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IFCO Systems N.V.: Q3 Results 2010
Die untenstehende Meldung ist eine Original-Meldung des Unternehmens. Sie ist nicht von der ECOreporter.de-Redaktion bearbeitet. Die presserechtliche Verantwortlichkeit liegt bei dem Unternehmen.
IFCO's currency adjusted group revenues and operational profitability (EBITDA) both continued to grow in Q3 2010 and YTD 2010 as compared to Q3 2009 and YTD 2009. IFCO's currency adjusted group revenues grew by 12.0% to US $200.2 million in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 and in YTD 2010 by 9.6% to US $583.8 million. Currency adjusted EBITDA increased by 8.6% to US $37.1 million in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 and in YTD 2010 by 19.6% to US $105.0 million. EBITDA growth rate and EBITDA margin development in Q3 2010 was negatively affected by items that impacted SG&A, COS and other income development in Q3 2009 as described below. Eliminating these effects, EBITDA in Q3 2010 would have improved by 15.8% and EBITDA margin from 17.9% in Q3 2009 to 18.5% in Q3 2010. LTM Q3 2010 currency adjusted EBITDA reached a record level of US $141.9 million in IFCO's history.
RPC Management Services delivered significant gains in currency adjusted revenues (Q3 2010 by 20.5%, YTD 2010 by 18.8%), gross profit (Q3 2010 by 39.5%, YTD 2010 by 31.8%) and EBITDA (Q3 2010 by 12.1%, YTD 2010 by 21.1%) in Q3 2010 and YTD 2010 as compared to Q3 2009 and YTD 2009. In the Pallet Management Services business segment revenues grew by 1.8% in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 while gross profit decreased by 0.8% and EBITDA declined by 5.3% compared to Q3 2009. YTD 2010 gross profit grew by 9.2% and EBITDA by 13.9% of Pallet Management Services business segment with stable revenues compared to YTD 2009.
RPC Management Services' currency adjusted revenues showed continuous growth in recent quarters (Q1 2010 17.3%, Q2 2010 18.3% and Q3 2010 20.5%), resulting from a combination of organic volume growth in our European RPC business as well as strong and sustainable growth in our RPC US business. Our European business benefited from higher usage and increased penetration of our current customer base as well as winning new retailers in certain markets, like Spar in Austria for previous quarters and Carrefour in France for future quarters. Also our efforts to develop the business in East Europe showed good progress and supported the overall positive volume development in Europe. We recently signed an agreement with MERCATOR in Slovenia. Growth in our RPC US business has accelerated even further due to increasing RPC penetration in our existing customer base and a steady flow of new retailers adopting the RPC model. RPC South America's growth momentum continued to develop.
Revenues in Pallet Management Services were nearly unchanged in recent quarters, however grew slightly in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 and came in close to previous year levels for YTD 2010. Although the market pricing environment remained below 2009 levels, the negative sequential trends flattened out, with Q3 2010 average pallet pricing at the same average levels as Q1 and Q2 2010. Year-over-year pallet sale volumes grew for the first time during 2010 in Q3, as our efforts to recover volumes have been successful. Service related revenues showed a good growth momentum and continued to increase as a percentage of total revenues.
Gross profit margin on a group level increased in Q3 2010 by 2.5 percentage points to 21.9% (YTD 2010, grew 2.5 percentage points to 21.8%). RPC Management Services' gross profit margin grew from 23.8% in Q3 2009 to 27.9% in Q3 2010. Gross profit margin in our European RPC business benefited from higher per trip revenues because of changes in the mixture of rented RPCs, under proportional growth of per unit cost of goods sold and relative lower depreciation. Gross profit margin in the RPC US business decreased slightly as a result of marginally lower prices, as well as higher freight costs resulting from higher fuel prices, a higher rate of expedited RPC pool movements in order to meet the increasing customer demand and general cost increases in the US truckload and intermodal carrier market. All regions continue to benefit from the scale effects of the growing business on fixed costs. Gross profit margin in the Pallet Management Services business slightly decreased to 13.3% from 13.6% in Q3 2009. Gains related to the continued lower cost of pallet cores, greater direct labor productivity, and improved fixed cost leverage were more than offset by the effect of lower customer prices, higher common carrier spend to move inventories between locations to meet customer demand, higher year-over-year fuel prices, and lower margins in our Custom Crating division.
