New perspectives for DKSH DKSH’s acquisition of Desco von Schulthess’ Rohstoffe and Asia Pacifi c Holdings offers advantages for both sides.

New name, same commitmentThe Business Unit Specialty Raw Materials changes its name to Performance Materials.

Think Asia. Think DKSH.

Buergenstock Meeting VIDKSH’s top management team meets for four days of intense discussions and concentrated work.

Getting DKSH on brandThe latest update on the GO! Branding project.

A perfectly prepared venue on the CEO Roadshow awaits its audience.

Our in-house magazine for employees and friends of DKSH 8/2008

FANTREE NEWS

DKSH Fantree News

Editorial Team Martina Ludescher, Seraina Peter, Esther Buerki, Adrian Wenzl, Lin Dou

Contact DKSH Fantree News P.O. Box 888 Wiesenstrasse 8 CH-8034 Zurich Switzerland

E-mail communications@dksh.com

Layout, copy, concept entertainment research, Berlin

Print Ruksal Druck, Berlin

Contents

3 WELCOME

3 Letter from the CEO

4 GROUP NEWS

4 Buergenstock Meeting VI at Marbach Castle 8 Spreading the word – the CEO Roadshow on tour 10 The one, the only, the Fantree President Awards 13 Changing the scenery – DKSH moves to a new London office 14 DKSH in Person – putting the buzz into business: Meet Charles Toomey, our Executive Vice President Business Unit Healthcare 16 GO! gets going – an update on the DKSH branding project 17 Getting on brand in Australia 18 DKSH and Desco – two great traditions united under one roof 20 ICS Project – preparing for the first year audit

22 CONSUMER GOODS

22 Walking the walk – DKSH welcomes Bally 23 Cerebos and DKSH – the flavor of success

24 HEALTHCARE

24 EchoPlus – the perfect prescription for the Healthcare industry 25 Cooperation across functions – DKSH Taiwan wins back key client 26 Hard work rewarded – DKSH signs letter of intent in Shanghai 26 New shareholders, new opportunities

27 PERFORMANCE MATERIALS

27 A strong commitment to high performance – Specialty Raw Materials becomes Performance Materials

31 TECHNOLOGY

31 Centric – making everyone a winner 32 Titanium – tomorrow’s technology today 34 DKSH and Cummins – high-powered partners in progress 36 Success to go – 7-Eleven and DKSH Taiwan 37 Welcome to the club – a ground-breaking novelty for DKSH customers

38 PRESS REVIEW

44 DKSH ON STAGE

44 A window to the past – Caspar Brennwald’s diary 45 The NSH Grand Prix – maintaining a tradition of winners 46 Onwards and upwards – DKSH excellence rewarded 47 And the winner is… DKSH! 48 Milestones and more – DKSH opens new distribution centers in Malaysia and Vietnam 50 A rainbow in the Asian Night 50 Top pharmacist award for DKSH

51 INSIDE DKSH

51 A minute with... Hiroko Utsuyama 51 The DKSH puzzle

10 GROUP NEWS A new category for the President Awards

22 CONSUMER GOODS Bally – a fresh footprint for DKSH

34 TECHNOLOGY First fruits for DKSH and Cummins

48 DKSH ON STAGE Celebrating the new distribution centers

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Performance Materials (PM). This is because our global compe-tencies in this field go far beyond those of a raw materials pro-vider and distributor: We are instead a fully-fledged strategic partner for all services in the value chain and want to document this by shedding the old name. There’s an in-depth report on PM’s daily business and some great success stories on pages 27-30.

Futhermore, in order to heighten awareness of DKSH and make our leading role in the industry known, some time ago we started the GO! Branding project to establish DKSH as a strong global brand. As many of you know, the implementa-tion phase of the branding project is under way and, step by step, the new brand will become ever more visible in the mar-kets. To highlight the importance of this project and explain the new brand strategy to all key executives in our group person-ally, we launched the CEO Branding Roadshow. On pages 8/9, you’ll find a report on the stops made by the Roadshow and my personal experiences during my journey to the heart of our company on which I met many passionate DKSH staff and was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for our branding project. As regards the project itself, there are many new developments in the works that will not only streamline our corporate appear-ance, but help to build an even stronger brand for an even stronger company, so that we can all say with pride: “We work for the market leader: DKSH.”

Looking back at the first half of 2008, it is once again clear to me that it is your hard work, commitment and team spirit that make our company such a great success: At the end of June, we were well ahead of last year, once again with a double-digit increase in profitability. I count on your support to make the second half of 2008 even better.

It is already the middle of 2008 and time to take a look at achievements and changes that lie behind us and at what lies ahead.

With double-digit growth in revenue and profitability for the sixth time in succession, 2007 was another very successful year for DKSH, with a transaction value of CHF 8,800 million, an increase in net sales of 10.3% and EBIT of 10.8% to CHF 130 million and 550 new jobs created. The basis for our success lies in how we have reinvented our business model and created a distinctive new category, Market Expansion Services. Not for-getting the diligent and passionate work of the staff at DKSH that helped make 2007 another great year for our company.

With a view to accelerating future growth, we have broad-ened our shareholder base, not only gaining additional finan-cial resources, but also fresh input, new ideas and much useful experience that will help us to continue to expand our business. Robert Peugeot, Chairman of FFP, the holding company of the renowned Peugeot family, Rainer-Marc Frey, an experienced and well-known Swiss financial entrepreneur, and Anova Group, which manages the investments of Stephan Schmidheiny and his family, will bring their business expertise to our company, along with new relationships and networks.

With the new shareholders, we were able to raise our capital by CHF 170 million by the end of April 2008, allowing us to gear up for possible future acquisitions. And we’ve not only made changes to our shareholder pool, but also our internal organization. On pages 4-7 you’ll find an article about the sixth Buergenstock Meeting, the top management get-together that has become an annual DKSH tradition. At this year’s meeting at Marbach Castle in Germany, we had again some very impor-tant things to discuss: a new Medium Range Plan, a roadmap for the entire company for the years to come and the new Corporate Center structure, as well as other key corporate proj-ects. To lighten things up a bit and surprise everyone, our new corporate wear was presented in a fashion show.

Talking of changes and new developments: We have de-cided to rename our Specialty Raw Materials Business Unit to

W E L C O M E

Dear Colleagues and Friends of DKSH

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! e basis for our success lies in how we have reinvented our business model and created a distinctive new category, Market Expansion Services.Dr. Joerg W. Wolle, President & CEO, DKSH Holding Ltd.

The Buergenstock Meeting, named after the Swiss mountain region of Buergenstock where the inaugural meeting was held in 2000, is the annual DKSH top management get-together at which overall strategic issues are worked on, far from the distractions of everyday business.

This year’s meeting took place from May 13 to 16 at Marbach Castle, on the German side of Lake Constance, an ideal

and the achievements of a very successful 2007.

For the last six years, DKSH has posted double-figure growth in terms of reve-nues and profitability. This expansion has been achieved through organic growth and a total of twelve acquisitions. We have put a lot of energy into blending the cultures of the different companies into one effective, harmonized unit, proving that one of DKSH’s core compe-tences lies in integrating acquisitions quickly and making the most of the syn-ergetic potential.

The current state of affairs and things to come

After reporting on the highlights of 2007, Dr. Wolle gave an update on the GO! Branding project and emphasized the importance of establishing DKSH as a strong brand. He also spoke on the ICS project, the Levi’s contract renewal and the construction and opening of new dis-tribution centers in Cambodia, Korea, the Netherlands, Vietnam and Thailand.

setting for four days of intense discus-sions and concentrated work. The forum was on a smaller scale than previous years, with only the Business Unit (BU) managers, CEO, Chairman and some key Corporate Center personnel present to discuss crucial strategic issues. The castle with the lake in front was the perfect background for Adrian T. Keller, Chairman of DKSH, to warmly welcome the partici-pants and hand over to President & CEO Dr. Joerg Wolle to present the agenda

Buergenstock Meeting VI at Marbach Castle

G R O U P N E W S

The Marbach Castle was the perfect setting for four days of intense discussions.

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“I was intrigued by the opportunity to invest in the combination of a well-established Swiss company with nearly 150 years of his-tory and a unique position in the growth markets of Asia. Having got to know the management team of DKSH over the last couple of months, I am impressed by their professionalism, diversity and great commit-ment.”

Robert PeugeotChairmanFFP Group

“Having invested for many years in South East Asia, I have always followed interesting investment opportunities. A strategic share-holding in DKSH gives me the chance to ex-tend my range of activities with the leading Market Expansion Services group in Asia.”

Rainer-Marc FreyFounder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Horizon21

experienced insider in Asian financial markets. He will be able to contribute a lot of valuable practical knowledge when it comes to DKSH’s further development. For his part, Robert Peugeot has exten-sive networks, especially in Francophone countries, and we expect to increase DKSH‘s brand awareness and access to these regions, both in terms of sourcing and sales markets. Last but not least, Anova Group has excellent relationships in South America, where we can now raise our brand awareness and improve access, also in sourcing and sales mar-kets.

Talking takeovers

Besides increasing our capital base and preparing our company for future acquisi-tions, those made recently are exemplary for our expansion strategy: Taking over the Asian business of the long-established Desco von Schulthess Group and Texchem Consumers Sdn Bhd in Malaysia is part of carefully laid plans to extend our market leadership and create new synergies for continued strong growth. Over the years, DKSH has developed a reputation for the smooth and culturally sensitive integration of acquisitions. The way we handle part-nerships and integrate acquisitions forms a basis for establishing the trust and belief in our abilities needed to attract further family-owned businesses. We believe that our Market Expansion Services business model is a way to success for us and our partners, no matter how large or small.

Other highlights Dr. Wolle mentioned were the acquisitions of Texchem Malaysia and Desco’s Asia Pacific business (read more about this on pages 18/19) and the continuing roll-out of the Pegasus proj-ect. After the success stories, our CEO then switched to the challenges ahead: getting the new Corporate Center struc-ture up and running, maintaining growth in all four BUs, identifying the right growth targets for the future, integrating acquisitions quickly and smoothly, inten-sifying the branding project, concluding the roll-out of Pegasus and stepping up efforts to implement the ICS project all across the group. This is an ambitious program requiring hard work from every-one involved and essential for making our company ready for the future, a fu-ture where DKSH is known as the leader in Market Expansion Services with focus on Asia. As Dr. Wolle put it: “Creating structures and processes fit for today’s business and the future growth of DKSH is the rationale behind these initiatives.”

Capital and know-how increased, networks and ideas gained

The first afternoon focused on the suc-cessful conclusion of Project Rainbow, which was concerned with the search for new investors. When two minority share-holders decided to sell part or all of their shares in DKSH, management resolved to combine the search for new investors with an increase in share capital and thus the ability to pursue an accelerated

Our Business Units managers working on strategic issues. Dr. Joerg Wolle and participants setting sails.

5

! e way we handle partnerships and integrate acquisitions forms a basis for establishing the trust and belief in our abilities needed to attract further family-owned businesses.

growth strategy. We need investors who not only have the financial resources, but who will fully back our ambitious expan-sion strategy now and in the future. The purpose of Project Rainbow was also to find investors who bring know-how and experience to the company, as well as networks and the kind of personal rela-tionships that open up new avenues. We were looking for people with a good name in the industry who share our val-ues and have a genuine interest in our unique company. In short, people who think: Expansion. Our search was helped by the fact that our success over recent years has not gone unnoticed in the fi-nancial community and those interested in our industry. The FFP Group, the hold-ing company of the French Peugeot in-dustrialist family, and Swiss investor Rainer-Marc Frey have each taken a stake of just over 10% in DKSH, while Robert Peugeot and Rainer-Marc Frey have joined the DKSH board. Anova Group, which manages the commitments of Stephan Schmidheiny and his family, is the third investor, holding less than 10%. We’re very proud to have attracted the attention of such internationally success-ful investors – added confirmation that we’re on the right track with our busi-ness model for the future.

New players, new thrust

Who are our new investors? Rainer-Marc Frey is not only a well-known expert on alternative investments, but also an

the CEO will be on strategy development and execution, overseeing top talent de-velopment and succession planning, as well as furthering the branding process and control of key communication issues. Keeping DKSH on an expansion course and taking an active part in deal-making will be another important CEO domain, along with fostering relationships with key suppliers and customers.

Investor insights

After Dr. Wolle’s presentation, Frank Gulich, President & CEO of the new DKSH shareholder Anova Group, gave some in-teresting insights into Anova and ex-plained why it had chosen DKSH. As with all our investors, Gulich saw a unique op-portunity to buy into the fantastic success story of a more than 140-year old, pri-vately held company in Switzerland which has become a global player – a story with great promise for an exciting future.

One main focus of the Buergenstock Meeting was to establish a cohesive Medium Range Plan (MRP) for DKSH. Day two was thus reserved for the BU manag-ers’ presentations of updated, detailed MRPs, all of which formulated ambitious goals for continuing growth and success. The MRPs fully reflect the Market Expansion Strategy for DKSH: Growth from within has priority, whereby acceler-ated growth through acquisitions is now possible due to our very successful capital increase and much improved Net

6

der to better support BU heads and su-pervise cross-border and cross-BU activi-ties. The new position of Treasurer was added, and a tax specialist will join later in 2008. The only Finance function that will stay in Zurich is Corporate Controlling. Starting in January 2009, our Executive Board will be strengthened by the addi-tion of Marcel W. Schmid as head of the new Governance, Compliance & Resources function which will combine Corporate Affairs & Legal, Operational Risk & Control, HR and Capital Market Projects. Marcel W. Schmid is a former in-vestment banker with UBS and member of the Executive Board of St. Galler Kantonalbank Group, a publicly listed Swiss regional bank. Under the guidance of Gonpo Tsering, Senior Executive Vice President Operations & Business Support, the new function of Corporate Logistics was created to serve as the functional “home” for all logistics specialists within the Group. CSSC, the process and effi-ciency team, and special projects contin-ue to be his responsibility.

In line with the executive board’s rede-fined responsibilities, the future focus of

G R O U P N E W S

Organizing the future

After a short break, Dr. Wolle set out the background, objectives and person-nel of the new organization structure of Corporate Center as part of the develop-ment needed to manage our future growth efficiently. With redefined re-sponsibilities for the executive board and additional resources in the areas of Finance, Logist ics, Compliance, Governance & Risk and Branding, the main goal of the new organization is to create a structure fit for today’s business and strong enough to support the trans-formation of DKSH to the next stage of development. The Finance function un-der CFO Stuart Davy gets an extended mandate and will set up a Center of Competence in Singapore. Based on the fact that our operational management, the structure of which remains un-changed, is spread across Asia, this deci-sion follows the approach taken with the Corporate Shared Services Center (CSSC) in Kuala Lumpur. Another important step was the creation of a dedicated BU Controller position for each Unit in or-

New Corporate Center structure

President & CEODr. Joerg W. Wolle

Strategy and Corporate Communications

Operations & BusinessSupport

Gonpo Tsering

CSSC

Process and efficency team

Logistics Projects

Special Projects

CG

Governance, Compliance & Resources

Marcel W. Schmid

Corporate Affairs & Legal

Operational Risk & Control

Human Resources

Capital Market Projects

HEC

Finance & Services

Stuart Davy

Corporate Controlling

BU Controlling

Treasury

Tax

PM TEC

“Our investment strategy is increasingly fo-cused on acquiring stakes in companies with high growth potential. The strategic holding in DKSH is a perfect fit and covers three of the four BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) states: Brazil through Anova and China and India through DKSH. It’s no secret that eco-nomic and geopolitical power is moving eastwards to a region where DKSH has been established for over 140 years.”

Dr. Frank GulichCEO & President Anova Group

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Falconera restaurant, where participants agreed that the Buergenstock Meetings are an ideal platform for exchanging in-formation and opinions. They were also of the opinion that, with the new Corporate Center and shareholder struc-ture in place and key projects like Pegasus, ICS and branding on the way, DKSH is ready and able to deal with all future challenges.

As last year, it was once again due to the fantastic efforts of Ursula Reiling that the meeting took place in very special surroundings which helped those attend-ing come to terms with the ambitious agenda. A big thank you to Ursula and everyone else involved in organizing an-other very successful meeting!

on the branding project and the imple-mentation of BU value propositions, de-veloped and defined by the Brand Team in close collaboration with the BU man-agement teams.

Looking ahead

The fourth and final day of this year’s Buergenstock Meeting started out with a working session with Stuart Davy and the BU managers to consolidate their MRPs into one cohesive plan. This was followed by the presentation of the MBO (Management by Objectives) task force by Stuart Davy with thoughts for a new bonus system, before Marcel W. Schmid presented his ideas for the way forward in his newly created function as Head of Governance, Compliance & Resources. In his closing address, Joerg Wolle elaborat-ed on future strategies and “The Way Ahead”, outlining the DKSH roadmap for the years to come and summarizing the results of this year’s meeting.

The closing event of four days’ intense work, discussion and ideas was a farewell dinner in the lively atmosphere of the

Operating Capital management.The second day’s hard work ended on

a lighter note with the presentation of the second annual President Awards for outstanding achievements, attended by board members Rainer-Marc Frey and Jean-Daniel de Schaller, which under-scored the importance of individual cre-ativity and performance for our success as a company (read more about this on pages 10/12).

