Illustrative case studies
In Belgium the company’s new state-of-the-art laundry processing plant in Lokeren entered operation on time and on budget in 2007. It features an environmentally friendly water treatment installation that re-uses up to 50 % of pumped water; uses automatically measured amounts of biodegradable detergents in energy-saving automatic washing systems; and uses natural gas as the sole energy source for the complex. This modern facility is ideally located to maximise route efficiency and is expected to improve divisional profits by £ 0.7 million per annum from 2008.
Following the acquisition of Ambigest in July 2007, Rentokil became the clear leader in the Spanish pest control market. The combination of a warm climate and a significant tourist industry makes pest control of vital importance in the country. Every new hotel or apartment complex is a potential new customer as tourists continue to demand higher hygiene standards. During the year Rentokil in America acquired Presto-X, a significant regional pest control company, which operates from 21 branches within the central states covering major cities including Denver, Dallas and Chicago. Both acquisitions expand our geographic footprint, build density in core regions and improve returns in the growing pest control market.
In 2007 the company entered the fast growing Chinese pest control market through the acquisition of Rentokil Taiming. The business, while still small, is already profitable. It owns proprietary and highly effective fogging technology and, following technical evaluation, the company is seeking product registration around the world. It will provide the company with a unique selling proposition. Rentokil Taiming has been recommended as one of the ‘preferred suppliers’ for both pest control services and product to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Initial Facilities Services is the UK’s largest commercial cleaning company and the acquisition of Lancaster Cleaning Company in 2007 strengthened its presence in the London metropolitan area, accessing its blue chip customer base. Lancaster’s pride of the City is the landmark building “the Gherkin”, also known as Swiss Re or simply 30 St Mary Axe and was awarded the prestigious RIBA award for Building of the Year in 2004. Lancaster has been providing cleaning services to this iconic building since 2003 for 260 days a year so there’s no time to admire the panoramic view from the famous 40th floor restaurant!
City Link moves half a million packages per day but the challenge of its couriers’ lives is delivering to homes. Finding effective ways to avert problems over failed or delayed deliveries has been City Link’s mission over the last several years. A new improvement is the company’s “pre-advice notification” system, or Project Pan Initiative, which keeps customers informed as to the status of their delivery via their own choice of medium such as text messages or emails. The system sends out notifications to customers stating that an order has been collected and dispatched and asks them to confirm that they will be able to take delivery of the consignment the next day. If unable to, customers can reply requesting automatic rescheduling to the recipient’s choice of dates or even shift the delivery location.