Todd,

Thank you for the time you spent on this.

Yes, the query was generated/formatted using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

Your comments about posting sensible questions with sufficient data are...

Thank you for taking the time to read through and reply.

Unfortunately adding

RIGHT JOIN tblAuditLog ON tblItems.ITE_ItemCode = tblAuditLog.AUD_ItemCode

To the end of the from clause returns the same results...

Have put in a query running on a timer to poll the database every 30 sec from the client app (over wireless network). This action alone takes over 30 secs...

Have already checked the firewall. UDP and IP ports both open and the SQL Server Browser is running too.