Florensis 75 years | 4.1 Expansion widely

Florensis 75 years 4.1 EXPANSION WIDELY Period 2000 - 2016

Smart m2 Innovative tray Further into Europe New start in cut flowers

January 2017

CONTENT 1 Introduction 2 New adventures in Africa 5 History repeats itself 7 Growing from strength to strength 9 Corporate Social Responsibility 10 Changes in Kenya 2007-2016 13 Drinking water, a medical centre and fish 17 Different growing and production strategies 18 Smart m2 19 Kupferzell-Bauersbach sold off 20 Education: a cornerstone of CSR Ethiopia 22 Innovative tray 26 German sales activities 27 Breeding 29 Our breeding partners 33 Seed production a strategic goal 34 The French market... 35 The home front 36 Further into Europe 42 New start in cut flowers

4.1 EXPANSION WIDELY January 2017 Dear colleagues, In September we celebrated our 75th anniversary together in an unforgettable way. On and around a sunny FlorensIsland we marked the occasion with some wonderful walks, fun sporting activities, plenty of good food, a wonderful performance by BLØF and a chance for many of us to let our hair down on the dance floor. Now the new year has started and you have before you the conclusive of the anniversary magazine. This is the part that ends in the present and covers the period in which many of our current employees have played a role.

Anniversary weekend

This is a period which has seen Florensis grow rapidly once again and focus more on marketing, as well as a period in which automation and digitisation have continued to gain in significance. As has become somewhat of a custom for us, we have seen some new members join the Florensis family: joint venture partners and companies that now bear our name. The third generation of Hamers entered the business and with great sadness we bade farewell first to our father, the founder of this wonderful family business, then to our brother Jan and most recently, our mother. Like us, they were incredibly proud of what Florensis has become and of everything each one of us has achieved. But we can’t rest on our laurels. That’s something we should never do. New challenges await us and we will be tackling them with great pleasure so that we will be able to celebrate the next anniversary with just as much joy and happiness as we have done this year.

F.l.t.r.: Herman, Rian, Wim-Arie and Iekje

Now all that remains is for us to wish you much enjoyment in reading this final part of the magazine and all the very best for a happy and healthy 2017!

Herman Hamer

Wim-Arie Hamer Florensis 75 years

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New adventures in Africa Our cuttings business continued to grow in the new millennium, so we needed to expand the number of our production locations. There was scope to do this in Kenya, but in order to spread the risk – the political situation in Kenya was not particularly stable and crime levels were relatively high there – and also for climate reasons, we had to consider another country as well. We chose Ethiopia.

Koka

Bureaucracy was booming in Ethiopia

Herman and Jan Ammerlaan first went in search of a suitable location in 2002. The most important criteria were temperature, amount of light, availability of good quality water and sufficient manpower. The area around the Koka reservoir, close to a river, seemed to tick all the boxes. Our competitors Dümmen and Syngenta had scouted the area previously and had already purchased land there. When Koka looked as if it would fit the bill, Peter Bresser went to view the area for himself and once he was happy, Ethiopia was chosen for the new cuttings production site in 2004. Ronald Vijverberg, who was working at Florensis Kenya at the time, was released from his duties there to set up and manage the project.

Slow start

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Florensis 75 years

Drilling for water

Once the decision had been taken and Ronald was made available, everyone was eager to set the ball in motion, but that turned out to be easier said than done. Bureaucracy was booming in Ethiopia and during the course of 2004, the board decided to postpone the project for a year because a suitable site in the Koka area hadn’t yet been found. On top of that, we needed to find a local partner in order to be eligible for PSOM funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Florensis ultimately found that partner in the

shape of Travel Ethiopia, which would take a 25 per cent stake in Florensis Ethiopia. As so much time had already been lost trying to find the right site and a local partner, we were under increasing pressure to at least get a nursery up and running before the 2005 production season. Working with Travel Ethiopia, we ultimately managed to find a suitable plot of land in the area where there was almost nothing else apart from the nascent DĂźmmen nursery and some small farms growing teff.

Start of pouring foundations Florensis Ethiopia

Masterpiece The challenge of setting up a ‘Dutch’ nursery in a relatively unknown country with virtually no foreign companies, let alone horticultural businesses was huge, but with Ronald the project was in good hands. He soon found his way through the tangle of national and local government authorities and suppliers and energetically got the project up and running. The first job was to build a fence around the 20 hectare plot to secure the construction site. Work then started on building the greenhouses, the first 15,000 m2 of which were completed in the course of 2005. The first cuttings made their way to the Netherlands some months later. Ronald had truly worked a miracle.

Plan Florensis Ethiopia

Jaap Anker at the newly installed company sign

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Cash in hand In Ethiopia, permanent staff members have their salaries paid into their bank accounts wherever possible. Day labourers, however, are paid in cash. This means that the Finance department staff literally have to count out money, sitting at a desk full of cash and envelopes, they count out each person’s wages, put them in an envelope and hand them over, all under the strict supervision of an armed security guard.

FET now Unlike in Kenya, Florensis Ethiopia (FET) was designed as a nursery with an ultimate size of approximately 15 hectares right from the outset. The greenhouse complex has subsequently been expanded almost every year since 2005, reaching the 14.5 hectares FET has today. However, over the years our relationship with Travel Ethiopia deteriorated: differences of opinion grew and there came a point where the actual working relationship had all but ended. After very difficult and prolonged negotiations, we bought out Travel Ethiopia in 2012 and acquired ownership of its 25 per cent stake. Throughout the years FET grew faster than planned and in 2016 we passed the milestone of 100 million URC. However, eventually there was no room left to expand the facility any further, so the search was on for a second production location in Ethiopia.

The search was on for a second production location in Ethiopia

Annemarie de Theije on the tractor

Water installation FET

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History repeats itself In the search for a new production location in Ethiopia, Florensis encountered an age-old problem: bureaucracy. Just as it had been a few years ago, finding and buying land was extremely time consuming. Eventually we became the proud owners of a plot of land on the other side of the village of Koka, about a 10-minute drive from Florensis Ethiopia.

Construction proceeded apace

Placing a fence around Florensis Abyssinia

Towards the end of 2015, work started on levelling the land and a fence was built around Florensis Abyssinia (FAF). The plan was to build about six hectares of greenhouses, warehousing and offices in the first phase. Construction proceeded apace and the first cuttings were delivered, ready for planting in the greenhouses in June 2016. By midSeptember the greenhouses were filled and Florensis Abyssinia was fully operational. The start of building greenhouses Florensis Abyssinia

Building greenhouses

Drilling for water

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The same ‘birthday’ Puzzling but true: both Florensis Kenya and Florensis Ethiopia were set up in 1997, even though in reality there were seven years between the two. Or even eight years, depending on the time of year. How come? It’s all down to the Ethiopian calendar. Ethiopia celebrates New Year’s Day on 11 September, which means that, according to their system, Florensis Ethiopia was set up in 1997. However, so was Florensis Kenya, but according to our calendar in this instance.

Document was issued approximately one year after the official commissioning nursery Kenya

In early October, following several months of unrest, the situation in the Koka area deteriorated after demonstrations in the town of Debre Zeyit, some 35 km away from Koka, got out of hand. The army stepped in and stationed around 90 soldiers at Florensis Ethiopia for a short period of time to protect the nurseries in the area against the riots. Fortunately peace returned relatively quickly and Florensis Ethiopia and Abyssinia were able to focus on the new production season.

Official assignment 20 ha of land in Koka, Ethiopia in 1997!

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Water silo ø23,67 1372 m³

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What to do when your office is not finished yet?

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Florensis 75 years

The first cuttings ready to be picked

Growing from strength to strength Various factors, including the rapid growth of our business, have meant that Florensis has needed to undergo changes on the organisational front as well. Sometimes these happen on our own initiative, but sometimes they are required by law: once a business reaches a certain size, for example, it has to set up certain statutory organs. Either way, Florensis is now unthinkable without its Supervisory Board (SB) and Works Council (WC).

