Our proven Reusable Plastic Container (RPC) - and Pallet-Management-Services businesses operate in multi-billion US dollar markets

Market dynamics
Increasing market dynamics and globalization in commerce are placing growing demands on logistics providers. Today, products have to be transported intelligently, efficiently and above all, rapidly. While these requirements place high demands on logistics management and transport containers, this market shift also creates significant growth opportunities for well-positioned logistics service providers.

Well positioned in growth markets
We have market leading positions in our European RPC business and our Pallet-Management-Services business in the United States. Thanks to our broad range of solutions we are able to meet virtually all customer requirements in an individual, client focused manner.

Barriers to entry in both businesses are very high in view of the large financial investments necessary for a comparable RPC pool and the development of a geographic network infrastructure which would be necessary in Europe and North America. In addition, we command extensive market knowledge, unique know-how in pool management, and we are proud to employ well qualified managers with in-depth industry experience.

RPC business – present customer base and high market potential provide growth opportunities
According to our estimates, based on available market data, European retailers conduct 6.9 billion fruit and vegetable packaging units annually, with approximately 4.4 billion packaging units addressable with our RPCs. However, we estimate that European pool operators only conducted approximately 870 million annual trips with foldable RPCs. Through increasing the penetration of RPCs with our large existing customer base and by bringing new food wholesalers and retailers into the system, we will continue to develop this market potential.

Today in Europe, some 5,500 fruit and vegetable producers, as well as retailers such as Rewe and Metro in Germany, COOP and Migros in Switzerland, ATAC and Système U in France, Rinascente and Eurospin in Italy, Gadisa and El Arbol in Spain, and Waitrose in Great Britain are already placing their trust in our logistics services.

The tremendous growth opportunities for RPCs are even more pronounced in the US market. With an estimated annual volume of 2.6 billion packaging units for fruit and vegetables, the US is one of the world’s largest individual markets. Although the US RPC poolers continued to pursue market development in recent years, the RPC business has not yet been widely adopted by the US grocery retail industry. However, Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has adopted the RPC system in its grocery business and has selected IFCO SYSTEMS as one of their system providers. Today, a large portion of fruits and vegetables in the Wal-Mart system move in RPCs.

We are convinced, particularly in light of the strong supply chain focus of the US retail sector, that this market will experience strong RPC penetration in the future.

The significant investments we have committed to our RPC pool and to our logistics infrastructure, along with our increased marketing and sales activities, have created a strong foundation to continue to grow our market share.

Dominant Pallet-Management-Services company in the USA
IFCO SYSTEMS offers the only true, nationwide single source solution to national pallet needs.

With a network of over 157 locations, almost 3,100 employees and a fleet of 5,000 transportation units we can provide pallet services virtually anywhere in the United States.

Our wide range of Pallet-Management-Services offerings range from consultancy services and comprehensive pallet services programs including, on or off site sort/repair of pallets, reverse logistics services to web-based tracking/data management services.

Our growth opportunities in the US pallet market are equally as compelling as in the RPC sector. We are uniquely positioned as the largest nation-wide network competing in a highly fragmented market. This gives IFCO SYSTEMS decisive competitive advantages and enables us to provide single source Pallet-Management solutions to large manufacturers and retailers across a diverse range of industries and geography. Retailers such as Kmart and Target, food producers such as Nestlé, Purina Mills, Del Monte, Tyson Foods and Pilgrims Pride, conglomerates such as Cargill, logistics group Exel Logistics, manufacturers such as General Electric, Black & Decker, Georgia Pacific and Weyerhauser and technology leader Dell are all utilizing one or several of our Pallet-Management-Services offerings, thereby optimizing their logistics processes and achieving supply chain efficiencies and cost savings. We believe that our unique position and value added service offerings in the Pallet-Management-Services market will allow us to profitably expand our leading market position in future.