that mission this year and we also have  created a momentum that, with the AMCOL  acquisition, I know we can carry into the  foreseeable future.  Our success has been the result of  many factors, not the least of which is  the strength of our management team  and the dedication and hard work of our  employees. Central to that accomplishment  has been the deployment of our employee- driven Operational Excellence and Lean  processes. Those processes, which we  have considerable experience with, will be  central to our integration plan with AMCOL. Besides framing much of our approach to the  integration across AMCOL’s operations, it will  enable us to achieve our integration objectives  quickly. That means obtaining the targeted  synergies and a rapid deleveraging of the debt  that we will be taking on with this acquisition. products, which can offer us higher growth  potential and less cyclicality. AMCOL meets  all of these conditions, and even exceeds  them considering the potential growth  and profitability that we can achieve as  a combined company. We took our time  to focus on the right acquisition for our  shareholders, we fought for it, and we know  what we need to do to deliver on it.  We look forward to working with AMCOL’s  employees to bring them into the MTI family. We are also looking forward to sharing with  you the results of what we know we can  achieve this year, and the positive trajectory  this sets us on for years to come. Let’s look first at the financial performance. The company recorded operating income  of $124.4 million, which increased by 10  percent over 2012. The operating income  as a percentage of sales was 12.2 percent,  a 7-percent improvement over 2012.  Earnings per share for 2013 were $2.42,  up 12 percent over the $2.16 per share we  recorded in 2012. Net income was $80.3  million, an 8-percent increase over 2012’s  $74.1 million. Both business segments—Specialty  Minerals and Refractories—contributed  to this outstanding performance through  record-breaking financial results. For  the last three quarters of 2013, Minerals  Technologies’ sales grew, and continued to  gain momentum throughout the year. We  finished the year with a 2-percent increase in sales over 2012, while in the fourth  quarter sales grew 6 percent. Underlying  sales, excluding the effect of foreign  exchange, grew 3 percent in 2013 and 7  percent in the fourth quarter.  Minerals Technologies had another excellent year in 2013. For the fourth year in a row we achieved record-breaking  earnings and we continued to execute on  our core growth strategies of geographic  expansion, new product innovation and  Operational Excellence. Over the past few years, I have outlined our  acquisition strategy to you by indicating that  we were focused on minerals companies  with a strong technology bent as well as  diverse, growing end markets such as  energy, environmental and consumer  2013 Performance Now, let’s turn to our 2013 performance. Joseph C. Muscari  Chairman & Chief Executive Officer 4 MINERALS TECHNOLOGIES INC. CHAIRMAN’S LETTER