Supervisory board The first SB was installed at Florensis on 1 February 2005. Although not yet mandatory at the time, it was a very worthwhile step in terms of professionalising the organisation, representing our shareholders’ major interests in respect of the company, changes in the market, including partnerships and globalisation, and major investment decisions. The first SB consisted of Victor Goedvolk (administration), Jos Vermunt (logistics and operations) and Jan van Rijsingen (market). Victor Goedvolk is now the longest serving SB member and is due to announce his retirement at the General Meeting of Shareholders in 2017. The other two members passed their respective batons to Jack van der Vorst (logistics and operations) and Ko Remijnse (market) some time back. Ko Remijnse takes over as chair in 2017.

Corinne Weeda Corinne Weeda (48) is currently employed as reporting director at Achmea. Achmea is a large Dutch insurance cooperative which operates familiar brands such as Zilveren Kruis, Centraal Beheer and Interpolis. Corinne also holds the finance portfolio for the Achmea Pension Fund Association (Stichting Pensioenfonds Achmea) on behalf of her employer. She has a very broad financial background, having studied Business Information Technology and Business Economics at Erasmus University (Rotterdam) and is an Executive Master of Finance and Control. Prior to working for Achmea, Corinne was employed by Goudse Verzekeringen, also a family firm, as well as by AEGON and InternatioMĂźller. Corinne is married to Nicholaas and they have a thirteen year old daughter called Nathalie. Corinne lives in The Hague with her family.

The working relationship between the board of directors and the SB is constructively critical and numerous major and less major decisions have been put to the SB for evaluation over the years. In the meantime, Florensis has grown to the size of business for which a SB is mandatory.

Works council A WC (Dutch: Ondernemingsraad/OR) within a family business is often a tricky issue and it has been no different at Florensis. The scale of the company has warranted a WC for many years, but before the request to establish one was officially submitted to the directors it remained a remote option. Until, that is, Peter de Graaf suggested at an MT meeting in 1997 that the time had come to set up a WC and that it was always better to initiate this yourself than wait until the request came from within the organisation. And so it came to pass. At a specially convened staff meeting on 26 June 1997, Jan Hamer announced that a WC was to be formed. Throughout his speech

The current Supervisory Board with f.l.t.r.: Ko Remijnse, Victor Goedvolk and Jack van der Vorst

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F.l.t.r. Martin de Vroed, Ab Flach, Angelique van Andel, Ronald van Spanje and John van Zwienen

it was apparent that the Hamer family was still a little hesitant about the idea of a WC. Be that as it may, the WC started work in December 1997. It took a while for both sides to find their feet, but everyone worked well together to begin with. However, matters began to deteriorate over the course of time, reaching a low point when various differences of opinion landed the board of directors and the WC at the mediation body, the Joint Sectoral Committee, in 1999. The board’s case was upheld and shortly afterwards the WC disbanded itself. It took until 2006 for a new WC to be established at Florensis. Since then, collaboration between the two sides has been good – very well, in fact. The board of directors and the WC are constructively critical towards each other, the way it should be if you want to achieve something together. The present WC consists of Martin de Vroed (chair), Ab Flach, Ronald van Spanje, Angelique van Andel and John van Zwienen. So far we have heard the directors’ view of working with the WC, but how does the WC view the relationship? Martin and Ab have not been members of the WC right from day one, but they have spent a good few years on it.

Passages from the speech of Jan Hamer at the foundation of the first WC. It was clearly still getting used to for the family Hamer to sit with a WC at a table :-)

OR

Florensis

Ondernemings Raad

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‘It didn’t take long for the WC to get back on its feet after it was resumed, and, with a changing membership, we have regularly discussed points raised by the staff with the then managing director and HR manager Leendert de Jong. Every managing director had, and has, their own way of chairing a meeting. Herman would be talkative, or not, depending on his mood and the time he had available. Casper van Kempen would only reveal what was absolutely necessary and Leo, the present COO, sometimes tends to lose track of time, which means everyone starts fidgeting in their chairs because subsequent appointments are at risk. In the beginning the WC members felt as if they were a bit of a nuisance, but, after a while, the meetings gained a more collaborative feel, making it increasingly more pleasant to put our heads together constructively in everyone’s interest. Sometimes we managed to deal with items in one sitting, but on other occasions issues arose which either or one of the sides needed to think through before deciding, resulting in a myriad of discussions and occasionally some flushed faces. Nonetheless, in recent years it has always been the aim of the WC team to represent our colleagues as effectively as possible on the one hand, while keeping the company’s interests in mind on the other.’

Corporate Social Responsibility How does it work?

Growing togethe r towards a better futu

re!

At Florensis we are extremely aware of the footprint that growing and shipping flowers and plants leaves behind. So Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a top priority for us. The provenance and methods of cultivation of flowers and plants are becoming ever more important in the horticultural world. Growing in a socially responsible way is achieved in many areas at Florensis, split into three categories: people, society and the environment.

People Florensis invests in the welfare and well-being of its employees. For example, the working conditions at all our locations are fully compliant with the relevant legislation. These days there is also a lot of emphasis on helping people at a distance from the job market to find work. This used to be the responsibility of Social Services, who would find them jobs in a sheltered workshop. But these days it is the responsibility of all members of the business community, and Florensis takes its responsibility in this regard very seriously. We also consider it a priority to help improve the living conditions of Florensis employees in developing countries. Eddy Verbeek and Ronald Vijverberg describe elsewhere in this edition how we go about that in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Florensis Netherlands

Kenya Flower Council

Florensis Cut Flowers Netherlands

Silver

Florensis Kenya

Visit Florensis.com

Florensis Ethiopia

Florensis Portugal

Society Florensis plays a role in society, both in Hendrik-IdoAmbacht and the surrounding area as well as in the countries in Africa in which we operate. Examples of this involvement are the various sponsoring activities we do, the Roparun charity run and organising the Fancy Fair, the proceeds from which go to the Roparun and various projects in Africa. And it is not just in the Netherlands that Florensis is committed to improving lives in the local community besides those of its own employees; we also sponsor schools and provide microcredit in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Fish production in wastewater

Environment In terms of the environment, Florensis aims for MPS-A certification at all its locations. This is achieved by producing in a sustainable way and through the ban on the use of neonicotinoids (chemicals that can kill bees). Another example is the use of LED lights for prolonging daylight. What’s more, Florensis uses biological pesticides wherever possible, with chemical products only ever used as a secondary choice.

Florensis Roparun team

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Changes in Kenya 2007 - 2016 Ten years after Florensis Kenya was set up, Peter Bresser moved to Portugal and Eddy Verbeek took over as general manager at Florensis Kenya. He was thrown to the lions almost immediately when major riots broke out across the country just a few months after he started.

Tribal conflict

Picking cuttings of Begonia

Eddy Verbeek did everything he could to calm the tensions rife

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The Kenyan national election results in 2007 were unpopular with a section of the population and tribal conflict broke out in the local area too. This was acutely felt at Florensis Kenya. Some of the staff found it hard to get to the farm, while others who lived on the farm weren’t able to leave. The rioting also meant that it wasn’t always possible to organise the URC transports to Europe. Eddy Verbeek did everything he could to calm the tensions rife among staff and to keep the company running. He and his team met the challenge and fortunately, after a few weeks, a degree of peace descended on the country again and production was successfully resumed.

Florensis Kenya (arrow) locked between Mayflower at the right and Silze at the left

Stuck in the middle As with our other locations across the globe, Florensis Kenya continued to grow rapidly. Expanding the existing site wasn’t an option, however, because Florensis was enclosed by the Silze organisation on one side and Mayflower on the other. Florensis had in fact helped Silze set up its new nursery back in 2000, and – since that time as well as for reasons of cost, the two companies had been working closely together wherever possible. In order to achieve the growth we needed, we rented greenhouses from Silze to start with. When this additional capacity was no longer enough, we rented more space elsewhere in the vicinity. The takeovers of both Silze and Mayflower came at a very apposite time.

‘Child labour‘ at Florensis Kenya

Mia Verbeek ‘at work’ in the greenhouse

Official opening new Florensis Kenya in 2012 Florensis 75 years

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Complete team Florensis Kenya

With these takeovers, Florensis Kenya tripled in size overnight. Growing from around 4.5 hectares to approximately 14 hectares. Immediately following the acquisition a largescale building project was launched. Within a short space of time, three separate nurseries were merged to form one large one with a central corridor, integrated facilities and smart offices.

