Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Nortech Systems Incorporated Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. With me on the line today are Jay Miller, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Andrew LaFrence, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Andy LaFrence.

Andrew LaFrence
CFO & SVP of Finance

Thank you, Jenny, and welcome, everyone. Jay will begin today’s call with a review of our operations, recent developments and business outlook. I will then review Nortech’s second quarter financial results before turning the call back to Jay for closing comments. After that, we will open up the line for questions.

Before we continue, please note statements made during this call may be forward-looking statements regarding expected net sales, operating results, future plans, opportunities and other company expectations. These estimates, plans and other forward-looking statements involve unknown and known risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this call. These risks, including those detailed in our most recent SEC filings, may be amended or supplemented. The statements made during this conference call are based upon information known by Nortech as of the date and time of this call, and we assume no obligation to update the information in today’s call. You can find Nortech’s complete safe harbor statements in our SEC filings.

And with that, I will turn it over to Jay for his opening comments. Jay?

Jay Miller
President, CEO & Director

Thank you, Andy, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Inovio Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennie Willson, Director of Communications. Please go ahead.

Jennie Willson
Director of Communications

Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining the Inovio Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. Joining me today are Dr. Jacqui Shea, President and Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Michael Sumner, Chief Medical Officer; Steven Egge, Chief Commercial Officer; and Peter Kies, Chief Financial Officer.

Today’s call will review our corporate and financial information for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, as well as provide a general business update. Following prepared remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer segment. During the call, we will be making forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of the company.

These statements relate to our business plans to develop Inovio’s DNA medicines platform, including the FDA’s ongoing review of our BLA for INO-3107, including the October 30, 2026, PDUFA target date and our recently completed informal meeting with the FDA, our belief that INO-3107 fulfills the criteria for accelerated approval, the potential benefits of INO-3107, including our belief that it has a positively differentiated product profile, our belief regarding its competitive advantages relative to existing treatments, including PAPZIMEOS and the potential to become the preferred product and new

Kroger has closed at least three dozen stores since announcing plans last year to shutter 60 locations that were not “delivering sustainable results” by the end of 2026. 

The Cincinnati-based grocery giant did not release a full list of stores or banners slated for closure, but online searches listed 39 locations across nine banners as no longer operating. Local reports also confirmed that many of the locations were part of the broader store overhaul.

As of January 2026, Kroger operated 2,697 supermarkets across 35 states under roughly 20 banners, including Fred Meyer, Fry’s Food and Drug, Harris Teeter, Jay C, King Soopers, Mariano’s, Pick ’n Save, QFC and Ralphs, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. 

The company said the closures are intended to help it “run more efficiently and ensure the long-term health of our business,” according to FOX 26 Houston, which reported that two Houston-area locations were slated to close in April.

KROGER TO BUY POPULAR GROCERY AND PHARMACY RETAILER IN $1.65B DEAL

The closures come as Kroger announced plans last month to acquire regional grocery chain Giant Eagle for $1.65 billion, which would add another 197 supermarkets and 11 standalone pharmacies across northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Indiana.

The acquisition is expected to strengthen Kroger’s presence across several Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic markets. 

At least three of the impacted locations were or are expected to be replaced by Kroger Marketplace stores as part of the company’s efforts to consolidate operations. Kroger Marketplace stores are larger-format locations that offer an expanded selection of non-grocery merchandise, including clothing, toys, home goods and furniture. 

