Ennis, Inc. has reported financial results for the first quarter ending May 31. The Midlothian, Texas, supplier of business forms, labels, tags and more indicates quarterly revenues of $93.4 million. This is down 1.3 percent from first quarter 2017, but up 7.3 percent or $6.3 million from the preceding quarter. Also, the gross profit margin for first quarter 2018 of $30.2 million, or 32.3 percent, is up from the $30 million or 31.7 percent in the comparative quarter.

“We are pleased with our first quarter performance,” says Keith Walters, chairman, chief executive officer and president. “We continue to build on the momentum of last year. We recently completed the integration of our ERP system at our Independent operation and believe we can further optimize its performance. We also recently completed the acquisition of a tag company based in Caledonia, New York, and look forward to it contributing to our bottom line in the months to come. We continue to explore strategic opportunities in the acquisition arena as a way to profitably utilize our cash.”

Walters adds, “Given our strong balance sheet and continued strong performance, our board approved a 12.5 percent increase in our quarterly dividend, effective with our upcoming regularly scheduled August dividend payment. This is the third increase in our quarterly dividends in the last six years, and the second in the last two years. We also purchased approximately 38,000 shares of our common stock in the first quarter, under our stock repurchase program, at an average price of $17.92 per share. In accordance with our repurchase program, we will continue to repurchase our shares when we believe the market price is undervalued. The industry continues to be challenged by paper price increases, trucking shortages and allocations of certain paper grades. The printing industry hasn’t experienced paper allocations for several decades, and we believe our long-term relationship with our paper supplier will allow the company to avoid any material disruption in our supply chain. While we don’t see any of these challenges changing in the short-term, we are encouraged by our performance so far this year and feel positive about the remainder of the year. We continue to strengthen one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry and our cash position remains significant, which allows us many opportunities.”