Vilmorin & Cie - Annual report 2017-2018

PRESENTATION of Vilmorin & Cie 1 ANNUAL REPORT Vilmorin & Cie 10 2017-2018 1.2. History and evolution of the Company A history of solid development 1.2.1. Historical expertise in plant improvement Vilmorin & Cie has been built on the foundations of 275 years of prestigious history. In 1743, the first boutique was opened at 4, Quai de la Mégisserie in Paris. Vilmorin & Cie’s head office today is still located at this address. The boutique took on the name “d’Andrieux et Vilmorin” when Philippe Victoire de Vilmorin and Pierre d’Andrieux, a seed merchant and botanist of Louis XV, joined forces in 1775. Following in the tracks of these two talented botanists, subsequent generations made major discoveries and decisive technical progress in plant improvement. Strengthened by this exceptional heritage, Vilmorin & Cie today benefits from one of the widest and most diversified expertise and genetic heritages in the world, a true reference in the seeds sector. 1.2.2. Key stages in development Initially structured around field seeds since its creation in 1942, Limagrain gradually built up a vegetable seeds pillar through successive purchases, in particular Vilmorin in 1975, and Tézier in 1979. In 1989 Oxadis, today called Vilmorin Jardin, was set up to distribute all the brands on the French home garden market as a complement to these acquisitions. 1993: Introduction of Vilmorin & Cie to the Paris stock market In 1993, Vilmorin & Cie, which combined all Limagrain’s Vegetable Seeds and Garden Products activities, entered the Paris stock market with a single ambition: to aim for world leadership on its markets. From 1993 until 2006, the Vegetable Seeds activity continued to develop with the purchase in 1996 of Clause in France and Harris Moran in the United States, then Nickerson Zwaan (Netherlands) in 1998 and Hazera Genetics (Israel) in 2003. Vilmorin & Cie also reinforced its investments in research, in particular by becoming a shareholder of the Dutch biotechnology* company Keygene in 2000. 2006-2007: Integration of Limagrain’s Field Seeds into the scope of Vilmorin & Cie Vilmorin & Cie set out to pursue its expansion and consolidate the financial performances it had achieved since its introduction to the Paris stock market. With the support of its reference shareholder Limagrain, in 2006 Vilmorin & Cie integrated Limagrain’s Field Seeds activity into its scope. At the time the Field Seeds activity was essentially European (with the integration of Nickerson’s straw cereals activity in 1990, and the acquisition of Advanta Europe in 2005) and North American (AgReliant, a joint venture with the German seed company KWS, was founded in 2000). This broadened scope allowed Vilmorin & Cie to build up its resources in upstream technologies, take advantage of the new critical size to facilitate external international growth, and develop new research partnerships, to establish new growth relays and ensure a better risk spread. Since 2007, acceleration of development and internationalization Internationalization of the Vegetable Seeds activity was strengthened through the creation of a seed unit in Japan in 2007 (Mikado Kyowa Seed), acquisitions in the United States (Mesa Maize in 2010, Campbells’ Seeds in 2012, Shamrock in 2013, Genica Research in 2016), in Turkey (Su Tarim in 2010), in India (Century Seeds in 2012) and in Vietnam (Tropdicorp in 2015). With global ambitions in corn and in wheat, at the same time the Field Seeds activity enjoyed fast acceleration, and Vilmorin & Cie progressively set up business in all parts of the world. In 2010, Limagrain Cereal Seeds was founded in the United States for the development of wheat in North America. In South America, business has been developing since 2011, with the acquisitions of Sementes Guerra and Brasmilho in Brazil. After the acquisition of Link Seed (South Africa) in 2013, the stake purchased in Seed Co, the largest African seed company, formed the base for solid development in Africa. In Asia, business was structured around three units: a unit in India after the integration of Bisco Bio Sciences in 2013, a unit in China built around the joint venture Hengji Limagrain Seeds created in September 2015, and a unit in South East Asia with the purchase of Seed Asia (Thailand) in 2014. Sustaining a high research budget, Vilmorin & Cie signed strategic partnerships in wheat, in Australia with Australian Grain Technologies (2008) and in Canada with Canterra Seeds (2015) along with corn. In 2013 Vilmorin & Cie and its partner KWS founded the company Genective, in order to develop GM* traits* for corn and allow Vilmorin & Cie to develop a proprietary line-up of seed for genetically modified corn varieties. 1.2. History and evolution of the Company

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