products which will enhance, expand and diversify Phibro’s species and product offerings. We anticipate this transaction will lead to strong earnings accretion and debt paydown, and will also serve as the engine that will continue to power our investments in the faster growing vaccines, nutritional specialties and companion animal product segments.”
QUARTERLY RESULTS
Net sales
Net sales of $263.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, increased $17.6 million, or 7%, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. Animal Health and Mineral Nutrition increased $16.9 million and $1.3 million, respectively. Performance Products decreased $0.7 million.
Animal Health
Net sales of $181.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, increased $16.9 million, or 10%. Net sales of MFAs and other increased $15.0 million, or 16%, due to increased demand for our MFAs in both domestic and international regions. Net sales of nutritional specialty products decreased $4.8 million, or 11%, mostly due to lower demand for microbial and dairy products. Net sales of vaccines increased $6.7 million, or 26%, primarily due to poultry product introductions in Latin America, plus an increase in both domestic and international demand.
Mineral Nutrition
Net sales of $64.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, increased $1.3 million, or 2%, due to increased sales volume, partially offset by decreased average selling price.
Performance Products
Net sales of $17.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, decreased $0.7 million, or 4%, due to a decrease in demand for personal care product ingredients and industrial chemicals.
Gross profit
Gross profit of $79.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, increased $4.1 million, or 5%, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. Gross margin decreased 50 basis points to 30.2% of net sales for the three months ended March 31, 2024, as compared to 30.7% for the three months ended March 31, 2023, due to unfavorable product mix.
Animal Health gross profit increased $3.5 million, primarily driven by higher sales volume, partially offset by unfavorable product mix. Mineral Nutrition gross profit increased $0.9 million, driven by increased sales volumes. Performance Products gross profit was comparable to the prior year’s quarter. Acquisition-related cost of goods sold reduced gross profit by $0.2 million.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) of $59.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2024, increased $2.7 million, or 5%, as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. SG&A for the three months ended March 31, 2024, included $0.5 million in acquisition-related costs and $0.1 million of stock-based compensation, partially offset by a gain from insurance proceeds of $0.3 million. SG&A for the three months ended March 31, 2023, included $0.3 million of environmental remediation costs. Excluding these items, SG&A increased $2.6 million, or 5%.
Animal Health SG&A increased $2.0 million, primarily due to an increase in employee-related costs to support increased demand and new product launches in Latin America. Mineral Nutrition and Performance Products SG&A was comparable to the prior year. Corporate costs increased by $0.7 million, due to an increase in employee-related costs.