consolidated financial statements - Lotus Bakeries

Statutory Auditor’s Reportto the General Shareholders’Meeting on the consolidatedaccounts of the companyLotus Bakeries NV as of andfor the year ended31 December 2010As required by law and the company’s articles ofassociation, we report to you in the context of ourappointment as the company’s statutory Auditor.This report includes our opinion on the consolidatedaccounts and the required additionaldisclosure.Unqualified opinion on the consolidatedaccountsWe have audited the consolidated accounts ofLotus Bakeries NV and its subsidiaries (the‘Group’) as of and for the year ended 31December 2010, prepared in accordance withInternational Financial Reporting Standards, asadopted by the European Union, and with thelegal and regulatory requirements applicable inBelgium. The consolidated accounts of the Groupare set forth in the financial supplement to and inChapter IV and V of the annual report. Theseconsolidated accounts comprise the consolidatedbalance sheet as of 31 December 2010 and theconsolidated statements of income, changes inshareholders’ equity and cash flows for the yearthen ended, as well as the summary of significantaccounting policies and other explanatory notes.The total of the consolidated balance sheetamounts to EUR (000) 224,731 and theconsolidated statement of income shows a profit,share of the Group, for the year of EUR (000)23,055.The company’s Board of Directors is responsiblefor the preparation of the consolidated accounts.This responsibility includes: designing, implementingand maintaining internal control relevantto the preparation and fair presentation ofconsolidated accounts that are free from materialmisstatement, whether due to fraud or error;selecting and applying appropriate accountingpolicies; and making accounting estimates thatare reasonable in the circumstances.Our responsibility is to express an opinion onthese consolidated accounts based on our audit.We conducted our audit in accordance with thelegal requirements applicable in Belgium and withBelgian auditing standards, as issued by the‘Institut des Reviseurs d’Entreprises/Instituut derBedrijfsrevisoren’. Those auditing standardsrequire that we plan and perform the audit toobtain reasonable assurance about whether theconsolidated accounts are free of materialmisstatement.In accordance with the auditing standardsreferred to above, we have carried out proceduresto obtain audit evidence about the amounts anddisclosures in the consolidated accounts. Theselection of these procedures is a matter for ourjudgment, as is the assessment of the risk thatthe consolidated accounts contain materialmisstatements, whether due to fraud or error. Inmaking those risk assessments, we haveconsidered the Group’s internal control relating tothe preparation and fair presentation of theconsolidated accounts, in order to design auditprocedures that were appropriate in thecircumstances, but not for the purpose ofexpressing an opinion on the effectiveness of theGroup’s internal control. We have also evaluatedthe appropriateness of the accounting policiesused and the reasonableness of accountingestimates made by management, as well as thepresentation of the consolidated accounts takenas a whole.Finally, we have obtained from the Board ofDirectors and Group officials the explanations andinformation necessary for our audit. We believethat the audit evidence we have obtainedprovides a reasonable basis for our opinion.In our opinion, the consolidated accounts setforth in the financial supplement to and inChapter IV and V of the annual report give a trueand fair view of the Group’s net worth andfinancial position as of 31 December 2010 and ofits results and cash flows for the year then endedin accordance with International FinancialReporting Standards, as adopted by the EuropeanUnion, and with the legal and regulatoryrequirements applicable in Belgium.Additional remarkThe company’s Board of Directors is responsiblefor the preparation and content of the managementreport on the consolidated accounts, setforth in Chapter IV and V of the annual report.Our responsibility is to include in our report thefollowing additional remark, which does not haveany effect on our opinion on the consolidatedaccounts:--The management report on the consolidatedaccounts deals with the information required bythe law and is consistent with the consolidatedaccounts. However, we are not in a position toexpress an opinion on the description of theprincipal risks and uncertainties facing thecompanies included in the consolidation, thestate of their affairs, their forecast developmentor the significant influence of certain events ontheir future development. Nevertheless, we canconfirm that the information provided is not inobvious contradiction with the information wehave acquired in the context of ourappointment.Ghent, 14 April 2011The statutory AuditorPwC Bedrijfsrevisoren cvbaRepresented byLieven AdamsBedrijfsrevisorPeter OpsomerBedrijfsrevisor36