Leatt Swings to Q3 Profit on Earlier Shipments

Leatt Corporation, an action sports company preparing to break into the U.S. cycling helmet market, turned a profit on a 34 percent increase in sales in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2015 thanks to earlier shipments of model year 2016 products to international distributors.

The South African company reported revenue reached $4.7 million during the quarter compared with $3.5 million for the third quarter of 2014.  Leatt is best known in motocross, where its its Leatt-Brace neck brace system and body armor is widely used. It also makes protective gear for all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and other vehicles and is now pushing into the mountain and road biking market with a new line of helmets.

Net income for the 2015 third quarter was $178,966, or $0.03 per share, up 168 percent from a net loss of $263,191 or $0.05 net loss per share for the third quarter of 2014.

“We are pleased to report a very strong third quarter with a 34 percent increase in revenues and continued profitability,” said CEO Sean Macdonald.

Sales of the company's flagship neck brace for the 2015 third quarter reached $1.89 million, compared to $1.62 million in last year's third quarter.  Body armor sales for the third quarter were very strong at $2.43 million, up from $1.72 million in the third quarter 2014.  The 41 percent increase in body armor sales was primarily the result of the initial successful shipment of the company's broadened body armor line and protective gloves during the 2015 period.

Despite this increase in revenue, Leatt continued to keep operating expenses flat even as it boosted advertising and marketing by 57 percent.

“We have historically shipped our initial orders of our annual new product range to international customers in the fourth quarter of each year. Our team has been extremely focused on developing products efficiently and we are pleased to announce that we were able to ship our initial orders of our 2016 product range in the third quarter of 2015. This adjustment has been made to provide distributors with more time to stock dealers for the upcoming Christmas shopping season in line with the industry norm. We expect that this trend will continue and make the company less dependent on fourth quarter sales.”

Nine Months 2015 Financial Performance:

For the first nine months of 2015, revenues were $13.9 million, up 24 percent, as compared to $11.2 million in the same 2014 period.  As with the third quarter, the nine months benefited from increased customer demand for both major categories of products: neck braces and body armor.  Overall, neck braces sales accounted for $6.1 million and body armor sales for $6.9 million. The body armor category increased 53 percent for the period, largely a result of strong sales for the C-Frame knee brace, as well as a 66 percent increase in the volume of body armor products sold.

Gross profit for the nine months of 2015 was $7.5 million, up 23 percent from $6.1 million in 2014. For the nine months, operating expenses were down slightly compared to the previous year, primarily due to decreased general and administrative expenses.

The net income for the nine months was $657,008 or $0.13 per share, an improvement of 204 percent from a net loss of $633,911 or $0.12 net loss per share for the nine months of 2014.  The company had cash and cash equivalents of $647,191 at the end of the 2015 nine-month period, and has no long-term debt.

Business Outlook:

Leatt will commence shipment of its helmets in the fourth quarter.

“The helmet market is the largest segment of the worldwide market for protective sporting equipment ranging from the amateur to the professional,” MacDonald noted. “Although we believe that we will ship the majority of our Helmet orders during the fourth quarter of 2015, we expect to be in a position to roll out the complete range of our helmets during the first quarter of 2016.

“We are expecting our fourth quarter sales to be less robust than prior periods due to our decision to ship our initial orders of our 2016 product line during the third quarter of 2015,” MacDonald continued. “Additionally, as we continue to widen our product categories and expand our US dealer coverage, our OEM revenues are placed under pressure. Although we expect these factors to affect our fourth quarter revenues, we believe that these are short term costs of our long term strategy for sustained growth. We continue to evaluate our expenditure and costs of manufacturing closely and are committed to growing our range of innovative products in order to improve profitability for the benefit of our shareholders.”