Escalade, Inc. announced that net income nearly doubled for fiscal Q1, increasing 93% to $1.2 million or 9 cents per share, as compared to 5 cents in Q1 last year. The gain was due entirely to the turnaround of the office products operations. Company net sales fell 13% for the quarter to $29.8 million.
Escalade Sports' net sales were off 7% to $14.0 million from $15.1 million in Q1 2003, a decline attributed to a shift in the timing of basketball system shipments. Operating income for the segment fell 9.6% to $43,000 from $981,000 in the year-ago period. The division posted a $111,000 loss in Q1 versus a profit of $463,000 in the year ago quarter. Escalade management is “optimistic” that they will see a similar level of sales volume and product mix as experienced in 2004.
