Dear Shareowner. Our results in 2000 reaffirmed the consistency that has become a UTC pattern. Financial performance was excellent, with earnings per share growing 18 percent to $3.55, the seventh year in a row at 18 percent or higher. Available cash flow, traditionally a UTC strength, again exceeded net income and for the sixth year in a row.
     Notably, these results were in spite of adversities. The euro was at record lows for most of 2000, and foreign currency translation consequently reduced our reported earnings per share by 11 cents. We weathered an aerospace industry downturn, although milder than expected, and dealt in the second half of the year with a severe drop in the North American truck/trailer market resulting from fuel price escalation and affecting Carrier’s commercial refrigeration operations. Economic recovery in Asia has been slower and less robust than anticipated.
     Investors recognized our performance gains with share price appreciation, even while market indices declined. UTC’s total shareowner return for 2000 was 22 percent, compared with a negative 5 percent for the Dow Industrials, negative 16 percent for the S&P Industrials, and a 1 percent gain for our mix of peer companies. Investors do prize consistency, and UTC is committed to this above all. Longer term, UTC’s total shareowner return has compounded at an average 30 percent annually since 1994, well above market indices.
     Beginning three years ago, we re-emphasized acquisitions and internal growth, recognizing that these are necessary elements in long term and sustained bottom line growth. We purchased Sundstrand Corporation to form Hamilton Sundstrand’s aerospace systems business, a strong competitor. We added LG’s elevator business to Otis in Asia, International Comfort Products to Carrier’s traditional line of residential cooling products in North America, and Specialty Equipment Companies to Carrier’s commercial refrigeration operations. We divested UT Automotive in 1999, in a transaction well recognized for its timing. These and many other smaller transactions in the last four years have totaled $12 billion in value and have been essential to our performance since then. They will be even more so in the future.