Mark Jaggi
Analyst · Slater
Thanks, Darren. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm going to briefly discuss the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2016, and then turn my attention to the first quarter of fiscal 2017.
During the fourth quarter, we reported revenue of $53 million, an increase of 17.1% when compared to $45.3 million for the prior year period. For the full year fiscal 2016, we reported $206.5 million in sales, an 8.5% increase over the prior year and within our guidance range of $205 million to $210 million. Foreign currency changes were approximately 2% favorable during Q4, but negatively impacted the full year by about 1%.
By region, revenue in the Americas increased 17.1% year-over-year to $39.5 million during the fourth quarter and increased 14.6% to $158.3 million for the full year 2016. Revenue in the Asia/Pacific and Europe region increased 16.9% year-over-year to $13.5 million during the fourth quarter but declined 7.6% to $48.2 million for the full year. As you may recall, earlier in the fiscal year, we posted softer quarterly sales in Japan, which led to the full year decline in the Asia/Pacific and Europe region. The improved trends are evident in the positive fourth quarter growth.
Looking at our customers, we ended the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 with 69,000 total active distributors, up from 65,000 a year ago. The number of preferred customers at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 was 117,000, up from 115,000 a year ago.
Our gross profit margin during both the fourth quarter and fiscal year was between 160 and 170 basis points below the prior year. The decline in the full year is largely due to a $2 million reduction in cost of goods sold in the prior year related to insurance proceeds from a product recall. The remainder of the lower gross margin percentage largely reflects a changing product mix and higher inventory carrying costs.
Commission and incentive expenses as a percent of sales were higher for both the fourth quarter and fiscal year. As we noted on prior calls, we have made investments to drive sales earlier in the year, but expected commission and incentive expense to moderate back toward historical levels, below 50%. This did occur as expected and commission and incentive expenses were 48.3% of revenue during the fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $5.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to $3.1 million for the prior year period. While adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2016 was $19.7 million compared to $17.4 million in the prior year.
Net income for the fourth quarter was $2.4 million or $0.16 per diluted share. This compares to $0.2 million or $0.02 per diluted share in the same period of 2015. For the full year 2016, net income was $6.0 million or $0.41 per share compared to $7.0 million or $0.49 per share in the prior year.
Adjusted net income was $3.2 million for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016 or $0.22 per diluted share compared to adjusted net income of $0.7 million or $0.05 per diluted share for the comparable period in fiscal 2015. For the full year 2016, adjusted net income was $9.1 million or $0.62 per share compared to $6.6 million or $0.47 per share in fiscal 2015. Our $0.62 of adjusted EPS exceeded our full year guidance range of $0.53 to $0.58. Please note that the adjustments to net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 relate to a roughly $800,000 after-tax write-off of capitalized software development costs and a de minimis adjustment for executive transition costs. The capitalized software write-off relates to the prior development of a distributor compensation system that began in fiscal 2013. Management concluded that superior alternative systems are now available and have suspended development of the prior system.
Turning to our fiscal 2016 year-end balance sheet. Our cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2016, were $7.9 million compared to $13.9 million at the end of fiscal year 2015. During the fourth fiscal quarter of 2016, we invested an additional $8.1 million in incremental inventory when compared to the third quarter inventory balance. We had begun to build inventory during Q3 to support growth and facilitate new product launches. We anticipate it being able to level off our inventory levels.
During the fourth quarter, however, we encountered some forecasting and purchasing miscalculations that caused inventory to build beyond our internal goals. Standing at 270 days of inventory as fiscal year-end, we were, candidly, quite a bit above our target. However, we saw improvements during the first quarter of fiscal 2017 and expect the improvements to continue.
Inventory purchases are being managed aggressively as we returned to our targeted level of inventory. Despite our significant inventory investment during the fourth quarter, our net debt still stood at just $1.5 million as of June 30, 2016, which is flat with the level at the end of the third quarter and down from $5.8 million at June 30, 2015.
Turning to the first quarter of fiscal 2017. We reported 21% revenue growth over the prior year period to $54.9 million. As Darren noted, we saw a strong double-digit growth in both the Americas and Asia/Pacific and Europe. Revenue on our Americas region rose 15.6% to $40.1 million while Asia/Pacific and Europe revenue rose 38.9% to $14.8 million. Currency was favorable to reported revenue by 4.6%, primarily due to the relative strength of the Japanese yen.
The gross profit margin was down roughly 70 basis points year-over-year to 83.9%, given continued changes in sales mix and increased inventory carrying costs. Commissions and incentive expenses continued to revert towards normalized levels following approximately 70 basis points year-over-year to 47.9%.
Operating income was down year-over-year to $2.0 million versus $2.7 million in the prior year period, primarily due to higher event expense, given 1 additional event compared to the prior year. Also, higher stock compensation expense in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 when compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2016 related to prior year's stock awards, and investments and infrastructure and people to support our growth expectations and enhanced processes and controls. Operating income in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 includes approximately $1 million of costs associated with the Audit Committee's independent review while operating income in the first fiscal quarter of 2016 includes $1.1 million of executive transition costs. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $4.3 million compared to $4.5 million in the prior year period.
During the first quarter of fiscal 2017, net income was $1.2 million or $0.08 per diluted share, which is fairly consistent with reported net income of $1.1 million or $0.08 per share in the prior year period. On an adjusted basis, which excludes the cost associated with the Audit Committee review of about $700,000 after tax during the first quarter of 2017 and excludes approximately $700,000 of executive transition costs during the first quarter of fiscal 2016, net income was $1.9 million or $0.13 per fully diluted share versus $1.7 million or $0.13 per fully diluted share in the prior year period. We ended the first fiscal quarter of 2017 with $10.2 million of cash and $8.9 million of debt. While our inventory levels are still well above our target at $23.9 million, we saw an absolute decline from the end of fiscal 2016, which contributed to our $2.9 million of cash from operations during Q1 or $2.8 million of free cash flow after considering our modest level of CapEx.
As Garry and Darren stated, there were no material changes to our previously issued financials as a result of the Audit Committee's independent review. However, in our 10-K, you will notice that we concluded that we had a material weakness in our internal controls, generally related to our internal -- international operations, and that our auditors issued an adverse opinion relating to our internal control over financial reporting. Additionally, we have updated our public disclosures as a result of the review process and our enhanced policies and procedures.
Now let me turn the call back to Darren.