roquette press kit

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An independent and international group An independent family owned and run group A world leader in five large industry sectors A fast-growing group Starch processing More than 650 products growing non-stop

Worldwide presence

Europe and the Group’s first expansion driveConquering new markets in the Americas and Asia

Lestrem, the Group’s roots and headquarters

The Group’s main production plantAn unrivalled positionPowerful regional impactEurope’s main starch Factory

Expertise, pushing product efficiency levels higher

Starch’s limitless propertiesOne molecule, many applicationsQuality standards that set the pace Longstanding partnerships with clients

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An independent and international group

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R O Q U E T T E G R O U P

Press Kit Summary December 2008

A strategy, sustainable innovation Cementing leadership Innovation that lasts plant-chemistry nutrition-health Pushing ahead with geographical development

Research, a fundamental priority The innovation instinctFive recent milestones€40 million a year for research

AppendicesAppendice 1 Key facts & figures

Appendice 2 Milestones

Appendice 3 Zoom-in: Roquette and the environment

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Starch processingRoquette turns renewable resour-

ces – corn, wheat, potatoes and peas – into an extensive range of high-qua-lity products that it sells to client in-dustrial firms in a wide variety of bu-siness sectors, which in turn use them to manufacture products for consumer markets.

Roquette extracts and separates potato, corn, wheat and pea ingre-dients. Starch, a glucose polymer, is the main reserve carbohydrate in those grains. It also uses the other fractions (proteins, germ oil, cellulose, etc.).

Our production systems meet the tightest processing, safety and envi-ronmental standards, and mirror our company-wide innovative and quality drive spanning our production process and products alike.

More than 650 products growing non-stop

More than 650 products in our starch-derivative range enable us to adjust to evolving demand on an on-going basis.

Our range encompasses six cate-gories:

StarchesSugars and soluble fibersPolyolsProteins and derivativesFibers and oil Fermentation and fine chemicals

Roquette centered its strategy on R&D very early on – in the early 1950s. That, at least in part, explains its stag-gering diversification.

® Marques déposées et enregistrées par la société Roquette Frères - © Roquette Frères S.A. - 12/2008

62080 Lestrem Cedex France

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C o n t e n t s

An independent family owned and run group

The Roquette Group was established 75 years ago, and has since grown from a French family business to rank among the world’s top four starch companies. It turns more than 6 million tons of renewable agricultural raw materials – corn, wheat, potatoes and peas – into starch and starch derivatives every year.

Marc Roquette has been chairman of the Group since 2004, when he took over from Dominique Roquette, the son of one of the two brothers who had founded the company. This Group’s stable group of shareholders and its indepen-dence contribute considerably to its efforts to roll out its sus-tainable-development strategy in synch with the investment levels its business line entails.

An independent family owned and run group

A world leader in five large industry sectors

A fast-growing group

Starch processing

More than 650 products growing non-stop

Interview

“Roquette is a great family business and its inter-national presence is really in a class of its own. Its in-novative muscle and development drive are remarkable. I see the fact that Roquette is a family business as an advantage: it has a long-term vision, and does not have to rush to meet quarterly-result forecasts or please fi-nancial analysts. As long as the family has the financial resources it needs to develop the company, and it seems to have them, that’s a real strength.”

Massimo Selmo, Purchasing Officer at Barry Callebaut, a leading manufacturer of first-class cocoa andchocolate (Switzerland). w

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An independentand international group

An independent and international group

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L E S T R E M , T H E G R O U P ’ S R O O T S A N D H E A D Q U A R T E R S

Roquette is ranks also among the world leading injectable-substance manufacturer (dextrose essentially).Every day, more than 1.5 million patients around the globe receive injections containing pyrogen-free Roquette pro-ducts (which are so pure that they do not trigger a fever reaction). Our trailblazing hydrolysis and purification systems de-liver glucose (dextrose) quality grades free from any pyrogen substances and fit the most stringent pharmacopeias.

Roquette is now harnessing the ex-perience that it has acquired as a world-class manufacturer of cationic starches for the papermaking industry to develop groundbreaking biopolymers to replace petroleum-derived and other classical chemicals. A few examples follow:

- Alternatives to petroleum-derived la-tex for coating paper

- Modified starches, which consume less energy than refining (for paper napkins, kitchen rolls, etc.)

- Lower energy consumption and che-mical use for corrugated board

On the human nutrition front, Ro-quette is Europe’s leading manufactu-rer of maltodextrins, which are mainly used in baby milk. The Group has de-veloped what it calls a Premium line to deliver unrivalled safety standards and products that can be easily mixed into powdered milk to make products that babies can easily digest.

A world leader in five large industry sectors

Roquette processes crops to serve five major industry sectors.

Breakdown by volume:

Human food Animal foodPaper and corrugated boardPharmaceuticals and cosmeticsChemicals and bio-industry

Roquette is ranks among the top star-chindustry players (n° 2 in Europe and n°4 worldwide).

Roquette is the world leading po-lyol manufacturer (sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, etc.). These polyols are used to make vitamin C, toothpaste, mouthwash and sugarfree confectionery (chewing gum and chocolate, for instance). Su-gar-free chewing gum, as an aside, has come to rank among the most popular products in its category – with market shares hovering near or above the 90% mark – in Europe, in North America, in Japan and in other countries.

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main site and headquarters. Its total headcount has grown 33% in ten years (and stood at 4,600 employees in 1998, up from 3,300 in 1983). It is also building up its staff in Asia, where it is developing new operations, today.

A powerful partner in the farming sector

Every year, the Group processes 6 million tons of agricultural raw mate-rials from 550,000 hectares of land, in-cluding 3.5 million tons in France alone which are grown in France.

