6. INVESTMENTS IN JOINT VENTURES

The financial statements of the Company’s foreign joint ventures are initially prepared using the accounting principles accepted in the respective joint ventures’ countries of domicile. Amounts related to foreign joint ventures reported in the below tables and the accompanying consolidated financial statements have subsequently been adjusted to conform with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America in all material respects. All material profits recorded on sales from the Company to its joint ventures and from joint ventures to other joint ventures have been eliminated for financial reporting purposes.

Financial information from the audited and unaudited financial statements of the Company’s joint venture in Germany, Excor Korrosionsschutz – Technologien und Produkte GmbH (EXCOR) and all of the Company’s other joint ventures, are summarized as follows:

	May 31, 2016
	Total		EXCOR		All Other
Current assets	$	47,930,421	$	22,433,723	$	25,496,698
Total assets		51,389,757		24,189,092		27,200,665
Current liabilities		13,952,018		4,602,925		9,349,093
Noncurrent liabilities		103,392		—		103,392
Joint ventures’ equity		37,334,348		19,586,166		17,748,182
Northern Technologies International Corporation’s share of joint ventures’ equity		18,604,871		9,793,085		8,811,786
Northern Technologies International Corporation’s share of joint ventures’ undistributed earnings	$	15,892,135	$	9,416,694	$	6,475,441

	August 31, 2015
	Total		EXCOR		All Other
Current assets	$	49,295,116	$	22,620,323	$	26,674,793
Total assets		52,853,938		24,606,880		28,247,058
Current liabilities		12,288,383		3,360,142		8,928,241
Noncurrent liabilities		1,215,139		—		1,215,139
Joint ventures’ equity		39,350,417		21,246,738		18,103,679
Northern Technologies International Corporation’s share of joint ventures’ equity		20,544,238		11,571,361		8,972,877
Northern Technologies International Corporation’s share of joint ventures’ undistributed earnings	$	18,483,377	$	11,540,456	$	6,942,921

	Nine Months Ended May 31, 2016
	Total		EXCOR		All Other
Net sales	$	66,223,514	$	25,314,260	$	40,909,254
Gross profit		29,745,795		13,512,404		16,233,391
Net income		7,188,274		5,409,407		1,778,867
Northern Technologies International Corporation’s share of equity in income of joint ventures	$	3,600,884	$	2,714,905	$	885,979

	Nine Months Ended May 31, 2015
	Total		EXCOR		Tianjin Zerust		All Other
Net sales	$	75,974,770	$	27,580,051	$	3,735,457	$	44,659,262
Gross profit		37,469,186		15,113,100		1,783,673		20,572,413
Net income		9,634,318		6,334,009		265,648		3,034,661
Northern Technologies International Corporation’s share of equity in income of joint ventures	$	4,806,247	$	3,152,489	$	132,824	$	1,520,934

On January 2, 2015, the Company announced that, effective as of December 31, 2014, the Company terminated its joint venture arrangement in China, Tianjin-Zerust Anticorrosion Co., Ltd. (Tianjin Zerust), and began the process of liquidating the joint venture entity. Since December 31, 2014, the Company has conducted business in China through a wholly-owned subsidiary, NTIC (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (NTIC China). As of December 31, 2014, the Company started recognizing Tianjin Zerust based on its carrying value instead of the equity method since the Company no longer expects to significantly affect the joint venture’s operations or decision making. See Note 7.

The Company records expenses that are directly attributable to the joint ventures on its consolidated statements of operations in the line item “Expenses incurred in support of joint ventures.” The expenses include items such as employee compensation and benefit expenses, travel expense and consulting expense. See Note 13 regarding pending litigation involving Tianjin Zerust.

The Company did not make any joint venture investments during the nine months ended May 31, 2016 and 2015.