These positives are taking place, however, against the backdrop of a cautious life science customer base and a general economic climate that shows no signs of major acceleration. We are not anticipating significant improvement in market conditions in the near term. Long term, we have no doubt that our products and technologies provide critical capabilities to enable our life science, pharmaceutical and industrial customers to discover, engineer and manufacture the innovative new products that will address urgent health care and other needs. Because of the capabilities of our outstanding employees, the breadth of our product offerings and the loyalty of our customers, we believe we can deliver profitable growth even during these difficult economic times.

Sincerely,


Chairman and Chief Executive Officer