General and Administrative Expense
General and administrative expense increased $0.6 million, or 12.2%, to $6.3 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, from $5.6 million reported for the comparable period last year, and remained at 2.5% as a percentage of revenue.

Operating Profit
Operating profit for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, was $47.7 million, an increase of 21.8% over the $39.1 million reported for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999. Operating profit increased as a percentage of revenues to 19.1% for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, from 17.8% for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999.

Interest Expense
Interest expense for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, was $4.8 million, increasing 127.7% from the $2.1 million reported for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999. The increase is attributable to interest on higher debt levels, offset by increased interest expense capitalization. The higher debt levels are attributable to the Company’s recent share repurchase program and Italian expansion.

Income Tax
Income tax for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, was $15.4 million, increasing $1.9 million from the $13.5 million reported for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999, and reflects effective income tax rates of approximately 36.0% and 36.5%, respectively.

Net Income
Net income for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000, was $27.5 million, increasing from the $23.5 million reported for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999. Net income per common share-assuming dilution was $1.50 in fiscal 2000 compared to $1.26 per share for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999.

Liquidity and Capital Resources
Our primary sources of liquidity are cash provided by operations and borrowings under our credit facility. Cash and temporary investments totaled $5.3 million and net working capital totaled $53.8 million at September 30, 2001. At September 30, 2000, cash and temporary cash investments totaled $6.7 million and working capital totaled $46.9 million. The $6.9 million increase in working capital in fiscal year 2001 was financed with the existing credit facility and cash generated by operations.
Our net cash provided by operating activities totaled $44.2 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2001 compared to $38.9 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2000 and $38.0 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 1999. The increases are primarily related to increases in net income before non-cash charges, offset by volume- related increases in net working capital requirements.
Cash flow used in investing activities principally relates to the purchase of the Mueller’s pasta brand, the purchase of seven pasta brands from Borden Foods and investments in production, distribution, milling and management information system assets.