Past 2023 marked another challenging year for Royal Lemkes. Instead of the hoped-for growth, our revenue dropped slightly due to the difficult market conditions experienced by several of our customers. But by looking closely at our cost pattern, we managed to achieve operational efficiencies and ended the year with a positive result. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their considerable contribution to this success. Present In 2024, we continue on the course set for supply chain and cost optimisation — not only at Royal Lemkes but also at Plantify Partners Europe (PPE), our parent company. The Dutch division of our sister company, Floréac, with which we share our logistics hub in the UK, relocated from Naaldwijk to Bleiswijk in December. Overall, our strategy remains unchanged: we believe in plants, in our people and in the sustainable growth of our business. We are, however, shifting our strategic focus to a more external, results-oriented approach. To encourage sustainable growth, we are focusing on forwardlooking themes. Future First, we will concentrate on growth with existing customers. We will also focus on acquiring new customers and expanding our network with potential sister companies. Second, we will intensify our focus on technology. In addition to investing in IT, business intelligence (BI) and robotics, we are also exploring what artificial intelligence (AI) can do for our business model. It is still unclear what the long-term impact of AI will be, but it is patently clear that the world is changing rapidly as a result of this technology. And finally, we will take further targeted steps to realise our dream of selling only ‘positive plants’ by 2030. New European sustainability legislation (CSRD) is about to be introduced, and Royal Lemkes is well-placed to assist retailers in this respect. Meanwhile, several of our retail partners have committed to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and we are happy to assist them in demonstrably reducing the CO2 emissions of the plants category. Making the category even more sustainable requires close collaboration throughout the supply chain. We have been fortunate to work side by side with most of you on this for many years now. On behalf of the management team, I would like to thank you for your continued trust in Royal Lemkes. Huib Kranendonk Managing Director
6 Online Touch Home