Exhibit 99 CAUTIONARY
STATEMENTS PURSUANT TO THE SECURITIES LITIGATIONREFORM ACT OF 1995 We
wish to inform our investors of the following important factors that in some cases have
affected, and in the future could affect, our results of operations and that could cause
such future results of operations to differ materially from those expressed in any
forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf. Disclosure of these factors is
intended to permit us to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We have discussed many of these factors
in prior SEC filings. Though we have attempted to list comprehensively these important
cautionary factors, we wish to caution investors that other factors may in the future
prove to be important in affecting our results of operations. Our business is highly
cyclical and seasonal. Historically,
sales of our products have been subject to cyclical variations caused by changes in
general economic conditions. The demand for our products reflects the capital investment
decisions of our customers, which depend upon the general economic conditions of the
markets that our customers serve, including, particularly, the construction and
industrial sectors of the North American and European economies. During periods of
expansion in construction and industrial activity, we generally have benefited from
increased demand for our products. Conversely, downward economic cycles in construction
and industrial activities result in reductions in sales and pricing of our products,
which may reduce our profits and cash flow. During economic downturns, customers also
tend to delay purchases of new products. In addition, our business is highly seasonal
with the majority of our sales occurring in the spring and summer months which constitute
the traditional construction season. The cyclical and seasonal nature of our business
could at times adversely affect our liquidity and ability to borrow under our credit
facilities. Our customer base is
consolidated and a relatively small number of customers account for a majority of our
sales. Our
principal customers are equipment rental companies that purchase our equipment and rent
it to end-users. In recent years, there has been substantial consolidation among rental
companies, particularly in North America, which is our largest market. A limited number
of these companies accounts for a substantial majority of our sales. Some of these large
customers are burdened by substantial debt and have limited liquidity, which has recently
constrained their ability to purchase additional equipment and has contributed to their
decisions to significantly reduce capital spending. Purchasing patterns by some of these
large customers also can be erratic with large volume purchases during one period
followed by periods of limited purchasing activity. Any substantial change in purchasing
decisions by one or more of our major customers, whether due to actions by our
competitors, customer financial constraints or otherwise, could have an adverse effect on
our business. In addition, the reduction of the number of customers has increased
competition, in particular on the basis of pricing. We are significantly
leveraged and our credit facilities impose operating and financial limitations. We
are significantly leveraged and substantially all of our assets are subject to liens to
secure our outstanding indebtedness. We will require substantial amounts of cash to fund
scheduled payments of principal and interest on our indebtedness, future capital
expenditures, and any increased working capital requirements. Our ability to make
scheduled payments on our debt obligations will depend upon our future operating
performance and, if we do not generate sufficient cash from our operations, on our
ability to obtain additional debt or equity financing. Prevailing economic conditions and
financial, business and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, will affect
our ability to make these payments. If in the future we cannot generate sufficient cash
from operations to meet our obligations, we will need to refinance, obtain additional
financing or sell assets.    The
covenants under our credit facilities impose operating and financial restrictions on us.
