Certified Fire Portfolio Drives Customer Strong Interest and Tender Activity
Service Platform Builds Recurring Revenue Momentum
Industrial Business Stabilizing as Channel Activity in Several Regions Improves
Positioned for Stronger Second Half Margin and Revenue Conversion
Continuing Momentum for FY2027 Revenue Growth and Operating Cash Flow Targets and Positioned for Stronger Second Half of the Year
Management to Host Conference Call Today at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., June 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lakeland Industries, Inc. ("Lakeland Fire + Safety" or "Lakeland") (NASDAQ:LAKE), a leading global manufacturer of protective clothing and apparel for industry, healthcare and first responders, has reported its financial and operational results for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2026.
Key FY 2027 First Quarter Financial and Operational Highlights
Q1 Comparison
$ in millions
Q1'27
Q1'26
$ Change YoY
% Change YoY
Net Sales
$47.4
$46.7
$0.7
1.4%
Gross Profit
$14.9
$15.6
($0.8
)
(4.9%
)
Net Income (Loss)
$0.4
($3.9
)
$4.3
—%
Adjusted EBITDA(1)
$0.3
($0.2
)
$0.5
—
Adjusted EBITDA ex. FX(1)
$1.1
$0.6
$0.5
79.6%
Q1'27
Q4'26
$ Change QoQ
% Change QoQ
Adjusted Gross Margin(1)
33.6%
33.5%
—
10 BPS
(1)Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX, and Adjusted gross margin are non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations are provided in the tables of this press release.
Management Commentary
"Our first quarter results reflect continued progress across several important areas of the business as we position Lakeland Fire + Safety for stronger performance through the balance of fiscal 2027," said Jim Jenkins, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Net sales for the quarter were $47.4 million, supported by 11% growth in Fire Services. Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX came in at $1.1 million and adjusted gross margin increased modestly on a sequential basis to 33.6%, compared to 33.5% in Q4 FY26. While we continue to manage certain timing, mix, certification transition, and operational execution items, we are focused on converting visible revenue opportunities into improved profitability as the year progresses.
"Demand across our Fire Services platform remains encouraging. Our NFPA 1970:2025 certified head-to-toe fire portfolio was showcased at both FDIC 2026 and Interschutz, where customer engagement, tender activity, and sales opportunities were strong. We believe the breadth of our certified portfolio, including turnout gear, boots, gloves, hoods, and helmets, provides a meaningful competitive advantage as fire departments and distributors increasingly look for complete, reliable solutions from a global provider.
"Our Service platform also continues to build momentum as an important recurring revenue and customer retention opportunity. Our Independent Service Provider, or ISP, platform provides inspection, cleaning, repair, rental, decontamination, and related services for fire departments and other safety customers. Through this platform, we are deepening customer relationships, creating additional touchpoints with fire departments, and building a recurring service model that can support higher-margin revenue over time. We continue to believe Service can become an increasingly important differentiator for Lakeland Fire + Safety, not only as a revenue contributor, but as a way to strengthen retention, cross-selling, and long-term customer value.
"As part of this strategy, we expect to open another Independent Service Provider location in Denver, Colorado, and we are expanding our Arizona PPE facility in Phoenix to support continued growth in the western United States. We have also added a CO2 machine in Fresno, California, to enhance our decontamination capabilities and broaden the services we can provide to fire departments and first responders. The addition of CO2 decontamination capability further differentiates our service platform and strengthens our position as a full-service fire safety partner. Unlike traditional wash-only service models, integrating CO2 cleaning allows us to offer a more advanced decontamination solution designed to help remove harmful contaminants from turnout gear and related PPE while supporting faster turnaround, improved garment care, and broader customer service options. In addition, we are actively pursuing certain small, strategic M&A candidates in attractive and growing geographies within the United States, where we believe we can expand our service footprint, strengthen customer relationships, and build a more durable recurring revenue platform. We also continue to evaluate greenfield opportunities in select markets where customer demand, geographic coverage, and service density support the creation of new Lakeland Fire + Safety service locations.
"During the quarter, we completed the sale of inventory and intellectual property associated with our HPFR and HiViz product lines for $14 million yielding $13.2 million in cash proceeds after inventory adjustments. This transaction simplified the business, strengthened our balance sheet, improved liquidity, and allows us to concentrate resources more directly on our core Fire Services and industrial protective products businesses. The sale is consistent with our broader effort to reduce complexity, improve focus, and allocate capital toward the areas where we believe Lakeland has the strongest long-term growth and margin opportunities.
