PenAir's Charity Golf Tournament raises $75,000 for Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
PenAir Credit Union, through its 501(c)(3) organization, the Friends of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, recently announced the successful completion of its 25th annual Charity Golf Tournament. The event, which took place at Lost Key Golf Club in Perdido Key, raised $75,000 to benefit the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, marking a significant increase from the previous year's $50,000 donation.
Over the past 25 years, the annual charity golf tournament has raised over $600,000, directly supporting vital NMCRS programs such as the Visiting Nurse Program, Quick Assistance Loans, Budget for Baby Workshops, and Education Assistance.
The Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, established in 1904, provides financial, educational, and other need-based assistance to active-duty and retired Sailors and Marines and their eligible family members and survivors.
Visit penair.org for details.
In celebration of International Women's Month, which is recognized annually in March, the Perdido Key Area Chamber of Commerce announced its annual charitable donation to a local nonprofit that exemplifies leadership, empowerment, and community service. This year, the chamber's Women Mean Business Committee selected the Escambia County Sheriff Foundation's Blazer Academy to receive a $500 donation in support of its impactful youth development programming.
The Perdido Key Area Chamber celebrated International Women's Day on March 7, with its annual International Women's Day Leadership Luncheon, an event that brings together women leaders and community members to recognize the achievements of women and raise support for a worthy cause. Each year, the PKACC's Women Mean Business Committee selects a nonprofit whose mission aligns with the committee's vision of fostering leadership, opportunity, and support within the community.
The Blazer Academy, led by the Escambia County Sheriff Foundation, is a dynamic leadership and mentorship program designed for young men and women ages 13, 14, and 15 in Escambia County. The Escambia County Sheriff's Office Blazer Academy began in March of 2021 and serves as a mentoring and leadership initiative for youth in the community.
The program empowers youth with tools for success through structured workshops that focus on courtesy, responsibility, empowerment, and respect. Both the Male Blazer Academy and Female Blazer Academy utilize role-playing scenarios to develop interpersonal skills and confidence necessary for the leaders of tomorrow. Deputies and community leaders serve as mentors, guiding students through real-life skills that help shape them into strong, confident, and civic-minded individuals.
Visit escambiaso.com/blazerAcademy for details.
Reimagine Bellview takes place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 3 at Bellview Middle School, 6201 Mobile Highway.
Reimagine Bellview is an outreach event where churches, businesses, ministries and community agencies come together for a few hours to bless those who feel a bit hopeless.
The festival will have children's activities, including inflatables, face painting, games, popcorn, coloring contests, carnival rides, free haircuts and more. The event also will give away 20,000 pounds of food, in addition to diapers and clothing. Free HIV testing will be offered, and free lunch will be served.
Visit reimagineworldwide.org for details.
Escambia County Public Schools is hosting an in-person teacher hiring event to fill teacher positions for the 2025-2026 school year.
This year's hiring event will take place from 9 to 11:30 a.m. May 3 at Booker T. Washington High School, located at 6000 College Parkway.
All interested attendees must have a bachelor's degree or higher, complete the on-line application to attend the hiring event, and must submit official transcripts before the day of the hiring event. Full-time teaching positions at all grade levels will be available for the 2025-2026 school year.
Applicants should be prepared for on-the-spot interviews and job offers, and must bring their resume and identification cards. Onboarding will be completed at the hiring event with our teams from Human Resources and Risk Management departments.
School administrators and staff will be conducting interviews. Available instructional positions include English, math, science, social studies, music and art education, elementary education, special education and foreign languages. New teachers' starting salary is $48,300 and benefit packages will be explained.
The application deadline is May 1. Visit apps2.winocular.com/escambia/jobs/Jobpost.exe, call 850-469-6111, or email madams@ecsdfl.us for details.
Take part: To make a Causes submission, email giving@pnj.com.
Never miss a story: Subscribe to the Pensacola News Journal using the link at the bottom of the page under Stay Connected.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: PenAir's Charity Golf raises $75K for Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
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5 hours ago
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The bombs the US could deploy if Trump strikes Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump has a wide range of military assets in the Middle East and across the globe to bring to bear in a potential fight against Iran as he weighs one of the most momentous foreign policy decisions of his administration. That arsenal includes powerfully destructive bombs, long-range stealth bombers, an aircraft carrier strike group, Navy destroyers and U.S. troops — offering Trump multiple options if he decides to intervene more directly in support of Israel. Some resources like the B-2 bomber are in the U.S. while other assets are either in the region or on the way. It's unclear whether Trump will deepen U.S. involvement beyond helping Israel defend against Iranian air attacks as he has done in recent days. On Tuesday afternoon, the president gathered his national security staff for a White House Situation Room meeting. The administration, though, has been surging military resources to U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Pentagon's operations in the region. And forces already in the area include naval and air power that could play a crucial role in any U.S. action against Iran. The Islamic Republic has already suffered its worst assault in decades, with Israel's strikes on the country's nuclear and military infrastructure damaging key facilities and killing senior personnel. One weapon, though, is seen as particularly effective if the situation were to escalate and draw the direct involvement of the U.S. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator or 'MOP' — better known as the bunker-buster bomb — weighs 30,000 pounds and is the world's largest precision-guided weapon. The GPS-directed bomb, assembled by Boeing Co., has been touted repeatedly as the only weapon capable of delivering a knockout blow to Tehran's atomic ambitions, which would require a successful strike on the heavily protected enrichment site at Fordow. Hidden beneath a mountain and believed to be buried around 60 to 90 meters deep, many experts believe that damaging Fordow can be achieved only by the MOP — a weapon the U.S. alone possesses. Each bunker buster can be independently targeted and released, 'making it possible to deliver a MOP right on top of another MOP,' said Rebecca Grant, a Lexington Institute analyst. Grant said drone surveillance in the area could also help the military 'refine the strike' at the last minute and noted that Iranian nuclear facilities such as Fordow have been studied by the U.S. for years. The decision on whether to use that weapon is poised to be one of the most critical Trump makes. The bomb could alter Iran's decision-making over its nuclear program and because its deployment would involve American planes and pilots it would place the U.S. at the center of an offensive military action. 'If Israel can achieve that result through its operations, that is the best case,' said Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and onetime deputy assistant defense secretary. 'But if it requires U.S. participation to target the Fordow facility, that has to be on the table for President Trump to consider.' Deploying the MOP would involve another crucial military asset, the B-2 stealth bomber, which can carry two of them. The B-2 would fly thousands of miles from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to deliver the bombs deep within Iran. The U.S. demonstrated the power of its B-2 fleet in October, when bombers flew from Whiteman to hammer Iran-backed Houthi weapons facilities buried underground. Earlier this year, as many as six B-2s were spotted on a runway on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in a deployment that was interpreted by many as a message to both Iran and the Houthis. The Air Force said those aircraft returned to their base in May. US Central Command, which oversees the longstanding US military presence in the Middle East, would play a key role in any operations on Iran, with responsibility for a force spread across multiple countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and drawing on troops from different military services and special operations forces. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has 'directed the deployment of additional capabilities' to the command. The administration is also sending as many as 20 KC-135 and newer KC-46 aerial refueling tankers to undisclosed locations, according to a defense official, helping extend the range of U.S. air power. Those resources would offer Trump additional flexibility in determining his course of action. U.S. personnel in the region, including Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy servicemembers, number 40,000-45,000, according to the most recent Central Command figures. The Navy is also poised to be a critical component, with resources that can both aid any action on Iran and have already been employed to help protect Israel from retaliatory strikes. The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group has been in the region of the Arabian Sea for seven months. The ship carries about 3,000 sailors, according to the Navy, with another 2,000 in its air wing. The air wing boasts an extensive array of military hardware, including F-35 and F-18 fighter jets, EA-18 aircraft that can disrupt enemy radar and communication systems, E-2Ds with advanced radar to help identity threats more quickly, as well as Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and Sea Hawk helicopters. In addition to the centerpiece carrier, the group also includes a guided-missile cruiser, the USS Princeton, and guided-missile destroyers. Another strike group headed by the USS Nimitz is scheduled to relieve the Vinson and is currently in the Indo-Pacific, offering additional forces. The Navy has three Aegis missile defense destroyers in the Eastern Mediterranean — the USS Arleigh Burke, USS The Sullivans and the USS Thomas Hudner, with two more vessels arriving shortly, according to a defense official. Two additional destroyers are in the Red Sea. A U.S. official said the Arleigh Burke and The Sullivans fired numerous SM-3 anti-ballistic missile interceptors over the weekend to help defend Israel. An Army unit in the region also fired THAAD interceptors at Iranian ballistic missiles, according to another official. ___ © 2025 Bloomberg L.P. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Leonard Lauder, Legendary Beauty Executive, Dies at 92
Beauty has lost its master builder. Leonard A. Lauder, arguably the most influential and respected architect of the prestige beauty business, died late Saturday at age 92. More from WWD Tender Store Owner Cheryl Daskas Dies at 71 How Last Year's Cherry Cola Hair Trend Is Unleashing Animal-inspired Coloring in 2025 The 16 Best Hair Styling Tools, Tested and Reviewed by Editors Lauder spent his career molding the Estée Lauder Companies Inc., into the global leader of prestige beauty. The company that his parents — the ever quotable Estée ('When sex goes out of business, so will we') and her husband Joseph — founded in 1946, their son shaped into a $15.61 billion giant in sales for the 2024 fiscal year. What drove this empire building was an unquenchable desire to create a gold standard for the industry. In June 1995, five months before the company went public, the then-president and chief executive officer unveiled his vision to become 'the preeminent supplier of upmarket cosmetics in the world.' Then Lauder reached out for that goal. Lauder once remarked, 'Money doesn't drive me. What drives me is to see that this great company continues its inexorable march to becoming the greatest company in the world. Not the largest, but the greatest.' In that pursuit, he brought a passion and drive that were seemingly inexhaustible. Younger employees would flag in his wake as Lauder would visit store after store almost from dawn to dark, speaking with retail executives and customers to find out what the latest trends were. As chairman, he could walk onto a store floor anywhere from Los Angeles to London and immediately spot that a counter for one of Lauder's brands was two inches smaller than a competitor's, or not positioned correctly for a store's new traffic pattern. Even as his company's success grew, Lauder would listen and question more than issue diktats. Throughout his life he retained a salty sense of humor – perhaps honed during his years in the Navy and Navy Reserve – and never lost his ear-to-ear grin or the twinkle in his eye, which immediately relaxed even the most intimidated person meeting him for the first time. He was in the forefront of leaders defining and establishing the doctrine of the modern global prestige beauty business, particularly in department and major specialty stores. He was among the first to recognize the transcendent reach of globalization in the beauty business, coining its language and recognizing fundamental doctrines. His vision was driven by the role of innovation, the power of new product introductions, the purity of distribution strategy and the sanctity of brand equity. He viewed brands as living, breathing beings. Those beliefs may have become thought of as old school as younger competitors came on the scene talking about triple-tier distribution, celebrity marketing, the power of influencers and their digital native brands. But Lauder's tenacity of vision and Zen-like surety of purpose never faltered and his passion never ceased to fuel the vitality of the business. Later in life, when asked how he kept his batteries charged, Lauder traced his deep reserves of energy to his practice of teaching his brand equity course to his young executives. He identified himself as Lauder's CTO, or 'chief teaching officer,' perhaps the title that made him the most proud. 