The impacted locations include: 

Kroger

• Atlanta, Georgia — 2452 Morosgo Way NE
• Brookhaven, Georgia — 3855 Buford Hwy. NE
• Decatur, Georgia — 3479 Memorial Dr.
• Alpharetta, Georgia — 11877 Douglas Rd.
• Peoria, Illinois — 3311 N Sterling Ave.
• South Bend, Indiana — 4526 W Western Ave.
• Elkhart, Indiana — 901 Johnson St.
• Louisville, Kentucky — 4211 S 3rd St.
• Bossier City, Louisiana — 4100 Barksdale Blvd
• Kingsport, Tennessee — 1664 E Stone Dr.
• Houston, Texas — 239 W 20th St.
• Houston, Texas — 9325 Katy Fwy.
• Houston, Texas — 2300 Gessner Rd.
• McKinney, Texas — 2901 Lake Forest Drive (a new store is planned to replace this location nearby in 2027)
• Spring, Texas — 6060 Farm to Market 2920
• Charlottesville, Virginia — 1904 Emmet St. N
• Abingdon, Virginia — 466 Cummings St.
• Gassaway, West Virginia — 2908 State St.
• South Charleston, West Virginia — 5 River Walk Mall (consolidated last June into a new Kroger Marketplace at 3060 Ray Park Blvd.)
• Dunbar, West Virginia — 981 Dunbar Village (consolidated last June into a new Kroger Marketplace at 3060 Ray Park Blvd.)

SEPHORA JOINS WALMART, TARGET WITH NEW ‘QUIET HOURS’ SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

Fred Meyer

• Tacoma, Washington — 7250 Pacific Ave.

Fry’s Food and Drug

• Mesa, Arizona — 1915 S Power Rd.

Harris Teeter

• Arlington, Virginia — 950 S George Mason Dr.
• Arlington, Virginia — 3600 S Glebe Rd. W100
• McLean, Virginia — 8200 Crestwood Heights Dr.
• Rockville, Maryland — 11845 Old Georgetown Rd.
• Raleigh, North Carolina — 5563 Western Blvd., Suite 6A
• Charlotte, North Carolina — 5706 Wyalong Dr.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
KR	THE KROGER CO.	56.06	-0.19	-0.34%

Jay C Food Stores

• Shoals, Indiana — 201 High St.

King Soopers

• Centennial, Colorado — 5050 E Arapahoe Rd.

Mariano’s

• Buffalo Grove, Illinois — 450 W Half Day Rd.
• Northbrook, Illinois — 2323 Capital Dr.
• Bloomingdale, Illinois — 144 S Gary Ave.

Pick ’n Save

• Glendale, Wisconsin — 1735 W Silver Spring Dr.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin — 3701 S 27th St.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin — 2355 N 35th St.
• Oak Creek, Wisconsin — 2320 W Ryan Rd.
• South Milwaukee, Wisconsin — 2931 S Chicago Ave.

QFC

• Mill Creek, Washington — 926 164th St. SE

CLICK HERE TO GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO

FOX Business reached out to Kroger for more information.

Most advertisers experienced Meta’s Andromeda update the way advertisers usually experience algorithm changes: as an unexplained decline.

Reach quietly softened on creative that had been performing reliably, costs drifted upward, and the platform offered little in the way of a clear explanation for why campaigns that worked in one quarter underdelivered in the next.

Street Poller Media Founder and CEO Shane Ginsberg has offered a more specific read on what changed and why the shift structurally favors formats built around unscripted human moments.

According to Ginsberg, the update, which Meta began rolling out in 2025 and expanded through early 2026, reoriented the platform’s algorithm around creative diversity and in doing so effectively merged what had operated as two separate systems. The paid advertising algorithm and the organic content algorithm converged into one shared evaluation framework.

The practical consequence is significant. A paid advertisement placed in a Reels feed is now judged on largely the same terms as organic content competing for the same slot. If the creative does not look like something that could plausibly perform on its own merits, it gets suppressed with reduced reach regardless of how much budget sits behind it. Media spend still buys distribution, but it no longer compensates for creative that audiences would scroll past if it appeared without payment behind it.

Ginsberg has framed this as the confirmation of something he had been describing for years before Meta gave it a name. His position was that paid and organic content were always going to converge, for a reason that has more to do with platform incentives than with creative philosophy. Simply put, platforms have limited reason to keep rewarding advertising that only reaches audiences because someone paid for it, particularly when their own engagement data consistently shows users respond better to authentic content that is not obviously an ad.

