1、2 0 1 6A N N U A LR E P O R TShareowners Letters2017As the old saying goes,“The days go by slowly and the years go by fast.”Concluding my 15th andfinal year as CEO,I can certainly say thats true!It sure was nice to wrap up 15 years with another year of outperformance,even in a slow globaland slow in
2、dustrial economy.On sales of$39.3 billion(up 2%reported,down 1%core organic),wewere able to grow earnings per share by 8%1,once more ahead of our industrial peers.We achievedthat short-term outperformance even while investing heavily for the future in capital expenditures(average of 160%of depreciat
3、ion for 3 years),R&D at 7.5%of sales,the addition of 1,500 sales peopleover the last two years,an additional$360 million in restructuring projects,and a$250 million increasein Aero OEM(Airframers)incentives associated with the significant number of new platforms we havewon over the past few years.As
4、 a reminder,unlike many of our peers,we expense all those OEMincentive payouts,a policy we went to early on because it was more conservative.We dont put themon the balance sheet.That$250 million increase represents 4 points of EPS growth.Said differently,EPS2growth would have been 12%if we didnt exp
5、ense these incentives as they were incurred.Quitea difference.Free cash flow3of$4.4 billion,while good,is still below 100%conversion4of net incomebecause of the significant plant investments we are making for the future.This year(2017)will be thelast of those increase years where we spend at more th
6、an a 150%reinvestment rate.It is certainly niceto wrap up a 15-year tenure with a successful year.Looking back over that 15 years is,I gotta say,quite satisfying.We had an unimpressive beginningwith$8 billion in write-offs over the 4 previous years,a failed merger attempt,warring cultures,unrecogniz