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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

Commission file number: 001-32253

ENERSYS

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

2366 Bernville Road

Reading, Pennsylvania 19605

(Address of principal executive offices)

Telephone Number: 610-208-1991

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Common Stock, $0.01 par value

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    x  YES    ¨  NO

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    ¨  YES    x  NO

Aggregate market value of the voting stock held by nonaffiliates at October 1, 2004: $166,681,080 (based upon its closing transaction price on the New York Stock Exchange on October 1, 2004).

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for its Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on July 21, 2005 to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference in Part III of this Annual Report.

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Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements

This Report includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that reflect our current views as to future events and financial performance with respect to our operations. These statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe” and other words and terms of similar meaning in conjunction with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include: competitive pricing pressures; unfavorable economic conditions; increasing raw material costs; potential environmental, health and safety liabilities; litigation; currency risks and other risks associated with operating in international markets; our failure to introduce new products or product enhancements; our competitors ability to successfully market new products; our inability to protect our proprietary technology and trademarks; the relocation of our customers businesses; our inability to implement cost reduction initiatives; quality problems; risks associated with acquisitions, including our failure to make planned acquisitions, acquisition integration issues and costs, and our ability to integrate and derive the expected benefits from our recent acquisitions; difficulties in implementing a new enterprise resource planning system; ramifications of any future terrorist attacks or increased security alert levels; our inability to make our debt payments or meet our debt covenants; regulatory changes that could negatively affect the demand for our products; our failure to adequately prepare for potential disasters; and other risks that are set forth in the “Risk Factors” section and other sections of this Report.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect the events or circumstances arising after the date as of which they are made. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements included in this report or that may be made in other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission or elsewhere from time to time by, or on behalf of, us.

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EnerSys

Form 10-K

March 31, 2005

Index

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PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Overview

EnerSys (the “Company,” “we,” or “us”) is the world’s largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of lead-acid industrial batteries. We also manufacture, market and distribute related products such as chargers, power equipment and battery accessories, and we provide related after-market and customer-support services for lead-acid industrial batteries. Industrial batteries generally are characterized as reserve power batteries or motive power batteries.

Reserve power batteries also are known as network, standby or stationary power batteries and are used primarily for backup power applications to ensure continuous power supply in case of main (primary) power failure or outage. Reserve power batteries are used primarily to supply standby direct current (“DC”) operating power for:

Motive power batteries are used to provide power for electric material handling and ground handling equipment, primarily electric industrial forklift trucks. They compete primarily with propane- and diesel-powered internal combustion engines used principally in the following applications:

History

EnerSys and its predecessor companies have been manufacturers of industrial batteries for over 100 years. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners teamed with the management of Yuasa, Inc. in late 2000 to acquire from Yuasa Corporation (Japan) its reserve power and motive power battery businesses in North and South America. We were incorporated in October 2000 for the purpose of completing the Yuasa, Inc. acquisition from Yuasa Corporation (Japan). The acquired businesses included the Exide, General and Yuasa brands. On January 1, 2001, we changed our name from Yuasa, Inc. to EnerSys to reflect our focus on the energy systems nature of our businesses. In early 2002, we acquired the reserve power and motive power business of the Energy Storage Group, or ESG, of Invensys plc, whose principal brands were Hawker, PowerSafe and DataSafe.

Today, our reserve power batteries are marketed and sold principally under the PowerSafe, DataSafe and Genesis brands. Our motive power batteries are marketed and sold principally under the Hawker, Exide and General brands. We also manufacture and sell related direct current—DC—power products including chargers, electronic power equipment and a wide variety of battery accessories. Our battery products span a broad range of sizes, configurations and electrical capacities, enabling us to meet a wide variety of customer applications.

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In August 2004, EnerSys completed an initial public offering (the “IPO”) and issued 12,500,000 shares of our common stock at a value of $12.50 per share. The Company’s Registration Statement (SEC File No. 333-115553) for its IPO was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 26, 2004. The Company’s common stock commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 30, 2004, under the trading symbol “ENS.” At the completion of the offering, we had 45,945,559 shares of common stock outstanding, which included 11,014,421 shares that were outstanding prior to the IPO, 22,431,138 shares of common stock converted from preferred shares, and 12,500,000 new shares issued in the IPO. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $139.2 million. The net proceeds and $1.7 million of other corporate funds were used to prepay the entire principal and accrued interest and prepayment penalty on our senior second lien term loan ($123.0 million) and to prepay a portion ($17.9 million) of our $380.0 million senior secured term loan B.

In August 2004, in order to take advantage of the Company’s lower leverage and lower market borrowing costs, we amended our Credit Agreement and reduced our borrowing rates on the senior secured term loan B by 0.50%. The existing term loans ($361.1 million plus accrued interest) were paid off and simultaneously new term loans of $365.0 million were borrowed.

Fiscal Year Reporting

In this Report, when we refer to our fiscal years, we say “fiscal” and the year number, as in “fiscal 2005”, which refers to our fiscal year ended March 31, 2005. The Company reports interim financial information for 13-week periods, except for the first quarter, which always begins on April 1, and the fourth quarter, which always ends on March 31. The four fiscal quarters in fiscal 2005 ended on July 4, 2004, October 3, 2004, January 2, 2005, and March 31, 2005, respectively. The four fiscal quarters in fiscal 2004 ended on June 29, 2003, September 28, 2003, December 28, 2003, and March 31, 2004. Financial information about segments and geographic areas is incorporated by reference to footnote 20 of our consolidated financial statements.

Recent Developments

FIAMM Acquisition

In March 2005, we amended our Credit Agreement to allow for the Company’s acquisition of the motive power battery business of FIAMM S.p.A. and the secured financing for such acquisition. Additionally, the amendment revised the senior secured leverage ratio for the Company’s next six quarters.

On June 1, 2005, we acquired the motive power business of FIAMM S.p.A., which operates primarily in Europe and had net sales of approximately $90 million (approximately €70 million) for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2004. The cash purchase price for this acquisition was €25 million (approximately $31.25 million). The acquisition was financed with proceeds from a €25 million European term loan. The European term loan has amortizing payments and matures on June 30, 2011. Borrowings under the European term loan bear interest at a floating rate based upon a EURIBOR rate plus an applicable percentage.

Our Customers

We serve over 10,000 customers in over 100 countries, on a direct basis or through our distributors. No single customer accounts for more than 6% of our revenues.

Reserve Power

Our reserve power customers consist of regional customers as well as global customers. These customers are in diverse markets ranging from telecom to UPS, electric utilities, security systems, emergency lighting and personal mobility. In addition, we sell our aerospace and defense products to numerous countries, including the governments of the U.S., Germany and the U.K. and to major defense and aviation original equipment manufacturers, which we refer to as OEM.

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Motive Power

Our motive power customers include a large, diversified customer base. We are not overly dependent on any particular end market or geographic region. These customers include materials handling equipment dealers, OEMs and end users of such equipment. End users include manufacturers, distributors, warehouse operators, retailers, airports, mine operations and railroads.

