and continued to have an EBITDA annual run rate of approximately $100M, all of which provide optimism for continued strength over the next fiscal year.”
4th Quarter Results
Net Revenues. Net revenues were $143.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 50.9% from $95.3 million in the same period of fiscal 2021 due to increases in volume in key markets, combined with increases in average selling price per pound in all markets. Volume was 4.9 million pounds in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 23.1% from 4.0 million pounds in the same period of fiscal 2021. The increase in pounds sold is due to strong sales in the aerospace market, which increased by 57.2%, as well as the chemical processing and industrial gas turbine markets, which increased by 27.6% and 5.4%, respectively, from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The product average selling price was $28.32 per pound in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of 25.7% from $22.53 per pound in the same period of fiscal 2021. The increase in product average selling price per pound reflects higher market prices of raw materials, which increased average selling price per pound by approximately $0.53 and a higher-value product mix, which increased average selling price per pound by approximately $0.59. The remaining increase of $4.67 is due to a combination of price increases, a more favorable proportion of sales towards higher-value route to market shipments and higher-value mix of customer contracts.
Cost of Sales. Cost of sales was $111.9 million, or 77.8% of net revenues, in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to $78.6 million, or 82.5% of net revenues, in the same period of fiscal 2021. The decrease in cost of sales as a percentage of revenues was primarily attributable to variable cost saving measures and higher volumes shipped that enable the Company to minimize the increase in costs in periods of higher net revenues. Additionally, higher volumes sold during the quarter improved the utilization of fixed costs and eliminated the need for fixed costs to be directly expensed, as was the case in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, which had $0.8 million of costs directly expensed to Cost of Sales.
Gross Profit. As a result of the above factors, gross profit was $31.9 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of $15.2 million from the same period of fiscal 2021. Gross profit as a percentage of net revenue increased to 22.2% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 as compared to 17.5% in the same period of fiscal 2021.
Selling, General and Administrative Expense. Selling, general and administrative expense was $12.1 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, an increase of $1.1 million, or 9.9%, from the same period of fiscal 2021. Selling, general and administrative expense as a percentage of net revenues decreased to 8.4% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to 11.6% for the same period of fiscal 2021, largely driven by higher net revenues. General inflation, investments in consulting costs related to information system improvements, as well as higher foreign exchange losses were the primary drivers of the increased expense in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
Research and Technical Expense. Research and technical expense was $1.0 million, or 0.7% of net revenue, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, compared to $0.9 million, or 1.0% of net revenue, in the same period of fiscal 2021.
Operating Income/(Loss). As a result of the above factors, including increased sales volume, higher pricing as well as continued cost reductions leading to improved gross profit, operating income in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $18.8 million compared to $4.8 million in the same period of fiscal 2021.
Nonoperation retirement benefit expense. Nonoperating retirement benefit expense was a benefit of $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 compared to an expense of $0.4 million in the same period of fiscal 2021. The difference was primarily driven by a favorable actuarial valuation of the U.S. pension plan liability as of September 30, 2021 caused by a higher-than-expected return on plan assets coupled with a higher discount rate. The amortization of this favorable valuation is recorded as a benefit to nonoperation retirement benefit expense (income).
Income Taxes. Income tax expense was $2.9 million during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, a difference of $1.4 million from expense of $1.5 million in the same period of fiscal 2021, driven primarily by a difference in income (loss) before income taxes of $15.2 million. The effective tax rate in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was 15.3% as compared to 37.7% during the same period of fiscal 2021 and 21.7% for the full fiscal year 2022. This lower fourth quarter rate included a higher utilization of tax credits and deductions which resulted in a benefit of approximately $1.0 million and some discrete benefits related to stock compensation of $0.2 million.
Net Income/(Loss). As a result of the above factors, net income in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022 was $16.3 million, compared to $2.6 million in the same period of fiscal 2021.