautious optimism with our distributors in terms of economically how things are going to go. When you have a situation of close to currency parity between the euro and the dollar, of course, that does make things a little bit more expensive in European terms. So we're all watching quite closely what impact that will have on revenues moving forward, our revenues and also the revenues of our various big customers out there in Europe.
spk04: That's good to hear. And just lastly, if I may, I was happy to see the Shorefoot partnership extended to the U.S. How is that going at North Star? Have you received any feedback yet? And, you know, do you see an opportunity for this allocation?
spk01: Absolutely. So we've had very good feedback. I mean, it's really nice, you know, to engage with consumers. And, again, the consumers get a real good touchpoint of the Liat brand, which is fantastic. It is a strong consumer group for us. We've had really, really positive feedback. Of course, there are other locations around the world. I've had some suggestions in terms of some other European locations. We certainly are looking into that because I think it's a win-win situation for Liat, for the end consumer, and also for the various stores out there. certainly something which we are looking at.
spk03: Great. Well, thanks again, Sean. I'm sure we'll speak again soon.
spk01: Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Chris. I'll chat to you soon.
spk02: Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the end of the question and answer session, and I would now like to turn the call back over to Sean McDonald for closing remarks.
spk06: Thanks for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again to recap the third quarter of 2022.
spk02: This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time.
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