Because we are already a leading global office products provider under the Office Depot and Viking brands, we are well positioned to capture a sizable share of this market. We will do so by continuing to focus on execution, systems integration and growth in both new and existing markets, as well as by continuing to build the Office Depot retail and contract channels.

Our focus on execution in all our businesses, domestic as well as international, will be enhanced by a new initiative that involves consolidating our global purchasing efforts in order to negotiate lower costs from our vendors. Global purchasing of products will allow us to realize substantial cost savings and enable us to continue offering our customers the best products at the lowest price. We will also continue our tradition of providing outstanding service by ensuring next business day delivery in most major markets, and even same day delivery in some areas.

Our emphasis on systems integration includes the ongoing consolidation of the Office Depot and Viking systems as a means of realizing efficiencies and operating synergies. We are currently developing common systems for order entry, warehouse management, merchandising (including purchasing and catalog production) and financial reporting for use in both our domestic and our international operations.

Our attention to growth demands that we continuously evaluate promising new opportunities in the retail, mail order and contract distribution channels, both in our existing markets and in new markets. We are especially committed to growing our international electronic commerce business and believe that the Internet provides us with a significant opportunity for future international growth.

In January 2000, we introduced our German Web site at www.viking.de. Operating under the Viking brand, the site is tailored to the electronic commerce needs of the large and growing German business community. This new Internet site, as well as the UK Viking Web site, which has been operational since March 1999, have performed very well. As a result, we are committed to expanding our electronic commerce reach into additional countries in 2000.