In September, Blair LaCour was appointed to the position of President & General Manager of the Automotive Division. Blair brings strong leadership and a wealth of experience to this assignment having spent the past 12 years as President & General Manager of the Mid Western Division of our Paint Stores Segment. Drew McCandless was appointed to succeed Blair as President & General Manager of the Mid Western Division of the Paint Stores Segment. Drew joined Sherwin-Williams in 1981 as a sales representative and has excelled in a wide range of Division and Corporate level assignments since then. He served as Corporate Auditor, Financial Analyst and Treasury Manager before moving to the Southeastern Division of the Paint Stores Segment where he served as Financial Manager, Controller and Vice President of Sales. Prior to his new role, Drew served as Vice President and Controller for the Consumer Division and Senior Vice President, Operations/Supply Chain Management for the Consumer Division.  Taken in total, we are pleased with the performance of your company in 2004. Thanks to the commitment and dedicated efforts of more than 28,000 Sherwin- Williams employees, we surpassed $6 billion in sales for the first time in company history. Three out of our four operating segments grew their sales and operating profits at double-digit rates, and we continued our track record of regular dividend growth and steady profitability. We expect that the domestic and international economies will continue to strengthen in 2005 and have a favorable impact on sales volume in all of our seg- ments. We will continue to add stores organically and expect to open our 3,000th store some time in the first half of 2005. Our ability to generate significant net oper- ating cash will enable us to continue to invest in product innovation, new technology and capacity to strengthen our position of industry leadership.  Finally,  Fortune Magazine recently named Sherwin- Williams as one of the 100 best companies to work for. We will continue to embrace the ideals and principles that helped us gain such recognition, and acknowledge and value the hard work and innovative thinking of the men and women of Sherwin-Williams. Together, we offer our thanks and appreciation to our customers, suppliers and shareholders for their confidence and trust. ment driven by our fundamental desire to meet the needs and exceed the expectations of our customers. We recognize that the primary responsibility for the integrity of our financial reporting rests with manage- ment and we will continue to observe the highest financial reporting ethical standards. Our management team has conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of the company’s internal control over financial reporting and concluded that our controls are effective and con- tain no material weaknesses. An independent audit of our assessment is complete and the auditors have issued an unqualified opinion concurring with management’s conclusion that our controls are effective. OUTLOOK FOR 2005 We believe that our industry leadership and sustained success are linked to a strong foundation and spirit of innovation that reaches back to the day when our co- founder, Henry Sherwin, introduced the first ready-mix paint product. This same commitment to quality and technology has resulted in our company being issued more than 600 patents over the years – each advance- 5 Christopher M. Connor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Joseph M. Scaminace President and Chief Operating Officer mM, Ara 3,000 TH STORE  OPENING IN FIRST  HALF OF 2005. Under Blair’s leadership, the Mid Western Division consistently produced record sales and profits, made significant market share gains and successfully integrated a number of important acquisitions. Blair has also served as Vice President of Sales for the Western Division and Midcentral Division, and as Vice President of Marketing and Director of Sales for our Automotive Division.