These restrictions will limit our ability, among other things, to: 
incur
additional indebtedness;  
pay
dividends or make other distributions;  
make
investments or repurchase our stock;  
consolidate,
merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets; and  
enter
into transactions with affiliates.  In
addition, our credit facilities require us to maintain specified financial ratios. These
covenants may adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital
needs or to pursue available business opportunities. A breach of these covenants or our
inability to maintain the required financial ratios could result in a default on our
indebtedness. If a default occurs, the relevant lenders could declare the indebtedness,
together with accrued interest and other fees, to be immediately due and payable and
could proceed against any collateral securing that indebtedness. Our customers need
financing to purchase our products, which exposes us to additional credit risk. Availability
and cost of financing are significant factors that affect demand for our products. Many
of our customers can purchase equipment only when financing is available to them at a
reasonable cost. Some of our customers are unable to obtain all of the financing needed
to fully fund their entire demand of our equipment from banks or other third-party credit
providers. We offer a variety of financing programs and terms to our customers. These
include open account sales, installment sales, finance leases, and guarantees or other
credit enhancements of financing provided to our customers by third parties. Our
financing transactions expose us to credit risk, including the risk of default by
customers and any disparity between the cost and maturity of our funding sources and the
yield and maturity of financing that we provide to our customers. We believe that our
customers are most likely to seek financing from us in down economic cycles, which
increases our risk in providing this financing. We may not be able to
satisfy all credit requests by our customers. Due
to our size and capital constraints, we may not be able to fund or otherwise satisfy all
credit requests by our customers, which could adversely affect our future sales. Our
ability to continue to meet customer credit needs depends largely on our ability to
generate funds by monetizing finance receivables, either by selling them to a third party
or by getting a loan from a third party secured by such finance receivables, or our
ability through credit enhancements or otherwise to induce third parties to extend credit
to our customers. Factors that may affect our prospects for completing such monetization
transactions include the credit quality and customer concentration of our existing and
future portfolios of finance receivables, market availability for such transactions, and
current and potential changes in accounting rules that may impact the accounting
treatment of monetization transactions. As with financing provided by third parties in
which we offer credit enhancement, in some monetizations of finance receivables, we
expect the third party to have limited recourse to us. If we are unable to generate funds
through these or other types of monetization transactions, or otherwise induce third
parties to satisfy customer credit demands, we may be unable to sustain our future
business plan. We may experience credit
losses in excess of our allowances and reserves for doubtful accounts. We
evaluate the collectibility of open accounts and finance receivables based on a
combination of factors and establish reserves based on our estimates of potential losses.
In circumstances where we are aware of a specific customers inability to meet its
financial obligations, a specific reserve is recorded against amounts due to reduce the
net recognized receivable to the amount reasonably expected to be collected. Additional
reserves are established based upon our perception of the quality of the current
receivables, the current financial position of our customers and past experience of
collectibility. Our finance receivables portfolio has grown rapidly and our historical
loss experience is limited and therefore may not necessarily be indicative of future loss
experience. If the financial    condition of our customers were to deteriorate resulting in
an impairment of their ability to make payments, additional allowances would be required. We operate in a highly
competitive industry. We
compete in a highly competitive industry. To compete successfully, our products must
excel in terms of quality, price, breadth of product line, efficiency of use and
maintenance costs, safety and comfort, and we must also provide excellent customer
service. The greater financial resources of certain of our competitors and their ability
to provide additional customer financing or pricing discounts may put us at a competitive
disadvantage. In addition, the greater financial resources or the lower amount of debt of
certain of our competitors may enable them to commit larger amounts of capital in
response to changing market conditions. Certain competitors also may have the ability to
develop product or service innovations that could put us at a disadvantage. If we are
unable to compete successfully against other manufacturers of access equipment, we could
lose customers and our revenues may decline. There can also be no assurance that
customers will continue to regard our products favorably, that we will be able to develop
new products that appeal to customers, that we will be able to improve or maintain our
profit margins on sales to our customers or that we will be able to continue to compete
successfully in the access equipment segment. Our international
operations are subject to a variety of potential risks. International
operations represent a significant portion of our business. For fiscal 2004,
approximately 23% of our revenues were derived from sales outside the United States. We
expect revenues from foreign markets to continue to represent a significant portion of
our total revenues. Outside the United States, we operate manufacturing facilities in
