1. Perplexed by the declining profit margin and the rate of growth of EASY's net income, Melissa Hampton pressed the company management for more detailed information. The management asks you, one of EASY's financial analysts, to compute component and percentage changes for the following statements and determine if there were any positive or negative trends.

EASY CHAIR COMPANY INCOME STATEMENT (dollars in millions)
	2000	1999	1998	1997
Net sales	$592.3	$553.2	$486.8	$420.0
Cost of sales	(430.4)	(397.8)	(352.1)	(289.8)
Gross profit	161.9	135.4	134.7	130.2
Selling, general, and administrative expenses	(111.6)	(106.9)	(91.4)	(85.5)
Income from operations	50.3	48.5	43.3	44.7
Interest expense	(7.2)	(7.6)	(4.0)	(1.9)
Other income	2.5	3.1	2.7	2.1
Income before taxes	45.6	44.0	42.0	44.9
Taxes	(17.3)	(16.5)	(15.5)	(20.3)
Net income	$28.3	$27.5	$26.5	$24.6