We appreciate the work of the Department of Justice staff to date and will continue to work with them cooperatively as they complete their review.

The combined companies will create substantial benefits for consumers, trade customers and shareholders through continued development of innovative products, improved quality and service, and cost efficiencies.

Sears owns the Kenmore brand. We're one of at least five different manufacturers in a process that they manage. What we manufacture for them today we may not manufacture tomorrow.

Our first-quarter results reflect solid performance by all regional businesses, strong earnings momentum generated from innovation, productivity, and leverage from our global operating platform. These results reflect the 19th consecutive quarter of year-over-year sales improvement and each of our four regional businesses delivered higher operating income during the quarter.

This is a complex and rapidly changing industry, and it is not surprising that some additional time is required to fully understand and fairly evaluate it.

We welcome the determination by the Maytag board of directors that ours is a superior proposal and look forward to the signing of a definitive agreement with Maytag.