Currency adjusted group EBITDA increased in Q3 2010 by 8.6% to US $37.1 million (YTD 2010, by 19.6% to US $105.0 million). EBITDA on a currency adjusted basis in RPC Management Services increased in Q3 2010 by 12.1% to US $34.3 million (YTD 2010, by 21.1% to US $92.3 million). RPC Management Services EBITDA margin development in 2010 is continuing the positive trend (Q1 2010 26.5%, Q2 2010 28.8% and Q3 2010 29.1%). EBITDA in Pallet Management Services decreased by 5.3% to US $5.4 million in Q3 2010 (YTD 2010, by 13.9% to US $20.3 million). EBITDA margin in Pallet Management Services grew in Q3 2010 to 6.5% from 7.0% in Q3 2009.
EBITDA and EBITDA margin in Q3 2009 were positively affected by items that impacted SG&A, COS and other income development in Q3 2009. Improved credit and collection development in the prior year has resulted in reduced general allowance for bad debt of US $1.6 million in Q3 2009. Additionally the Company recorded the net effect of insurance reimbursement of US $0.8 million in Q3 2009. Eliminating these effects, EBITDA in Q3 2010 would have improved by 15.8% and EBITDA margin from 17.9% in Q3 2009 to 18.5% in Q3 2010.
Currency adjusted EBIT increased by 10.4% to US $26.1 million in Q3 2010 (YTD 2010, by 26.8% to US $73.3 million). LTM Q3 2010 currency adjusted EBIT reached a level of US $100.5 million.
Net profit significantly increased from US $7.6 million in Q3 2009 to US $11.1 million in Q3 2010 (YTD 2010 from US $4.9 million to US $18.1 million). The net operational improvements and lower net interest costs were partially offset by a higher deferred tax provision.
IFCO's cash flow from continuing operations, excluding the cash flow effect of income tax payments and ICE related payments, significantly increased to US $119.4 million in YTD 2010 from US $84.4 million in YTD 2009 as a result of higher profit levels and improved working capital development. Working capital especially improved through lower inventory levels and better accounts receivable day sales outstanding.
Our capital expenditure levels increased by US $13.8 million, or 103.4%, to US $27.2 million during Q3 2010 (YTD 2010, by 109.6% to US $80.0 million). The realization of the planned growth in Europe and the US has led to continued investments in our RPC pools in 2010.
ROCE from continuing operations, on a LTM basis, increased to 22.4% as of September 30, 2010, compared to 19.0% as of year-end 2009 and compared to 17.5% as of September 30, 2009. This positive development is the result of the Company's increased profitability and continuous improved utilization of the RPC pool leading to relative lower capex spending.
Our sources of liquidity currently include cash from operations, cash and cash equivalents on hand, amounts available under our RCF and certain factoring agreements. As of September 30, 2010, our liquidity declined to US $107.9 million compared to US $138.2 million as of December 31, 2009 and compared to US $116.0 million (currency adjusted US $108.8 million) as of September 30, 2009. Despite the growth driven higher capex in our RPC pools, ICE related payments, the dividend payment made during Q2 2010 and the STECO vendor note payment, the Company's currency adjusted liquidity has kept stable on prior year level, which is the result of higher operational profitability and better working capital management. We believe that these sources of liquidity are sufficient to finance our future capital and operational requirements in accordance with our business plans.