Distribution and Services

Reserve Power

We distribute, sell and service reserve power products globally through a combination of company-owned offices, independent manufacturers’ representatives and distributors managed by our regional sales managers. With our global manufacturing locations and regional warehouses, we believe we are well positioned to meet our customers’ delivery and servicing requirements. We have targeted our approach to meet local market conditions, which we believe provides the best possible service for our regional customers and our global accounts.

Motive Power

We distribute, sell and service our motive power products throughout the world, principally through company-owned sales and service facilities, as well as through independent manufacturers’ representatives. We believe we are the only battery manufacturer in the motive power battery industry that operates a primarily company-owned service network. This company-owned network allows us to offer high-quality service, including preventative maintenance programs and customer support. Our warehouses and service locations enable us to respond quickly to customers in the markets we serve. The extensive industry experience of our sales organization results in strong long-term customer relationships.

Manufacturing and Raw Materials

We manufacture and assemble reserve power and motive power batteries and related products at manufacturing facilities located across the Americas, Europe and Asia. We believe that our global approach to manufacturing has significantly helped us increase our market share during the past several years. With a view toward projected demand, we strive to optimize and balance capacity at our battery manufacturing facilities located throughout the world, while simultaneously minimizing our product cost. By taking a global view of our manufacturing requirements and capacity, we are better able to anticipate potential capacity bottlenecks and equipment and capital funding needs.

The primary raw materials used to manufacture our products include lead, plastics, steel and copper. We purchase lead from a number of leading suppliers throughout the world. Because lead is traded on the world’s commodity markets and its price fluctuates daily, we enter into hedging arrangements from time to time for a portion of our projected requirements to mitigate the adverse effects of these fluctuations.

Competition

The industrial lead-acid battery market is highly competitive and has experienced substantial consolidation both among competitors who manufacture and sell industrial batteries and among customers who purchase industrial batteries. Our competitors range from development stage companies to major domestic and international corporations. We also compete with other energy storage technologies such as batteries utilizing chemistries other than lead-acid and fuel cells. We compete primarily on the basis of reputation, product quality, reliability of service, delivery and price. We believe that our products and services are competitively priced.

Reserve Power

We believe we have one of the largest market shares for reserve power products on a worldwide basis. We compete principally with Exide Technologies, GS Yuasa and C&D Technologies, as well as FIAMM and East Penn Manufacturing.

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Motive Power

We believe we have the largest market share for motive power products on a worldwide basis. Our principal competitor, on a global basis, is Exide Technologies. On a regionalized basis, East Penn Manufacturing and C&D Technologies compete with us in North America, Hoppecke competes with us in Europe, and JSB, Shinkobe, Yuasa and Hitachi compete with us in Asia.

Warranties

Warranties for our products vary by geography and product and are competitive with other suppliers of these types of products. Generally, our reserve power products’ warranties range from one- to twenty-years and our motive power products’ warranties range from one- to five-years. The warranty on our battery chargers typically ranges from one- to three-years.

The length of our warranties is sometimes extended to reflect varied regional characteristics and competitive influences. In some cases, we may extend the warranty period to include a pro rata period, which is typically based around the design life of the product and the application served. Our warranties generally cover defects in workmanship and materials and are limited to specific usage parameters.

Intellectual Property

We have numerous patents and patent licenses in the United States and other jurisdictions but do not consider any patent to be material to our business. From time to time, however we apply for patents on new inventions and designs, but we believe that the growth of our business will depend primarily upon the quality of our products and our relationships with our customers, rather than the extent of our patent protection.

Although other manufacturers may possess certain thin plate pure lead technology (“TPPL”), we believe we are the only manufacturer of products using TPPL technology in the markets we serve. Some aspects of this technology may be patented in the future. In any event, we believe that a significant capital investment would be required by any party desiring to produce products using TPPL technology for these markets.

We own or possess exclusive and non-exclusive licenses and other rights to use a number of trademarks in various jurisdictions. We have obtained registrations for many of these trademarks in the United States and other jurisdictions. Our various trademark registrations currently have a duration of approximately one to 10 years, varying by mark and jurisdiction of registration and may be renewable. We endeavor to keep all of our material registrations current. We believe that many such rights and licenses are important to our business by helping to develop strong brand-name recognition in the marketplace. Some of the significant (registered and unregistered) trademarks that we use include: Armasafe+, Chloride, Cobra, Cyclon, DataSafe, Deserthog, Energy Plus, Envirolink, ESB, Espace, Exide, Exide-Ironclad, GBC, Genesis, Genesis NP, Genesis Pure Lead, Hawker, HUP, Hybernator, Liberator, LifeGuard, LifePlus, Loadhog, Oasis, Odyssey, Oldham, Perfect, PowerGuard, PowerLease, Powerline, PowerPlus, PowerSafe, Smarthog, Superhog, Supersafe, Titan PowerTech, Varta, Waterless and Workhog.

See “Litigation—Exide Litigation” for information concerning currently pending litigation involving our continuing right to use the Exide trademark.

Seasonality

Our business generally does not experience significant monthly or quarterly fluctuations in net sales as a result of weather or other trends that can be directly linked to seasonality patterns. However, our second fiscal quarter normally experiences moderate reductions in net sales as compared to our first fiscal quarter for that year, due to summer manufacturing shutdowns of our customers and holidays primarily in the United States and Western Europe. In fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, the impact of this seasonal weakness was mitigated to a

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significant degree by strengthening currencies, primarily the euro, in Europe, where we conduct slightly more than half of our business. Our fourth fiscal quarter normally experiences the highest sales of any fiscal quarter within a given year. Many reserve power telecommunications customers tend to perform extensive service and engage in higher battery replacement and maintenance activities in the first calendar quarter of a year, which is our fourth fiscal quarter. In addition, many of our largest industrial customers are on a calendar fiscal year basis and many tend to purchase their durable goods more heavily in that quarter than any other within the calendar year.

Product and Process Development

Our product and process development efforts are focused on the creation and optimization of new battery products using existing technologies, which differentiate our stored energy solutions from our competition’s. We allocate our resources to the following key areas:

Employees

At March 31, 2005, we had approximately 6,600 employees. Of these employees, approximately 3,250, almost all of whom work in our European facilities, were covered by collective bargaining agreements. The average term of these agreements is one to two years, with the longest term being three and one-half years. These agreements expire over the period from 2005 to 2007.

We consider our employee relations to be good. We have not experienced any significant labor unrest or disruption of production.

Environmental Matters

In the manufacture of our products throughout the world, we process, store, dispose of and otherwise use large amounts of hazardous materials, especially lead and acid. As a result, we are subject to extensive and changing environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things: the generation, handling, storage, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials; remediation of polluted ground or water; emissions or discharges of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; and the health and safety of our employees. Compliance with these laws and regulations results in ongoing costs. Failure to comply with these laws and regulations, or to obtain or comply with required environmental permits, could result in fines, criminal charges or other sanctions by regulators. From time to time we have had instances of alleged or actual noncompliance that have resulted in the imposition of fines, penalties and required corrective actions. Our ongoing compliance with environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permits could require us to incur significant expenses, limit our ability to modify or expand our facilities or continue production and require us to install additional pollution control equipment and make other capital improvements. In addition, private parties, including current or former employees, could bring personal injury or other claims against us due to the presence of, or their exposure to, hazardous substances used, stored, transported or disposed of by us or contained in our products.

