Jerash Holdings (US), Inc. (JRSH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Jerash Holdings Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Roger Pondel, Investor Relations. Roger, the floor is yours.

Jenny, thank you so much. Good morning or afternoon, everyone, wherever you may be. I'm Roger Pondel, Jerash Holdings Investor Relations firm, and welcome to the 2025 fourth quarter conference call. On the call today from the company are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sam Choi; Chief Financial Officer, Gilbert Lee; and Eric Tang, who leads the company's operations in Jordan. Before I turn the call over to Sam, I want to remind all listeners that today's call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous conditions, many of which are beyond the company's control, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the company's most recent Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, along with other filings made with the SEC from time to time. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements, and Jerash Holdings undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except of course, as required by law. And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Sam Choi. Sam?

Thank you, Roger. We continue to see strong demand from our existing customers and a notable increase in new inquiries from brands and large apparel manufacturers seeking strategic collaboration. While this is an exciting time for Jerash on the business front, revenue remains affected by logistic disruptions at Isreal's Haifa Port driven by ongoing geopolitical instability in the region. Our fiscal fourth quarter revenue increased by nearly 36%, yet results were lower than originally anticipated. We estimated approximately $3 million to $4 million of finished goods not shipped until early in the fiscal 2026 first quarter. To mitigate further shipping delays due to the recent bombing of the Haifa Port, we are actively collaborating with our customers to reroute shipments through Jordan's Aqaba Port. As recently announced, Jerash secured a major initial order for one of the largest U.S.-based multinational and omnichannel retail corporation through a strategic collaboration with Hansoll Textile, a leading South Korea-based global apparel group that supplies a wide range of garments to major international retail and fashion brands. Production for the order, which marks one of the largest initial orders in Jerash's history is scheduled to begin in August with FOB delivery planned for the third and fourth quarters of 2025. Following this initial order, it is both our and Hansoll's mutual intention to explore additional synergies and identify opportunities for continued growth and collaborations. Amid ongoing tariff uncertainties, global brands are actively seeking manufacturing alternatives out of China and Southeast Asia to stay competitive in an increasingly dynamic trade environment. With long established operations in Jordan and our reputation for high quality, Jerash is well positioned to meet this growing demand, supported by the country's free trade agreements with the EU, U.K. and Canada as well as the favorable tariff treatment currently in place from the U.S. Due to rising demand for our production capacity directly from global brands, we have decided to terminate the joint venture with Busana after more than 2 years of limited progress. Dissolution of the joint venture is expected to be done by April 2027, upon fully completion of outstanding customer orders, collection of receivables and other matters. Our focus is now on further advancing Jerash's goal of diversifying our direct customer base and expanding our product mix to increase year round capacity utilization and reduce revenue seasonality. I will now turn the call over to Eric Tang, who is in charge of our operations in Jordan. Hi, Eric.

Thank you, Sam. Our factories are fully booked through the end of December with growing order volume from our global brand customer. We are also working diligently to accommodate new business inquiries. We are excited very much about our strategic collaboration with Hanson and the initial large order placed for high-profile retail corporation. With FOB orders, we are achieving better margins compared with traditional contract manufacturing through third parties that we often took on during Jordan's Jerash seasonally slower period in the second half of our fiscal year. With the strategic collaboration in place, we are hopeful to continue developing additional synergies and identifying new opportunities for mutual growth. Additionally, we are working on sample orders and pricing for other well-known brands in regions like Europe and Persian Gulf. This new business opportunity further reinforce our growth strategy, which centers on expanding our customer base and product mix to more effectively balance production capacity throughout the year. To support our growth, we are pleased to announce the completion of expansion at our existing manufacturing facility in Oman, and we are now in the progress of onboarding additional foreign workers. The expansion are expected to increase our production capacity by approximately 15%, starting in the second fiscal year -- fiscal quarter. Separately, we are actively collaborating with the Jordan Ministry of Labor to develop an extension adjacent to our existing factory in Al-Hasa. This project is expected to get an additional 5% to 10% in overall production capacity, and it is currently targeted for completion in early calendar year 2026. We also are assessing longer-term larger-scale expansion plans to construct manufacturing, warehousing and accommodation facilities on the land that we purchased several years ago. The persistent regional geopolitical tensions continue to cause delay in export shipment from Haifa Port. However, Jordan remains a [ skilled ] and stable country with a full operational port. We are also exploring additional logistics channel to ensure reliable and timely deliveries. With that, I will now turn the call over to Gilbert to discuss our financial results. Gilbert, please.

