NextPlat Reports Q1 2026 Results: Full Earnings Call Transcript

On Thursday, NextPlat (NASDAQ:NXPL) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below. This transcript is brought to you by Benzinga APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/ for a consultation. View the webcast at https://app.webinar.net/aK21yzvyep9 Summary NextPlat Corp has regained compliance with NASDAQ's minimum bid requirement following a reverse stock split, positioning it for long-term profitable growth. The company's Q1 2026 results showed significant margin expansion and improved profitability, largely driven by its healthcare operations which accounted for 68% of revenue. Strategic initiatives include expanding healthcare services to all 50 states, launching a new e-commerce healthcare website, and maintaining strong global demand for satellite connectivity products. Gross margin improved to 35% in Q1 2026, up from 21% a year prior, due to a shift towards higher-margin revenue streams and operational restructuring. NextPlat Corp ended the quarter with $11 million in cash and no meaningful debt, aiming to sustain profitability and explore growth opportunities through potential joint ventures or acquisitions. Full Transcript OPERATOR Welcome to The Next Platform First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call Certain statements made during this conference call constitute forward looking statements. These statements include the capabilities and success of the Company's business and any of its products, services or solutions. The words believe, forecast, project, intent, expect, plan, should, would and similar expressions in all statements which are not historical facts are intended to identify forward looking statements. These forward looking statements involve and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors any of which could cause the Company to not achieve some or all of its goals or the Company's previously reported actual results, performance, gaps in operating, including those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward looking statements is set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be obtained from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov the company assumes no and hereby disclaims any obligation to update the forward looking statements made during this conference call. Joining us on the call today are David Phipps, Chief Executive Officer, Amanda Ferriero, Chief Financial Officer and Bruti Narkut, Vice President of Healthcare Operations. I will now turn the meeting over to David Phipps for opening remarks. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) Good morning and welcome to NextPlat's first quarter 2026 results conference call. Thank you for joining us. On today's call, we will discuss our first quarter results and highlight many of the improvements now being delivered in our business because of our turnaround efforts. In addition to discussing the results of the quarter, we will also share with you some insights into what we expect for the remainder of 2026 and specifically the progress we are making on achieving our growth and profitability goals. As is customary, I will begin today's call by briefly recapping the results of the first quarter. Then I will turn the call over to Bruti Narkut, our Vice President of Healthcare Operations, to discuss that segment in more detail and then turn the call over to Amanda Ferriero, our Chief Financial Officer, to review financial results. Following that, I will make closing remarks and then conclude the conference call by responding to questions that were submitted by our shareholders. Let me start by commenting on our NASDAQ listing status. On April 27, we announced that we regained our compliance with NASDAQ's minimum bid requirement as a result of us completing a required reverse split. As I indicated on our last call, this was not something we wanted to do. It was required to maintain our listing on Nasdaq, which we believe was in the best interest of our shareholders. With that behind us, instead of looking back, we are now 100% focused on delivering on the promise we see of a bright future for our company, as evidenced by our significantly improved Q1 operating results announced today. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) These improvements are the direct result of our efforts to turn the business around and position it for long term profitable growth. As you can see, we now have a fundamentally improved business featuring dramatic margin expansion supported by a leaner operating structure and an expanding domestic and international new business pipeline. With the turnaround largely complete, we are now looking to add scale and expand the scope of our business, in particular in our healthcare operations. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) This is highlighted by our expansion into all 50 states from our current base in Florida and other developments which we intend to announce shortly. I will discuss these and other critical developments in a minute. Looking at the first Quarter the positive trends established late last year and as outlined in our previous guidance announcement have continued. The business is now beginning to deliver tangible financial results. This is especially visible in terms of improved profitability as reflected by a consolidated gross margin percentage which is now at record levels. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) This is largely driven by a dramatic improvement in our healthcare business which represented about 68% of our revenue in the first quarter. As we previously indicated, our efforts here were focused on new business development targeting higher margin 340B covered entities and long term care facilities, securing medication fulfilment contracts, re engagement with former clients and improving customer service. Initiated late last year, these efforts are now delivering sustainable margin improvement and are expected to support revenue growth later this year. This is a major contributor to our ability to achieve operational profitability in the latter half of 2026. Furthermore, as evidenced by our first quarter results, the combination of new higher margin revenue and a greatly streamlined and cost efficient operating structure means that we have created a clear path to meaningful reductions in operating losses in the second half of the year. At this point, I'd like to now review our business and provide some additional insights which I believe will be helpful for investors in measuring our progress in our healthcare segment. