Latest news with #JayMiller
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nortech Systems Inc (NSYS) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Navigating Challenges with ...
Release Date: May 14, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Nortech Systems Inc (NASDAQ:NSYS) has seen stabilization in its customer backlog as of March 31, 2025, compared to the end of 2024, indicating potential future growth. The company is well-positioned with its North American footprint, leveraging the USMCA framework to mitigate tariff impacts and enhance competitiveness. Nortech Systems Inc (NASDAQ:NSYS) is actively pursuing near-shoring strategies, which have been implemented faster than many competitors, reducing exposure to Chinese tariffs. The company is focusing on innovation with advancements like the expanded beam Extreme fiber optic technology (EBX) and active optical Extreme (AOX) hybrid technology, which align with industry trends towards fiber optics. Nortech Systems Inc (NASDAQ:NSYS) is committed to sustainability, with fiber optic solutions offering environmental benefits such as improved energy efficiency and reduced carbon footprint. Net sales for the first quarter of 2025 decreased by 21.4% compared to the same period in 2024, primarily due to delays in aerospace and defense customer approvals. Gross profit margin decreased to 11.1% from 15.9% in the prior year, impacted by lower net sales and decreased manufacturing productivity. The company incurred $266,000 in restructuring costs related to severance charges and expenses from the closure of the Blue Earth facility. Operating cash flow was negative, with net cash used in operating activities totaling $2.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2025. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2025 was negative $1 million, a significant decline from $1.6 million in the same period of 2024. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NSYS. Q: Can you provide more details on the impact of the Blue Earth facility closure on your aerospace and defense revenues? A: Jay Miller, CEO: The closure of our Blue Earth facility and the transfer of customer programs to Bemidji, Minnesota, led to unexpected delays due to slow customer approvals. This negatively impacted our aerospace and defense revenues in Q1 2025 and Q4 2024. We expect this headwind to continue but decrease in Q2 2025, with a return to normalcy in the second half of 2025. Q: How are tariffs affecting Nortech's operations, particularly with facilities in China and Mexico? A: Jay Miller, CEO: The imposition of tariffs is a concern, but Nortech operates under a maquiladora structure in Mexico, reducing direct exposure. In China, our strategy focuses on near-shoring, with production primarily for the local market, minimizing tariff impacts. We are adjusting customer pricing and sourcing strategies to mitigate any adverse effects. Q: What steps is Nortech taking to manage operating costs amid current challenges? A: Jay Miller, CEO: We have taken significant actions to reduce our cost structure, including closing the Blue Earth facility, reducing headquarters lease space, and managing headcount based on current metrics. These efforts are part of our strategy to align with the new norm of supply chain near-shoring and improve long-term growth. Q: Can you elaborate on Nortech's strategic focus on fiber optic technology? A: Jay Miller, CEO: We are focusing on fiber optic technology, such as our EBX and AOX products, to meet the growing demand for high-speed, reliable connectivity solutions. These technologies offer environmental benefits and align with sustainability goals, providing a competitive edge in the aerospace and defense markets. Q: What are Nortech's top priorities for 2025? A: Andrew LaFrannz, CFO: Our priorities include strengthening the balance sheet, reducing inventory investments, aligning operations with market demand, and driving improvements in free cash flow. We aim to deliver sustainable long-term growth through disciplined operations, expense management, and R&D innovation. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Belfast Telegraph
25-04-2025
- Health
- Belfast Telegraph
Public rally to support family of popular Belfast barber who remains in intensive care
Jay Miller, known as 'Jay the Barber', runs a business in north Belfast and went viral on TikTok after giving haircuts to the homeless in 2023. He previously shared his experience of growing up in the care system. On Sunday 20 April Jay took unwell, suffering from a seizure which resulted in a fall, hitting his head and being admitted to an Intensive Care Unit where he was put into a medically induced coma. Those behind the fundraiser said Jay is a man who has never stopped giving nor asked for anything in return, but people are now being asked to 'help out his family in their hour of need.' 'Since Jay took unwell on Sunday and was admitted to ICU, where he currently remains, many people have been asking about the possibility of a fundraiser to help support the family. So with some thought, we have decided to create a Go Fund Me page,' the page states. 'Jay is well known to the community in Belfast and beyond for all of the work he has done – with the homeless, in hospitals, with those in care, children's homes and hospices. 'He is a man who has never stopped giving and has never asked for anything in return. 'Now we ask for the community to give back, to help out his family in their hour of need. With two businesses and a family to support, Jay will have a severely reduced income whilst he is in hospital and in recovery, meanwhile his family will still have personal and business bills to cover. 'We hope that whatever is raised can go some way to relieving a bit of that worry from his family.' After being live for just a few hours the page had already raised £2,000, with hundreds of people rallying to help the man. On Tuesday, the Jays Barber Club Facebook page announced news of his ill health. 'We are devastated to confirm that Jay was involved in an incident on Sunday morning. Jay had a seizure which resulted in a fall and head injury,' it stated. 'He was rushed to intensive care where he has remained in a medically-induced coma and is currently stable at these early stages. 'We thank you for your outpouring of messages … It is still very early days and this is all of the information we can give right now.' Many people responded by wishing Jay a speedy recovery, among them DUP leader Gavin Robinson. Mr Robinson said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with Jay and hope that he makes a speedy recovery. 'Jay has never shied away from the difficulties that he has encountered as a young lad. With a pair of clippers and a heart of gold, he has restored dignity and hope to people who felt forgotten. 'Now we hold on to hope for Jay and pray that he has comfortable days ahead.' It comes as it was announced the man's business has been nominated for barber shop of the year and training provider of the year for the third year running at the NI Beauty Excellence Awards. In a post on Facebook, Jay's Barber Club wrote: 'Once he wakes up we know he'll be as proud as ever. 'Thank you all for all of your kind messages, comments, shares, media articles and more over the past couple of days. It has been such a comfort to the family and Jay will absolutely love reading them all.'