'The thing that gives me the greatest pleasure and recharge is teaching,' he said once, noting that he had redone the syllabus 'to make it something far deeper than I have ever done. 'The other thing is that a lot of the people who were low-level merchants a long time ago when I was more deeply involved with individual buyers and merchandise managers are now store principals, and what gives me pleasure is meeting with them and understanding them and talking to them.' He added with a grin, 'I give them my advice, whether they like it or not.' At least one person who heeded Lauder's advice was Ralph Lauren. 'Leonard's life and mine have intersected for so many years and during that time I have called on him many times for advice,' the designer said in 2018. 'He was always there for me. He is a man of honor, a man of integrity, a man of great energy and passion and what I've really learned and respected was his love and support of his family,' Lauren continued. 'They always came first.' Lauder tended to view the people who worked with him and for him as much more than employees. When asked in 2018 what was his proudest achievement, he replied that it was 'the people we have brought up and who are running the company today…These are people who really started at a much lower level and they grew and grew and grew. These people are my proudest accomplishment. The wealth of a company is its people and we are a very wealthy company.' Throughout his career, long before Lauder started teaching his classes, he was known for his mentoring skills. On more than a few occasions, a rising industry star might be asked with whom they would like to work for next. The answer was often, 'Leonard.' When asked about his reputation, Lauder, who prided himself on his ability to read people, replied, 'Every time I'm meeting someone, I ask myself, 'Can they grow into a great leader?'' But the tricky part comes when giving someone a second and third chance, usually at the behest of their manager, when Lauder knew instinctively from the beginning that they wouldn't work out. 'I always regret that I didn't push harder,' Lauder recalled in 2018. 'I wanted to let the managers say, 'let's do it.' But if you wait three or four years and the person still hasn't produced, you've lost three or four years. 'I gave a speech some time ago to a group of people at Macy's in California, and I spoke to them about this and ended with the phrase—'Just remember this, dumb is forever,'' he recalled. But he never lost his voracious curiosity. It was not unusual for Lauder to be lunching with someone in a restaurant like Michael's in Midtown Manhattan and turn his questioning to his favorite subject —what promising start-ups are ripe for the plucking. His eyes would twinkle, he might borrow an order pad from a passing waiter to write on, then whip out a pen and furiously start jotting down names of companies. Even at age 92, he was still in the game, thinking about how to get the group – which has been struggling over the last few years – back onto the growth track. The word passion crops up often when associates reminisce about Lauder, particularly when his son, William P. Lauder, executive chairman, reflects about his days with his father. 'My father demonstrated that a hugely successful business can be built on this simple concept: A passion for product, a passion for the consumer, a passion for the retailer, a passion for the brand, a passion for quality, a passion for people, and a passion for leadership. His passion for every aspect of building a lasting, world-leading cosmetics company has made our company great. His passion for teaching everybody around him has made us all better as a result.' But that great passion was not limited to the beauty game. His other great love was collecting art, most famously the works of the Cubist painters. In 2013, Lauder sealed his artistic legacy by donating his world-renowned Cubist collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then consisting of 81 works by Pablo Picasso (34), Georges Braque (17), Juan Gris (15) and Fernand Léger (15). The choice of the Met as the recipient of the donation came as a bit of a surprise since Lauder had long been associated with the Whitney Museum of American Art. But that museum was devoted to American art and Lauder had been quite generous there with money and painting. Lauder had considered many other museums, but he picked the Met partly because of the encyclopedic nature of its holdings — and its shortcomings. The Met had a sparse collection of 20th century art, a shortage he hoped to help remedy with the opening in the museum of the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center of Modern Art that might inspire other collectors to step forward. 'I wanted to transform the Met,' he said, adding that his generosity was motivated by 'my love of art and my love of New York.' Above all 'I wanted to make it a gift to New York,' said Lauder, who was born in the city and grew up on the Upper West Side. Lauder began his life of art collecting in a small way by buying Art Deco postcards at age 6. That fascination grew into a collection of 120,000 postcards, 700 of which were featured in a 2012 exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He first found a seat in the art establishment by joining the acquisition board of the Whitney in 1971, then became a trustee, rose to president in 1977 and finally the museum's chairman in 1994. His gift of $131 million to the Whitney's endowment was at the time the largest in the institution's history. This was in addition to his gift of works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Cy Twombly and Andy Warhol. Years before he announced his choice of the Met as a next home of his Cubist collection, Lauder discussed his approach to collecting and drew a parallel between building his business and art collection. 'I'm building my art collection not to possess it but to conserve it,' he said, because it's all going to go to a museum. 'Everything I buy, the question is where will it fit into my collection and into a museum.' The same philosophy applied to the company he helped grow. 'My passion for this [beauty] business is not to make more money, because I have more than enough money for the next five lifetimes [his net worth was estimated by Forbes Magazine at $9.7 billion as of this year]. The passion is to build something great that can be conserved. There is a parallel as to what I do with my art and what happens with our company.' This all-consuming passion was evident in every corner of his day, even when he was preoccupied with something else. He always had time to stop and talk shop, especially with retailers. Even into his 90s, he would still meet people regularly for lunch to talk business and trends. His eyes retained their sparkle and his grasp on their arm as firm as ever as he pulled them in close for a chat. His instinct for spotting quicksilver changes in fickle consumer tastes was second to none. Lauder read the twists and turns of the market like a weather map. He had a knack for perfecting in-store sell-through and promotional strategies. Not that the Lauders invented every promotional tactic. He freely acknowledged that the ubiquitous gift-with-purchase was invented elsewhere. 