Works in progress

The third day at Marbach Castle saw Stuart Davy report on the new Center of Competence for Finance in Singapore, which will become fully operational on August 1, 2008. Stuart also gave an up-date on the Internal Control System (ICS) project and its integration in the daily op-erations of the various BUs, a topic cov-ered in the last Fantree News and again in this issue on pages 20/21. After lunch, there was a session by Martina Ludescher, Vice President Strategy & Corporate Com-munications, and Frank-Stephan Johne, Brand Manager, with an in-depth report

! e main goal of the new organization is to create a structure fi t for today’s business and strong enough to support the transformation of DKSH to the next stage of development.

Martina Ludescher

Vice President Strategy & Corporate CommunicationsDKSH Management Ltd.,Switzerland

A group picture at a successful Buergenstock Meeting.

G R O U P N E W S

8

Spreading the word – the CEO Roadshow on tour

Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Holding Ltd., speaking in Taiwan. The Brand Book being handed around in Japan.

Dr. Joerg Wolle inspires passion and commitment to the brand on his travels around the world.

Four years after the merger in 2002, DKSH started the GO! Branding project with the aim of developing an all-round image stating quickly and directly who we are, what we do and what we stand for. Step by step, GO! has been imple-mented: The online platform for all branding information, the Brand Portal, has been launched; the first Brand Champions workshop was held in October 2007; and corporate design guidelines have been developed for vari-ous applications and materials. In order to personally present the brand strategy, its goals and how we plan to achieve them, our President & CEO, Dr. Joerg Wolle, started the CEO Roadshow in November 2007 which has so far covered 21 countries.

Bringing the Brand Book to the countries

The Roadshow’s first stop in Bangkok was attended by DKSH’s top executives – Adrian T. Keller, Chairman of DKSH, Stuart Davy, Chief Financial Officer, and

Kong, Victor Hew, who reported on local net sales and EBIT 2007 and introduced a number of new products and services of-fered by different divisions in Hong Kong. After the update came the “main course”, our CEO’s presentation on the branding project, followed by a slide show on the story behind DKSH. Joerg Wolle also introduced the Brand Book, a tool for teaching our brand to employees and making our brand identity easily understandable for everyone at DKSH, which is currently being passed through all levels of the organization by the CMT.

Basis for new business growth

Joerg Wolle’s tour continued to Japan, where the Roadshow officially kicked off the local GO! Branding project at Meguro Gajoen, a famous conference center with beautiful decorations which gave the event a graceful atmosphere. Wolfgang Schanzenbach, President of Nihon SiberHegner, began by confirming the positive impact of the branding proj-ect on the company business and was fol-lowed by our CEO with his presentation.

In January 2008, Dr. Wolle flew to Malaysia, where 150 managers from

Gonpo Tsering, Senior Executive Vice President Operations & Business Support, along with the members of the Country Management Team (CMT) of Thailand and representatives from Myanmar. After a short opening speech by Somboon Prasitjutrakul, President of DKSH in Thailand, Dr. Wolle set out the impor-tance of the branding strategy, stressing the intention of becoming known as the world’s leading company in Market Expansion Services with a focus on Asia and explaining in detail how it had been developed. He made the point that this strategy had not just been produced from thin air or cooked up in the ivory towers of Corporate Center, but is based on ex-tensive research conducted with clients, customers, business partners and people in the company. Using this research, we identified current and future drivers of our success and from these comprehen-sive findings a strategy was developed for the entire company. The details of the new brand were also presented and ex-plained in detail.

The CEO Roadshow then moved on to Hong Kong. With the CMT and around 100 upper and middle management ex-ecutives present, the event was opened by the Country Head of DKSH Hong

DKSH Malaysia and DKSH Corporate Shared Services Center (CSSC) were in-vited to the Petaling Jaya Hilton Hotel. Niels Holm, President & Group Managing Director Malaysia, gave a brief opening speech and introduced Project Elephant, where four legal entities under Diethelm Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Diethelm, Harpers Trading, DKSH Marketing Services and Texchem Consumers) have merged into one – DKSH Malaysia Snd Bhd. This proj-ect once completed will be a big step to-wards having one brand in Malaysia.

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First of all, let me say that the Roadshow has turned out to be a great way of meeting and inspiring our people. The interest in our new brand has been overwhelming and the

feedback after all the shows has been en-thusiastic. I use the word “enthusiastic”, be-cause I could actually feel the enterprising spirit of our teams. They really want to get started with things.

Dr. Joerg W. WollePresident & CEODKSH Holding Ltd., Switzerland

Everyone left the event with the intention of making the DKSH brand one of the best-known in the world.

Listening to the CEO’s presentation in Singapore.The CEO Roadshow in Thailand. From left: Somboon Prasitjutrakul, Executive Vice President BU Consumer Goods; Adrian T. Keller, Chairman of DKSH Holding Ltd.; and Dr. Joerg Wolle.

Dr. Wolle at the CEO Roadshow in China.

Enthusiastic Roadshow reactions

Still in January 2008, the Roadshow’s next stops were Taiwan and Korea. In Taiwan, our CEO received a warm wel-come from around 60 DKSH upper and middle management executives and brand specialists. Charles Toomey, Executive Vice President Business Unit Healthcare, told of the company’s histori-cal background and presented the cur-rent success of DKSH Taiwan.

In Korea, despite an outside tempera-ture of -10° C there was an inspiring at-mosphere at COEX, a landmark of the central business district of Seoul with a world-class convention and exhibition center. The Korea CMT members were filled with enthusiasm by the CEO’s pre-sentation and everyone left the Roadshow event with the intention of making DKSH brand the best-known in its industry.

In March, Joerg Wolle went on to Singapore and Vietnam. In Vietnam, the key managers of DKSH Cambodia and Laos also took part in the Roadshow event. In May and June, the Roadshow was in Europe and China. First stop in Europe was Como, Italy, where the Roadshow was attended by key manag-ers from PM France, Germany, Italy,

Spain, Great Britain, Chile, Poland and Switzerland.

In Zurich, the site of our headquarters, Dr. Wolle presented the branding project to the Board of Directors and staff from DKSH Management, DKSH Switzerland, Medinova (Switzerland) and the Desco Asian operations recently taken over by DKSH. Martina Ludescher, Vice President Strategy & Corporate Communications, followed up with the implementation timeline and the current status of the GO! Branding project.

Many thanks to all the Brand Cham-pions who performed wonders and made the Roadshow’s various visits inspiring and motivating occasions. The events underlined the significance of the brand-ing project and brought out the power and passion felt by DKSH staff to make it reality.

Lin Dou

Trainee Corporate CommunicationsDKSH Management Ltd.,Switzerland

G R O U P N E W S

10

The second DKSH Fantree President Awards ceremony took place at the Buergenstock Meeting VI at Marbach Castle on May 14, 2008.

The DKSH Fantree President Awards are both a reward to employees for their passion for excellence and an investment in talent management, building on best practices and skills within our group. They

awards have risen sharply, as reflected by twice the number of nominations this year.

With their outstanding performances and individual resourcefulness, the recipi-ents of President Awards have contribut-ed greatly to our company’s prosperity. Yet, at the same time, they stand for something much greater, representing the true spirit of our DKSH brand that

are a clear signal that DKSH and the Executive Board appreciate the contribu-tion of our staff to the overall success of the group and acknowledge outstanding performance.

Why did we introduce the President Awards? They are motivational tools for the winners, and a catalyst for the multi-plication of success stories and best prac-tices. Awareness and popularity of the

The one, the only, the Fantree President Awards

Darrell TsengCorporate Communications SpecialistDKSH Taiwan Ltd.

DKSH Fantree President Award for Best Brand Champion

Project After planning and executing the local implementation and management of corporate identity, corporate design and brand communication, I provided several initiatives (workshops, give-aways, etc.) to boost DKSH’s image and exposure and completed the Chinese version of the Taiwanese website.

What does the award

mean to you?

It is a great honor that encourages me to keep working hard at improving the DKSH brand and making it better known.

What is unique

about your project?

It is closely related to the DKSH brand itself: It is not only about our clients and customers, but has a real influence on everyone at DKSH. I first had to under-stand the project and then present it, step by step, internally and externally.

How can othersprofit?

There can be a big difference in mindset between Corporate Center and the local branch. To bridge this gap needs com-munication and creativity. Being open to unlimited communication makes the task easier.

Hugues Rousseau Area Manager Paint Industry EuropeBusiness Unit Performance MaterialsDKSH France S.A.

DKSH Fantree President Award for Teamwork Excellence

Project In 2004, I took over responsibility for an important paint industry product whose results had been stagnating. In three years, we have diversified our activities and become a truly global distributor, able to follow projects around the world. This has made us the preferred partner in the industry and drives our business growth.

What does the award

mean to you?

I am particularly proud because the team spirit which exists in the Specialty Chemicals Industry Business Line allows us to grow every year. Each sales manag-er brings his own talents and every day we do our best to support each other.

What is unique

about your project?

Since the Business Unit Performance Materials is no longer country-oriented, the managers concerned with product management are from various regions (the Americas, Asia and Europe). For this reason, we have had to adapt the pro-cesses to different management cultures.

How can othersprofit?

The key parameter to make a global project successful is communication between all the managers involved. It is very important that each is kept up to date on what has been achieved.

Eric PaulsenBusiness Manager Environmental TechnologiesBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Australia Pty. Ltd.

DKSH Fantree President Award for Best Business Idea

Project With a focus on waste recycling and resource recovery technologies, we have built a world-class portfolio to offer to the Australian and New Zealand markets.

What does the award

mean to you?

It makes me very proud. It shows that DKSH is a very innovative company that constantly looks within itself to propel new growth and initiative.

What is unique

about your project?

For DKSH, we are breaking new ground in offering customers a portfolio strategi-cally tailored to the growing demand for environmental technologies. Building up the new business, it was necessary to be able to offer innovations. At the same time we needed reliable technologies, where we didn’t enter into immediate competition with established players in an established industry.

How can othersprofit?

In Australia, we have now proved that environmental technologies are not a liability and a “necessary evil”, but rather offer considerable business oppor-tunities. As the biggest and most deeply entrenched company in Asia Pacific, DKSH can offer both suppliers and cus-tomers access to these markets.

The DKSH Fantree President Award winners 2008.

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consolidates all our achievements into one great, unified success story. This is why the President Awards are particularly important: They reward exceptional per-formances that are key to making our brand come alive.

The winners have led the way in our continuing success story as one company and one brand. They have set an example through their relentless and personal pur-

! e President Awards are a catalyst for the multiplication of success stories and best practices.

Nipaporn Er-Jongmanee Training & Development ManagerBusiness Unit Consumer GoodsDiethelm Ltd., Thailand

DKSH Fantree President Award for People Development

Project The Human Resources department of Consumer Goods developed a train-ing roadmap to align knowledge, skills and desired behavior with our business goals, so as to accelerate and sustain our future growth and enable staff to maxi-mize their performance.

What does the award

mean to you?

It is a sign of success and it confirms to the team that we did a great job and that we are on the right road in develop-ing our people.

What is unique

about your project?

The roadmap is a standard element of training for our employees. The unique aspect of the map is how we design and customize each program, its contents and methodology. We integrate the required skills necessary in each function and on each level, consider the learning style of our staff and try to include our organization culture.

How can othersprofit?

To assess certain types of training, all parties need to be involved. That means interviewing top executives, conducting focus groups with line managers and of course integrating employees from dif-ferent job groups.

Panida WattanapatimakulDepartment Manager Personal Care Business Unit Consumer GoodsDiethelm Ltd.,Thailand

DKSH Fantree President Award for Teamwork Excellence

Project Using innovative ideas for dealing with big retailers, we managed to place an above-averagely expensive personal care line with a below-average budget in a key retailer’s product portfolio. This was due to the key account sales team’s atti-tude of making the impossible possible.

What does the award

mean to you?

It encourages me and my team to pur-sue our new way of working and it chal-lenges us to continue with this mindset.

What is unique

about your project?

This project was unique because we turned a problem into a real success story. The key was to instill a “can do attitude” in the team and make a para-digm shift from the conventional way of problem-solving to making the impos-sible possible. It was done via the in-house concept of “8 steps to success”.

How can othersprofit?

It is always worth negotiating with retailers. If you have a good negotiating strategy you can achieve savings. Try to create a “can do” attitude in your sales team and share the spirit of “impossible is nothing”.

The DKSH “power ladies” celebrating with Business Unit managers Marcel Braun (left) and Eric Baden.

Eric Baden and Dr. Joerg Wolle after the awards ceremony.

The Fantree President Award.

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suit of excellence, bringing new ideas and fresh perspectives to their work and to our organization.

To the existing four categories we have now added a fifth, honoring the Best Brand Champion. Brand Champions are one of the key factors in successfully im-plementing our new brand and this award is designed to emphasize the vital role they play.

After the winners had presented their projects to top management, the awards ceremony followed. Against the beautiful backdrop of the gardens of Marbach Castle in Germany, President & CEO Dr. Joerg Wolle handed over the priz-es and checks and, after a round of aperi-tifs, a swift boat ride took the party off to dinner in Switzerland!

G R O U P N E W S

Pham Thi Thuy Van Training and Development ManagerHuman Resources DepartmentDiethelm Vietnam Co., Ltd.

DKSH Fantree President Award for People Development

Project In the face of a dramatic rise in skilled labour demand in Vietnam, we set up the project “DKSH brand – from global to personal” to concretize the DKSH brand – taking the global concept to a personal involvement – and create a workplace atmosphere in which employ-ees feel trusted and content.

What does the award

mean to you?

The award encourages us to be more proactive and effective in supporting our business and branding.

What is unique

about your project?

We work in a good spirit of teamwork to create professional Human Resources (HR) tools with very limited costs in order to build up the foundations of the DKSH brand.

How can othersprofit?

We add value to the bottom line by creating a professional workplace and a results-oriented culture that helps employees stay with us and want to be productive. Furthermore, we are profes-sionalizing and standardizing the HR sys-tem, policies, procedures and tools.

Yoshiyuki Shirakawa Global Business Line Manager Specialty Chemicals IndustryBusiness Unit Performance MaterialsNihon SiberHegner K.K., Japan

DKSH Fantree President Award for Outstanding Sales Success

Project Increasing the sales of liquid crystals to DIC, one of our largest customers, for-merly known as the Dainippon Ink Corp. of Japan. Their products are sold to end-users like Samsung or Sony who use the crystals in LCD TVs, mobile phones or navigation systems.

What does the award

mean to you?

It stimulates me to keep working hard and developing new business.

What is unique

about your project?

The quality requirements of intermediate materials (those between raw materials and finished products) for liquid crystal applications are extremely strict. Such products are also mostly tailor-made for specific customers. It takes three to seven years to get specification approval.

How can othersprofit?

Thanks to our dedicated and profes-sional sales team in Japan, we were able to benefit from know-how and market information shared with our counter-parts in Korea, Taiwan and China, where we also expect sales to pick up from 2008 onwards.

Dr. Joerg W. Wolle

President & CEODKSH Holding Ltd., Switzerland

this

Dr. Joerg Wolle presenting the awards and checks to the happy winners.

From left: Stuart Davy, CFO DKSH Group, chatting with award winners Hugues Rousseau and Yoshiyuki Shirakawa.

Eric Paulsen (left) discussing with Luke Mitchell.

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and Accounts departments have their own corner, and Peter Lynagh, the Managing Director, has his own office, although his door is open most of the time. Extra space and more desks mean it will be no problem to add to the work-force and, with the company looking to build and expand into the 21st century, this was a well thought-out step for-wards. The new reception is more wel-coming, with prominence given to a large sign carrying the new logo, in exactly the right shade of red! The new premises have an area for visitors with a display of products to peruse; one large meeting room, equipped with a state-of-the-art smartboard; and a smaller, more intimate room which can be used for meetings, staff briefings or quieter moments. As usual, the kitchen, where lunch is eaten and drinks are made throughout the day, provides staff with a chance for momen-tary respite.

The reasons for the move? So that DKSH Great Britain can continue to pros-per and lay the foundations for further success. Peter Lynagh coordinated the

operation and is very pleased with the outcome: “It’s natural it would take some time for our people to adjust to new sur-roundings, but, all things considered, the move was a great success. It was crucial that the staff were accommodated when making the arrangements and they were consulted throughout – without their help such a seamless transition couldn’t have happened. The offices look good, but they feel good as well, and that’s just as important. Most of our visitors have commented on the light and the feeling of spaciousness – a lot of thought went into the interior design to reflect our new brand.”

Hotelier Conrad Hilton knew what he was talking about when he said: “Successful people keep moving”.

Another chapter in the illustrious his-tory of DKSH Great Britain began last year, when employees from the British branch in Beckenham in Kent made the leap across London to new offices in Wimbledon.

The relocation to the south-western quarter of the city went smoothly, and soon all the staff had made the transition and slipped into their respective routines. Since then, a year has passed and all are still working for the Fantree – a testimony to the company and to the spirit within the office, and even more remarkable considering the extended journeys of many employees.

As for the offices themselves, there is no comparison with the old ones, espe-cially aesthetically speaking: Gone is the large barrier separating the Food from the Pharmaceutical and Specialty Chemicals team and in its place is a new, open-plan general office. Our Logistics

Piers Nutbrown

Business SupportBusiness Unit Performance MaterialsDKSH Great Britain Ltd.

Changing the scenery – DKSH moves to a new London office

Wellington House.

At the reception, visitors are greeted by the Fantree.Visitors’ seating in reception.

The conference room. Working in the open-plan office.

