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Special items amounted to $429 million for the year ended January 31, 2004, compared to $1.3 billion for the year ended January 31, 2003. 

The following table provides a reconciliation of EBT before special items to EBT for the years ended January 31: 

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$^{(1) }$The special items are discussed in the aerospace and transportation segments section of this MD&A. 

The Corporation recorded an income tax expense of $205 million for fiscal year 2004, compared to an income tax recovery of $221 million the previous fiscal year. The income tax expense for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2004 was higher than the expense that would be recognized at the effective income tax rate, mainly due to the non- recognition of $123 million of income tax benefits related to the restructuring initiative at Bombardier Transportation and an increase 

*T r a demark(s) of Bombardier Inc. or its subsidiaries. 

** Acela is a trademark of Amtrak. 

in the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets recorded for the U.S. operations in the fourth quarter. The details of the components of the income tax expense are provided in note 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. 

For fiscal year 2004, loss from continuing operations was $195 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to a loss from continuing operations of $709 million, or $0.54 per share, for fiscal year 2003. 

Income from discontinued operations, net of income taxes, totalled $106 million for the period from February 1, 2003 to December 18, 2003, compared to income of $94 million for fiscal year 2003. Income from discontinued operations includes a $101-million after-tax gain on the sale of the recreational products segment recorded in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2004. 

Net loss was $89 million for the year ended January 31, 2004, or $0.07 per share (basic and diluted). This compares to a net loss of $615 mil- lion the previous fiscal year, or $0.47 per share (basic and diluted). 

Bombardier’s order backlog as at January 31, 2004 totalled $45.9 billion, compared to a backlog of $44.4 billion as at January 31, 2003. The increase is due to an increase in the trans- portation segment backlog, partially offset by a decrease in the aerospace segment backlog, and the negative impact of the strengthening of the Canadian dollar compared to the U.S. dollar, for approximately $1.8 billion in the aerospace segment. 

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## Evolution of backlog 

(BILLIONS OF CDN$) 

