When we announced the restructuring last August, we projected an annualized cost savings of more than $2.4 million. All of the elements of that restructuring are in place and we now see that the run rate is in line and can be seen in our results. The strength of the higher gross margin and lower operating expenses led to operating margin increasing 460 basis points in the fourth quarter to 9.9%, compared to 5.3% in the fourth quarter of last year. As disclosed in the tables, in Q4, we took back $210,000 of the $852,000 provision reserve for the product retrofit program as the costs were not as high as projected as some planned retrofits were not needed or wanted by some customers and the program is complete. Again, if you look at the reconciliation of non-GAAP results to the most directly comparable GAAP results, that’s available in the release.
Adjusted EBITDA improved 4% in the fourth quarter to $5.5 million or nearly 14% of revenue from $3.9 million or 10% of revenue a year earlier. Order volume remains strong. Q4 bookings were a record $39.8 million, 9.7% above the same period in fiscal 2023. Turning to slide nine. In the Q4 of segment performance, PI revenue declined 5% year-over-year to $26.6 million, a large measure due to the market impact of the suppliers’ quality and reliability issues. PI segment operating margin increased by 560 basis points to 12.2%, driven by the strategically-driven activities Greg’s already explained. And frankly, the effect of a whole host of improvements by the AstroNova team that are starting to show real results in aggregate. T&M segment revenue increased 10% to $13 million with contributions from both the Aerospace and data acquisition product lines and segment operating profit was, up 14% to $3.7 million and there was a 90 basis point improvement in the segment operating margin.
Moving to slide 10. Hardware accounted for about 34% of revenue in the fourth quarter, 3 points higher than the year earlier period, driven by the T&M segment. Although supplies revenue declined year-over-year, again largely to the same ink issues, our businesses continue to generate a high returning revenue stream that averages about 50% and sometimes higher. Service and other revenue accounted for about 14% in the quarter versus 13% in the same period last year. The repair and paper supplies part of the aerospace product lines is a major focus of the team and it’s helping both revenue and margins. Geographically, we saw a pickup of nearly $1 million in revenue in the U.S., as well as higher revenue in Asia and though those gains were offset elsewhere mostly in Europe.
I’ll finish up by summarizing the balance sheet and cash flow highlights and you’ll find those on slide 11. Cash and equivalents at the end of the fiscal year were $4.5 million, up slightly from the end of the year last year. And that range is where we’re currently comfortable in operating our global operations safely, consistently and efficiently. We generated strong cash from operations, the $12.4 million I mentioned before and we used $7 million of that to pay down our revolving credit debt. Total debt was $21.8 million at beginning of the year and our total debt to trailing 12-month EBITDA on a bank basis was 1.3 times. Our financial condition is strong and can certainly support our operations and strategy. I believe the responsible and effective way that the AstroNova team managed through the now historical races of the max crash and COVID impacts on our business, plus the results delivered by our debt-funded acquisitions have enhanced our credibility and access to the capital market as we seek to grow organically and through further acquisition.
So now let me turn the call back to Greg for closing comments.
Greg Woods: Thanks, David. Summary is now on slide 12. AstroNova is well positioned as we move forward in fiscal 2025. We have well-respected brands across our businesses, we continue to launch innovative products that satisfy our customers’ most challenging needs and strength in our leading market positions. This sets up a nice position for us to capitalize on strong secular trends in both our Product Identification and Test & Measurement segments, including the increasing demand for a wide range of printing solutions to satisfy mass customization and packaging for consumer goods, as well as the resurgent airline industry. We also continue to benefit from the high recurring revenue contribution from our supplies business and expect that to increase as we continue to place more hardware in the hands of our customers.
And finally, we have a strong track record of value-generating M&A and we continue actively seeking complementary strategic acquisitions that broaden our presence and capabilities in our growth markets. We start the new year in a strong financial position and are committed to achieving our 2025 and long-term financial objectives. With that, Dave and I would be happy to take your questions. Operator?
Operator: Thank you, Greg. [Operator Instructions] We have a question from [Samuel Koenig] (ph) from Delta Analytics.
Unidentified Analyst: Good morning, Greg. Good morning, guys. Congratulations on the…
Greg Woods: Good morning.
Unidentified Analyst: Good morning. Congratulations on the wonderful accomplishments this year. I think it’s magnimonious and really is impressive. I just wanted to ask you one question regarding Boeing and Airbus. I understand if I’m correct that in the past year, you also began to put in your printers in Airbus. Is that correct?
Greg Woods: Well, we’ve always said our — I don’t say always, we’ve had printers on the Airbus aircraft for quite a while. So that’s, you know, true. As we have different brands on the different aircraft that we have.
Unidentified Analyst: What I wanted to ask you also was with all the detrimental news on Boeing and a lot of companies delaying their acquisitions of the different planes from Boeing and Boeing was also saying there was traps [Indiscernible] and other related items to this incident. How do you think that, that will affect you? Or will that be taken up by the increase in the Airbus orders?