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and commitment to the task in hand. I am convinced that, if the passion and commitment are there, the achievement will follow. Every individual staff member has a different role to play in making this a reality, so if I can see and clearly sense how an individual member of staff dem-onstrates passion and commitment to their job, then the chances for success, whilst not guaranteed, become a strong likelihood.

A word from the wise: How would you describe your style of management?

As to my style, it is straightforward. I aim to make sure that the people who report directly to me are up to task, in other words good managers and leaders, who are extremely committed to their jobs, building and leading high-perfor-mance teams. Next, I ensure they are translating the company and BU strategy

into a coherent local plan and then look for strong implementation and follow-up. It is also important that we really en-joy what we are doing. You cannot force people to have fun, it comes from within and naturally if you select and retain the right people in the team and create a positive work environment, where people feel valued and motivated, and that is an important part of my job.

What drives you?Life is a journey with challenges along

the way. I tend to seek out the challenges and enjoy finding ways to overcome them. However, I am certainly not on this journey alone and I really get a buzz from

The majority of my time is spent with staff in the BU in the various countries, either in teams working through plans and reviewing progress or interacting with suppliers and customers to better understand their ever-changing and fast developing needs and working on new ideas on how to meet them.

How did you join DKSH?I formerly worked for Eli Lilly, a multi-

national pharmaceutical company in the UK and Asia. Having spent three years as a General Manager in Malaysia, I was ap-proached about a General Manager role at Diethelm, as DKSH was then called, and soon became aware of the plan to create DKSH. This seemed a very interest-ing opportunity, a chance to continue to work in Asia and to play a leadership role on an exciting journey for the company – from a primarily country-focused, multi-activity trading conglomerate to a new paradigm. This has subsequently become Market Expansion Services. My expecta-tions have not been disappointed.

What targets have you set yourself for the next months?

One key target is of course to deliver the financial results that ensure our busi-ness maintains a healthy standing. Like all successful companies, this is the first thing we have to have in mind. So we are focusing hard on realizing our recently upgraded and aligned strategy for the BU. This is important, as it creates the framework for activities not just in 2008, but for long-term delivery of results in the years to come.

What can your staff expect from you?They can expect total commitment to

building a sustainable business that deliv-ers a strong commercial platform to con-sistently deliver results, and provides an interesting, certainly challenging, yet re-warding, professional experience for ev-eryone involved.

What do you value about your staff?What I find most impressive and what

I look for in my staff is consistent passion

“Life is a journey with challenges along the way” – the Fantree News interview reveals the person behind the title.

How would you describe DKSH’s business in three sentences?

DKSH is a company with heritage and staying power whose core competencies are the same today as they were 140 years ago. The fact that we have survived and thrived through the many ups and

downs across Asia over the years is due to an inherent organizational capability, adaptability and leadership judgement. It is all about growth and value creation, which is why we have got to this point in our development. I for one am confident we have many more years to come, de-veloping new business models, founded on our well-tested core competencies.

Describe the position you hold in the company.

As head of Business Unit (BU) Health-care, it is my responsibility to ensure that we have a strategy that delivers value to all our stakeholders. My job is first and foremost about working with people.

DKSH in Person – putting the buzz into business: Meet Charles Toomey, our Executive Vice President Business Unit Healthcare

G R O U P N E W S

Charles Toomey speaking at the distribution center opening in Vietnam in January 2008.

Chatting to Tim Evans, Head of ASEAN, SSL Healthcare Ltd., at a healthcare industry seminar in Bangkok.

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being with like-minded and also not so like-minded travelling companions. To be involved, with everyone playing their part, navigating the ups and downs and achieving the various objectives along the road, this is what drives me.

Name one book that has especially im-pressed you.

There is one book that always comes to my mind as an amazing tale, extremely thought-provoking and inspirational. It’s the autobiography of Nelson Mandela, called the “The Long Walk to Freedom”, which tracks his life from his birth and upbringing in a hut in rural South Africa, through his early years and transforma-tion to political activist, then his imprison-ment, until he finally became President of South Africa. It is an amazing journey for him as a person, and for his country.

What do you really dislike?When it comes to people and organi-

zations, I dislike double standards. Another way of describing this is individ-uals who treat others in a way that they would themselves not wish to be treated. Apart from that, I am not a fan of cock-roaches, raw eggs, sheeps’ eyes for dinner, or breakfast, fermented tofu, very smelly and overripe durian and Manchester United Football Club!

What advice would you give a young col-league just starting their career?

Get involved with something you really enjoy, don’t be scared to challenge the status quo, be open and adaptable, and learn your strengths and build on them. And, to paraphrase the former US President John F. Kennedy: “Think not what the organization can do for you, think what you can do for the organization.”

Martina LudescherVice President Strategy & Corporate CommunicationsDKSH Management Ltd., Switzerland

Enjoying work with Controller Adrian Walter.

Boating at the Buergenstock Meeting on Lake Constance. From left: Charles Toomey, Stuart Davy, Jean-Daniel de Schaller and Kevin Corning.

Charles Toomey: “Think always what you can do for the organization.”

Entertaining the participants at the Buergenstock Meeting.

“What I look for in my sta" is consistent passion and commitment to the task in hand.”

communication materials created by DKSH Brand Producers without the need for outside agencies, e.g. for graphic de-sign. The portal has rapidly become the hub for all brand-related information at DKSH as it has developed into the prima-ry source of DKSH brand information.

areas. Besides this, we are working on the new look for trade fairs, exhibitions and conven-tions that will soon be rolled out. New corporate wear for both front and back office use is also on the way. And, since the branding project encompasses every niche and corner of our company, we are also getting our advertising on brand, along with the many company names that make up the DKSH Group, and cre-ating rules on how to feature our part-ners when we appear together in the same media. All this is branding, and all this needs to be streamlined so that we achieve a consistent look all over the world.

Document Generator and Brand Portal

The new Document Generator is a very practical and efficient tool. Available to all users of the Brand Portal, it enables staff to order business cards and other

Frank-Stephan Johne

Brand ManagerDKSH Management Ltd., Switzerland

GO! gets going – an update on the DKSH branding project

G R O U P N E W S

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The new trade fair look. Perfomance Materials Business Line Pharmaceutical Industry will be the first to implement the new design at the CPHi, the world’s largest pharma ingredients and services exhibition, in Frankfurt.

Every employee is a brand ambassador. Our new corporate wear marks DKSH presence and enhances our brand.

As the new Brand Manager, I will be provid-ing regular updates on the branding project in Fantree News. There is a lot to be done and we at Corporate Center are putting the finishing touches to many projects that will soon reach every corporate level. Communicating our brand is a job to be taken seriously by everyone, everywhere and at any time.Please use the tools available, like the Word, Powerpoint and Excel templates, and make sure you apply the correct logo. This will make you more efficient, help you stay on brand and save both time and money!I am very impressed by the team spirit and passionate attitude of the people at DKSH and I look forward to mastering future chal-lenges together.

The first in a series of updates on the branding project.

As reported in the last edition of Fantree News, communicating our new brand to customers, suppliers, business partners and employees is quite a big un-dertaking. Today, our readers will be up-dated on what has been achieved so far and what the next steps will be.

Behind the scenes there are many projects being worked on to create an overall DKSH brand experience. Wherever people come into contact with our com-pany – be it vehicles in the street or signs on buildings, inside business locations or on stationery, through publications or ad-vertising – they should experience a con-sistent “look and feel” of our brand. With the help of the Brand Champions, the Brand Team has created new corpo-rate design guidelines to achieve this consistency.

Brand new and coming soon

The latest steps for strengthening our brand are new guidelines for print com-munication materials like brochures, flyers and catalogs, as well as for external and internal signage to get all our buildings and vehicles “on brand”. As far as business locations are concerned, we have also developed interior design guidelines that will help to create the DKSH world in our offices, conference rooms and transition

17

Getting on brand in Australia

and conducted an exercise to identify where the Business Unit is behaving and projecting on brand and where off. The conclusion was: We are on brand, we have the right people in place, we are passionate about our customers and sup-pliers, we understand our customer needs and go the extra mile to meet them. Powerful tools like Lotus Notes, Centric and Pegasus provide us with solutions, giving access to historical and real time information on transactions, relations or communications with customers, suppli-ers and colleagues, no matter where in the world. Nevertheless, examples arose where we are not yet fully on brand. All issues were documented and are priori-ties for rectification.

After a brand-oriented first day, the next two were spent learning about the Finance and Services team and getting an insight into the complex world of sup-ply chain management. The conference concluded with a presentation of the tools needed for success and a blue-print for a successful and rewarding life: “Success is not an accident. It is the re-sult of our attitude and our attitude is a choice. Hence, success is a matter of choice, not chance.”

The Business Unit Technology Austra-lia and New Zealand sets about tak-ing the next steps in going from good to great by building on its best prac-tices and management techniques.

San Remo, Philipp Island, Australia was the setting for the Technology team conference held in February 2008. The clear outline of the expected outcome was to become unified in who we are, what we say and what we do. The pro-gram was tailored to building on exper-tise and creating a strong network and a truly proactive team.

The conference began with the new DKSH company presentation that gave all 44 delegates a good feel for the com-pany’s heritage, strength and potential. This was followed by presentations from each Business Line which reflected the passion needed to build up our business activities.

Best practices drive many of DKSH’s business improvement processes and provide techniques and methods that produce better and more consistent out-comes. It was essential that their impor-tance was understood, as it requires ev-eryone’s participation to develop, imple-ment and continuously improve them.

Together with Brand Champion Kay Danvers, I had the pleasure of introduc-ing the new brand strategy and its imple-mentation process, goals, milestones and guidelines. This was well received – finally there is a unique, professional strategy we can be proud of that makes us more attractive to our business partners. Participants then split into work groups

Paul Chaplin

Head of Country Managment TeamDKSH Australia Pty. Ltd.

From this excellent confer-ence I took the message of a clear future direction for DKSH Australia and how we fit into a globally branded company.

Jonathan HoughSales Engineer – Environmental TechnologiesBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Australia Pty. Ltd.

We have the right people and I am energized by our compa-ny direction. I identified areas of improvement for myself and my team and came away with new friendships.

Bruce LawsSales Manager – Industrial ServicesBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Australia Pty. Ltd.

The conference provided a forum for people to better appreciate fellow staff mem-bers’ roles, responsibilities, goals, sales targets and product lines.

Jim KotsifasBusiness Development Manager – Industrial ServicesBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Australia Pty. Ltd.

The most important out-come was that we were able to identify our strengths and weaknesses. With the brand-ing strategy, we can focus on improving our processes,

communications and teamwork.

Natalie WilkieSenior Sales Specialist – Instrumentation, Life Sciences and Laboratory ProductsBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Australia Pty. Ltd.

The breakout group evaluating on- and off-brand behavior.

Kay Danvers, Brand Champion, and Paul Chaplin, Head of Country Management Team.

and brushes, supplying these high-value materials to leading players in the luxury goods industry. The acquisition of Desco’s Asia Pacific Holding is also perfectly suit-ed to strengthen our Luxury & Lifestyle operation, part of the BU Consumer Goods. The takeover allows DKSH to ac-quire distribution rights in Asia for Desco’s own luxury watch brand Maurice Lacroix, as well as for other independent blue-chip watch brands such as Breitling, Parmigiani, Graham and Arnold & Son from British Masters. By adding such ex-perienced expertise to its portfolio, DKSH will be able to serve supplier and custom-er needs even better and boost its role as a most trusted partner to brands as well as retailers all across Asia. Other ben-efits include an expansion of our product

Asian activities of Desco, the last inde-pendent Swiss trading company with a long tradition in Asia, marks the end of an industry-wide consolidation process in the Swiss market.

Parallel pedigrees, multiple benefits

Desco’s Asian business now becomes part of a strong company that also has Swiss roots and a long tradition in the re-gion: DKSH. With such similar back-grounds, both companies are set to profit immensely from the synergies of com-bined experience, networks and knowl-edge. As Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH, puts it: “The business areas ac-quired from Desco are being integrated into our substantially larger platform which will promote their successful de-velopment. The concentration process within the industry in Switzerland is now complete.”

For the Business Unit (BU) Performance Materials, Desco is a welcome addition: In the raw materials sector, Desco is a long-established international niche pro-vider of silk and fine animal hair products

As of April 1, DKSH has acquired a 100% stake in Desco Rohstoffe Hold-ing and Desco Asia Pacific Holding.

For DKSH, acquiring Desco’s Asia busi-ness is a logical step in our quest to con-solidate our position as the leading Market Expansion Services company with focus on Asia. Since the merger in 2002, the DKSH success story has been one of internal growth and strategic acquisition, strengthening the scope of our compa-ny’s operations worldwide. In the six years since the merger we have made twelve acquisitions, the most recent being Desco’s Asian business activities. For us, the purchase represents a key expansion of Luxury & Lifestyle and Performance Materials businesses.

Desco is a well-known trading house with a long tradition in raw materials and luxury goods distribution. Established in 1889, the company has grown into a group operating business locations and affiliates in 13 different countries. In the past few years, Desco has also developed its own brand, the luxury watchmaker Maurice Lacroix. The acquisition of the

DKSH and Desco – two great traditions united under one roof

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The Desco acquisition brings exciting new watch brands to DKSH’s Luxury & Lifestyle business segment.

The transaction with DKSH, which offers a lot of syner-gies in the watch and raw materials businesses, brings about a concentration of Desco’s resources on the

manufacturing of watches and focuses its watch distribution on Europe and America. In future, Desco can count on a renowned partner at Maurice Lacroix (a minority share-holder and in charge of the Asian business).On the other hand, with the conclusion of this transaction Desco has become a share-holder in DKSH. This participation manifests the close collaboration between the two groups.The fact that our partner’s history, principles and value standards are similar to ours was instrumental in greatly facilitating negotia-tions and bringing them to a successful con-clusion.Our very best wishes for the future go to those employees who make the change from Desco to the DKSH group. Indeed, we are convinced that they will find interesting prospects for development in this large and powerful group of companies.

Dr. Peter BrunnerChairman of the Board of Directors Desco von Schulthess Holding

development of a business that Desco has been building up since its foundation in 1889.”

It is this trust, and the belief that per-sonal relationships and networking ac-count for much of the success in the industry, that brought Joerg Wolle to Hong Kong and Japan to celebrate the deal with Desco staff and DKSH Luxury & Lifestyle representatives. We organized two customer events, including press in-terviews, in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Also part of welcoming Desco to the DKSH family was a gala dinner with Desco’s key retailing partners, which emphasized that DKSH is a passionately customer-oriented company.

The acquisition of Desco illustrates perfectly the mechanics of Market Expansion Services, where strategic part-nerships are the order of the day. Joerg Wolle sets the course: “We believe there are interesting opportunities in both Europe and Asia that will allow us to keep expanding our business. We hope that the Desco acquisition will have a light-house effect in the industry, showing other companies with succession issues or without the necessary financial re-sources to invest heavily in IT, infrastruc-ture and people development that DKSH is the perfect platform for the future de-velopment of their businesses. Since most of the targets are privately-held or family companies, it takes time to build up the trust and confidence between the own-ers and DKSH management on a personal

level. This was the case with Desco: The families had known each other for years. One strong company under one strong brand will continue to be the DKSH suc-cess story.”

Martina LudescherVice President Strategy & Corporate CommunicationsDKSH Management Ltd., Switzerland

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portfolio, strengthened marketing, sales and distribution organizations and en-hanced personal and after-sales service networks. With these transactions, our distribution portfolio and network in the luxury watch segment has gained nine locations. The collaboration is further un-derlined by DKSH taking a financial stake in Maurice Lacroix Manufacture, while as part of the acquisition deal Desco is be-coming a shareholder in DKSH.

Happy families

Despite its long history and impressive network, Desco von Schulthess Holding AG remained a family firm and had sought new strategic partners for parts of its business in increasingly complex mar-kets that with globalization are becoming ever more volatile. The acquisition of Desco’s Asia Pacific business is therefore also a clear message to industry players that we at DKSH are an attractive partner with succession solutions for family-owned companies. Since DKSH is itself a privately-held company, it understands the culture of these family firms and what makes them tick. Over the years, DKSH has developed a reputation for the smooth and culturally sensitive integra-tion of acquisitions. As Dr. Peter Brunner, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Desco, says: “The partnership with DKSH provides an ideal succession solution for our family firm. With this deal, we have found the perfect platform for the future

! e acquisition of Desco’s Asia Pacifi c business has sent a clear message to industry players that we are an attractive partner with succession solutions for family-owned companies.

From left: Alfred Niederer, Vice Chairman of Desco von Schulthess Holding; Wolfgang Schanzenbach, President Nihon SiberHegner; and Dr. Joerg Wolle.

From left: Alfred Banz, Member of the Board of Directors of Maurice Lacroix and former President of Nihon SiberHegner K.K. with two esteemed NSH customers, Y. Ohtani, Chairman of ONTIME and J. Suzuki, President of ONTIME.

Happy business partners after signing the contract. From left: Alfred Niederer, Vice Chairman and Dr. Peter Brunner, Chairman of Desco von Schulthess Holding; Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO and Stuart Davy, CFO of DKSH Group.

Dr. Marcel Braun, Executive Vice President, DKSH Luxury & Lifestyle.

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ICS Project – preparing for the first year audit

Good progress has been made in key countries in rolling out the Internal Control Systems project and other lo-cations will be completed by October.

With only a few months left before the first audits by our external auditors, the Internal Control Systems (ICS) project has shifted into its highest gear yet. Some of DKSH’s largest country organizations have established their ICS documentation and the countries involved in the project are now preparing for the first external audit reviews.

