Financial Overview

(in thousand dollars)

	FY ended Mar. 31, 2012	FY ended Mar. 31, 2011	Rate of change (%)	Factors
Consolidated figures
Sales	3,084,650	2,887,516	6.8	-Sales increased due to the pass through of higher lead prices and favorable foreign currency translation.
Gross profit	78,875	95,773	(17.6)	-Profit dropped due to rising commodity costs, higher operational costs and an increased mix of lower margin products.
Sales by segment
Transportation Americas	907,838	942,014	(3.6)	1)
Transportation European and ROW	1,014,292	922,870	9.9	2)

Factors
1) Transportation Americas
-Net sales, excluding the foreign currency translation impact, decreased 3.9% due to a 17.5% decrease in aftermarket unit sales, partially offset by a 79.4% increase in OEM unit sales and a 48.4 million impact of lead related price increases.

2) Transportation European and ROW
-Net sales, excluding the foreign currency translation impact, increased 7.7% mainly due to 5.5% higher unit sales in the OEM channel and 58.3 million impact of lead related pricing actions.

Recent Development in USA

-AGM batteries and MHF (Micro-Hybrid Flooded) batteries continue to gain acceptance with its European automotive customers. The Company shipped its 3 millionth micro-hybrid battery and is on track to have installed annual capacity of 8.5 million units by 2015.

Plant Closure

-The decision to close the Company's underutilized plant in Bristol, Tennessee, ultimately will result in 20-25 million dollars in cost savings beginning in the latter part of fiscal 2013.

-The Company announced to close the following recycling plants;

• Petone, New Zealand
• Frisco, Texas

Awards

-The Company was awarded the Supplier of the Year from Saab Automobile in February 2011. The Company is supplying SLI (starting, lighting, ignition) batteries to Saab. (From a press release on March 22, 2011)

R&D Structure

-The Company holds research and development center in Milton, Georgia; Budingen, Germany; and Azuqueca Spain.

-In April 2011, a 19,000 square foot annex was opened in Alpharetta, Georgia for lithium-ion battery testing and other activities.

Patent, Trademarks and Licenses

-The Company currently owns approx. 280 trademarks and maintains licenses from others to use approx. 19 trademarks worldwide.

-The Company has generated a number of patents in the operation of its business and currently owns all or a partial interest in greater than 315 patents worldwide.

Technological Alliance

-In the first quarter of fiscal 2010, the Company signed a technology development agreement with NanoTerra, a nano-technology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts that specializes in surface chemistry and surface engineering. Also in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, the Company signed a memorandum of understanding with Axion Power, an advanced lead-acid development company in Newcastle, Pennsylvania. In the second quarter of fiscal 2010, the Company signed a three-way Cooperative Research & Development Agreement ("CRADA") with Savannah River National Laboratory and the University of Idaho to study the benefits of hollow glass microspheres in lead-acid batteries. The first research phase of these agreements has been completed. These projects are now planned to progress to the development phase.

Capital Expenditure

(in thousand dollars)

	FY ended Mar. 31, 2012	FY ended Mar. 31, 2011	FY ended Mar. 31, 2010
Transportation Americas	38,872	25,011	26,162
Transportation European and ROW	40,195	25,768	29,385
Industrial Energy	23,307	33,956	35,928
Others	7,462	3,854	4,617
Overall	109,836	88,589	96,092

Investment in USA

-The Company is making significant investments in its Transportation manufacturing operations in Salina, Kansas, and Manchester, Iowa to create efficient operations. These investments are to be completed by the end of FY ending Mar. 31, 2013.

-In August 2009, the Company was awarded a 34.3 million dollars grant by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to increase manufacturing capacity for AGM batteries. Its total investment including the DOE grant is approx. 70.0 million dollars for expansion of its Columbus, Georgia and Bristol, Tennessee facilities. As a result of these investments, the Company expects to create as many as 320 jobs and expand battery production capacity by about 1.5 million batteries per year. These investments have been largely completed in fiscal 2012. As of Mar. 31, 2012, the Columbus plant is shipping flat plate AGM products to customers manufactured by the new equipment. The Bristol expansion is completed and product shipment to customers is expected within calender 2012.

Investment Outside USA

-The Company is investing in plants in Belarus, Italy, Poland and Spain to increase capacity and capability. Additional AGM capacity in Italy is expected to come online in fiscal 2013.

<Poland>
-The Company is investing approx. 50 million dollars in its facility in Poznan, Poland to expand its manufacturing operations that supply advanced AGM products. Initial AGM capacity is scheduled to come online in Poznan at the end of fiscal 2013.