Leatt Corporation Q1 2026 Earnings Call - Revenue Surges 27% as Consumer Direct Sales Double
Summary
Leatt Corporation delivered a commanding start to 2026, with first-quarter revenue jumping 27% year-over-year to $19.51 million. The growth was not driven by a single product line but by a broad-based expansion across helmets, body armor, and accessories. Consumer direct sales exploded by 49%, signaling a successful pivot toward building a global consumer brand that bypasses traditional wholesale channels. Net income climbed 58% to $1.77 million, proving that the company’s investments in marketing and emerging markets are translating into bottom-line results.
The company’s balance sheet remains fortress-like, with cash reserves rising to $17.19 million and a current ratio of 8.22 to 1. CEO Sean MacDonald highlighted robust international demand across Europe, Latin America, and Australia, while domestic dealer networks showed renewed vigor. Despite strong headwinds in global macroeconomic conditions, Leatt’s disciplined capital allocation and focus on high-growth segments like mountain biking and adventure riding have positioned it to outpace peers. The ongoing $750,000 share repurchase program underscores management’s confidence in the business model and its ability to generate free cash flow.
Key Takeaways
- Q1 2026 revenue reached $19.51 million, a 27% increase year-over-year, driven by strong global demand and robust reordering patterns.
- Consumer direct sales surged 49%, reflecting successful brand-building efforts and a shift toward direct-to-consumer engagement.
- Net income jumped 58% to $1.77 million, with income before tax rising to $2.39 million, demonstrating improved profitability.
- Gross profit margin held steady at 44%, supported by domestic sales growth and improved global logistics efficiencies.
- Helmet sales skyrocketed 59% to $5.39 million, accounting for 28% of total revenue, fueled by a 61% volume increase in mountain biking and adventure motorcycle helmets.
- Body armor revenues grew 25% to $8.59 million, representing 44% of total revenue, primarily driven by a 54% surge in footwear sales.
- International sales to distribution partners increased 24%, with strong growth observed across Europe, Latin America, the UK, Eastern Europe, and Australia.
- Cash and equivalents rose 30% to $17.19 million, with operating cash flow of $4.55 million, providing ample liquidity for working capital and growth investments.
- The company continues its $750,000 share repurchase program, signaling management’s confidence in long-term value creation and financial stability.
- Domestic dealer direct sales grew 30%, indicating a revitalized sales force and successful expansion of head-to-toe product offerings in the U.S. market.
Full Transcript
Operator: Hello, and welcome everyone joining today’s Leatt Corporation First Quarter 2026 results conference call. It is now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to Michael Mason, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Michael Mason, Investor Relations, Leatt Corporation: Thanks, Aaron. Good morning, welcome to the Leatt 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 8:00 A.M. Eastern, and filed this report with the SEC. The press release is posted on Leatt’s website at www.leatt-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 7 days and may be accessed from North America by calling 18445122921 or 14123176671 for international callers. The replay pin number is 11161813. A replay of the webcast will be available immediately following this call and will continue for 7 days.
Certain statements in this conference call may constitute forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this call. Leatt 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 MacDonald, CEO of Leatt Corporation. Good afternoon to you in Cape Town, Sean.
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Good morning, thank you, Michael, 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 Leatt 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 Leatt 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 patterns 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 Leatt common 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. 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 were $750,000, 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 59% 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, the category were $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. I will turn to our financial results in a bit more detail. Revenues for the 3 months ended March 31, 2026 were $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, a $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 neck brace 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. Leatt 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 30% for the 3 months ended March 31, 2026, when compared to $13.23 million of cash equivalents and restricted cash on hand at December 31, 2025 and a current ratio of 8.22:1. Looking forward, our entire team is excited about the future of Leatt. 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’s real excitement about the Leatt brand in the U.S. I’ve 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 Nukeproof team, which has proven 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, the 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 Leatt 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.
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. We can take our first question from investor Olivier Colombo. Your line is open.
Olivier Colombo, Investor: Good afternoon, Sean.
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Hello, Olivier. How are you?
Olivier Colombo, Investor: I’m doing fine, thanks. You?
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Well, thank you.
Olivier Colombo, Investor: Very impressive, Q1.
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Thank you.
Olivier 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?
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: No. We still have some funds available, as part of the original $750,000 that we originally announced, and we’re gonna continue buying back shares to the limit of $750,000 in total.
Olivier Colombo, Investor: Okay. Perfect. Thank you very much. I had a question.
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Yeah.
Olivier Colombo, Investor: The helmet revenues that increased 59% this quarter, which is quite impressive and now represent 28% of the overall revenues. It looks like the mountain bike and the adventure side went very well. How did the motocross helmet perform during that period?
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: 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. 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. Certainly, no issues on the moto side. Still a very viable area for Leatt, moto helmet sales are expected to continue to grow. We’ve got some really interesting products coming in the pipeline, which I think are gonna stimulate the growth there as well. Certainly, maybe didn’t grow quite as strongly as ADV and MTB, still looking really good, Olivier.
Olivier Colombo, Investor: Excellent. Thank you very much. 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? Where do you see the biggest white space opportunity?
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: It’s really interesting actually. We’re seeing strong growth in Europe, in Latin America, in the U.K. You know, in Eastern Europe, we’ve got some really good growth levels in Eastern Europe as well, and in Australia. 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 U.K. on the mountain biking side, we’ve got a new distributor there that’s doing really, really well for us. We continue to sell to Eastern Europe. It’s still a strong and viable market for us. Europe in general still remains a really strong area for us across all of our core markets.
I’d say across the board, 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.
Olivier Colombo, Investor: Okay. Thank you very much. That’s very helpful. I wish you and your team a very good Q2 as well. Thank you very much.
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Thank you so much, Olivier.
Operator: There are no additional questions at this time. I’d like to turn the program back over to Sean MacDonald for any closing remarks.
Sean MacDonald, Chief Executive Officer, Leatt Corporation: Thank you all for joining us today. We are looking forward to our next call to review the results of the 2026 second quarter.
Operator: Thank you. This brings us to the end of today’s meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.
