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To the Shareholders and Board of Directors of We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of The BFGoodrich Company and subsidiaries as of December 31, 2000 and 1999, and the related consolidated statements of income, shareholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2000. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits. We did not audit the financial statements of Coltec Industries Inc, which statements reflect total sales constituting 35 percent in 1998 of the related consolidated total. Those statements were audited by other auditors whose report has been furnished to us, and our opinion, insofar as it relates to data included for Coltec Industries Inc for 1998, is based solely on the report of the other auditors. We conducted our audits in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits and the report of other auditors provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. In our opinion, based on our audits and, for 1998, the report of other auditors, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the consolidated financial position of The BFGoodrich Company and subsidiaries at December 31, 2000 and 1999, and the consolidated results of their operations and their cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2000, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Charlotte, North Carolina
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