| RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES | EXHIBIT 12 |
| ( in thousands ) |
Three months ended March 31, | |||||
| 2004 |
2003 | |||||
| EARNINGS AS DEFINED: |
||||||
| Earnings from operations before income taxes after eliminating undistributed earnings of 20%- to 50%-owned affiliates |
$ | 130,927 | $ | 91,016 | ||
| Fixed charges excluding capitalized interest and preferred stock dividends of majority-owned subsidiary companies |
9,511 | 9,628 | ||||
| Earnings as defined |
$ | 140,438 | $ | 100,644 | ||
| FIXED CHARGES AS DEFINED: |
||||||
| Interest expense, including amortization of debt issue costs |
$ | 7,395 | $ | 8,003 | ||
| Interest capitalized |
265 | 75 | ||||
| Portion of rental expense representative of the interest factor |
2,116 | 1,625 | ||||
| Preferred stock dividends of majority-owned subsidiary companies |
20 | 20 | ||||
| Fixed charges as defined |
$ | 9,796 | $ | 9,723 | ||
| RATIO OF EARNINGS TO FIXED CHARGES |
14.34 | 10.35 | ||||
E-2