Belgium and France, and 21 sales and services facilities elsewhere. We also sell
domestically manufactured products to foreign customers. Our
international operations are subject to a number of potential risks in addition to the
risks of our domestic operations. Such risks include, among others: 
currency
exchange controls;  
labor
unrest;  
differing,
and in many cases more stringent, labor regulations;  
differing
protection of intellectual property;  
regional
economic uncertainty;  
political
instability;  
restrictions
on the transfer of funds into or out of a country;  
export
duties and quotas;  
domestic
and foreign customs and tariffs;  
current
and changing regulatory environments;  
difficulty
in obtaining distribution support;  
difficulty
in staffing and managing widespread operations;  
differences
in the availability and terms of financing; and  
potentially
adverse tax consequences.  These
factors may have an adverse effect on our international operations, or on the ability of
our international operations to repatriate earnings to us, in the future. Our
strategy to expand our worldwide market share and decrease costs includes strengthening
our international distribution capabilities and sourcing basic components in foreign
countries, in particular in Europe. Implementation of this strategy may increase the
impact of the risks described above, and we cannot assure you that such risks will not
have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.    Our products involve
risks of personal injury and property damage, which expose us to potential
liability. Our
business exposes us to possible claims for personal injury or death and property damage
resulting from the use of equipment that we rent or sell. We maintain insurance through a
combination of self-insurance retentions and excess insurance coverage. We monitor claims
and potential claims of which we become aware and establish accrued liability reserves
for the self-insurance amounts based on our liability estimates for such claims. We
cannot give any assurance that existing or future claims will not exceed our estimates
for self-insurance or the amount of our excess insurance coverage. In addition, we cannot
give any assurance that insurance will continue to be available to us on economically
reasonable terms or that our insurers would not require us to increase our self-insurance
amounts. We may be subject to
unanticipated litigation. We
have occasionally been subject to various legal proceedings and claims, including those
with respect to intellectual property and shareholder litigation, which have involved
significant unbudgeted expenditures. The costs and other effects of any future,
unanticipated legal or administrative proceedings may be significant. Our manufacturing
operations are dependent upon third-party suppliers, making us vulnerable to
supply shortages and price increases. In
the manufacture of our products, we use large amounts of raw materials and processed
inputs including steel, engine components, copper and electronic controls. We obtain raw
materials and certain manufactured components from third-party suppliers. To reduce
material costs and inventories, we rely on supplier arrangements with preferred vendors
as a source for just-in-time delivery of many raw materials and manufactured
components. Because we maintain limited raw material and component inventories, even
brief unanticipated delays in delivery by suppliers, including those due to capacity
constraints, labor disputes, impaired financial condition of suppliers, weather
emergencies or other natural disasters, may adversely affect our ability to satisfy our
customers on a timely basis and thereby affect our financial performance. This risk
increases as we continue to change our manufacturing model to more closely align
production with customer orders. In addition, recently, market prices of some of the raw
materials we use (such as steel) have increased significantly. If we are not able to pass
raw material or component price increases on to our customers, our margins could be
adversely affected. If the economy or
capital goods market worsens, the cost saving efforts we have implemented may
not be sufficient to achieve the benefits we expect. We
announced certain actions to streamline operations and reduce costs, including a number
of implemented and pending facilities closures and other global organizational and
process consolidations. As a result of these actions, we expect to realize annualized
costs savings that exceed the costs to be incurred in taking these actions. If the
economy or capital goods market worsens, the capital goods market does not improve, or
our revenues are lower than our expectations, the efforts we have implemented may not
achieve the benefits we expect. We face risks with
respect to our introduction of new products and services. Our
business strategy includes the introduction of new products and services. Some of these
products or services may be introduced to compete with existing offerings of competing
businesses, while others may target new and unproven markets. We must make substantial
expenditures in order to introduce new products and services or to enter new markets. We
cannot give any assurance that our introduction of new products or services or entry into
new markets will be profitable or otherwise generate sufficient incremental revenues to
recover the expenditures necessary to launch such initiatives. Such initiatives also may
expose us to other types of regulation or liabilities than those to which our business is
currently exposed. We may face limitations
on our ability to finance future acquisitions and integrate acquired businesses. We
intend to continue our strategy of identifying and acquiring businesses with
complementary products and services, which we believe will enhance our operations and
profitability. We may pay for future acquisitions from internally generated funds, bank
borrowings, public or private securities offerings, or some combination of    these methods.