Establishing documentation on inter-nal controls is only the first step within the longer-term ICS environment. The legal requirement will remain and it is worthwhile taking the project beyond a pure one-time documentation ex-ercise. Various different steps must be taken before the first year audits by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC): First of all, the established local internal control documentation needs to be consistently applied and kept up-to-date. Country organizations are thus expected to ensure that organizational changes are reflected in an update to the ICS documentation. Walk-throughs of documented controls, to be carried out by each country indi-vidually and with the aim of verifying that

focus on expansion. As an ICS consultant once said: In order to drive faster you need good, reliable brakes, and this is what ICS is about: putting in place con-trols that allow us to drive business growth faster, more reliably.

what is documented is also lived, will be requested prior to the audits. Moreover, controls identified for improvement will need to be addressed in a timely manner. It will be important to ensure that all im-portant areas are dealt with prior to the audits, or alternatively that compensating controls are introduced.

Other ICS developments at DKSH

We have so far talked mostly about internal control documentation on a local country level for some selected large country Business Units. Further to this, we are also introducing various group-wide controls that are important on a Corporate level and will affect different departments, e.g. Corporate Controlling, Treasury, etc. In a top-down manner, this will affect country organizations beyond the countries selected for full scope ICS documentation work. Moreover, ICS also requires a focus on IT controls, which we have covered at CSSC.

Last but not least, the focus on risks and controls also brings benefits. Most importantly, stronger internal controls will allow reliable execution of day-to-day business and thus fewer surprises. ICS will also form the foundation of a stron-ger organization, so that the business can

John Clare addressing the Hong Kong ICS closing meeting.

G R O U P N E W S

• Singapore – Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Healthcare

• Malaysia – Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Healthcare

• CSSC – IT General Controls

• Taiwan – Healthcare and Technology

• Thailand – Levi’s

• Hong Kong – Fast Moving Consumer Goods and Healthcare

Locations that have completed the first phase of ICS:

• Thailand – Healthcare, Central Services and Fast Moving Consumer Goods

• Japan – Luxury & Lifestyle, Performance Materials and Technology

• Switzerland – all Business Units

• Hong Kong – Luxury & Lifestyle

Locations with ongoing ICS projects or projects that will commence in due course:

John Clare

Director Operational Risk and ControlDKSH Hong Kong Ltd.

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Jan.

Feb.

Mar

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Apr

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May

June July

Aug

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Sep.

Oct

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Nov

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Dec

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2009 2010 and beyond20082007

AprilPilot Project Kick-off Singapore

JulyCSSC IT General Controls

August ICS Malaysia Kick-off

SeptemberICS Taiwan Kick-off

FebruaryICS Hong Kong Kick-off

MarchICS Levi’s Thailand Kick-off

MayICS HEC and Central Services Thailand Kick-off

JuneICS CG, PM, TEC Japan Kick-off

AugustICS CG Thailand Kick-off

AugustICS Switzerland Kick-off

DKSH Entity Level Controls

Maintenance and Sustainability

First PwC Audits

Completion year 1 Audit by PwC

Continuous Improvement

For example: - Standardization - Best practices - Benchmarking - Focus on application controls etc.

ICS Project Road Map

Preparation year 1 Audit

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In order to drive faster you need good, reliable brakes. ! is is what ICS is about: putting in place controls that allow us to drive business growth faster, more reliably.

The meeting was attended by the Global ICS and Hong Kong project teams.

In the last edition of Fantree News we introduced you to new Swiss laws requiring companies to formally docu-ment internal controls and conduct risk assessments.

The board of Directors and the Executive Board see great value in fostering internal controls which go beyond the legal require-ments.The timing of the ICS project is excellent, building on a swift and successful imple-mentation of Pegasus. Our business has also grown rapidly since the merger. With new shareholders and an eye on further growth, the importance of internal controls has never been greater. Internal controls and risk man-agement will thus be prime subjects for all management members. We also want to ensure that ICS transforms from a one-time project environment into the way we exe-cute our business. In saying this, we will sup-port the entrepreneurial culture of DKSH, which will in future have an increased risk and control focus. If you ask business people about risk assessment, they usually come up with operational risks, but what they often forget is that the biggest risk to a company is losing its license to operate. Over the past two years, a lot of hard work has gone into enhancing the standing and image of DKSH, but we should not forget that a positive im-age and perception can quickly be destroyed. ICS will not only help us to better control op-erational risks, but also to ensure our license to operate.I will be expecting Country Management Teams, Business Unit heads, Country Finance Managers and all operational management in general to integrate the risk and internal control thinking into the way we do business and thank all of you in advance for your commitment and hard work.

Dr. Joerg W. WollePresident & CEODKSH Holding Ltd., Switzerland

C O N S U M E R G O O D S

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was seduced by a pair of subtly decorated slippers. Snapping up several styles for his wife, he returned home, called in some local cobblers and be-gan pioneering new techniques of shoe manufacture.

Today, Bally has evolved into a global brand, offering shoes, ready-to-wear clothing, bags and leather goods. The busi-ness retails through 250 stores and a total of more than 750 points of sales worldwide. Current sales stand at about CHF 500 million, with half the revenue resulting from foot-wear sales. The remain-der derives from bags, accessories and clothes.

Over the next few years, Bally intends to open an additional stand-alone shop in a premium location in Bangkok cover-ing 150-200 m! and offering the full range of Bally products. There are further plans to expand the customer base to cover a younger clientele who follow the latest trends and designs. It is expected that growth will be a steady 15% per year, as the Bally brand performs very strongly in Asia.

Bally, a brand with few equals in the world for quality and craftsmanship and a business tradition over 150 years old, joins DKSH Thailand.

On January 1, 2008, DKSH signed an agreement with Bally S.A., to distribute the Bally brand exclusively in Thailand. The acquisition included the whole oper-ational team and four current points of sales in Bangkok: the Gaysorn flagship store and three shop-in-shops in the Paragon, Emporium and Central Chidlom department stores.

In the meantime, Bally has become the latest member of DKSH’s Business Segment Luxury & Lifestyle and strength-ens our company portfolio of luxury retail in Thailand, which already includes

Montblanc writing instru-ments, Porsche Design leatherwear, Roger Dubuis and Baume & Mercier timepieces. Bally is long established in the Asia Pacific region and well-known for its craftman-ship and elegant shoes. Officially distributed in Thailand since 1990, the brand is well posi-tioned and enjoys a large market share in quality footwear.

Over recent years, Bally has enjoyed a marked improvement in performance and expanded its consum-er base worldwide. Acquiring Bally is a great step for DKSH

and a significant chal-lenge to grow a brand

with such a rich and long-standing Swiss heritage.

Bally was founded 1851 in Switzerland by Carl Franz

Bally. The original family business was making rib-

bons, but Bally decided to switch production to shoes fol-

lowing a trip to Paris where he

Walking the walk – DKSH welcomes Bally

Kulthida Nopjaroonsri

Bally Brand ManagerBusiness Unit Consumer GoodsDiethelm Ltd., Thailand

The dreamy 2008 summer look by Bally.

Ready-to-wear leisure clothing for men.

Bally sales consultants in their dark brown uniforms, the Bally Switzerland livery.

Sporty: leather tennis bag.

Elegance and top quality combined: men’s shoes from Bally.

wishes to achieve and how to move for-ward to achieve it. This close relationship has provided a clear vision and direction for all concerned and resulted in unsur-passed visibility in all trade channels, with distribution in excess of 60,000 outlets.

The great 2007 result was another milestone on our journey together and the party was our way of showing our appreciation of the teams’ hard work, good attitude and commitment. At the same time, we are looking at the year ahead: We will continue to provide the best services in the market place and achieve even better results.

Just like a good soup, the recipe for a prosperous partnership has many different ingredients.

Cerebos, a Japan-based company manufacturing and marketing health supplement products, has been working closely with DKSH since 1974 in the Thai market for Brand products. Over the last five years, the categories Cerebos targets have seen exceptional growth and result-ed in market leadership for its core prod-ucts – Brand’s Essence of Chicken (liquid and tablet), Brand’s Bird’s Nest and Veta Prune & Berry Concentrate.

In 2007, the successful partnership of Cerebos and DKSH resulted in another milestone, not only in terms of market share but also in sales, where we man-aged to pass the THB five billion mark for in-market sales. To celebrate this success, a party was given in Bangkok for the management and staff from Cerebos and DKSH Thailand in December, 2007.

Lackana Leelayouthayotin, Cerebos Executive Vice President & CEO, South East Asia and Somboon Prasitjutrakul, President of DKSH in Thailand, empha-sized in their speeches that the recipe for success in achieving this landmark has many ingredients, but one of the most im-portant is the strength of the Cerebos brand, along with the strong long-term working relationship between the Cerebos and DKSH teams. From management right through to operational levels, there has been a clear understanding of what DKSH

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Cerebos and DKSH – the flavor of success

DKSH and Cerebos

The partnership between Cerebos and DKSH started in 1974 and has developed very impressively. DKSH was able to increase distribution coverage and product lines and implement heavy marketing activities both above and below the line, while providing a wealth of services including marketing, merchandising, channel management, sales, warehousing, logistics, order fulfilment, invoicing, cash collection, information pro-cessing, market feedback and KPI (Key Performance Indicator) reporting. DKSH supplies Cerebos products to hyper- and su-permarkets, cash and carry, discount and convenience stores and the traditional trade like food and grocery shops and drug stores, as well as to schools.

Wattawadee Sakulkerewattana

Department Manager Food/Special DivisionBusiness Unit Consumer GoodsDiethelm Ltd., Thailand

The managment teams from Cerebos and DKSH Thailand. From left: Wattawadee Sakulkerewattana, Phaitoon Siripoonphol, Jakaphan Charoenpanich, Tul Wongsuphasawa, Dr. Lackana Leelayouthayotin, Pensri Jatuniratisai, Somboon Prasitjutrakul, and Bo Nielsen.

Successful partners in the Thai market since 1974: Cerebos and DKSH celebrated another milestone in sales in 2007.

Brand’s Essence of Chicken.

Brand's Bird's Nest with Rock Sugar.

Two strategies in one

Dieter Schlosser, Vice President IT, de-livered the second keynote on how EchoPlus would help organizations acti-vate the full potential of their business. By combining the strategies of CRM and SFE in one application, EchoPlus enhanc-es productivity via automation.

Sales reps have to communicate with a wide range of contacts: doctors, nurses, and hospital and retail pharmacists. EchoPlus aligns people, processes, infor-mation and technology to assemble a winning sales team.

“Plus” reviews echo across Asia

The seminar was topped off by Joan Tong, Head of BU Healthcare Nutrition, Nestlé Hong Kong, who shared some best practices. As a satisfied user of EchoPlus, it was her review that many delegates were keen to hear. EchoPlus has enabled the Nestlé sales team not only to raise its productivity, but to mea-sure it too, as well as contributing to ad-vances in the team’s order-taking process and delivery.

the official launch of the latest version of EchoPlus. The new device has enhanced features and was specially developed for the requirements of the healthcare indus-try. Attendance at the launch was impres-sive, with representatives from some of the world’s leading pharma and consum-er health companies.

The numbers add up to profit

Charles Toomey, Executive Vice President, Business Unit (BU) Healthcare, delivered the first keynote speech, elabo-rating on the importance of mobile solu-tions in the healthcare industry and illus-trating how EchoPlus supports SFE and CRM, both keys to business growth and market expansion. EchoPlus empowers the sales force with a robust, specifically designed system that enables them to “maximize every business opportunity, do a better job when they are with the customer, generate business growth and achieve a competitive edge”, as Charles Toomey said.

Today, over 3,000 sales reps from DKSH and partner companies enjoy the benefits of EchoPlus. In the first quarter of 2008, companies like Bayer Healthcare, Galderma, Lundbeck, Reckitt Benckiser and Roche Diagnostics have been added to the growing list of users which include Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mead Johnson, Blackmores, GlaxoSmithKline, Nestlé, Novartis, Ranbaxy, Roche Pharma, Solvay and Terumo.

Over 3,000 sales representatives from DKSH and partner companies now enjoy the benefits of EchoPlus.

Asia’s healthcare industry is booming and global pharmaceutical and medical device companies are increasingly explor-ing opportunities here. The most success-ful are those that best understand the unique strengths and constraints of Asia’s individual markets. In this era of advanced technology, workforce mobility and rising customer expectations, strong Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Effectiveness (SFE) are a com-pany’s critical advantages.

EchoPlus, the unique solution only available to DKSH business partners, is the power-packed, pocket-sized answer to these two challenges. Developed for the healthcare industry and already oper-ating in five languages, it takes advan-tage of a dedicated support infrastructure across the region and draws on DKSH’s in-depth knowledge of Asia.

On February 28, 2008, DKSH hosted the “Mobile Biz Solutions for Healthcare Industry” seminar, gathering executives from the healthcare industry and our lo-cal and global offices in Hong Kong for

EchoPlus – the perfect prescription for the Healthcare industry

H E A LT H C A R E

24

Josemari Ortega

Regional Director Business SolutionsBusiness Unit HealthcareDKSH Hong Kong Ltd.

Inside EchoPlus

The core modules of EchoPlus are the Field Force Management System (FFMS), Reports (FFMR) and Administration (FFMA). FFMS is the application installed in the PDA used by sales reps to record their daily call activities or orders. The resulting reports can be viewed any time and anywhere via the web-based FFMR. If a sales rep needs to amend the master data, the FFMA can make these changes in minutes. Amendments to the contact database can be entered directly into the PDA by the rep. The FFMA can also be used to upload a product photo or TV commercial.

Joan Tong, Head of BU Healthcare Nutrition, Nestlé Hong Kong.

Dieter Schlosser, Vice President Information Technology DKSH CSSC Sdn Bhd.

pharmaceutical and consumer health giant like GSK achieve competitive ad-vantages. Chin Rong Lu, Vice General Manager of DKSH Taiwan’s BU Healthcare and responsible for business develop-ment, points out that the BU provides a first-class service package: New capabili-ties have been developed, such as con-tract sales experience of key account management and specialized IT systems, along with new organizational functions. We are also able to deliver solutions tai-lored to the client’s needs. Over recent years, DKSH Taiwan has provided numer-ous suppliers such as Bristol-Meyers Squibb or Novo Nordisk with distribution services and others like Friesland Foods are well maintained with full agency ser-vices. “With this know-how, we were fully prepared and confident when we got in touch with GSK again”, says Lu.

After the first contact in March 2007, the final signing followed in January 2008. The roll-out was implemented with a customized solution, which included changing Healthcare’s operation model, customer service procedure and the plan-ning of facilities space and flow paths in the distribution center. DKSH Taiwan also agreed to provide an exclusive sales force for GSK products.

Exclusive air-conditioned (18 to 25ºC) storage for GSK’s products at the Chung-Li distribution center in Taiwan.

25

According to Veronica Sung, Country HR Manager, DKSH Taiwan, GSK recruit-ment was one of the most challenging projects she has led. Nearly 40 sales rep-resentatives were hired in three months and more logistics staff had to be found at short notice who needed to be familiar with repackaging and storing GSK prod-ucts. “DKSH’s recruiting support was phenomenal and the quantity and quality of the new sales team is highly satisfac-tory”, notes Joyce Lee.

Without a doubt, the success of this business comes from great teamwork. Sharing the same vision, Healthcare and other functions in DKSH Taiwan aimed for the same goal and successfully won back a key supplier and sales perfor-mance. As Veronica Sung puts it: “We all know the bigger challenge still lies ahead, but this fantastic experience was very valuable for all of us.”

Five years’ cross-functional team-work between Business Develop-ment, Customer Service, Logistics, Human Resources and Information Technology has helped DKSH Taiwan regain supplier GlaxoSmithKline.

As of January 1, 2008, DKSH Taiwan has enhanced Business Unit (BU) Healthcare’s client portfolio with a coop-eration contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Taiwan for DKSH to provide distri-bution and promotion services for all GSK Consumer Healthcare products with the total turnover of around USD 65 million a year.

The cooperation between GSK and DKSH Taiwan began in 2003, when DKSH Taiwan provided third-party logistics ser-vices for one year. “Even though it was remarkable, the relationship ended due to changes in our business model and global policy”, says Joyce Lee, General Manager of GSK Consumer Healthcare. For Lee, who was especially impressed by DKSH Taiwan‘s flexibility and customer-orientation, it was a pleasure to resume work with DKSH in 2008.

Understanding the importance of a business partner big enough to provide a total solution service can definitely help a

Cooperation across functions – DKSH Taiwan wins back key client

GSK is a leader in consumer health brands, prescription medicines and vaccines. The first cooperation with DKSH five years ago was a wonder-ful experience, not only for

GSK and but also for me personally, although it was only a one-year partnership. The new contract remains customer-friendly, flexible, and can-do oriented. The only difference is that DKSH has now advanced to another level with a better business model supported by technology functions which I believe will make us more competitive in terms of chan-nel management, business result analysis and objective orientation.

Joyce LeeGeneral Manager Consumer HealthcareGSK Taiwan

From the perspective of busi-ness development, the result of winning back GSK proves that we have a strong repu-tation for excellent customer service, trustworthy execu-

tion and passion. Our clients need a one-stop business partner: not just a distributor delivering and storing goods, but with the ability to manage the sales force and provide meaningful information via customized re-ports. A partner that can help them grow their business.

Ching Rong LuVice General Manager Business Unit HealthcareDKSH Taiwan Ltd.