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) We are pleased to report the following improvements in operations during the first quarter. Although revenue continues to be down on a year over year basis as expected, our focus on attracting and supporting the needs of contracted 340B entities, long term care providers and other healthcare facility operators is delivering bottom line improvements. Furthermore, momentum in this segment is building. Having secured new 340B pharmacy service agreements with five new entities a single quarter record, these entities are now onboarding a process which usually takes about 90 days to complete before they can start directing prescriptions for us for fulfillment. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) As such, we believe these new customers will start contributing to our revenue during the third quarter. The contributions from medication fulfillment contracts continue to surpass expectations as we filled an average of 7,500 prescriptions per month to the contract facilities in Florida. The service fees we recognize from these fulfilments are driving significant bottom line profit improvement each month. In terms of retail, Although we remain focused on expanding our contracted services over the past few months we have seen some improvement in this segment of our business as we are now demonstrating a well managed retail pharmacy operation combined with strong margin discipline, operational efficiency and strategic customer relationships can continue to generate attractive margins and meaningful profitability. Bruti will comment a bit more on this in just a minute. And finally, as I mentioned earlier, we are now actively expanding the scale and scope of our business. Currently, through our newly created nationwide partnership, we are now moving quickly to leverage our relationships with current and potential customers and preparing for the launch of a new online e commerce healthcare website which will feature an array of popular prescription medications such as GLP1s and over the counter products including our Florida Sunshine brand premium vitamins and supplements. The new site is expected to go live before the end of the second quarter. Additionally, I can say we are working on other developments here which we believe will quickly add more scale to our pharmacy operations in the State of Florida which we hope to announce very soon in our e commerce segment. Here are the most recent highlights we continue to see strong global demand for satellite connectivity products during Q1, generating sales from customers in more than 130 countries. In addition, several European government and military orders received during the quarter have helped to build a strong business pipeline for the coming years supported by the award of multiple multi year contracts. These orders, together with the recent growth in demand FOR satellite enabled IoT products offered by our partners such as Iridium and GlobalStar have driven IoT sales and recurring revenue to record highs. At this point, I would like to now turn the call over to Bruti for her updates. Bruti Narkut Thank you David. As David mentioned, during the first quarter we continued executing on operational restructuring and strategic repositioning of our healthcare business with a strong focus on improving margin quality, operational efficiency and long term scalability. While overall retail prescription volume during the quarter declined compared to the prior year period, we significantly improved the profitability and quality of our pharmacy operations. Gross margin within the pharmacy business improved to an impressive 39% compared to approximately 20% in a prior year period. This improvement was driven by optimization of payer and product mix stronger gross profit per retail prescription and increasing contributions from higher margin 340B relationships and contracted medication fulfillment services. Additionally, beginning January 1, 2026, the federally implemented Medicare Maximum Fair Price Program impacted reimbursement economics on certain Medicare prescriptions. While this government program was not company specific, the updated reimbursement framework favorably affected margins on certain therapies that historically generated lower profitability under prior pricing structures, contributing to overall improvement in pharmacy gross profit during the quarter. Importantly, these results demonstrate that well managed pharmacy operations combined with strong margin discipline, operational efficiency and strategic customer relationships can continue to generate attractive margins and meaningful profitability. We believe this operating model supports our long term expansion strategy including selective acquisitions in strategic markets where we can expand our geographic footprint, strengthen local relationships and further support covered entities and healthcare providers. We are also continuing to invest in future growth initiatives across both our 340B and long term care verticals, including expansion of our sales and account management teams to support additional business development opportunities throughout Florida and other strategic markets. Another important strategic development during the quarter was entering in nationwide fulfillment partnership designed to support our expansion beyond Florida. While the operational rollout and supporting infrastructure are still in development, we believe this relationship creates an important foundation for future national growth. Over time, we expect the platform to support broader prescription access, cash pay opportunities, e commerce initiatives and future offerings in high demand therapeutic categories including GLP1 therapies. Overall, we believe the operational improvements implemented over the last several quarters have created a substantially more efficient and scalable health care platform, positioning us for sustained margins and growth as additional customers and partnerships come online through 2026. That concludes my remarks. Back to you, David. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) Thank you, Bruti. At this point, I'll turn the call over to Amanda to discuss our financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Amanda Ferriero (Chief Financial Officer) Thank you, David. Good morning everyone. Before I begin, I want to reinforce David's comments regarding the financial progress we are seeing across the company. The initiatives implemented throughout 2025 are translating into measurable improvements in margins, operating efficiency and overall financial performance. Our focus entering 2026 has been very clear stabilize the business, improve profitability, reduce operating losses, and position the company for more consistent and scalable earnings. Based on our first quarter results, we believe we are making meaningful progress toward those objectives. For the first quarter of 2026, total net revenues were approximately 10 million compared to approximately 14 million in the prior year period and approximately 13 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. While year over year revenue comparisons continue to reflect the operational restructuring and evolving reimbursement dynamics within our healthcare business. We believe the more important trend is the sequential improvement we are seeing in margins and operating leverage within healthcare operations. First quarter revenue was approximately 7 million compared to approximately 10 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. The composition of healthcare revenue continued to shift toward higher value and more sustainable revenue streams including 340B contract services and medication fulfillment services. Pharmacy contract revenue increased to approximately 1.9 million during the quarter compared to approximately 1.6 million in the fourth quarter and approximately 1.4 million in the prior year period. This continued growth in 340B related and contract pharmacy services supports improved margins and greater revenue visibility. At the same time, while retail prescription revenue trends began to stabilize further during the quarter following the operational changes implemented throughout 2025. While retail prescription revenue remains below prior year levels, profitability improved due to higher gross profit per prescription reflecting changes in dispensing mix, continued margin discipline, and reimbursement changes associated with the Medicare Maximum Fair Price Program. Our E Commerce operations continued to perform steadily and remained an important contributor to the overall business. E Commerce revenue was approximately 3.2 million during the quarter compared to approximately 3 million in the prior year period. Although revenue moderated sequentially from the seasonally strong fourth quarter, the business continues to benefit from stable demand across satellite communications, recurring airtime services and global E Commerce channels. Importantly, we continue to see healthy customer activity in both enterprise and government related markets and we believe this segment remains well positioned to provide consistent cash flow generation and long term growth opportunities. Turning to profitability, consolidated gross profit for the quarter was approximately 3.4 million compared to approximately 2.9 million in the prior year period and approximately 2.4 million in the fourth quarter. Gross margin improved significantly to approximately 35% in 1Q26 compared to approximately 21% in 1Q25 and approximately 18% in 4Q25. This represents one of the strongest quarterly gross margin performances in the company's history and reflects the benefits of our strategy to improve revenue quality and overall operating efficiency. Operating expenses continue to improve as we maintain disciplined cost controls across the business. Total operating expenses favorably decreased to approximately 4.5 million in 1Q26 compared to approximately 4.9 million in the prior year period and 5.3 million in 4Q25. laries and wages decreased to approximately 2.4 million compared to approximately 2.7 million in the prior year period and approximately 2.8 million in 4Q25. Selling general and administrative expenses also remained well controlled These improvements reflect the benefits of the cost optimization initiatives and operational restructuring actions implemented throughout 2025. As a result of the combined improvement in gross profit and operating efficiency, operating loss improved substantially. Operating loss for 1Q26 was approximately 1.1 million compared to approximately 2.1 million in the prior year period and approximately 2.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. From a segment perspective, it is important to note that our healthcare operations generated positive segment operating income during the quarter of approximately 24,000 compared to a segment operating loss of approximately 1.2 million in 4Q25 and approximately 0 point in the prior year period. This represents a major milestone in the repositioning of the healthcare business and validates the progress we are making in improving overall operating performance on the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with approximately $11 million in cash and working capital of approximately 14 million. While cash usage during the quarter reflected ongoing working capital investments and timing related to receivables, we continue to maintain a healthy liquidity position and a conservative balance sheet with no meaning debt which we believe provides flexibility to support growth initiatives, strategic opportunities and continued operational execution. In addition, subsequent to quarter end, we regained full compliance with NASDAQ's minimum bid price requirement following the completion of our our reverse stock split in April. Finally, as disclosed in our filing earlier this week, we established an at the Market equity program with H.C. wainwright to provide additional financial flexibility to support potential future growth initiatives including possible joint ventures or acquisitions. Currently, we do not have any specific plans for the use of this