Ongoing investmentThe starch industry is capital inten-

sive (mainly in terms of building and maintaining industrial operations). On average, Roquette reinvests more than 10% of its revenues in its industrial ca-pacity and R&D every year.

Interview

“ I would say that one of Roquette’s distinctive fea-tures is that it runs its operations centrally while ad-justing to local specifics. They take all the decisions in Lestrem but, if you have a problem in Italy or in the UK, there is always someone there to help you out. They have a very healthy balance between central and local.”Alfred Schlosser, European Purchasing Manager, Nestlé Purina Petcare (Germany)

A fast-growing group

The Group’s total sales totalled more than €2.5 billion in 2007. That fi-gure has grown fivefold over the past 25 years and 50% over the past decade. It generates two-thirds of its revenues in the European Union, one-fifth in North America and the rest in other countries (notably in Asia).

Worldwide presenceRoquette’s efficient sales network

has built up its presence on every conti-nent. The Group owns and runs 30 ope-rations (production units and offices) on 3 continents (15 in the EU, 2 in the US, 1 in Mexico, 10 in Asia and 2 in India). It has enjoyed regular and sustained growth in Europe – its historical home turf or “region” – and moved into the US and Asia more recently. Succinctly, it cemented its presence in Europe in the 1960s, and went on to invest in the US in the early 1980s, in China and Korea in 2001, in Japan in 2002, in India in 2006, and in Russia in 2008.

Constantly-growing workforceRoquette currently employs more

than 6,000 people worldwide. Some 3,600 of them are based in France, in-cluding 3,000 in Lestrem (in Nord-Pas de Calais, northern France), the Group’s

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C o n t e n t s

Europe and the Group’s fi rst international expansion drive

Roquette fi rst stretched its industrial presence across Europe,

where it now runs 15 operations (11 production sites in France, Italy,

Spain, Romania, England and Germany, and 4 offi ces in Germany,

Spain, Finland and Russia).

The Lestrem site is home to its corporate headquarters, a pro-

duction plant and the Group’s main R&D center (which employs

more than 250 researchers). Roquette is also developing an indus-

trial park enabling its partner fi rms to enjoy the advantages of ha-

ving a nearby starch mill and convenient raw-material supplies. It

has developed two industrial complexes: Sethness-Roquette in Mer-

ville and Roquette Beinheim Bioéthanol (RBB) in Beinheim.

In total, Roquette counts 6 production plants in France: A corn and

wheat starch mill in Lestrem (Nord-Pas de Calais), a corn and wheat

starch mill in Beinheim (Bas-Rhin), an ethanol plant in Beinheim (via

a partnership with the agricultural business), a potato starch mill in

Vecquemont (Somme), a pea starch mill in Vic-sur-Aisne (Aisne) and a

Europe and the Group’s fi rst

expansion drive

Conquering new markets in

the Americas and Asia

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Roquette has been rolling out its international sales-develop-

ment strategy through agents and subsidiaries for decades. It star-

ted unfurling its industrial-development strategy more recently -

and indeed now runs more operations outside France than within it.

That is how it can deliver consistently outstanding quality across its

international customer base.

30 operations on 3 continents

Roquette runs operations - i.e. offi ces and production plants – in

Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Worldwide presence

Worldwide presence

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LestremCorby

Vecquemont

Benifayo

Cassano Spinola

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Beinheim

Francfort

Calafat

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Klötze

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caramel-color plant (a Sethness-Roquette

joint venture) in Merville (Nord).

Roquette operates 3 maize starch

mills elsewhere in Europe: one in Beni-

fayo (near Valencia, Spain), one in Cassano

(between Genoa and Milan, Italy), and one

in Calafat (skirting the Danube, in Ro-

mania), and a wheat starch mill in Corby

(northwest of London, England). It recently

bought BPS, a microalgae production spe-

cialist boasting the world’s largest fres-

hwater photobioreactor (in Klötze, east of

Hanover, Germany).

Conquering new markets in the Americas and Asia

The drive across Europe stretched on to

the US in the 1980s and on to Asia – where

demand for starch products is high – more

recently.

Roquette runs two production plants in

the US: a sorbitol plant in Gurnee, Illinois

(since 1982) and a corn starch mill in Keo-

kuk, Iowa (since 1991). It has been pushing

ahead with its efforts to export its expertise

by opening an offi ce in Mexico in 2008.

It has established a solid presence in

Asia in less than a decade. It bought two

sorbitol production units – one in LianYun-

Gang, (north of Shanghai, China) and one in

Ulsan (Korea) – in 2001. It opened 2 offi ces

in Japan, in Tokyo and Osaka, in 2002. It

then stepped up its development in China

and built a new plant in LianYunGang to

manufacture polyols (2004) and modifi ed

starches (2006).

Roquette made another move to ce-

ment its presence in China in 2008: it ac-

quired GNCP (Guangxi Nanning Chemical

Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd), a polyol works-

hop in Nanning (in the province of Guan-

gxi, southern China). It moved into India in

2006, acquiring a stake in a starch mill, and

cemented its presence there by opening an

offi ce in Mumbai in 2007, that country’s

economic capital. Roquette’s worldwide

presence puts it in a position to deliver

consistently unsurpassed quality stan-

dards to every one of its customers, whe-

rever they are.



