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Letter to Unitholders The significant changes that have taken place in our industry at ruthless speed led management and the Board of Trustees to complete the most comprehensive strategic review of the Company's history in late 2006. In 2007, the Company announced and began execution of a new strategic direction to focus on the development of "fresh" value-added products. In April, the Company initiated a major operational reorganization along functional lines to strategically transform its loosely connected operating divisions into a more focused value-add organization driving product and process innovation. The reorganization included the recruitment of professionals to improve effectiveness in penetrating specific market segments and expanding our product offerings. We invested in new technologies and retrofitted our Kelfield facility to provide a super-clean preparation environment with increased capacity to satisfy the growing demand for ready-to-consume fruits and vegetables in assorted formats. Dominion will market this new line under the new brand FreshFix™ as well as under retailers' private labels. In December 2007, Dominion Citrus also launched a new line of fresh-ground fruit beverages under the FreshFix™ brand. During the year, Dominion also refinanced its bank credit facilities with a new lender. The new financing provides Dominion with improved terms and more flexibility going forward. In addition to the significant internal changes related to the execution of its strategy, the Company's "Produce" businesses were affected by the unprecedented appreciation of the Canadian dollar. When combined with generally lower commodity prices, revenues and margins were adversely affected. In the case of our "Other Food" businesses, short crops resulted in rapidly escalating product costs that could not completely be recovered through selling price increases. In December 2007, in the contexts of funding the FreshFix™ initiative and the prospective changes to the legislation applicable to income trust taxation taking place in 2011, the trustees determined that the income trust structure was less suited to the business of Dominion than a conventional corporate structure and advised that they would recommend to unitholders a conversion back to a corporation, subject to regulatory approval, as soon as practicable in 2008. This work continues. We wish to thank our Unitholders for investing in Dominion Citrus and for their continued support. Dominion Citrus Income Fund
March 26, 2008 |
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©2008 Dominion Citrus Income Fund. All rights reserved. Forward-looking Statements |
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