Mack About Mack Mack Wholesale Fresca Group News Careers Contact Mack* *Setting the standards for the produce industry Chairman's Review Our Vision & Mission Customers Product Development Socially Responsible Trading Schools Fruit & Veg Scheme Latest Financial Results Resources Ts and Cs of business follow us on twitter Chairman's Review This is an extract from the 2015 Chairman's Statement for Fresca Group Limited, the parent company of Mack. The joy of a business with the diversity and scale of Fresca Group is that whichever direction I look to, there’s something innovative and interesting happening. I can honestly say that ‘business as usual’ is not the cultural norm around our companies. Our renewed focus on our core activities as instigated some two years ago has helped us foster a truly supportive board of directors, with each company encouraged to follow its own entrepreneurial direction. This year was our first with a new management structure, with Ian Craig in the role of Chief Executive. His work has underpinned all our development plans, and on a personal level, I have been able to devote more time to key relationships with our customers and our growers around the world. This has been more important than ever in the face of our evolving market. The UK market has continued to fragment with the strong growth of the discounters along with the increase in both convenience and on-line shopping putting additional pressure on those retailers heavily invested in large out-of-town supermarkets. Our businesses have responded by helping to develop and support shorter supply chains and more effective relationships. I have seen numerous different approaches to the challenges, with creative thinking and flexibility core to how we have managed in many cases not only to protect but to grow our share. Our financial result this year is satisfactory. We have achieved a good level of trading profitability in the face of significant price deflation which accounts for much of the drop in our headline turnover figure from £427 million in 2013/14 to £379 million this year. Our turnover was also impacted by our decision to sell our wholesale market business in Cardiff. Another tough but important decision taken during the year was to bring an end to our ERP project, known internally as Project Compass as described in the strategic report. Our profit before tax was £4.43m after absorbing some £2.97m of exceptional costs relating to this project. Our joint venture businesses have traded with great success this year. MMG Citrus is a fast-paced business that is opening new trading avenues with its team at source in South Africa, and which underpinned by our partner Martinavarro’s great strength in Spain, is blazing the trail on supply chain efficiencies for their customers. The dynamic approach that Antonio Avalos and his team have applied to marketing and NPD work is, I’m sure, a significant contributory factor to their success. Des Kingsley has been in charge at Thanet Earth for almost a full year now, and has succeeded in bringing the Thanet businesses together in a more unified approach. We are committed to constructing more glass at the site in the near future, bringing more top quality sustainably-grown British produce to our customers in answer to their growing demand. In Lincolnshire, Manor Fresh has been able to enjoy greater packing efficiency and to help ensure the quality of product for their customer with an upgraded and enhanced packing factory. Their dedicated customer focus has set a benchmark standard for excellence in our sector. Primafruit have agreed a groundbreaking new arrangement with Waitrose, taking them into sole supplier position for key fresh produce areas. The volumes Primafruit import are increasing rapidly now, and have justified a major new site extension project for their premises in Evesham. I want to offer my very sincere congratulations to the team at Primafruit for their success. Mack remains the largest part of our business by sales, and under the direction of Nigel Trood has negotiated its way through tricky trading conditions this year. A programme of site upgrades has improved both the look and efficiency of the Paddock Wood facilities, and a number of very interesting new opportunities are now coming to fruition thanks to a renewed focus on strategy and on business development. Also under Nigel’s management is DGM Growers, our specialist vegetable growing and supply business which has continued to successfully develop its business. We are fully-committed to our remaining wholesale businesses. Mack Birmingham is gearing up for when the market eventually moves to its new location, hopefully in early 2017. Notably, we said goodbye to Paul Williams who has retired from Mack Bristol after 27 years with our business. I wish him a very happy, well-deserved retirement. Our broad customer base, specialist services and excellent facilities set our Southampton businesses apart from their competitors and place them in a strong position for the future. After some 14 years with the business I have to announce that our Group Finance Director, Mike Musk has decided to retire from the Group and will be leaving at the end of November. Mike has played a huge role in the development of Fresca over this period and I would like to offer him our sincere thanks. My expectations for the year to come are high, with our direction clear and our teams all motivated to succeed. I have no doubt that the market will continue to be a challenging place with many of our major customers still searching for the best value supply chain. There is still no sign of an end to the deflationary trend in the price of our products. This is a significant concern to us, and one we will continue to monitor closely, helping to provide the opportunities and support for our businesses to navigate their own path to success. As ever, my thanks and warmest wishes go to all our people for their hard work and commitment to our company and its future. Christopher Mack July 2015 ©2014 M W Mack Limited. All Rights Reserved. MACK is a Fresca company