Lakeland Industries Appoints Allen E. Dillard as Chief Financial Officer

Company Provides Business Update and Operational Improvements from ERP Implementation

RONKONKOMA, NY / ACCESSWIRE / July 23, 2019 / Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAKE) (the “Company” or “Lakeland”), a leading global manufacturer of protective clothing for industry, healthcare, pharmaceutical companies, utilities and to first responders on the federal, state and local levels, today announced the appointment of Allen E. Dillard to the position of Chief Financial Officer, effective August 12, 2019. Mr. Dillard replaces Teri W. Hunt who resigned on May 10, 2019. The Company will be taking a one-time charge of approximately $260,000 in the fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2019 relating to the departure of Ms. Hunt.

Mr. Dillard is a senior executive with proven expertise in generating revenue, identifying product opportunities, building profitable operations, mergers and acquisitions, and managing resource allocations. He has a successful track record in multiple industries with significant experience in financial reporting and controls, governance, regulatory, and compliance environments.

“We are very pleased to have appointed Allen as our CFO, following a thorough internal and external search,” said Christopher J. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Industries. “We believe his wealth of experience in growing cross-border enterprises will be invaluable as we continue to pursue both domestic and international market expansion where profitability and cash flow are paramount for the success of our business and our shareholders.”

Mr. Dillard’s career spans three decades of senior-executive financial, operational and organizational leadership experience. For the past 4 years he has served as Chief Financial Officer of Digium, Inc., a technology-enabled provider of products and services to small and medium sized businesses. For the preceding 12 years, he held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Mobular Technologies, having been promoted from COO while also serving as a member of its Board of Directors. Earlier, he served as Treasurer and Director of Corporate Communications at Wolverine Tube, Inc. (WLV). Previously he served as Corporate Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer of Nichols Research Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed company which was successfully sold to a larger competitor. Mr. Dillard began his career as a public accountant with Ernst & Young where he worked for nearly a decade. He is a certified public accountant and a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Business Update

Mr. Ryan continued, “While we are encouraged by what our new CFO will bring to Lakeland, he comes at a time when we are making important progress in areas that he will be responsible for going forward. Specifically, I am pleased to report that the implementation of our enterprise resources planning (ERP) solution is on track with the timing we had addressed with our most recent update when reporting fiscal first quarter results. Delivery schedules have been met and orders are being fulfilled such that we are getting positive feedback from our customers.

“The ERP system is starting to deliver its intended results. In the fiscal second quarter thus far, we are experiencing improvements in cost of goods sold due to our ability to track materials and expedite orders. Inventory data is still being analyzed but we are beginning to unwind finished goods such that we may have improved working capital which in turn may enable incremental growth on the sales front. So far, the system may have shortened our overall product manufacturing cycle by about 2 weeks. This will eventually equate to a reduction in certain stock levels by in excess of 20% or approximately $2.5 million or more in the United States. We believe we are finally at the point where we are realizing improved efficiencies that will result in decreased inventory levels, increased free cash flow as inventories are run down and reduced customer lead-times.

“There are other business processes that are being affected both positively and negatively which we are working through but the improvements we have made along with strength of our traditional sales and marketing activities provide a far more solid foundation than we were on three months ago. Another update of our ERP system is planned for late July to bring on additional improvements and features. To do this, we intend to shut down our US information systems at the close of business on July 27 through August 4, which will result in five lost days of domestic sales on a reported basis, with three of the days falling into our fiscal second quarter. Despite the absence of these days of sales for the US business in the fiscal second quarter, we expect second quarter sales in the US, which represents about half of our total consolidated revenues and is the only region of our operations to be impacted by the ERP implementation, to be equal to or more likely greater than revenues as compared with the first quarter of this year and the second quarter of last year.

“The ERP implementation has been a far lengthier process than we or our customers had anticipated, and it has taken its toll on our financial performance in past quarters and, perhaps, our share price. As we believe that our common shares are undervalued, Lakeland has commenced to repurchase its stock in accordance with the $2.5 million stock repurchase program approved on July 19, 2016. While no stock was purchased in the fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2019, the Company has commenced the repurchase of shares in the fiscal second quarter. An update of the buyback program will be reported upon the filing of the Company’s fiscal second quarter financial results expected on September 9, 2019.”

About Lakeland Industries, Inc.:

Lakeland Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: LAKE) manufactures and sells a comprehensive line of industrial protective clothing and accessories for the industrial and public protective clothing markets. Our products are sold globally by our in-house sales teams, our customer service group, and authorized independent sales representatives to a network of over 1,600 global safety and industrial supply distributors. Our authorized distributors supply end users, such as integrated oil, chemical/petrochemical, automobile, steel, glass, construction, smelting, cleanroom, janitorial, pharmaceutical, and high technology electronics manufacturers, as well as scientific, medical laboratories and the utilities industry. In addition, we supply federal, state and local governmental agencies and departments, such as fire and law enforcement, airport crash rescue units, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control. Internationally, we sell to a mixture of end users directly, and to industrial distributors depending on the particular country and market. Sales are made around the world to more than 50 countries, the majority of which is into the United States, China, the European Economic Community (“EEC”), Canada, Chile, Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, India and Southeast Asia. For more information concerning Lakeland, please visit the Company online at www.lakeland.com.

Contacts:

Lakeland Industries, Inc.
631-981-9700
Christopher Ryan
CJRyan@lakeland.com

Darrow Associates
512-551-9296
Jordan Darrow
jdarrow@darrowir.com

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as described from time to time in Press Releases and Forms 8-K, registration statements, quarterly and annual reports and other reports and filings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission or made by management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address Lakeland’s expectations of sources or uses for capital or which express the Company’s expectation for the future with respect to financial performance or operating strategies can be identified as forward-looking statements. As a result, there can be no assurance that Lakeland’s future results will not be materially different from those described herein as “believed,” “projected,” “planned,” “intended,” “anticipated,” “estimated” or “expected,” or other words which reflect the current view of the Company with respect to future events. We caution readers that these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. The Company hereby expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in the Company’s expectations or any change in events conditions or circumstances on which such statement is based.

SOURCE: Lakeland Industries, Inc.