Retail operating earnings were a first-quarter record of $1.3 million, up 55% compared to $828,000 last year. This increase was primarily due to higher sales and improved profitability in our e-commerce businesses. Brick and mortar operating earnings were also up for the quarter.
Other
Other net sales for the first quarter of 2023 totaled $7.5 million, up 17% compared to $6.4 million in 2022. In local currency, Florsheim Australia’s net sales were up 24% with sales up in both its retail and wholesale businesses. Last year’s sales volumes in Asia were negatively impacted by COVID lockdowns imposed in Hong Kong during the quarter.
Other gross earnings were 60.5% of net sales compared to 59.6% of net sales in last year’s first quarter. Other operating earnings recovered to $275,000 in 2023, up from operating losses of $243,000 last year.
Other income and expense and taxes
Interest income was $139,000 and $91,000 in the first quarters of 2023 and 2022, respectively. Interest expense increased to $385,000 for the quarter, up from $1,000 in last year’s first quarter, due to interest incurred on the higher debt balances this year. Other expense, net, increased to $130,000 for the quarter, up from $6,000 in the first quarter of 2022, due largely to an increase in the non-service cost components of pension expense.
Our effective income tax rates for the three months ended March 31, 2023 and 2022 were 25.6% and 26.5%, respectively. The 2023 and 2022 effective tax rates differed from the federal rate of 21% primarily because of state and foreign taxes.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
Our primary sources of liquidity are cash, short-term investments, short-term marketable securities, and our revolving line of credit. We generated $23.0 million of cash from operating activities during the first three months of 2023, compared to $231,000 in the same period one year ago. The increase in 2023 was primarily due to higher net earnings and changes in operating assets and liabilities, principally inventory and accounts payable. Our overall inventory as of March 31, 2023 was $106.7 million, down from $128.0 million at December 31, 2022. As expected, our inventory levels have come down now that the supply chain has normalized, and we can plan our receipts closer to when we need to ship shoes to our customers.
We paid dividends totaling $4.6 million and $2.3 million in the first quarters of 2023 and 2022, respectively. The increase in 2023 was due to a shift in timing of our quarterly dividend payment schedule; first quarter 2023 includes two quarterly dividend payments, as our fourth quarter 2022 dividend was paid in early January 2023. First quarter 2022 included one quarterly dividend payment, as our fourth quarter 2021 dividend was paid in December 2021. On May 2, 2023, our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.25 per share to all shareholders of record on May 26, 2023, payable June 30, 2023. This represents an increase of 4% above the previous quarterly dividend rate of $0.24.
We repurchase our common stock under our share repurchase program when we believe market conditions are favorable. During the first three months of 2023, we repurchased 62,352 shares for a total cost of $1.5 million. As of March 31, 2023, we had the authority to repurchase approximately 977,000 shares under our previously announced stock repurchase program. See Part II, Item 2, “Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds” below for more information.
Capital expenditures totaled approximately $660,000 in the first three months of 2023. Management estimates that annual capital expenditures for 2023 will be between $2.0 million and $4.0 million.
At March 31, 2023, we had a $50.0 million revolving line of credit with a bank that is secured by a lien against our general business assets, and expires on September 28, 2023. Outstanding advances on the line of credit bear interest at the one-month term secured overnight financing rate (“SOFR”) plus 145 basis points. Our line of credit agreement contains representations, warranties and covenants (including a minimum tangible net worth financial covenant) that are customary for a facility of this type. At March 31, 2023, outstanding borrowings on the line of credit totaled approximately $20.6 million at an interest rate of 6.26%, and we were in compliance with all financial covenants. We expect to renew this line of credit later this year, but cannot provide any assurances.
As of March 31, 2023, approximately $4.1 million of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries.