Leatt Corporation, a South African company planning to launch its first bicycle helmets at Eurobike and Interbike in coming weeks, reported its sales grew 16.6 percent in the second quarter ended June 30.


Sales reached $4.2 million, compared to $3.6 million in the second quarter of 2013 as sales of new models of its neck braces, including the first designed specifically for children, grew both in the United States and abroad, according to the company’s first earnings report since listing its shares on the OTCQB Venture Stage Marketplace. Body armor sales declined due to a shift of in timing of sales to international distributors from the second to the first quarter. Gross profit margin increased 600 basis points to 55 percent and SG&A declined in both real terms and as a percentage of sales. Those two trends helped Leatt narrow its net loss to $29,834, or a penny per share, down 95 percent from the net loss of $636,264, or 12 cents a share, reported for the second quarter of 2013. Excluding depreciation expenses, the company would have reported a profit for the quarter.


Leatt is working to leverage its success selling neck braces to motocross riders into new markets. It expects to ship its first knee brace for winter sports enthusiasts as well as salesmen’s samples of its first helmets in the fourth quarter. It will officially launch the bicycle version of the helmet at the Eurobike show in Friedrichshafen, Germany later this month and at the  Interbike show in Las Vegas in mid-September.


“Our transition from being a one-product company to being an across-the-board designer and supplier of protective gear for athletes is moving forward,” said CEO Sean Macdonald.