US $ in thousands, except per share amounts
Q3 2010
Q3 2009 (1)
% Change
YTD 2010
YTD 2009 (1)
% Change
LTM Q3 2010
Revenues
200,197
186,634
7.3%
583,825
541,367
7.8%
778,384
Revenues currency adjusted
200,197
178,724
12.0%
583,825
532,540
9.6%
771,583
Gross profit
43,780
36,198
20.9%
127,292
104,610
21.7%
173,822
Gross profit margin
21.9%
19.4%
21.8%
19.3%
22.3%
EBITDA
37,074
36,191
2.4%
104,979
90,262
16.3%
143,727
EBITDA currency adjusted
37,074
34,144
8.6%
104,979
87,807
19.6%
141,934
EBITDA margin
18.5%
19.4%
18.0%
16.7%
18.5%
EBIT
26,086
25,011
4.3%
73,328
59,570
23.1%
101,904
EBIT currency adjusted
26,086
23,624
10.4%
73,328
57,842
26.8%
100,526
EBIT margin
13.0%
13.4%
12.6%
11.0%
13.1%
Net profit
11,066
7,618
45.3%
18,116
4,950
266.0%
33,120
Net profit per share - basic
0.22
0.14
49.3%
0.35
0.09
280.0%
0.65
Net profit per share - diluted
0.22
0.14
49.3%
0.35
0.09
277.5%
0.64
Operating cash flows from
continuing operations excl. ICE
54,868
51,359
6.8%
119,445
84,449
41.4%
170,338
Operating cash flows from
continuing operations incl. ICE
52,944
50,264
5.3%
105,681
76,092
38.9%
154,147
Capital expenditures from
continuing operations
27,163
13,356
103.4%
80,046
38,185
109.6%
99,936
Return on capital employed
(ROCE)
22.4%
17.5%
(1) The Company has made changes according to IAS 8 leading to restated Q3 2009 and YTD 2009 Financial Statements. For more details we refer to our quarterly report.
Outlook: As the financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 spread to the worldwide economy up to today, IFCO experienced challenging economic climates in many of its markets. While the economy in the United States remained in a weak but slightly improved condition during Q2 2010, the European economy will recover during 2010.
Accordingly, the European RPC Management Services business will continue to leverage IFCO's leadership position and market experience to meet or exceed overall market development. The Company plans to increase its sales initiatives and to continue to expand its geographic presence in Western Europe, Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and South America. Recent wins of new retailers, like Carrefour in France, Spar in Austria and MERCATOR in Slovenia support IFCO's expectations. In the United States, IFCO realized increases in the overall RPC penetration among grocery food retailers and plans to grow in excess of this market development. Based on the Company's solid RPC business model, IFCO expects that the RPC Management Services businesses will continue to grow in 2010. IFCO's investments to support this growth will be carefully aligned with its business development and are targeted to continually increase the return on its invested capital.
IFCO's Pallet Management Services business has significantly been negatively affected by the overall economic decline in the United States in 2009, primarily as a result of pressure on prices from lower market demand. Nevertheless, IFCO remains confident that the key competitive advantages of the Pallet Management Services business - the breadth of service offerings, the national network and the value proposition at a national and local level - have not changed and should allow its Pallet Management Services segment to stabilize revenues and increase profitability in 2010.
The Company believes that its current assessment of the markets and its business development as described above should result in overall significant gains in both revenues and operational profitability in 2010 as compared to 2009.
Financially, IFCO expects to be able to fund its capital, operational and debt service requirements through its own operating cash flows.
For further explanations, please see IFCO's quarterly report, which will be filed with the Deutsche Börse AG on or about November 11, 2010, and will be available on the Company's website www.ifcosystems.com or www.ifcosystems.de. The Company will hold a conference call on November 18, 2010. The details are available on the Company's website.
This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect Management's current view with respect to future events. All statements contained in this release that are not clearly historical in nature or necessarily depend on future events are forward-looking. The words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "planned" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of the Management on currently available information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those that may be expressed or implied by such statements. We do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this release.
Sabine Preiss
IFCO SYSTEMS N.V.
Tel: +49 89 744 91 316
Fax: +49 89 744 767 316
Email: [email protected]
Additional Information
IFCO is an international logistics service provider with more than 210 locations worldwide. IFCO operates a pool of over 112 million Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) globally, which are used primarily to transport fresh produce from growers to leading grocery retailers. In the United States, IFCO also provides a national network of pallet management services. IFCO is the market leader in this industry with almost 200 million pallets sorted, repaired and recycled annually.
WORLDWIDE RESPONSIBILITY is an IFCO initiative, under which IFCO not only continues to assume its social and environmental responsibility but, working with strong project partners, expands its sphere of responsible activities. With the initiative's first social-engagement project, IFCO supports Food Banks worldwide in their honorable effort to provide food to the needy through the provision of reusable containers and by co-financing delivery vehicles.
