Espey Mfg And Electronics's Competitiveness

There is competition in all classes of products manufactured by the Company from divisions of the largest electronic companies, as well as many small companies. The Companys sales do not represent a significant share of the industrys market for any class of its products. The principal methods of competition for electronic products of both a military and industrial nature include, among other factors, price, product performance, the experience of the particular company and history of its dealings in such products.

Our business is not seasonal. However, the concentration of our business in equipment for military applications and our customer concentrations expose us to on-going associated risks including, without limitation, dependence on appropriations from the United States Government and the governments of foreign nations, program allocations, and the potential of governmental termination of orders for convenience.

Uncertainty in federal defense spending continues to drive competition in the industry. Based upon discussions during contract negotiations with our major customers over the past several years, we believe that many of our competitors have been aggressively investing in upfront product design costs and lowering profit margins as a strategic means of maintaining existing business and enhancing market share at the expense of short term profit. This change in the market place has put pressure on the pricing of our current products and will result in lower margins on new business and some of our legacy business. In order to compete effectively for new business, in some cases we invest in upfront design costs, thereby reducing initial profitability as a means of procuring new long-term programs. Accordingly, we have adjusted our pricing strategy in order to achieve a balance which enables us both to retain repeat programs while being more competitive in bidding on new programs.