Darrell Tseng

CorporateCommunicationsSpecialistDKSH Taiwan Ltd.

the increasing number of European and Japanese companies seeking to enter the fast-growing Chinese healthcare market, thus underpinning DKSH’s status as Asia’s leading Market Expansion Services pro-vider in this category.”

higher volumes and the company has re-ceived a capital injection, making it free of debt. For all parties, the new partnership provides a significant opportunity to grow and build up a key strategic position in the Indonesian healthcare market.

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H E A LT H C A R E

The Kangda distribution center in Shanghai.

put up for bidding and approvals ob-tained from the Ministry of Commerce. This process is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, at which point DKSH can start to mold the joint venture by in-corporating its leading-edge distributional skills, which rely on SAP, to transform the new company.

“Everyone is pleased that there has been consensus after a year’s determined team efforts,” says Charles Toomey, Executive Vice President Business Unit (BU) Healthcare (HEC). “This is a major step towards a significant consolidation of DKSH’s position in the Chinese health-care market.”

As Jianzhong Zhu, Vice President of CAS, and Prof. Xiong Wang, General Manager of Kangda, put it: “This settle-ment is the result of months of friendly, but intense negotiations. We are delight-ed to see that the result is a win-win situ-ation for both parties and are confident that the spirit of cooperation between DKSH and CAS will contribute greatly to the mutually profitable development of the new joint venture.”

“DKSH will benefit immensely from Kangda’s pharmaceutical licences and customer network,” says Marcel Jahnke, Vice President BU HEC, Edward Keller (Shanghai) Ltd. “Acquiring this licensed distribution network will boost our chances of gaining more clients from

In a move that will open up the boom-ing Chinese healthcare market, DKSH is set to acquire 90% of a Shanghai pharmaceutical wholesaler.

On December 4, 2007, 12 months of intense negotiations climaxed in a cere-mony at DKSH’s Shanghai office when DKSH China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) signed a letter of intent for DKSH to acquire 90% of the equity of pharmaceutical wholesaler Shanghai Zhongke Kangda Medicine. DKSH thus becomes the controlling shareholder, with the influential Academy holding the remaining 10%.

With this acquisition, DKSH aims to consolidate its already strong position in the Chinese healthcare market. DKSH will set up this extended distribution arm to deal directly with hospitals, clinics and pharmacies. Currently, Kangda is a li-censed wholesaler of medicines and medical devices with an established dis-tribution base in Shanghai and the eco-nomically dominant Yangtze Delta. Its li-cense, however, is valid for all of China and DKSH will thus be able to improve its service levels nationwide, as well as ex-pand its coverage and customer base still further.

There remains a complex procedure to follow before the transaction is complet-ed, as the state assets transfer must be

Hard work rewarded – DKSH signs letter of intent in Shanghai

From left: Adrian T. Keller, Chairman of DKSH Holding Ltd; Hamadi Widjaja; Charles Toomey, Executive Vice President Business Unit Healthcare; Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Holding Ltd.; and Peter Zuellig, CEO of Parazelsus.

Charles Toomey

Executive Vice PresidentGlobal Business Unit Manager HealthcareDKSH Hong Kong Ltd.

This independent company, which is now the majority shareholder, is a distributor of pharmaceutical products with extensive connections and knowledge, particularly in South East Asian markets. DKSH continues its participation in the Indonesian health-care operation with a minority sharehold-ing. At the same time, our previous joint venture partner, Tunggal Sila Farma, is di-vesting its 35% shareholding in DKSH Tunggal to Pak Hamada Widjaja, a local pharmaceuticals company.

These transactions have enlarged and strengthened the shareholder base. The new investors will drive efficiency through

As of July 1, 2008, DKSH has enlarged the shareholder structure for Healthcare operations in Indonesia, selling part of its shareholding in DKSH Tunggal to take on board the additional investor Parazelsus.

New shareholders, new opportunities

Stephanie Pan

Country Communications ManagerDKSH (China) Co., Ltd.

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P E R F O R M A N C E M AT E R I A L S

tantly, compliance with safety and envi-ronmental regulations for our customers.

Insight and trust

Our competencies are the result of a continuous quest to know the needs and exceed the expectations of our stakeholders. Our customers are under pressure to deliver new generations of products at ever shorter intervals, lower development costs and a lower overall cost of goods sold. This consequence of increasing globalization has increased the level of competition and the rate at which products or technologies become obso-lete.

Recognizing the trend, we acted to develop the relevant competencies. Today, our customers in 16 industry clus-ters have access to local, globally con-nected teams supported by a network of innovation centers. The teams have profound knowledge of our customers’ applications and are thus competent de-velopment partners, offering new, more cost-effective and innovative solutions. As a Swiss company with over 140 years’ experience building relationships of trust, we naturally keep proprietary informa-tion confidential. This combination of in-sight and trust allows our customers to integrate us in their organization and us to create much greater value for them than as a mere distributor of materials.

The Beijing Olympics in 2008 show just how important insight and trust are. China is a vital source of materials for in-dustries ranging from toys to processed food, pharmaceuticals, electronics, cars and even airplanes. In the context of the world’s most popular sports event, China has increased restrictions on manufactur-ing and transportation and, as a conse-quence, hitherto reliable suppliers have had difficulty keeping delivery commit-ments. Thanks to our global networks, we were able to anticipate this develop-ment, inform our customers earlier than other suppliers and secure alternative sources.

What lies behind the new name

Changing the Business Unit (BU) title from Specialty Raw Materials to Performance Materials (PM) shows that our worldwide competence goes beyond that of a raw materials provider and dis-tributor: We are a development partner with an unmatched portfolio of high per-formance materials coupled with innova-tive solutions yielding high value-added results. The new name represents our performance-oriented attitude and con-tinuing commitment to industry expertise and diversity of service.

Only if we know what our customers expect, we can build the right competen-cies to meet and even exceed expecta-

A name change might at first sight seem a cosmetic exercise, but the new Business Unit name is highly symbolic, not only in the light of the latest success stories in health drinks and beauty products in Japan, but also of our performance-oriented attitude.

The story behind Performance Materials

One major challenge our European customers face is rising cost pressure: They need to cut the cost of manufac-tured goods substantially, while retaining a level of quality and reliability that war-rants their premium status over competi-tors from low-cost locations like China or Vietnam. The obvious solution, to swap trusted suppliers for cheaper, Far Eastern sources, often failed to deliver cost im-provements and led to quality problems and worse. DKSH helps customers over-come this challenge with the strong combination of industry insights and global network. Because our company knows what matters in a specific product or application, we are able to suggest changes in formulations that maintain performance, but significantly reduce cost. We are also able to source materials in 68 markets around the world, thus offering the perfect mix of cost reduction, quality, dependable supply and, impor-

A strong commitment to high performance – Specialty Raw Materials becomes Performance Materials

Five Business Lines cater to 16 distinct industry clusters.

Animal Care Industry

• Animal Health

• Animal Nutrition

• Pet Care

Food & Beverage Industry

• Beverage & Dairy

• Confectionery & Bakery

• Food Service

• Functional Supplement & Nutrition

• Processed Food

Personal Care & Household Industry

• Household Chemicals

• Personal Care & Cosmetic Ingredients

Pharmaceutical Industry

• Pharmaceutical Formulation

• Pharmaceutical Synthesis

Specialty Chemicals Industry

• Graphic & Electronic

• Paints

• Polymer, Fiber & Adhesive

• Other Chemical

Japan(2)

China*(2)

Philippines(2)

Vietnam(2)

Thailand(4)

Australia(1)

clinical testing and even pilot production runs.

… breeds success

Our specialists are passionate about the industry clusters they serve and genu-inely enjoy helping their customers find new niches and make dreams commer-cially successful reality. Kavan Ranasinghe of our BL Food & Beverage Industry Europe is a perfect example of the PM spirit. Responsible for the industry cluster Confectionery & Bakery in Europe, Kavan’s insights into consumer behaviour helped shape a vision for a new range of health drinks. Listening to customer Jules Birch, he realized she needed sup-plements that we provide for an entirely different application, bakery. He intro-duced the concept to Jules and accompa-nied her all the way from vision to com-mercialization of the new range with advice, connections and technical sup-port. The result is a stunningly successful start-up in the mineral water segment,

rials to our customers in mature markets. This is where our core competence as Market Expansion Services specialists comes in: We are not only about sourcing and distribution, but also work with our clients on future product generations based on our detailed and exhaustive cus-tomer feedback. We establish effective communication routines between our ex-perts and those of our suppliers to share among other things industry trends, test results of new product and material varia-tions and other important data. With eleven Innovation Centers worldwide and a further two due in 2008, we are miles ahead of the competition: creating trends instead of following them.

These competencies are valued highly by our customers, as shown by a string of honors won by PM, including the Splash Corporation’s Special Award for Continuous Improvement for our Personal Care Innovation Center in the Philippines. Splash, the biggest local manufacturer of personal care products, introduced an open innovation approach in the cosmet-ic industry to give their suppliers the chance to participate in product develop-ment. The Innovation Center’s commit-ment to help clients create trend-setting, cutting-edge products for new niche markets was the biggest factor in win-ning the award. Under the supervision of its Technical Manager Yolanda Yac, the center provides technical assistance with Research & Development (R&D) for new and innovative products and helps with formulation, stability testing, in-house

tions. Our new organization is a case in point: In a rapidly globalizing economy, our customers increasingly expect fast and dependable service all over the world. Our regional Business Line (BL) organiza-tion enables us to meet this demand and goes well beyond it. With a global net-work of sourcing teams, application ex-perts and Innovation Centers, we can now anticipate what solution a European customer in the electronics industry needs, proactively identify a supplier in China, have the material tested in the customer’s lab in Japan, get approval from the customer in Europe and then deliver the product to its production facil-ity in the USA. This true case documents how PM combines insights and relation-ships to deliver results for our business partners: Market Expansion Services at its best!

Success…

Thanks to our strong sourcing capabili-ties, we can provide low-cost, high-quality alternative sources for performance mate-

P E R F O R M A N C E M AT E R I A L S

28

Splash Corporation, one of the Philippines’ biggest cos-metics manufacturers, initiat-ed the open innovation ap-proach. This gives the Business Line Personal Care

Industry (PCI) a chance to participate fully in their product developments – from product concepts to pilot batching prior to mass pro-duction. It enables us to work hand in hand with other suppliers to come up with high quality, effective products. This kind of ap-proach is very rewarding because of the pride one feels in being able to assist cus-tomers in their technical needs and the good relationship we have with them and, of course, the assurance of good sales. The PCI Innovation Center is passionately committed to give technical assistance to our custom-ers.

Yolanda YacTechnical ManagerBusiness Unit Performance MaterialsEdward Keller (Philippines) Inc.

Our network of 13 Innovation Centers spans six countries in Asia

*The Innovation Centers in China will open later this year. Mixing formulations in the PCI Innovation Center.

hitherto dominated by large players and cut-throat competition. “Works With Water” is unrivalled in the new niche it has created with the support of PM and Kavan Ranasinghe.

Another story which demonstrates how we deliver results by putting our in-sights and relationships to work, is that of Pycnogenol, which has been called a “skin vitamin”, despite the fact that it is not a vitamin, but an innovative nutrition-al supplement by Horphag Research, Switzerland. Although it cannot repair deep wrinkles or the permanent damage of actinic kenotosis caused by the sun, Pycnogenol rebuilds skin tissue and makes the skin appear more flexible and healthy. While these are convincing arguments in their own right, our Food & Beverage Industry team in Japan decided that, in order to create a market for health and beauty products based on Pycnogenol’s effects, they would exploit the public ap-peal of celebrity. Tapping their connec-tions, they persuaded well-known Japanese actress Aya Sugimoto to devel-op her own line of cosmetics and food supplements based on Pycnogenol.

29

Our customers are under pressure to deliver new products at ever shorter intervals, lower develop-ment costs and a lower overall cost of goods sold.

As a young company looking to develop a first-to-market proposition in the fiercely competitive soft drinks sec-tor, it was crucial to have an ingredients partner with ex-

tensive knowledge of nutritional market trends and specific technical expertise. We consider ourselves fortunate to have found both in DKSH Performance Materials and its Food & Beverage Industry Team.They have been instrumental in both prod-uct innovation and business development, from research and new product develop-ment to product realization and launch, and have become an invaluable support within our business.We are now a successfully established brand in Great Britain and continue to have consid-erable market advantage, as we remain the only spring water beverage in Great Britain with on-pack substantiated clinically-based health claims.

Jules BirchFounderWorks With Water Nutraceuticals Ltd.

Happy business partners. From left: Kenichi Nagai, Vice President Performance Materials, Nihon SiberHegner; Aya Sugimoto, President of “Un Destino”; and Victor Ferrari, COO of Horpag Research.

A children’s mineral water containing a special ingredient marketed by DKSH which helps improve calcium absorption.

Under the brand name “Un Destino”, Aya successfully launched various Pycnogenol-enhanced cosmetic items, such as cleansing gel, soap, moisturizing cream and lotion, as well as two food supplements, in capsule and drink form.

DKSH – the partner of choice

Our insights and relationships also give our suppliers a competitive edge. Because we are increasingly in demand as a devel-opment partner by our customers, we have access to priceless feedback on mar-

access both the latest developments on the supply side and a cutting-edge prod-uct portfolio.

Breaking new ground

The latest additions to our internation-al presence are Brazil and Indonesia, two large emerging economies benefiting from new-found political stability, but still lacking mature infrastructure and distri-bution networks. As a measure of the positive response to our improved capa-bilities and geographic footprint, we have been awarded major regional contracts by leading suppliers like Celanese and Aqualon from the USA, and several large contracts are being finalized as Fantree News goes to print. In order to meet the Market Expansion Services needs of our customers and suppliers in future, we are expanding rapidly: Our acquisition pipe-line is full of projects that will further strengthen our competencies, product ranges and geographic reach.

Building up competencies and align-ing them with customer needs also yields outstanding results for our suppliers and shareholders. In 2007, PM grew by 16.2% to reach CHF 574 million net sales. At the same time, our EBIT grew by 26.3% to reach CHF 35.4 million, proof that creat-ing value for customers and suppliers en-ables profitable growth. And the trend seems to be continuing: Our year-on-year growth rates are 10.4% on net sales and 18.2% on EBIT, despite the dampening effect of foreign exchange rate changes. These earnings will be ploughed into im-proving our core competencies of speed, reliability, local entrepreneurship, industry expertise and global integration, and thus our ability to help our customers and sup-pliers to expand their markets.

ket trends and technical requirements for future product generations. Thus, by fo-cusing on our customers’ needs, we have also become a better partner for our sup-pliers and thus entered a virtuous cycle: As a trusted development partner of our customers, we have unrivalled access to information that predicts market trends. This enables us to advise suppliers on product development strategies, saving them R&D costs and time and making us a preferred distributor. This in turn en-ables us to be a more potent develop-ment partner for our customers, who can

30

P E R F O R M A N C E M AT E R I A L S

Eric Baden

Executive Vice President Global Business Unit Performance Materials DKSH (China) Co., Ltd.

Aya Sugimoto’s “Un Destino” product range.

In 2007, revised legislation for chemicals be-came effective in the European Union (EU). The main objective is to improve the protec-tion of human health and the environment from the hazards of chemicals and enhance the competitiveness of the EU chemicals in-dustry.Known by the abbreviation REACH, the new regulations fundamentally change the EU’s chemical control legislation. They apply to approximately 30,000 substances currently marketed in the EU and involve submitting a registration to the European Chemicals Agency (EChA) in Helsinki. Manufacturers and importers of chemicals exceeding one tonne per year will have to supply a technical

dossier on the properties of their substances, their uses and safe ways of handling them.To implement a REACH strategy and plan pre-registration and registration of all important substances, DKSH has established a REACH Expert Group, consisting of regulatory and IT specialists under the leadership of Dr. Robert Koller. REACH is a severe threat to small and medium-sized manufacturers and importers, but also a unique business opportunity: DKSH is in a position to ensure both continued ac-cess to the EU market and supply to its EU customers for our non-EU suppliers, as well as alternative suppliers for its EU customers if their EU suppliers have to stop production due to REACH.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restrictions of Chemicals): A new business opportunity for DKSH

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T E C H N O L O G Y

Centric – making everyone a winner

from the USA, one from Europe and Lye Fong, the sole representative of Asia. Supported and encouraged by Lotus Notes Team Manager Sven Maushake, she won second prize for the most re-markable Notes application, a great achievement for Lye Fong and the CSSC Lotus Notes team.

This prize-winning success is a tribute to the tremendous cooperation and en-thusiasm of a dynamic team, backed up by brilliant contributions and support from Paul Chaplin, Head of Country Management Team DKSH Australia.

DKSH’s Customer Relationship Man-agement system Centric wins an ex-cellent second prize at Lotusphere 2008.

The value of getting to know custom-ers well was recognized by DKSH more than a hundred years ago. Our knowl-edge of what customers need is the key asset for Market Expansion Services: It sets us apart from our competitors and has made us the number one service group in this field. So as to organize cus-tomer data more systematically and fur-ther enable strong growth for DKSH, we developed Centric, our in-house Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This new IT solution means that our customers will get the best at-tention a service group can deliver.

Centric has also attracted attention in other circles: On January 23, 2008, the Centric system developed by Corporate Shared Services Center (CSSC) took sec-ond place at the Teamstudio Spotlight Awards, the most prestigious contest in the global Lotus Notes community, at Lotusphere 2008, the annual conference on Lotus Domino. In evaluating the en-tries, the judges took account of the complexity of the particular task per-fomed, the degree of automation, the size of the overall user community, its value and importance to business and, finally, the creativity and innovation of the design concept itself.

