Annual Report 2008
Address of the Chairman
Confidently steering through economic gale.
Who would have thought that 2008 would turn out to be such an economically turbulent year? Commodity prices which were initially sky-high, plummeted unexpectedly whereas the US dollar improved in value against the euro later in the year. Those circumstances and our own efforts led to gradually improving margins … until the crisis hit mercilessly in the fourth quarter.
The biodiesel market in Belgium grew insufficiently owing to a lack of effective government incentives. Proviron turned cash positive in July but at the same time, it had to deal with a less filled order book.
The company faced some technical challenges which were taken on with a lot of dedication. It was a fruitful year in the field of research and development of new products, production methods and applications. I refer to our algae project, the plasticizers based on renewable raw materials and others. Our pipeline is promising and should start to bear fruit in 2009-2010.
But most of all, looking back, I feel very good about the very impressive progress we made in the area of safety. There was only one ‘day away from work accident’, in February 2008 and we have been working now accident-free for over one calendar year. This huge turnabout has been the result of our people’s hard work and clear leadership.
Thanks to the sale of some plots of land we are able to increase the capital considerably in 2009. Together with our employees’ efforts and supported by a focused strategy, this will ensure that Proviron steers through the economic gale unscathed, strengthened even.