Interview

“We have been working with Ro-

quette for nearly 20 years now. A num-

ber of reasons prompted us to choose

Roquette. First, it is the leader on its

market. Second, its production plants

are more or less near ours. Third and

last, because of the quality of its pro-

ducts, the logistical services and the

technical support it provides. We just

know Roquette is always there when we

need it.”Mourtaza Adamjee, Global Purchaser, Danone

Baby Alimentation Humaine (Netherlands)

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C o n t e n t s

The Group’s fi rst operation in Lestrem concentrates the

full breadth of expertise, which range from corporate servi-

ces to production to pilot projects and on to industrial appli-

cations. This is where it conceives, engineers and develops

most of its product ranges – making it Roquette’s main hub.

The Group’s main production plant

The Lestrem production site runs four main production

lines:

• Corn starch (native and modifi ed)

• Wheat starch (native and modifi ed)

• Cereal sugars (liquid and dry)

• Polyols.

This plant stands astride three communes (Merville, La

Gorgue and Lestrem) and two departments (Nord and Pas de

Calais). It stretches 2 km from east to west and 1.4 km from

north to south, and spans 150 hectares. And it is in an envia-

ble location to develop business in Northern Europe.

An unrivalled position

This plant is a stone’s throw from large cereal-growing

areas and Northern Europe’s main consumption areas, and

not far from an extensive highway network, several river and

sea ports, a choice of multimodal transport platforms, and

railway lines. Poor access to those networks, however, is

hampering this plant’s development.

The Group’s main

production plant

An unrivalled position

Powerful regional impact

Europe’s main starch

Factory

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Lestrem, and headquarters

the Group’s rootsLestrem, the Group’s roots and headquarters

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Powerful regional impact

Roquette is the Nord-Pas de Calais

area’s main exporter and ranks this

area at the top of the list of foodstuff

exporters. It also has a sizeable impact

on jobs: the Lestrem plant alone direct-

ly employs 3,000 people, and accounts

for many more jobs among its approxi-

mately 1,000 providers. Lestrem sour-

ces the bulk of its cereal in France (and

about 60% of it comes from Northern

France alone).

Europe’s main starch Factory

The approximately 7,000 tons of

cereals it processes per day rank Les-

trem as Europe’s leading starch mill.

On average, roughly 100 trucks and up

to 5 full trains leave this plant packed

with our raw materials every day. The

warehouse can store 80,000 tons of

products, i.e. 16 days’ worth of produc-

tion.

The plant uses water from the River

Lys. It processes 1,500 cubic meters

per hour to make it fi t for consump-

tion and production, after pumping it

from the river into a 10- hectare man-

made lake. This lake also provides a

natural form of water treatment be-

fore further treatment en route to the

workshops manufacturing food and

pharmaceutical products. Workshop

wastewater then goes to our integra-

ted treatment plant, which can process

the equivalent of a 600,000-inhabitant

city’s water requirements, and is then

released back into the river. The plant

uses cogeneration technology (combi-

ned electricity and steam production

using natural gas), which covers 90%

of its electricity and 100% of its steam

requirements.



Note

transport is nevertheless a key aspect

of a company’s competitive edge and

the French Grenelle de l’Environne-

ment environmental summit ranked

it as one of its concerns. The Seine-

Nord Europe wide canal due to open

in 2015 will only bring relief if a link is

established between the plant and the

wide river network.

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Longstanding partnerships with clients

Roquette is always aiming for a higher standard of excellence and a sharper creative edge. It enables its clients to harness its sharp innovative talent, first-class technical support and powerful, constantly-upgraded industrial capacity. It strives to deliver dependable service, expertise and in-novation, anticipate technological and marketing requirements, and provide outstanding service quality at compe-titive prices. Roquette professionals work side by side with their clients. They understand their production pro-cesses and requirements, and pool efforts in application labs to hone pro-ducts that meet each one’s specific needs.



Interview

“We work with Roquette for se-veral reasons. First of all, they are good. So they are going to be in busi-ness for a long time. They rank among the top three European and interna-tional companies that manufacture the products we need. Second, their structure and organization pretty much mirrors ours (we are both Euro-pean companies, etc.). Third, we make our suppliers compete and Roquette knows how to get an edge on other bidders with the value for money it can deliver. Fourth, Roquette has real expertise and pays a lot of attention to R&D. It is really efficient and its deli-very services are 100% reliable.”Thierry Ortscheid, Category Manager, Natural Ingredients, Bakemark Group.

C o n t e n t sStarch’s limitless properties

One molecule, many appli-cations

Quality standards that set the pace

Longstanding partnerships with clients

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Roquette’s expertise, in a nutshell, lies in its ability to turn renewable agricultural raw materials into ever more innovative products for industry. One of its strengths is its ability to identify new production sources: it started with potatoes, moved on to corn, wheat and peas, and will be moving on to microalgae in the near future. The choice of raw materials it can tap, combined with its trailblazing production processes, in other words, put Roquette in an ideal position to develop products that meet the market’s needs.

Starch’s limitless properties Starch is an amazing energy stockpile made of glucose

molecules. It is sold untreated or as chemically or physically modified derivatives.

It can also be fractioned and sold as glucose, dextrose or maltodextrin syrups.

Glucose can be used as a raw material for fermentation products and other organic acids, or for hydrogenation products such as sorbitol or other polyols.

Starches and their derivatives are brimming with properties and naturally blend into human and animal food, paper, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and biochemical products.

Un savoir-faire, concevoir des R O Q U E T T E G R O U P

Expertise, Pushing productExpertise, pushing product efficiency levels higherefficiency levels higher

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E x p E r t i s E , p u s h i n g p r o d u c t E f f i c i E n c y l E v E l s h i g h E r

One molecule, many applications

Starch and its more than 650 derivatives are everywhere: in soup (modified starch), cheese (glucono delta-lactone), jam and ice cream (glucose syrup).