'Charles of the Ritz had been doing it for years.' But Estée Lauder put her spin on sampling by giving a gift without any purchase, according to Lauder's book, 'The Company I Keep. My Life in Beauty,' which was published by Harper Business in 2020. The Lauders took their entire $50,000 advertising budget and ordered huge quantities of full-sized products and mailed invitations to every woman listed on the charge account files of each store in the Lauder distribution. Drop by and get full sized box of face powder for free. That worked so well that the concept was expanded to include sending postcards — paid for by the stores — to customers whenever Lauder opened a store. The quality of the full-sized gift and the personal touch worked like catnip. 'In every case, eager shoppers mobbed our counters — then spread throughout the main floor in a relentless tide, increasing sales on the entire floor, increasing sales by well over 100 percent. It was a win/win for both of us,' he wrote, referring to both Lauder and the retailers. Gift-with-purchase and purchase-with-purchase became the engines for holiday selling, and the Lauders mastered the game. One of the more powerful promotional strategies was Lauder's holiday blockbuster. The idea hit with such impact that some department stores reportedly used the blockbuster to kick off their seasonal merchandising attack. In analyzing the dynamics of the department store market, Lauder put the consumer at the center of the question: Who owns the customer? Lauder cited the acceleration of the pace of business for the need to have a future vision. Another driver was the ongoing wave of consolidations of not only brands but especially distribution. '[That touched off] a new war that we have to understand and that is the war as to who owns the consumer. If the beauty industry understands that they are in that war, they will be able to thrive. If they don't, that's curtains.' He then explained, 'If the manufacturers of the products own the consumer, they can put as much money as they have available into giving great product, great service, great advice and the business will thrive. However, if they give up ownership of the consumer to the retailer, as happened in the '30s with Sears Roebuck and is happening today with many of the mass retailers both in the United States and in Europe, those mass retailers will demand greater and greater margin from you because they own the consumer, and you will not have the money to invest in the product.' As an example he pointed to 'the war' in Europe between perfumery chains that were then consolidating and growing larger, demanding more margin in the process. 'They are bleeding the product and the ability of the manufacturers to drive customers into their stores,' he said in 2010. 'Our key modus operandi is that we use our money to drive consumers into our retail outlets.' When asked eight years later, in 2018, if a peace treaty had been struck, Lauder firmly said no. 'When it comes to many retailers, they truly feel they own the customer [and the sales data] because they are paying the rent,' he said, adding, 'this is a battle that simply has never been settled, and it goes on to this day.' That acuity in spotting issues was a trait that Lauder long displayed and which was first honed in his youth at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. He later served as a lieutenant in the U.S Navy, and at age 25 joined the family business fulltime in 1958. The next year, he married Evelyn Hauser, who also went to work at the company and eventually rose to senior corporate vice president. Later she founded the world renowned Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Their marriage lasted 52 years, until her death in 2011. In 2015, Lauder remarried, to Judy Glickman, who survives him. The story of the beginnings of Lauder, the company, was entrepreneurial in nature and humble in origin. First-year sales in the late '40s amounted to $50,000, 'almost all of which was eaten up by expenses,' according to Lauder's memoir. Estée Lauder began — like many industry start-ups — at the kitchen sink. Lauder recalled as a little boy watching his mother cook up facial creams. He never stopped working alongside his mother — the legend — even as the company took flight. 'Mrs. Lauder was deeply involved in the choice of the fragrances,' he recalled, 'and I did the makeup and the treatment — and advertising.' His father handled the finances. His younger brother, Ronald S. Lauder, who survives him, joined the company in 1964 and remains involved as chairman of Clinique Laboratories LLC. He retired as a board director earlier this year. Decades later, Aerin Lauder, Leonard's niece who held a top job at Lauder then left to create her own brand, remarked, 'He knew just what makes an ad speak to a woman, what makes it beautiful and, most important, how it reflects and strengthens a brand.' Those were also the yeasty days when the American beauty industry was emerging with bare knuckles flying. Competition was warfare. 'I miss the intensity,' Lauder remarked in 2010. 'I miss the hostility. I miss the competition. I miss the love of product. In the old days, earlier on, you had Elizabeth Arden competing with Helena Rubinstein. Then you had Elizabeth Arden competing with Charles Revson. Then you had Charles Revson competing with Estée Lauder. Then you had Leonard Lauder competing against L'Oréal in some areas. It was a battle, really, of founders. As those founders have moved on, you now have professional companies, and the passion between an owner and a founder and a professional manager — as much as one would like to pump that passion in — that passion for competition is different. 'However, that doesn't mean that things aren't better, because there is far more professionalism in the products today — no product can come to market until it has been tested and retested and retested again and again and again. I see a great benefit to professional management. 'But that doesn't mean I don't mind the scrappiness of the old days.' Years later, Lauder fondly recalled telling a buyer that his ambition was to rank number one in the U.S. market — then dominated by Revlon, followed by Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein and Charles of the Ritz — only to be met by skepticism from the retailer. By 1960, he began making a mark. Lauder was running the daily operations as executive vice president. In that year, the Estée Lauder company opened at Harrods in London, its first step overseas. 'We were the first American luxury cosmetics brand to enter the post-war European market,' he recalled. Now Estée Lauder's brands are sold around the globe. 