program. Looking ahead, our priorities for the remainder of 2026 remain centered on the continuing to expand contract based healthcare and fulfillment services, sustaining gross margins and improving operating leverage maintaining disciplined expense management supporting growth organically through recurring and contract based revenue streams while also evaluating strategic opportunities as possible joint ventures or acquisitions, improving cash flow performance and positioning the company for sustained profitability. While the macro environment and reimbursement landscape remain dynamic, we believe the actions we have taken over the past year have materially strengthened the foundation of the business. Most importantly, we believe the sequential financial improvements we are now seeing specifically in gross margin expansion, healthcare segment profitability and reduced operating losses provides encouraging evidence that the operational and strategic initiatives implemented over the past year are beginning to deliver measurable financial results. We remain focused on disciplined execution, operational efficiency and driving long term shareholder value. I encourage you to review our financial statements and disclosures in our Quarterly report on Form 10Q for additional detail. That concludes my remarks. Back to you, David thank you Amanda. David Phipps (Chief Executive Officer) Before we turn to investor questions. I'd like to make some closing remarks and provide some insights into what we see over the remainder of 2026. Looking at where NextPlat is today, our team is pleased with the execution of our turnaround, implementing the majority of our planned initiatives based upon our steady sequential operational improvements. It's clear that we have not only stabilized the business, but we have put it on a well defined growth profitability path. Although there is always more work to be done, we believe we now have a foundation that can support the large growth opportunities we see ahead of us. We see several milestones ahead of us in 2026 for our health care customers, providers and patients. We intend to continue expanding the reach of our offerings across the United States through new online and physical channels in E commerce. We intend to continue expanding our reach through launching new online marketplaces with a wider array of connectivity and consumer product offerings for consumers, enterprises and governments. For our investors, we are committed to delivering improved operating results top and bottom line, and communicating the progress we are making on creating shareholder value based upon solid fundamentals. In conclusion, 2026 represents the start of an exciting new chapter for NextPlat and we wish to thank our shareholders for their continued support. At this point, we can now conduct the Q and A portion of today's call. We have again asked investors and shareholders to submit their questions in advance and we would like to thank all of you who did. Question number one: There remain challenges in the retail pharmacy business. Do you still see opportunities in this segment? The short answer is yes. As Bruti indicated, we firmly believe that well managed retail pharmacy operations, ones that combine high touch services with strong margin discipline, operational efficiency and strategic customer relationships, can generate attractive margins and meaningful profitability as we are now demonstrating in our pharmacy operations. This is certainly true in less dense or more rural areas where this isn't a significant presence of larger retail chains and as such is a large opportunity we are very actively exploring which can allow us to quickly and profitably expand the scale and scope of our retail business. Question number two: Can you comment on the turnaround? Are you still working on improvements? If so, what are they or is it largely complete? As you can see from our results, our plan over the last nine months has been successful resulting in significant improvements in nearly all of our operational metrics. While this effort is largely complete, we intend to build upon this progress by remaining very focused on prudent expense control and on generating high quality revenue. That said, we are shifting our focus more towards driving growth in the business and leveraging the strong financial foundation we have now established, including adequate cash and no meaningful debt. That is why we are actively exploring ways to add scale to our business, as I previously indicated, and I expect to have more to report on these efforts shortly. Question number three: Can you comment on why the company filed an ATM agreement when you clearly have cash on the balance sheet and no debt? Now that our turnaround is largely complete, as I have previously indicated, and we are turning our attention towards growth, we have seen a number of opportunities to expand our business through joint ventures and M and A. As such, we believe an ATM can provide us with more flexibility in how we pursue these opportunities. As Amanda said earlier, at this point in time we do not have any immediate plans to access the ATM and I would add wouldn't consider it at these current levels. Question number four: Does the company have any update on the status of the ongoing lawsuit? As of today, we do not have any specific update we can provide. We are continuing to work with counsel to resolve the final remaining legal matter as quickly as possible while protecting the long term interests of our shareholders. The matter remains in the hands of counsel and our insurance company. That was the final question that we received from investors. Thank you all again for submitting them. Please remember that you can submit your questions at our investor relations email, which is investorsextblack.com or with our IR contact listed on our press releases. Michael Glick at michaelglick@nextplat.com that concludes our earnings conference call. We look forward to continuing to share with you our progress in the weeks and months ahead. Have a nice rest of your day. Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company's SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants' and analysts' statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.