Income amounts for both years exclude one-time gains associated with the sale of businesses.
My thanks go to our employees worldwide for their commitment to meeting and exceeding the expectations of our customers and our shareholders. The sales increase reflects new contracts for seating and interior systems and the company's presence on many vehicles which experienced strong sales in 1999, including popular domestic light trucks and new passenger car models in North America and Europe. About one-third of the group's revenue growth was due to the July 1998 acquisition of Becker Group, a major European supplier of instrument and door panels. The higher volume of seating and interior systems and batteries was responsible for the increase, in addition to operating margin improvement from European operations. The increase reflects acquisitions of companies in Japan, in addition to expanded facility management and control systems and services activity.