'In the early '60s, I had the vision for Estée Lauder of being a multinational and multi-branded company,' he told WWD in 2010. The first turning point came with the launch of Clinique in 1968. It was a more democratic upstart, compared to the glamour-driven Lauder brand, followed by the revolutionary MAC and a host of other upstart acquisitions, some of which have worked and others that did not. 'Clinique began the transformation of Estée Lauder into the multi-national, multi-brand company I envisioned,' he wrote in his book. In the '40s and '50s, most major cosmetics companies marketed their products under a single brand name, such as Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. Lauder had another vision: 'I hate to use the word today,' he remarked in 1995, 'but it was in my mind then — a General Motors of cosmetics.' He continued, 'The vision is to continue to expand our brand portfolio and our offering in our field, in our space, and to continue to try to take advantage of the changing world scene.' Lauder attributed his success, in part, to a strategy of creating his own competition, rather than waiting for challengers to appear. 'I created Clinique to compete against Estée Lauder,' he wrote in his memoir. 'When we began to acquire other companies, we started with MAC and quickly followed with its polar opposite, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics. Le Mer competes against Estée Lauder's premium product, Re-Nutriv. In the hair care area, we acquired Bumble and bumble to compete with Aveda. 'What I was trying to bring about was becoming the market leader, and we've done that: we are the largest supplier of prestige cosmetics in the world and we are the dominant player in almost every prestige market, largely because of that strategy,' he wrote at the time in his book. But there was an Achilles heel — keeping your distribution in synch with your brand equity and demand. And the company stumbled with its 1979 launch of Prescriptives, which Lauder described as a super-scientific version of the Lauder brand. 'The strategic mistake I most regret was not cutting Prescriptives' distribution,' he wrote, noting that the brand was overdistributed 'by far. I wanted to cut our distribution to focus on high-end stores. But we recently had gone public and we felt that cutting sales would hurt our share price. The decision led to short-term gain but a long-term loss since we had to eventually close all the Prescriptives counters.' Through it all, the company retained its original DNA, its prestige identity, its brand-driven nature and its affinity for creative innovation — all driven by a boost of adrenaline provided by a management change in March 2009. William Lauder, who was serving as CEO, moved to executive chairman and recruited Fabrizio Freda from Procter & Gamble to become the group's CEO and president. Leonard Lauder became chairman emeritus. In a subsequent WWD interview, Freda praised a long list of corporate attributes that characterized the company, but he made clear he wanted to instill more financial discipline. During much of Freda's tenure, the company soared, particularly as sales in China and the travel retail channel accelerated exponentially. The company's stock price hit an all-time high of 351.13 in January 2022. But during the pandemic, Estée Lauder struggled and is today in turnaround mode under CEO Stéphane de La Faverie, who took the reins this January. 'Leonard Lauder was beloved by many and will be missed tremendously. To our employees at The Estée Lauder Companies, he was an inspiration and a champion,' said de La Faverie. 'To the industry, he was an icon and pioneer, earning respect worldwide. His energy and vision helped shape our company and will continue to do so for generations to come. He was a deeply compassionate leader who cared profoundly about every person in the company. I feel privileged to have worked with Leonard, who has been the best mentor I could have dreamt to learn from. He will be remembered by all of us.' As for Freda, after a few years at the company, he said, 'The most lasting lesson I learned from Leonard Lauder is that even though we live in a world where products and consumers are more and more in control, the reality is brands and companies are defined by their distribution strategies and those strategies are built on trust and relationships.' Relationships, indeed. Leonard Lauder made hand-written thank-you notes on blue cards ubiquitous. Jane Lauder, who held numerous senior positions at the company during her time there and Lauder's other niece, pointed out that when he traveled, he left a trail of thank-you messages addressed to employees and acquaintances. 'His famous notes found their way all over the world,' she said. Lauder's influence has always remained palpable. Back in the '70s and '80s, when the company was locked in a market share war with L'Oréal, he was known for his vision and maintaining a long-range viewpoint. Lauder was long known as a lifelong innovator and ground breaker, overseeing the launch of one brand after another — such as Clinique, Aramis, Lab Series Skincare for Men, Prescriptives and Origins. He also had a knack for generally picking winners to buy. During the indie boom of the '90s, he led the company through a series of key acquisitions that later proved to be building blocks of the company's future. But the company was not always on the leading edge. The '70s and '80s was the heyday of designer fragrances, but Lauder seemed to sit out the licensing game. By the '90s, Lauder said he had wished he had entered the fray sooner. 'The only thing that I regret,' he said, 'is that when the designer movement came in, I didn't overrule the family and demand that we start taking up designer names.' Lauder didn't elaborate, but he later mentioned that the company had indeed signed a contract with a fashion designer, Emanuel Ungaro, in 1970. But there was a difference of opinion involving Ungaro and Estée, on fragrance direction. 'I decided that there wasn't enough room for two very, very strong points of view.' Lauder recalled in 1995. 'So we quietly gave up the contract.' Eventually, attitudes changed with a shift of winds. A deal was signed in 1994 with Tommy Hilfiger, ushering in a new era for the company, which by 2019 boasted seven designer nameplates, including Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Donna Karan, Ermenegildo Zegna and Tory Burch, all powerful brands. While most of those licenses are now owned by other companies, the Tom Ford brand has become integral to Lauder's growth. 'Leonard was a father figure to me. We were very close friends for almost 40 years,' said Hilfiger. He was an amazing mentor to me throughout the years. We built an incredible fragrance business over the years, beginning with Tommy and Tommy Girl. 'After the success of those two, many more fragrances and perfumes followed,' Hilfiger recalled. 'It was such an exciting opportunity to work with such a phenomenal family business. 'Leonard also taught me so much about art over the years,' the designer continued. 