Official opening new Florensis Kenya in 2012

Within a short space of time, three separate ­nurseries were merged to form one large one Although there were major cultural differences, the management was able to put an extremely slick new organisation in place, resulting in a professionally run cuttings production company that passed the 100 million URC milestone in 2016.

Florensis Kenya with at the background Lake Naivasha

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Drinking water, a medical centre and fish CSR in Kenya Caring for employees, the community and the environment probably has a far greater impact in a country such as Kenya where there are fewer facilities than it does here in the Netherlands. Florensis has always been aware of this. The growth of Florensis Kenya, both in terms of size and development, makes CSR ever more important but also offers opportunities for us to set up our own projects. And this is what we are doing, as Eddy Verbeek explains.

Classroom Florensis Kenya

Medical clinic ‘There has always been medical care in place for Florensis workers and their immediate family members. To begin with, this was provided at the hospital run by our neighbour Sher Agencies, but for a few years now we have had our own medical clinic where we not only help people with acute problems but also provide advice and carry out vaccination programmes.’

Toddler group Florensis Kenya

Children’s day-care centre Given the large number of female workers, it was natural that we should set up a day-care centre for their kids. This has since grown into a fully equipped professional nursery/primary school for 120 children aged between four months and six years.

Clean drinking water and... fish! ‘Clean drinking water is not something you can take for granted in Kenya. Diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and even cholera break out regularly and are often caused by contaminated drinking water. That is why we invested in a new, high-tech drinking water system a few years ago. This has been a very worthwhile investment, as the statistics on drinking-water-related diseases, that occur at other companies but hardly ever at Florensis, prove. Drinking water treatment unfortunately has the downside of producing large volumes of wastewater, but this necessity has been turned into a virtue. For almost 2 years now we have been growing catfish in this salt wastewater, producing almost 500 kg of fish for our workers every month.’

Official opening of the sponsored classroom Rubiri Secondary School

Fish production for employees Florensis 75 years

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Environmentally friendly CSR not only relates to people but also to the environment, and over the past few years the horticulture sector has been coming under increasing pressure to stop using pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids.

2013 - Visit of minister Ploumen at Florensis Kenya together with representatives of i.a. WWF-Kenya, Hivos, Women@Work campaign, Kenyan Ministry of Labour and FloraHolland

Christmas gifts Florensis Kenya

Own honey production

‘So in 2013 we set up ten beehives at our location in Kenya. Our initial idea was to use them to control pests in an environmentally friendly way, but an additional benefit has been that we are now producing more than 500 kg of honey every year.

This is how we contribute on all fronts The second focus of our environmental policy is Lake Naivasha, or rather its conservation. In Kenya we grow our mother plants exclusively on substrate with drip irrigation to avoid wasting water. Our wastewater, both from the nursery and the village, is filtered before it flows into the lake. We do that by means of a constructed wetland in which biological processes, a large range of different plants and sunlight clean the water. Lastly, we have worked with other horticulture companies in the region and the World Wide Fund for Nature to set up the PES (Payment for Environmental Services) project. This project helps small farmers upstream by providing them with technology that is not only better for the environment but also increases their farming output. This is how we contribute on all fronts.’ The list of CSR projects at Florensis Kenya is much longer than has been described here and also includes projects in education, healthcare and wildlife conservation.’

Private clinic with pharmacy

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2016 - State Secretary Van Dam visits Florensis Kenya together with ambassador Makken and other embassy staff. Also on the picture: Simon Mwangi, Nelson, Eddy Verbeek and Sjoerd de Boer (Florensis)

Van: Mike Rimland <m rimland@costafarms.c om> Datum: 8 juni 2016 18:36:55 CEST Aan: Eddy Verbeek <E ddy.Verbeek@florens is.com> Kopie: Robbert Hame r <Robbert.Hamer@ florensis.com>, LJ Co <LJ@costafarms.com ntillo >, Maria Costa Smith <msmith@costafarm Onderwerp: Thank s.com> you Dear Eddy, I wanted to thank you again for your time and for the in-depth tour. in Kenya is, without Your operation there a doubt, the nicest sto ck propagation nurser say that for many rea y I have ever seen. I sons – including how clean the operation is of the stock plants, as and the flawless qua well as your commitme lity nt to your team of em have gone the extra ployees. You guys mile in caring for the wellbeing and happin and it showed. It wa ess of your employee s truly emotional to see s the considerations you like the health clinic have given things and the cooking fuel you supply them at whole us was seeing the sch sale. The topper for ool, the wonderful em ployees, and the hap smiles that you have py children with big in the school, which the company built and ma meeting the teachers, intains. Even when we could feel their gra titude. I can’t wait to the nursery and the show the pictures of other things we saw to Mr. LJ Contillo, vice presid division, and also Mrs ent of our color . Maria Costa Smith, our executive vice pre there, I don’t often rec sident. As I said to you ommend a nursery -esp eci LJ and Maria should ally one so distant fro visit, but yours is a ver m Miami -- that y special one they sho uld see first-hand. I do also want to tha nk you for the wonde rful lunch at the privat special experience to e game reserve. It wa have lunch with you sa while viewing the gam were fun to see trying e animals (the monke to snatch some lunch, ys too). Of course, nothin around behind your nur g matches walking sery in the wide open wild with giraffes, zeb buffalo near us. ra and Cape Horn Please also know tha t if you or anyone on your Kenyan team is love to give you and/or in the USA, we would them a grand tour of our nurseries. Robbert, thank you aga in for arranging the tou r with Eddy of your ope ration there. Best always, Mike Rimland Costa Farms USA www.costafarms.com

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Dark days in the history of Florensis Kenya In 2007, the first year in which Florensis operated in Kenya, presidential elections took place. It was a headto-head race between two candidates concluded by an unexpected inaugural moment. Shortly after, tensions mounted tangibly throughout the country. Protests soon broke out, starting peacefully but ending in intertribal violence. Many thousands of people fled their homes and hundreds were killed. Things remained calm for some time in Naivasha, where Florensis is located. It wasn’t until a month after the outbreak of the first protests that violence reared its head in Naivasha too. There was an atmosphere of fear, panic and especially a great deal of insecurity. Shops and businesses closed and marauding gangs made life very difficult. Fortunately, many of our workers lived in the relative safety of the nursery site and work became something of a distraction in those uncertain times. As there were plenty of workers present we were able to continue exporting our products, even though consignments had to be driven to the airport in a convoy. When we took to the roads ourselves we always travelled with our (flight)cases in the boot.

A Florensis car is used to bring the properties of employees to safety

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Shopping also had to be done in a convoy. On arrival at the supermarket our awaiting order was quickly shoved into the car so that we could drive off again immediately. Eventually hunger became the biggest problem for our employees. Shops remained closed and there were no more supplies being brought in. However, this also meant that the farmers in the area couldn’t sell their produce to the shops, which meant food for us after all. This produced some amusing stories afterwards, such as the time when we organised mangetout beans for everyone, only to hear the next day how much preparation work had gone into the pods for precious few peas! We are proud to note that the workers at Florensis didn’t turn against each other and that they organised themselves to keep the village around the Florensis site safe. And also that none of our workers suffered any injuries directly, except for one or two minor ones. Many of them did have family members who had to flee, who were wounded or even died, however. Dark days in the history of Florensis which are fortunately behind us now.

Free food distribution

Different growing and production strategies Florensis and growth are inextricably linked. At whatever stage the company happens to be, growth is one of our aims and is achieved, both organically and through acquisitions and partnerships.

Doubling of tray numbers and turnover

The 2 millionth tray rolls off the delivery line

By the late 1990s we had doubled the number of trays sown and plants produced in just six years. Reaching the milestone of one million trays sown in one season in 1996 was reason to celebrate. Another celebration followed less than six years later when we reached yet another landmark: two million trays delivered in one season. It was exactly the same story in plant production numbers. Between 1996 and 2002, the number of plants we were producing rose from 300 to as many as 625 million!

