Organic operating income increased by $9.2 million compared to the first nine months of 2018, mainly due to price, volume, and savings from productivity initiatives, including savings from restructuring actions. This increase in operating income was partially offset by higher general inflation, including the impact of tariffs, investments in strategic growth initiatives, Corporate professional fees and acquisition related costs, and the impact in APMEA of the reduction in affiliate volume.
Interest Expense. Interest expense decreased $1.8 million, or 14.3%, in the first nine months of 2019 as compared to the first nine months of 2018 due to a reduction in the principal balance of debt outstanding. As a result of the 2017 Tax Act, we repatriated approximately $127 million of undistributed foreign earnings in 2018 and $37 million through September 29, 2019, and used the majority of that cash to reduce our outstanding debt. Refer to Note 12 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for further details.
Other income. Other income decreased $1.6 million compared to the first nine months 2018. The decrease was primarily due to lower net foreign currency gains.
Income Taxes. Our effective income tax rate increased to 28.6% in the first nine months of 2019, from 28.0% in the first nine months of 2018. The higher rate is primarily related to the impact of changes in the worldwide earnings mix.
Net Income. Net income was $99.7 million, or $2.91 per common share, for the first nine months of 2019, compared to $95.7 million, or $2.78 per common share, for the first nine months of 2018. Results for the first nine months of 2019 include an after-tax charge of $2.3 million, or $0.07 per common share, for Corporate professional fees; $1.9 million, or $0.06 per common share, for restructuring charges; $0.7 million, or $0.02 per common share, for acquisition related costs; and $0.3 million, or $0.01 per common share for footprint optimization costs. Results for the first nine months of 2018 include an after-tax charge of $2.5 million, or $0.08 per common share, for restructuring.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We generated $94.9 million of net cash in operating activities in the first nine months of 2019 as compared to $66.6 million of net cash provided by operating activities in the first nine months of 2018. The increase was primarily related to inventory reductions and higher net income compared to the first nine months of 2018. Additionally, in 2018 we made higher tax payments, including withholding taxes on repatriated cash.
We used $61.7 million of net cash for investing activities compared to $26.0 million used in the in the first nine months of 2018. The increase in cash used for investing activities was primarily due to $42.7 million of cash used for an immaterial acquisition in the Americas segment in the third quarter of 2019. We used $5.0 million less cash for capital expenditures in the first nine months of 2019 compared to the first nine months of 2018. For the remainder of 2019, we expect to invest approximately $11 million in capital equipment as part of our ongoing commitment to improve our operating capabilities.
We used $59.0 million of net cash from financing activities in the first nine months of 2019 primarily through long-term debt repayments of $92.5 million, dividend payments of $23.6 million, payments for finance leases and tax withholding on vested stock awards totaling $8.3 million, share repurchases of approximately 178,000 shares of Class A common stock at a cost of $14.8 million, and payment of a contractual call option to purchase the remaining 10% of Apex shares of $2.8 million. These cash outflows were partially offset by proceeds from additional draws on our line of credit totaling $82.0 million during the first nine months of 2019.
In February 2016, we entered into the Credit Agreement among the Company, certain subsidiaries of the Company who become borrowers under the Credit Agreement, JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as Administrative Agent, Swing Line Lender and Letter of Credit Issuer, and the other lenders referred to therein. The Credit Agreement provides for a $500 million, five-year, senior unsecured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Credit Facility”) with a sublimit of up to $100 million in letters of credit. As of September 29, 2019, we had drawn $37.0 million against the Revolving Credit Facility. The Credit Agreement also provides for a $300 million, five-year, term loan facility (the “Term Loan Facility”) available to the Company in a single draw, of which the entire $300 million had been drawn in February 2016. We had $232.5 million of borrowings outstanding on the Term Loan Facility as of September 29, 2019. We paid total installments on the Term Loan Facility of $22.5 million during the first nine months of 2019. We had $25.8 million of stand-by letters of credit outstanding and had $437.2 million of unused and available credit under the Revolving Credit Facility. As of September 29, 2019, we were in compliance with all covenants related to the Credit Agreement.