Time Out
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
‘It was high chaos': the death and rebirth of London's coolest theatre
Of all the new theatres to open in London this century, none feel so vital as the Yard. Built in just a few weeks in 2011, from reclaimed materials – including some dubiously acquired scaffold planks and unwanted lino scavenged from the Olympic development – the Hackney Wick venue was billed as a pop-up when it opened with an eccentric programme of theatre that bore little resemblance to anything being staged elsewhere in the city. Early shows include a jokey micro-budget adaptation of John Bunyan's epic Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress (A Progress), a show about the mathematical phenomenon of emergence (Game of Life), and a 40-minute opera about a samurai rampaging through an old people's home (Manga Sister). Emerging in a then-desolate corner of east London alongside various other cultural start-ups and club nights, founder artistic director Jay Miller set up the theatre on a shoestring because it seemed cheaper than the alternatives. 'I graduated during the last recession,' he says. 'There were hardly any opportunities, I couldn't afford to live in London and I naively thought it would be easier to start a theatre than to get a job in one. The Yard was my last-chance saloon'. Since then, the Yard has not only survived but thrived, gaining Arts Council funding and playing a pivotal part in the launch of the careers of the likes of Michaela Coel, Ncuti Gatwa and director Alexander Zeldin. Late at night, it also serves as a pretty great night club: the auditorium becomes a dancefloor for an eclectic series of late-night parties. It's a model of what a modern grassroots theatre can be, and now it's about to embark upon its next chapter – following its current production, a Miller-directed take on Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, it will close its doors, be torn down and built anew in a more durable and high tech building. After all, it was never intended to last this long, and it isn't really fit for purpose for what the theatre has become – there isn't even a backstage area. The last show in the theatre as we know it is on May 10. On the eve of the old Yard's destruction, Miller reflects on the theatre's past, present and future. What was your vision for the Yard when you launched it? 'The truth is that in the first year there was no business plan, there was no sense of what precisely it was that I wanted to do with it. It was more just following an instinct and impulse and a bunch of energy. Fundamentally I was really frustrated [about lack of opportunities in London theatre at the time] and really bored, and so that energy – rather than intellectual rigor – defined it.' Well it worked! 'Yeah! But I didn't realise how difficult it would be.' Can you give a flavour of what the early days were like? 'It was high chaos. I slept in what is now the female toilets for a few months because the door shutter wouldn't close and because I really couldn't afford rent. We got some money for a little garden from a lovely charity and unbeknownst to us people started growing weed in it. Every Friday a man would phone up asking, really politely, if he could turn up naked. We thought about it for a while and in the end I was like: no, that's probably going to make other people feel uncomfortable.' Was it always the plan to have clubbing as part of the Yard's programming? 'I moved to London in 2010 and it felt like the height of [legendary avant-garde club night] Shunt. I only went once, but I thought it was absolutely brilliant, and I was really inspired by the idea that you could give people a different context by which to engage with experimental performance. If that involved booze, then cool, if that involved a dance, then cool. And being in Hackney Wick and wanting to attract a younger generation of artists and audiences, I knew that would be a fundamental part of the offering. We started doing parties pretty much immediately.' Do you feel you've 'made it' now? The Yard's future seems reasonably assured. 'I mean, the truth is that I never feel like that. I'll have at least one or two nights a week where I don't sleep because I'm worried about what's around the corner, it never feels secure. It's not a world in which it's possible to feel secure: we make ephemeral art and so the ephemerality of it translates to the business and the way in which the budgets are constructed.' What will the new Yard be like? 'My hope is it will be the same spirit, but the offer to audiences and artists will be better. We've been operating in a tin can: when it's cold outside, it's cold inside. When it's hot outside, it's hot inside. There's no backstage area. We're not adjusting the style, the taste, the spirit of what we do and who we are, but we are hopefully ensuring that we'll be able to deliver that in a more exciting way, in a more comfortable way and in a way that ensures that the shows and the experience of those shows is better.' We've been operating in a tin can Hackney Wick has changed enormously in the last 14 years: how do you feel about it? Do you see yourselves as gentrifiers? 'When we opened we were a group of artists making theatre in a cheap part of London. We moved in, and others moved in too. But it is impossible to escape the contemporary relationship between art and residential development. People want to live near artists. Was that our intention? Absolutely not. We just wanted to make excellent new theatre. Do I regret making excellent new theatre? No. Can I influence the cost of flats around us? No. We've worked hard to get to know our neighbours. We''ve worked with local young people for ten years on a weekly basis. We started a partnership with our local primary school – I rehearsed Glass Menagerie at Gainsborough School. What hasn't changed is that Hackney Wick remains a place people go to have a good time.'