IFCO's currency adjusted group revenues and operational profitability (EBITDA) both continued to grow in Q3 2010 and YTD 2010 as compared to Q3 2009 and YTD 2009. IFCO's currency adjusted group revenues grew by 12.0% to US $200.2 million in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 and in YTD 2010 by 9.6% to US $583.8 million. Currency adjusted EBITDA increased by 8.6% to US $37.1 million in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 and in YTD 2010 by 19.6% to US $105.0 million. EBITDA growth rate and EBITDA margin development in Q3 2010 was negatively affected by items that impacted SG&A, COS and other income development in Q3 2009 as described below. Eliminating these effects, EBITDA in Q3 2010 would have improved by 15.8% and EBITDA margin from 17.9% in Q3 2009 to 18.5% in Q3 2010. LTM Q3 2010 currency adjusted EBITDA reached a record level of US $141.9 million in IFCO's history.
RPC Management Services delivered significant gains in currency adjusted revenues (Q3 2010 by 20.5%, YTD 2010 by 18.8%), gross profit (Q3 2010 by 39.5%, YTD 2010 by 31.8%) and EBITDA (Q3 2010 by 12.1%, YTD 2010 by 21.1%) in Q3 2010 and YTD 2010 as compared to Q3 2009 and YTD 2009. In the Pallet Management Services business segment revenues grew by 1.8% in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 while gross profit decreased by 0.8% and EBITDA declined by 5.3% compared to Q3 2009. YTD 2010 gross profit grew by 9.2% and EBITDA by 13.9% of Pallet Management Services business segment with stable revenues compared to YTD 2009.
RPC Management Services' currency adjusted revenues showed continuous growth in recent quarters (Q1 2010 17.3%, Q2 2010 18.3% and Q3 2010 20.5%), resulting from a combination of organic volume growth in our European RPC business as well as strong and sustainable growth in our RPC US business. Our European business benefited from higher usage and increased penetration of our current customer base as well as winning new retailers in certain markets, like Spar in Austria for previous quarters and Carrefour in France for future quarters. Also our efforts to develop the business in East Europe showed good progress and supported the overall positive volume development in Europe. We recently signed an agreement with MERCATOR in Slovenia. Growth in our RPC US business has accelerated even further due to increasing RPC penetration in our existing customer base and a steady flow of new retailers adopting the RPC model. RPC South America's growth momentum continued to develop.
Revenues in Pallet Management Services were nearly unchanged in recent quarters, however grew slightly in Q3 2010 compared to Q3 2009 and came in close to previous year levels for YTD 2010. Although the market pricing environment remained below 2009 levels, the negative sequential trends flattened out, with Q3 2010 average pallet pricing at the same average levels as Q1 and Q2 2010. Year-over-year pallet sale volumes grew for the first time during 2010 in Q3, as our efforts to recover volumes have been successful. Service related revenues showed a good growth momentum and continued to increase as a percentage of total revenues.
Gross profit margin on a group level increased in Q3 2010 by 2.5 percentage points to 21.9% (YTD 2010, grew 2.5 percentage points to 21.8%). RPC Management Services' gross profit margin grew from 23.8% in Q3 2009 to 27.9% in Q3 2010. Gross profit margin in our European RPC business benefited from higher per trip revenues because of changes in the mixture of rented RPCs, under proportional growth of per unit cost of goods sold and relative lower depreciation. Gross profit margin in the RPC US business decreased slightly as a result of marginally lower prices, as well as higher freight costs resulting from higher fuel prices, a higher rate of expedited RPC pool movements in order to meet the increasing customer demand and general cost increases in the US truckload and intermodal carrier market. All regions continue to benefit from the scale effects of the growing business on fixed costs. Gross profit margin in the Pallet Management Services business slightly decreased to 13.3% from 13.6% in Q3 2009. Gains related to the continued lower cost of pallet cores, greater direct labor productivity, and improved fixed cost leverage were more than offset by the effect of lower customer prices, higher common carrier spend to move inventories between locations to meet customer demand, higher year-over-year fuel prices, and lower margins in our Custom Crating division.