Wholesale customers and private stock One of our current goals for the coming years is growth in wholesale customers and private stock. Private stock production involves the production of tens of millions of cuttings of varieties owned by customers which are produced especially for them. The main types of plants involved are Campanula, garden mums, Calibrachoa and a number of evergreen pot plants. Sales to wholesale customers in Europe, Asia and North America are also growing.

Karel van der Braak symbolically handing over the 2 millionth tray Speech for the celebration of the 2 millionth delivered tray

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Smart m2

Leo Hoogendoorn and Leon Duijnisveld

Growth can only be achieved if production capacity is increased correspondingly. From a strategic point of view, Florensis cannot and does not want to grow solely by producing in-house. So we have been renting growing space from vegetable plant growers since the late 1980s. Generally speaking, these companies’ seasons are the opposite to ours, many use modern equipment and are experienced growers. So Florensis doesn’t just rent growing space but smart square meterage too! We have been working with some partners, such as Van der Lugt, since the late 1980s. But over the years we have started working with many more plant nurseries, and in the peak period in 2016 we currently grow around 75 per cent of our production off-site.

Assembling MixMasters® plugs at Noordam Plants

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External locations: Leon Duijnisveld, Peter Burne, Sandy Shepherd and Edwin Kodde

What started out as collaborative arrangements have become strategic partnerships that benefit both parties. Other major strategic partners besides Van der Lugt and WPK are Brabant Plant and Noordam Plants.

Nursery Kupferzell-Bauersbach, Rüdiger Waltz with the pink shirt

Kupferzell-Bauersbach sold off At the end of the day, centralising production is a strategy designed to achieve more efficiency, lower cost prices and better quality. It was with this in mind that Florensis decided in 2007 to sell off its Bauersbach facility and transfer production back to the Netherlands in early 2008. As a result, production volumes at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht rose by 20 percent – an increase that was accommodated well, following various adjustments in the sowing and gapping-up department. Rüdiger Walz, general manager of Florensis Germany, left at the end of 2007 and set up his own company in Bauersbach, Walz Gartenbau OHG, producing end products.

Rüdiger Waltz in action for TV broadcasting

Centralising production

Location Bauersbach

Farewell Florensis sold its very last Tagetes and Dahlia seedling boxes in 2005. Thus it bade farewell to this product form some 30 years after selling its first seedling boxes.

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Education: a cornerstone of CSR in Ethiopia Some classrooms of the Ejersa-Koka High School

One of the cornerstones of Florensis’ CSR programme in Ethiopia is education. We are running several projects in this field. We first got down to work at the primary school in Koka in 2007-2011 – literally, in fact, because under the guidance of Ronald Vijverberg and with the help of other companies and local residents, a fence was built around the school, 18 toilets and an administration office were constructed, and 18 classrooms were completely renovated. Furthermore, six new classrooms were added later. In 2012, once this project was more or less complete, we started work on Koka High School. This project is now nearing completion. On a piece of waste ground we built 12 classrooms, 12 toilets, an administration building, a library, an IT building and two practice buildings. Ronald was once again in charge of the project, which was carried out jointly with two other companies plus local residents. In recognition of his efforts, Ronald also won a special ‘award’, reported on by the local newspaper as follows: ‘01-02-2014, E-Newsletter Voice of EHPEA. Ronald Vijverberg was rewarded for his work on the construction of a completely new secondary school in Koka, Ethiopia. He was given the highest honour in the form of a white saddled horse. In the Oromia culture, this represents the highest honour or award you can receive. Working on behalf of Florensis and two other companies, Red Fox (Dümmen) Ethiopia PLC and Syngenta, Ronald oversaw the construction of a completely new secondary school financed by these three companies.’

20 Florensis 75 years

Eddy and Ronald receive cheques for the local sustainability projects, with money raised by the Fancy Fair

The Koka OVC project is another Florensis project and is focused on helping orphans and other vulnerable children. For more than ten years now, an average of around 50 children from Koka Town have been given support in the areas of education, food and medical care. Around 75 children are being helped this year and the aim is to provide support for 100 children in 2017.

Green project Of course, Florensis Ethiopia doesn’t only contribute to educational projects. Another important project is the reforestation programme started in 2011, which was originally scheduled to run until 2016. Over a period of five years, around 30,000 trees were planted on an area of 15 hectares of land that had suffered severely from erosion. A risky project, since this is an area in which no rain falls for 6-7 months per year, and the likelihood of the trees taking root and surviving is no more than around 50 percent. However, good results have been achieved and local leaders have asked Florensis to continue the project. In addition, to provide greater protection against erosion, a number of dams were built and two guards patrol the area to prevent cows from grazing there.

FANCY FAiR FLORENSiS

.flore www is.nlnsis.nl uur w.flo rens 4 ww 2018-14 7 mei meivan rdag 102016 zate rdag zate bacht ingang) Hendrik-Ido-Am Locatie: Langeweg 85 (3e

Fancy Fair Florensis

Another important project is the reforestation programme

n, Verkoop van jonge plante en ed kgo plantmateriaal, per hangingbaskets.

The enthousiastic Fancy Fair team is ready to start the day

& Co Ook voor kinderen: Kid2 st/m 17 jaar activiteitenprogramma

voor kinderen van

en EthiopiĂŤ en naar de Roparun De opbrengst gaat naar projecten in Kenya

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Innovative tray Launch of the New Florensis Tray On 15 December 2005 we celebrated the official launch of the New Florensis Tray (NFT). The name may not be the pinnacle of originality, but the invention certainly is. It is this innovative spirit that time and again keeps Florensis one step ahead of its competitors. The actual launch had been preceded by around two years of research into the best solution for a new tray.

Old Styrofoam tray

The use of expanded polystyrene is coming under increasing pressure Multi-solution Increasing complaints about the old tray

22 Florensis 75 years

There were various reasons why we wanted to develop a new tray. First of all, our customers continued to have trouble removing the plants from the traditionally used trays. Secondly, it is possible to make the walls between the cells of a hard plastic tray much thinner so you can have more cells per tray, delivering a significant cost benefit. The use of hard plastic was also a better choice from the point of view of corporate sustainability, with the use of expanded polystyrene coming under increasing pressure. Lastly, hard plastic also has much better dimensional stability, which opens up more and better opportunities for automation.

Edwin Frickus in the Company News of 2004

Project team gets down to work Once the starting points had become clear, a project team was assembled in 2004, led by Peter van Esch, Martin Borsje and Adriaan Vonk. This consisted of several working groups, including Cultivation, Sales, Internal and External Process, Information Flows and, of course, Costs. We had all the knowledge we needed in terms of plant cultivation in-house and hired an external engineering consultancy to advise on technical aspects. One by one, all the technical issues around design, stackability, strength, smoothness, life span, ergonomics, dimensional tolerances and weight were resolved. The result was a tray with a minimum life span of eight years. Now, 11 years after it was launched, measurements show that the NFT has far exceeded its projected life span and will last for a good few years yet.

Very detailed strenght calculations were necessary

Technology and cultivation played an equal role in the development of the NFT, and one of the most important decisions was that we would have to move away from our old friend the pressed plug. After spending a whole year testing mini trays designed especially for Florensis with different cell types, we realised that removing a pressed plug could still cause problems. From an ergonomic point of view, hard plastic and pressed plugs are not a good match. We reached the conclusion that we would have to switch from pressed plugs to loose-filled trays, and from ebb and flow floors to overhead irrigation.

Growth of mini trays integrated in the old trays

Testing different types of cells

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The result The big day arrived on 15 June 2005. The New Florensis Tray was unveiled in the presence of local staff and both Dutch and foreign representatives.

Old seed store

New seed store

Adaptions seed store and washing facilities

The NFT is available in five versions, with either 510, 288, 180, 128 or 84 cells, and can be randomly stacked. DW Plastics, a Belgian producer of beer crates, was tasked with manufacturing the NFT. The big challenge for them was the fact that the tray is a much more delicate product than a beer crate.

The total investment in the project amounts a total of €8 million Following the initial trial production runs, the board took the decision on 25 May 2005 to start using the NFT from the start of the next bedding plant season. Our first order with DW Plastics was for 1.6 million trays. Besides the trays, the total investment in the project included investments in moulds, adaptations to seed- and gapping-up lines, delivery systems and in the nursery itself, amounting to a total of €8 million. Compared with the numbers of ‘old’ trays sold in 2004, we would now be able to grow 14 per cent more plants with the NFT. A truly worthwhile investment.

