Candidates for IndustryWeek's 100 Best-Managed Companies were culled from the IndustryWeek 1000, a list of the world's largest publicly held manufacturing companies based on revenues. Waltham, Mass.-based Primark supplied the data for the IW 1000, which was published in June.

Each company was selected after a lengthy evaluation that included the following four steps: analysis of the company's financial performance; review of a questionnaire that each IW 1000 company was given an opportunity to complete; research into each company's practices in areas such as philanthropy and safety; and voting by a panel of more than 100 business leaders, analysts, and academicians.

In a recently completed survey of 1,800 professionals in the automotive industry, Visteon Automotive Systems was named the leading systems integrator among all automotive suppliers. In this category, manufacturers ranked Visteon especially favorable in quality -- consistently meeting or exceeding customer's standards -- and in providing consistent, dependable delivery of products and services.

Systems integration is only one category in which Visteon was named the leading supplier. Visteon also was voted number one in the Body Exterior and Transmission/Drivetrain Systems product categories. Visteon was the only supplier to be awarded the number one position in three different categories. The second annual "Quest for Excellence" survey, conducted by Automotive Industries and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, asked automotive manufacturers to rate their suppliers in 20 different product categories. Manufacturers were asked to judge suppliers using five criteria: service, quality, price, delivery and innovation.

In addition to being named the leading supplier in three categories, manufacturers ranked Visteon among the top five suppliers in the categories of Interior and Electronic Systems -- for a total of five "Quest for Excellence" awards.

As previously announced, in order to more fully reflect the global nature of its automotive business, the Company changed its fiscalyear end from July 31 to December 31, effective December 31, 1998 and changed its reporting currency to United States dollars. Consistent with Canadian securities legislation, comparative data for the three months and six months ended July 31, 1998 has been presented as these periods coincide with the Company's previously reported quarters prior to the year end change.

The quarter and year to date comparative data includes the impact of the North American OEM shut-down in July 1998 and the impact of the General Motors 8 week strike in the quarter ended July 31, 1998. Sales for the second quarter and first half of fiscal 1999 were a record U.S dollars 2.3 billion, and dlrs 4.6 billion respectively, an increase of approximately 44 per cent and 41 per cent over the comparable periods ended July 31, 1998. The higher sales level in the second quarter reflects a 15 per cent and 21 increase in North American and European content per vehicle, respectively, over the comparable period ended July 31, 1998, a period in which North American vehicle production increased approximately 40 per cent, due in part to the July 1998 shutdown and the General Motors strike in fiscal 1998. European vehicle production increased approximately 8 per cent over the same period. Tooling and other sales increased by 6 per cent to dlrs 221 million.

Net income for the second quarter was a record dlrs 116 million compared to dlrs 69 million in the comparable quarter ended July 31, 1998. Fully diluted earnings per share for the second quarter was dlrs 1.30 compared to dlrs 0.80 for the comparable period ended July 31, 1998.

During the second quarter, cash generated from operations was dlrs 208 million. Total investment activities during the current quarter were dlrs 229 million, including dlrs 210 million in fixed assets and dlrs 19 million in investments and other assets. The Board of Directors declared a dividend of dlrs 0.25 per share with respect to the Class A Subordinate Voting Shares and Class B Shares for the quarter ended June 30, 1999 payable on September 15, 1999 to shareholders of record on August 31, 1999.