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This financial discussion and other portions of this Annual Report to
Shareholders contain various “Forward-Looking Statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
include expectations concerning business progress and expansion,
business acquisitions, currency translation, cash flows, debt repayments,
susceptibility to changes in technology, global economic conditions and
liquidity requirements. These statements, which represent our expectations
or beliefs concerning various future events, are based on current
expectations. Therefore, they involve a number of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those of such
Forward-Looking Statements. These risks and uncertainties include the
vitality of the foodservice, hospitality and travel industries; restraints on
pricing flexibility due to competitive factors and customer and vendor
consolidations; changes in oil or raw material prices or unavailability of
adequate and reasonably priced raw materials; the occurrence of
capacity constraints or the loss of a key supplier; the effect of future
acquisitions or divestitures or other corporate transactions; our ability to
achieve plans for past acquisitions; the costs and effects of complying
with: (i) laws and regulations relating to the environment and to the
manufacture, storage, distribution, efficacy and labeling of our products
and (ii) changes in tax, fiscal, governmental and other regulatory policies;
economic factors such as the worldwide economy, interest rates
and currency movements, including, in particular, our exposure to foreign
currency risk; the occurrence of (a) litigation or claims, (b) the loss or
insolvency of a major customer or distributor, (c) war, (d) natural or manmade
disasters (including acts of terrorism or hostilities which impact
our markets) and, (e) severe weather conditions or public health epidemics
affecting the foodservice, hospitality and travel industries; loss
of, or changes in, executive management; our ability to continue product
introductions and technological innovations; and other uncertainties or
risks reported from time-to-time in our reports to the Securities and
Exchange Commission. In addition, we note that our stock price can be
affected by fluctuations in quarterly earnings. There can be no assurances
that our earnings levels will meet investors' expectations. We
undertake no duty to update our Forward-Looking Statements.
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