Season's greetings

Best regards for a joyous holiday season and a happy new year

Dear All
 
2009 has been the year of the financial crisis - a crises that developed into also an economic crisis and affected businesses globally. Now as we look forward to 2010 it is widely discussed whether we will have a "V" or "W" shaped recovery. The good news is that more and more businesses seem to encounter positive signs of economic and financial development. I hope that these positive developments will gain strength and that 2010  will become the turning point for the crisis.

Also for Arla Foods  2009 has been a challenging year. Nevertheless we have been able to continue the successful implementaiton of our growth strategy, and dispite the economic crisis we will again realize a double digit growth rate. Several of our innovative concepts have gained momentum: our concept for egg-replacers in the bakery industry; new innovative products for the infant formula segment such as osteopontin, and very promising new solutions for fermented products in the dairy industry.
 
We have also inaugurated our new Innovation Center where all our application work with customers will take place, and we look forward to realizing the benefits of these state-of--the-art facilities together with our customers. The inauguration of the Application Center coincides with the launch of Twintell TM - Twintell is our offer to customers for a structured and well-defined innovation process that will define targets and ensure an effective joint development process - it is our intention to use Twintell as a tool to ensure commitments to development objective and achieve these "on-time".

Arla Foods has a stated objective to establish local production in the US, and we have worked hard in 2009 to achieve this. Sofar, we have not been able to reach final agreements, but we will double our efforts in 2010 to realize this important milestone, and to continue to implement our growth strategy. Other efforts to expand our supply of innovative solutions will also continue with high priority.

As we enter 2010, we would like to thank you for your business in 2009 and for the trust you have shown our company. We will work hard to earn it again in 2010 and for the years to come.

Best regards for a joyous holiday season and a happy new year.

On behalf of the Arla Foods Ingredients Management Team.

Henrik Andersen