Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Matt McCall - BB&T Markets
Matt McCall - BB&T Markets
If we look at the gross margin performance I think last quarter you had talked about expectations of sequential pressure of up to 100 basis points and it sounded like the steel environment didn’t get any better, help me understand, I think you were flat sequentially versus Q3, help me understand how that got close so quickly.
Vernon Nagel
The fact of the matter is we continue to drive sales of our new products and these new products obviously have features and benefits, as well as price points that are interesting to the marketplace and so our mix of products sold continued to really be beneficial.
As you know we put a price increase in place in May and that had a positive impact on our results for the fourth quarter of this year and I believe that as we look at our productivity and other areas of our business, our spend productivity as well as just being more efficient in our facilities, all of those served us well in the fourth quarter to help drive the kind of margin performance that you saw.
Matt McCall - BB&T Markets
The SG&A line, I think last quarter we talked about I believe you referenced expectations for 2009 dollars to be up about 3% to 4% and as you continue to invest in some of these initiatives and it sounds like the new products are going to continue to push your spending higher, is that 3% to 4% spending number still a good number for 2009?
Vernon Nagel
I don’t know that we in fact gave that kind of indication, I would say that from a salary perspective as you obviously know, we have taken a number of actions with our streamlining program to really get at our spending and to better understand how we do some of these things and really to drive investment in new products and in expansion of newer markets.
So from our perspective I think its best that you focus on our overall margin in some of the areas that we’re suggesting to get a better insight as to what that’s going to look like.
Matt McCall - BB&T Markets
On the consolidation side, it sounds like you’re talking only about manufacturing facilities, opportunities beyond that, the distribution structure we’ve referenced in the past, any further opportunities that could show up in 2009?
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