Unofficial strength test NFT at DW Plastics, producer of beer crates :-)

24 Florensis 75 years

Building stock of NFT trays

Beer crate model for NFT colours On 15 December 2005, following the earlier internal launch, we officially started using the New Florensis Tray. The inaugural event was moderated by retired boxing champion Arnold Vanderlyde. Mrs. Hamer marked the launch by switching on the new seed lines carrying the NFT.

At some point during the development process of the New Florensis Tray (NFT), the trivial but nonetheless tricky question raised its head: what colour should the NFT be? Opinions were divided. White gets dirty too quickly, yellow attracts insects, red doesn’t look good, and green doesn’t go well with our product. Actually, that applies to all dark colours. In the end we came to the conclusion that the NFT should have a pale blue, slightly lilac tint. But a colour card didn’t help much either. DW Plastics ultimately came up with a solution. They offered to produce a series of beer crates in different shades for us, and when they were placed alongside one another the decision was quickly made.

Lilac beer crate Peter van Esch hands over a tray filled with chocolates to Mrs. Hamer as a gift for the official commissioning of the new tray

Jan Hamer with Arnold Vanderlyde (moderator of the fesitve gathering)

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Alfons in all his glory In his own characteristic way, Alfons Hegele informed everyone about the closure of the Weilimdorf office by e-mail. Date: 27 May 2016 17:21:12 CEST Hello together, Wednesday Hagen and Birgit were in Stuttgart and all computers, printers, telephone, faxes etc. were removed and brought to Weeze. Monday May 30th the transport company will come to bring all furniture to Quedlinburg where they can use it. I already removed the company name in front of the house. Tuesday Florensis Stuttgart is history, and really history it is on the 6th or 7th of June, when Hagen is at the notary in Weeze to close the office Stuttgart also legally. Alfons

German sales activities The merger between Florensis and Walz dates back as far as 1 October 1999. In 2007 Florensis took over Rüdiger Walz’s stake in Florensis Deutschland GmbH, becoming the 100 percent owner. At the same time Alfons Hegele took over from Rüdiger as general manager, inheriting a difficult task.

Alfons inherits a none too easy task In quick succession he had to manage two major reorganisations, shutting down young plant production in Bauersbach and the phased closing of the office in Weilimdorf (Stuttgart) after the acquisition of Ball Germany in 2009. The office work which previously took place in Weilimdorf transferred to the former Ball Germany office in Weeze. This was finally completed in the spring of 2016. When Alfons Hegele and his right-hand man Werner Lange retire this same year, the office in Weilimdorf also closes.

Former office of Florensis Deutschland (Walz) in Stuttgart Weilimdorf

26 Florensis 75 years

Hagen Kallaene had already taken over as sales manager from Alfons a few years earlier. Now the entire German team works from the Weeze office, which is located in the magnificent Wissen Castle. Over the years, Germany has grown into Florensis’ biggest sales market.

Wissen Castle

Breeding Just before the turn of the millennium, Florensis took the decision to invest in a breeding facility of its own. Quedlinburg (Germany) was chosen, and the company was right to do so: now, 16 years on, it has proved to be a sound strategic choice. Florensis’ position in the supply chain has strengthened and breeding makes a significant contribution to the organisation’s bottom line. The combination of in-house breeding plus own genetic material enables Florensis to offer an excellent assortment and anticipate changes in the market. As time went by, more and more breeding activities took place at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht as well, but our first, very own breeding operations started out at Quedlinburg.

Viola Frizzle Sizzle

Quedlinburg Right from day one, the focus of our breeding work at Quedlinburg has been on vegetatively propagated species such as Osteospermum, Petunia, Verbena and other small products. The first two products we bred ourselves were Sanvitalia ‘Yellow Beauty’ and Lobelia ‘White Butterfly’. To begin with we also worked with pansies and violas at Quedlinburg, but this programme was transferred to Kieft Seeds after three years. We held on to the very successful Viola wittrockiana ‘Frizzle Sizzle’ F1, and the early flowering Viola cornuta ‘Valentine’ F1 is another successful variety from the early years. Viola trials

Florensis Quedlinburg

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Judging trials with f.l.t.r. Willem-Jan Troost, Tobias Bräunig, Remco Wertwijn, Ute Gebhardt , Marc Knof and René Najda In a repeat of what had happened at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht sometime previously, a powerful local hailstorm with hailstones the size of golf balls smashed the greenhouses at Quedlinburg to smithereens. It was terrible timing.

Hail damage new building Quedlinburg

28 Florensis 75 years

The greenhouses at the Quedlinburg facility were already fairly outdated when we bought it in 1999. Over the years we installed a few extra greenhouses and made some adjustments to the facilities. Work started on renovating the rest of the greenhouses in 2011. On the very day on which one of the new greenhouses was to be put into use, the hailstorm passed overhead and reduced 70 per cent of its glass to shards within five minutes, rendering it unusable. Fortunately the glaziers were able to repair the damage within a few days.

Tobias Bräunig amongst perennial trials

Leo Hoogendoorn with Mr. Gutscher

Our breeding partners Our in-house facility at Quedlinburg is not the only place where Florensis specialises in breeding. We have long-term, exclusive collaborative agreements with various partners, each of which has specialist knowledge of a particular crop. Some of these programmes eventually transferred to Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht as a result of takeovers.

Gutscher Florensis’ first long-term, exclusive joint venture was with Gutscher for Primula acaulis. Mr Gutscher’s age and the fact that his production facilities were outdated led in 2014 to his breeding programme being transferred in its entirety as well as physically to Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. This genetic material was – and still is – unique, and included 70 commercial hybrids: a wonderful product portfolio that had been built up with Mr Gutscher’s expert knowledge. The only disadvantage was that this knowledge was not written down on paper but existed only in Mr Gutscher’s head, so our breeder René van den Ende spent the winter of 2013 working closely with Mr Gutscher and learning as much as possible from him. Today, the third breeding cycle is running at HP1, with the main aim of improving productivity and achieving better germination. Florensis is the market leader in Primula, with our combination of in-house genetic material supplemented by material from third parties and our outstanding young plants.

Senna Hoogendoorn, daughter of Leo

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Fred Yates In late 2013 Florensis took over the Begonia boliviensis programme from Fred Yates and transferred it to our Dutch base. This was and is a very promising programme, since not only is Begonia a growth market, but it also has a large genetic pool. Production of Begonia cuttings is a specialist process that demands a lot of know-how. We have that know-how and we are planning to start producing unrooted cuttings in Ethiopia for the North American market. The first cuttings, including Begonia ‘Glowing Embers’, will be heading for North America in the 2017 season.

Begonia breeding with RenĂŠ van den Ende

Selection trials Begonia with Wim Mieremet

30 Florensis 75 years

Wim Mieremet and Fabienne Monté with the Ball team

Silze Florensis has been working closely with Silze on Pelargonium Toscana for many years. This working relationship entered a new phase in 2011 when Florensis took over Silze’s Pelargonium breeding, URC production, rooting and sales activities. Most of the rooting activities were transferred to Van der Haak, with a small proportion remaining with Silze. The breeding activities were incorporated into a new joint venture between Florensis, Van der Haak and Ball: Toscana Breeding. Fabienne Monté was hired to head the breeding programme. To prepare for the role, Fabienne first spent a year in Weener in Germany working with Mr. and Mrs. Fischer, the couple who set up the Pelargonium programme at Silze in the 1990s and developed it with so much passion. In 2012 the Geranium programme was transferred to a specially adapted department at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. Besides the breeding activities, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht is also home to the nucleus stock for all the parties involved in this programme. Fabienne manages the worldwide programme.

