Tembec Inc.
Tembec is a leading integrated Canadian forest products company marketing its products in over 50 countries. Its products include softwood, hardwood and pine lumber, hardwood flooring, laminated veneer lumber, oriented strand board, high-yield chlorine-free market pulps, specialty alpha and dissolving cellulose pulp, bleached kraft pulp, newsprint and publishing papers, coated paperboard and bristols, lignosulfonates, phenolic resins and ethanol. The company is also a world leader in pulping technology and human resources management.
Tembec employs approximately 9,000 people—at locations in Québec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, the United States and France.
Tembec’s corporate vision is that of a company of people building their own future. Its mission is to be a low-cost, profitable integrated forest products company converting forest resources into competitive and innovative quality products for customers, while protecting the environment and creating a positive long-term social, cultural and economic benefit for the region and its people, employees and shareholders.
In 1998, Tembec announced its intention to focus on responsible growth that would lead to improved financial performance and stability, while still respecting its social and environmental principles. Since then, it has made a variety of strategic acquisitions.
October 1999 – acquired the remaining 50% of Tartas SA, a 160,000 tonnes/year fluff pulp mill in Tartas, France.
December 1999 – acquired Donohue Matane, a 200,000 tonnes/year high-yield pulp mill in Matane, Quebec.
January 2000 – acquired Marks Lumber, a lumber manufacturing facility in Brantford, Ontario.
February 2000 – acquired the remaining 54.3% of Malette, which included an OSB mill and a specialty paper mill in St. George and St. Raymond, Quebec, respectively.
February 2000 – acquired Fort James-Marathon, a 180,000 tonnes/year pul mill in Marathon, Ontario, in a 50/50 joint venture.
August 2000 – reached an agreement to acquire two pulp mills with a capacity of approximately 550,000 tonnes/year in Tarascon and St. Gaudens, France. The transaction was completed October 31, 2000.
September 2000 – announced the official opening of its $10.7 million Cranbook, B.C. value added centre.
October 2000 – announced completion of the purchase of two pulp mills in France.
December 2000 – completed the acquisition of A.R.C. Resins International Corp.
March 2001 – acquired 50% interest in Excel Forest Products Ltd.
June 2001 – acquired paper mill in St. Francisville, Louisiana.
August 2001 – created, with SGF Rexfor, a joint venture to acquire the building systems division of Jager Industries Inc.
As a result of these and other efforts, Tembec recorded gross sales of $2.598 billion in 2000—an increase of 38% since 1999—and delivered a record net after tax profit of $211.5 million. (Acquisitions since the beginning of 2001 will be reflected in the results of that fiscal year.)
Tembec believes that the concept of employee participation, profit sharing and employee ownership, combined with advanced technology and entrepreneurship, was instrumental in its dramatic performance to date, and is the foundation upon which its future will continue to build.
The company encourages individual employee membership in professional associations and subsidizes its employees' continuing education. It also supports educational, cultural, health and welfare projects through its donation program as well as encouraging the contribution of time and effort to such programs by its employees.
Tembec management believes that companies have a social obligation to respect the rights of the individual and improve the quality of life of their employees, and, as a corporate objective, to donate a minimum of 1% of pre-tax profits to promote health and education, as well as cultural and recreational endeavours.
It also believes that responsible resource stewardship makes possible sustained economic development, improves quality of life and shares with all Canadians important responsibilities to the environment in which they live and work. In that spirit, Tembec has adopted a set of policies and guidelines that govern its attitudes and actions in environmental matters. In February 2001, Tembec obtained ISO 14001 registration for most of its Canadian operations.
For more information, please visit the company website at www.tembec.ca
or contact:
Tembec Inc.
800 René-Lévesque Blvd. W.
Montreal, PQ
H3B 1X9
Tel: (514) 871-0137
