The performance of the Neal & Massy Group has been commendable despite the difficult economic conditions which prevailed over the past year The economic decline in the United States which gained momentum in the last financial quarter of 2008, spread to other major regions of the world, igniting regional political tensions, and causing unprecedented aberrations in corporate governance and instability in financial markets, accompanied by a loss in consumer and investor confidence, all of which contributed to a fragile and challenging economic environment.