Lye Fong Chow, Senior Lotus Notes Applications Specialist at CSSC, took up the challenge and entered Centric for the contest on behalf of DKSH. From over 40 contestants, a jury of highly regarded in-dustry experts chose five finalists – three

Preethi Subramany

CorporateCommunicationsSpecialistDKSH CSSC Sdn Bhd,Malaysia

Screen showing Centric.

Proud winner Lye Fong Chow.

The Teamstudio Award plaque.

The term Customer Relationship Manage-ment applies to all activities aimed at im-proved, efficient customer orientation. CRM offers a comprehensive opportunity to culti-vate relationships with existing and potential customers, which in turn produces long-term benefits for the company.

What is CRM?

Centric is a front office system that records all customer activities undertaken by DKSH staff. This is a great aid to being proactive in that it indicates how effective our activities are and how we can fulfill customers’ needs. Centric provides information enabling the requirements of each customer to be met.

What is Centric?

Administration • Second and third level Lotus Notes support • Monitoring and support of Lotus Notes infrastructure (all Lotus Notes/Domino servers)• Active support of roll-outs• Custody of the DKSH Lotus Notes Global Template• Global policies and guidelines related to Lotus Notes/Domino• Local administrator training• Software license management

Development • Analysis and design of workflow applications• Automation of business processes• Application integration into existing backend systems• Enterprise application portal implementation• Training and support on Lotus Domino application development

Services offered by the Lotus Notes team to the DKSH community:

The challenge continues with titanium

In the 1980s, in the face of the grow-ing value of the Japanese yen, emerging competitors from abroad and the global-ization of our customers’ purchasing and sourcing policy, we were forced to be-come extremely competitive. To ensure future growth, we changed our strategy and made the most of our knowledge network, shifting our products portfolio to more advanced and value-added prod-ucts. We investigated for example the medical market in Switzerland, well known for having the most advanced fa-cilities in the world. Together with the AMM team in Switzerland, we succeeded in creating new business by supplying special titanium alloy bar products from the Daido Steel Corporation, one of the leading manufacturers in Japan, to final customers in the orthopedics implant in-dustry, such as Zimmer, Smith and Nephew and Biomet. One common fea-

suppliers in Japan and has successfully fostered growth on both sides.

The company’s own business contin-ues to expand, as shown by the 35% rise in sales from 2006 to 2007. Based around a relatively small, tightly-knit team, this is one of the best performing businesses in TEC and enjoys a strong position in the market.

It all started with stainless steel

In 1962, we signed an exclusive repre-sentation agreement, still valid today, with Nisshin Steel, a manufacturer who exported the first cold-rolled stainless steel products to Switzerland. This was the start of our metals business in Japan and ever since we have enjoyed an excel-lent sales record for unique stainless steel applications, such as kitchenware, chemi-

cal plants or press-plates for card manufactur-

ing.

With a growing world population of older citizens, demand for artificial joints is rising. Europe has always been a major market for advanced metal products, while Japan is a lead-er in manufacturing metal products of the highest quality.

Technology’s (TEC) Business Line Advanced Materials & Metals (AMM) can look back on more than four decades of exporting specialty metals from Japan. AMM is a pioneer in the export of stain-less steel sheets, fabricated titanium and specialized metal products for high-end applications. For over 40 years, DKSH has

been the bridge between its cli-

ents in Europe and its

Titanium – tomorrow’s technology today

T E C H N O L O G Y

Titanium alloy round bars.

32

Biomet's Discovery Elbow System. Titanium sourced by DKSH.

ture of both Japan and Switzerland is their aging societies and the growing de-mand for medical inserts like hipbones and joints. Today, DKSH enjoys an excel-lent reputation as one of the most reli-able partners in the titanium market.

The future looks bright

To ensure future growth, we are look-ing at marketing titanium products for aerospace applications. We are confident that there will be a major expansion of the market in the near future, due to an increased use of titanium in new com-mercial aircraft, such as the Airbus A380 or the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Quality re-quirements for aerospace applications are very strict and the supply of high-quality titanium products is still limited. Thanks to our sourcing network of high-quality titanium products from Japan, we are ideally placed to meet the demand of lo-cal customers in Europe. Other new busi-ness includes bars, plates and wires for dental applications, eyeglasses or auto-mobile and chemical manufacture.

The future of Japan as a sourcing market for advanced materials and metals is cer-tainly looking bright. Many markets in Europe still have to be penetrated with our

portfolio of products, while many other in-teresting Japanese advanced materials and metals are waiting to be discovered.

Peter KaufmannVice President AMMBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Switzerland Ltd.

The AMM Team in Switzerland. From left: Jianghong Zheng, Andreja Lukacek, Erwin Freihofer, Ursula Schmidli, Martin Roellin, Claudia Flueckiger, Angela Gruesner and Peter Kaufmann.

DKSH enjoys an excellent reputation as one of the most reliable partners in the titanium market.

Main Products of Business Line Advanced Materials & Metals (AMM):

• Titanium, titanium alloys

• High nickel alloy products (plate/bar/coil) for chemical plants

• Stainless steel powder for automobile part applications

• Ultra-thin stainless steel foils for dental applications

• Stainless steel coil products with special surface finishes used for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card production

• Tungsten alloy products for heavy weight applications like lithography systems, high-quality watches, racing cars etc.

A connecting rod for a racing car,

titanium from Daido steel,

Japan.

Tsuyoshi Miki

Deputy Executive Sales Manager AMMBusiness Unit Technology Nihon SiberHegner K.K.,Japan

33

The Japan AMM team. From left: Tsuyoshi Miki and Hiroyuki Yamaguchi.

In Ho Chi Minh City, Tim Solso and the Cummins delegation were welcomed at the new DKSH Vietnam head office by Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH, and Claire Burgess, Head of Country Management Team Vietnam. Joerg Wolle and Claire Burgess gave a presentation on DKSH, an overview of Diethelm’s activities and a five-year pro-jection for the upcoming joint venture business. During the farewell dinner, Tim Solso expressed his confidence and full support for the partnership with Diethelm in Vietnam.

Cummins products and services, similar to the one in Thailand, is planned for 2009.

In Hanoi, a memorandum of under-standing was signed with the Vietnam Motor Industry Corporation (Vinamotor), a state-owned company active in truck and bus assembly. The aim is to establish a fifty-fifty joint venture for diesel engine assembly and eventual manufacturing for the local automotive markets.

A further highlight of the tour was a meeting with Nguyen Van Dung, the Prime Minister of Vietnam, who is actively promoting foreign investment in his country. It was a good opportunity to present DKSH and Cummins and discuss the planned cooperation with Vinamotor. Tim Solso also expressed the hope that the new laws on import and distribution for foreign companies would be imple-mented soon, so as to speed up the joint venture with Diethelm Technology.

The South East Asia tour by Tim Solso, Chairman & CEO of Cummins Inc., confirms the dynamic potential of this emerging economic region.

The first leg of Tim Solso’s trip was Vietnam, where he visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and met staff in the region, as well as Cummins distributors and major customers. This gave him the chance to observe at first hand the current situation and the future potential of this fast-growing market.

Diethelm Technology has been distrib-uting Cummins products in Vietnam for 14 years, building market share with die-sel engines and diesel-powered electricity generators.

With a high level of brand awareness and a solid team in place, there are growth opportunities in all market seg-ments. A joint venture between Diethelm and Cummins for the distribution of

Toon Santen

General ManagerBusiness Unit TechnologyDiethelm & Co. Ltd.,Vietnam

DKSH and Cummins – high-powered partners in progress

T E C H N O L O G Y

Meeting Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. From left: Luke Mitchell, Executive Vice President BU Technology of DKSH; His Excellency Michael W. Michalak, the US Ambas-sador; Tim Solso, Chairman & CEO of Cummins Inc.; Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung; Nguyen Van Khoa, Chairman and President of Vinamotor; Nguyen Hong Truong, Vice Minister of Transportation Ministry; and Tran Van Anh, Vice General Director of Vinamotor.

The signing ceremony for the Vinamotor and Cummins joint venture.

The DKSH and Cummins delegation, together with Tim Solso, Chairman & CEO of Cummins Inc., and Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Holding Ltd., in a Diethelm Technology seminar room.

34

DKSH and Cummins

Up to the end of 2006, Diethelm was exclusive distributor for Cummins in Thailand and Vietnam. On January 1, 2007, Cummins and Diethelm formed a fifty-fifty joint venture under the name of “Cummins Diethelm Limited” (CDL) for Thailand and Vietnam. Whilst Thailand has been operat-ing as a full-fledged joint venture since January 1, 2007, Vietnam still operates as a Diethelm distributorship, pending the award of a new business license by the Vietnamese government which we expect some time in 2009. Laos and Cambodia op-erate as exclusive distributorships under Diethelm Laos and Diethelm Cambodia. Once these two countries have reached the critical mass of business, they will be inte-grated into the CDL collaboration, as will Myanmar, but not until the political situa-tion has normalized and US and EU sanc-tions have been lifted. The ultimate goal is to have all five countries in the Greater Mekong area (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar) integrated into CDL and then operate as one entity.

As I traveled to Thailand and Vietnam, I was eager to see what kind of value our part-nership with DKSH would create for Cummins. During my visits and meetings with

management, I was impressed by DKSH’s understanding of how to do business in South East Asia and how it augments this knowledge with a strong team. I am excited about our partnership and the promise it holds for profitable growth.

Tim SolsoChairman & CEO of Cummins Inc.

35

ber of Cummins engines working on the Thai railway system stands at no less than 532. SRT is in fact the largest user of Cummins KV (high horsepower) units in rail applications worldwide.

Tim Solso ended his Bangkok visit full of praise for the work carried out by Diethelm Thailand on behalf of Cummins over the past 42 years and said that, with the expanded operation of the new joint venture, the bond between the two com-panies had been strengthened still further.

plier-distributor relationship: Today, the joint venture company Cummins Diethelm Ltd. not only looks after the Thai market, but is also responsible for the emerging economies of the Greater Mekong sub-region, including Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The highlight of Tim Solso’s two days in Bangkok was a visit to two distin-guished and long-time customers of Cummins and Diethelm, the Chao Phraya Express Boat Company (CPEX) and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

CPEX operates a transport service on the Chao Phraya River, the so-called River of Kings. The company owns and oper-ates 65 boats, all powered by Cummins engines, and has been one of our most loyal customers for more than 25 years. SRT runs the railroad system in Thailand. The first Cummins engines were installed in diesel-electric locomotives and railcars more than 40 years ago. Today, the num-

Following the very successful three-day visit by Tim Solso, Chairman & CEO of Cummins Inc., to Vietnam, the next stop on his swing through South East Asia was Bangkok, where he was warmly welcomed by our Chairman, Adrian T. Keller, and the management and staff of the joint venture company Cummins Diethelm Limited.

The relationship between Cummins and Diethelm in Thailand dates back more than 40 years. Back in 1964 Diethelm was first appointed exclusive distributor of Cummins engines and power generators for the kingdom of Thailand. Over the many years of excel-lent cooperation, an enduring partner-ship has developed, one that goes considerably deeper than a normal sup-

Walter Brenneis

Senior AdvisorDiethelm Ltd.,Thailand

Supapan Pichaironarongsongkram, President of the Chao Phraya Express Boat Co., explaining some of the historical sites to the delegation on a Cummins-powered boat.

Walking through the Cummins Diethelm plant (from left): Brady Southwick, Cummins Regional Director; Tim Solso, Chairman & CEO of Cummins Inc.; Claus Bressmer, General Manager Diethelm Technology; and Adrian T. Keller, Chairman of DKSH Holding Ltd.

Technical talk from Tim Solso, Chairman & CEO of Cummins Inc., at the Cummins workshop in Bangkok.

Group picture of Cummins Diethelm staff together with the Chairman & CEO of Cummins, Tim Solso, and the Chairman of DKSH Holding, Adrian T. Keller, outside the Diethelm Technology/Cummins Diethelm office building in Bangkok.

An enduring partnership has developed, one that goes considerably deeper than a normal supplier-distributor relationship.

This is a classic case illustrat-ing our corporate credo: Market Expansion Services. Our long-time traditional relationship was reviewed by the US manufacturer

Cummins which has enjoyed renewed success in recent years. In this context, we were not only able to host the top manage-ment of Cummins for the first time in South East Asia with our own top executives flying in for the occasion, but also demonstrate to them the profound knowledge and connec-tions we have in South East Asian markets. As a result, we formed a joint venture, which on the one hand satisfied Cummins´ share-holder pressure to gain greater control of their distribution, and on the other not only preserved the value of our organization in Thailand, but enhanced it to include neigh-boring countries. The result is a win-win situ-ation, as shown by the excellent results the collaboration posted in its first year.We came to the meeting as business part-ners negotiating a deal; we left as friends sharing a joint venture with excellent long-term prospects.

Adrian T. KellerChairmanDKSH Holding Ltd., Switzerland

36

we think about what we have done to enable people in Taiwan to enjoy a cup of hot coffee or latte anytime anywhere, we will find the power to overcome future challenges.”

Darrell TsengCorporate Communications SpecialistDKSH Taiwan Ltd.,

drinking market is now worth over USD 400 million and growing fast.

During the project’s development, DKSH Taiwan spared no ef-forts to find the per-fect coffee machine for 7-Eleven. As Marvin Kang, Department Manager of Conve-nience Stores & Bakery, DKSH Taiwan, remem-bers: “The machine they wanted had to be small enough to fit in a high-density store, fast enough to brew in the rush-hour and adhere to the National Sanitation Standard.” Finally, DKSH completed the customization process with the first proto-type based on the Egro Series 50. Originally Swiss-made, this is a high-performance, fully automatic, fresh-ground bean-to-cup espresso and cappuccino coffee machine suitable for locations serving an average of 300 cups a day.

After this first great result, PCSC quickly placed an order for another 300 machines, but this still couldn’t satisfy the demand. PCSC then set the bar even higher and, by the end of 2007, more than 1,000 stores with integrated City Cafés had sold over twenty million cups of tasty coffee to grateful customers.

With this tremendous performance by 7-Eleven, by the end of 2007 DKSH had taken orders worth over USD 7 million which, according to Marvin Kang, is a new record for an-nual sales to a single client for Egro.

For PCSC, City Café’s ultimate goal is to reach every 7-Eleven in Taiwan. At the same time, when DKSH Taiwan

does the math, bigger challenges lie ahead. In addition to producing to meet high demand, maintenance quality has to be upheld 24 hours a day. This in-

cludes the client’s special requirement of having a repair service in the store within 2 hours, regardless of loca-tion. Marvin Kang is confident: “If

A 20-year old partnership flourishes as 7-Eleven and DKSH bring the taste of freshly brewed coffee to Taiwan.

7-Eleven is the leading convenience chain in Taiwan. Introduced in 1979 by the President Chain Store Corporation (PCSC), it has grown to number more than 4,000 stores.

In the 1980s, 7-Eleven Taiwan started to offer American-style filter coffee at se-lected stores. In 2003, when the trend of drinking Italian-style coffee arrived, 7-Eleven decided to enter the market by creating its own brand, City Café, offer-ing freshly brewed Italian espresso and cappuccino. With this decision, the search for the right partner began. To get the best service with the right coffee ma-chines and a reliable maintenance pro-vider for their stores, PCSC chose DKSH as their provider. “Thanks to our excellent 20-year relationship with the Business Line Hospitality, DKSH Taiwan was the first provider that came to mind. Most importantly, when we went through all the possible machine providers, DKSH re-ally stood out with their reliable quality and can-do attitude”, says Steven Tsou, Head Buyer of PCSC’s General Merchandising Department. According to Tsou, the Taiwanese coffee

Success to go – 7-Eleven and DKSH Taiwan

T E C H N O L O G Y

7-Eleven is the leading convenience chain store in Taiwan with more than 4,000 locations nationwide offering various products and services 24 hours a day.

The success of the partner-ship not only reflects the sales figures of DKSH Taiwan and 7-Eleven Taiwan, but also a positive influence in encouraging the coffee-

drinking trend and creating wide access in Taiwan. The price of freshly brewed coffee is very stable, even in the countryside, where premium coffee shops are rare. I would say that the major aspects of this deal are that we continue to provide total solutions for our clients and perform well as a team across all functions.

Marvin KangDepartment Manager of Convenience Stores & BakeryBusiness Line HospitalityBusiness Unit TechnologyDKSH Taiwan Ltd.

demhighthanCaféof t

W

isA

doeahehigto

c

to Tsou, theTaiwanese coffee

The Swiss Egro Series 50, a high-performance espresso and cappuccino coffee machine, with

an average performance of 300 cups a day.

Chromatography is a method of separa-tion achieved by the partitioning or distribu-tion of substances between two phases – a mobile phase and a stationary phase.

High-saltelutionbuffer

(c)

Low-saltsolutionbuffer

(a)

Low-saltsolutionbuffer

(b)

Samplemixture column

Fraction number or volume of effl uent

Model of the chromatographic process

is Chrom Club, launched on September 13, 2007 at the Dusit Hotel Nikko on Luzon Island. As the very first chromatog-raphy club in the Philippines, Chrom Club is an innovative tool that adds value to its members and the successful launch cre-ated a buzz in the industry, which sees it as a breath of fresh air. The club is an or-ganization of chromatography users, mostly scientists working in Quality Assurance or Research & Development labs. As chromatography products are in our product portfolio, members of Chrom Club are also our clients.

