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18 Pensioners’ Reunion The lunch party to celebrate Finlays Pensioners’ 26th annual Reunion was held on 30 June. Almost 100 guests: present-day directors, executives and staff, as well as former employees, gathered in the graceful surroundings of The Painters’ Hall in the City of London to catch up with old friends and colleagues, hear the latest news of developments within the group and enjoy a superb meal. Those present.... DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVES AND STAFF JAMES FINLAY LIMITED Michael & Caroline Todhunter Rupert Hogg Michael Ferguson Duncan Gilmour James Hughes-Hallett Peter Johansen Simon Large Pat Lockett Giles Weaver Tim & Susie Blackburn Nev Davies Paul Wythe Debbie Burke FINLAY TEA SOLUTIONS UK LIMITED Richard & Marie-Alice Darlington Tony & Maureen Barcroft Rob Corsan Mike & Clare Jones Mike Mellins Anna Schiavo Sue Wills FINLAY BEVERAGES LIMITED Neil Willsher Paul Jasper PENSIONERS OF JAMES FINLAY LIMITED Albert Baigent Clifford & Dorothy Bell Val Homer Ronnie Monk Peter & Jan Smail Bill & Maureen Stone PENSIONERS OF FINLAY BEVERAGES Irene & Harry Adams Audrey Arnold John & June Bryant Margaret Burrows Terry Cheetham Tony & Dorothy Clark Barbara Cromarty Ethna Duffy Honor Elvin Jan Feltham Shirley & Bob Garnett Barry & Susan Gibson Dorothie Hardy John & Rita Heath Gordon & Rhona Hill Ted Jones & Marilyn Carpenter Ernie Morgan Raymond & Anneke Orr Elfi & Fred Osborn Sidney & Gladys Paine David & Hilary Payne Olive Rimmer & Rosemary Lacey Mike & Mari Robbins Ron & Sylvia Smith John Tomlinson & Jenny Tomlinson Walsh Eric Webb Elsie Wilshire & Diana Childs PENSIONERS OF TEA COMPANIES Tim & Anthea Barton Jim Coutts Geoff Field Norman & Fleur Frew Chris & Mitzi Marley Gillian Ryan Leslie & Pat Stewart-Smith Hugo & Gillie Yorke-Davies PENSIONERS OF S H LOCK & CO LIMITED William & Caroline Atkins John & Pearl Large PENSIONERS OF BUCHANANS WAREHOUSES LIMITED Roy Olive John Reid
News Head Office Glasgow Office Outing Tea Estates Kenya Update Nev Davies At the time I prepared the last update, Kenya was recovering from a severe drought which had very significantly reduced the availability of all grades of tea on the Mombasa auction. By the end of March, production of leaf tea had fallen to 45% of budget. There was an upside to this, however, in that prices returned to levels that had not been experienced since the late ’90’s, and although crop levels on the JF(K) estates were well below budget, nevertheless the good prices have more than compensated for the shortfall over the balance of the year. By late August the much stronger tea supply position in Mombasa had resulted in a fall in the prices for all teas; however, they have remained reasonably firm and at levels better than budget. The JF(K) estates have recovered well from the effects of the drought, and production is now at normal levels. The old adage states that every cloud has a silver lining but, in the case of JF(K), some Estate Managers have come to associate that ‘silver’ with hail. The damage as a result of hail-stones has been particularly bad this year, with some areas being repeatedly subjected to severe storms and hail damage. In years gone by, attempts were made to reduce the severity of hail damage by ‘seeding’ the storm clouds with microscopic crystals, launched from sky-rockets, but the cost of doing so usually exceeded any benefit. The problem with hail is that it affects everything from a pluckable shoot down to a new bud; it takes about two months for a shoot to form from a new bud. As a strategic response to the long-term trend of falling tea prices, rapidly escalating labour costs and a stubbornly strong Kenya Shilling, the decision had been taken to significantly expand the area being mechanically harvested. On the one hand, this offered an opportunity to significantly lower costs of production, but the programme has not been without its challenges. Although the Company The Full Finlays! Glasgow staff (l-r) Pat Lockett, Duncan Gilmour, Kerr Napier and Peter Stabler strut their stuff at the office outing to a local adventure centre on 25 August. had repeatedly stated that employees would not be made redundant as a result of this change of policy, unfortunately this development was interpreted by various parties as being against the best interests of the Government and the Trade Union movement. Fortunately, this issue has now been amicably resolved and the mechanisation programme is being successfully introduced. A very thorough study has been completed, which revealed that the estates do not have sufficient reserves of eucalyptus to provide the renewable energy requirements for the future needs of the Kericho-based businesses. JF(K) has now embarked on a five-year programme which will see a large area of the old, lowyielding tea replaced with eucalyptus. Some of the old tea will be replaced with new varieties of high-yielding clonal tea, to ensure an adequate supply of leaf to both the black tea factories and the Tea Extracts Division. The clonal tea is much better suited to mechanical harvesting, and this advantage provides a much more attractive return on the very significant investment required. 19
Page 1: Autumn/Winter ’06 Volume 42/No.2
Page 4 and 5: 4 View from the MD’s Desk Rupert
Page 6 and 7: 6 Rethinking the Brand Simon Large
Page 8 and 9: 8 Pullout to go in here lorem ipsum
Page 10 and 11: 10 Project Lily Nev Harries In 1996
Page 12 and 13: 12 Designing an open plan office to
Page 14 and 15: Clockwise: Colombian farmer, Orland
Page 16 and 17: 16 ‘A Special Place in the Heart
Page 20 and 21: 20 News Tea Estates continued... Ke
Page 22 and 23: 22 News Tea Estates continued... Sr
Page 24 and 25: 24 News Beverages continued... UK N
Page 26 and 27: 26 News Flowers Update Tim Blackbur
Page 28 and 29: 28 News Sri Lanka continued... Twic
Page 30 and 31: 30 Announcements Births Adil On May

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