Dear Shareholder, In our last Annual Report, I outlined in some detail the strong foundation we have built at Crane Co. The strength of this underpinning enabled us to produce record earnings and operating margins in 2012, as well as an agreement to acquire MEI, a company that significantly enhances our Payment Solutions business and further balances our overall portfolio of businesses. As proud as we are of these accomplishments and as hard as our people worked to achieve them, we continue to strive for flawless execution of our strategy to produce more growth in 2013 and in the years ahead. The ethical standards set down more than 150 years ago by our founder remain the central core of the culture of our Company. Always mindful of these standards, and through focused deployment of the Crane Business System, we have continued to build and mature a portfolio of niche businesses manufacturing highly engineered industrial products. Starting with the voice of the customer and high quality manufacturing, our process has led to strong customer metrics, leading shares in niche markets and expanded operating margins across all of our business segments. We have completed internal mergers of certain businesses to improve our operating efficiency, and we have used free cash flow to make strategic acquisitions that strengthen existing businesses, while at the same time divesting smaller, less strategic units. Our strategy is working. Our sales in 2012 essentially equaled the previous peak of $2.6 billion achieved prior to the recession in 2008, and our operating margins reached 13%, a substantial improvement over that same peak period. This margin improvement resulted from a relentless focus on taking cost out of our businesses and driving productivity–doing more with less—along with effective use of the Crane Business System and outstanding intellectual capital throughout the Company. Excluding special items, earnings per share grew 9% in 2012 to $3.75. In addition, we delivered free cash flow of $205 million. 6 Making the difference.