For illustration, our sales on a weekly run rate basis and excluding favorable currency translation were up 8% from the prior year.
Our confidence in the situation improving is evidenced by our decision to give an early indication of our anticipated sales for fiscal 2022 of over 10% organic growth.
Last quarter we reported that sales into EV applications were over 9% of consolidated sales and were expected to be in the high single-digits for fiscal 2021.
This quarter, EV sales were over 12% of consolidated sales and we now expect that number to be over 10% for fiscal 2021.
We generated over $80 million in free cash flow and significantly reduced our net debt in the quarter.
The debt reduction was driven by the full repayment of our $100 million revolver draw from March of last year.
The awards identified here represent a cross-section of the business wins in the quarter and represent over $50 million in annual business.
Lastly, we won two sizable awards for User Interface programs with international automotive OEMs. For the first three quarters of the fiscal year, Methode has booked orders of over $150 million in potential annual sales.
We are also pleased to protect that our sales from any single customer is expected to drop below 25% from a high of approximately 50% four years ago, all while we continue to grow our top line.
The additional content in EV could range from 20% to over 100% of our current content on an internal combustion vehicle.
Please note that the third quarter of fiscal year '21 contains 13 work weeks, whereas the third quarter of fiscal year '20 had 14 work weeks.
Third quarter sales were $295.3 million in fiscal year '21 compared to $285.9 million in fiscal year '20, an increase of $9.4 million or 3.3%.
The year-over-year quarterly comparisons included a favorable foreign currency impact on sales of $9.7 million in the current quarter.
On a weekly run rate basis and excluding the foreign currency impact, net sales were up a solid 7.6%, compared to the same quarter of fiscal year '20.
Third quarter net income decreased $9.3 million to $31.9 million or $0.83 per diluted share from $41.2 million or $1.09 per diluted share in the same period last year.
Also contributing to the decline was lower other income of $2.5 million and higher income tax expense of $1.8 million.
Fiscal year '21, third quarter margins were 24.6% as compared to 27.7% in the third quarter of fiscal year '20.
Third quarter selling and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales decreased 50 basis points year-over-year to 11% compared to 11.5% in the fiscal year '20 third quarter.
Regarding our restructuring activities the third quarter expense was $700,000 and the year-to-date third quarter expense was $8.3 million.
The company currently expects an additional restructuring expense of $200,000 in the remainder of the fiscal year, resulting from the previous quarters actions.
First, other income net was lower by $2.5 million, mainly due to lower government assistance between the comparable quarters.
Second, income tax expense in the third quarter of fiscal year '21 was $4.6 million or 12.6% as compared to a tax expense of $2.8 million or an effective tax rate of 6.4% in the third quarter of fiscal year '20.
The 12.6% effective tax rate for the quarter was less than the estimated tax rate due to the benefits of some tax planning enacted in the third quarter, which was retroactively applied to the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
We expect to benefit from the third quarter tax planning in the current fourth quarter, which will result in an estimated fourth quarter effective tax rate of 15%, down from the previously guided rate of 17%.
Fiscal year '21 third quarter EBITDA was $51.3 million versus $58.7 million in the same period last year.
We reduced gross debt by $103 million in the third quarter, resulting from the full repayment of the $100 million precautionary draw we initiated in March 2020.
Since our acquisition of Grakon in September 2018, we have reduced gross debt by $113 million.
Net debt, a non-GAAP financial measure decreased by $108.9 million in the third quarter of the fiscal year '21 as compared to the fiscal year '20 year-end from $134.8 million to $25.9 million.
We ended the quarter with $218.7 million in cash.
Our debt to trailing 12 month EBITDA ratio, which is used for our bank covenants is approximately 1.3.
Our net debt to trailing 12 months EBITDA ratio was 0.1.
For the fiscal year '21 third quarter, free cash flow was $82.8 million as compared to $6.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal '20.
The strong free cash flow performance was driven by an approximately $40 million favorable change in working capital in the quarter.
In the third quarter of fiscal year '21, we invested approximately $4.9 million in capex as compared to $8.1 million in the third quarter of fiscal year '20.
The revenue range for the fourth quarter is between $270 million and $300 million.
Diluted earnings per share range is between $0.60 and $0.82.

Summary:
Third quarter sales were $295.3 million in fiscal year '21 compared to $285.9 million in fiscal year '20, an increase of $9.4 million or 3.3%.
Third quarter net income decreased $9.3 million to $31.9 million or $0.83 per diluted share from $41.2 million or $1.09 per diluted share in the same period last year.
The revenue range for the fourth quarter is between $270 million and $300 million.
Diluted earnings per share range is between $0.60 and $0.82.