"In Europe, we continue to make meaningful progress repositioning LHD. We completed key operational and leadership initiatives, including the transition of LHD Germany operations to a third-party logistics model and the addition of new commercial leadership. We also relaunched the LHD brand at Interschutz. Q1 and Q2 should be viewed as transitional periods for LHD as we onboard new, highly regarded sales talent, right-size the German operation, and continue driving operational improvements. While Middle East uncertainty has temporarily slowed project timing and frozen certain regional budgets, we remain focused on converting identified opportunities, improving margins, and positioning LHD for stronger performance in the back half of FY27.
"Eagle also continues to be well positioned following its recent notification of an intended award under the National Fire Chiefs Council National Firefighter PPE Framework in the United Kingdom. We expect this tender win to create additional opportunities over time. In addition, while not always reflected directly in Eagle revenue, Eagle gloves, hoods, and turnout gear continue to gain strength in the United States, Latin America, and Asia as part of our broader global Fire portfolio.
"Backlog across our U.S. Fire business also continues to grow, including both Veridian and legacy Lakeland fire products. We view this as a positive indicator of demand, particularly as departments, distributors, and larger tender opportunities adjust to the new NFPA standards and evaluate certified product availability. We are seeing similar fire-related opportunities develop across LATAM, Mexico, and Asia, where the updated NFPA standards are creating additional customer interest in certified turnout gear, gloves, hoods, helmets, and boots. While the timing of backlog conversion can vary by customer, certification cycle, and delivery schedule, the breadth of activity reinforces our confidence in the long-term growth potential of our global Fire platform."
"At the same time, our industrial business is showing signs of improvement in areas that had previously been affected by tariff uncertainty and broader macroeconomic headwinds. Our facilities in Vietnam and China, where we produce primarily industrial products, remain at capacity, supported by improving demand and better order visibility. We are encouraged by this progress, but remain disciplined in managing production, inventory, and customer demand to ensure that improved volumes translate into stronger operating performance.
"Our disposable business also remains an important part of the portfolio. While demand has improved in certain industrial channels, we have not yet seen a meaningful recovery in the U.S. nor have we seen any meaningful uptick in oil and gas turnaround activity. We believe that our U.S. industrial business can gain traction in the latter half of FY27 and the oil and gas business remains a future opportunity as maintenance and turnaround schedules normalize, but we are taking a measured view until order patterns become more consistent. In the meantime, we are focused on channel execution, pricing discipline, inventory alignment, and positioning the U.S. disposable business to benefit when end-market demand strengthens."
"Separately, we are beginning to see emerging demand for certain protective products tied to Ebola preparedness planning. Hospitals and healthcare systems in several regions are increasing contingency planning in the event the virus re-emerges or spreads, and we recently received related orders from hospitals in Europe, Hong Kong, and LATAM. While we view this as a positive indication of Lakeland's continued relevance in high-risk protective applications, we are not assuming a sustained demand cycle at this stage. Order timing will depend on regional preparedness decisions, public health developments, and customer-specific planning, so we are treating this as an incremental opportunity rather than a core forecast driver.
"Looking ahead to Q2, we expect continued momentum in decontamination services in Australia, supported by added unbudgeted activity and stronger-than-expected customer demand. We are also focused on converting recent tender wins and sales opportunities across Fire Services, improving operational execution, and driving sequential margin improvement. The ramp-up of Jolly NFPA boots, Pacific helmets, Veridian gloves, and broader head-to-toe fire solutions will be important to our revenue conversion and margin recovery efforts as the year progresses.
"While the first quarter included several transitional operating items, we are making meaningful progress in strengthening revenue conversion, margin visibility, accountability, and operating discipline across each business, product line, and region. Our teams are focused on the key levers that drive performance: inventory management, cost control, pricing discipline, production efficiency, improved sales conversion, and disciplined expense management.
We expect this momentum to begin showing through in the second quarter, although Q2 should be viewed as a steppingstone rather than the full measure of the improvement opportunity. As these actions continue to build, we expect revenue growth, margin improvement, and EBITDA expansion to become more visible in the back half of FY27, supported by inventory normalization, tender conversion, new sales opportunities, and growing service revenue.