Thank you, Eric. Revenue for our fiscal 2025 fourth quarter increased by 35.6% to $29.3 million from $21.6 million in the same quarter last year. The quarter's revenue reflected an increase in shipments to Jerash's major U.S. customers. As Sam mentioned, due to congestions at Israel's Haifa Port, which caused delays in shipments, revenue for the fiscal fourth quarter was impacted by approximately $3 million to $4 million. Gross profit for the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter advanced nearly 250% to $5.2 million from $1.5 million in the same quarter of last year. Gross margin increased to 17.9% in the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter from 7.0% in the same quarter last year. The increase was primarily driven by higher production and shipment volume, which lowered the unit cost of production and generated higher margins through economies of scale. Operating expenses for fiscal 2025 fourth quarter increased by $284,000 to $4.8 million from $4.5 million in the same period last year. The higher costs included a 4.7% increase in SG&A expenses due to higher sales and an $83,000 increase in stock-based compensation. Operating income was $434,000 for the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter compared with an operating loss of $3 million a year ago. Total other expenses in the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter was $254,000 compared with $134,000 for the same quarter last year. The increase was primarily attributable to higher interest expense from supply chain financing programs and short-term debt as a result of higher sales. Income tax expenses for fiscal 2025 fourth quarter were approximately $324,000 compared with tax income of $16,000 in the same period in fiscal 2024. The effective tax rate was high due to some tax provision adjustments stemmed from prior year amended tax returns and increase [ foreign tax ] income at operating subsidiaries in Jordan and Hong Kong. Certain nondeductible expenses were reinstated included interest expense limitations, stock-based compensation and entertainment expenses. We expect the effective tax rate to normalize going forward as consolidated income rises and adjustments are now behind us. We intend to consult international tax experts on improving our tax structure. Net loss was reduced to $144,000 or $0.01 per share for the fiscal 2025 fourth quarter from a net loss of $3.1 million or $0.25 per share in the same period last year. As of March 31, 2025, Jerash had $15.1 million in cash and restricted cash and net working capital was $34.6 million. Inventory was $27.7 million and $3.1 million in accounts receivable. Net cash provided by operating activities was approximately $1.4 million for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, compared with $2.5 million for fiscal year 2024. As Sam and Eric mentioned, our business remains solid and continues to grow, demonstrated by a record high revenue in fiscal 2025 of $146 million. Despite a $772,000 increase in stock-based compensation to $1.8 million in fiscal 2025 from fiscal 2024's $986,000, our operating income in fiscal year 2025 was $1.4 million compared with an operating loss of $665,000 in fiscal year 2024. Looking ahead, we are focused on driving continued growth and operational efficiency. Revenue for the fiscal 2026 first quarter is expected to be approximately $38 million to $40 million, pending outbound shipping port conditions for the remainder of June. Our gross margin goal for the fiscal 2026 first quarter is expected to be approximately 15% to 16%. On May 20, 2025, Jerash's Board of Directors approved a regular quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share on its common stock, payable on June 6, 2025, to stockholders of record as of May 30, 2025. We will now open up the call for questions, and I will turn the call back to the operator.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Mark Argento.

Just a few quick ones here. Can you maybe help us understand or think about the incremental costs around having to move ports from Haifa to the Jordanian port? And I'm assuming, is that built into the gross margin expectations for Q1?

Well, actually, Mark, the cost to Aqaba for us is actually lower than transporting it to Haifa. If I remember the numbers right, I think each truckload traveling to Aqaba is about $1,200, and to Haifa is about $3,200. That is our cost because once we deliver to the port, the shipping cost -- shipping the container to its destination will be the cost for our customers.

Got it. And I'm assuming that shipping costs from Aqaba is higher than Haifa for the customer, and that's why you guys have historically...

For that we don't really have visibility on the shipping costs for the customer, whether they ship from Aqaba or from Haifa. But I know, usually, they want to use Haifa because the lead time for shipping is shorter. I think it's about 1 week shorter. Am I right, Eric?