Street interview ads, built from the same unscripted natural footage that performs well organically, were positioned to benefit from that convergence before most advertisers had to think about it. That was not foresight about a specific product update so much as a bet on a direction, but the bet paid off in a fairly direct way.

The second half of the update matters as much as the first and it is the part advertisers more frequently miss. Meta’s guidance increasingly penalizes accounts that concentrate spend in a single creative type, which means running one format exclusively causes reach degradation even when that format performs well in a vacuum. Diversity itself became a ranking input.

Ginsberg has been notably direct that this applies to his own format as well. He has said street polling is not intended to replace everything else a brand runs. To this point, his agency deliberately repurposes street poll footage into static image assets so clients maintain format variety rather than over-concentrating. That is a somewhat unusual position for someone selling a single format to take and it follows from the algorithm mechanics.

The broader implication for marketing organizations is structural rather than tactical. Under the current system, brands can no longer sensibly treat organic content strategy and paid advertising strategy as separate disciplines run by separate teams with separate creative approaches. The qualities that make a video shareable without payment are increasingly the same qualities that determine whether a paid version of it reaches anyone.

For organizations where those functions sit in different departments with different budgets and different reporting lines, that convergence is likely to be more disruptive than any individual creative recommendation, since it implies the separation itself has become a liability.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise on Wednesday, August 12, reported a 38.4% year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 610 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (Q1FY27), compared with Rs 441 crore reported in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Revenue from operations rose 20.6% YoY to Rs 7,044 crore in Q1FY27, compared with Rs 5,842 crore in the year-ago period, according to the company’s exchange filing.

The healthcare major’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 28.2% YoY to Rs 1,092 crore from Rs 852 crore in Q1FY26. The EBITDA margin also improved to 15.5% from 14.6% a year earlier.

Ahead of the results, Apollo Hospitals shares settled 1.72% lower at Rs 8,597 apiece on the NSE on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Tata Sons’ IPO can take a page from a Hong Kong titan

Key Operational Highlights
Apollo Hospitals said revenue from its Healthcare Services business grew 22% year-on-year during the quarter, while EBITDA stood at Rs 862 crore.Apollo Health and Lifestyle reported a 15% YoY increase in revenue to Rs 499 crore.

Apollo HealthCo reported revenue of Rs 2,977 crore, while EBITDA stood at Rs 171 crore.

The company said revenue growth was driven by higher volumes in its specialties and an increase in high-complexity clinical work.

Capacity Expansion

Apollo Hospitals continued its capacity expansion during the quarter with the launch of a 180-bed hospital in Sarjapur, Bengaluru. The company’s Gurugram facility remains on track for commissioning in Q3FY27.

The company also announced plans to expand its existing hospital facilities in Indore and Guwahati by 148 beds. In addition, Apollo plans to add four new hospitals in Indore, Dwarka, Delhi Proton Centre and Ranchi, with a combined capacity of around 1,200 beds.

With these additions, Apollo Hospitals plans to add more than 5,000 beds, including 4,700 census beds, over the next five years.

International Patient Business

Apollo’s International Patient Services division continued to gain traction, with revenue rising 26% year-on-year during the quarter. The company said the growth reinforces its position as a preferred healthcare destination for international patients.

Management Commentary

Prathap C. Reddy, Founder and Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group, said Q1FY27 marked a strong start to the financial year, building on the momentum seen in FY26.

“”Ql FY27 marks a strong start to the year, building on the momentum of FY26. Consolidated revenue grew 21% yearon-year to :f7,043 crore, supported by strong-based performance across Healthcare Services, Diagnostics and Retail

Health, and Digital Health and Pharmacy. The performance reflects the strength of our integrated model and the

continued trust that patients and their families place in Apollo,” said Reddy.