Certain environmental laws assess liability on owners or operators of real property for the cost of investigation, removal or remediation of hazardous substances at their current or former properties or at

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properties at which they have disposed of hazardous substances. These laws may also assess costs to repair damage to natural resources. We may be responsible for remediating damage to our properties that was caused by former owners. Soil and groundwater contamination has occurred at some of our current and former properties and may occur or be discovered at other properties in the future. We currently are investigating and monitoring soil and groundwater contamination at certain of our properties, and we may be required to conduct these operations at other properties in the future. In addition, we have been and in the future may be liable to contribute to the cleanup of locations owned or operated by other persons to which we or our predecessor companies have sent wastes for disposal, pursuant to federal and other environmental laws. Under these laws, the owner or operator of contaminated properties and companies that generated, disposed of or arranged for the disposal of wastes sent to a contaminated disposal facility can be held jointly and severally liable for the investigation and cleanup of such properties, regardless of fault.

Six of our facilities in the United States and Europe are certified to ISO 14001 standards. ISO 14001 is a globally recognized, voluntary program that focuses on the implementation, maintenance and continual improvement of an environmental management system and the improvement of environmental performance.

Quality Systems

We utilize a global strategy for quality management systems, policies and procedures, the basis of which is the ISO 9001:2000 standard, which is a worldwide recognized quality standard. We believe in the principles of this standard and reinforce this by requiring mandatory compliance for all manufacturing, sales and service locations that are registered to the ISO 9001 standard. This strategy enables us to provide effective products and services to meet our customers’ needs.

Available Information

We file annual, quarterly and current reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). These filings are available to the public over the Internet at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also read and copy any document we file at the SEC’s public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the public reference room.

Our principal Internet address is http://www.enersys.com. We make available free of charge on http://www.enersys.com our annual, quarterly and current reports, and amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC.

Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is applicable to our principal executive officer, our principal financial officer and our controller. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is available on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.enersys.com. Any amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics that applies to one of the officers listed above will be disclosed on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.enersys.com. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines and the charters of our Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees are also available on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.enersys.com.

Risk Factors

The following risks and uncertainties, as well as others described in this Report on Form 10-K, could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition:

We operate in an extremely competitive industry and are subject to continual pricing pressure.

We compete with a number of major international manufacturers and distributors, as well as a large number of smaller, regional competitors. Due to excess capacity in some sectors of our industry, consolidation among

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industrial battery purchasers and the financial difficulties being experienced by several of our competitors, we have been subjected to continual and significant pricing pressures. These pricing pressures have prevented us from fully passing through to customers increased costs. We anticipate heightened competitive pricing pressure as Chinese and other foreign producers, able to employ labor at significantly lower costs than producers in the U.S. and Western Europe, expand their export capacity and increase their marketing presence in our major U.S. and European markets. Several of our competitors have strong technical, marketing, sales, manufacturing, distribution and other resources, as well as significant name recognition, established positions in the market and long-standing relationships with original equipment manufacturers and other customers. In addition, certain of our competitors own lead smelting facilities which, during periods of lead cost increases or price volatility, may provide a competitive pricing advantage and reduce their exposure to volatile raw material costs. Our ability to maintain and improve our operating margins has depended, and continues to depend, on our ability to control and reduce our costs. We cannot assure you that we will be able to continue to reduce our operating expenses, to raise or maintain our prices or increase our unit volume, in order to maintain or improve our operating results.

Cyclical industry conditions have adversely affected and may continue to adversely affect our results of operations.

Our operating results are affected by the general cyclical pattern of the industries in which our major customer groups operate and the overall economic conditions in which we and our customers operate. For example, the significant capital expenditures made by the telecommunications industry during the period from fiscal 1999 through fiscal 2001, as numerous companies expanded their systems and installed standby backup battery power systems, drove demand for our reserve power products. As the telecommunications industry dramatically reduced the building of new systems in response to massive overcapacity, the demand for our reserve power products for this important application declined significantly. Both our reserve power and motive power segments are heavily dependent on the end-user markets they serve, such as telecommunications, UPS and electric industrial forklift trucks. A weak capital expenditure environment in these markets has had and can be expected to have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our raw materials costs are volatile and expose us to significant movements in our product costs.

We employ significant amounts of lead, plastics, steel, copper and other materials in our manufacturing processes. We estimate that raw material costs account for approximately half of our cost of goods sold. Lead is our most significant raw material. The costs of these raw materials, particularly lead, are volatile and beyond our control.

Volatile raw material costs can significantly affect our operating results and make period-to-period comparisons extremely difficult. We cannot assure you that we will be able to hedge the costs of our raw material requirements at a reasonable level or pass on to our customers the increased costs of our raw materials.

Our operations expose us to the risk of material environmental, health and safety liabilities, costs, and litigation.

In the manufacture of our products throughout the world, we process, store, dispose of and otherwise use large amounts of hazardous materials, especially lead and acid. As a result, we are subject to extensive and changing environmental, health and safety laws and regulations governing, among other things: the generation, handling, storage, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials; remediation of polluted ground or water; emissions or discharges of hazardous materials into the ground, air or water; and the health and safety of our employees. Compliance with these laws and regulations results in ongoing costs. Failure to comply with these laws or regulations, or to obtain or comply with required environmental permits, could result in fines, criminal charges or other sanctions by regulators. From time to time we have had instances of alleged or actual noncompliance that have resulted in the imposition of fines, penalties and required corrective actions. Our ongoing compliance with environmental, health and safety laws, regulations and permits could require us to incur

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significant expenses, limit our ability to modify or expand our facilities or continue production and require us to install additional pollution control equipment and make other capital improvements. In addition, private parties, including current or former employees, could bring personal injury or other claims against us due to the presence of, or exposure to, hazardous substances used, stored or disposed of by us or contained in our products.

Certain environmental laws assess liability on owners or operators of real property for the cost of investigation, removal or remediation of hazardous substances at their current or former properties or at properties at which they have disposed of hazardous substances. These laws may also assess costs to repair damage to natural resources. We may be responsible for remediating damage to our properties that was caused by former owners. Soil and groundwater contamination has occurred at some of our current and former properties and may occur or be discovered at other properties in the future. We are currently investigating and monitoring soil and groundwater contamination at certain of our properties, and we may be required to conduct these operations at other properties in the future. In addition, we have been and in the future may be liable to contribute to the cleanup of locations owned or operated by other persons to which we or our predecessor companies have sent wastes for disposal, pursuant to federal and other environmental laws. Under these laws, the owner or operator of contaminated properties and companies that generated, disposed of or arranged for the disposal of wastes sent to a contaminated disposal facility can be held jointly and severally liable for the investigation and cleanup of such properties, regardless of fault.

We cannot assure you that we have been or at all times will be in compliance with environmental laws and regulations or that we will not be required to expend significant funds to comply with, or discharge liabilities arising under, environmental laws, regulations and permits, or that we will not be exposed to material environmental, health or safety litigation.

Recent legislation proposed by the European Union could affect us and the lead-acid battery industry.

