Any acquisition would increase the company's already growing real estate portfolio. As of February this year, the company disclosed in an annual shareholder's report it operates 20 facilities, containing about 1.7 million sf of space that it either owns or leases throughout the United States and overseas. Of the total, the company owns about 965,700 sf.

Since 1989, the company reports it has completed 20 acquisitions, including four during fiscal 2001, at a total value of about $770 million. Earlier this year, the company closed on the acquisition of four aerospace manufacturing companies--Alson Industries Inc., T.L. Windust Machine Inc., DMGI Inc. and Maynard Precision Inc. The company traded about 2.9 million shares of its publicly traded stock, paid about $5.3 million in cash and assumed or repaid indebtedness totaling about $11.8 million for a total purchase price of about $70.1 million.