5/12/2026

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Emily Beynon
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© transcript Emily Beynon Thank you for your continued patience.

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Emily Beynon
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speaker
Aaron
Conference Operator

Hello, and welcome, everyone, joining today's Liat Corporation first quarter 2026 results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. To register to ask a question at any time, please press star, then one, on your telephone keypad. Please note, this call is being recorded. We are standing by should you need any assistance. It is now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to Michael Mason, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

speaker
Michael Mason
Investor Relations

Thanks, Aaron. Good morning and welcome to the Liat Corporation Investor Conference Call to discuss the financial results for the first quarter of 2026. The company issued a press release today, Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 8 a.m. Eastern, and 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 1-1-1-61813. A replay of the webcast will be available immediately following this call and will continue for seven days. Certain statements in this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this call. LEAD 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 May 12, 2026. 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 the F Corporation. Good afternoon to you in Cape Town, Sean.

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

Good morning, and thank you, Mike, and thank you all for joining us today. The first quarter of 2026 was a great start to the year for our company. Strong revenue growth continues as global demand for our products fueled robust reordering patterns, and domestic sales showed very encouraging traction at the dealer and consumer levels. We continue to accelerate our investments in developing emerging markets, as well as in developing Liat as a global consumer brand that compels riders to engage with us. Global revenues for the first quarter were $19.51 million, an increase of 27% compared to the first quarter of 2025. Consumer direct sales increased by 49%. which we believe is a testament to the tremendous momentum of the Leith brand at the consumer level. International sales to our distribution partners increased by 24%. Dealer direct sales increased by 30% as our reorganized and re-energized motor and MTB domestic sales force continues to develop and build a strong, sustainable, and committed dealer network and gain substantial traction with our head-to-toe product offerings. We grew revenues year over year in all of our major product categories. Helmet revenues increased by 59%, neck brace revenues increased by 7%, body armor revenues increased by 25%, and other product parts and accessory revenues increased by 9%. Net income for the quarter was $1.77 million, an increase of 58% over the 2025 first quarter, and income before tax was $2.39 million, an increase of $880,000. Gross profit as a percentage of sales remained stable at 44% as domestic sales continued to grow, and we continued to ship our newer products and improve global logistics efficiencies. Despite strong investments in our marketing and selling capabilities, product and brand development that will fuel future growth, cash increased by $3.96 million to $17.19 million, with cash flows provided by operations of $4.55 million. We do expect working capital investments to grow in the coming periods, as ordering patents continue to signal growth, and we have sufficient liquidity to fuel this growth. We are continuing our previously announced board-authorized share repurchase program of up to $750,000 of outstanding Leith Commons stock. This demonstrates our continued confidence in the strength of our company and our business plan, as well as our commitment to enhance long-term shareholder value. Now I will turn to more details on sales of our product categories for the first quarter of 2026. Sales of our flagship neck brace, designed to prevent potentially devastating sports injuries to the cervical spine, worth $730,000, a 7% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025, The increase was primarily due to an 11% increase in the volume of neck braces sold. Neck braces represented 4% of revenues for the quarter. Our body armor products are comprised of chest protectors, full upper body protectors, knee braces, knee and elbow guards, off-road motorcycle boots, and mountain biking shoes. Body armor revenues were $8.59 million, a 25% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025, This increase was primarily due to a 54% increase in the volume of footwear sales in the quarter, comprising of motorcycle boots and mountain biking shoes. Body armor products represented 44% of our revenues for the first quarter. Helmet sales totaled $5.39 million, a 69% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025. The increase in helmet sales was primarily due to a 61% increase in sales of helmets designed for mountain biking and adventure motorcycle riding. Helmet sales represented 28% of our revenues for the quarter. Our other products, parts, and accessories category is comprised of goggles, hydration bags, and apparel items including jerseys, pants, shorts, and jackets, sunglasses, bicycle components, as well as aftermarket support items. The category This category was worth $4.8 million in sales, a 9% increase compared to the first quarter of 2025, primarily due to a 152% increase in the sale of eyewear, including sunglasses and goggles. Other products, parts, and accessories represented 24% of our revenues for the quarter. Now I will turn to our financial results in a bit more detail. Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2026, when $19.51 million, a 27% increase, compared to revenues of $15.37 million for the same 2025 quarter. This increase in worldwide revenues is primarily attributable to a $1.99 million increase in helmet sales, $1.72 million increase in body armor sales, a $380,000 increase in other product parts and accessory sales, and a $50,000 increase in net gross sales. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2026, was $1.77 million, or $0.28 per basic and $0.27 per diluted share, a 58% increase compared to $1.12 million for the same 2025 quarter. Viet continued to meet its working capital needs from cash on hand and internally generated cash flow from operations. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash increased by $3.96 million, or 50%, for the three months ended March 31, 2026, when compared to $13.23 million of cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash on hand at December 31, 2025, and a current ratio of 8.2 to 1. Looking forward, our entire team is excited about the future of Lear. While there are some potentially challenging global headwinds, domestic sales are gaining traction, consumer participation remains strong, and international ordering patterns remain robust, all driven by strong global demand for our products. There is real excitement about the Lear brand in the U.S. I have just attended the 2026 U.S. National Sales Meeting. And I've returned energized and encouraged by the strength of the team that we have built and their strong culture of results-driven collaboration. On the marketing front, we are elevating everything, athletes, content, media impact, and people. I'm very enthusiastic about sharing the results of this shift in the coming quarters. We have recently sponsored the NewProof team, which is proving to be an extremely strong partnership that we believe will result in disruptive content and consumer engagement well beyond our previous capabilities. In conclusion, we are very excited about our future. With a focus on investing in our innovative product portfolio, a drive to accelerate and amplify our brand to meet a much wider rider audience, and a robust balance sheet to fuel growth, we remain confident that we are well positioned for future growth and shareholder value. As always, we'd like to thank our entire Liat family, our dedicated employees, business partners, and team riders for their continued strong support. With that, I'd like to turn the call over for questions. Operator?

