Services revenue benefited from the continuing momentum in installation services, which saw its seventh consecutive quarter with year-over-year increases as well as increases in revenue generated from field maintenance and monitoring. From a geographic perspective, sales outside of the U.S. increased approximately 70% from the prior year. This was primarily with the results of the large immersive flooring project in Asia that is expected to be completed by the end of the year. While gross margin generated from the sale of product was relatively flat year-over-year, gross margin from services was 26% during the third quarter as compared to 23% in the prior year. Margins on services benefited from the strategic move away from outsourcing the installation work to utilizing internal labor to complete the projects.
The increase in gross profit was offset by higher selling and administrative expenses including marketing and travel and entertainment expenses as revenue and business activity increased. General and administrative expenses were also higher as SGE now operates as an independent public company following its IPO in May. Flipping over to the balance sheet. Overall, we’ve healthy liquidity, enough to operate the business on a day-to-day basis. On a consolidated basis, working capital is being utilized to grow the SGE business. For example, the SGE accounts receivable balance is increasing as revenue continues to rise. We believe SGE’s customer base is stable with a solid mix of large international companies and some smaller regional players. SGE continues to work with each of its customers, both new and existing, as they look for additional solutions and efficiencies.
On the liability side, the debt that was related to the production of Safehaven that was added to the balance sheet in Q2 was fully repaid during the third quarter via receipt of the minimum guarantee and the tax rebates for shooting the series in Canada. That concludes the financial review for the quarter, and I’ll now turn the call over to Kyle for a few remarks.
Kyle Cerminara: Thank you, Todd and Mark. I want to start by addressing the recent performance of our stock. As the former CEO, the current Nonexecutive Chairman and the largest shareholder of the company, I think I can offer insight into each of our businesses and holdings. And I certainly have a vested interest in seeing our company and stock price succeed. It’s been a very challenging market for many micro cap and small cap stocks, but the market is no excuse, as many companies are executing and seeing their stock prices rewarded. While there are undoubtedly challenges in every business and our portfolio of holdings will no doubt change over time, I want to emphasize that we’re committed to thriving in any environment. The Strong Global Entertainment IPO was completed, but the value creation we are hoping for hasn’t been recognized by the market.
If this continues, we’ll need to consider our options in terms of the existing float that is outstanding and determine if it makes sense to be a buyer of our stock. The ultimate goal for GreenFirst remains to have the company sold. There’s no doubt that rising interest rates and lower lumber prices have impacted the stock price, but we believe there’s good value in the company. FG Financial is a critical part of our strategy both now and in the future, and we are excited about the financial services platform we’re building. Our team has demonstrated an uncanny ability to do deals in all environments. We are one of only a handful of SPAC teams getting deals done right now, which shows the strength of our team. Our merchant banking continues to create new opportunities as well, and I’m really excited about the future there.
Firefly continues to build a powerful technology model for the outdoor advertising space, and we are patient supporters of their long-term growth and value creation plans. We are constantly looking for ways to further reduce costs, increase scale and create the most possible value for shareholders. We will continue to work hard with urgency, and I look forward to taking any questions you may have.
Operator: [Operator Instructions] Thank you. We have a question on the line from Brett Reiss with Janney Montgomery Scott. Your line is live.
Mark Roberson: Hey, Brett. Good morning.
Brett Reiss: Good morning. Good morning. Of all of the stocks, I mean, the one with the greatest disconnect of valuation is the FG Financial. So I’ve got a couple of questions on that. Kyle, the $2 million investment in that FGC community housing, can you describe that a little bit? And is something like that throwing off cash to FG Financial?
Kyle Cerminara: Sure. I can describe that. So FG Communities is a company that we started about a little over a year ago, and it was to invest in manufactured housing communities to own them and operate them and to preserve them essentially. So the goal is to preserve and improve affordable housing, mainly in the Southeast United States as the initial focus. So we formed the company, we funded the company and we’ve now grown to over 20 communities that we own inside of FG Communities. The company is raising outside capital, has raised both common equity and preferred equity and is growing very nicely. I expect that to be one of our largest holdings over the next 12 to 24 months in terms of size and scale. So it’s been quite a success.
