February 10, 1970 THANK YOU, MR. ECCLES, FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS, I would like to add my word of welcome to those who are in attendance at this meeting. We appreciate the interest in the company that your presence here indicates. Each of you by now has received a copy of the Annual Report for 1969 and I hope that you are pleased with the results. Certainly by any standard of historical comparison 1969 was a remarkably good year. It was a year of progress and it was a year of change. It saw new records established in earnings, in dividends, in the market price of the shares, in the amount of new business added to the backlog, in the commitments for capital spending for the expansion of our mining facilities. While these accomplishments took place during the year, they were not the product of the year itself but rather the continuation of trends established in earlier years and the coming to fruition during the year of programs put into motion in earlier years. I shall not repeat here the detailed information that is contained in the Annual Report, but will hit only the highlights as I see them and later endeavor to answer any questions that you may have. Earnings were up sharply from the preceding year and set a new record for the fifth consecutive year. All of the company's operations were profitable and increased income particularly from coal, copper, iron ore, and land development more than offset declines in uranium and construction. The drop in uranium profits was anticipated and inevitable when the price on our uranium sales under contract to the Atomic Energy Commission decreased by $3 a pound for 10 months of the fiscal year. The decline in construction earnings