'He was the consummate gentleman, and Evelyn was an unforgettable friend. as well. Words cannot describe how much I will miss him.' But there were changes that ran deeper than nameplates. Lauder's devotion to the prestige market meant that a different business model had to be invented. Unlike some multichannel companies like L'Oréal, which can cascade down ingredient innovations from higher-priced products to economical mass brands, thus amortizing the R&D costs, Lauder's focus was strictly on the upper market. Thus the marketing attack was organized on a horizontal basis with sister and brother brands attacking competitors shoulder to shoulder as quickly as possible. 'Everything in the Lauder organization operates on cross-fertilization,' Lauder said. 'A duty-free idea winds up in [the Lauder store] in Las Vegas. The Vegas ideas wind up at Color on Three [Bloomingdale's cosmetics counter]. These ideas will wind up in Prague or Budapest and those ideas will perhaps wind up one day in China.' This strategy was fine-tuned when it came to product development. A star example shone brightly in the early '90s during the alpha-hydroxy and salicylic acid boom. Lauder launched one such product after another in one division after another as rapidly as the labs could churn them out. 'The Lauder corporation [got] extremely high marks for being fast on its feet with the alpha-hydroxy trend,' observed Allen Burke, then divisional merchandise manager of Dayton's, Hudson's and Marshall Field's in Minneapolis. 'It was the single biggest trend to hit the market in 10 years.' Leonard Lauder once reminisced about some of the defining moments for the company. 'If I had to choose one, it was probably about 1962, when the Estée Lauder brand started to really take off,' he said. 'To see our business go ahead 45 or 50 percent per month per year was incredible. It was exhausting but incredible. That was the first major pivotal moment. The second was seeing the success of our international expansions and ventures.' The third pivotal period came when Lauder's multibrand strategy began to click, and the fourth came with the acquisition of influential, dynamic brands like MAC and Bobbi Brown and 'seeing them hit a new stride and a new era of growth,' Lauder recalled. In later decades, around 2014, the acquisition of a new wave of indie brands— like Le Labo, Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, Kilian, Too Faced, and Glamglow — brought a new Millennial audience. Earlier acquisitions, like Smashbox, gave the company a foothold in the newly booming direct-selling market. By 2019, Lauder listed a total portfolio of 29 brands on its website. His curiosity, however, extended beyond new brands. His passport was well-worn; he was a ceaseless traveler. Lauder could just as easily be found in Hong Kong haggling with a publisher over a magazine ad placement or calmly sitting in Moscow's Red Square studying shoppers bustling by. He was the grandmaster of the prestige game and reveled in the global nature of the competition. He often said the beauty business for him was like playing 'a multidimensional game of chess. You move along one plane, which is maybe your national plane. You deal in multiple other planes, which are different nations, different continents, different brands and different channels of distribution.' That was an apt description of the kaleidoscopic mental moves required to compete on a grand scale with powerhouses like L'Oréal in Europe and Shiseido in Japan, not to mention Unilever, LVMH and Procter & Gamble. Among the elements he mastered was the power of language and Lauder chose his words carefully in giving interviews. One of his favorite sayings was, 'If you can't see the future, you can't get there. It's as simple as that.' 'Leonard Lauder literally created the prestige cosmetics business,' remarked Jane Hertzmark Hudis, executive vice president and chief brand officer at Lauder, when asked what she learned from him. 'His lessons are as meaningful today as when I started,' she said in a 2010 interview. 'Brand equity is everything and without it, nothing else matters. Protect it, cherish it — never ever let it slip away. Leonard believe(d) strongly in the power of intuition, the power of creativity and the power of a woman,' she said. That view was held by many, not the least by John Demsey, Lauder's former executive group president. 'Leonard was unquestionably one of the greatest architects in prestige beauty and has established the entire business paradigm that we live in today. Aspiration, desire, creativity, product innovation, point of sale, style and effective advertising and communication were the cornerstones of Leonard's repertoire.' Launch Gallery: Leonard Lauder 1933-2025: Cosmetics Industry Icon, Art Collector, and Philanthropist [In Photos] Best of WWD Which Celebrity Brands Are Next for a Major Deal? Lady Gaga, Beyonce and More Possible Contenders for the Next Corporate Prize The Best Makeup Looks in Golden Globes History A Look Back at Golden Globes Best Makeup on the Red Carpet, From Megan Fox to Sophia Loren [PHOTOS]
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Coda Octopus Group Reports Fiscal Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results
ORLANDO, FL, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coda Octopus Group, Inc. ('CODA' or the 'Company') (Nasdaq: CODA) a global market leader in real-time 4D/5D/6D imaging sonar technology for real-time subsea intelligence and cutting-edge diving technology, today reported its unaudited financial results for its fiscal second quarter ended April 30, 2025 (SQ2025). Annmarie Gayle, CODA's Chairman and CEO, commented: 'I am pleased with our overall results of operations in SQ2025 especially the increase in revenue by 31.8%. Despite the fluid global policy setting environment, we continue to invest in our growth strategy and have made good progress under the DAVD Program. In the SQ2025 we received orders for DAVD tethered system having a contract value of $1.53m. These new DAVD systems will be distributed to additional commands thereby increasing the user base to around 12 Navy Commands. We believe that this will propel the DAVD's broader adoption. We are also pleased to see that the continued customer adoption model under the DAVD Program includes the Echoscope® real time 3D Volumetric Imaging Sonar, paving the way for long tail recurring revenue under this program. Looking forward to other key milestone, during our third fiscal quarter 2025, we expect to deliver 16 DAVD untethered system (DUS) for integration into the MK16 Underwater Breathing Apparatus (UBA) system for SPECWAR and EOD applications. We believe this to be the pre-cursor to broader adoption once the system evaluation is completed . The DUS is the largest addressable market for the DAVD technology. For example, 75% of the U.S. Navy's 4,000 active divers, use Full-Face Mask untethered systems, which aligns with the DUS solution. Similarly, the majority of Public Safety and Law Enforcement divers in the U.S.