NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (thousands of dollars unless otherwise indicated) The Company reports its segment information in five reportable segments – Paint Stores, Consumer, Automo- tive Finishes, International Coatings (collectively, the “Operating Segments”) and Administrative – in accor- dance with SFAS No. 131, “Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information.” SFAS No. 131 requires an enterprise to report segment informa- tion in the same way that management internally organ- izes its business for assessing performance and making decisions regarding allocation of resources. See pages 8 through 15 of this report for more information about the Operating Segments. States, 3 in Canada and one closed in Mexico. In 2003, there were 45 net new stores opened or acquired (41 in the United States). In 2002, there were 70 net new stores opened or acquired (62 in the United States). This Seg- ment manufactures OEM product finishes sold through certain shared or dedicated paint stores (71, 72 and 69 at December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively, included above) and by direct outside sales representa- tives. The Paint Stores Segment markets and sells Sher- win-Williams® branded architectural coatings, industrial and marine products, OEM product finishes and related items throughout North America and the Caribbean. These products are produced by this Seg- ment’s manufacturing facilities and those in the Con- sumer Segment. The loss of any single customer would not have a material adverse effect on the business of this Segment. A map on page 18 of this report shows the number of paint stores and their geographical location. The Consumer Segment develops, manufactures and distributes a variety of paint, coatings and related prod- ucts to third party customers and the Paint Stores Seg- ment. The acquisition of PSB was included in this Segment. Approximately 47 percent of the total sales of the Consumer Segment in 2004, including inter-segment transfers, represented products sold through the Paint Stores Segment. Sales and marketing of certain control branded and private labeled products is performed by a direct sales staff. The products distributed through third party customers are intended for resale to the ultimate end-user of the product. The Consumer Segment had sales to certain customers that, individually, may be a significant portion of the sales of the Segment. However, the loss of any single customer would not have a materi- al adverse effect on the overall profitability of the Seg- ment. This Segment incurred most of the Company’s capital expenditures related to ongoing environmental compliance measures. The Company’s chief operating decision maker has been identified as the Chief Executive Officer because he has final authority over performance assessment and resource allocation decisions. Because of the global, diverse operations of the Company, the chief operating decision maker regularly receives discrete financial infor- mation about each reportable segment as well as a sig- nificant amount of additional financial information about certain aggregated divisions, business units and subsidiaries of the Company. The chief operating deci- sion maker uses all such financial information for per- formance assessment and resource allocation decisions. Factors considered in determining the five reportable segments of the Company include the nature of the busi- ness activities, existence of managers responsible for the operating and administrative activities and information presented to the Board of Directors. The chief operating decision maker evaluates the performance of the Oper- ating Segments and allocates resources based on profit or loss and cash generated from operations before income taxes, excluding corporate expenses and financ- ing gains and losses. The accounting policies of the reportable segments are the same as those described  in Note 1. The Paint Stores Segment consisted of 2,983 compa- ny-operated specialty paint stores in the United States, Canada, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Mexico at December 31, 2004. Each division of the Segment is engaged in the related business activity of selling the Company’s own manufactured coatings and related products to end-use customers. The acquisition of Duron was included in this Segment. During 2004, this Segment opened 67 net new stores, acquired 229, remodeled 10, relocated 35 and transferred one store to the Automotive Finishes Segment. The net new and acquired stores consisted of 294 stores in the United The Automotive Finishes Segment develops, manu- factures and distributes a variety of motor vehicle finish, refinish and touch-up products primarily throughout North and South America, the Caribbean Islands, and Europe. This Segment also licenses certain technology and trade names worldwide. Sherwin-Williams ® brand- ed automotive finish and refinish products are distrib- uted throughout North America solely through this Segment’s network of 146 company-operated automo- tive branches in the United States and 19 in Canada. Additional automotive branches in Jamaica (15), Chile (17) and Peru (3) complete this Segment’s worldwide 68 NOTE 18 – REPORTABLE SEGMENT INFORMATION