With an impressive 110 participants from 58 major companies, the first part of the launch was spent introducing the club: its mission and vision, benefits to companies and members, activities and members’ privileges. Dr. Chor Koon Tan, Asia Pacific Business Development Manager of Agilent for Columns & Supply, spoke of his company’s commitment to Chrom Club and his address was followed by the keynote speech from Patrocinia Cortez, DKSH Philippines’ Head of Country Management Team. As if to un-derline the club’s function in providing and sharing information, the launch was followed by the first seminars, with speak-ers Bill Long, Applications Chemist from Agilent USA, and Lemuel Ferrer.

37

An analyst using chromatography in the laboratory.

Fractionssequentiallycollected

Creating a forum for chromatogra-phers has proved an instant hit in the Philippines.

Astonishing our customers is the num-ber one aim for DKSH Philippines and the Business Unit (BU) Technology lives up to this goal. Headed by Lemuel Ferrer, Assistant Vice President of Business Line (BL) Instrumentation, the Applications Team of Andressa San Gabriel and Wilson de Castro formed a customer astonish-ment group with the sales team and ser-vice department to implement new Standard Operating Procedures that ad-dress clients’ needs more efficiently. The aim is not just to provide the service ex-pected of us, but to go even further.

For readers who don’t deal with chro-matography on a daily basis, this complex scientific process used to separate mix-tures is a vital segment of Technology’s BL Instrumentation and used amongst oth-ers in the pharmaceuticals industry by companies such as Bristol Myers Squibb and Bayer. The chromatography brand that DKSH Philippines carries is Agilent Technologies – a leading supplier from the US.

The latest addition to BL Instrumen-tation’s Customer Astonishment Program, in cooperation with Agilent Technologies,

Welcome to the club – a ground-breaking novelty for DKSH customers

Andressa D. San Gabriel

Applications SpecialistBusiness Unit TechnologyEdward Keller (Philippines) Inc.

The mission of Chrom Club

Chrom Club sees itself as the venue for the development of local chromatographers to improve their expertise and become consul-tants in the field. The club aims to equip chromatographers to achieve excellence and develop skills by providing information on workshops and seminars.The highlight of the Chrom Club website www.dksh.com.ph/inst is the forum, where information on chromatography-related is-sues such as operations, method develop-ment, validation and trouble-shooting can be shared and local application specialists at DKSH Philippines and a panel of Agilent experts in Singapore can reply to all con-cerns raised.

After the successful launch: DKSH Philippines Instrumentation Department with Agilent visitors.

Vitamin and antibiotic analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography.

38

P R E S S R E V I E W

SONNTAGSZEITUNGJanuary 13, 2008Joerg Wolle: “We offer our customers a full range of services. Having been based in Asia for over 140 years, we also have the neces-sary cultural know-how.”

TAGES-ANZEIGERJanuary 12, 2008Goliath swallows David: the Zurich-based trading giant DKSH with an annual turnover of CHF 8.1 billion and 22,000 employees worldwide is taking over the business activi-ties of the 20 times smaller company Desco. Specifically, DKSH is buying the Asia Pacific distribution business which owns the right of sale for Swiss luxury watch brands in Asia and Oceania and sells other luxury goods for third parties in the area. In addition, DKSH is purchasing the raw materials busi-ness, a specialized trader in silk, hair and bristles.

TAGES-ANZEIGERJanuary 31, 2008New developments at DKSH are coming thick and fast: Just three weeks ago, the Zurich-based company took over the Asian business of the far smaller Desco, also from Zurich. Yesterday, it announced a further ex-pansion: the trading giant with a staff of more than 22,000 worldwide and a turn-over of CHF 8 billion is bringing two new investors on board.

FINANZ UND WIRTSCHAFTJanuary 16, 2008

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNGJanuary 31, 2008With an increase in share capital, the inter-national trading company Diethelm Keller SiberHegner (DKSH) controlled by Diethelm Keller Holding is underlining its intention to grow faster, especially in Asia. The new shareholders with a share of more than 10% each are the Peugeot Group, through its industry and finance holding company FFP, and hedge fund specialist Rainer-Marc Frey in a private capacity.

HANDELSZEITUNGJanuary 30 - February 5, 2008The time has come to expand in bigger steps, says Joerg Wolle, CEO and President of DKSH, and goes on to say that, in order to finance this additional growth, DKSH has found “more innovative solutions” than go-ing public: two new additions to the pool of shareholders and an increase of capital. On the one hand, the French FFP Group, the holding company of the Peugeot family, is taking a share of over 10%. Figurehead of the FFP Group is industrialist Robert Peugeot who will be taking a seat on the DKSH board of directors. On the other hand, DKSH has been able to gain the successful Swiss investor Rainer-Marc Frey, who is taking a similar stake in the company.

39

“We have the necessary cultural know-how, because we’ve been actively doing business in Asia for over 140 years.”Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Group, in SonntagsZeitung, January 13, 2008

L’AGEFIFebruary 25, 2008Certain family businesses are real jewels that investors would dearly love to get in-volved in. [...] There was one good piece of news at the end of January, when invest-ment company FFP landed a stake in the business activities of Diethelm Keller SiberHegner (DKSH).

SHIHUA RIBAOFebruary 20, 2008

FINANZ UND WIRTSCHAFTFebruary 2, 2008DKSH, the company formed by the merger of Diethelm Keller’s Asia business and SiberHegner in 2002, is expanding its group of shareholders. The new associates are FFP, the holding company run by the Peugeot industrialist family, and investor Rainer-Marc Frey. At the same time, the company’s capital will be raised by more than CHF 100 million.

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNGFebruary 4, 2008According to Joerg Wolle, 70% of the inter-national brands on offer in Asian super-markets are distributed by his company. DKSH is a trading giant – and largely un-known, while CEO Wolle is mainly familiar in his capacity on the board of directors of major bank UBS. Now, however, DKSH’s cir-cle of shareholders is gaining prominent new blood in the form of the French indus-trialist family Peugeot. The second new in-vestor in the company with a turnover of CHF 8 billion (Euro 5 billion) and a staff of more than 22,000 is the Swiss Rainer-Marc Frey, a friend of Wolle’ who made his money with hedge funds.

SWISS EQUITY MAGAZINFebruary 15, 2008Joerg Wolle: “At the moment, we’re not planning go public with the company. As the capital transaction we’ve just completed shows, we are very well equipped as far as the capital market is concerned. We have good, solid financing. For us, it’s important to keep different options open: we prefer to finance our growth ourselves.”

THE BORNEO POSTFebruary 20, 2008DKSH Sdn Bhd has achieved a milestone with the opening of its modern new distri-bution centre in Jalan Keluli, Bintawa here yesterday morning. The centre will integrate DKSH business units’ consumer goods and healthcare prod-ucts into one modern distribution facility.

40

P R E S S R E V I E W

BILANZFebruary/March 2008Robert Peugeot: “We think that DKSH is a very interesting business case. And we don’t just sit around and watch our investment develop: I intend to make a positive contri-bution to the company’s progress by taking a seat on the supervisory board.”

THE NATIONMarch 13, 2008“While the US is now facing a challenging economic recession and Europe a slowdown in growth, Asia has become the largest growth market and will be the locomotive of growth for many years,” said Wolle. He went on to state that DKSH was deeply rooted in Asia, with about 95% of its spe-cialists located there. The company’s oldest market in Asia is Japan, where the company has existed for 143 years. DKSH has oper-ated in Thailand for 102 years.

ASIA BRIDGEMarch 2008Hong Kong, where DKSH has been active since 1923 and today has 19 branches, is a cornerstone of the all-Asian positioning of the group and serves as a base for its activi-ties in China and Taiwan.

PRACHACHART TURAKIJ March 17 - March 19, 2008

THOI BAO KINH TE VIET NAMMarch 11, 2008

BANGKOK POSTMarch 13, 2008DKSH, formerly Diethelm Group, has posi-tioned itself as a market expansion services company that has developed a service brand, as opposed to a brand for any spe-cific product. The company will help others to grow by tapping new markets, in particu-lar Asia, and expanding their existing mar-kets and market shares.

41

“! e involvement of two experienced international investors opens up new prospects for the growth and expansion of DKSH.”Adrian T. Keller, Chairman of DKSH Group, in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, February 4, 2008

VIETNAM ECONOMIC TIMESApril 2008In Vietnam, over the last three years we have put around USD 10 million into devel-oping infrastructure and information tech-nology, which are the backbone of our op-erations. At the same time, we have also invested heavily in personnel, while training and professionally developing a huge num-ber of local specialists. We now have 2,150 people working in businesses associated with DKSH in Vietnam. That figure repre-sents 1,500 additional jobs, an impressive increase of 300% since 2002! We are in-deed a major operation.

VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEWMarch 24 - March 30, 2008“In relation to new investment projects, I would say that Thailand is currently num-ber one, with Vietnam already ranking very highly, hard on the heels of Thailand. Vietnam also enjoys a high status within our group because it is a top priority market for many of the companies we represent in Asia, including Cummins, the world’s lead-ing power generation manufacturer.”

DOKBIA TURAKIJ March 24 - March 30, 2008

NIKKEI SHIMBUN April 5, 2008

BANGKOK TODAY March 18, 2008

VIETNAM ECONOMIC NEWSMarch 18, 2008Three years after inaugurating a storage and transportation center based in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park, DKSH recently an-nounced that it will continue to invest in in-frastructure and trademark development in order to expand its operations in the Vietnamese market.

42

P R E S S R E V I E W

KANAGAWA SHIMBUN April 9, 2008

CHEMICAL DAILY May 7, 2008

BASLER ZEITUNGMay 8, 2008New investors, fresh capital: the trading company Diethelm Keller SiberHegner (DKSH) is welcoming on board Stephan Schmidheiny, who will be taking a stake of well under 10% in the company in the con-text of an increase in capital.

HANDELSZEITUNGApril 16 - April 22, 2008Joerg Wolle: “In contrast to Asia, despite our size we’re not very well known in Europe yet. That is going to change. As a privately-owned company we’ve always been dis-creet. We don’t have to get involved in share price management, but are nonetheless convinced that building up DKSH as a strong brand will be of great benefit to our com-pany. My aim is that, in a few years from now, even in Switzerland I will no longer have to explain who we are.”

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNGMay 8, 2008After the successful integration of Desco in the DKSH Group, CEO Joerg Wolle stated that the consolidation in the industry as seen all over the world had now come to an end, at least as far as Switzerland was con-cerned. However, DKSH still has family-owned companies in Germany, Scandinavia and Asia in its sights, although, according to Wolle, it takes time and patience to create the mutual trust necessary for a merger.

TAGES-ANZEIGERMay 8, 2008With the new shareholders, DKSH complet-ed an increase in capital to the end of April bringing in CHF 170 million. This will be used to “move up a gear” in terms of acqui-sitions, as chairman Adrian T. Keller put it to the media.

43

“We help companies who wish to grow their business in Asia or who want to access the Asia market by providing them with knowledge, advice, rela-tionships and on-the-ground logistics.”Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Group, in The Nation (Thailand), March 13, 2008

CASH DAILYMay 8, 2008“We can profit from Anova’s Latin American know-how,” says Chairman Adrian T. Keller.

AARGAUER ZEITUNGMay 8, 2008“It’s extremely important for DKSH to be seen as a Swiss company in Asia,” is the view of Chairman Adrian T. Keller, adding that this creates trust and a good reputa-tion.

L’AGEFIMay 8, 2008This year, DKSH is profiting from the inte-gration of the Asian business of Desco von Schulthess, which was announced in January. This agreement transfers the right of sale for the watch brands Maurice Lacroix, Breitling, Parmigiani and British Masters to DKSH.

FINANZ UND WIRTSCHAFTMay 10, 2008According to Joerg Wolle, the shopping list contains traditional trading houses in family ownership which are looking to settle their succession, are too small or have limited fi-nancial resources and personnel.

SONNTAGMay 11, 2008Joerg Wolle: “Today, we are a service pro-vider supplying consumer, pharma and tech-nology products from Europe and America to Asia. And we export highly specialized raw materials and ingredients, mainly for the pharma, chemicals and food industries, from Asia. Our real strength lies in our knowledge of the markets, our understand-ing of the cultures and our pioneering spirit, which is still very much alive today.”

19th century. Spanning 16 years, it runs from 1862, when Brennwald, aged 24, accompanied the first official Swiss trade delegation to Japan as secretary of com-merce, to the founding of the silk trading house Siber & Brennwald in 1865 and his appointment as Swiss Consul in Yokohama in 1866, and on to his final departure from Japan in 1878.

The diary contains tales of war, fires that burnt down half of Edo (later re-named Tokyo) or the occasional murder of foreigners by discontented samurai. In between the dramatic events, the books tell of mundane, day-to-day matters. Brennwald counted well-known historical figures among his business associates and was often called upon in his role as consul to settle complaints involving his countrymen.

With our roots so deeply embedded in Yokohama’s early history, it was a matter

The precursor of Nihon SiberHegner was founded back in 1865 in Yoko-hama by Hermann Siber and Caspar Brennwald. With the 150th anniver-sary of the port of Yokohama in 2009 approaching, the company’s history has taken on a new significance.

In a ceremony on April 4, 2008, Wolfgang Schanzenbach, President of Nihon SiberHegner (NSH) presented cop-ies of rare historical documents and pic-tures to Senji Kaneko, Vice President of the Yokohama Historical Foundation. The most important of the documents is the transcript of Caspar Brennwald’s diary.

In 1865, Caspar Brennwald and Hermann Siber founded Siber & Brennwald, the company that went on to become NSH. The diary comprises five books with fascinating insights into the company’s early history and Japan in the

of course that we would want to make a contribution to the activities surrounding the Port of Yokohama’s 150th anniversary in 2009, and so the idea of providing a copy of the diary to assist in Yokohama’s historical research endeavours was born.

In fall 2007, the Yokohama city council granted funds to have Brennwald’s diary translated by scholars and researchers of the city’s archives. Project leader Takeomi Nishikawa, senior researcher at the ar-chives, was intrigued by the historical knowledge to be gained from a transla-tion: In his dual role as business man and Swiss consul, Brennwald was ideally placed to observe and comment on con-temporary events in Yokohama’s bustling mercantile and political worlds. The trans-lation project will take three to four years and, once completed, Brennwald’s diary, and with it our company history, will be a part of Yokohama’s historical records.

Caspar Brennwald at the age of 22.

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A window to the past – Caspar Brennwald’s diary

Rahel Kaegi

CorporateCommunicationsNihon SiberHegner K.K., Japan

The original diaries, safely stored in the Diethelm Keller archives in Zurich.

It will take time to determine the correct Japanese spelling and identity of all the people and places mentioned in the diary, because Brennwald transcribed the Japanese

words into German as he heard them. Once that is completed, I’m sure that this will prove to be an invaluable text. Documents on the activities of foreign trading compa-nies in the late Edo and Meiji periods are quite rare.

Takeomi NishikawaSenior ResearcherYokohama Archives of History

Wolfgang Schanzenbach presenting the diary and historic pictures to Senji Kaneko, Vice President of the Yokohama Historical Foundation.

Brennwald’s signature.

Caspar Brennwald shortly before his death in 1899.

WoBrennwald shortlyCaspar Brennwald at pCaspar B

D K S H O N S TA G E

products, like blueberry, blackberry or raspberry from Austria and Poland, thus adapting quickly to changed market cir-cumstances and at the same time consid-erably increasing long-term sales. Another excellent example of innovation was the successful promotion of India's presti-gious Alfonso mango in puree and frozen forms.

The two runner-up prizes (JPY 0.5 million in travel vouchers) were for indi-vidual effort on the one hand and team effort on the other. Yoko Matsuzaki, manager made up of the Faber-Castell Boutique in Tokyo Midtown, handled her operations so professionally that she managed to make a profit in the year of its opening. The store has an attractive interior design and a top location, but Yoko Matsuzaki is also very proactive with promotional events, such as an artist give a live show with Faber-Castell art materials or craftsmen from the Ishikawa prefecture create Faber-Castell pencil boxes using traditional Japanese crafts-manship. The Faber-Castell flagship store, the first of its kind in Asia, was opened on March 31, 2007 and its success had the positive side-effect of boosting our Faber-Castell wholesale sales.

The other runner-up was the Winkler+Duennebier team of Technol-ogy's Business Line Graphic Art Printing

Machinery, made up of Katsuji Kasagi, Yoshinori Sato and Masato Oguro. Despite a countrywide stagnation in the paper (envelope) converting industry, the team’s business has grown at above-aver-age rates over the past few years. Sales were initially limited to the Tokyo area, but the team worked hard to build up coverage to serve a broad customer base across the whole country. This includes a portfolio extension offering peripheral equipment and supplies, with state-of-the-art laser format and imaging machin-ery. Making use of global BU synergies, the team also organized the export of second-hand equipment to DKSH Korea.

The NSH Grand Prix is an excellent op-portunity to show our employees how much we appreciate their hard work – and that the company’s success is some-thing we can all be proud of!

Individual and team efforts are re-warded at the annual Nihon Siber-Hegner Grand Prix awards.

Readers will already know the global honor of the Fantree President Award, but they may not know that DKSH also gives prizes at country level. One such is the NSH Grand Prix and it has become a tradition in recent years that the Nihon SiberHegner (NSH) annual All Managers Meeting is also the scene of these awards. This year was no exception, with Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Holding Ltd., presenting the prizes to the winning teams at the Meguro Gajoen conference center.

