Our aftermarket business was down approximately $3.5 million, the general economy and slow down due to lower inventories on new car dealers, impacted sales across most categories, with some up and others down. For the year, the Automotives segment sales are off about 12.5%, and Q4 is going to be tough based on the current conditions, though, again, some loosening on the OEM side with the strike behind us. And as we move into fiscal ’25 and in the years that follow, we have significant opportunities for value creation through the programs that we’ve been awarded and the ones that we’re working on, which will give us new business opportunities to build our future pipeline. As for biometrics, sales came in less than anticipated, mostly due to the low in implementation.
All of the projects that I had mentioned previously are still in motion. Nothing has changed, but during the quarter, we experienced very little progression in terms of rollouts. It was more testing, discussions and planning. We should see sequential improvements in Q4 and assuming all moves as planned, some nice growth in 2025. My comments from Q2 remain, projects with governments, financial service companies, health care companies, car dealerships and more continue and we hope to have more to report in the coming quarters as these programs build. To sum it up, our sales were down in Q3, but operating income remained flat with the improvements we made to our business, resulting in better gross margins and lower expenses. As we look into Q4 in the first half of calendar ’24, we believe it’s going to be tight.
Look at what’s happening now. Interest rates almost all-time highs, and that impacts not only consumers, but our customers as well. Credit card debt is very high. Government subsidies from the pandemic are over. After a decent holiday season and missed all of these challenges, we feel the economy is slowing. And therefore, we expect the next few months may be soft, and we’re going to continue to be diligent in managing our costs. However, these are the same conditions and also get the Fed to start cutting rates and stimulating the economy, and that will be good for consumers and for VOXX. The new launch of products, especially within the Consumer segment should help offset some of the economic softness and the steps to reduce overhead that have taken place should materialize further in the fourth quarter and throughout next year.
Margin should also increase given the new products and programs underway in those launching this year. We are in constant communication with our customers. We’re managing our inventory tightly, and we’re looking at all aspects of our business to get back to profitability. With that, I’d like to thank you. And then, I’ll turn the call over to Mike, and then we’ll open it up for questions. Michael?
Michael Stoehr: Thanks, Pat, and good morning, everyone. I’ll primarily cover our nine month results and balance sheet, but first, a few comments with respect to the third quarter. As Pat mentioned, net sales were down 5.4%, gross margins grew by 90 basis points and operating expenses declined 2.1%. This resulted in operating income for both fiscal ’24 and fiscal 2023 third quarters of $2.3 million. Net income attributable to VOXX was $1.9 million, which declined by approximately $5.5 million. This is principally due to a $4 million income tax benefit recorded in the prior fiscal year period compared to an expense of $100,000. The additional variance was in other income and expense. We reported total other expense of $1.4 million versus total other income of $36,000 in the comparable period — prior period.
Additionally, EBITDA was $6.5 million compared to $7.7 million and adjusted EBITDA was $8 million compared to $9 million. As for the nine month comparisons, all numbers are for the period ended November 30, 2023, and November 30, 2022. We reported nine month sales of $360.8 million, a decline of $36.7 million or 9.2%. Within this, Automotive segment sales were down $15.6 million with OEM product sales down $4.6 million, and aftermarket product sales down $11.1 million. Consumer segment sales were down $19.7 million with Premium Audio product sales down $31.9 million and other CE product sales up by $12.2 million. Biometrics sales declined by approximately $300,000. Sales are down for the year, and we’ll continue to see some pressure in Q4 consistent with Pat’s remarks.
Our Automotive business was impacted by the strike and customer production lines and we’re hoping we’ll see some more normalization in the coming quarters. Retail is tight, but we’re starting to turn the corner with new products in Premium Audio and our accessory products. Those other CE products have held up well this year with solar power balcony products, wireless speakers and hearing aids, helping to offset economic and consumer softness. We continue to take steps to improve our gross margins, which were up 170 basis points sequentially and up 50 basis points year-to-date. For the nine month period comparisons, gross margins came in at 24.6% as compared to 25.1% with Automotive segment margins down 20 basis points and Consumer segment margins up 70 basis points.
Over time, we expect Automotive margins to improve with the relocation of manufacturing to Mexico, price increases and other steps we’ve taken to enhance our supply chain and lower costs. However, we need production to catch up. Consumer segment margins continue to improve sequentially. And again, new products should help continue to drive improvements if we maintain volume and of course, depending on product mix and customer programs. Total operating expenses. For the nine month comparison were $110.2 million as compared to $114 million, an improvement of $3.8 million or 3.3%. Excluding acquisition and restructuring costs, total operating expenses improved by $5.3 million or 4.7%. We’re continuing to look at all aspects of our operations to remove non-essential costs and are looking to lower our overhead further in light of the ongoing economic softness.