Pelargonium breeding tests at Silze in Weener (Germany)

This working relationship entered a new phase in 2011

Pelargonium catalogues of 2012

Mr. and Mrs. Fischer judging the selections trials

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Poinsettia trials at Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht

Steve Rinehart Steve Rheinhart is an expert in Poinsettia breeding and production, with more than 25 years’ experience under his belt. We set up a joint venture with him in North America a number of years ago. Steve’s experience proved invaluable and we were soon able to select the first candidates to launch. Euphorbia pulcherrima breeding is strategically important for Florensis because production of Poinsettia cuttings can, for the most part, be combined with production of Pelargonium cuttings, making it extremely cost-effective. Herman and Al Davidson (Ball)

Mr. and Mrs. Hamer at the Poinsettia production. Mid 2000 they produced them in large volumes for the auction and trade. This picture is taken for use on a Christmas card.

32 Florensis 75 years

Poinsettia breeding is an expensive and intensive process Poinsettia breeding is an expensive and intensive process because all candidate plants have to be grafted. Final plant assessment takes place in both the Netherlands and the US. At the moment Florensis is also testing a number of Christmas star, varieties from a limited Poinsettia programme acquired from Silze, with the first test productions from this programme expected to be available in the upcoming season

Seed production a strategic goal Some years ago it became clear that more and more suppliers of perennials were cutting back their product range. This made Florensis vulnerable to a certain extent. At the same time, we also wanted more influence over delivery reliability and plant quality in the perennials area. That is why, in 2012 and led by Jos Nederpel, Florensis started producing a wide range of perennials in-house, growing them mainly under sheltered cultivation circumstances in glass- and screen houses. The company also set up a wide-ranging selection programme in order to achieve a higher quality level of basic perennial varieties propagated by seed. Besides breeding and own selections, seed production is one of the cornerstones of Florensis’ current position as market leader and a way for us to maintain and build on this position in the future. Most of our seed production takes place at the Weel nursery in the Netherlands and at Florensis.

Jos Nederpel and Tim Weel

Nursery Weel - compartmentalised greenhouse for seed production

The management visiting nursery Weel

Special greenhouse with netting for perennial seed production (QLB)

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The French market...

GĂŠraldine and Serge Voltz together with Herman and Rian

Florensis has very successfully collaborated with Graines Voltz in France for almost 20 years. Following the acquisition of Ball Ducrettet, the market share that Graines had secured underwent another growth spurt. This growth continued in the ensuing years with the acquisition of Saulais, France’s largest producer of plant plugs and a major competitor of Graines Voltz, and Plan Ornamental, a medium-sized distributor of seeds and young plants, in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Graines Voltz has since become market leader in France – a position it will not relinquish easily. In addition to a strong team of representatives and a solid distribution network, two factors which set it well ahead of the competition, GV also has a very wide product range. Whereas this is usually unviable elsewhere in Europe, it is successful in France because the French market consists of a lot of small customers. Along with the strong team of representatives and distribution network, this very complete product range is a third factor that makes it very difficult for the competition to take market share away from GV.

... and UK operations As a result of the Ball deal, Florensis Flower Seeds was taken over by Ball Colegrave in 2009. Both companies have a strong market position with a market share of more than 50 per cent between them in order to retain this it was decided to adopt a structure in which Florensis Flower Seeds and Ball Colegrave would each continue on an independent footing. Florensis Netherlands would continue to produce for Florensis Flower Seeds, with sales manager Richard Bull heading the sales team and reporting to Sandy Shepherd, general manager of Ball Colegrave. Sales and technical cultivation support are also provided from the Netherlands within the Western Europe cluster.

34 Florensis 75 years

The home front So how about Florensis in the Netherlands? The Ball deal not only affected Florensis’ locations elsewhere in Europe but also impacted on those in the Netherlands. Because the integration of Ball Holland was expedient, the impact was positive. In practical terms, the deal meant an expansion of the team of representatives plus the addition of a number of key products to our already extensive range. The home front – the Dutch market – responded positively to the partnership.

Cut flowers History has taught us that combining cut flowers and bedding plants in young plant production operations is by no means a match made in heaven. So the cut flower activities of Ball Holland, formerly Vegmo, were organised as a separate entity.

On the acquisitions trail Just as it is doing in many other countries, Florensis is growing rapidly in the Netherlands. Part of this growth is organic and part stems from acquisitions. For example, on 1 October 2013 Florensis took over all the pot and bedding plant activities of Combinations. This resulted in an unusual situation because the parties were still competitors in cut flowers and Combinations (Noordam Plants) was also an important external production location for some of our young plants, specifically for Mixmasters. Further takeovers followed in 2014, when Pres-tige Plants, which mainly grew lavender and Begonia, was incorporated into Florensis at the same time as the organic young herb plant producer Growing Green. The two companies were integrated into the Florensis production organisation in 2015-2016. From the 2017 season onwards Florensis will be selling its vegetable range under the Vita Certa label as part of the ‘Big Taste’ marketing concept. The plant material will be grown by two strategic partners: Saulais and Van der Lugt. Like elsewhere in Europe, we are therefore constantly changing in the Netherlands too.

VOOR O NMIDDEL LIJKE PU Hendrik-I BLICATIE do-Amba cht, 27 se ptember 2013 ---------------------FLOREN SIS EN CO ----------------------------MBINAT ---------IONS GAA ---------Met inga N STRATE ---------ng van GISCHE ---------1 oktobe SAMENW samenwer r 2013 ERKING king aan AAN gaan Flor m.b.t. de perkplante ensis en opkweek n. Onderd van uitgan Combina perkplante eel van tio gs deze sam ns een n uit zaad enwerking materiaal van éénstrategisc van Com he binations en meerja overneem is dat Florensis rige potFlorensis de verkoo t. en versterkt p van pothiermee kan door ha en de ar positie op de inte beter verd samenwerking op rnationale het gebied elen over meerdere, markt va van elkaar va n uitgangs hoog gekw n jonge plantenp s kennis roductie en kunde verwezen alificeerde de produc materiaal en wordt ve lijkt. Com tie rdere optim , productielocatie binations zich door s. Door ge volumes nog zal met na alisatie in de jaren bruik te m heen het me die pr productie etc. aken beste bew oducten en pr od uc vo ezen heef tontwikke t, zoals He or Florensis prod ling uc lianthus, De overna Viola, Lava eren, waar zij me van de ndula, Cy gevolgen pot- en pe claam, voor de w erkgelegen rkplanten activite iten heid bij be ide bedrijv van Combinations De produc en hebben zal vrijwel tie zal in eerste inst . geen dire Hendrik-I cte antie gehe do-Amba cht. Vana el samen plantmat gebracht f medio eriaal voor worden op januari za Florensis. l Combina de locatie tions aanv van Floren “Door de si angen m et opkwee s in perkplante strategische sa k van menwerki nactiviteite ng grote volu n aan Fl met, en orensis, mes prod de over ka uceren. M Martin No dracht et als uite n Combinations ordam. van de nog hoog indelijk do pot- en waa el de eind klant optim rdigere producte Herman n in Hamer vu aal te be dienen,” lt hierbij activiteite aldus aan dat n en de sa “Florensis menwerki betrokke m et nen, klan ng op prod de overna ten, Com uctiegebi me van hiermee binations ed goede de pot- en vanuit ee en mogelijkhe n solide ba perkplante nog verd sis haar pr Florensis, tot een den ziet er uit.” n om dit vo oducten en succes te or alle m diensten aken. Flor aan de po en sis bouw t- en perk t plantenkw Florensi ekers s is een veredelaar zaad en st en produc ek, gevest ent/distrib igd in He in Nederla ut nd eu nd, Portug rik-Ido-A r van sier mbacht, al, Kenia gewassen Nederland en Ethiop van jong . Het bedr ië en leve Combina rt door he ijf heeft pr e planten uit tions is el oductielo Europa. een plan sierteelt, caties te nkwekerij gevestigd productie van jong in ‘s-Gra locaties, ui ve tg nzande, angsmater en levert Ne ia door heel al derland. Europa. Het bedr voor de groenteijf heef en t versch Voor mee illende r informat ie: Florensis - Herman Hamer, + Combina 31 78 62 tions - M 3 3200 artin Noor dam, +31 174 412 432

Herbs & Vegetables

Edition 2017

Matthiola trials at a grower

MixMasters 2017

Florensis 75 years

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Further into Europe

Assortment show at Langelois, Austria

Besides our major sales markets like Germany, the UK and France, Florensis operates in many other parts of Europe, such as Austria, Italy and Switzerland and, further east, in countries like Poland and Hungary. In every country, Florensis has undergone a very different development history since we first set foot there, sometimes successfully from the outset, and sometimes with a few ups and downs.