They are used to build homes: Roquette products are used to make concrete additives, treat metal and bond walls. They also enhance a number of cosmetics including toothpastes and beauty creams.

They also make paper stronger and books easier to read. And our new biopolymers both soften and strengthen paper tissues. Starch also improves packaging (corrugated cardboard and heavy-duty paper bags). It is also good for health: maltodextrins help young children digest and other components prove beneficial for people with diabetes. They also weave their way into medicine cupboards in the form of excipients used to make cough syrups and pills.

The sheer breadth of our product range mirrors the variety and advanced technical expertise that our client firms span.

Quality standards that set the pace

Roquette’s determination to earn client loyalty has led it to place customer satisfaction, quality and product safety at the center of everything it does. It has packed quality into its production process (using renewable raw materials and providing end-to-end tracking, aligning production to stringent treatment, purity and environmental standards, and delivering flawless ingredient quality).

This quality drive also entails securing supplies and guaranteeing service standards in every country Roquette serves. It likewise involves certification and checks every step of the way, from harvests and procurement through production and on to finished-product delivery.

Interview

“ I would say that Roquette is first and foremost a driving force behind quality.”

“As we see it, Roquette is a company you can trust. Quality is their operation’s linchpin, their service is outstanding and their organization is remarkable. Com-munication between their sales teams, technicians and R&D staff is amazingly smooth and swift.

Roquette is blazing new trails on the R&D and on the product-quality front. It makes sure the products it delivers are absolutely flawless.”

Alfred schlosser, European Purchasing Manager, Nestlé Purina Petcare (Germany)

Interview

“We source LYCADEX® (glucose) at Roquette and use it in our European production plants to make bags and mainly nourishing IV drips. We also source Icodextrin, which we use to make bags for peritoneal dialysis […]

Roquette’s main strength is in the fact that it can develop products with and for its clients. Roquette cares about its clients and about building lasting, long-term relationships with them.”

Baxter develops products to im-prove living conditions for patients with specific pathologies (hemophi-lia, immunodeficiency, cancer, renal failure, etc.).

renaud MAZy, Baxter Lessines Plant Director (Belgium)

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combustion there will generate three-quarters of thermal energy that this plant consumes from clean and renewable re-sources.

Roquette’s production plant in Lestrem (Nord-Pas de Calais, France) is currently Europe’s largest biorefinery: 7,000 tons of cereal a day are processed and more than 650 different products are marketed.

Partnerships with public and private-sector research projects

Roquette’s R&D drive explains the fact that it is contributing to running six com-petitiveness clusters, namely “Nutrition, Health and Longevity” (chaired by Marc Roquette), Halieutique (sea products), MAUD, Plastipolis, Axelera, IAR (Indus-tries and Agro Resources) and Sporaltec (sports and leisure industry).

Roquette also actively supports the DigestScience Foundation (France’s first public interest institution conducting research on digestive diseases and nu-trition), and EPODE, a program aiming to prevent child obesity that Fleurbaix and Laventie (two communes in Pas de Calais, France) have been rolling out since Ja-nuary 2004.

Roquette, last but not least, is a foun-ding member of the Association Chimie Du Végétal (Vegetable Chemistry Asso-ciation – ACDV), which channels efforts on the part of France’s leading chemical and agricultural firms to promote plant che-

mistry in France and across Europe. Ro-quette has been chairing this association since April 2008.

Pushing ahead with geographical development

Roquette is concurrently planning to step up its development in fast-growing zones. Emerging countries, where ave-rage starch-product consumption per ca-pita is 5 to 20 times lower than in Western Europe, are where the big challenges of tomorrow await. The goal, at this point, is to bolster the Group’s presence in Asia, Central America (Mexico, in particular), and Russia. The Group is planning to do so by using the model that underpinned its success in Europe. It branches into a new country with a sales office, then builds and starts operating a polyol workshop. It ultimately aims to integrate the entire production process – from raw-material sourcing to finished-product delivery – in each country. The teams that open up workshops abroad have more often than not sharpened their skills in France. Roquette is the only starch mill that can boast 70 research engineers and techni-cians that master the industry’s cutting-edge technology and thereby enable it to design groundbreaking industrial projects the world over. Roquette also cements its presence abroad via partnerships with es-tablished companies. Sethness-Roquette, a plant manufacturing color caramel next to its Lestrem site, is one example.



C o n t e n t sCementing leadership

Innovation that lasts, plant-chemistry nutrition-health

Pushing ahead with geographical development

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Roquette has rooted its development in an industrial stra-tegy carved out for the long run, ongoing determination to blaze new trails, and environmental stewardship since the very beginning. Its determination to retain its independence while cementing its leadership explains its recent moves to innovate and diversify by identifying two new strategic deve-lopment goals: plant chemistry and nutrition-health. Along-side geographic expansion, these two options are brimming with growth opportunities for Roquette. We are developing them through controlled investment and matching our re-sources to our ambitious goals by handpicking the projects we work on and the companies we partner with.

Cementing leadership The Group has established a presence in the three main

consumption areas – Europe, North and South America, and Asia – where application research centers are striving to meet local consumer requirements. Roquette has a clear goal: it aims to harness its acquired expertise and focus on its clients’ requirements to develop tomorrow’s products to-day.

Innovation that lastsRoquette’s sustainable-innovation strategy, in a nutshell,

involves engineering and developing ingredients, products and applications that concurrently address ecological, eco-nomic and social challenges.


A strategysustainable innovation

A strategysustainable innovation

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A S T R A T E G Y S U S T A I N A B L E I N N O V A T I O N

tute, is making a sizeable contribution to the BioHub® program via its teams at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (National Applied Science Institute – INSA) in Lyons and Rouen, and the Institut des Molécules et de la Matière Condensée de Lille (Lille Molecule and Condensed Matter Institute – IMMCL).

