Turning to Slide 6. Let me give some highlights of the third quarter. We had a decline in revenue of $20 million, which reflects a conscious decision we are making to prioritize increased productivity, investments in innovation and driving smart revenue. The trade-off was this strategy enabled us to increase our profit by $7 million or 16%. When we look at the business and we look at our customers and we look at the dollars and the trades that we need to make in these difficult times, we will trade negative revenue or less profitable revenue for an improvement in gross profit. And that’s something we focus on over the last 3, 4 years, and we will continue to do so. And part of that result is we had a cash increase of $29 million in the 9 months ending September 30, 2023, compared with a decrease of $146 million in the prior year, an improvement of $175 million of cash flow.
These improvements are encouraging and evidence of our ability to continue making progress despite unfavorable business conditions never seen before. However, we recognize that the environment will remain difficult and there are more headwinds on the horizon. To continue building our momentum, we will stay committed to executing our long-term plan, investing in innovation, improving efficiency and helping our customers stay profitable and productive. We only win when they win. I would now like to turn it over to Dave to discuss the third quarter 2023 financial results. Dave?
David Bullwinkle: Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon. Today, the company filed its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As always, I recommend you read this filing in its entirety. Before I get into the details for the quarter, I would like to direct your attention to the refinancing transaction that the company announced and closed in the third quarter. On our last call, we provided an overview of the transactions. I will summarize those again here. On July 21, 2023, the amended and restated term loan credit agreement became effective and the company completed its borrowing of the term loans. The company received net proceeds from the term loans of approximately $435 million, of which $318 million, representing the aggregate principal amount of the original term loans plus accrued paid-in-kind interest, prepayment premium and $2 million of cash interest, was paid by the company to refinance the obligations under the original term loan credit agreement.
Approximately $28 million of the net proceeds from the term loans were used to repay in full the company’s outstanding convertible notes, representing the aggregate principal amount of the convertible notes plus accrued paid-in-kind interest. As a result of the early repayment of the term loans and the convertible notes, the company recorded a loss on early extinguishment of debt of $27 million in the third quarter of 2023. This is reported in the company’s statement of operations for the quarter and year-to-date period. In addition, the company repaid in full the amounts outstanding under its existing ABL credit agreement, used $59 million in net proceeds from the term loans to fund the L/C cash collateral account and paid approximately $1 million in fees in connection with an amended and restated letter of credit facility agreements.
The remaining net proceeds from the term loans of approximately $29 million are being used by the company for general corporate purposes and working capital needs. The term loan amendment also amended and restated the original term loan credit agreement to, among other things, extend the maturity date to the earlier of August 15, 2028, or the date that is 91 days prior to the maturity date or mandatory redemption date of any of the company’s then outstanding Series B preferred stock or Series C preferred stock or any extensions or refinancings of the Series B or Series C preferred stock. The term loans bear interest at a rate of 7.5% per annum payable in cash and 5% per annum payable in kind or in cash at the company’s option for an aggregate interest rate of 12.5% per annum.