Yes, around 10 to 12 days shorter. And the lead time is more important than the customer, especially, this is on the cost of Jerash. So they choose Haifa because the garments can arrive to New York, I think, at least 10 days earlier. But through Aqaba, of course, we always recommend in the beginning to go through Aqaba. They have been going through Agaba for many years already, okay? And we pay less in the logistic cost as -- because trucking we pay almost 30%, 40% less, okay? So now they have no choice because Haifa Port has been, I mean, attacked, and Haifa was closed, they have to shift back to Aqaba, which is more beneficial to us on the cost side.

Okay. That's helpful. Just pivoting in terms of the timing of orders. I know in last quarter, we saw some shift from Q3 into Q4, and now we're seeing a little bit of shift from Q4 to Q1. You just talk about that dynamic a little bit. Have you seen any orders being canceled? Or is this really just a timing issue at this point?

No. It's just a timing issue. No order has been canceled. And it's just that there was some congestions toward the end of March that some containers did not reach the delivery point in Haifa. It was too many containers going through Haifa to be shipped out. So there were about $3 million to $4 million worth of merchandise or worth of sales that didn't get booked because it was not shown on the customer's system. We already shipped it out from our factory, but it didn't reach the customer's system. So they didn't recognize it as a receipt, the FCR was not issued. Once the FCR is issued, it can be booked as sales.

Got it. And then last kind of question for me. Could you just talk a little bit more about the decision to dissolve the Busana JV? And then also maybe in conjunction with that, talk about this new opportunity with Hansoll, in particular that you referenced in the press release?

Well, Sam, you want to talk about Busana decision?

Yes. In fact, up to 2 years of collaboration, the joint venture with Busana, we didn't see great events in the progress. And in fact, most of their referred customers by the joint venture, we can independently handle those customers. So it's on a mutual understanding basis that we terminate the joint venture. And in fact, some customers, they are actively, I mean, contacting us that we can do the business with them directly. So I mean, we expect there will be more and more direct business through ourselves instead of going through the joint venture.

And then in terms of the Hansoll and the new domestic customer you're talking about, maybe touch on who Hansel is and why that's important?

For Hansoll, just to say something because Hansoll is one of the largest importers in South Korea. So I think everyone knows this company. And they are actually the #1 supplier for Walmart order and Sam's Club. So actually, they want to -- they got the green light from Walmart and Sam's Club that they want to increase the business with Hansoll, but they want Hansoll to go to duty-free countries, especially Jordan. So Hansoll agreed that, okay, they will come to Jordan, okay? And then it is Walmart who introduced Jerash to Hansoll, okay? So the question is, okay, Walmart said, according to the top management, they don't -- at this sensitive period, they don't want to increase one more additional vendor directly doing business for Walmart, okay? Otherwise, Walmart will directly approach us. They want -- they will give the expansion of the business to Hansoll, and advise Hansoll work together with Jerash. This is why we are coming in together. So last month, Sam, the Chairman and Ringo, the Marketing Director, also visited Hansoll and see their top management, including the CEO, and we have a very good discussion, and then they are very seriously consider to open more business, okay, with Jerash in 2026. Meanwhile, we already got the first confirmed order from them, and we already placed order to the supplier, okay? And it is around the first order is ready 3.2 million pieces [ girls ] short. And the total volume in U.S. dollars of the business is around USD 6.5 million. This is only the first order. They keep telling me for 2026, maybe each month you will be getting okay, at least 0.5 million to 1 million pieces of order, okay? So we have to work out the capacity ourselves, okay, and try to choose the good customer, and then that's why we also placed in the earnings call about our expansion on the factory capacity.

Our next question is coming from Mike Baker of D.A. Davidson.

Okay. Just to follow up on that last point, how -- can you quantify or at least give some qualitative color on the kind of conversations you're having with tariffs from China and other places? Is that compelling more companies like presumably Walmart to look for other sources? And yes, if you can sort of contextualize that or give any metrics or anything along those lines to give some color on how that tariff situation is impacting you either positively or negatively?

Well, I think...

That is a bit -- yes, you please.

