the financial sector (be unstable) in recent weeks (Use the phrase with 2 past tenses)

In October 2006, Voltra ... (be) in trouble.

it (be predicted) in a popular news blog (Use the phrase with 2 past tenses)

By the 1980s, scientists ... (become) aware of the commercial potential of their work, and many ... (leave) the universities to set up their own companies.

the directors (negotiate) the terms of the agreement (Use the phrase with 2 past tenses)

When the board ... (introduce) an emergency budget in January 2007, few people ... (expect) that it would transform things so quickly, but in September 2007, the company ... (report) a record $15m profit.

By 2005, things ... (improve): government measures ... (cut) the budget deficit to 6% of GDP and the inflation rate ... (go down) to 1.6%.

In 2002, the country's economy ... (look) very unstable.

The year before, the price of raw materials ... (rise) steadily, the company's sales ... (fall) and its shares ... (already/drop) in value by 30%.

The first successful gene transfer ... (take place) in the early 1970s, and by the end of the decade some pharmaceutical companies ... (start) mass-producing some proteins.

The biotechnology industry ... (grow) out of university labs in the 1980s.

the company's shares (fall) before the announcement (Use the phrase with 2 past tenses)