Recent legislation proposed by the European Union may affect us and the lead acid battery industry. In November 2003, the European Commission issued a Directive that recommends the elimination of mercury in batteries and the reclamation of spent lead and cadmium batteries for recycling (a “closed-loop” life cycle). On April 20, 2004, the European Parliament approved legislation that would effectively ban lead and cadmium in batteries as well as mercury, with the exception of batteries for which no suitable alternatives exist. While we do not believe that such alternatives currently exist, a suitable substitute for lead acid batteries may be identified or developed. In response to the vote of the European Parliament, the European Commission stated it would not endorse a ban on lead or cadmium in batteries and affirmed its original proposal for closed-loop recycling regulations. The European Council, the main decision-making body of the European Union, re-examined the proposals from the European Parliament and, in December 2004, came to an agreement on a new draft Battery Directive. Under the latest proposals, there would be no ban for lead or cadmium in automotive and industrial batteries. The draft directive will be passed back to the European Parliament for further debate later in 2005. If the European Parliament were to re-introduce the lead and cadmium ban through an amendment to the legislation, then enactment and implementation of the directive by the Member States could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We are exposed to exchange rate risks, and our net income and financial condition may suffer due to currency translations.

We invoice foreign sales and service transactions in local currencies, using actual exchange rates during the period. We translate our non-U.S. assets and liabilities into U.S. dollars using current rates as of the balance sheet date. Because a significant portion of our revenues and expenses are denominated in foreign currencies, changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies, primarily the euro and British pound, may adversely affect our revenue, cost of revenue and operating margins. For example, foreign currency depreciation against the U.S. dollar will reduce the value of our foreign revenues and operating earnings as well as reduce our net investment in foreign subsidiaries.

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Most of the risk of fluctuating foreign currencies is in our European operations, which comprised over half of our net sales during the last two fiscal years. The euro is the dominant currency in our European operations.

The translation impact from currency fluctuations on net sales and operating earnings in the Americas and Asia is minimal, as virtually all net sales and operating earnings are in dollars or are pegged to the dollar.

Foreign currency depreciation will make it more expensive for our non-U.S. subsidiaries to purchase certain of our raw material commodities that are priced globally in U.S. dollars. Significant movements in foreign exchange rates can have a material impact on our results of operations and financial condition. We do not engage in significant hedging of our foreign currency exposure and cannot assure you that we would be able to hedge our foreign currency exposures at a reasonable cost.

Our international operations may be adversely affected by actions taken by foreign governments or other forces or events over which we may have no control.

We currently have significant manufacturing and distribution facilities outside of the U.S., including in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Mexico, Poland, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Canada. We may face political instability and economic uncertainty, cultural and religious differences and difficult labor relations in our foreign operations. We also may face barriers in the form of long-standing relationships between potential customers and their existing suppliers, national policies favoring domestic manufacturers and protective regulations including exchange controls, restrictions on foreign investment or the repatriation of profits or invested capital, changes in export or import restrictions and changes in the tax system or rate of taxation in countries where we do business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully develop and expand our international operations and sales or that we will be able to overcome the significant obstacles and risks of our international operations.

Our failure to introduce new products and product enhancements and broad market acceptance of new technologies introduced by our competitors could adversely affect our business.

Many new energy storage technologies, other than lead-acid, have been introduced over the past several years. In addition, recent advances in fuel cell and flywheel technology have been introduced for use in selected applications that compete with the end uses for lead-acid industrial batteries. For many important and growing markets, such as aerospace and defense, lithium-based battery technologies have large and growing market shares and lead-acid technologies have decreasing market shares. Our ability to achieve significant and sustained penetration of key developing markets, including aerospace and defense, will depend upon our success in developing or acquiring these and other technologies, either independently, through joint ventures or through acquisitions. If we fail to develop or acquire, and manufacture and sell, products that satisfy our customers’ demands, or we fail to respond effectively to new product announcements by our competitors by quickly introducing competitive products, then market acceptance of our products could be reduced and our business could be adversely affected. We cannot assure you that our products will remain competitive with products based on technologies other than lead-acid.

We may not be able adequately to protect our proprietary intellectual property and technology.

We rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, patent and trade secret laws, non-disclosure agreements and other confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to establish, protect and maintain our proprietary intellectual property and technology and other confidential information. Certain of these technologies, especially in thin plate pure lead—TPPL—technology, are important to our business and are not protected by patents. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary intellectual property and technology and other confidential information, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property and proprietary technologies.

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We may lose our right to use the Exide trademark.

Exide Technologies, during the course of its Chapter 11 proceedings, has sought to reject certain agreements related to the 1991 sale of Exide Technologies’ industrial battery business to Yuasa, including the exclusive, perpetual, worldwide and transferable license to use the Exide name on industrial batteries that we acquired in the Yuasa purchase. If the court were to find in favor of Exide Technologies, our license to use the Exide name could be terminated.

The Exide trade name is one of our better-known brands. We introduced testimony in the court proceedings from an expert witness who estimated that we would suffer damages of approximately $60 million over a seven-year period from price erosion, profit on lost sales and incremental rebranding expense in the event that the license were terminated. This expert’s assessment of our damages assumed, contrary to our current belief, that the court would not delay the effective date of the termination.

As with any litigation, the outcome of this proceeding is uncertain. We cannot assure you that we will retain the right to use the Exide brand, even for a brief period of time, upon the resolution of this dispute by the court.

Relocation of our customers’ operations could adversely affect our business.

The trend by a number of our North American and Western European customers to move manufacturing operations and expand their businesses into Asia and other low labor-cost markets may have an adverse impact on our business. As our customers in traditional manufacturing-based industries seek to move their manufacturing operations to lower-cost territories, there is a risk that these customers will source their energy storage products from competitors located in those territories and will cease or reduce the purchase of products from our manufacturing plants. We cannot assure you that we will be able to compete effectively with manufacturing operations of energy storage products in those territories, whether by establishing or expanding our manufacturing operations in those lower-cost territories or acquiring existing manufacturers.

We may fail to implement our cost reduction initiatives successfully and improve our profitability.

We must continue to implement cost reduction initiatives to achieve additional cost savings in future periods. We cannot assure you that we will be able to achieve all of the cost savings that we expect to realize from current or future initiatives. In particular, we may be unable to implement one or more of our initiatives successfully or we may experience unexpected cost increases that offset the savings that we achieve. Given the continued competitive pricing pressures experienced in our industry, our failure to realize cost savings would adversely affect our results of operations.

Quality problems with our products could harm our reputation and erode our competitive position.

The success of our business will depend upon the quality of our products and our relationships with customers. In the event that our products fail to meet our customers’ standards, our reputation could be harmed, which would adversely affect our marketing and sales efforts. We cannot assure you that our customers will not experience quality problems with our products.

We offer our products under a variety of brand names, the protection of which is important to our reputation for quality in the consumer marketplace.

We rely upon a combination of trademark, licensing and contractual covenants to establish and protect the brand names of our products. We have registered many of our trademarks in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. In many market segments, our reputation is closely related to our brand names. Monitoring unauthorized use of our brand names is difficult, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent their unauthorized use, particularly in foreign countries where the laws may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as in the U.S. We cannot assure you that our brand names will not be misappropriated or utilized without our consent or that such actions will not have a material adverse effect on our reputation and on our results of operations.

