Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Systemax, Inc. Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mike Smargiassi of The Plunkett Group. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Sarah and welcome to the Systemax third quarter 2020 earnings call. Today's call will include formal remarks from Barry Litwin, Chief Executive Officer; and Tex Clark, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will not be hosting a live Q&A session at the end of today's call. If you should have any questions on the results, please contact The Plunkett Group or Systemax. Contact details can be found in the press release issued today and at systemax.com. Today's discussion may include certain forward-looking statements. It should be understood that actual results could differ materially from those projected due to a number of factors, including those described under the Forward-Looking Statements caption and under Risk Factors and the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. The press release is available on the company's website and will be filed with the SEC in a Form 8-K. This call is the property of and is copyrighted by Systemax, Inc. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Barry Litwin.

Thanks, Mike. Good afternoon, everybody and thank you for joining us today. We had an exceptional third quarter performance, with revenue increasing 17% to over $285 million. Growth was led by our private label offering, an expanded pandemic product line and solid gains from our core product categories. We delivered this strong top line performance, while producing record profitability as both gross and operating margins expanded. We delivered more than $31 million in operating income, a 70% improvement from last year and EPS increased over 77% year-over-year. Free cash flow generated was robust at over $25 million and we ended the quarter with $78 million in cash. These record results are a direct reflection of how our associates have continued to embrace our customer-centric strategy, ACE or Accelerating the Customer Experience initiative, and our ability to rally around the needs of our customers. Our multi-year strategy introduced in 2019, provides a clear framework for how we operate and differentiates our value with a focus on improving our customers' end-to-end purchase, service and delivery experience. Growth in the quarter highlights the resilience and perseverance we have shown across the company, as we addressed and learned from the challenges and opportunities created by the pandemic. We listen to where the market was headed, and by foreseeing the needs of our customers, we were able to quickly expand our offering with a leading assortment of Global Industrial branded PBE, and a full line of pandemic response product. As a result, we were there for our customers when they needed us most. The pandemic has also accelerated how B2B buyers are embracing e-commerce environments. This is a positive customer trend and one that further empowers the ongoing investments in our digital platform and our strategy. We combine a strong e-commerce platform with a personal…

Thank you, Barry. I will now address our performance in more detail. I would like to note that we had the same number of selling days in the third quarter of 2020 as we did in the year ago period. In the third quarter, revenue grew 17.1% over Q3 of last year. Revenue was $285.7 million, with the US growing 16.1%, while Canada grew 40% in local currency. Growth was fairly stable as we moved to the third quarter and has remained in the mid-teens in October. We recorded double-digit growth across all sales channels, led by e-commerce, which accounted for more than 55% of our transaction count and the quarter. New customer acquisition was very healthy, and our managed sales team expanded average order value as they deepen relationships with existing accounts. Sales performance continued to benefit from investments that are private label offerings and a return to growth from our core product lines including solid performance at HVAC and material handling. Consumable products within our pandemic assortment, including PBE and sanitizing supplies made up roughly 11% of sales in the third quarter, compared to approximately 2% of sales in the same period last year. Gross profit for the quarter was $102.3 million, an increase of 21.2% from last year. Gross margin was 35.8%, up 120 basis points from the prior year and 80 basis points on a consecutive quarter basis. Margin improvement in the period was primarily driven by a mix shift to in-stock and private label products, as well as from a reduction in freight damage. This is in line with our ACE strategy and is focused on driving higher margins sourcing channels and improving operational excellence. This is an exceptional gross margin performance, and we did see margins normalize as we exited the quarter. I would…