Proactive performance

This year’s first prize (JPY 1 million in travel vouchers) rewarded team effort and went to the Business Unit (BU) Performance Material’s Food Raw Material product group made up of Tohru Kubota, Yutaka Uenoyama, Yoshiaki Hongo, Eisaku Aotani, Shuichiro Kitaoka, Shinichi Ichimura, Kanako Watanabe and Seiichi Hiyoshi. Besides double-digit growth rates in net sales and GM2 (Gross Margin 2) over the last three years, the team suc-cessfully switched from commodity (e.g. apple juice concentrates) to added-value

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Ayumi Goto

Head of Human ResourcesNihon SiberHegner K.K., Japan

The NSH Grand Prix – maintaining a tradition of winners

Wolfgang Schanzenbach, President of NSH, and Dr. Joerg Wolle, President & CEO of DKSH Holding Ltd., with the winning Food Raw Material team.

Dr. Joerg Wolle with Yoko Matsuzaki, manager of the Faber-Castell boutique in Tokyo Midtown.

The Graphic Art Printing Machinery team.

DKSH Great Britain hopes to progress at the same rate and continue developing its staff. Many companies claim that peo-ple are their biggest asset, but few can support the assertion – it sounds good, but requires concerted and constructive action to substantiate. DKSH now has the foundations to build on, to push and inspire its employees towards a level of self-improvement which benefits the company and themselves personally.

major occasion in the food industry cal-endar and we're thrilled to have been in-volved,” he said. “For us to be able to sponsor an important category is great for gaining exposure and it sends out a message that, from a branding point of view, the little red Fantree logo will be getting out a bit more over the next twelve months.”

Piers NutbrownBusiness SupportBusiness Unit Performance MaterialsDKSH Great Britain Ltd.,

helps its recognized employers improve employee understanding of how they can help their organization meet its ob-jectives.

On November 30, 2007, the consider-able efforts and dedicated endeavor of DKSH Great Britain were rewarded with the coveted IIP award. IIP’s assessor Zoe Brown was certainly impressed: “It was a pleasure to return to DKSH Great Britain to evaluate the organization against the IIP standard,” she said afterwards. ”I’d like to thank everyone for their openness, honesty and enthusiasm in participating in the assessment.”

With this momentum behind them,

and suppliers to the show and was proud to sponsor the Dairy category, won by Arla Foods for their substantial efforts in reducing packaging and for their staff training scheme. Other prizes were awarded in the ambient and general gro-ceries, bakery, chilled ready meals and prepared foods, fresh produce, frozen foods, meat and poultry and seafood cat-egories.

The Managing Director of DKSH Great Britain, Peter Lynagh, who presented the Dairy award to Arla Foods, was de-lighted that the evening had been such a success. “These awards have become a

A prestigious “Investor In People” award for DKSH Great Britain brings both staff and business benefits.

From its inception in 1996 to its cur-rent status as an internationally approved entity, the “Investor In People” (IIP) stan-dard has long been acknowledged as a business improvement tool. There are currently over 30,000 organizations in Great Britain which benefit from its ad-vantages and as a result see increased productivity, profitability and staff moti-vation, as well as sizeable reductions in costs and wastage. Of equal importance, however, is the fact that the IIP emblem

Sponsoring excellence – DKSH proud-ly presents a Food Manufacture Excel-lence Award.

A further important occasion in Great Britain is the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards, which honor the very best food and drink manufacturing companies and were this year a part of the Food Ingredients Europe 2007 fair which took place in London. The entertainment pro-gram was held on December 7, 2007 in the exclusive setting of the riverboat “Symphony” on the Thames.

DKSH Great Britain invited customers

Onwards and upwards – DKSH excellence rewarded

D K S H O N S TA G E

DKSH Balloons brought a splash of color to the occasion.Kavan Ransinghe from DKSH Great Britain (right) with guests abord the “Symphony”.

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committed to maintaining the strength and performance of our predecessors and to continuing our efforts to be the very best in the future to support all our customers,” Bernd Lepper promised in his speech.

From left: Patcharee Wongpanish, Call Center Supervisor; Pattaree Niwong, Call Center Manager; Nirabon Pattiyakul, Customer Care Center Director of HEC Thailand; Bernd Lepper, General Manager HEC Thailand; Deirdre Hutchinson, Chairperson of the Call Center Industry Association; and Nantawan Laovittayangkoon, Call Center Supervisor.

Guests of honor congratulate the winners of the Call Center Awards.

Bernd Lepper (right), General Manager of Healthcare Thailand, accepts the Excellent Distributor Award from Phuchonk Thongtang, Executive Director Phyathai Group.

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Executive Director of the Phyathai Group. The Phyathai Hospital decided to give this award to DKSH Healthcare because the company is not just a distributor, but also an excellent business partner. “We are

gic positioning within the broader company and operational management. Before making their decision, the judges attended a submission presentation, vis-ited sites and made their own anonymous test calls. Only then did they announce the finalists for the National Call Center Award show, held last October at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bangkok. All in all, DKSH Healthcare Thailand Call Center performed excellently, collecting four prizes: first runner-up In-House Call Center, Best Manager, Best Support

Professional and first runner-up Support Professional. Congratulations to everyone concerned!

The Business Unit Healthcare in Thai-land has also been garnering acco-lades. For distribution...

In November 2007, the Phyathai Hospital hosted the ceremony for the Phyathai Thank You Party & Partnership Awards, at which DKSH Healthcare Thailand won the Excellent Distributor Award. This prize proves that DKSH is a market leader providing top-level logistics for Thailand’s healthcare sector and is a gratifying reward, as Phyathai is one of the three biggest private hospitals in Thailand and a top customer of DKSH in Thailand.

Bernd Lepper, General Manager of the Business Unit Healthcare in Thailand, rep-resented DKSH at the event and received the award from Phuchonk Thongtang,

... and, after an exhaustive judging process, for call center excellence.

Last year, the DKSH Healthcare Call Center sought a performance benchmark by joining the 2007 Thailand National Call Center Awards, arranged by the Call Center Industry Association. The awards were based on many different criteria, such as vision, mission, customer focus technology, performance management, occupational safety, process improve-ment, disaster recovery planning, strate-

Yingparn Proeksayajiva

MarketingCommunicationsManagerBusiness Unit HealtcareDiethelm Ltd.,Thailand

And the winner is… DKSH!

The award plaque reflecting DKSH’s market leadership and excellent service in Thai healthcare logistics.

D K S H O N S TA G E

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and accommodation for more than 5,000 different types of goods. It is operated by two modern reach trucks for the seven-pallet high racking and supported by three power pallet trucks. The HEC sec-tion now has 15% more storage space, while the increase for CG is 40%, in or-der to meet future growth. With these modern facilities, some of the best in the region, DKSH is well equipped to improve the route to market and service the cus-tomers more effectively and efficiently.

The immediate plans for the new dis-tribution center include implementation of a Warehouse Management System via

A state-of-the-art facility in Kuching, East Malaysia, aims to improve pro-ductivity and efficiency.

On February 19, 2008, Niels J. Holm, President & Group Managing Director of DKSH Holdings Malaysia, hosted the opening of the center at Kuching, to-gether with Henrik V. Pedersen, Chief Operating Officer Consumer Goods (CG), Bo Grabowski, Managing Director of DKSH Logistics, and Marc Franck, Chief Operating Officer Healthcare (HEC). Many senior General Managers from Kuala Lumpur, along with suppliers and branch staff, also attended this auspicious occa-sion.

Hitherto, the Business Units CG and HEC had been housed in three different locations, which had affected branch productivity and operating efficiency. After the decision to integrate them, it took three months to find a site that met current needs and catered for future ex-pansion. The construction of the new of-fice and distribution center was complet-ed in October 2007 and the branch suc-cessfully relocated to the new premises on November 1.

The distribution center is furnished with both ceiling and rack sprinkler sys-tems and offers multi-temperature prod-uct storage, with 2,150 pallet positions

SAP 4.7 to capitalize on this modern fa-cility, support nearby sub-branches and increase our third party logistics agency portfolio to maximize storage capacity.

Milestones and more – DKSH opens new distribution centers in Malaysia and Vietnam

Beatrice Tan

Senior Area Manager Chief Representative Kuching BranchDKSH Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Cutting the ribbon. From left: Khiu HC, General Manager Operations CG; Peter Chai, Landlord of DKSH Kuching branch building; Bo Grabowski, Managing Director of DKSH Logistics Sdn Bhd; Niels Holm, President & Group Managing Director of DKSH Holdings Malaysia Berhad.

DKSH staff waiting to welcome the VIPs to Kuching.

The lion dance team greets the guests.

Staff and guests in the conference room at Kuching branch.

tions on selective racking, a temperature-controlled environment and a cold stor-age capacity of more than 600m", the new center is the most modern in the country and matches our finest world-wide. It is a quantum leap in capacity, efficiency and quality standards, and suits our future growth ambitions perfectly. The new plant gives us the space and fa-cilities to provide import stickering, label-ing, exchange leaflets or bundling holo-grams. We are also working hard for the relevant Good Management Practices ac-creditation to add to our Good Storage Practices and ISO 9001 certification.

The new center stands out on all fronts and we planned a suitably spectacular opening at the end of January 2008. Most invitations went to customers, e.g. representatives of pharmacies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. Ferrying guests to the center, an hour’s drive away from HCMC, meant a change from earli-er event concepts, when mainly suppliers and officials were invited, and a major communications challenge.

For this reason, we turned the event into the kick-off of the DKSH HEC Customer Program 2008, a series of training seminars organized jointly with the HCMC Health Department. The re-sponse to the invitations was excellent, with up to 100% confirmations in some

segments of the target group.The highlights of the event were a pre-

sentation by the Vice Director of HCMC Health Services, Professor Phong Lan, about the implementation of Good Phar-macy Practices, a standard required by the end of 2008, and the ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended among others by Beat Wafler, Consul General of Switzer-land, and Charles Toomey, Executive Vice President BU HEC. Crucial to making the opening so memorable were our highly dedicated DKSH staff, who accompanied our guests through exciting entertain-ment, guided tours of the facility and a superb buffet lunch at a nearby golf re-sort.

Operations are now fully up and run-ning after a smooth stock move which was completed in only three days.

An article on the big Healthcare distributioncenter opening in Thailand will be published in the next edition of Fantree News.

Purpose-built for the pharmaceuti-cal industry, the new center near the Vietnamese capital will set the stan-dard for logistics for years to come.

The Business Unit (BU) Healthcare (HEC) has performed outstandingly with strong top line growth in recent years. In line with this success, it was decided to carry out Phase 3 of the operation to ex-pand the logistics facility in the Singapore Industrial Park near Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Planning for the project began in 2005 and it was completed in October 2007. With well over 5,000 pallet posi-

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Martin Fuchs

Associate AdvisorDiethelm Vietnam Co., Ltd.

The ribbon-cutters. From left: Prof. Pham Khanh Phong Lan, Vice Director of HCMC Health Services; Ly Hung, Vice Chairman of VSIP Management Board; Beat Wafler, Consul General of Switzerland in Vietnam; Charles Toomey, Executive Vice President BU HEC; Dang Thi Minh Hang, Head of Quality Management, Ministry of Health; and Nguyen Tien Hung, Director of Vimedimex.

We can see that the state-of-the-art distribution center with its Good Distribution Practices plays an important role in Vietnamese society. On behalf of the manage-

ment of Health Services of HCMC, I would like to express our sincere thanks for the strong support by Diethelm Vietnam and we look forward to our future cooperation in order to bring better healthcare services to the community.

Prof. Pham Khanh Phong LanVice Director of HCMC Health Services Vietnam

! e new center is the most modern in Vietnam and matches our fi nest worldwide.

in 2007. The opening speech ended in a symbolic song titled “Hands in Hands”, sung together by management team and employees, and was followed by perfor-mances from various departments and an Asian fancy dress contest. The party was a joyful night for all at FMCG, who now look forward to putting all their energy into the future growth and success of our company – DKSH!

Costumes of every shade catch the eye at Fast Moving Consumer Goods Thailand’s colorful New Year celebra-tion.

Every New Year, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) in Thailand organizes a themed party to celebrate its perfor-mance and thank its staff for their hard work and dedication over the past year. On January 25, 2008, the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Center was the scene of a gala Asian Night to promote staff awareness of Asia as the core market of our business, as suggest-ed by the new corporate tagline.

The event featured a funfair at the en-trance to the party hall with darts, mini-football, balloons etc. for staff to enjoy before the official opening. A memorable evening then began with a parade of our top executives dressed in various Asian costumes, from Thai and Japanese to Bhutanese and even Arabian, and for-tune cookies were distributed. The President of DKSH Thailand, Somboon Prasitjutrakul, addressed the gathering in his sultan outfit, thanking his staff for their contribution to the success of FMCG

A rainbow in the Asian Night

D K S H O N S TA G E

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Team spirit: The Fast Moving Consumer Goods management team in their Asian Night costumes.

Somboon Prasitjutrakul, Executive Vice President Consumer Goods, congratulates Pensri Jatuniratisai on her award with a basket of flowers.

Vanida Pitaksonggram

Personal Assistant to Executive Vice President Consumer GoodsDiethelm Ltd.,Thailand

(Food and Drug Administration) authoriza-tion to substantiate health claims.

Pensri’s extensive experience of over 30 years dealing with such authorities, com-bined with her excellent interpersonal skills, enable her to establish close relationships with people in various sectors, including our suppliers. This has resulted in excellent cooperation among all parties concerned. To date, she and her team have completed over 3,500 records of product registration profiles.

Vanida PitaksonggramPersonal Assistant to Executive Vice President Consumer GoodsDiethelm Ltd.,Thailand

Jatuniratisai, was voted Outstanding Pharmacist of the Year for 2007 in the Regulatory Affairs category.

Pensri Jatuniratisai joined DKSH in 1990 and has been responsible for obtaining li-censes, registration and authorization from private and government authorities for the import, distribution and sale of all fast mov-ing consumer goods imported by DKSH. Some of these services are also extended to suppliers for products they produce in or import to Thailand. Pensri was considered for the award as the Business Unit Consumer Goods also sells some OTC (over the counter) pharmaceuticals, which are re-quired by law to be sold by a licensed phar-macist. Some supplements classed in other countries as dietary may be defined as drugs in Thailand, e.g. high-dose vitamins, and foods with health benefits need FDA

Every two years, the Pharmaceutical Association of Thailand under royal patro-nage announces the nominations for the Outstanding Pharmacist of the Year Awards in eight different categories: hospital, com-munity, marketing, industry, consumer protection, education/development/re-search, military, and regulatory affairs. The Regulatory Affairs Department Manager of DKSH in Thailand, Pensri

Top pharmacist award for DKSH

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Please send the completed solution to communications@dksh.comWe will draw among all correct solutions 50 winners who win a trendy DKSH cap.

Closing date is September 30, 2008.

I N S I D E D K S H

ACROSS6 For which company has Diethelm Technology built up market share

with diesel engines and diesel-powered generators?8 Name a popular drink you can get at DKSH’s Taiwanese partner

7-Eleven. 10 For what kind of project did Nipaporn Er-Jongmanee win her

President Award?13 Where did the CEO Roadshow make its first stop?14 Name DKSH’s Customer Relationship Management System.15 Which company’s Asia business did DKSH take over in early 2008?16 Japan is a leader in manufacturing products of the highest quality:

which metal are these products made of?

DOWN1 What’s the title of a club for chromatographers in the Philippines?2 What does Charles Toomey value about his staff?3 Which part of Caspar Brennwald’s legacy has recently become

significant for DKSH?4 Name the French family of industrialists whose holding company is

now a shareholder in DKSH.5 For which products is Bally well known?7 At which castle was the Buergenstock Meeting 2008 held?9 In what famous part of London is the new British DKSH office located?

11 Where does the winner of the President Award for the Best Business Idea come from?

12 What’s the acronym of the new EU chemical control legislation?

If you’ve read this issue of Fantree News carefully, solving our crossword puzzle should be no trouble at all.

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was the first company to introduce pre-mium chocolate raw materials to Japan. Nowadays, you find truffles and pralines everywhere, but back then it was some-thing completely new.

What do you like about your job?I like all things connected to the law,

so I’m very happy administering our com-pany’s registrations, transaction records and contracts.

Tell us an anecdote that happened during your time working for DKSH.

Back in 1976, I ate chocolate truffles for the very first time. The truffles, made with Max Felchlin couverture chocolate, were souvenirs at a company party. They were so incredibly delicious that I sent the box airmail to my younger sister. She was studying in France at the time and her host family was quite surprised by the ex-pensively sent gift of a product from their Swiss neighbors. Nihon SiberHegner K.K.

Hiroko Utsuyama has worked for DKSH in Japan since 1974. Hiroko looks after corporate affairs and legal matters and runs the company litera-ture archives so well that even older publications can be found very quick-ly. Well-known for her keen sense of language, she is often consulted to improve the style of Japanese texts.

What does your typical working day at DKSH look like?

In the morning, I first read and answer my emails. The days when I have appoint-ments get busy, of course, but even on days when I have no meetings, there are always a thousand things to do that take up a lot of time.

A minute with… Hiroko Utsuyama

Hiroko Utsuyama at work.

The DKSH puzzle

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le0

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losing date iseptember 30,008.

www.dksh.com