Okay. Ever since President Trump announced his tariff or what we call the liberation date, we have seen almost every existing customer or new customers, they're kind of having an urgency to try to find alternative suppliers. In the past few years, we have already seen a trend of people trying to get out of China, trying to get out of Asia into duty-free countries. But ever since Mr. Trump announced his matrix of tariff increases and -- if you remember, Jordan was, and among some other countries were placed on the basic 10% tariff line, which is very competitive comparing to some other major, whether it's China or Southeast Asian countries. So buyers and brands they are approaching Jerash because this is just making the exodus out of Asia, a more urgency. And they want to have -- they want us to commit to more capacity. They want to start some inquiries and come to the factory to see some new customers. Actually, I was here a few weeks ago, and I've seen many customers actually people that I don't know of, they just came and visited us and tour our factory and wanted to start doing business. So after they toured the factory, they were very pleased and they wanted to send us some samples or send us some pricing exercise so that we can start doing some pricing. So I see this as a very good opportunity for us to even further diversify our customer base away from the major customers such as VF and New Balance. If you see our 2025 distribution of customers, you can see even though VF sales has -- still has increased, but the percentage has dropped and we have increased significantly some other customers' sales. So I think we are going to the right direction, and this tariff war is actually providing it more stimulus to get to that point. So right now, nobody knows what the final tariff rates are going to be. We have some indications from the Prime Minister of Jordan because they have been talking with U.S. department or representative of trade, and they I'm pretty sure that the rate is not going to be significant. Right now, we're thinking about maybe just keeping the 10% or even lower. But that is already very competitive comparing with China, comparing with Vietnam and some other Southeast Asian countries. So I see the trend continue, and our capacity is really in need of some major increase. But we're considering who to partner with and what way to increase our capacity. So we are being conservative actually for fiscal year 2026. Just projecting that we will have a minor increase in our capacity and minor increase in sales. So that's why you can see the first quarter, we are only projecting about, I think, 10% increase for the first quarter? No, actually, first quarter comparing to last year is a decrease by 4% because last year first quarter, we had $41 million in sales, and this year, it's only $39 million.

Yes, it makes sense. But to follow up on that, the increased capacity, you talked about, well, you completed some expansion and talking about another 5% to 10% increase in existing facilities, I'm curious about the longer-term idea of presumably opening more manufacturing facilities and warehousing on the land that you already own. Any timing on when you would think about doing that? Or how likely that is to come to fruition?

Right now, our projection or our CapEx projection is it will not happen in year 2026 because it is still a very unstable geopolitical situation here. And unless we can be sure that we will fill up that factory almost immediately, I think we're just going to hold off. But in the meantime, we will continue to do studies. We'll continue to talk to potential partners and also find ways of financing the expansion because we're talking about $20 million to $30 million in investment. So we need to find some way of financing it.

And our next question is coming from Igor Novgorodtsev of Lares Capital.

The follow up on increase after the tariff in Jordan is expected to become much more competitive to Vietnam and other big manufacturing countries. Do you think it will positively affect the gross margin? Because I remember that during the highest demand right post-COVID, or during COVID, you had margin close to 20%. Now your gross margin is more like 15%, 16%. What do you think is going to happen to your gross margin if you have a higher demand but limited capacity?

I believe the gross margin will definitely be improved, because right now, we're switching more and more over to what we call FOB business. In the past, when our capacity was not fully utilized, especially during our slow season, which is the second fiscal year -- second half of the fiscal year, we tend to take on business that what we call CM business, cut and make business. So for those business, we're just doing more simple styles but higher volume because that is our -- in our industry, it is the summer season, okay? Our strength is in producing jackets, outerwear, those are more complicated styles that we can do the FOB business and gain more ASP and gain more margin. But now the situation has changed because we have more business than we can handle. So we will forgo some of the or the majority of the CM business and take on more FOB business. So naturally, that will improve our ASP, that will improve our gross margin percentage. But at the same time, the market is getting more and more competitive. Our buyers continue to put pressure on us to make us be more competitive in terms of pricing. So this -- overall, there are some offsetting, but I believe going forward, we will be able to maintain a pretty healthy gross margin. And with the Hansoll business because it's high volume, while we will be able to gain a pretty significant or a pretty healthy gross margin, I think the efficiency will also help us to achieve a higher gross margin.

