The company reported net sales of $17,483,000, up 26% for the first quarter of fiscal 2009, compared to $13,876,000 reported for the same quarter a year earlier. Operating income for the quarter was $830,000, an increase of 3% from $803,000 a year ago.As previously reported, the increase in net sales was largely the result of the six weeks of revenues contributed from the Marks USA acquisition. The increase in operating income was primarily due to increased revenue from Marks partially offset by a lower gross margin (32%) compared to the first quarter a year ago (38%). The gross margin of 32% for the quarter was an improvement of approximately two percentage points over the fiscal 2008 level of 30%.