ALPHA PRO TECH PROVIDES UPDATE ON PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) ORDERS RESULTING FROM COVID-19 PANDEMIC

NOGALES, Ariz., April 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alpha Pro Tech, Ltd. (NYSE American: APT), a leading manufacturer of products designed to protect people, products and environments, including disposable protective apparel and building products, today announced an update to the status of orders booked for personal protective equipment (PPE) products in APT’s disposable protective apparel product suite, including the company’s proprietary N-95 Particulate Respirator face mask and face shields. 

As of April 7, 2020, APT has booked approximately $36.7 million in orders for the company’s proprietary N-95 Particulate Respirator face mask since January 27, 2020, an increase of $14.1 million, or 62%, from the $22.6 million in orders reported as of March 11, 2020, and the company continues to experience greater demand.  APT has seen exponential increases not only in near-term demand, but also in longer-term ongoing purchase orders that have request dates that extend beyond the third quarter of 2020 and into the first half of 2021.  Approximately 20% of the booked orders fall into the latter category.  As a result of a ramp up in production, the company fulfilled approximately $3.7 million of the orders in the first quarter of 2020, which was slightly below the previously estimated forecast of $4.0 million, primarily as a result of delays at the company’s manufacturing facility in Utah following an earthquake in March.  The remaining backlog of N-95 face mask orders that are not requested before the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2020 is expected to be fulfilled by the end of the third quarter of 2020.  The company still expects its phase 1 ramp up plan on N-95 face mask production to be completed by early May and is in the process of a phase 2 expansion that will involve building additional N-95 face mask production lines to further increase capacity.  The phase 2 expansion is expected to be operational by late summer 2020.  The fulfillment forecast described above does not take into account any increased production capacity from the phase 2 ramp up plan.

APT has also seen a significant increase in orders of the company’s face shield products since January 27, 2020, with current orders totaling over $11.6 million, up from the $1.6 million in orders reported as of March 11, 2020.  The approximate average annual sales of this product line over the last three years has been $1.6 million.  As with the N-95 face mask orders described above, the company has booked face shield orders that have request dates that extend beyond the third quarter of 2020 and into the first half of 2021.  Approximately 24% of the booked orders fall into this category.  Approximately $1.4 million of face shield orders were fulfilled in the first quarter of 2020.  The remaining backlog of face shield orders that are not requested before the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2020 is expected to be fulfilled by the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter of 2020.