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We may fail to implement our plans to make acquisitions.

As part of our business strategy, we have grown, and plan to continue growing, by acquiring other product lines, technologies or facilities that complement or expand our existing business. We may be unable to implement this part of our business strategy and may not be able to make acquisitions to continue our growth. There is significant competition for acquisition targets in the industrial battery industry. We may not be able to identify suitable acquisition candidates or negotiate attractive terms. In addition, we may have difficulty obtaining the financing necessary to complete transactions we pursue. In that regard, our credit facilities restrict the amount of additional indebtedness that we may incur to finance acquisitions and place other restrictions on our ability to make acquisitions. Our failure to execute our acquisition strategy could have a material adverse effect on our business. The amounts we may pay for acquisitions are subject to limits on individual transactions and aggregate limits over the term of the credit facilities—until 2011 under the senior secured credit facility. Our individual transaction limits are $25.0 million cash and $75.0 million total (cash and company stock), and our aggregate limits are $100.0 million cash and $200.0 million total. Our ability to incur additional indebtedness also is restricted such that any significant acquisitions that could not be financed through cash generated from operations would need to be financed through issuance of additional company common stock. Exceeding any of these limitations would require the consent of our lenders. We cannot assure you that our acquisition strategy will be successful.

Any acquisitions that we complete may dilute your ownership interest in EnerSys, may have adverse effects on our financial condition and results of operations and may cause unanticipated liabilities.

Future acquisitions may involve the issuance of our equity securities as payment, in part or in full, for the businesses or assets acquired. Any future issuances of equity securities would dilute your ownership interests. In addition, future acquisitions might not increase, and may even decrease, our earnings or earnings per share and the benefits derived by us from an acquisition might not outweigh or might not exceed the dilutive effect of the acquisition. We also may incur additional debt or suffer adverse tax and accounting consequences in connection with any future acquisitions.

Implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system could adversely affect our operations.

We are considering the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in certain of our locations over the next five years to integrate the separate systems that we currently employ. An ERP system automates various business tasks including accounting, distribution and sales. Successful implementation of this system will be critical to our cost reduction initiatives and to our ability to comply with the financial reporting and internal audit compliance obligations of a public company. Integration and conversion of information from the systems to be replaced by this new system will significantly affect many aspects of our business, including our accounting, operations, purchasing, sales, marketing, and administrative functions, and could disrupt our business, distract management and increase our costs. If we were to experience difficulties or delays in the implementation of this new system, then our ability to provide products to our customers on a timely basis could be adversely affected, which would harm our operating results and relationships with our customers. Additionally, any integration difficulties or delays could adversely affect the processing and reporting of our accounting and financial results. There can be no assurance that we would be able to correct any such difficulties or problems on a timely basis. Furthermore, there can be no assurance that, once successfully implemented, the new system will provide the intended benefits or that it will be adequate to support our operational needs.

The failure of critical computer systems could seriously affect our sales and operations.

We operate a number of critical computer systems throughout our business that can fail for a variety of reasons. If such a failure were to occur, then we may not be able to sufficiently recover from the failure in time to avoid the loss of data or adversely impact certain of our operations that are dependent on such system. This could result in lost sales and the inefficient operation of our facilities for the duration of such a failure.

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Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial condition.

As of March 31, 2005, we had $375.5 million of total consolidated debt. This level of debt could:

This list of factors that may affect future performance is illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. Accordingly, all forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty.

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

Set forth below is certain information, as of June 1, 2005, with respect to our principal properties.

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Europe:

Asia:

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

Exide Litigation

When we acquired Yuasa’s North and South American industrial battery business in 2000, we acquired the worldwide right to use the Exide trademark on industrial batteries. Yuasa had acquired an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide and transferable license to use the Exide name on industrial batteries in 1991 when it bought Exide Technologies’ industrial battery business.

On April 15, 2002, Exide Technologies filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. During the course of its Chapter 11 proceedings, Exide Technologies sought to reject certain agreements related to the 1991 sale of Exide Technologies’ industrial battery business to Yuasa, including the trademark license referred to above. We opposed Exide Technologies’ attempt to reject these agreements. If the court were to find in favor of Exide Technologies, our license to use the Exide name could be terminated. If the license were so terminated, we believe that the court might delay the effective date of the termination for some reasonable period.

We believe that we should prevail but, as with any litigation, the outcome is uncertain. If we do not ultimately prevail, we believe that, if the court were to provide us with a reasonable time period to continue to use the name while we rebrand our products in order to mitigate potential price erosion and sales loss, the termination of the license should not have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or operating results.

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Other Litigation

From time to time, we are involved in litigation incidental to the conduct of our business. We do not expect that any of this litigation, individually or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flow.

ITEM 4. SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS

No matters were submitted to the vote of stockholders through the solicitation of proxies or otherwise during the quarter ended March 31, 2005.

PART II

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER REPURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Market Information

The Company’s common stock has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ENS” since it began trading on July 30, 2004. Prior to that time, there had been no public market for our common stock. The following table sets forth, on a per share basis for the periods presented, the range of high, low and closing prices of the Company’s common stock.

Holders of Record

As of June 1, 2005, there were approximately 70 record holders of common stock of the Company. Because many of such shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, the Company is unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders.

Dividends

We never have paid or declared any cash dividends on our common stock and are restricted from doing so by our credit agreement. We currently intend to retain any earnings for future growth and, therefore, do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, we did not issue any unregistered securities.

Use of Proceeds from Registered Securities

As noted above, in August 2004, EnerSys completed an initial public offering (the “IPO”) and issued 12,500,000 shares of our common stock at a value of $12.50 per share. The Company’s Registration Statements (SEC File No. 333-115553) for its IPO was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 26, 2004. The Company’s common stock commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 30, 2004, under the trading symbol “ENS.” At the completion of the offering, we had 45,945,559 shares of common stock outstanding, which included 11,014,421 shares that were outstanding prior to the IPO, 22,431,138 shares of common stock converted from preferred shares, and 12,500,000 new shares issued in the IPO. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $139.2 million. The net proceeds and $1.7 million of other corporate funds were used to prepay the entire principal and accrued interest and prepayment penalty on our senior secured second lien term loan ($123.0 million) and to prepay a portion ($17.9 million) of our $380 million senior secured term loan B.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables set forth certain selected consolidated financial and operating data. We were incorporated in October 2000 for the purpose of acquiring the Yuasa, Inc. industrial battery business from Yuasa Corporation (Japan) and did not have any operations prior to October 1, 2000. Selected consolidated financial data for the periods prior to October 1, 2000, are derived from the consolidated financial statements of Yuasa, Inc., which we refer to as the Predecessor Company. The summary consolidated financial data presented below for the four-year period ended March 31, 2005, and the balance sheet data at March 31, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, have been derived from our consolidated financial statements which have been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm. The summary consolidated financial data presented below as of and for the six months ended March 31, 2001 have been derived from audited financial statements. The summary consolidated financial data presented below as of and for the six months ended September 30, 2000, have been derived from unaudited financial statements. This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto, and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Condition, each included elsewhere, herein.