Okay. Following up on that, your press release says that you fully booked through December. So if you're fully booked, does it mean that you already know your gross margin for the rest of the year? Or this is still somewhat up in the year? And also I believe you projected the gross margin for the next quarter, but can you project the gross margin for the rest of the year or at least through December or you don't know yet?

Well, we are fully booked through the rest of the year, but there could still be changes. I think, Eric, maybe you can add to this, how do we -- what kind of changes do we still anticipate that could affect the overall margin that we project.

Okay. It will be more or less the same actually. But usually, the buyer place to Jerash each year two times orders. Okay. So now they are giving us the -- I mean, another batch of order, which is a projection. Usually, the confirmed PO will be sent to us maybe 3 to 4 months before, I mean actual delivery, at least 4 months. So this is a projection. That's why, okay, Gilbert can tell you, okay, up to the first quarter, what is our actual profit margin because it is already an actual order we have the PO already. But for I mean September onwards, okay, we still are waiting for the official PO from the buyer, although more or less the same, okay? And there will be a little bit changes in sometimes the figure but the price usually will be the same. So this is the reason why until December, we cannot give you an actual profit margin percentage. But it will be more or less the same as we project.

And may I say, I mean, because of the tariff issue, they're already a trend that some customers are moving their sourcing from China or Southeast Asia to Jordan. And through that transition, Jerash can pitch a more higher gross profit margin from those orders, brand name like FootJoy or even like Walmart, they're willing to place in duty-free country to secure their production and their supply, yes. And then -- so for that kind of order, Jerash can pitch a relatively higher margin and efficiency.

My other question is, we obviously mentioned geopolitics several times during this call. And I understand that customers come to tour your factory and try samples and very interested. But how much do you think the persistent issues with Middle East political issues hold them back from working with your long term? Are they really concerned that something may be even worse in the year or it's not something that really comes into play?

Well, first, how the Middle East conflict will play out is anybody's guess. And so far, Jordan is still considered the most peaceful and the safest country within the Middle East, even though it's in between Israel and Iraq and Iran, but Jordan is able to stay out of the conflict. And the missiles are going around Jordan to -- for those two countries to hit each other. So -- and U.S. has the most interest in keeping Jordan to be a peaceful and safe place. Many countries, when they evacuate their citizens from Israel as they are doing right now, they actually move their citizens away from Israel into Jordan because they believe Jordan would be a safe haven for their citizens. Obviously, people cannot fly out of Israel. Tel Aviv is closed, shut down the airport. So they have to get to somewhere if they want to go back to their country. And the first choice is go to Jordan. And anyone who has visited Jordan, a lot of our new customers, once they came to Jordan, they would agree that this is a very safe and calm place. So unless they have never visited Jordan, they shouldn't have a concern of the safety and the continuity of doing business in Jordan.

Okay. I mean, that's great to hear. My last question is also on geopolitics is how are you getting your supplies? Because at some point of time, a year ago, you had trouble because of Houthis getting your supplies obviously from Asia. Is that -- do you guys have alternatives, you don't anticipate anything? Or how do you think about this because you don't know what may happen in a few weeks, if Houthis will become -- start targeting the ships? Or how do you guys think about that?

Yes. Learning from that experience, a year ago, which mainly the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. During that 6-month period was when we lost so much money because of this -- the supply chain issue. We couldn't get containers into Jordan. We try many different ways. Sometimes even have to air freight some very urgent fabrics or supplies into Jordan. So that was what caused us to lost money in the fourth quarter of '24 and the first quarter of '25. So we learned the lesson from this. And now we have multiple alternatives of routes getting supplies and materials from Asia into Aqaba, into the port in Jordan. In addition to that, we have also strengthened our sourcing within the region, sourcing of fabrics and supplies in the countries like Turkey and Egypt so that it will shorten the lead time of getting supplies in comparing to relying on the sourcing -- relying on the supply chain from China or other Asian countries.

Well, we appear to have reached the end of our question-and-answer session. I will now hand back over to Sam for any closing comments.

Thank you, Jenny. And thanks to all of you for joining us today. We are certainly in interesting times and appreciate your continued support. We look forward to speaking with you this quarter. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation.