15 our consolidated financial results in 2019 reflected year-over-year improvement in many areas , driven by both organic growth initiatives and benefits from our recent acquisitions : net sales for the year ended december 31 , 2019 increased by $ 131.8 million , or 12 % , to $ 1,221.3 million , with organic sales growth of approximately 8 % . operating income for the year ended december 31 , 2019 increased by $ 25.6 million , or 21 % , to $ 147.1 million . adjusted ebitda * for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was $ 191.3 million , up $ 32.7 million , or 21 % , and our adjusted ebitda margin * for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was 15.7 % , up from 14.6 % in 2018 . income from continuing operations for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was $ 108.4 million , up $ 14.7 million , or 16 % , from $ 93.7 million in the prior year . this equated to diluted earnings per share of $ 1.76 , up 15 % from $ 1.53 per share last year . cash flow from continuing operating activities for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was $ 103.4 million , an increase of $ 10.6 million , or 11 % . total orders for the year ended december 31 , 2019 were $ 1,269.0 million , an increase of $ 95.8 million , or 8 % . our consolidated backlog at december 31 , 2019 was $ 386.9 million , up $ 49.2 million , or 15 % , from $ 337.7 million at december 31 , 2018 . * the company uses adjusted ebitda and adjusted ebitda margin as additional measures which are representative of its underlying performance and to improve the comparability of results across reporting periods . refer to item 6. selected financial data for further discussion regarding these non-gaap metrics and a reconciliation of each to the most comparable gaap measure for each of the periods presented . 16 results of operations the following table summarizes our consolidated statements of operations as of , and for the years ended , december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 , and illustrates the key financial indicators used to assess our consolidated financial results : replace_table_token_3_th ( a ) the company uses adjusted ebitda and adjusted ebitda margin as additional measures which are representative of its underlying performance and to improve the comparability of results across reporting periods . refer to item 6. selected financial data for further discussion regarding these non-gaap metrics and a reconciliation of each to the most comparable gaap measure for each of the periods presented . year ended december 31 , 2019 vs. year ended december 31 , 2018 net sales net sales increased by $ 131.8 million , or 12 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , compared to the prior year . within the environmental solutions group , net sales increased by $ 129.4 million , or 15 % , primarily due to a $ 39.7 million contribution from mrl , and increases in shipments of safe-digging trucks , street sweepers , and dump truck bodies of $ 38.1 million , $ 18.0 million , and $ 11.9 million , respectively . in addition , aftermarket revenues increased by $ 15.9 million , represented by higher rental income and improved parts and service sales . within the safety and security systems group , net sales increased by $ 2.4 million , or 1 % , primarily due to improvements in industrial signaling equipment and public safety products of $ 6.6 million and $ 1.4 million , respectively , partially offset by a $ 2.7 million reduction in sales of warning systems and an unfavorable foreign currency translation impact of $ 2.9 million . cost of sales for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , cost of sales increased by $ 91.1 million , or 11 % , compared to the prior year , largely due to an increase of $ 94.6 million , or 14 % , within the environmental solutions group , primarily attributable to increased sales volumes , additional cost of sales from the mrl acquisition , higher material costs , and a $ 4.6 million increase in depreciation expense , partially offset by a $ 0.4 million reduction in purchase accounting expenses . this increase was partially offset by a 17 decrease in cost of sales of $ 3.5 million , or 2 % , within the safety and security systems group , largely due to favorable sales mix and a favorable foreign currency translation impact of $ 2.1 million , partially offset by higher sales volumes . gross profit for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , gross profit increased by $ 40.7 million , or 14 % , compared to the prior year , primarily due to improvements of $ 34.8 million and $ 5.9 million within the environmental solutions group and the safety and security systems group , respectively . gross margin for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was 26.4 % , compared to 25.9 % in the prior year , primarily driven by improvements within the safety and security group and environmental solutions group of 220 basis points and 50 basis points , respectively . margin improvements were primarily attributable to improved operating leverage , benefits from pricing actions and favorable sales mix . selling , engineering , general and administrative expenses for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , selling , engineering , general and administrative ( “ seg & a ” ) expenses increased by $ 14.1 million , or 9 % , primarily due to increases within the environmental solutions group and the safety and security systems group of $ 8.2 million and $ 1.4 million , respectively . story_separator_special_tag year ended december 31 , 2018 vs. year ended december 31 , 2017 total orders for the year ended december 31 , 2018 were $ 1,173.2 million , an increase of $ 155.2 million , or 15 % , compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 . the environmental solutions group reported total orders of $ 945.8 million in 2018 , an increase of $ 139.5 million , or 17 % , compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 . the improvement was driven by incremental orders of $ 66.2 million related to the inclusion of tbei orders for a full year in 2018 versus seven months in 2017 , and organic order growth of approximately $ 73.3 million , or 11 % . the organic growth was largely the result of improved orders for vacuum trucks , sewer cleaners , street sweepers and waterblasting equipment , as well as higher aftermarket demand , representing increased orders for parts , service , used and rental equipment . these improvements were partially offset by a reduction in refuse truck orders . within the safety and security systems group , orders increased by $ 15.7 million compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 , primarily driven by a $ 14.9 million improvement in global orders for public safety products . u.s. municipal and governmental orders increased by $ 12.2 million , or 3 % , primarily due to a $ 14.8 million improvement within the environmental solutions group , primarily driven by a $ 13.1 million improvement in orders for sewer cleaners and higher aftermarket demand . this improvement was partially offset by a $ 2.6 million reduction in municipal orders within the safety and security systems group , driven by a decrease in orders for outdoor warning systems of $ 6.8 million , partially offset by an increase in orders for public safety products of $ 4.2 million . u.s. industrial and commercial orders increased by $ 123.5 million , or 29 % , largely driven by a $ 116.9 million increase within the environmental solutions group , primarily related to a $ 48.3 million improvement in orders for vacuum trucks and an incremental $ 67.0 million of orders from a full year of tbei activity in 2018. in addition , aftermarket orders increased by $ 4.8 million . these increases were partially offset by a $ 3.5 million reduction in street sweeper orders . within the safety and 21 security systems group , industrial orders increased by $ 6.6 million due to increases in orders for outdoor warning systems , industrial products and public safety products of $ 3.8 million , $ 1.6 million and $ 1.2 million , respectively . non-u.s. orders increased by $ 19.5 million , or 8 % , largely due to a $ 7.8 million increase within the environmental solutions group , primarily due to improvements in orders for vacuum trucks , sewer cleaners , street sweepers , and waterblasting equipment of $ 11.3 million , $ 6.8 million , $ 4.4 million and $ 2.1 million , respectively . in addition , aftermarket orders improved by $ 7.3 million . partially offsetting these improvements was a $ 23.0 million decrease in refuse truck orders . orders within the safety and security systems group increased by $ 11.7 million , largely due to a $ 9.5 million increase in orders for public safety products . backlog backlog was $ 386.9 million at december 31 , 2019 as compared to $ 337.7 million at december 31 , 2018 . the increase of $ 49.2 million , or 15 % , was primarily due to a $ 47.3 million increase in backlog within the environmental solutions group , primarily due to continued strong demand for sewer cleaners and safe-digging trucks , as well as higher orders for road-marking and line-removal equipment and refuse trucks . in addition , backlog within the safety and security systems group improved by $ 1.9 million , primarily due to increased international orders for public safety products . environmental solutions the following table summarizes the environmental solutions group 's operating results as of , and for the years ended , december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 : replace_table_token_5_th year ended december 31 , 2019 vs. year ended december 31 , 2018 total orders increased by $ 92.2 million , or 10 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2019 . u.s. orders increased by $ 60.6 million , or 8 % , primarily due to the acquisition of mrl which contributed $ 54.9 million of orders , as well as increases in orders for safe-digging trucks and dump truck bodies of $ 17.8 million and $ 3.2 million , respectively . additionally , aftermarket orders improved by $ 10.1 million . partially offsetting these improvements were reductions in orders for street sweepers , industrial vacuum loaders , and trailers of $ 9.5 million , $ 8.7 million , and $ 5.6 million , respectively . non-u.s. orders increased by $ 31.6 million , or 19 % , primarily due to increases in orders for refuse trucks , safe-digging trucks , and street sweepers of $ 14.3 million , $ 11.6 million and $ 7.7 million , respectively . in addition , the acquisition of mrl contributed $ 1.9 million of orders , and aftermarket demand increased by $ 5.1 million . partially offsetting these improvements were reductions in orders for industrial vacuum loaders , snow removal trucks , and sewer cleaners of $ 5.7 million , $ 2.0 million , and $ 1.7 million , respectively . net sales increased by $ 129.4 million , or 15 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2019 . u.s. sales increased by $ 103.9 million , or 15 % , primarily due to a $ 38.8 million contribution from mrl , and increases in sales of safe-digging trucks , dump truck bodies

cash dividends of $ 19.3 million , $ 18.7 million and $ 16.8 million were declared and paid to stockholders in 2019 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . the company anticipates that capital expenditures for 2020 , including investments associated with its ongoing plant expansions , will be in the range of $ 30 million to $ 35 million . the company believes that its financial resources and major sources of liquidity , including cash flow from operations and borrowing capacity , will be adequate to meet its operating needs , capital needs and financial commitments . 27 contractual obligations and off-balance sheet arrangements the following table summarizes the company 's contractual obligations and payments due by period as of december 31 , 2019 : replace_table_token_8_th ( a ) amounts represent estimated contractual interest payments on outstanding long-term debt . ( b ) amounts include contractual obligations associated with lease arrangements that qualify for the short-term lease exception , discussed further in note 4 – leases to the accompanying consolidated financial statements . ( c ) purchase obligations primarily relate to commercial chassis and other contracts in the ordinary course of business . ( d ) the company expects to contribute up to $ 6.9 million to the u.s. benefit plan and up to $ 1.3 million to the non-u.s. benefit plan in 2020 , which represent the minimum required contributions . future contributions to the plans will be based on such factors as ( i ) annual service cost , ( ii ) the financial return on plan assets , ( iii ) interest rate movements that affect discount rates applied to plan liabilities and ( iv ) the value of benefit payments made . due to the high degree of uncertainty regarding the potential future cash outflows associated with these plans , the company is unable to provide a reasonably reliable estimate of the amounts and periods in which any additional liabilities might be paid . ( e ) represents the fair value of the contingent earn-out payment associated with the acquisition of mrl . for further discussion , see note 2 – acquisitions to the accompanying consolidated financial statements .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```cash dividends of $ 19.3 million , $ 18.7 million and $ 16.8 million were declared and paid to stockholders in 2019 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . the company anticipates that capital expenditures for 2020 , including investments associated with its ongoing plant expansions , will be in the range of $ 30 million to $ 35 million . the company believes that its financial resources and major sources of liquidity , including cash flow from operations and borrowing capacity , will be adequate to meet its operating needs , capital needs and financial commitments . 27 contractual obligations and off-balance sheet arrangements the following table summarizes the company 's contractual obligations and payments due by period as of december 31 , 2019 : replace_table_token_8_th ( a ) amounts represent estimated contractual interest payments on outstanding long-term debt . ( b ) amounts include contractual obligations associated with lease arrangements that qualify for the short-term lease exception , discussed further in note 4 – leases to the accompanying consolidated financial statements . ( c ) purchase obligations primarily relate to commercial chassis and other contracts in the ordinary course of business . ( d ) the company expects to contribute up to $ 6.9 million to the u.s. benefit plan and up to $ 1.3 million to the non-u.s. benefit plan in 2020 , which represent the minimum required contributions . future contributions to the plans will be based on such factors as ( i ) annual service cost , ( ii ) the financial return on plan assets , ( iii ) interest rate movements that affect discount rates applied to plan liabilities and ( iv ) the value of benefit payments made . due to the high degree of uncertainty regarding the potential future cash outflows associated with these plans , the company is unable to provide a reasonably reliable estimate of the amounts and periods in which any additional liabilities might be paid . ( e ) represents the fair value of the contingent earn-out payment associated with the acquisition of mrl . for further discussion , see note 2 – acquisitions to the accompanying consolidated financial statements .