University of Chicago. He also served as a commercial general contractor for eight years prior to earning his MBA.
“In our manufacturing operations, we have been moving ahead with a metrics-based approach to lean manufacturing within our facilities, with a focus on Safety, Quality, Delivery, Inventory and Productivity (SQDIP). This approach is being implemented in all our facilities, along with related systems, and has begun to yield improvements. These improvements were offset, however, by lower leverage on fixed manufacturing costs and underutilized labor capacity from lower-than-expected revenue. Adjusted Gross Profit Margin decreased to 41.8% in the third quarter of 2019, compared to 44.0% in the third quarter of 2018. Accordingly, Adjusted EBITDA also decreased comparatively to $8.1 million, or 12.3% of revenue, reflecting both the lower sales and decreased gross margin, offset by a $1.3 million reversal of a claims provision.
“Moving forward with our manufacturing capacity expansion, in early October we entered into a lease agreement for our previously announced combined tile and millwork factory. The new facility will be located in the Charlotte metropolitan area, less than 30 minutes from the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, and will include a world-class DIRTT Experience Center (DXC). Charlotte Douglas is one of the busiest airports in the United States, and the new DXC will serve as our east coast sales and marketing hub.
“We expect the total cost of this new facility to be approximately $18.5 million, excluding the cost of the DXC, for which planning is currently underway. In August 2019, we paid $1.6 million to equipment suppliers for customized equipment for this facility that has an anticipated delivery in the second half of 2020. We expect this new location to maximize DIRTT’s production efficiency, allow us to better serve our customers geographically, and afford us the capacity to support growth while maintaining our rapid manufacturing lead times. We expect commercial operations to begin in the first quarter of 2021.
“Trading of our common shares on The Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) commenced October 9, 2019. As a result of the listing, DIRTT’s financial statements are now reported under the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”) and in U.S. dollars. We also ceased our offering of a cash-surrender option for employee stock options.Year-to-dateone-time costs of the Nasdaq listing are approximately $2.5 million, and we expect to incur approximately $0.5 million of additional costs in the fourth quarter of 2019.
“Within the area of product development, Geoff Gosling, director of innovation, has decided to retire. Mr. Gosling, who ceased to be an executive officer earlier in the year, was one of DIRTT’s founders and our first leader of product development, and was one of the principal inventors of DIRTT’s solutions. His retirement will allow for him to spend well-deserved time with his family.
“Colin Blehm, who has been with DIRTT for over 15 years and has led the product development team for the last nine months, has been named vice president of product development and will continue reporting to me in this capacity. Mr. Blehm led the development of the groundbreakingReflect™ ultra-minimalist wall we announced in October, and he is also responsible for leading efforts on a number of product innovations that resulted in patents for DIRTT. Prior to joining DIRTT, Mr. Blehm worked with Evans Consoles in the areas of product development and research and development.
“We began this year with the expectation that our fiscal 2019 revenue would be 5% to 10% higher than our 2018 revenue, with corresponding increases in net income and adjusted EBITDA. With increasing recognition of challenges associated with the overall management changes and the immature nature of our commercial function, we revised our expectation downward as the year progressed. In addition, we said that we expected Adjusted EBITDA to be impacted by certainone-time costs related to the sales
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