A message from our CEO

Dear colleagues,

A very challenging year is coming to an end. We all had to find our way amidst an unforeseen global pandemic, privately as well as professionally. I know that for many of us this has not been an easy time.

Dümmen Orange was impacted by this Covid-19 outbreak as well. As always, we think in these circumstances firstly of our people and our customers. Thanks to our ability to adapt quickly to changing circumstances - and with great support from out IT team – we shifted largely and successfully to remote working. I would like to express my gratitude to our people in the farms to find solutions in difficult and challenging COVID-19 situations and to all other colleagues being creative to keep on delivering to our customers. We managed our business with dedication and during the summer months sales even improved to a better level than initially expected.

In July we were confronted with the sudden death of our esteemed founder and colleague Harry Kloppenburg. We were deeply moved by this great loss.

Fortunately, there are several positive highlights to mention with respect to our business in 2020. In order to expand our market leadership in breeding, we opened our new state of the art Breeding Technology Centre. A unique place with an extensive team of R&D specialists working on all possible innovations for our customers around the globe.

Customer focus is key again. We want our customers at the forefront of everything we do. Pivotal for this ambition is our newly established Business Unit structure as per April 1st 2020. All seven Business Units are managed by colleagues with a long track record of customer cooperation, and they understand best what is needed to make our customers successful. In order to do so our Business leaders are responsible for their own profit and loss account. Finance has provided more transparency in our key numbers, so that we have a good understanding of all elements of our business and can take adequate and well-balanced decisions.

As a result of this reorganization, our Sales and Supply Chain teams are well connected and communicate on a regular basis. In general we benefit from more cross-functional and cross-regional cooperation. The quarterly business reviews – even though done virtually these days – were a first indication of improved internal alignment, communication and co-worker engagement.

During the year we continued integrating our businesses, as we came together through acquisitions, with the clear purpose to create ONE Dümmen Orange. After summer, a large group of colleagues from different regions and businesses teamed up to renew our company vision, mission and core values. Results will be communicated and the roll out will take place in Q1 and Q2 of 2021. I am sure this will guide us in positioning Dümmen Orange even stronger as a customer focused company and an undisputed authority in genetics and production. This should also enable us to explore how to institutionalize the values of Dümmen Orange, and how to develop a culture of working together and achieving results. In the end it is not only about what we achieve, but also how we achieve it.

All in all, 2020 was a turbulent year in many aspects. After all hard work, we started our new fiscal year on 1 October and so far, we perform slightly above budget. The order intake for 2021 looks good and our farms are on track with propagating high quality cuttings, bulbs and tubers. If we all continue to take ownership, we have a good chance to deliver our Budget 2020/2021 or even better. In short, things are heading in the right direction in many aspects of our business, but there is still a great deal of work to do. Our organization is embracing our changes and challenges. I look forward to working with you in 2021 and deliver successful results for our customers and our company.

Wishing all of you a well-deserved holiday break with your family and beloved ones, and a healthy and successful 2021.

Best regards,

Hugo Noordhoek Hegt