"Based on current demand trends, the strength of our Fire Services platform, the continued development of our Service business, and the actions underway to improve margin and cash generation, we are continuing to build momentum toward our targeted high single-digit revenue growth and positive cash flow from operations in fiscal 2027," Jenkins concluded.
Fiscal 2027 First Quarter and Subsequent Operational Highlights
Eagle Technical Products subsidiary received notification of an intended award across multiple product categories under the National Fire Chiefs Council ("NFCC") National Firefighter PPE Framework in the United Kingdom with a total potential value of up to £220 million over a seven-year term across all awarded suppliers.
Announced several new and follow-on orders across Latin America ("LATAM") for structural fire suits, rescue gear, turnout gear, wildland gear, boots and gloves to municipal and national fire services in Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Guyana and Panama.
Delivered an order for structural fire gear, rescue gear, structural helmets, hoods and gloves to the Whitfield County Georgia Fire Department.
Completed key operational and leadership initiatives within LHD Germany as part of a continued transformation of the business including the transition of its LHD Germany operations from Wessling, Germany to a third-party logistics model with Dekkers Logistics, and the appointment of veteran fire and safety executive Sascha Mueller as LHD Director of Sales and relaunched the brand at Interschutz 2026.
Received significant emergency follow-on orders to supply turnout gear, gloves, and hoods to the National Fire Department of Colombia ("DNBC").
Products including Lakeland Firefighting Boots, Lakeland Structural Turnout and Proximity Gear; Veridian Gloves and Fire Particulate Blocking Hoods; and Pacific Helmets, have officially achieved NFPA 1970:2025 certification, further strengthening Lakeland's full head-to-toe firefighter Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) portfolio.
California PPE opened "California PPE, Fresno", a new state-of-the-art facility providing compliant decontamination, inspection and repair services to California Fire Departments and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1850 training.
Completed the sale of inventory and intellectual property associated with the HPFR (High Performance FR) and HiViz product lines in March 2026, generating approximately $13.2 million of cash proceeds and meaningfully strengthening the Company's balance sheet.
Appointed Lee D. Rudow to its Board of Directors, effective April 9, 2026. Mr. Rudow previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq-listed Transcat, Inc.
Fiscal 2027 First Quarter Financial Highlights
Net sales were $47.4 million in Q1 FY27, compared to $46.7 million in Q1 FY26, an increase of $0.7 million or 1.4%, driven by the Fire Service product line and sales from the Arizona PPE and California PPE, as well as continued organic growth in fire turnout products.
Sales of the Fire Services product line were $23.4 million in Q1 FY27, an increase of $2.4 million or 11% compared to $21.0 million in Q1 FY26.
Fire segment as a percentage of revenue was 49%.
U.S. sales were $20.1 million in Q1 FY27, a decrease of $0.6 million or 2.9% compared to $20.7 million in Q1 FY26.
Europe sales, including Eagle, Jolly and LHD, were $11.4 million in Q1 FY27, a decrease of $0.4 million or 3.4% compared to $11.8 million in Q1 FY26.
LATAM sales were $4.7 million in Q1 FY27, an increase of $0.6 million or 15% compared to $4.1 million in Q1 FY26.
Asia sales were $3.7 million in Q1 FY27, an increase of $0.1 million or 2.8% compared to $3.6 million in Q1 FY26.
Gross profit in Q1 FY27 was $14.9 million, a decrease of $0.8 million, or 4.9%, compared to $15.6 million in Q1 FY26.
Operating expenses in Q1 FY27 were approximately $19.1 million, a decrease of $1.2 million or 6.0%, compared to $20.3 million in Q1 FY26.
Adjusted operating expenses excluding FX(1) in Q1 FY27 were approximately $14.8 million, a decrease of $1.1 million or 6.9%, compared to $15.9 million in Q1 FY26.
Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX(1) was approximately $1.1 million in Q1 FY27, compared to $0.6 million in Q1 FY26.
As of April 30, 2026, there were borrowings of $23.8 million outstanding under the revolving credit facility, with an additional $16.2 million of available credit under the Loan Agreement. The Company was in compliance with all of its debt covenants as of April 30, 2026.
(1) Adjusted operating expenses excluding FX, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX are non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations are provided in the tables of this press release.