Over the past two years, the BioHub® program has already spawned demons-tration industrial plants manufacturing isosorbide and its derivatives. The alliance with DSM, a Dutch company, was officially announced in early 2008. Their common goal is to develop a new biotechnological process to manufacture succinic acid, a biodegrada-ble-polymer intermediate product that can be used in agricultural films, for instance. A plant producing several hundred tons of succinic acid a year will be operational by the end of 2009.

The *GAÏAHUB® program is developing a new form of functionalization chemistry for plant-derived natural polymers such as star-ches and proteins. GAÏAHUB® is an answer to new demands for biosourced plastics in particular, and to replace oil-derived poly-mers in general (in adhesives, paint, ink and varnish, building materials, water treatment, etc.). Functionalizing plant-derived polymers is a way of fine-tuning trailblazing properties while cutting dependence on petroleum. The GAÏAHUB® program currently encompasses 23 partner business firms and research cen-ters (all of which are world leaders in their fields). Several studies have already earned competitiveness-cluster certification from Axelera, Plastipolis, Mov’eo and Maud. The functionalized natural polymer products that have already secured patents (eight to date)

A plant-chemistry pioneerRoquette is intent on raising the pu-

blic’s awareness of the need to develop bio-based products as a sustainable alternative to non-renewable fossil-fuel derivatives. It has embraced the US Department of Ener-gy’s drive to replace 25% of the chemical industry’s fossil-derived raw materials with plant-derived alternatives by 2030.

This notion of plant chemistry blends seamlessly into the green-chemistry agenda that aims to cut back or indeed eliminate substances that harm human beings and the environment.

That explains the Group’s move to develop research and innovation programs around two goals:

- Developing new and primarily biotech-nology-derived molecules, with its BioHub® program

- Developing new polymers with the GAÏAHUB® program

The new BioHub® products are active and intermediate synthetic ingredients (biomo-nomers, biosolvents, bioplasticizers, biose-questering agents, etc.). Roquette is running the BioHub® program through a partnership with several industrial firms including a number of chemical companies such as Ar-kema (France), DSM (Netherlands), Cognis (Germany) and Solvay (Belgium), road buil-der Eurovia (Vinci Group), plasticbottle blow-molding specialist Sidel, PET manufacturer Tergal Industries, and Metabolic Explorer, a start-up in Clermont-Ferrand (France) that has specialized in bridging the gap between biotechnological breakthroughs to industrial applications. CNRS, a French research insti-

traction processes do not require solvents). This program aims to use all the products and co-products in the industrial process (starch, proteins and fiber).

Microalgae, last but not least, are tan-tamount to micro-plants or super-vegeta-bles without leaves or roots, and are brim-ming with antioxidants, “good” lipids (of the Omega-3 variety) and proteins (consi-derably more than vegetables that grow in soil). They break new health-and-nutrition ground.

AlgoHub®, the multidisciplinary pro-gram involving these microalgae, is spon-sored by OSEO Innovation. Roquette and its partner firms are planning to study biodiversity, develop microalgae bioreac-tors, and produce micronutrients and high-added-value ingredients. That is why the Group recently acquired BPS, the German microalgae production specialist that owns the world’s largest freshwater photobio-reactor.

Blazing the biorefining trail The Group is also working on the inte-

grated-biorefinery concept, which involves clustering industrial plants transforming agricultural raw materials (cereals, pota-toes and peas) into products for the food, chemical, paper and pharmaceutical in-dustry using renewable sources of energy (water, straw, wood, heat, etc.). Much like petrochemical refineries, biorefineries “crack” agricultural raw materials to ex-tract each component and turn it into food fit for human consumption, food fit for ani-mal consumption and other products.

Roquette is studying and applying solu-tions that use renewable sources of energy instead of fossil fuels in order to substanti-ally cut greenhouse-gas emissions.

Our production plant in Beinheim (Bas-Rhin, France), is exploring a few very promising options on this front: deep geo-thermics, wood combustion and biogas

are manufactured in batches amounting to a few tons each, and a few trademarks – including GAÏALENE™, GAÏAFINE™ and GAÏAPOL™ - have been chosen for the pre-marketing phase.

* This program was named GaïaHub® after Gaïa, the goddess of the nourishing earth in Greek mytho-

logy.

Playing a part in the nutrition-health market

Roquette is also getting more involved in health and nutrition, and currently run-ning two particularly promising programs.

NutraHub®, the health and nutrition program, will lead to new functional in-gredients on the food and pharmaceutical markets. This program concurrently aims to prevent the risk of chronic diseases and cater for specific diet requirements (pre-gnant women, children, vegetarians and elderly people). It addresses inadequate eating habits (overeating and undereating) to prevent the risks of obesity, diabetes, etc, and to compensate deficient diets (with minerals and vitamins, covering allergy-specific requirements, vegetarian diets, etc.). It also applies to health issues asso-ciated with an individual’s development and aging.

This program is focusing on three options: microalgae, peas and cereals. Recent and ongoing clinical studies invol-ving existing cereal products have zoomed in on weight management, digestion in general, prolonging energy release in par-ticular and, simply put, on cutting sugar content and increasing fiber content. The new products in this line will also be un-dergoing in-depth studies.

The leguminous line is also exciting: peas are packed with high-biological-value protein, and environmentally-friendly (ex-

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Є40 million a year for research

Roquette has brought together its research operation in Lestrem, the Group’s research base since 1951. The fact that the laboratories and main production are practically next door to each other boosts efforts to develop new techniques and products.