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The following table provides a reconciliation of EBITDA to net earnings (loss):

We have included EBITDA because management uses it as a key measure of our performance. Management also uses EBITDA to analyze our performance against our key public-company competitors, recognizing that the different ways in which different companies calculate EBITDA limits its usefulness as a measure of comparability.

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our results of operations and financial condition for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2003, 2004, and 2005, should be read in conjunction with Selected Consolidated Financial Data and our audited consolidated financial statements and the notes to those statements. Our discussion contains forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, opinions, expectations, anticipations and intentions and beliefs. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in those forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. See Special Note About Forward-Looking Statements and Business sections elsewhere in this Report on Form 10-K. In the following discussion and analysis of results of operations and financial condition, certain financial measures may be considered “non-GAAP financial measures” under Securities and Exchange Commission rules. These rules require supplemental explanation and reconciliation, which is provided in this Report on Form 10-K. EnerSys’ management uses non-GAAP measures in their analysis of the Company’s performance. These measures, as used by EnerSys, adjust net earnings determined in accordance with GAAP to reflect changes in financial results associated with our IPO, and the elimination of

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special charges recorded during the periods presented. Management believes presentations of financial measures reflecting these adjustments provide useful supplemental information in evaluating the operating results of our business. These disclosures should not be viewed as a substitute for net earnings determined in accordance with GAAP, nor are they necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies.

Overview

We are the world’s largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of lead-acid industrial batteries. We also manufacture, market and distribute related products such as chargers, power equipment and battery accessories, and we provide related after-market and customer-support services for lead-acid industrial batteries. We market and sell our products globally in more than 100 countries to over 10,000 customers through a network of distributors, independent representatives and an internal sales force.

We have two business segments: reserve power and motive power. Net sales classifications by segment are as follows:

We evaluate business segment performance based primarily upon operating earnings, exclusive of special charges. All corporate and centrally incurred regional costs are allocated to the business segments based principally on net sales. We evaluate business segment cash flow and financial position performance based primarily upon capital expenditures and primary working capital levels. Primary working capital for this purpose is trade accounts receivable, plus inventories, minus trade accounts payable and the resulting net amount is divided by the trailing three month net sales (annualized) for the respective business segment or reporting location, to derive a primary working capital percentage ratio. Although we monitor the three elements of primary working capital (receivables, inventory and payables), our primary focus is on the total amount. Primary working capital was $282.4 million (yielding a primary working capital percentage ratio of 24.7%) at March 31, 2005, and $250.3 million (yielding a primary working capital percentage ratio of 22.7%) at March 31, 2004. The increase in the ratio during fiscal 2005 was primarily due to slower collections of receivables in Europe, a higher portion of our sales in regions with longer payment terms and higher levels of inventory to support shifts in the production locations of certain products. While these areas remain a focus for improvement, competitive factors, particularly with extended customer payment terms, will place increasing pressure on our primary working capital. We closely manage our level of working capital due to the significant impact it has on cash flow and, as a result, our level of debt. Lastly, on a consolidated basis, we review short- and long-term debt levels, on a daily basis, with corresponding leverage ratios monitored, primarily using debt to EBITDA ratios, excluding special charges. EBITDA is earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. Special charges are expenses not normally incurred in the day-to-day operations of our business and, in our opinion, are not indicative of our core operating performance. Examples include charges incurred in fiscal 2002 to restructure the predecessor company operations, charges incurred in fiscal 2004 associated with the costs of uncompleted acquisition attempts, an omnibus settlement with Invensys and costs in connection with a recapitalization transaction, and charges incurred in fiscal 2005 associated with the write-off of unamortized deferred finance costs and a prepayment penalty on the repayment of our senior secured lien term loan in connection with our IPO.

We operate and manage our business in three primary geographic regions of the world—the Americas, Europe and Asia. Our business is highly decentralized with manufacturing locations throughout the world. Over half of our net sales for fiscal 2004 and fiscal 2005 were generated outside of North America. Approximately half

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of our manufacturing and distribution facilities are located outside of the U.S. Our international operations may be adversely affected by actions taken by foreign governments or other forces or events over which we may have no control. Our management structure and financial reporting systems, and associated internal controls and procedures, are all consistent with our two business segments and three geographic regions in which we operate. We report on a March 31 fiscal year.

Our financial results are largely driven by the following factors:

Starting in fiscal 2002, the telecommunications industry dramatically reduced building new systems in response to massive overcapacity. Additionally, in fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2003 the global economy was weak. These conditions combined to produce excess capacity in some sectors of our industry, driving consolidation among industrial battery purchasers. Several of our competitors experienced financial difficulties. As a result, we have been subjected to continual and significant pricing pressures over the past several years. We anticipate heightened competitive pricing pressure as Chinese and other foreign producers, able to employ labor at significantly lower costs than producers in the U.S. and Western Europe, expand their export capacity and increase their marketing presence in our major U.S. and European markets. Our ability to maintain and improve our operating margins has depended, and continues to depend, on our ability to control our costs and maintain our pricing. As a result, our business strategy has been highly focused on increasing our market share, tightly controlling capital expenditures and cash and reducing our costs.

Our Corporate History

There have been several key stages in the development of our business, which explain to a significant degree our results of operations over the past four years.

We were formed in late 2000 by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and the management of Yuasa, Inc. to acquire the industrial battery business of Yuasa Corporation (Japan) in North and South America. Our reported results for the period prior to the acquisition of this business reflect the operations of the predecessor company to the business we acquired.

In addition, our results of operations for the past three fiscal years have been significantly affected by our acquisition of ESG on March 22, 2002. This acquisition more than doubled our size. Our results of operations for fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005 include ESG for the full fiscal year.

Our successful integration of ESG provided global scale in both the reserve and motive power markets. The ESG acquisition also provided us with a further opportunity to reduce costs and improve operating efficiency that, among other initiatives, led to closing underutilized manufacturing plants, distribution facilities, sales offices and eliminating other redundant costs, including staff.

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In August 2004, EnerSys completed an initial public offering (the “IPO”) and issued 12,500,000 shares of our common stock at a value of $12.50 per share. The Company’s Registration Statement (SEC File No. 333-115553) for its IPO was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 26, 2004. The Company’s common stock commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on July 30, 2004, under the trading symbol “ENS.” At the completion of the offering, we had 45,945,559 shares of common stock outstanding, which included 11,014,421 shares that were outstanding prior to the IPO, 22,431,138 shares of common stock converted from preferred shares, and 12,500,000 new shares issued in the IPO. The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $139.2 million. The net proceeds and $1.7 million of other corporate funds were used to prepay the entire principal and accrued interest and prepayment penalty on our senior second lien term loan ($123.0 million) and to prepay a portion ($17.9 million) of our $380.0 million senior secured term loan B.

In August 2004, in order to take advantage of the Company’s lower leverage and lower market borrowing costs, we amended our Credit Agreement and reduced our borrowing rates on the senior secured term loan B by 0.50%. The existing term loans ($361.1 million plus accrued interest) were paid off and simultaneously new term loans of $365.0 million were borrowed.

