Next Inc. reported that net sales for the fiscal first quarter ended February 28 increased 24% to $4.7 million from $3.8 million for the year-ago quarter. Gross profit was up 15% to $1,467,306 compared to prior year of $1,274,741. The company had a net loss of $29,371 for the first quarter compared to a net loss of $27,401 in the prior year.
Mr. Charles L. Thompson, the Company's CFO stated, “We're pleased with our top line sales growth for the quarter. Uniquely this quarter, our revenue improvement was not matched by our bottom line due to our inability to take advantage of our recently acquired direct purchasing source in China. The recent lifting of Chinese trade tariffs caused us to experience difficulties getting goods into port which necessitated that we source them domestically. The issues have now been resolved and should lead to improved profitability. This negatively affected our newest acquisition, Choice International, by approximately $195,000 in pre-tax earnings.”
Mr. Bill Hensley, the Company's CEO stated, “Our strong revenue growth is the result of increased automotive licensed product sales to our existing customer base. The first half of our fiscal year has traditionally been our slowest period due to the seasonality of the industry so seeing this type of top line growth in this quarter is encouraging.
We are very encouraged by our success in developing new customers and cross-selling recent product introductions to existing customers. We will continue to add attractive licenses to our product portfolio and plan to make one or two significant accretive acquisitions each year. We expect strong revenue growth in the second quarter, as well as a positive earnings comparison.”