Our 300 researchers and techni-cians (including 250 based in Lestrem) and our two application labs in the US and China (to cater for local client de-mands) file about 20 patents a year. Re-search programs span biochemistry, microbiology and analytical control, as well as new technology and appli-cation development. Roquette signs more than 100 research-partnership agreements a year and has built close cooperation ties with universities and laboratories around the world.



Interview

“ Roquette is a real partner and a key supplier. Its essential R&D skills also help us develop. Roquette is a proactive company and, in our view, has the most reliable delivery ser-vice.

Roquette’s main strength is in the fact that it can develop products with and for its clients. Roquette cares about its clients and about building lasting, long-term relationships with them.”

Renaud Mazy, Baxter Plant Director (Bel-gium)

C o n t e n t sThe innovation instinct

Five recent milestones

€40 million a year for research

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ResearchA fundamental priority

ResearchA fundamental priority

Innovation and research are intertwined with this company’s DNA. Roquette has been exploring previously uncharted waters – developing new products and applications, and addressing budding market needs – since its inception. It has the human and technological resources it needs to aim high – and to rank among this industry’s most innovative firms.

The innovation instinct Roquette started innovating in 1946, when it built

Lestrem’s first corn starch mill to sharpen its competitive edge. Doing so enabled it to sell the broadest range of potato and corn-based starch products in France.

It built its first research lab in 1951, and added a pilot workshop shortly thereafter. New products – dextrose and sorbitol, in particular – followed. It simultaneously bolstered its sales force, and its sales engineers started venturing out into the export market (to Germany and Italy, two markets worth conquering).

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R E S E A R C H A F U N D A M E N T A L P R I O R I T Y

fish-based products, and products for vegetarians. Pea proteins have a beauti-ful balance of essential amino acids, re-markably complement cereals, are easy to digest, and have functional properties (emulsifying, gelling, etc.).

Pea starch is in a class of its own in the starch world: its high amylose content affords it distinctive physical and chemical properties (bonding, water-re-taining, filming, crisping, etc.). Combi-ned with Roquette’s expertise, it can be used to manufacture heavy-duty glue for double-thickness corrugated cardboard, accelerate production, cut chemical content and reduce waste rates.

A new range of soluble edible fiber: NUTRIOSE® Roquette has developed a range of soluble dietary fiber to address today’s requirements: it is packed with fi-ber and low on calories, releases energy at a slow pace to enhance endurance, and increases satiety. These fibers are used in milk- and fruit-based drinks, drin-king yoghurt, energy drinks and flavored waters. As well as being easy to digest, lengthening finished-product shelf life and affording functional flavor and tex-ture benefits, NUTRIOSE® is amazingly easy to use. This breakthrough is a sta-tement about Roquette’s determination to support the food industry’s expansion by engineering health ingredients that effectively address increasingly deman-ding consumers’ concerns.

Five recent milestones

Advances on the sugar-free front with SWEETPEARL™ maltitol SWEET-PEARL™ is a low-calorie, non-carioge-nic sugar substitute. SWEETPEARL™ beats saccharose in most traditional applications without altering recipes or processes. Its main uses encompass sugar-free chewing gum and sugar-free coated confectionery (it replicates su-gar’s crispiness and stability), chocolate, cakes and biscuits with no added sugar. It has opened up an unexpected choice of new recipes as it unleashes vibrant aro-mas while affording nutritional benefits. SWEETPEARL™ is also used as a phar-maceutical excipient, and is especially suitable for powdered medicine (powder sachets, syrup powders and capsules) and every type of pill (to chew, to suck, coated or fizzy).

Harnessing a new raw material: high-protein peas What Roquette does, in a nutshell, is take starch-rich agricul-tural raw materials such as wheat and corn grains, or potato tubers, to extract their main constituents (starch, proteins, solubles, germs and fibers). Its in-depth grasp of this grain “cracking” process naturally prompted it to take a closer look at high-protein yellow peas as a new raw material.

It extracts these new Nutralys® pea proteins in its plant in Vic-sur-Aisne (Pi-cardy, France), a potato-starch workshop that it overhauled into a high-protein-pea starch mill and protein workshop in 2007. Those proteins add up to a new range of ingredients used to enhance protein content in a number of food products for sportspeople (high-energy bars), and to bond and add texture to red-meat and

Lastly, Roquette has applied for EFSA (European Food Safety Autho-rity) clearance to use isosorbide as a monomer for PET in contact with food. Isosorbide has also earned *”green diol” certification for food packaging – a fast-growing sector keen on agri-cultural raw materials.*2 alcohol functions

This product is one of the linch-pins in the BioHub® program that kic-ked off in 2006, sponsored by OSEO Innovation. In 2007, after several years producing it in pilot works-hops – which gradually grew in size - Roquette opened its first indus-trial demonstrator in Lestrem, using patented technology.

A new film-forming polymer: LYCOAT® This new polymer gives the confectionery industry an opportu-nity to provide all-new and attractive starch-based coatings, and the phar-maceutical industry an opportunity to simplify and accelerate pill coating. It also opens the door to a new medi-cation category: films that dissolve on the tongue for instant effect. Starch is a natural polymer that paves the way for a plethora of applications when it is processed to improve its proper-ties. LYCOAT® (a patented product) mir-rors Roquette’s ability to use pea starch to develop new chemical and physical treatments to hone an outstanding film-forming polymer.

Isosorbide production for sustai-nable chemistry Isosorbide has been at the core of Roquette’s innovation strategy and production capacity for years now (Roquette is the world’s leading sorbitol manufacturer).

