Ethan Allen Interiors Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Ethan Allen Fiscal 2024 First Quarter Analyst Conference Call. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Matt McNulty, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. Thank you. You may begin.

Thank you, Doug. Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today to discuss Ethan Allen's fiscal 2024 first quarter results. With me today is Farooq Kathwari, our chairman, president, and CEO. Mr. Kathwari will open and close our prepared remarks while I will speak to our financial performance midway through. After our prepared remarks, we will then open the call for your questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind the audience that this call is being recorded and webcast live under the news and events tab on the investor relations page of our website. There you will find a copy of our press release, which contains reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures referred to on this call and in this press release. A replay of today's call will also be made available on our investor relations website. Our comments today may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. The most significant risk factors that could affect our future results are described in our annual report on Form 10-K. Please refer to our SEC filings for a complete review of those risks. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking matters discussed during this call. With that, I am pleased to now turn the call over to Mr. Cathwari. Thank you, Matt.

And good to have you join our call to review our first fiscal 2024 results and our initiatives. As we reported, we maintain strong operating margins. gross margin of 61.1% and operating margin of 12.1% despite a decline of delivered sales of 23.6%. Our sales are impacted due to softening of the economy and the impact of a major flood in our Vermont manufacturing operations. We are positioned well. We have continued to strengthen our vertically integrated enterprise. We have also continued to maintain a strong cash balance. During the quarter, we distributed 36 cents of regular and 50 cents of special dividend. And we also yesterday announced a regular dividend of 36 cents in addition to these two. After Matt provides a brief overview of our financial results, I will discuss our various initiatives in growing and growing our business by positioning us as an interior design destination, strengthening our talent, marketing, manufacturing, logistics, and our unique retail network, providing interior design service increasingly combined with technology.