The income tax rates were 11.4% and 28.6% for the first nine months of fiscal 2013 and 2012, respectively. In the first nine months of fiscal 2013, the Company recognized $12.4 million of discrete tax benefits principally related to the following items. The first item was approximately $1.5 million of tax benefits due to the retroactive extension of the U.S. federal research and experimentation credits. The second item was approximately $2.3 million of tax benefits related to the settlement of U.S. and foreign tax examinations. The third item was a $4.3 million tax benefit related to the release of tax reserves due to the expiration of a statute of limitations. The fourth item was a $3.8 million reduction of net deferred income tax liabilities as a result of the enactment of tax laws reducing the U.K. statutory income tax rate.

In the first nine months of fiscal 2012, the Company recognized $7.2 million of discrete tax benefits principally related to three items. The first item was a $2.3 million tax benefit due to a change in French tax laws associated with the holding company structure and the financing of the Souriau acquisition. The second item was a $2.9 million reduction of net deferred income tax liabilities as a result of the enactment of tax laws reducing the U.K. statutory income tax rate. The third item was a $1.7 million tax benefit as a result of reconciling the prior year’s income tax return to the U.S. income tax provision. The income tax rate differed from the statutory rate in the first nine months of fiscal 2013 and 2012, as both years benefited from various tax credits and certain foreign interest expense deductions.