Isosorbide is made from sorbitol, which is in turn made from cereals. It is used as a raw material for new polymers, solvents and plasticizers. Isosorbide-derived plasticizers can replace phtha-late-based PVC plasticizers that, some people suspect, might harm health.

It also considerably enhances PET’s and other polymers’ resistance to heat, opening up new options (hot- fill contai-ners, for instance).

SweetPearl

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Appendice 1

53%

14%6%

7%

20%

14% in France

53% in the rest of the EU

20% in North America

7% in Asia

6% in other countries

211

1 1

131

1

111111

111111116

11

1 1 1

Industrial capacity

18 production plants :

11 in Europe: 6 in France, 1 in Italy, 1 in Spain, 1 in England, 1 in Romania, 1 in Germany

2 in the US

3 in China

1 in Korea

1 in India

- A choice of more than 650products

- Volume breakdown by application category:

- Totaling more than 6 million tons of products a year

- More than 10% of revenue reinves-ted in industrial capacity and R&D every year

Key facts & fi guresKey facts & fi gures

The Roquette Group

- 2007 Group sales: more than €2.5 billion. Breakdown:

- The world’s n°1 manufacturer of polyols (sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, etc.)

- Europe’s n°2 and the world’s n°4 in its business sector (the starch mill)

- The world’s n°1 in the range of raw materials for injectable substances (dextrose essentially)

- A presence in more than 100 coun-tries worldwide

30 operations: 15 in Europe, 3 inthe Americas (2 in the USA, 1 in Mexico), 10 in Asia and 2 in India (offi ces and production plants)

50% Human food

15% Animal food

14% Paper and corrugated board

12% Pharmaceuticals and cosmetics

9% Chemicals and bioindustry

15%

50%

9%

12%

14%

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Annual production- More than 6 million tons of agri-

cultural raw materials (the equivalent of 750,000 hectares of planted land), by all our production plants combined:

- We process 3.5 million tons of agri-cultural raw materials a year in Fran-ce (corn, wheat, potatoes and peas).

- We process 15,000 tons a day in our plant in Lestrem (7,000 tons of cereals, 7000 tons of fi nished products leave the plant).

Lestrem- The world’s biggest wheat and

wheat starch mill, and Europe’s biggest corn starch mill

- 150 hectares in total, 100 hectares of buildings, parking areas and roads

- 2.0 km east to west, 1.4 km north to south

- In 3 communes (Lestrem, La Gor-gue and Merville) and 2 departments (Nord and Pas de Calais)

- Up to 5 trains and 100 trucks rou-ting raw materials every day

- On average 600 trucks a day rou-ting fi nished products

- 1,500 cubic meters of river water (from the Lys) processed every hour

- Cogeneration (combined electri-city and steam production) covers 90% of energy requirements

- Storage capacity for 80,000 tons, i.e. 16 days’ worth of production

- A water-treatment plant that could cater to a 600,000-inhabitant city, pro-cessing 45 tones of COD, and routing biomass back to fi elds

ResearchA €40 million annual budget

Approx. 250 researchers in our Lestrem R&D Center

2 application laboratories (in China and the US) to provide closer customer service

PeopleMore than 6,000 employees world-

wide:

Total staff count has grown 33% in 10 years, from 4,500 in 1998.

We invest 3.5% of our payroll in training.

In 2007 and 2008, we hired an ave-rage of 100 people a year in Europe (half of whom were managers and en-gineers).



3200

801000

1620

Corn: 3,200,000 tons, i.e. 10,000 tons a day

Wheat: 1,620,000 tons, i.e. 5,000 tons a day

Starch potatoes: 1,000,000 tons

High-protein peas: 80,000 tons

France

USEurope

Asie

4 700 in Europe

3600 in France, (3000 in Lestrem

250 in Beinheim, 250 in Vecquemont

100 in Vic-sur-Aisne)

1 000 in Asia

550 in the US

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Streching across Europe

1958 Acquired a stake in a corn starch mill in

Benifayo, Spain

1961 Roquette Italia creation and construction of a

corn starch mill

1962 Joint-ventured with National Starch, an

American company. Worked with it until 1984,

when it had to discontinue joint operations

due to European Community regulations

1976 Opened an office in Frankfurt, Germany

1977 Built a new corn starch mill in Beinheim, north

of Strasbourg, to cater to Germany and Central

Europe. Built a wheat starch production unit in

Vecquemont, France

1985 Moved into England buying a caramel plant in

Corby

1986 Built a wheat starch mill in Lestrem,

France

1989 Bought a potato starch mill in Vic-sur-Aisne,

France

1993 Launched maltitol production in Lestrem

1997 Branched into Romania, buying a corn starch

mill in Calafat

1998 Built a wheat starch mill in Beinheim,

France

2000 Bought a wheat starch mill in Corby,

England

2004 Opened an office in Espoo, Finland, and a

color caramel plant with Sethness in Mer-

ville, France

2005 Pea starch and protein production began in

Vic-sur-Aisne, France

The beginning

1912 Dominique Roquette started working for a grain

broker in Lille, went on to become an associate

1919 Germain joined his brother’s brokerage (Domi-

nique had become the head of the company)

