Carlisle Companies, Incorporated
Success Factors

Carlisle believes in setting aggressive goals and working hard to achieve them. These targets serve as benchmarks by which management, employees and shareholders alike can measure Carlisle's progress. Although these goals have changed as the company evolved, four objectives remain constant.

Growing sales and earnings. Carlisle's target is to achieve an average of 15 percent annual growth in sales and earnings over the long term. In 2000 we achieved a record of nearly $1.8 billion in sales, doubling the total achieved only five years previously. This represented an increase of 9.9 percent over 1999 sales of $1.6 billion. At the same time, earnings lagged, amounting to an increase of only .4 percent in 2000 over that of 1999. Nonetheless, average earnings growth over a five-year-period, of 17 percent exceeded our target.

Improving shareholder value. In a difficult year for the stock markets, Carlisle shareholders experienced an increase in value. The price of our common stock was up 19 percent. This increase, together with .76 cents per share in dividends paid during the year, brought the total annualized return to 21.4 percent, outpacing such measures as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of large stocks and the Russell 2000 Index of smaller stocks. Over the past five years, Carlisle has averaged a total annual return of 17.6 percent.

Enhancing return on equity. In this measure of how effectively the company utilized shareholder equity to increase earnings, Carlisle achieved the target of 20 percent for the fifth straight year.

Reducing indirect expenses. Carlisle's goal is to keep SG&A - selling, general and administrative expenses - below 13 percent. In 2000 these expenses were 10.0 percent, well under the target, down from 10.8 percent in 1999. Reduction over the long term is demonstrated by looking back at 1990, when SG&A expenses amounted to no less than 17.2 percent of sales.


This chart shows how a six-stage business model perfected at Carlisle Tire & Wheel is being applied at Tensolite, which has gone through the first three stages.
Carlisle
Tire & Wheel 		Tensolite
Stage 1   —   Cost Reduction
1988-1991
Combined tire and wheel manufacturing

Moved wheel production to South Carolina to lower cost and improve productivity

1988
Moved wire operations from New York to Florida to lower cost
Stage 2   —   Capacity Increase
1994-1996
Augmented US tire production with China plant and Trinidad plant 		1999
Added Mexican wire manufacturing facility
Stage 3   —   Value Chain Shift
1996-1998
Moved up the value chain by acquiring distribution assets of Wheeltech, Tilden and Neilson Wheel 		1998
Moved up the value chain by acquiring connector and cable assembly firms Quality Microwave and Vermont Electromagnetics
Stage 4   —   Market Expansion Internationally
1997
Acquired Conestoga Tire & Rim for Canadian distribution/assembly 		 
Stage 5   —   Product Development
1999
Integrated the ITP acquisition to gain access to rapidly growing ATV tire market 		 
Stage 6   —   Manufacturing Capability Improvement
2000
Invested $10 million in China and Trinidad plants to improve manufacturing capabilities, increase capacity and improve quality 		 


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