Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Your first question comes from the line of Mike Sison with KeyBanc.
Mike Sison - KeyBanc
Hey guys. Congratulations. Pretty good (inaudible) for the year.
Ken Manning
Thanks.
Dick Hobbs
Thank you, Mike.
Ken Manning
Good morning.
Mike Sison - KeyBanc
A couple of questions, in the Color Group, you had a very nice quarter there. It was a lot stronger than you had at the end of the year. Is there a lot of momentum here that is going to continue into 2008 or were there some orders that sort of pushed into the fourth quarter from the future?
Dick Hobbs
Mike, we had a very strong quarter to finish the year. We're seeing extraordinary growth in our natural colors, in particular. US performed well, Europe performed well, and we're seeing a year-over-year growth in natural colors that are above 20%. There is no reason that we shouldn't continue going forward. It's driven by the health and wellness theme, and we continue to expect strong performance in our Color Group.
Mike Sison - KeyBanc
And when you take a look at 2008 for the Color Group, do you have a backlog of what that growth rate is, will it be in the mid to high single-digit range for next year?
Dick Hobbs
Yeah, certainly. Absolutely, we track our pipeline on an ongoing basis and we have a very healthy pipeline, in particular, the beverage sector, which also marries up with that natural color theme. So we're very pretty excited about the future.
Mike Sison - KeyBanc
In terms of the outlook for 2008, what type of organic sales growth for the total company underpins the forecast?
Dick Hobbs
Mike, what we are looking at in 2008, is mid to high-single digit growth in the top line. And with that, and with the EBIT increase, certainly north of 10%, in that 10% to 12% range, and we feel very good about our forecast for the year.
Mike Sison - KeyBanc
Does the sales outlook include a positive for foreign currency?
Dick Hobbs
If we get some foreign currency that could put us up in the higher single digits, certainly. And certainly, we will probably not lap the foreign currency for one or two quarters. We'll probably get some boost in the early part of the year.
Mike Sison - KeyBanc
Fine. If I think about that gross and op income, '08 versus '07, being north of 10%, your EPS growth is a little bit less than that. Are there some below the items that meet the EPS? Is the interest expense or tax rate going up?
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