Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). We will take our first question from Bob Cornell with Barclays Capital.
Bob Cornell - Barclays Capital
Hi. Good morning, everybody.
Tim Powers
Good morning, Bob.
Bob Cornell - Barclays Capital
You know Tim you are usually pretty good at taking a crack at the guidance. I am surprised you did not, you know, take a fling out here. So, you know, I know it is in the press release you talked about free cash flow being greater than net income this year, but you must have a plan for what the net income might be. May be you could share with us, you know, how that minus 15 to 18 translates into a net income number, you know, considering you already got an idea that cash flow is going to be net?
Tim Powers
We are not giving any specific guidance. We are certainly looking at the same market conditions as everyone in the construction industry. We certainly expect volumes to be down double digits from the rate at which our orders have declined early on. Certainly the huge movement of the credit markets and the banking crisis overwhelms where we are and adds a dimension to us doing business that makes it much more difficult to predict. While you can normally project a lot of things in the construction business, the fact that debt is very restricted and it is a moving target represents the most difficult element of that.
Bob Cornell - Barclays Capital
So, I mean, what you did you see in the fourth quarter, Tim with regard to these market dynamics and if not in the fourth quarter. How do you expect the first quarter layout, in other words when do you expect to see your topline running down this 15% to 18%?
Tim Powers
The month of October was a very strong month both from our shipments and on orders side. The month of November like many others have reported was a steep change of declining order rates and December continued that trend. So what we are seeing now is a book to build ratios below one as we enter the 2009 year. There is no clear trend available other than to say that we are comfortable that it is not a single digit decline. Beyond that we do not really have the visibility into the future to make the projections that we normally do.
- To read the full transcript on Seeking Alpha, click here »