Apollo HealthCo Transaction

Apollo Hospitals also informed the exchanges that it has taken note of a proposed transfer by Apollo HealthCo Ltd, a material subsidiary, of its undertaking relating to the procurement and wholesale distribution of fast-moving consumer goods, wellness and personal care products, including over-the-counter and non-prescription consumer healthcare products.

The business is proposed to be transferred as a going concern on a slump-sale basis to Apollo Consumer Products Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo HealthCo, subject to shareholder approval.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Bank of America will acquire up to 49.9% stake in Jio Credit, a unit of Jio Financial Services , for as much ‌as 182.68 ⁠billion ⁠rupees ($1.92 billion), the companies said on Wednesday.

The U.S. lender will be a joint venture partner in Jio Financial’s non-bank lending arm through a preferential allotment of equity shares and ⁠warrants.

The transaction ‌initially gives Bank ​of ​America a 26.5% stake, which ⁠can go up to 49.9% upon ​exercise of the warrants.
The deal is the latest large investment in India’s financial services sector, which include Japan’s MUFG investment in Shriram Finance and ‌Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD’s 60% stake in lender RBL Bank.
“The ​investment will ​allow ⁠BofA to expand its participation in the rapidly growing Indian market …. while doing ​so with a partner that has local expertise,” the companies said in a statement.

Traditional team-building activities have become largely obsolete thanks to emerging technology and hybrid work models.

Thankfully, forward-thinking businesses can now integrate new ways of creating stronger teams while boosting morale and productivity.

Why Traditional Team Building is Failing

For decades, the standard corporate approach to building team spirit relied on things like an annual company day out. Going to an escape room or an assault course followed by a meal together was a costly exercise, and it’s fair to say that not everyone agreed that it was an effective method of forging workplace bonds.

As time has passed and the way we work has fundamentally changed, the flaws in the traditional team-building events have become impossible to ignore.  The operational disruption caused by closing down operations so everyone can join a day out is one thing, but the fact that many remote and hybrid workers can’t join these events is another reason why new ideas were needed.

How Gamification and Friendly Competition Lead the Way

When looking for ways to replace those outdated annual outings, the switch to workplace gamification seemed like an obvious choice. Adding game mechanics to daily workflows and creating friendly competition elements have been increasingly seen as ways of boosting employee engagement.

Deloitte is one of the companies making waves in this area. Their Deloitte Leadership Academy training portal uses the likes of custom achievement badges and progress bars, as well as leaderboards.

On the other hand, Target’s real-time cashier interface is another interesting innovation that comes with gamified elements. Immediate scoring and performance feedback are used to make the task of scanning purchases into something more satisfying. We can also see companies like Cisco and PricewaterhouseCoopers moving in this direction with gamified processes that turn routine tasks into achievements that can be shared.

Consumer Models As a Blueprint

When companies look to design a more effective workplace engagement system, they don’t need to create everything from scratch. By looking at the digital consumer landscape, they can see a proven blueprint for user participation in various sectors. With YouTube named the most influential single brand in the world recently, there’s much room for improvement that small businesses can learn from atop the shoulders of giants.

Modern websites boast numerous engagement ideas that businesses can learn from in their own continous professional development and team-building programs. Micro-polls, instant reaction loops, and streak mechanics are all worthwhile approaches that can be adapted seamlessly to the corporate team-building environment.

By focusing on a certain type of growing segment, business leaders can look more closely at the dynamics driving it. Looking at daily fantasy sports contests as one example, this PrizePicks promo for new users shows a bonus for new users with clearly laid-out rules. Players can use their bonus on the sports that they’re most interested in, such as baseball, ice hockey, and golf. Everything is designed for a fast start and maximum flexiblity, which is also the right move for business tools.

Other sectors provide different lessons. From the interactive charts on cryptocurrency exchanges to the dynamic indicators on retail sites, there are many ways of presenting information that fit neatly into the requirements for corporate team building and engagement.

The era of office days out may be almost over, but this encroaching new wave of ideas should ensure that there are still enjoyable ways of connecting with colleagues and progressing through the corporate structure while having fun.