As we assess our near-term business prospects, we remain confident in our programs, technologies and financial position but are somewhat cautious about general economic conditions and the rate of capital spending across our major customer groups.

Our research and development activity continues to be very productive, and we expect to introduce major new mass spectrometry products by mid-2003 which will address the product void we have faced since the first quarter of 2002. Our HPLC competitive position has never been stronger, and we believe we should emerge from this current economically weak climate in even better position to grow faster than our competitors. And in January 2003, we augmented our existing product positions when we completed the purchase of the rheology product line of Rheometric Scientific Inc. for approximately $23 million. These products fit nicely with our existing TA Instruments’ product line and should allow us to profitably leverage our strong industrial position.