European sales for the first quarter of FY2024 were down 20% compared to the same period in FY2023 and come with a favorable currency effect of 3%, when translating foreign sales into U. S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. The reduction in European sales for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 is primarily due to a reduction in the shipment volume of the best-performing Hurco VMX machines and lathes in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, a reduction in the volume of shipments of Milltronics machines in the United States and Europe region, as well as minimizing the sales volume of accessories manufactured through our wholly-owned subsidiary, LCM Precision Technology S. r. l. (“LCM”).
Sales in the Asia-Pacific region for the first quarter of FY2024 increased 39% compared to the same period in FY2023 and come with an unfavorable currency effect of 2%, when translating foreign sales into U. S. dollars for currency reporting purposes. The increase in sales in the Asia-Pacific region was primarily due to higher shipment volumes of Hurco and Takumi machines in China, India and Taiwan.
Bookings for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 amounted to $50,218,000, a low of $3,012,000, or 6%, compared to the same period in fiscal 2023, and included a favorable currency effect of $786,000, or 1%, on the translation of foreign orders to U. S. dollars.
The table below shows the new orders recorded by geographic region for the first fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2024 and 2023 (in thousands of dollars):
European orders for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 were down 21% compared to the same period last year and included a favorable currency effect of 3%, when converting foreign orders to U. S. dollars. to minimise visitor demand for Hurco VM machines, higher performance VMX machines, as well as Lathes and Takumi machines in Germany, Italy and the UK.
Orders in the Asia-Pacific region for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 increased 61% compared to the same period last year and included an unfavorable currency effect of 3%, when translating foreign orders into U. S. dollars. The increase in orders in the Asia-Pacific region was primarily due to increased demand for Hurco and Takumi machines in China, India, and Taiwan.
Gross profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 was $9,695,000, or 22% of sales, compared to $12,718,000, or 23% of sales, for the same time last year. The year-over-year minimization in gross margin as a percentage of sales is primarily due to minimizing the sales volume of vertical milling fixtures in the Americas and Europe, where we sell more of our higher-performing VMX series lathes and fixtures. In addition, gross margin was negatively impacted by the allocation of constant prices to minimize sales and production volumes.
Selling, general and administrative expenses for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 were $11,515,000, or 26% of sales, compared to $11,484,000, or 21% of sales, for the corresponding period of fiscal 2023, and included an unfavorable currency effect. starting at $168,000, when converting foreign expenditures to U. S. dollars for monetary reporting purposes. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales increased in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2023 due to the decrease in year-over-year sales volume.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $37,936,000 as of January 31, 2024, compared to $41,784,000 as of October 31, 2023. Working capital amounted to $196,281,000 as of January 31, 2024, compared to $193,257,000 as of October 31, 2023. Current capital is primarily due to increases in inventories, net assets, prepaid and other, and decreases in accrued liabilities, employee benefits and accounts payable, partially offset by decreases in cash and net cash equivalents and accounts receivable.
Hurco Companies, Inc. is a global business generation company that sells its three brands of computer numerical control (“CNC”) device equipment to the global steel cutting and forming industry. Two of the company’s device tool logos, Hurco and Milltronics, feature interactive controls that come with each respective logo’s proprietary software. The Company designs those controls and develops the software. The third CNC device team logo, Takumi, is supplied with commercial controls produced by third parties, allowing the visitor to decide the type of control added to the Takumi CNC device tool. The company also produces high-value fixture tool parts and accessories and offers automation solutions that can be incorporated into any fixture tool. The end markets for the Company’s products are independent workshops, short-term production operations within giant corporations, and brands with production-oriented operations. The Company’s consumers manufacture precision parts, equipment, dies and/or molds for industries such as aerospace, defense, medical equipment, energy, transportation and IT equipment. The company is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with manufacturing operations in Taiwan, Italy, the United States and China, and sells its products through direct and indirect sales forces in the Americas, Europe and Asia. The company has sales, application engineering and service subsidiaries in China, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, India, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, United States and Taiwan. Website: www. hurco. com
Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown hazards, doubts and other points that could possibly cause our actual results, functionality or achievements to be materially different from any expressed or implied long-term results, functionality or achievements. . . through these forward-looking statements. These points include, among others, the cyclical nature of the tool-device industry; questionable economic conditions, which may also harm overall demand, in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific markets; dangers of our foreign operations; government actions, projects and regulations, adding restrictions on imports and exports, customs duties and adjustments to tax laws; the effects of adjustments in exchange rates; festival with larger corporations that have greater monetary resources; our dependence on new product development; the desire and/or ability to protect our intellectual heritage resources; the limited number of our production sources and supply chain; rising raw material prices, particularly iron and metal products; the effect of the loss of senior control and key personnel; our ability to integrate acquisitions; acquisitions that may also disrupt our operations and have effects on operating results; failure to comply with security and knowledge privacy regulations; violations of our network and system security measures; the possible obsolescence of our generation and the need for technological advancement; deterioration of our assets; adverse or incidental tax consequences; doubts related to our ability to utilize unamortized tax losses; evolution of the SOFR rate; the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health epidemics and pandemics on the global economy, our businesses and operations, our workers and the businesses, operations and economies of our consumers and suppliers; and other dangers and concerns discussed more fully under the heading “Risk Factors” in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We expressly disclaim any legal responsibility to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, long-term developments or otherwise.