Our historical consolidated financial statements for fiscal 2003 and 2004 show our result of operations as a private company. In fiscal 2005, incremental costs of complying with our new public company reporting obligations was approximately $3 million. We estimate costs for public company compliance to be approximately $7 million in fiscal year 2006. The significant increase in fiscal 2006 is due to the high expense in the year for compliance as well as the fact that certain other costs will be incurred for the full year in fiscal 2006 compared with only part of fiscal 2005.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

The Company’s significant accounting policies are described in the notes to the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report. As described in such notes, the Company has a revenue recognition policy that dictates that sales are recognized in the period in which the earnings process is complete pursuant to the terms of our contractual relationships with our clients.

In preparing our financial statements, management is required to make estimates and assumptions that, among other things, affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, sales and expense. These estimates and assumptions are most significant where they involve levels of subjectivity and judgment necessary to account for highly uncertain matters or matters susceptible to change, and where they can have a material impact on our financial condition and operating performance. We discuss below the more significant estimates and related assumptions used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. If actual results were to differ materially from the estimates made, the reported results could be materially affected.

Asset Impairment Determinations

As a result of the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142, “Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets,” goodwill is no longer amortized. The Company tests for the impairment of its goodwill and trade names at least annually and whenever events or circumstances occur indicating that a possible impairment has been incurred. The Company utilizes financial projections of its reporting segments, certain cash flow measures, as well as its market capitalization in its determination of the fair value of these assets.

With respect to our other long-lived assets other than goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets, we are required to test for impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset may not be recoverable. We apply Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 144, “Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets,” in order to determine whether or not an asset was impaired. This standard requires an impairment analysis when indicators of impairment are present. If such indicators are present, the standard indicates that if the sum of the future expected cash flows from the asset, undiscounted and without interest charges, is less than the carrying value, an asset impairment must be recognized in the financial statements. The amount of the impairment is the difference between the fair value of the asset and the carrying value of the asset.

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In making future cash flow analyses of goodwill and other long-lived assets, the Company makes assumptions relating to the following:

We believe that an accounting estimate relating to asset impairment is a critical accounting estimate because the assumptions underlying future cash flow estimates are subject to change from time to time and the recognition of an impairment could have a significant impact on our income statement.

Litigation and Claims

The Company is a party to various legal actions and investigations including, among others, employment matters, compliance with government regulations, federal and state employment laws, including wage and hour laws, contractual disputes and other matters, including matters arising in the ordinary course of business. These claims may be brought by, among others, the government, clients, customers and employees. Management considers the measurement of litigation reserves as a critical accounting estimate because of the significant uncertainty in some cases relating to the outcome of potential claims or litigation and the difficulty of predicting the likelihood and range of potential liability involved, coupled with the material impact on our results of operations that could result from litigation or other claims. In determining legal reserves, management considers, among other issues:

Environmental Loss Contingencies

Accruals for environmental loss contingencies (i.e., environmental reserves) are recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can reasonably be estimated. Management views the measurement of environmental reserves as a critical accounting estimate because of the considerable uncertainty surrounding estimation, including the need to forecast well into the future. We are involved in legal proceedings under state, federal and local environmental laws in connection with our operations and companies that we have acquired. The estimation of environmental reserves is based on the evaluation of currently available information, prior experience in the remediation of contaminated sites and assumptions with respect to government regulations and enforcement activity, changes in remediation technology and practices, and financial obligations and credit worthiness of other responsible parties and insurers.

Warranty

We record a warranty reserve for possible claims against our product warranties which generally run for a period of one- to twenty-years for our reserve power batteries and for a period of one- to five-years for our motive power batteries. The assessment of the adequacy of the reserve includes a review of open claims and historical experience.

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Management believes that the accounting estimate related to the warranty reserve is a critical accounting estimate because the underlying assumptions used for the reserve can change from time to time and warranty claims could potentially have a material impact on our results of operations.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

We encounter risks associated with sales and the collection of the associated accounts receivable. We record a provision for accounts receivable that are considered to be uncollectible. In order to calculate the appropriate provision, management analyzes the creditworthiness of specific customers and the aging of customer balances. Management also considers general and specific industry economic conditions, industry concentration and contractual rights and obligations.

Management believes that the accounting estimate related to the allowance for doubtful accounts is a critical accounting estimate because the underlying assumptions used for the allowance can change from time to time and uncollectible accounts could potentially have a material impact on our results of operations.

Inventory Obsolescence

We record an inventory obsolescence reserve for obsolete, excess and slow-moving inventory. In calculating our inventory obsolescence reserve, management analyzes historical data regarding customer demand within specific product categories and makes assumptions regarding economic conditions within customer specific industries, as well as style and product changes. Management believes that its accounting estimate related to inventory obsolescence is a critical accounting estimate because customer demand in certain of our businesses can be variable and changes in our reserve for inventory obsolescence could have a material affect on our results of operations.

Critical accounting estimates and the related assumptions are evaluated periodically as conditions warrant, and changes to such estimates are recorded as new information or changed conditions require revision.

Pension

We use certain assumptions in the calculation of the actuarial valuation of our defined benefit plans. These assumptions include the weighted average discount rate, rates of increase in compensation levels and expected long-term rates of return of assets. If actual results are less favorable than those projected by us, additional expense may be required.

Critical accounting estimates and the related assumptions are evaluated periodically as conditions warrant and changes to such estimates are recorded as new information or changed conditions require revision.

Income Taxes

We account for income taxes in accordance with SFAS No. 109, “Accounting for Income Taxes,” which requires that deferred tax assets and liabilities be recognized using enacted tax rates for the effect of temporary differences between book and tax bases on recorded assets and liabilities. SFAS No. 109 also requires that deferred tax assets be reduced by a valuation allowance, if it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be recognized.

We evaluate on a quarterly basis the realizability of our deferred tax assets by assessing our valuation allowance and by adjusting the amount of such allowance, if necessary. The factors used to assess the likelihood of realization are our forecast of future taxable income and available tax planning strategies that could be implemented to realize the net deferred tax assets.

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Market and Economic Conditions

Our operating results are directly affected by the general cyclical pattern of the industries in which our major customer groups operate. For example, the significant capital expenditures made by the telecommunications industry during the period from fiscal 1999 through fiscal 2001 drove demand for our reserve power products, as numerous companies expanded their systems and installed standby backup battery power systems. However, the demand for our reserve power systems declined when the telecommunications industry significantly reduced the building of new systems in response to massive overcapacity.

Both our reserve power and motive power segments are heavily dependent on the end markets they serve, and our results of operations will vary depending on the capital expenditure environment in these markets. In addition, general economic conditions in the U.S. and international markets in which we and our customers operate also affect demand for our products. Sales of our motive power products, for example, depend significantly on demand for new electric industrial forklift trucks, which in turn depends on end-user demand for additional motive capacity in their distribution and manufacturing facilities. The overall economic conditions in the markets we serve can be expected to have a material effect on our results of operations.

