Office furniture maker HNI Corp. saw net sales increase 9 percent, or $32.6 million, in the quarter that ended April 2, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The Muscatine-based company improved its office furniture sales 10.4 percent, or $31.1 million. A 2.4 percent rise in hearth products sales accounted for the rest of the increase.

“Gross margin for the first quarter increased to 34 percent compared with 32.8 percent for the same quarter last year,” according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 4.

Despite the higher sales figures, HNI reported a net loss of $1.76 million. However, that was an improvement from a year ago, when the company had a loss of $5.99 million in the first quarter.