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : 15 our consolidated financial results in 2019 reflected year-over-year improvement in many areas , driven by both organic growth initiatives and benefits from our recent acquisitions : net sales for the year ended december 31 , 2019 increased by $ 131.8 million , or 12 % , to $ 1,221.3 million , with organic sales growth of approximately 8 % . operating income for the year ended december 31 , 2019 increased by $ 25.6 million , or 21 % , to $ 147.1 million . adjusted ebitda * for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was $ 191.3 million , up $ 32.7 million , or 21 % , and our adjusted ebitda margin * for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was 15.7 % , up from 14.6 % in 2018 . income from continuing operations for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was $ 108.4 million , up $ 14.7 million , or 16 % , from $ 93.7 million in the prior year . this equated to diluted earnings per share of $ 1.76 , up 15 % from $ 1.53 per share last year . cash flow from continuing operating activities for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was $ 103.4 million , an increase of $ 10.6 million , or 11 % . total orders for the year ended december 31 , 2019 were $ 1,269.0 million , an increase of $ 95.8 million , or 8 % . our consolidated backlog at december 31 , 2019 was $ 386.9 million , up $ 49.2 million , or 15 % , from $ 337.7 million at december 31 , 2018 . * the company uses adjusted ebitda and adjusted ebitda margin as additional measures which are representative of its underlying performance and to improve the comparability of results across reporting periods . refer to item 6. selected financial data for further discussion regarding these non-gaap metrics and a reconciliation of each to the most comparable gaap measure for each of the periods presented . 16 results of operations the following table summarizes our consolidated statements of operations as of , and for the years ended , december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 , and illustrates the key financial indicators used to assess our consolidated financial results : replace_table_token_3_th ( a ) the company uses adjusted ebitda and adjusted ebitda margin as additional measures which are representative of its underlying performance and to improve the comparability of results across reporting periods . refer to item 6. selected financial data for further discussion regarding these non-gaap metrics and a reconciliation of each to the most comparable gaap measure for each of the periods presented . year ended december 31 , 2019 vs. year ended december 31 , 2018 net sales net sales increased by $ 131.8 million , or 12 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , compared to the prior year . within the environmental solutions group , net sales increased by $ 129.4 million , or 15 % , primarily due to a $ 39.7 million contribution from mrl , and increases in shipments of safe-digging trucks , street sweepers , and dump truck bodies of $ 38.1 million , $ 18.0 million , and $ 11.9 million , respectively . in addition , aftermarket revenues increased by $ 15.9 million , represented by higher rental income and improved parts and service sales . within the safety and security systems group , net sales increased by $ 2.4 million , or 1 % , primarily due to improvements in industrial signaling equipment and public safety products of $ 6.6 million and $ 1.4 million , respectively , partially offset by a $ 2.7 million reduction in sales of warning systems and an unfavorable foreign currency translation impact of $ 2.9 million . cost of sales for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , cost of sales increased by $ 91.1 million , or 11 % , compared to the prior year , largely due to an increase of $ 94.6 million , or 14 % , within the environmental solutions group , primarily attributable to increased sales volumes , additional cost of sales from the mrl acquisition , higher material costs , and a $ 4.6 million increase in depreciation expense , partially offset by a $ 0.4 million reduction in purchase accounting expenses . this increase was partially offset by a 17 decrease in cost of sales of $ 3.5 million , or 2 % , within the safety and security systems group , largely due to favorable sales mix and a favorable foreign currency translation impact of $ 2.1 million , partially offset by higher sales volumes . gross profit for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , gross profit increased by $ 40.7 million , or 14 % , compared to the prior year , primarily due to improvements of $ 34.8 million and $ 5.9 million within the environmental solutions group and the safety and security systems group , respectively . gross margin for the year ended december 31 , 2019 was 26.4 % , compared to 25.9 % in the prior year , primarily driven by improvements within the safety and security group and environmental solutions group of 220 basis points and 50 basis points , respectively . margin improvements were primarily attributable to improved operating leverage , benefits from pricing actions and favorable sales mix . selling , engineering , general and administrative expenses for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , selling , engineering , general and administrative ( “ seg & a ” ) expenses increased by $ 14.1 million , or 9 % , primarily due to increases within the environmental solutions group and the safety and security systems group of $ 8.2 million and $ 1.4 million , respectively . story_separator_special_tag year ended december 31 , 2018 vs. year ended december 31 , 2017 total orders for the year ended december 31 , 2018 were $ 1,173.2 million , an increase of $ 155.2 million , or 15 % , compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 . the environmental solutions group reported total orders of $ 945.8 million in 2018 , an increase of $ 139.5 million , or 17 % , compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 . the improvement was driven by incremental orders of $ 66.2 million related to the inclusion of tbei orders for a full year in 2018 versus seven months in 2017 , and organic order growth of approximately $ 73.3 million , or 11 % . the organic growth was largely the result of improved orders for vacuum trucks , sewer cleaners , street sweepers and waterblasting equipment , as well as higher aftermarket demand , representing increased orders for parts , service , used and rental equipment . these improvements were partially offset by a reduction in refuse truck orders . within the safety and security systems group , orders increased by $ 15.7 million compared to the year ended december 31 , 2017 , primarily driven by a $ 14.9 million improvement in global orders for public safety products . u.s. municipal and governmental orders increased by $ 12.2 million , or 3 % , primarily due to a $ 14.8 million improvement within the environmental solutions group , primarily driven by a $ 13.1 million improvement in orders for sewer cleaners and higher aftermarket demand . this improvement was partially offset by a $ 2.6 million reduction in municipal orders within the safety and security systems group , driven by a decrease in orders for outdoor warning systems of $ 6.8 million , partially offset by an increase in orders for public safety products of $ 4.2 million . u.s. industrial and commercial orders increased by $ 123.5 million , or 29 % , largely driven by a $ 116.9 million increase within the environmental solutions group , primarily related to a $ 48.3 million improvement in orders for vacuum trucks and an incremental $ 67.0 million of orders from a full year of tbei activity in 2018. in addition , aftermarket orders increased by $ 4.8 million . these increases were partially offset by a $ 3.5 million reduction in street sweeper orders . within the safety and 21 security systems group , industrial orders increased by $ 6.6 million due to increases in orders for outdoor warning systems , industrial products and public safety products of $ 3.8 million , $ 1.6 million and $ 1.2 million , respectively . non-u.s. orders increased by $ 19.5 million , or 8 % , largely due to a $ 7.8 million increase within the environmental solutions group , primarily due to improvements in orders for vacuum trucks , sewer cleaners , street sweepers , and waterblasting equipment of $ 11.3 million , $ 6.8 million , $ 4.4 million and $ 2.1 million , respectively . in addition , aftermarket orders improved by $ 7.3 million . partially offsetting these improvements was a $ 23.0 million decrease in refuse truck orders . orders within the safety and security systems group increased by $ 11.7 million , largely due to a $ 9.5 million increase in orders for public safety products . backlog backlog was $ 386.9 million at december 31 , 2019 as compared to $ 337.7 million at december 31 , 2018 . the increase of $ 49.2 million , or 15 % , was primarily due to a $ 47.3 million increase in backlog within the environmental solutions group , primarily due to continued strong demand for sewer cleaners and safe-digging trucks , as well as higher orders for road-marking and line-removal equipment and refuse trucks . in addition , backlog within the safety and security systems group improved by $ 1.9 million , primarily due to increased international orders for public safety products . environmental solutions the following table summarizes the environmental solutions group 's operating results as of , and for the years ended , december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 : replace_table_token_5_th year ended december 31 , 2019 vs. year ended december 31 , 2018 total orders increased by $ 92.2 million , or 10 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2019 . u.s. orders increased by $ 60.6 million , or 8 % , primarily due to the acquisition of mrl which contributed $ 54.9 million of orders , as well as increases in orders for safe-digging trucks and dump truck bodies of $ 17.8 million and $ 3.2 million , respectively . additionally , aftermarket orders improved by $ 10.1 million . partially offsetting these improvements were reductions in orders for street sweepers , industrial vacuum loaders , and trailers of $ 9.5 million , $ 8.7 million , and $ 5.6 million , respectively . non-u.s. orders increased by $ 31.6 million , or 19 % , primarily due to increases in orders for refuse trucks , safe-digging trucks , and street sweepers of $ 14.3 million , $ 11.6 million and $ 7.7 million , respectively . in addition , the acquisition of mrl contributed $ 1.9 million of orders , and aftermarket demand increased by $ 5.1 million . partially offsetting these improvements were reductions in orders for industrial vacuum loaders , snow removal trucks , and sewer cleaners of $ 5.7 million , $ 2.0 million , and $ 1.7 million , respectively . net sales increased by $ 129.4 million , or 15 % , for the year ended december 31 , 2019 . u.s. sales increased by $ 103.9 million , or 15 % , primarily due to a $ 38.8 million contribution from mrl , and increases in sales of safe-digging trucks , dump truck bodies