1924 The Roquette brothers partnered to establish

SODACO – D. et G. Roquette and transferred

their offi ces to the new Chamber of Commerce

building in Lille, where the grain exchange was

held every Wednesday

1933 They decided to set up a starch mill and call

it Roquette Freres – Les Grandes Feculeries du

Nord, on a vast plot of land that they had bought

in Lestrem, 35 km from Lille

1934 Roquette started building its fi rst plant, in Les-

trem. It sold some of its starch to textile compa-

nies and the rest to food manufacturers

Expansion across France,product diversifi cation

1935 Diversifi cation began: the company started ma-

king glucose from potato starch

1936 Dextrine production, for glue manufacturers

and foundries, began

1946 Built a corn starch mill in Lestrem, to produce

glucose at more competitive costs

1951 Opened the fi rst research lab, which led to dex-

trose and sorbitol production

1954 Industrial sorbitol production

1956 Roquette Frères acquired a wheat starch mill in

Cambrai, adding the third source of starch raw

material to its line, and built a potato starch fac-

tory in Vecquemont, in the Somme

Appendice 2

MilestonesLes dates Milestones

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2006 Started working on plant-chemistry pro-

grams (BioHub and GaïaHub) and on health

and nutrition

2007 OSEO financed BioHub®

2008 Beinheim ethanol plant (RBB) came online, sa-

les offi ce opened in Moscow, Russia

International expansion

Americas :

1982 Roquette built a plant near Chicago, in Gur-

nee (Illinois), to bolster its sales presence

in the US

1991 Acquired a corn starch mill in Keokuk

(Iowa)

2008 Opened an office in Mexico (Mexico City)

Asia :

2001 Development in China and Korea with the

acquisition of two sorbitol production units

in Lianyungang and Ulsan

2002 Opened a sales offices in Tokyo and Osaka,

Japan

2004 Built a polyol and modified-starch plant in

LianYunGang, China

2006 Bought a stake in a starch mill in India and

a modified starch plant in China.

2007 Opened an office in Mumbai, India

2008 Established GNPC, a new Roquette China

subsidiary (in Nanning, southern China)

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This company’s strategy is based on environmentally-

friendly and neighborfriendly research and industrial

growth. What it does – process renewable raw materials, and

conduct research on plant chemistry – quite naturally leads it

to rank environmental concerns high on its corporate agenda.

Its products are naturally biodegradable and harmless to the

environment. From a sustainable-development perspective,

Roquette is committed to protecting the environment

throughout its production process and advises its clients on

how to broach the issue in their operations.

1 A bold environmental policy

The Group’s environmental policy spans its entire pro-

duction process. It encompasses general goals that apply at

plant and workshop level, and which entail regular audits. Its

efforts involve optimizing water and energy consumption in

order to increase production by limiting the use of resources.

Every one of its European operations meets the European

Standard on the Integrated Pollution and Control (IPPC) on

industrial risks and and Best Available Practices.

Optimizing the use of waterIn order to limit water consumption, Roquette has deci-

ded to use river water for its cooling circuits and to produce

the drinking water it needs in its plants. It then processes

the water in its on-site treatment unit and feeds it back into

the river. Lestrem, for instance, has grown threefold while

halving the water it pumps from the river, thanks to 25 times

more recycling operations.

On-site water-treatment plants have considerably cut

back the effl uents in plant water. The plant in Lestrem has

seen its pollution levels (in terms of oxygen demand) divided

by 50 while its production multiplied by 4 (since 1973).

Preserving air qualityPlant locations – in rural areas and served by roads, river and waterways – enables them to optimize raw-material and fi nished-product logistics, and to limit CO2 emissions.

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Appendice 3

C o n t e n t s

A bold environmental policy

Helping customers protect

the environment

1

2

Roquetteand the environmentRoquette and the environment

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The fi rst thing Roquette does to li-mit emissions is optimize its energy

consumption. It is developing the use of natural gas (which contains negligible

amounts of sulfur), as well as electri-city and steam cogeneration from na-

tural gas (which contributes to cutting the greenhouse effect). It is reviewing

projects involving geothermal energy and biomass (word for combustion). It

subjects the powdery products it uses to extremely effi cient fi ltering systems.

SmellsTo reduce unpleasant odors and

thereby improve neighbor comfort, we

reroute graindryer smoke back into the

combustion cycle.

NoiseWe start looking at noise control as

soon as we start engineering new facili-

ties, and use a state-of-the-art softwa-

re application to forecast and contain

noise in and around our plants.

WasteThe processes we use at Roquette

do not generate much waste. Most of

our plants have partnerships with far-

ming operations to recycle byproducts

containing organic fertilizers. Conven-

tional waste (paper, wood, cardboard,

etc.) is reclaimed after on-site scree-

ning.

Industrial risksSafety and security are an integral

part of our strategy at Roquette, and

we strive to reduce industrial risks with

prevention.

Prevention, here, mainly involves:

- forestalling accidental pollution

- forestalling fi re and explosion

risks

We train our staff, streamline our

organization, invest in suitable techno-

logy and respect regulations to do so.

2 Helping customers protect

the environment

Roquette helps its customers

protect the environment. A few

examples will provide a general im-

pression of our contribution on this

front.

Paper industry: Roquette cationic

starch serves as a retention and drai-

ning agent that contributes to protec-

ting the environment.

Hydrocarbon soil pollution: po-

tato solubles provide a food supple-

ment that the microorganisms that

biodegrade hydrocarbons need to grow.

These solubles produced by Roquette

contribute to soil bioremediation and

regenerate contaminated land thanks

to the nitrogen and mineral elements

they contain.

Agents used in the cleaning and

surface-treatment industry are

scarcely biodegradable. For those ope-

rations, Roquette recommends sodium

gluconate, a starchbased fermentation

product, which is both highly effi cient

and easy to degrade biologically.

Mushrooming amounts of pac-

kaging are generating more and more

waste, which is often diffi cult to recycle

or reclaim. Roquette worked with its

clients to develop a sustainable solu-

tion for food packaging: starch for tray

production. This technology replaces

polystyrene (which is made from petro-

leum) and provides a sustainable recy-

cling option such as composting.



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