Net sales for the nine months of 2008 were $103.6 million compared to $122.5 million for the first nine months of the previous year. Sales in the 2007 period included $18.1 million of latching system sales for use in the military's up-armored Humvee program under a one-time limited contract. "Core" business sales for the nine months of 2007 therefore were $104.4 million. Year to date earnings for the nine month period ended September 27, 2008 were $3.4 million or $0.56 per diluted share, compared to $9.2 million or $1.54 per diluted share for the same period in 2007.

Leonard F. Leganza, Chairman, President and CEO stated, "The extremely higher costs of metals, which we use a great deal of, as well as other raw materials and energy, all had a downward impact on our operating earnings. Many of these increases outpaced our ability to pass the increases on to our customers in a timely manner. We anticipate these costs should level off in the near future. The slow down and unpredictability of the general economy also made the third quarter a challenging one, particularly in view of our diversity and participation in several markets."

Mr. Leganza also stated, "The Frazer & Jones Division had to contend with the severe impact caused by the rising costs of scrap steel and energy, both critical to that operation. However, higher global fuel costs has increased the world wide demand for coal resulting in a 45% increase in Frazer & Jones sales of our proprietary mine roof support anchors.

Our Eberhard Division continues to receive orders for latching systems and other hardware used in military vehicles with initial shipments of those orders beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008 and into 2009."

Mr. Leganza continued, "As we stated in our second quarter news release, the Class 8 truck market has experienced a significant downturn and current projections are that market will remain relatively flat through the third quarter of 2009. Overall, sales of products to the Class 8 truck market are down for the first nine months of 2008, as compared to the same period in 2007. However, our Canadian Commercial Vehicle subsidiary continues to expand the marketing and sale of their lightweight honeycomb composite technology to be used in other markets.