Change for the better - Martin Seymour comments on 2004 and why he is getting excited about 2005.

2004 saw Well-Pict European close down two of our offices, Scotland and Kent. This was not a decision I took lightly, or easily for that matter. We feared the closure of these businesses would harm our ability to provide the level of service our growers in these ares expect and deserve, but we are now confident this will not be the case: taking out offices in these regions has allowed us to work even more closely with growers.

It is all too easy to make changes to a successful business in the belief and with the vision you are taking it forward when, in fact, you can go backwards. However, we believe the changes we have made are to the benefit of all parties, as the removal of costs in these regions will lead to better returns to our growers and more attractive prices for our customers.

The changes in Scotland have brought about an opportunity for all Scottish growers to become involved with the local delivery format pioneered by AMS and ASDA. We will be proactively meeting with growers and we are very optimistic that the passion of the people of Scotland feel about Scottish stores selling only Scottish fruit will help us to expand the "Locals" scheme even further. It was just this passion from growers Cairntradlin Fruit and Kenny Wallace that ensured local fruit was delivered to stores right to the end of this season; for this we are very grateful and would like to extend our thanks.

The colsure of the office in Kent has given us an opportunity to work closer with Andrew Boxall, who will work as regional distributor and packer for the South East region. Andrew has been a long-standing supporter of the local delivery scheme. It is his team and our other Kent growers that enables us to ensure that all Kent stores has local fruit this year. In addition, the Kent County Council and Rob Weaver in particular have shown immense dedication in making consumers aware and getting them on board with this scheme. The success of this co-operation is something we will be working towards with other county councils across the UK.

The above aside, the industry as a whole found 2004 a tough year. Perhaps after the seemingly endless summer of 2003 we should have expected that anything and everything could go wrong would. However I am very pleased to be able to say that Well-Pict European growers supplying AMS worked exceptionally hard and enjoyed increased growth and reasonable profits. Although I cannot predict the weather or the topics the media will latch onto for 2005, next year is promising for our growers and us. We have new lines coming in and during 2005 AMS and ASDA will be making a concerted effort to mathc, if not exceed, ASDA's market share in other products.

With that, we leave the UK behind. Over the last few years I have taken Well-Pict European all over the globe. 2005 sees the network we have established in Portugal, UK, Spain, Holland, USA, France and South Africa in a position to offer mainland Europe the quality and service our UK customers currently enjoy, all under the Well-Pict European brand. Inspired by Well*Pict Inc in the United States, the WPE brand will give the customer the highest possible product integrity, priding itself on varieties, pick quality, food safety systems and second to none service levels.

With over 390 million people living in the newly enlarged "mainland" Europe, 2005 certainly looks to be a very, very exciting year.

Winter 2004