—an estimated 10,000 divers—use the same Full-Face mask dive systems. As mentioned previously, the DAVD technology is the subject of various evaluation programs. Recent assessment as to the state of readiness of the technology from several major defense field trials on the DAVD confirms its its effectiveness in dive operations. The report also emphasized the benefits and critical nature of combining the DAVD with Echoscope in low visibility environments – again giving us good insight that the full-scale adoption by user groups is likely to include Echoscope, thus expanding the opportunities for the Company. As a result, in this year alone, we have 5 DAVD related development projects where various other sensors are being integrated into the DAVD to ensure that all US Defense sensors used by various missions are compatible with the DAVD. We believe we have created the DAVD solution ecosystem which is well positioned to serve the global defense and commercial diving market. The Echoscope® was part of the ongoing assessment for the defense market and this report concluded that this technology represents a notable improvement over existing solutions and offers a new capability for detailed underwater imaging and object detection. The numbers shown below have been rounded to one decimal point, unless two decimal points are required for clarity. The full SQ2025 financials can be found in CODA's Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on June 16, 2025. Total revenue was approximately $7.0 million compared to $5.3 million in SQ2024, representing an increase of 31.8%. Revenues from our core business (Marine Technology Business) were $3.9 million compared to $3.5 million in SQ2024, representing a 10.0% increase. Revenues from our Marine Engineering Business were $1.84 million compared to $1.80 million in SQ2024, representing a 2.3% increase. Revenues from the Acoustics Sensors and Material segment were $1.3 million in SQ2025 (no prior comparative data is available as this business unit was acquired on October 29, 2024). Gross profit was $4.5 million compared to $3.7 million in SQ2024. Gross margin was 64.1% compared to 70.2% in SQ2024, reflecting lower gross profit margins from our core business in conjunction with the mix and geography of sales reported in the period. Operating income was $1.1 million in SQ2025 compared to $1.4 million in SQ2024, a reduction of 19.5%. Operating margin was 15.5% compared to 25.4% in SQ2024, driven by the increase in Selling, General and Administrative costs and the addition of the Acoustics Sensor and Material Business. Pre-tax income was approximately $1.3 million in SQ2025 compared to $1.6 million in SQ2024, representing a decrease of 22.9%. Net income after taxes was $0.9 million in SQ2025 compared to $1.4 million in SQ2024, a decrease of 35.8%. Diluted earnings per share in SQ2025 was $0.08 compared to $0.13 in SQ2024. Pre-tax income as a percentage of revenues for SQ2025 was approximately 18.0% compared to 30.8% in SQ2024. Research and Development expenditures for SQ2025 were approximately $0.7 million, an increase of 27.2%, compared to approximately $0.5 million in SQ2024. SG&A in SQ2025 was approximately $2.7 million, an increase of 47.4% over $1.8 million in SQ2024. The income statement comparisons to the corresponding period last year (SQ2024) do not include the Acoustics Sensors and Materials segment. Our cash balance at the end of SQ2025 of $24.5 million represents an increase of $2.0 million over October 31, 2024, when this figure was $22.5 million. Annmarie Gayle, CODA's Chairman and CEO, commented: 'Despite the uncertain global policy environment, I am pleased with our overall financial results in our SQ2025 and the diversification of our revenue structure. In our SQ205 all business units increased revenue. Our core business, the Marine Technology Business, sells its products and solutions worldwide and in the SQ2025, we saw a 65.5% increase in equipment sales which were $3,319,322 compared to $2,005,128 in the comparable SQ2024 period. However, we also saw an underutilization of our rental assets, which led to rental revenue decreasing by 75.9% and which were $168,791 compared to $699,664 in the comparable SQ2024 period, reflecting the reduction in offshore renewable projects as a result of the change in U.S. Administration energy policy. Notwithstanding the change in the U.S policy on renewables, we believe that its new policy on prioritizing domestic energy production of Oil & Gas (O&G) favors our products and solutions. We further believe that the transition to O&G will in the foreseeable future offset any reduction of revenue from US offshore renewables which we may experience. Furthermore, a key part of our strategy as a Group relies on Defense spending. Defense budgets are set to increase in Europe and the United Kingdom, which favors our business and, in the SQ2025 we saw an increase in the pipeline of opportunities both in the U.S and the UK. Of note, we also saw opportunities to work directly with the U.S. Department of Defense (as opposed to through Prime Defense Contractors), which, in itself, is expected to create new opportunities . The Company's full financial results, including its results for the SQ2025, are available at Conference Call CODA will host a conference call today, June 16, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time (7:00 a.m. Pacific Time) to discuss its results for the fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2025. CODA management will provide prepared remarks, followed by a question-and-answer period. Date: Monday, June 16, 2025 Time: 10:00 a.m. Eastern time (7:00 a.m. Pacific time) U.S. dial-in numbers: 1-877-451-6152 or 1-201-389-0879 International number: 1-201-389-0879 Conference ID: 13753929 The conference call will broadcast live and be available for replay here. Persons interested in attending are required to call the conference telephone number approximately 10 minutes before the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please press *0. A replay of the call will be available after approximately 2:00 p.m. Eastern time on the same day through June 30, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Telephone replay numbers: 1-844-512-2921 or 1-412-317-6671 International replay number: 1-412-317-6671 Access ID: 13753929 About Coda Octopus Group, Inc. The Company, founded in 1994, is an established supplier to the underwater/subsea market. It supplies a range of hardware and software solutions to this market which includes key proprietary real time 4D/5D/6D imaging sonars, marketed under the name Echoscope® and Echoscope PIPE® addressing the underwater imaging sensor market along with new generation diving technology, Diver Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) system. The Company's Echoscope PIPE® sonar generates real-time 3D/4D/5D images of moving objects underwater including in zero visibility water conditions. Echoscope technology is used globally for numerous applications in both the commercial offshore market and defense underwater markets. Applications for the Echoscope® technology include complex mapping underwater, subsea intervention, subsea asset placements, salvage and recovery, search and rescue, offshore renewables cable installations and surveys, marine construction, subsea infrastructure installation, mining applications, robotics (3D Perception and Depth), breakwater construction and monitoring, decommissioning, diving applications and port and harbor security. The recently launched new generation of diving technology, DAVD, has the potential to change the