ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of the Company. The MD&A is provided as a supplement to, and should be read in conjunction with, our Consolidated Financial Statements and the accompanying Notes. In addition, the results of operations below reflect a previously reported segment reclassification, as described in Note 1 to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Overview

Our reportable segments: Machine Clothing (MC) and Albany Engineered Composites (AEC) draw on the same advanced textiles and materials processing capabilities, and compete on the basis of proprietary, product-based advantage that is grounded in those core capabilities. As a result, technology and manufacturing advances in one tend to benefit the other.

MC is the Company's long-established core business and primary generator of cash. While the paper industry in our traditional geographic markets has suffered from well-documented overcapacity in the publication grades, especially newsprint, the industry is still expected to grow on a global basis, driven by demand for packaging and tissue grades, as well as the expansion of paper consumption and production in Asia and South America. Although we no longer consider the MC industry as having significant growth potential, our MC business has significant prospects for long-term cash-generation. We feel we are now well-positioned in this industry, with high-quality, low-cost production in growth markets, substantially lower fixed costs in mature markets, and continued strength in new product development and field services. We seek to maintain the cash-generating potential of this business by maintaining the low costs that we achieved through restructuring and performance improvement, and competing vigorously by using our differentiated products and services to reduce our customers' total cost of operation and improve their paper quality.

We believe that AEC provides the greatest growth potential, both near and long term, for our Company. Our strategy is to grow organically by focusing our proprietary technology on high-value aerospace and defense applications that cannot be served effectively by conventional composites. AEC supplies a number of customers in the aerospace industry. AEC's most significant aerospace customer is the SAFRAN Group, for whom we make braces for the Boeing 787-8 main landing gear, outer guide vanes for the CFM-56 engine, and fan blades and other components for the LEAP engine. AEC is also developing other new and potentially significant composite products for aerospace (engine and airframe) applications.