Austria Florensis has been operating in Austria since 1989. We got off to a successful start there but the market slowed down progressively after the turn of the millennium. In 2006 we agreed with our agent Erik Herget that Florensis Germany would take over his activities and invoice Austrian customers directly, with Erik staying on as an independent sales representative for Florensis in Austria. This didn’t work unfortunately, for a variety of reasons.

Günther and Michael joined Florensis Germany and got Florensis Austria off to a flying restart in no time at all

Africa trip with Austrians, on the front Michael Wutz

36 Florensis 75 years

In the same period, Florensis came into contact with Günther Soukop and Michael Wutz, two representatives of a competitor who were looking to switch to Florensis. An agreement was soon reached. Günther and Michael joined Florensis Germany and got Florensis Austria off to a flying start in no time at all. After years of stagnation and deterioration, sales were up and a wide range of activities

Show garden Renner, Austria were developed to improve customer contact, including local product shows and a trip to Africa with a group of major customers. Florensis Austria saw its next growth spurt after Herman met Hans Renner during a business trip to Israel and arranged to visit the famous Renner show garden. A few months later, Hans Renner announced at the IPM that he was dissatisfied with his relationship with his main supplier. Herman and Leo saw opportunities and invited Hans Renner to visit Florensis in the Netherlands. While he was there they put the proposal of a merger to him. That wasn’t a decision he could make there and then for fear of losing the confidence of his customers, but a merger was the logical way forward, so Florensis and Hans soon reached an agreement. Florensis took a 50 per cent stake in Renner and the two parties announced the merger at the beginning of 2015. It took the market – and Günther and Michael too – very much by surprise. A year full of changes followed but the massive efforts put in by everyone bore fruit. Turnover increased exponentially and within just a year of the merger Renner had become market leader in Austria by a wide margin.

Spring flowering day at Austria

Hans Renner (middle) with Perry van der Haak and Wout Vollebregt at the Renner show garden Florensis 75 years

37

Domani, domani – Italian perils

First joint booth with Italy in 2005

Florensis-Info nde..... E’ appena nata ma è già gra ma florico lo italian o oriaziend a comme rciale nel panora o ei mesi scorsi è nata una nuova florico le operan ti nel mercat delle più impor tanti aziend e razione tra “Alban i ginata dalle sinergi e tra due collabo dalla Albani seedlin gs Srl nata da fiore europe o. Stiamo parlan do di nella produz ione di giovani piante anni molti da attiva a izzata e Rugger i” nota aziend a italian rs e dalla Florens is, special nella costitu zione di nuove cultiva propag ate da talea nonché Mentre per la prima ogni presen propag ate da seme e da talea. a una nella produz ione di giovani piante nel territo rio Italian o per la second gode cui di tà notorie alla tazione è quasi superfl ua grazie go. breve presen tazione è d’obbli

N

2005/3

Hamer, é stata Florensis, in passato conosciuta come principale attifondata nel 1942,inizialmente la sua da fiore , vità era la commercializzazione di sementi volta, iniziò prima la per settanta, all’inizio degli anni in seminiere la commercializzazione di giovani piante il mercato prodi tipo “olandese “ ( senza alveoli) per aziende terze. fessionale queste erano prodotte da primo vivaio Nel 1986 Hamer ha acquistato il suo produzione di di circa 7000 m2 che ha permesso la proprio dalin gestita mente giovani piante completa l’azienda. coprono una Oggi le serre di produzione in Olanda prodotte più di superficie di 11 ettari dove vengono 650 milioni di giovani piante all’anno. dal 1989 Hamer Inizialmente presente solo in Olanda, propria sede é anche in Inghilterra dove opera dalla il mercato di Cambridge mentre per quanto riguarda la cui sede tedesco, nel 2000 Hamer si é unita a Walz ha facendo così ch) Bauersba a è a Stoccarda (vivaio produttiva aumentato notevolmente sia la capacità che quella commerciale. un vivaio in Nel Luglio del 1998 Florensis ha aperto 38.000 m2. in Kenia che ora vanta una superficie di per la producui vengono coltivate le piante madri ni climatiche zione di talee. Grazie alle sue condizio Kenia permette molto favorevoli, la produzione in lunghi periodi di produrre talee di alta qualità per dell’anno. , nome che Nel 2001 Hamer é diventata Florensis “ e “sis” che deriva dalle due parole latine “ flora fiori. di tradotto significa : fatto annuali, bienL’assortimento di Florensis comprende da vaso di cui nali, perenni, talee annuali e piante anche il piante giovani alle viene offerto oltre che seme. srl i prodotti Ora con la neonata Albani seedlings e capillarmente di Florensis saranno direttamente e la prima Italiano mercato il per anche ili disponib il porte aperte presentazione è stata fatta durante i principali di giugno in cui sono stati messi in mostra prodotti dell’assortimento. 

38 Florensis 75 years

Team Florensis Italia

As a sales market for Florensis Italy had been virtually non-existent for a long time. Apart from the occasional order nothing much happened there. That all changed in April 2006 when Florensis and Albani e Ruggeri (AeR) set up a joint venture called Albani SRL, in which Florensis took a 25 per cent share. Under this arrangement, AeR was to supply Geraniums and Florensis would handle the rest of the assortment. Sales developed well under Raul Moras’s leadership. After a few years the joint venture’s payment morale vis-a-vis Florensis started to deteriorate. It had a relatively large number of customers with exceptionally long payment terms, which AeR viewed as normal but which was much less desirable in our view and gave rise to concern. To put a stop to the situation, Florensis decided to buy AeR out completely, which we did in 2012. The joint venture was renamed Florensis Italia SRL, and in order to bring the outstanding receivables down to an acceptable level and keep them there, it parted company with a large number of customers. Raul and his team soon transformed this loss of turnover into positive results, and Florensis Italia has seen healthy growth ever since.

Implantex booth at the öga Fachmesse

Implantex in Switzerland Since the 1990s we worked closely with Implantex in Switzerland, a company that showed steady growth under the leadership of its majority shareholder Helmut Heilig. In mid2010 Mr Heilig announced that he was planning to retire, and in the ensuing talks Florensis decided to take over Implantex completely. This took place in 2012. At the same time discussions were also taking place with Bigler Samen, a 50 per cent subsidiary of Graines Voltz and Eric Schweitzer, with a view to setting up a joint venture in the French-speaking part of Switzerland and sharing office premises. Bigler was to take a 25 per cent stake in Implantex and the two companies would relocate – separately – to a building which also housed Eric Schweitzer. Thomas Bucher was taken on as Helmut Heilig’s successor. The former was recently appointed CEO of Implantex. Since the takeover, Implantex has been showing stable annual growth. Like Graines Voltz in France, Implantex also represents a large number of other companies, so the relatively fragmented market with its large customer base needs this structure and the associated more extensive product range.

Alfons Hegele at the buid up of the booth at öga Florensis 75 years

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Florensis Polska When Hamer and Wagner merged with Walz in Germany in 2000, Walz brought a good local partner in Poland to the table: FuxFlora, owned by Krzysztof Banaś. Up to that point, sales in Poland, where Florensis had been operating since the 1990s as it had done in Switzerland, were not going well. The exclusive partnership with Fux-Flora, which was renamed Florensis Polska some years later, was successful and sales developed well.

Florensis Polska makes great strides under Tomasz’ leadership

Open days Florensis Polska

Tomasz Burda with anniversary cake (75 years Florensis)

In 2013 Tomasz Burda joined Florensis Germany in anticipation of our acquisition of Florensis Polska. Primed and ready to take on the management role, he left for Poland in 2015 when the takeover was concluded. Florensis Polska makes great strides under Tomasz’ leadership. They move into new offices, the team starts to work more effectively together, and they organise customer days locally, among others. As a result of all these efforts, sales have been firmly on the rise since the acquisition. In addition to Poland, Tomasz Burda is also in charge of the Baltic states and Ukraine.