way global diving operations are performed (both in the Defense and Commercial space) because it is a fully integrated singular system for topside control and fully connected diver HUD system, allowing both the topside and diver to share a range of critical information and visualize the same underwater scene. Furthermore, the DAVD integrates the Company's sonar technology, which allows dive operations to be performed in zero visibility conditions, a common problem that besets these operations. The Company recently acquired Precision Acoustics Limited, an acoustics sensor and materials business. This Company is a recognized leader in the ultrasound and acoustic measurement field. Specializing in acoustic hydrophone design and innovative acoustic materials, they provide a comprehensive range of products and solutions, with a primary focus on medical imaging and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT). NDT is used to validate the viability of structures such as aircraft, ship hulls, wellheads and other subsea structures. Their expertise extends to working closely with national and global standard-setting bodies (such as the National Physical Laboratory of the UK), contributing to the establishment of the primary measurement standards in the industry. The Company also includes two discrete Defense engineering businesses Coda Octopus Martech Ltd (UK based) and Coda Octopus Colmek, Inc. (U.S. based) whose primary business model is to supply sub-assemblies into broader mission critical programs in the capacity of sub-contractors to the Prime Defense Contractors. Their scope of supply under these programs typically includes concept, design, prototype, manufacturing, and post-sale support. This gives them the opportunity to have repeat orders for these sub-assemblies through the life of these programs. For further information, please visit or contact us at coda@ Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Coda Octopus Group, Inc. within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this document, the words 'may', 'would', 'could', 'will', 'intend', 'plan', 'anticipate', 'believe', 'estimate', 'expect', 'assume' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward‐looking statements. Those forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's expectations for the growth of the Company's operations and revenue. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual circumstances, events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, restrictions on our business operations due to the Pandemic, customer demand for our products and market prices; the outcome of our ongoing research and development efforts relating to our products including our patented real time 3D solutions; our ability to develop the sales force required to achieve our development and other examples of forward looking statement set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended October 31, 2024, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 29, 2025, and the subsequently filed 10-Qs and 8-Ks. Coda Octopus Group, Inc. does not undertake and specifically disclaims any obligation to update or revise such statements to reflect new circumstances or unanticipated events as they occur, unless required by law. Contact: Coda Octopus Group, Inc. 1- 407-735 2406 CODA OCTOPUS GROUP, Balance SheetsApril 30, 2025 and October 31, 2024 2025 2024 Unaudited ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 24,462,301 $ 22,479,072 Accounts Receivable, net 4,720,117 3,493,463 Inventory 13,527,744 13,975,529 Unbilled Receivables 2,370,530 1,657,827 Prepaid Expenses 842,252 537,289 Other Current Assets 393,273 838,835 Total Current Assets 46,316,217 42,982,015 FIXED ASSETS Property and Equipment, net 6,801,586 6,822,990 Right of Use Assets 403,228 413,171 Total Fixed Assets 7,204,814 7,236,161 OTHER ASSETS Goodwill 3,639,334 3,639,334 Intangible Assets, net 3,429,779 3,687,034 Total Other Assets 7,069,113 7,326,368 Total Assets $ 60,590,144 $ 57,544,544 CODA OCTOPUS GROUP, Balance Sheets (Continued)April 30, 2025 and October 31, 2024 2025 2024 Unaudited LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY CURRENT LIABILITIES Accounts Payable $ 882,988 $ 1,034,488 Current portion of operating lease liabilities 35,863 32,298 Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities 1,450,573 1,604,596 Deferred Revenue 1,877,350 1,225,634 Total Current Liabilities 4,246,774 3,897,016 LONG TERM LIABILITIES Deferred Tax Liability, net 41,855 82,011 Non-current operating lease liabilities 385,819 380,873 Deferred Revenue, less current portion 27,199 56,121 Total Long Term Liabilities 454,873 519,005 Total Liabilities 4,701,647 4,416,021 Commitments and contingencies STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Common Stock, $.001 par value; 150,000,000 shares authorized, 11,232,514 issued and outstanding as of April 30, 2025 and 11,195,487 shares issued and outstanding as of October 31, 2024 11,233 11,195 Preferred Stock $.001 par value; 5,000,000 shares authorized, zero issued and outstanding as of April 30, 2025 and October 31, 2024 - - Treasury Stock (61,933 ) (61,933 ) Additional Paid-in Capital 63,262,929 63,096,583 Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss (1,738,978 ) (2,510,831 ) Accumulated Deficit (5,584,754 ) (7,406,491 ) Total Stockholders' Equity 55,888,497 53,128,523 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 60,590,144 $ 57,544,544 CODA OCTOPUS GROUP, Statements of Income and Comprehensive Income(Unaudited) Three Months Ended April 30, Six Months Ended April 30, 2025 2024 2025 2024 Net Revenues $ 7,017,459 $ 5,323,178 $ 12,227,174 $ 9,784,369 Cost of Revenues 2,520,178 1,584,744 4,301,423 2,959,199 Gross Profit 4,497,281 3,738,434 7,925,751 6,825,170 OPERATING EXPENSES Research & Development 689,995 542,481 1,233,121 1,028,458 Selling, General & Administrative 2,719,602 1,845,570 4,942,924 3,890,945 Total Operating Expenses 3,409,597 2,388,051 6,176,045 4,919,403 INCOME FROM OPERATIONS 1,087,684 1,350,383 1,749,706 1,905,767 OTHER INCOME Other Income (Expense) 32,332 (2,636 ) 110,999 32,384 Interest Income 145,594 293,468 339,765 486,008 Total Other Income 177,926 290,832 450,764 518,392 INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE 1,265,610 1,641,215 2,200,470 2,424,159 INCOME TAX (EXPENSE) BENEFIT Current Tax (Expense) (374,701 ) (191,073 ) (423,575 ) (157,058 ) Deferred Tax Benefit (Expense) 17,853 (34,904 ) 44,842 (221,975 ) Total Income Tax (Expense) (356,848 ) (225,977 ) (378,733 ) (379,033 ) NET INCOME $ 908,762 $ 1,415,238 $ 1,821,737 $ 2,045,126 NET INCOME PER SHARE: Basic $ 0.08 $ 0.13 $ 0.16 $ 0.18 Diluted $ 0.08 $ 0.13 $ 0.16 $ 0.18 WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING: Basic 11,221,080 11,168,493 11,223,528 11,148,565 Diluted 11,306,828 11,288,210 11,309,276 11,268,282 COMPREHENSIVE INCOME, net of tax $ 908,762 $ 1,415,238 $ 1,821,737 $ 2,045,126 Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment 1,800,439 (437,683 ) 771,853 591,897 Total Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) $ 1,800,439 $ (437,683 ) $ 771,853 $ 591,897 COMPREHENSIVE INCOME $ 2,709,201 $ 977,555 $ 2,593,590 $ 2,637,023 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