J. Calven Swinea, Chief Financial Officer, added, "In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, revenues increased to $47.4 million, supported by continued growth in Fire Services, Mexico, Latin America, and Veridian. Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX improved to $1.1 million, compared to $0.6 million in the prior-year period, reflecting continued progress as we simplify the business, improve cost discipline, and focus on converting revenue opportunities into stronger profitability.
Gross profit was $14.9 million compared to $15.6 million as we continue to work through timing, mix, certification transition costs, inventory-related freight release, and operational execution items. These are areas we are actively managing through improved visibility, better forecasting, tighter inventory controls, and more direct accountability by business, product line, and region. Adjusted gross margin improved modestly on a sequential basis to 33.6%, compared to 33.5% in Q4 FY26.
"We are focused on sustaining and expanding margins over the balance of fiscal 2027. We have implemented margin recovery processes to track manufacturing efficiency, revenue conversion, and gross margin performance more consistently across the business. As production volumes improve, certification-related transition costs moderate, and recent tender wins and sales opportunities convert to revenue, we expect margin performance to improve throughout the year.
"Operating cash flow improved significantly year-over-year primarily due to the sale of inventory and intellectual property associated with the HPFR and HiViz product lines. We remain focused on inventory discipline, working capital management, and expense control. We continue to work toward an asset-based lending structure that we believe will further strengthen our liquidity position and provide greater flexibility as we execute our operating improvement plan.
"Overall, we believe the Company is entering the remainder of fiscal 2027 with better visibility, a more focused portfolio, improving margin discipline, and meaningful opportunities to convert demand into revenue and EBITDA growth."
Fiscal First Quarter 2027 Results Conference Call
Lakeland President, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman Jim Jenkins and Chief Financial Officer Calven Swinea will host the conference call, followed by a question-and-answer period. The conference call will be accompanied by a presentation, which can be viewed during the webcast or accessed via the investor relations section of the Company's website here.
To access the call, please use the following information:
Date:
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Time:
4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time)
Dial-in:
1-877-407-9208
International Dial-in:
1-201-493-6784
Conference Code:
13760847
Webcast:
Lakeland Fiscal Year 2027 First Quarter Earnings Conference Call
A telephone replay will be available commencing approximately three hours after the call and will remain available through September 9, 2026, by dialing 1-844-512-2921 from the U.S., or 1-412-317-6671 from international locations, and entering replay pin number: 13760847. The replay can also be viewed through the webcast link above and the presentation utilized during the call will be available via the investor relations section of the Company's website here.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement its consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the Company uses the following non-GAAP financial measures in this press release: Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin, Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX, Adjusted EBITDA excluding FX margin and adjusted operating expenses, excluding FX. The presentation of this financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to evaluate period-to-period comparisons. The Company believes that these measures provide useful information about operating results, enhance the overall understanding of past financial performance and future prospects, and allow for greater transparency with respect to key metrics used by management in its financial and operational decision-making.
For more information on the non-GAAP financial measures, please see the Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Financial Measures tables in this press release. These accompanying tables include details on the GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures and the related reconciliations between these financial measures.
LAKELAND INDUSTRIES, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIESOperating Results ($000) (Unaudited)Reconciliation of GAAP Results to Non-GAAP Results
Three Months Ended
April 30,
2026
2025
Net income (loss) to EBITDA
Net income (loss)
$369
($3,913
)
Interest expense
614
583
Income tax expense (benefit)
1,345
(1,198
)
Depreciation and amortization
1,291
1,138
EBITDA
$3,619
($3,390
)
EBITDA to Adjusted EBITDA
(excluding non-cash expenses)
EBITDA
$3,619
($3,390
)
Equity compensation (1)
800
329
Other income (2)
(40
)
(106
)
Acquisition expenses (3)
602
946
Severance, restructuring and transformation costs (4)
1,064
623
New Monterrey, Mexico facility start-up costs (5)
526
626
PFAS Litigation (6)
64
189
ERP Project (7)
166
160
Amortization of step-up in inventory basis (8)
-
447
Gain on inventory sales (9)
(6,467
)
-
Adjusted EBITDA
$334
($176
)
Adjusted EBITDA Margin
Adjusted EBITDA
$334
($176
)
Divided by net sales
47,416
46,746
Adjusted EBITDA Margin
0.7%
-0.4%
