Item 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The information from the 2014 Annual Report set forth in Exhibit 13 hereto under “Results of Operations,” “Business Segments,” “Financial Position, Capital Resources and Liquidity,” “Critical Accounting Policies,” "Other Items" and "Safe Harbor Statement" is hereby incorporated by reference.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Emerson’s financial information presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP), management periodically uses certain “non-GAAP financial measures,” as such term is defined in Regulation G under the rules of the SEC, to clarify and enhance understanding of past performance and prospects for the future. Generally, a non-GAAP financial measure is a numerical measure of a company’s operating performance, financial position or cash flows that excludes or includes amounts that are included in or excluded from the most directly comparable measure calculated and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. For example, non-GAAP measures may exclude the impact of certain items such as acquisitions, divestitures, gains, losses and impairments, or items outside of management’s control, such as foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. Management believes that the following non-GAAP financial measures provide investors and analysts useful insight into Emerson’s financial position and operating performance. Any non-GAAP measure provided should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to, the most directly comparable measure determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, as identified in italics below. Further, the calculation of these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from the calculation of similarly titled financial measures presented by other companies and therefore may not be comparable among companies.

Underlying sales, which exclude the impact of acquisitions, divestitures and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates during the periods presented, are provided to facilitate relevant period-to-period comparisons of sales growth by excluding those items that impact overall comparability (U.S. GAAP measure: net sales).

Operating profit (defined as net sales less cost of sales and selling, general and administrative expenses) and operating profit margin (defined as operating profit divided by net sales) are indicative of short-term operational performance and ongoing profitability. Management closely monitors operating profit and operating profit margin of each business to evaluate past performance and actions required to improve profitability. EBIT (defined as earnings before deductions for interest expense, net and income taxes) and total segment EBIT, and EBIT margin (defined as EBIT divided by net sales) and total segment EBIT margin, are commonly used financial measures that exclude the impact of financing on the capital structure and income taxes. All these measures are utilized by management to evaluate performance (U.S. GAAP measures: pretax earnings or pretax profit margin).

Earnings, earnings per share, return on common stockholders’ equity and return on total capital excluding certain gains and losses, impairments or other items provide additional insight into the underlying, ongoing operating performance of the Company and facilitate period-to-period comparisons by excluding the earnings impact of these items. Management believes that presenting earnings, earnings per share, return on common stockholders' equity and return on total capital excluding these items is more representative of the Company’s operational performance and may be more useful for investors (U.S. GAAP measures: earnings, earnings per share, return on common stockholders’ equity, return on total capital).

Free cash flow (operating cash flow less capital expenditures) is an indicator of the Company’s cash generating capabilities after considering investments in capital assets which are necessary to maintain and enhance existing operations. The determination of operating cash flow adds back noncash depreciation expense to earnings and thereby does not reflect a charge for necessary capital expenditures. Management believes that free cash flow is

useful to both management and investors as a measure of the Company’s ability to generate cash (U.S. GAAP measure: operating cash flow).