However, we may not be able to find suitable businesses to purchase or may be unable to
acquire desired businesses or assets on economically acceptable terms. In addition, we
may not be able to raise the money necessary to complete future acquisitions. In the
event we are unable to complete future strategic acquisitions, we may not grow in
accordance with our expectations. In
addition, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to successfully integrate any business
we purchase into our existing business or that any acquired businesses will be
profitable. The successful integration of new businesses depends on our ability to manage
these new businesses and cut excess costs. The successful integration of future
acquisitions may also require substantial attention from our senior management and the
management of the acquired companies, which could decrease the time that they have to
service and attract customers and develop new products and services. Our inability to
complete the integration of new businesses in a timely and orderly manner could have a
material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. In
addition, because we may pursue acquisitions both in the United States and abroad and may
actively pursue a number of opportunities simultaneously, we may encounter unforeseen
expenses, complications and delays, including difficulties in employing sufficient staff
and maintaining operational and management oversight. We are subject to
currency fluctuations from our international sales. Our
products are sold in many countries around the world. Thus, a portion of our revenues is
generated in foreign currencies, including principally the Euro, the British Pound
Sterling, and the Australian Dollar, while costs incurred to generate those revenues are
only partly incurred in the same currencies. Since our financial statements are
denominated in U.S. dollars, changes in currency exchange rates between the U.S. dollar
and other currencies have had, and will continue to have, an impact on our earnings. To
reduce this currency exchange risk, we may buy protecting or offsetting positions (known
as hedges) in certain currencies to reduce the risk of adverse currency
exchange movements. Currency fluctuations may impact our financial performance in the
future. Compliance with
environmental and other governmental regulations could be costly and require us
to make significant expenditures. We
generate hazardous and non-hazardous wastes in the normal course of our manufacturing and
service operations. As a result, we are subject to a wide range of federal, state, local
and foreign environmental laws and regulations. These laws and regulations govern actions
that may have adverse environmental effects and also require compliance with certain
practices when handling and disposing of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. These laws
and regulations also impose liability for the cost of, and damages resulting from,
cleaning up sites, past spills, disposals and other releases of, or exposure to,
hazardous substances. In addition, our operations are subject to other laws and
regulations relating to the protection of the environment and human health and safety,
including those governing air emissions and water and wastewater discharges. Compliance
with these environmental laws and regulations requires us to make expenditures. Despite
our compliance efforts, risk of environmental liability is part of the nature of our
business. We cannot give any assurance that environmental liabilities, including
compliance and remediation costs, will not have a material adverse effect on us in the
future. In addition, acquisitions or other future events may lead to additional
compliance or other costs that could have a material adverse effect on our business. We rely on key
management and our ability to attract successor management personnel. We
rely on the management and leadership skills of our senior management team led by William
M. Lasky, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. Generally, these
employees (including Mr. Lasky) are not bound by employment or non-competition
agreements. The loss of the services of Mr. Lasky or of other key personnel could have a
significant, negative impact on our business. Similarly, any difficulty in attracting,
assimilating and retaining other key management employees in the future could adversely
affect our business.    Terrorists actions
have and could negatively impact the U. S. economy and the other markets in which we
operate. Terrorist
attacks, like those that occurred on September 11, 2001, have contributed to economic
instability in the United States and elsewhere, and further acts of terrorism, violence
or war could further affect the markets in which we operate, our business, financial
results and our expectations. There can be no assurance that terrorist attacks, or
responses to such attacks from the United States, will not lead to further acts of
terrorism and civil disturbances in the United States or elsewhere or to armed
hostilities, which may further contribute to economic instability in the United States.
These attacks or armed conflicts may directly impact our physical facilities or those of
our suppliers or customers and could impact our domestic or international revenues, our
supply chain, our production capability and our ability to deliver our products and
services to our customers.