Gross Margin – Gross margin for the three months ended November 30, 2019 decreased to 37.7% as compared to 41.6% for the three months ended November 30, 2018. The variances in gross margin between the periods presented were primarily due to unrecoverable inventory costs. Gross margin for the six months ended November 30, 2019 increased to 40.7% as compared to 40.0% for the six months ended November 30, 2018. The variances in gross margin between the periods presented were primarily influenced by favorable product mix shifts, the $70,000 sale of discontinued product line items with no offsetting cost of sales.
Operating Expenses – Operating expenses increased $173,104, or 21.0%, to $998,607 for the three months ended November 30, 2019 from $825,503 for the three months ended November 30, 2018. The increase in operating expenses for the three months ended November 30, 2019 is primarily due to increases in payroll taxes and benefits, insurance and professional, legal and accounting expenses. These results also include expenses of $466,707 incurred during the three-month period ended November 30, 2019, that are not expected to be incurred in future periods. Operating expenses increased $101,786, or 6.3%, to $1,705,845 for the six months ended November 30, 2019 from $1,604,059 for the six months ended November 30, 2018. The increase in operating expenses for the six months ended November 30, 2019 is primarily due to increases in payroll taxes and benefits and insurance expenses. These results also include expenses of $508,681 incurred during thesix-month period ended November 30, 2019, that are not expected to be incurred in future periods.
Other Income (Expense) – Other income (expense) consists of interest income, interest expense, foreign currency exchange gain (loss) and other income (expense). Interest income was $5,398 for the three months ended November 30, 2019 as compared to $6,839 for the three months ended November 30, 2018. Fluctuations in interest income are impacted by the levels of our average cash and investment balances and changes in interest rates. Interest expense was $362 for the three months ended November 30, 2019 as compared to $199 for the three months ended November 30, 2018. Interest income was $9,684 for the six months ended November 30, 2019 as compared to $14,308 for the six months ended November 30, 2018. Fluctuations in interest income are impacted by the levels of our average cash and investment balances and changes in interest rates. Interest expense was $2,435 for the six months ended November 30, 2019 as compared to $462 for the six months ended November 30, 2018.
The foreign currency exchange gain and loss fluctuates with the strength of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar during the respective periods. Foreign currency exchange loss was $247 for the three months ended November 30, 2019 as compared to foreign currency exchange loss of $644 for the three months ended November 30, 2018. Foreign currency exchange loss was $1,126 for the six months ended November 30, 2019 as compared to foreign currency exchange loss of $1,093 for the six months ended November 30, 2018.
Income Taxes – The effective tax rate for continuing operations for the three months ended November 30, 2019 was (0.7)%. The effective tax rate for the three months ended November 30, 2018 was 0.6%. The effective tax rate for the six months ended November 30, 2019 was (0.9)%. The effective tax rate for the six months ended November 30, 2018 was 0.7%. The effective tax rate on consolidated net income for the three and six months ended November 30, 2019 and 2018 differs from the federal statutory tax rate primarily due to changes in the deferred tax valuation allowance and the impact of certain expenses not being deductible for income tax reporting purposes.
Net Income (Loss) – Net loss was $(599,058), or $(0.15) per fully diluted share, for the three months ended November 30, 2019 compared to net loss of $(339,484), or $(0.08) per fully diluted share, for the three months ended November 30, 2018. Net loss was $(821,185), or $(0.20) per fully diluted share, for the six months ended November 30, 2019 compared to net income loss of $(634,697), or $(0.16) per fully diluted share, for the six months ended November 30, 2018.
Income from Discontinued Operations, Including Gain on Sale, Net of Tax –On November 22, 2019, we sold the net assets of our SBS business. The gain on the sale of this business together with the earnings from these discontinued operations, net of tax, totaled $5,117,005 and $5,509,010 for the three and six months ended November 30, 2019, respectively. This compares to the earnings from these discontinued operations of $84,212 and $167,608 from the three and six months ended November 30, 2018, respectively.
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