speaker
Aaron
Conference Operator

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, press star 1 on your keypad. To leave the queue at any time, press star 2. Once again, that is star 1 to ask a question. And we'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone a chance to queue. And we can take our first question from investor Oliver Colombo. Your line is open.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Good afternoon, Sean.

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

Hello, Olivier. How are you?

speaker
Oliver Colombo
Investor

Doing fine, thanks. And you? Congratulations on the very impressive Q1.

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

speaker
Oliver Colombo
Investor

I had three questions for you this afternoon. The first one is regarding your comments on the share buyback that you just mentioned. I didn't hear it properly. Are you initiating a $750 million share buyback, or did I not understand correctly?

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

No. So we're going to be – we still have some funds available as part of the original $750,000 that we originally announced, and we're going to continue buying back shares to the limit of $750,000 in total.

speaker
Oliver Colombo
Investor

Perfect. Thank you very much. I had a question regarding the helmet revenues that increased 59% this quarter, which is quite impressive, and now represent 28% of the overall revenues. So it looks like the mountain bike and the adventure side went very well. How did the Motocross helmet perform during that period?

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

I mean, still strong, but not as strong as MTB and ADV during the period. I mean, I think You know, Moto is our most established category or market since we started in Moto. So although we obviously are still growing there, we are seeing slightly stronger growth levels on the ADV, which is a lot newer, and the MTB category. But certainly, no issues on the motor side. Still a very viable area for Lear, and motor helmet sales are expected to continue to grow. We've got some really interesting products coming in the pipeline, which I think are going to stimulate the growth there as well. So certainly, maybe didn't grow quite as strongly as ADV and MTB, but still looking really good at Lear.

speaker
Oliver Colombo
Investor

Excellent. Thank you very much. And my last question is regarding the international sales that were very good once more. Which regions or channels are showing the strongest demand right now? And where do you see the biggest white space opportunity?

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

It's really interesting. Actually, we're seeing strong growth in Europe. in Latin America, in the UK, you know, in Eastern Europe. We've got some really good growth levels in Eastern Europe as well and in Australia. So actually, I mean, this is really across the board. International sales is in emerging markets and in more developed markets where we, you know, like, for example, in the UK on the mountain biking side, we've got a new distributor there that's going really, really well for us. We continue to sell to Eastern Europe. It's still a strong and viable market for us. And Europe in general still remains a really strong area for us across all of our core markets. So I'd say across the border, Olivier, there's no single area that stands out as contributing in excess of the kind of growth that we're seeing in all of the countries on the international side. Still a lot of potential in those areas.

speaker
Oliver Colombo
Investor

Okay. Thank you very much. That's very helpful. And I wish you and your team a very good Q2 as well. Thank you very much.

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you so much, Olivier.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And there are no additional questions at this time. I'd like to turn the program back over to Sean McDonald for any closing remarks.

speaker
Sean McDonald
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you all for joining us today. We are looking forward to our next call to review the results of the 2026 second quarter.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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