Currency adjusted group EBITDA increased in Q3 2010 by 8.6% to US $37.1 million (YTD 2010, by 19.6% to US $105.0 million). EBITDA on a currency adjusted basis in RPC Management Services increased in Q3 2010 by 12.1% to US $34.3 million (YTD 2010, by 21.1% to US $92.3 million). RPC Management Services EBITDA margin development in 2010 is continuing the positive trend (Q1 2010 26.5%, Q2 2010 28.8% and Q3 2010 29.1%). EBITDA in Pallet Management Services decreased by 5.3% to US $5.4 million in Q3 2010 (YTD 2010, by 13.9% to US $20.3 million). EBITDA margin in Pallet Management Services grew in Q3 2010 to 6.5% from 7.0% in Q3 2009.
EBITDA and EBITDA margin in Q3 2009 were positively affected by items that impacted SG&A, COS and other income development in Q3 2009. Improved credit and collection development in the prior year has resulted in reduced general allowance for bad debt of US $1.6 million in Q3 2009. Additionally the Company recorded the net effect of insurance reimbursement of US $0.8 million in Q3 2009. Eliminating these effects, EBITDA in Q3 2010 would have improved by 15.8% and EBITDA margin from 17.9% in Q3 2009 to 18.5% in Q3 2010.
Currency adjusted EBIT increased by 10.4% to US $26.1 million in Q3 2010 (YTD 2010, by 26.8% to US $73.3 million). LTM Q3 2010 currency adjusted EBIT reached a level of US $100.5 million.
Net profit significantly increased from US $7.6 million in Q3 2009 to US $11.1 million in Q3 2010 (YTD 2010 from US $4.9 million to US $18.1 million). The net operational improvements and lower net interest costs were partially offset by a higher deferred tax provision.
IFCO's cash flow from continuing operations, excluding the cash flow effect of income tax payments and ICE related payments, significantly increased to US $119.4 million in YTD 2010 from US $84.4 million in YTD 2009 as a result of higher profit levels and improved working capital development. Working capital especially improved through lower inventory levels and better accounts receivable day sales outstanding.
Our capital expenditure levels increased by US $13.8 million, or 103.4%, to US $27.2 million during Q3 2010 (YTD 2010, by 109.6% to US $80.0 million). The realization of the planned growth in Europe and the US has led to continued investments in our RPC pools in 2010.
ROCE from continuing operations, on a LTM basis, increased to 22.4% as of September 30, 2010, compared to 19.0% as of year-end 2009 and compared to 17.5% as of September 30, 2009. This positive development is the result of the Company's increased profitability and continuous improved utilization of the RPC pool leading to relative lower capex spending.
Our sources of liquidity currently include cash from operations, cash and cash equivalents on hand, amounts available under our RCF and certain factoring agreements. As of September 30, 2010, our liquidity declined to US $107.9 million compared to US $138.2 million as of December 31, 2009 and compared to US $116.0 million (currency adjusted US $108.8 million) as of September 30, 2009. Despite the growth driven higher capex in our RPC pools, ICE related payments, the dividend payment made during Q2 2010 and the STECO vendor note payment, the Company's currency adjusted liquidity has kept stable on prior year level, which is the result of higher operational profitability and better working capital management. We believe that these sources of liquidity are sufficient to finance our future capital and operational requirements in accordance with our business plans.
