The Company places a strong emphasis on cash flow generation and maintaining excellent liquidity and financial flexibility. This focus has afforded us the ability to reinvest our cash resources and preserve a strong balance sheet to position us to weather theCOVID-19 pandemic and, for future acquisition and product development opportunities. The Company had no bank debt as of March 31, 2020. The Company’s cash position increased $1.9 million during the first three months of 2020 to $82.4 million at March 31, 2020 and the Company generated $11.6 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization during the same period.
Capital expenditures for the first three months of 2019 were $1.7 million and consisted primarily of machinery and equipment. Capital expenditures for the full-year 2020 are presently planned to be in the range of$10-$15 million primarily for building improvements and machinery and equipment purchases, and are expected to be financed through internally-generated funds.
Net sales for the first quarter of 2020 were $91.7 million compared to net sales of $96.9 million for the first quarter of 2019, a decrease of 5.4% or $5.2 million. Domestic sales decreased 3.4% or $2.3 million and international sales decreased 9.8% or $2.9 million compared to the same period in 2019.
Gross profit was $23.4 million for the first quarter of 2020, resulting in gross margin of 25.6%, compared to gross profit of $23.3 million and gross margin of 24.1% for the same period in 2019. Gross margin improved 150 basis points due principally to lower material costs of 270 basis points as a result of the stabilization of material costs and selling price increases implemented in 2019 being fully realized. Partially offsetting these improvements was loss of leverage on fixed labor and overhead from lower sales volume compared to the first quarter of 2019.
Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses were $14.9 million and 16.2% of net sales for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $14.4 million and 14.8% of net sales for the same period in 2019. SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales increased 140 basis points primarily as a result of trade show expenses and loss of leverage from lower sales volume.
Operating income was $8.6 million for the first quarter of 2020, resulting in an operating margin of 9.4%, compared to operating income of $9.0 million and operating margin of 9.2% for the same period in 2019. Operating margin improved 20 basis points primarily as a result of lower material costs partially offset by loss of leverage from lower sales volume.
Other income (expense), net was $1.7 million of expense for the first quarter of 2020 compared to income of $0.3 million for the same period in 2019. The increase to expense of $2.0 million was due primarily to anon-cash pension settlement loss of $1.5 million and $0.5 million of foreign exchange losses, which both occurred in the first quarter of 2020.
Net income was $5.5 million for the first quarter of 2020 compared to $7.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, and earnings per share were $0.21 and $0.28 for the respective periods. Earnings per share for the first quarter of 2020 included anon-cash pension settlement charge of $0.04 per share.
The Company’s backlog of orders was $113.8 million at March 31, 2020 compared to $120.8 million at March 31, 2019 and $105.0 million at December 31, 2019. Incoming orders decreased 3.3% compared to the same period in 2019 while increasing 3.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. Incoming orders during the first quarter included an increase in the fire protection market but were down to the prior year across most other markets.
On April 23, 2020, the Board of Directors authorized the payment of a quarterly dividend of $0.145 per share on the common stock of the Company, payable June 10, 2020, to shareholders of record as of May 15, 2020. This will mark the 281st consecutive quarterly dividend paid by The Gorman-Rupp Company. The dividend yield on March 31, 2020 was 1.9%.
The Company currently expects to continue its exceptional history of paying regular quarterly dividends and increased annual dividends. However, any future dividends will be reviewed individually and declared by our Board of Directors at its discretion, dependent on our assessment of the Company’s financial condition and business outlook at the applicable time.
Outlook
While we are actively managing our response to the recentCOVID-19 pandemic, its impact on our full-year 2020 results and beyond is uncertain. We serve as an essential business providing products that are critical to our customers. All of our manufacturing facilities continue to operate while closely following all national and local guidelines to provide for the health and safety of those working in these facilities. We expect our sales to remain challenging over the near-term as a result of uncertainty related toCOVID-19 and continued oil and gas market softness. Incoming orders during the first quarter included an increase in the fire protection market but were down to the prior year across most other markets.
Our underlying fundamentals remain strong and we believe that we remain well positioned to weather theCOVID-19 pandemic and continue to drive long-term growth. Our strong balance sheet provides us with the flexibility to continue to evaluate acquisition opportunities and new product development that we expect will help add value to our operations over the longer term. An infrastructure bill including support for investment in water, wastewater and flood control would be beneficial.
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