Shareholders President’s Letter to 2 BROOKS AUTOMATION 2001 Annual Report Fiscal year 2001 was notable for its extremes. It was a year that saw Brooks achieve consecutive quarters of record-breaking revenues in the first half, while the second half proved that we are not immune to the industry slow- down and adverse economic conditions. Through these business cycles, Brooks has succeeded in maintaining a healthy cash position while continuing to exe- cute on our long-term strategy of growth and value. We saw validation of the basic philosophy that we established in 1998—focused diversification across our business—as we gained market share and strengthened our position as a leader in automation solutions for the semiconductor and related industries. Our goal of becoming a billion dollar company became several steps closer to reality through our continued internal growth and strategic acquisitions targeted at achieving critical mass in key areas such as factory management software and 300mm tool and factory automation. Below, I highlight some of our accomplish- ments in the past year, discuss the challenges that we face in the current environment and emphasize some of the reasons why Brooks is positioned better than ever to serve our  customers, shareholders and employees well. Brooks finished fiscal 2001 with record revenues of $381.7 million, up approximately 13 per- cent from the previous high of $337.2 million in fiscal 2000. Excluding the impact of acquisitions, we are pleased to report that year-over-year organic growth was approximately 11 percent, as contrasted to the industry’s overall contraction during the same period. After nine quarters of consecutive revenue growth, one of the best performances in the industry, revenues declined sequentially in the 3rd and 4th quarters, reflecting a sharp pullback in semiconductor capital spending as well as a material deceleration in global GDP expansion. Net income for fiscal 2001 before amortization of acquired intangible assets (“BAAI”) and excluding acquisition-related, restructuring and other charges was $13.7 million, or $0.72 per share on a diluted basis, down from the previous year of $29.8 million, or $1.73 per diluted share. Our book-to-bill ratio at the end of the fiscal year was 0.97, well above the industry norm. Backlog at year end was $102.7 million. Novellus, a terrific customer over the years, became our largest customer this fiscal year at approximately 9.7 percent of total revenue. As we move forward in fiscal 2002, your company is in excellent financial condition, with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaling $329.7 million. All results have been restated herein to reflect the acquisition of Progressive Technologies, Inc. in a pooling of interests transaction effective July 12, 2001. We accomplished many of our key objectives for the year. In addition to growing our revenue on a year- to-year basis, we believe that we increased market share in all our divisions, especially in the Factory Interface Division, where in just over a year we went from approximately 5 percent market share to 20 percent in fiscal 2001, based on company and industry estimates. Driving this growth was an improvement in the 200mm SMIF business, while we affirmed our market position in sorters and 300mm FOUP load port modules. The Tool Automation Division, with greater than 65 percent market share in vacuum modules and systems, captured a number of new design wins that further solidify its leadership position. The Factory Automation Software Division grew 38 percent from the previous year with its broad offering of best-in-class products as well as inte- grated solutions that are a part of the FABready Suite. Last year we invested approximately $60 million in R&D aimed at keeping us at the leading edge of innovation. The industry’s transition to 300mm technology continues to be a significant driving force for prospective growth. In fiscal 2001, 300mm business accounted for 30 percent of revenues and 38 percent of bookings, up over two-and-a-half times in revenues and two times in bookings than in fiscal 2000. Even though 300mm cus- tomers have been conservative with their capacity spending, they have judiciously invested in qualifying process tools and fab automation hardware and software to get through the high-risk periods of development. The dynamics in the semiconductor industry are highlighting the need for next generation 300mm fabs that incorpo- rate fully automated manufacturing environments. Automation has a direct impact on factory productivity and efficiency and our solutions are becoming more compelling in the current downturn. Our total addressable mar- ket per 300mm fab is roughly twice the $75 million targeted per 200mm fab, while our 300mm customer base has been expanded to include major suppliers including Applied Materials and KLA-Tencor as well as several new semiconductor OEMs. The semiconductor industry’s current downturn exceeds in magnitude even that of 1985 and 1986, and recovery in 2002 is apt to be both gradual and back-end loaded. This environment lends itself to industry consolidation and is a period when companies can focus on optimizing internal operations to improve business results. Brooks has taken necessary measures to streamline our cost structure to adjust for these economic conditions through reductions in personnel, consolidation of facilities, adjustment of valuation  for inventory and other actions. It has been an opportune time to acquire and integrate other businesses with a focus on broad- ening our base of products, customers and geographies. We have strengthened our solutions portfolio by acquiring SEMY Engineering, CCS Technologies, eDiagnostics and Progressive Technologies, Inc. We added to our capa- bility of delivering scheduling and dispatching solutions by acquiring SimCon and ASI-Japan, both former dis- tributors of Brooks’ APF suite of products. In October 2001, we announced the completion of the acquisitions 3 BROOKS AUTOMATION 2001 Annual Report “ Brooks’ ability  to offer more  complete, more  capable and  more integrated solutions provides  a compelling value proposition to  our customers. ”