Collegiate Pacific Inc. ended its fiscal first quarter with a bang as it closed on the acquisition of Sport Supply Group, Inc. that it had been trying to finalize since July of last year. The acquisition put a bright spot on a quarter end that fizzled in the sales department for the team sports dealer as September proved to be a tough month. Management, though, said that October was looking “relatively back to normal.”

The company reported net sales of $68.2 million for the quarter, rising 4.4% from $65.3 million last year. The gain, however, did not achieve the results expected and planned for by management. On a conference call with analysts, CEO Adam Blumenfeld attributed the shortcoming to “softer than expected sales during the month of September stemming primarily from weaker than expected federal government sales, less than expected ‘at once’ equipment sales towards the end of football season, and longer than expected lead times on large bleacher and installation projects.”

Gross margins expanded 270 basis points to 35.3% of net sales from 32.7% during the year-ago quarter. Management attributed the steep increase to its relationship with Sport Supply Group creating better buying power, as well as increased selling discipline. SG&A expenses increased 50 basis points to 24.7% of net sales, slightly offsetting the margin improvement.

Through its efforts in managing the back-end, BOO saw net income improve 28.0% in the quarter to $3.3 million from $2.6 million last year. Diluted earnings per share rose to 28 cents from 22 cents during last year’s fiscal first quarter.

Looking ahead, the company reaffirmed its previous guidance for fiscal 2007 of net earnings ranging between 52 cents per share and 64 cents per share with sales of $240 million to $250 million.