Kevin Buchel
Analyst · William Blair
Thank you, Dick, and good morning, everybody. For the first quarter, our financial performance was significantly better than last quarter as we generated major increases in each of these categories, recurring service revenue, gross margin for both equipment sales and recurring service revenue, net income and adjusted EBITDA, and we also exceeded analysts' expectations in each of these metrics.
Net sales for the quarter was $23.2 million compared to $23 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 and $26.3 million for the same period a year ago. The 12% decrease in sales for the quarter versus a year ago were primarily related to decreased equipment sales, which were caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused difficulty -- difficulties for security equipment professionals getting access to both commercial and residential installation sites. We believe this is an industry-wide issue and not due to the loss of any market share unique to NAPCO or any longer-term negative view of the post-pandemic health of the security industry.
On the positive side, StarLink radios and fire products continued to significantly increase in Q1 compared to both Q4 and Q1 in fiscal 2020. This is important as these are the products that generate recurring revenue. And to that end, recurring monthly revenue continued its strong growth, increasing 36% for the quarter. Recurring revenue now has an annual run rate of $29.7 million based on September 2020 recurring revenue.
As I mentioned on our last earnings call, the majority of the company's factory costs are fixed costs. As you remember, when equipment sales for a quarter increased above $20 million, overhead absorption increases, gross margins expand. Conversely, when equipment sales are below $20 million, the opposite occurs. We're in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic, which have temporarily affected the volume of our equipment sales. To combat this issue, we have taken certain cost-cutting measures, which contributed to a significant improvement in the gross margin of equipment sales, which increased by 1,400 basis points as compared to the equipment sales gross margin last quarter. In addition, the gross margin of 29% for equipment sales for Q1 was 400 basis points better than Street consensus.
Gross margins for recurring revenue continued to improve, coming in at 84%, a 500 basis point improvement versus the year ago period and also beating the Street consensus estimate of 80%. Our blended gross margin for Q1 was 46% as compared to 44% last year and also beat the Street consensus estimate by 500 basis points. The increase in gross margin for recurring revenue was primarily due to increased sales of our StarLink commercial fire radios, which generate higher margins and continue to become a larger part of the overall recurring revenue mix.
Gross profit for the quarter was $10.7 million, which was a 34% increase compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, which was $8 million and a 7% decrease compared to last year's gross profit of $11.5 million.
Research and development costs for the quarter were $1.9 million as compared to $1.7 million in the year ago period, an 8% increase and were 8% of sales and 7% of sales for the quarters ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The increase was due primarily to increased payroll from salary increases.
Selling, general and administrative expenses for the quarter remained relatively constant at $6.1 million or 27% of sales as compared to $6.2 million or 23% of sales for the same period last year. The increase as a percentage of sales was primarily due to the aforementioned decrease in sales, while SG&A remained relatively constant as compared to the same period a year ago.
Operating income for the quarter was $2.7 million as compared to operating income before a onetime charge of $1 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, and that represents a 161% increase; and $3.6 million for the same period a year ago, which is a 26% decrease. Income tax expense for the quarter was $329,000, which represents an effective tax rate of 12% as compared to $369,000 with an effective tax rate of 10% last year.
Net income for the quarter was $2.3 million or $0.13 per diluted share as compared to net income before onetime charges of $1.5 million or $0.08 per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, a 53% increase; and $3.2 million or $0.17 per share for the same quarter last year, a 28% decrease.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $3.2 million or $0.17 per share as compared to $1.5 million or $0.08 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, representing an increase of 115% and $4 million or $0.22 per diluted share for the same period last year, representing a decrease of $0.20 -- of 20%.
Moving on to the balance sheet. At September 30, 2020, the company had $21.9 million in cash and cash equivalents as compared to $18.2 million as of June 30, 2020. Working capital was $62.7 million at September 30, 2020, as compared with working capital of $61 million at June 30, 2020. The current ratio was 5.5:1 at September 30, 2020, and it was 4.5:1 at June 30, 2020.
Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter increased 29% to $3.8 million as compared to $2.9 million for the same period last year. CapEx was $143,000 during the quarter versus $181,000 in the year ago period.
That concludes my formal remarks, and I would now like to return the call back to Dick.