Sunday World
23-04-2025
- Health
- Sunday World
Popular Belfast barber rushed to hospital and put into ‘medically induced coma'
Jay Miller, known as 'Jay the Barber', runs a business in north Belfast and went viral on TikTok after giving haircuts to the homeless in 2023 A popular Belfast barber has been inundated with support after it emerged he has been hospitalised due to a medical emergency. Jay Miller, known as 'Jay the Barber', runs a business in north Belfast and went viral on TikTok after giving haircuts to the homeless in 2023. He previously shared his experience of growing up in the care system to mark Care Day. On Tuesday, the Jays Barber Club Facebook page announced news of his ill health. 'We are devastated to confirm that Jay was involved in an incident on Sunday morning. Jay had a seizure which resulted in a fall and head injury,' it stated. 'He was rushed to intensive care where he has remained in a medically-induced coma and is currently stable at these early stages. 'We thank you for your outpouring of messages … It is still very early days and this is all of the information we can give right now.' The post asked for people to respect the family's privacy. It added: 'The family have so much to deal with right now so please let them handle this situation in their own way at what is a very distressing time. 'Jays Barber Club will still operate as normal – please keep supporting the business, you can still book David and Aaron via their booksy account. You can still walk into the shop as normal. 'Barber courses still continue as normal with our normal group of teachers, nothing changes. We are still taking bookings for the next barber course. 'We will still continue to post on social media as normal. Jay has a family he supports and it is up to us to help this business run smoothly in his absence. We are a team at Jays Barber Club and will continue to help the name thrive until Jay is back on his feet. 'Finally – but most importantly of all – please keep Jay in all of your prayers. He needs them now more than ever.' Many people responded by wishing Jay a speedy recovery. In February, Ards Hospital's Quality and Improvement Care Centre invited young people who have achieved success since leaving the care system. At the event Mr Miller opened up about being raised in the care system. He has previously spoken about losing his mother to addiction when he was just five years old. Jay now has thousands of followers and uses his platform to inspire young people. His message to the young people he spoke to was to 'never give up.'
Belfast Telegraph
23-04-2025
- Health
- Belfast Telegraph
Popular Belfast barber rushed to hospital and put into ‘medically induced coma'
Jay Miller, known as 'Jay the Barber', runs a business in north Belfast and went viral on TikTok after giving haircuts to the homeless in 2023. He previously shared his experience of growing up in the care system to mark Care Day. On Tuesday, the Jays Barber Club Facebook page announced news of his ill health. 'We are devastated to confirm that Jay was involved in an incident on Sunday morning. Jay had a seizure which resulted in a fall and head injury,' it stated. 'He was rushed to intensive care where he has remained in a medically-induced coma and is currently stable at these early stages. 'We thank you for your outpouring of messages … It is still very early days and this is all of the information we can give right now.' The post asked for people to respect the family's privacy. It added: 'The family have so much to deal with right now so please let them handle this situation in their own way at what is a very distressing time. 'Jays Barber Club will still operate as normal – please keep supporting the business, you can still book David and Aaron via their booksy account. You can still walk into the shop as normal. 'Barber courses still continue as normal with our normal group of teachers, nothing changes. We are still taking bookings for the next barber course. 'We will still continue to post on social media as normal. Jay has a family he supports and it is up to us to help this business run smoothly in his absence. We are a team at Jays Barber Club and will continue to help the name thrive until Jay is back on his feet. 'Finally – but most importantly of all – please keep Jay in all of your prayers. He needs them now more than ever.' Many people responded by wishing Jay a speedy recovery. In February, Ards Hospital's Quality and Improvement Care Centre invited young people who have achieved success since leaving the care system. At the event Mr Miller opened up about being raised in the care system. Watch: PSNI launch their Operation Lifesaver Campaign He has previously spoken about losing his mother to addiction when he was just five years old. Jay now has thousands of followers and uses his platform to inspire young people. His message to the young people he spoke to was to 'never give up.'