US $ in thousands, except per share amounts
Q3 2010
Q3 2009 (1)
% Change
YTD 2010
YTD 2009 (1)
% Change
LTM Q3 2010
Revenues
200,197
186,634
7.3%
583,825
541,367
7.8%
778,384
Revenues currency adjusted
200,197
178,724
12.0%
583,825
532,540
9.6%
771,583
Gross profit
43,780
36,198
20.9%
127,292
104,610
21.7%
173,822
Gross profit margin
21.9%
19.4%
21.8%
19.3%
22.3%
EBITDA
37,074
36,191
2.4%
104,979
90,262
16.3%
143,727
EBITDA currency adjusted
37,074
34,144
8.6%
104,979
87,807
19.6%
141,934
EBITDA margin
18.5%
19.4%
18.0%
16.7%
18.5%
EBIT
26,086
25,011
4.3%
73,328
59,570
23.1%
101,904
EBIT currency adjusted
26,086
23,624
10.4%
73,328
57,842
26.8%
100,526
EBIT margin
13.0%
13.4%
12.6%
11.0%
13.1%
Net profit
11,066
7,618
45.3%
18,116
4,950
266.0%
33,120
Net profit per share - basic
0.22
0.14
49.3%
0.35
0.09
280.0%
0.65
Net profit per share - diluted
0.22
0.14
49.3%
0.35
0.09
277.5%
0.64
Operating cash flows from
continuing operations excl. ICE
54,868
51,359
6.8%
119,445
84,449
41.4%
170,338
Operating cash flows from
continuing operations incl. ICE
52,944
50,264
5.3%
105,681
76,092
38.9%
154,147
Capital expenditures from
continuing operations
27,163
13,356
103.4%
80,046
38,185
109.6%
99,936
Return on capital employed
(ROCE)
22.4%
17.5%
(1) The Company has made changes according to IAS 8 leading to restated Q3 2009 and YTD 2009 Financial Statements. For more details we refer to our quarterly report.
Outlook: As the financial crisis that unfolded in 2008 spread to the worldwide economy up to today, IFCO experienced challenging economic climates in many of its markets. While the economy in the United States remained in a weak but slightly improved condition during Q2 2010, the European economy will recover during 2010.
Accordingly, the European RPC Management Services business will continue to leverage IFCO's leadership position and market experience to meet or exceed overall market development. The Company plans to increase its sales initiatives and to continue to expand its geographic presence in Western Europe, Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and South America. Recent wins of new retailers, like Carrefour in France, Spar in Austria and MERCATOR in Slovenia support IFCO's expectations. In the United States, IFCO realized increases in the overall RPC penetration among grocery food retailers and plans to grow in excess of this market development. Based on the Company's solid RPC business model, IFCO expects that the RPC Management Services businesses will continue to grow in 2010. IFCO's investments to support this growth will be carefully aligned with its business development and are targeted to continually increase the return on its invested capital.
IFCO's Pallet Management Services business has significantly been negatively affected by the overall economic decline in the United States in 2009, primarily as a result of pressure on prices from lower market demand. Nevertheless, IFCO remains confident that the key competitive advantages of the Pallet Management Services business - the breadth of service offerings, the national network and the value proposition at a national and local level - have not changed and should allow its Pallet Management Services segment to stabilize revenues and increase profitability in 2010.
The Company believes that its current assessment of the markets and its business development as described above should result in overall significant gains in both revenues and operational profitability in 2010 as compared to 2009.
Financially, IFCO expects to be able to fund its capital, operational and debt service requirements through its own operating cash flows.
For further explanations, please see IFCO's quarterly report, which will be filed with the Deutsche Börse AG on or about November 11, 2010, and will be available on the Company's website www.ifcosystems.com or www.ifcosystems.de. The Company will hold a conference call on November 18, 2010. The details are available on the Company's website.
This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect Management's current view with respect to future events. All statements contained in this release that are not clearly historical in nature or necessarily depend on future events are forward-looking. The words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "estimate", "planned" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of the Management on currently available information. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those that may be expressed or implied by such statements. We do not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this release.
Sabine Preiss
IFCO SYSTEMS N.V.
Tel: +49 89 744 91 316
Fax: +49 89 744 767 316
Email: [email protected]
Additional Information
IFCO is an international logistics service provider with more than 210 locations worldwide. IFCO operates a pool of over 112 million Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) globally, which are used primarily to transport fresh produce from growers to leading grocery retailers. In the United States, IFCO also provides a national network of pallet management services. IFCO is the market leader in this industry with almost 200 million pallets sorted, repaired and recycled annually.
WORLDWIDE RESPONSIBILITY is an IFCO initiative, under which IFCO not only continues to assume its social and environmental responsibility but, working with strong project partners, expands its sphere of responsible activities. With the initiative's first social-engagement project, IFCO supports Food Banks worldwide in their honorable effort to provide food to the needy through the provision of reusable containers and by co-financing delivery vehicles.