Welcome to the First Quarter 2019 Earnings Release Conference Call. My name is Paulette and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. [Operator instructions] I will now turn the call over to John Wittkowske, Chief Financial Officer. You may begin.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Weyco Group's first quarter conference call to discuss our 2019 first quarter earnings. On this call, with me today are Tom Florsheim, Jr., our Chairman and CEO; and John Florsheim, our President and COO. Before we begin, I'd like to read a brief disclaimer. During the course of this call, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements regarding our current expectations concerning future events and the future financial performance of the Company. We wish to caution you that such statements are just predictions, and that actual events or results may differ materially. We refer you to Weyco Group's most recent Form 10-K as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 10-K identifies important factors and risks that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from our projections. Additionally, some comparisons may refer to non-GAAP measures. Our SEC filings may contain additional information about these non-GAAP measures and why we use them. Net sales for the first quarter of 2019 were $74.1 million, up 7% compared to 2018 net sales of $69.5 million. Operating earnings were $5.1 million in 2019, an increase of 44% compared to $3.6 million in 2018. Net earnings attributable to Weyco Group were $4 million this quarter, a 33% increase compared to $3 million last year. Diluted earnings per share were $0.40 per share in the first quarter versus $0.29 per share last year. In the North American wholesale segment, net sales for the first quarter increased 11% to $59.5 million. Licensing revenues were $707,000 in the first quarter of 2019 and $793,000 last year. Wholesale gross earnings were 34.3% of net sales in the first quarter compared to 33.1% of net sales in 2018. Wholesale operating earnings increased 54% to $5.2 million, up from $3.4…

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Our overall North American wholesale sales for the quarter were up 11%. We had a terrific first quarter from a wholesale perspective with three of our four brands posting sizable increases. Given the overall tepid reports regarding the North American retail market, we feel very good about this performance. Our Florsheim business was up 25% for the quarter. On the heels of a 20% increase last year, Florsheim is off to a great start in 2019. The Florsheim growth continues to be driven by strong new product performance, which has enabled the brand to garner more shelf space in key retailers. Stacy Adams sales were up 8% for the quarter. The brand had strong momentum at retail and, along with Florsheim, is one of the few dress and dress casual footwear success stories in the marketplace. First quarter growth was driven by the department and family shoe chain trade channels. In addition, based on social media posts and sales of certain occasion-oriented styles, Stacy Adams seems to be picking up a nice following in the prom and wedding consumer segments, reflecting the ability of the brand to extend to a younger consumer profile. Our BOGS business was up 23%. Sales of work-oriented footwear as well as spring product helped deliver a nice quarter for the brand. In late 2017, we relaunched the BOGS Work program focusing on slip, a chemical resistant rubber and leather footwear as well as steel and composite toe styles with a seamless lightweight construction. The BOGS Work business has made steady progress and is now realizing strong year-over-year increases. Meanwhile, a long term objective of the BOGS team has been to diversify toward having more of a year around assortment. The nature of the work business contributes toward this end,…

Okay. Thank you for joining us on the conference call and have a great day.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating and you may now disconnect.