In fiscal 2003, market and economic conditions stabilized, the euro strengthened on average for the year by 14% against the dollar and our cost reduction initiatives yielded savings. In fiscal 2004, market and economic conditions generally were stable and began improving, particularly in the second half of the fiscal year in the Americas and Asia. In fiscal 2004, excluding special charges, earnings and operating cash flow increased as sales (excluding the effect of foreign currency translation) increased approximately 4%, the euro strengthened on average for the year by 18% against the dollar and cost reduction programs yielded additional savings. In fiscal 2005, economic growth and the market for industrial batteries was up significantly in the Americas, very strong in Asia, and showed modest growth in Europe. See “Quarterly Information.”

Over the last three fiscal years, the costs of our raw materials (of which lead is our primary material) have risen significantly. We estimate that our average pure lead based cost (excluding premiums) per pound has risen from $0.21 in fiscal 2003 to $0.23 in fiscal 2004 to $0.36 in fiscal 2005. Since the cost of purchased lead is not reflected in our cost of goods sold for two to three months after purchase, we compare our actual cost to London Metal Exchange (“LME”) prices that are in effect two to three months prior to the income statement period being shown. On this basis, average LME prices per period were $0.20, $0.23 and $0.40 in fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively, as they would have been reflected in our financial results. Our estimated incremental lead cost in fiscal 2005 over fiscal 2004 was approximately $44 million; the incremental cost in fiscal 2004 was approximately $8 million over fiscal 2003.

We have implemented a series of selling price increases to offset some of the impact of these rising raw material costs. We believe we recovered close to 40% of our incremental raw material costs with realized price increases in fiscal 2005. We cannot assure you that our customers will accept future price increases.

Further cost-reduction programs have been identified that we anticipate will partially offset rising raw materials costs. If lead prices for fiscal 2006 remain at their current level, and if we are unable to adjust our pricing to accommodate increased lead costs, we would experience a significant decline in operating earnings in fiscal 2006.

Cost savings programs are and have been a continuous element of our business strategy and are directed primarily at further reductions in plant manufacturing (labor and overhead) and raw materials costs. Numerous individual cost savings opportunities are identified and evaluated by management with a formal selection and approval process that results in an ongoing list of cost savings projects to be implemented. In certain cases, projects are either modified or abandoned during their respective implementation phases. In order to realize cost savings benefits for a majority of these initiatives, costs are incurred either in the form of capital expenditures, funding the cash obligations of previously recorded restructuring expenses or current period expenses.

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Components of Revenue and Expense

Net sales include: the invoiced amount for all products sold and services provided; freight costs, when paid for by our customers; less all related allowances, rebates, discounts and sales, value-added or similar taxes.

Cost of goods sold includes: the cost of material, labor and overhead; the cost of our service businesses; freight; warranty and other costs such as distribution centers; obsolete or slow moving inventory provisions; and certain types of insurance.

For fiscal 2005, we estimate that raw materials costs comprised approximately one-half of cost of goods sold. The largest single raw material cost is lead, which comprised approximately 20% of cost of goods sold.

We employ significant amounts of lead, plastics, steel, copper and other materials in our manufacturing processes. The costs of these raw materials, particularly lead, are volatile and beyond our control. Lead costs increased approximately $44 million in fiscal 2005 as a result of price increases experienced during that year. Lead is our single largest raw material item and the price of lead recently has experienced significant volatility. The highest price for lead during fiscal 2005 was $0.4790 per pound on December 31, 2004, and the highest price for lead since the end of fiscal 2005 was $0.4627 per pound on April 29, 2005. Lead, plastics, steel and copper in the aggregate represent our principal raw materials costs. Volatile raw materials costs can significantly affect our operating results and make period-to-period comparisons difficult. The costs of commodity raw materials such as lead, steel and copper have increased significantly in recent periods. We attempt to control our raw materials costs through strategic purchasing decisions. Where possible, we pass along some or all of our increased raw materials costs to our customers. The following table shows certain average commodity prices for fiscal 2003, 2004 and 2005, which have not been adjusted for the timing of the impact on our financial results:

Labor and overhead are primarily attributable to our manufacturing facilities. Labor costs represent the majority of this total category. Overhead includes plant operating costs such as utilities, repairs and maintenance, taxes, supplies and depreciation.

Operating expenses include all non-manufacturing selling, general and administrative, engineering and other expenses. These include salaries and wages, sales commissions, fringe benefits, professional fees, supplies, maintenance, general business taxes, rent, communications, travel and entertainment, depreciation, advertising and bad debt expenses.

Operating expenses in fiscal 2005 were incurred in the following functional areas of our business (as a percent of the total) and are substantially similar in both of our business segments.

Special charges are infrequent and not likely to recur.

Other income (expense), net includes non-operating foreign currency transaction gains (losses), license fees and rental income. Our exposure to exchange rate fluctuations is largely limited to currency translation gains (losses) reflected on our financial statements. Due to our global manufacturing and distribution footprint, which means that most of our operating costs and revenues are incurred and paid in local currencies, we believe that we have a significant natural hedge against the impact on our business of exchange rate fluctuations.

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Results of Operations—Fiscal 2005 Compared to Fiscal 2004

Consolidated fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, compared to fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, statement of operations highlights:

Overview

Fiscal 2005 results included both a net sales increase and a net income increase despite the unfavorable effect of record high level of costs of commodities. We estimate that the impact of higher lead costs alone, our primary raw material, unfavorably impacted our operating earnings by approximately $44 million. We have partially mitigated this dramatic rise in raw material costs through price increases being passed through to our customers and by continuing cost savings programs throughout the Company.

In comparing fiscal 2005 results to fiscal 2004 operating results, management believes it is appropriate to eliminate the special charges incurred ($6.0 million of non-operating special charges in 2005 and $21.1 million of operating special charges and $31.0 million of non-operating special charges in fiscal year 2004).

Net sales by geographic region were as follows:

All geographic regions experienced sales growth in fiscal 2005. The euro’s strength throughout fiscal year 2005 had a significant favorable impact on our Europe business. The Americas business continued to capture additional market share with particularly strong growth in the motive power segment. Asia’s revenue growth is attributed to market share gains and general business expansion in that region.

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Operating earnings by geographic region were as follows:

Europe’s operating earnings decreased in fiscal 2005 in spite of net sales growth of approximately 4%, after adjusting for the favorable impact of stronger European currencies (primarily the euro). This decrease was primarily attributable to higher commodity costs, partially offset by sales price increases and cost savings programs. America’s operating earnings increased moderately as net sales grew by approximately 10%, with our motive power business continuing to capture additional market share. The America’s operating earnings were also adversely impacted by higher commodity costs, which were partially offset by sales price increases and cost savings programs. Asia’s operating earnings increased, as strong growth was experienced in net sales from our continued expansion of business in this region, coupled with Asian markets (particularly China) growing at faster rates than other regions of the world. Asia operating earnings were negatively impacted by higher commodity costs in fiscal 2005 with virtually no increase in sales prices realized as competitive conditions remain particularly challenging in this region. The Asian market is expected to continue to grow at a faster rate than other regions of the world and remain very competitive as it relates to realizing future sales price increases.

A discussion of specific fiscal 2005 versus fiscal 2004 operating results follows, including an analysis and discussion of the results of our two business segments.

Net Sales