Team Florensis Polska: f.l.t.r. Tomasz Borkowski, Bartosz Bartków, Tomasz Burda, Paulina Sobich, Anna Bania, Mariusz Federowicz, Adam Fryca, Karol Kudlacik

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Hungary gathers steam The most notable example of Florensis’ development in Eastern Europe is Szirom, managed by Varga Balázs. About nine years ago Florensis decided that sales in Eastern Europe needed a boost. We were already working with Szirom at the time, but at a meeting with sister companies in Budapest, it became apparent that Balázs was a little tentative and insecure and felt like the poor relative in the group. Marck Strik, who was also at the meeting, took him under his wing in the ensuing period and Balázs began to go from strength to strength. The same was true of Szirom, which has gathered steam and is now market leader in Hungary. Balázs himself has developed into a strong personality who commands respect in Hungary. Szirom, which is now showing impressive annual growth figures, and Balázs are respectively a company and a person we can be proud to call Florensis partners.

Customer days at Hungary (Varga Balázs in the middle)

Other countries In other Eastern European countries and Scandinavia, Florensis works primarily with agents. In the Scandinavian market we work with Floripartner in Denmark and Hörnhems in Sweden. Florensis’ market share in the other Eastern European countries is relatively small but is growing steadily year on year.

Customer days at Hungary

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New start in cut flowers From beginning… Hamer started breeding cut flowers, including Matthiola, Trachelium and Tanacetum, in Bruïnelaan in Zwijndrecht in the mid-1980s. In 1993, when Hamer took over the neighbouring Los nursery, its product range expanded, with plants like Antirrhinum and Delphinium now forming part of its breeding portfolio.

… to end… Florensis grows young plants for cut flower production with varying degrees of success for many years. The biggest challenge in this process remained the production of garden plants and cut flowers alongside each other in the same nursery; the two didn’t really match, as the ongoing problems with Lisianthus clearly demonstrated. So in 2004 Florensis entered into a partnership with Combifleur in ‘s-Gravenzande and stopped producing in-house. The entire cut flower production was transferred to Combifleur and Florensis received a 12.5 per cent stake in Combifleur in return, with sales of both cut flowers and cut flower seeds remaining in Florensis’ hands. Johan van den Boom and Jan Noordam headed up the cut flower division. Yet within a few years it became clear that this structure was also not working as well as it should, so in early 2006 Florensis transferred all its cut flower activities to Combifleur. Later that year, when Combifleur was acquired by Combinations, Florensis also relinquished its stake in Combifleur, thus bringing all its cut flower activities to an end.

Adriaan Vonk

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… to new beginnings When the Ball activities were acquired in 2009, Florensis suddenly found itself well and truly back in cut flowers. It wasn’t something that was necessarily on the wish list at the time, and this was made clear in the negotiations with Ball, not least because Ball’s cut flower division was not performing particularly well. However, cut flowers ultimately remained part of the deal.

Signature Van Klink deal

Florensis changed tack completely and set up a separate business unit to accommodate these activities, called Florensis Cut Flowers. Production remained at Ball Holland’s original location in Rijsenhout, the former Vegmo nursery. However, this nursery was too large to produce only cut flowers, so we planned to find a smaller location in the vicinity of Rijsenhout. There was little enthusiasm, either among Florensis staff or our customers, to resume sales of cut flowers. Adriaan Vonk was given the assignment of turning this sentiment around. He approached the task full of enthusiasm and gradually won the trust of all concerned: so much so that the first investments in the Rijsenhout location followed shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, the nursery itself remained too big for its intended use. Therefore, Florensis decided to go and talk to Van Klink. The tenor of the conversation was that the cut flower market was actually too small for four players – Combinations, Van Egmond, Van Klink and Florensis Cut Flowers. In addition, the Van Klink nursery was very old and Florensis’ nursery was too big. A merger between Van Klink and Florensis would kill two birds with one stone and would strengthen both companies’ positions in the market. Van Klink liked the idea and announced the proposed merger to the market in September 2010. Things didn’t go to plan, however: the deal collapsed in November for reasons that are still unclear. This was a real disappointment, since Florensis had already started investing and one of the representatives who didn’t see the point in the merger had already left by then. Florensis Cut Flowers had gone back to square one – in fact it had actually taken a step backwards.

One last relic of the Vegmo period

PERSBERICHT Voor meer informatie: Herman Hamer, Florensis

Cut Flowers, +31 (0)78-62 33200

VOOR ONMIDDELIJKE PUBLICATIE Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, 31 oktober 2011 -------------------------

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------------------------FLORENSIS CUT FLOW ------------------------ERS NEEMT ACTIVITE ---------ITEN OVER VAN H.A. VAN KLINK & ZN

Florensis Cut Flowers in Rijsenhout neemt per 1 november 2011 alle van H.A. van Klink & Zn activiteiten over te Buitenkaag. Florensis krijgt hierdoor een leidende positie in de markt van uitgangsm snijbloemen uit zaad. ateriaal van Tevens draagt de scha alvergroting bij aan effic en kostenbeheersing van iëntere productie Florensis. De gehele productie zal samengebracht worden op de huidige locatie van Rijsenhout. De medewer Florensis in kers van Van Klink trede n in dienst bij Florensis. Door overname en samenvoeging van de activiteiten van dit familiebedrijf wordt optim gelijkwaardige aal gebruik gemaakt van elkaars kennis en kund verdere optimalisatie in e, waardoor productie en productontwi kkeling verwezenlijkt word t. “Wij zijn ervan overtuigd dat deze stap onder de huidige uitdagende oms de juiste is en succesvo tandigheden l zal zijn voor onze klan ten” aldus George van Klink. Herman Hamer geeft als commentaar dat “Florensis met deze over activiteiten van H.A. van name van de Klink & Zn vanuit een solide basis zijn producte voor snijbloemenkweker n en diensten s verder uitbouwt.” -------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------Florensis Cut Flowers is een producent/distribu teur van zaden en jong snijbloemen uit zaad, geve e planten van stigd in Rijsenhout, Nede rland.

Office Florensis Cut Flowers

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Old tray carrier

Undaunted, Adriaan and his team picked up the pieces. A new representative was hired, the quality of our young plants improved, and slowly but surely cut flower activities got back on track. In 2011 Herman once again ventured into the lion’s den and went to talk to Van Klink. This time a merger wasn’t on the cards: instead, the aim was to acquire Van Klink completely. So it was on 31 October 2011, Florensis announced that it had acquired H.A. van Klink & Zn. The integration went very smoothly and resulted in much better capacity utilisation for Florensis Cut Flowers. This built trust and, in 2012 and successive years, we invested in new concrete floors, lighting and the rainwater and irrigation system. In 2012 Florensis also became the first grower to introduce greenhouse cooling in the summer for Lisianthus. This made breeders more confident that we would also be willing to invest in even better starting material for Rijsenhout. The quality of the plants unsurprisingly improved year on year, as did our market share. Florensis Cut Flowers was back!

Today’s market New retractable tray carrier

In the cut flower market, Combinations ultimately continued trading as Noordam Plants and announced that it was merging its Lisianthus activities with Van Egmond. This meant that only two of the four Lisianthus suppliers now remained: Van Egmond and Florensis Cut Flowers. In fact, this also applied to other products such as Matthiola and Antirrhinum, although a new company called Stars-Plant also entered that market, albeit with limited success so far. At the moment Florensis Cut Flowers is the market leader in other products and is relatively big in Lisianthus. Van Egmond is the market leader in Lisianthus.

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Finally, Noordam Plants announced during the course of 2016 that it would be shutting down its cut flower operations, which brought about a very special situation. As recently as in October this year, Globe Plant announced that it was starting sales of young cut flower plants. With, once again, two serious players in the market for other cut flowers, the market is back where it started.

Curious about what else happened in this period? In the next part - part 4.2 - we conclude the series of magazines and the anniversary year with even more highlights in the turbulent 75year history of our great company.

Curious about what else happened in this period? EDITORS Regina Dinkla (managing editor) Herman Hamer (editor in chief) Wim-Arie Hamer Anne Nootenboom (design) Hortitaal (translation) Carola Aardenhout (Beebuzz)

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