(INTRODUCTION FOR CONFERENCE CALL)

Before we begin, we call your attention to the fact that we may make forward-looking statements during the course of this conference call. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of our future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual performance to differ materially from such statements. A description of these risks, uncertainties and other factors is contained in our news release of today’s date, our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001, and in certain of our other public filings with the SEC.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. We have another strong quarter to report and some interesting shifts in the business to discuss. In a quick summary, strong aircraft sales and improved margins in our Space segment have offset the impact of a slowdown of industrial sales in the plastics industry and margin pressure in turbine controls. So, in terms of financial objectives, we’re right where we intended to be. The path that we’ve traversed was a little different than the one we’d laid out when we set the objectives. Moreover, having just completed a budget review for the balance of this year and next year, it’s clear that the pattern of the third quarter will continue into next year. We’re seeing stronger aircraft and space revenues and margins while our Industrial segment experiences slower growth and margin pressure. We’ve often talked about the importance, from our Company’s point of view, of the balance in our product and market portfolio and it’s very evident this quarter, and will be next year.

So, what I’d like to do this morning is describe the results for the quarter, go through our three segments and discuss the important impacts in the quarter and what we anticipate for the balance of this fiscal year and then describe our current outlook for next year.

Once, again, we’re going to post the text of these remarks on our website for your convenience.

Q3 2001

Net earnings for the quarter were $7.2 million, or 81 cents per share, compared to $6.3 million, or 71 cents per share, last year. On a per-share basis, that’s a 14% increase!

Sales of $179 million were up 12% from last year’s level of $160 million. The increase of nearly $20 million included $13 million from our most recent acquisitions. Growth in our core business of about $7 million amounted to a 4% increase over last year in spite of a $3 million reduction in sales due to lower exchange rates. In constant currency, our organic growth was over 6%. We think that’s pretty remarkable given what’s going on in the general industrial markets.

The gross margins in the quarter were about the same as last year but our R&D and SG&A expenses were up, partly as a result of the additional R&D and SG&A components of the acquisitions. On the other hand, compared to a year ago, our interest was down slightly, in spite of the fact that we borrowed some additional funds to complete the acquisitions.

Pre-tax earnings were up 8% and we’ve had a fortunate turn of events with respect to our tax rate. Our tax rate in the quarter was down substantially. We’re now calculating a tax rate of 33.5% for the entirety of fiscal year ’01. During the first two quarters, we had been projecting a rate of 35%. However, during this quarter, our tax experts concluded that we’re entitled to more benefits under the recently-enacted extraterritorial income exclusion rules. These are tax benefits for sales of products from U. S. facilities to customers located overseas. The accounting rules require that this calculated reduction in taxes be fully reflected in the current reporting period. So, in this quarter, the 30.5% tax rate reflects the new rate of 33.5% for the year, plus the blending downwards of the rates used in the first two quarters. Incidentally, the 33.5% rate will carry through to next year.

EBITDA for the quarter was $26.5 million, up from $25.4 million last year. Bob Banta will discuss cash flow and debt levels in more detail in a few minutes.