Thierry Lecomte, Chairman of the Supervisory Board
"Long-term commitment, solidarity and fairness are values that are shared by all of the Tereos Group's cooperative members. These values structure our cooperative model and underpin our strategy.
Adjusted for a modern approach, the co-operative model allows co-operative members to meet the challenges of globalisation and market consolidation, whilst also benefiting from a strategy of diversification. Our structure allows us to combine stability with a dynamic approach."
Tereos, a modern approach of co-operation
Tereos is a co-operative owned by 12,000 French sugar beet producers.Its co-operative status obliges Tereos to provide the industrial and commercial extension of its co-operative members' operations, to improve their profitability and thus contribute to the sustainability of their agricultural businesses.
Maximising value from agricultural production
Tereos undertakes to provide an outlet for the entire sugar beet output of its co-operative members and to expand its markets. This undertaking has become all the stronger since the reform of European sugar regime. Despite the reduction in sugar quotas and by taking advantage of new markets (alcohol, bioethanol, chemicals industry) Tereos has managed not only to maintain but to expand the acreage of sugar beet production handled by its factories. At the same time, its investments in starch, glucose and bioethanol have opened the way to the processing of nearly 3,9 million tonnes of cereals, mostly produced by French farmers.Market globalisation
« The diversification of our agricultural raw materials and our geographical locations helps ensure the Group’s balance and stability. »
Alexis Duval, Chief Executive Officer
This creation of value produces a financial return on the processing of sugar beet in the form of price supplements and from diversified businesses in the form of dividends. In the 1990s Tereos began a diversification programme that took it beyond its traditional markets and into the rest of the European Union, Brazil, Africa, the Indian Ocean and China. This successful diversification came in response to the globalisation of markets and the increase in the critical mass of customers and competitors.
Cooperative governance
Supervisory board
The Supervisory Board represents all the cooperatives that make up Tereos. It validates the main strategic focuses and financial priorities proposed by the Executive Committee. It also defines the policy for distributing earnings. Each cooperative has at least one representative on the Supervisory Board.
Executive committee
The Executive Committee, made up of five members, lies at the heart of the Group’s management framework, headed by the Chief Executive Officer. It proposes Tereos’ long-term policies and strategies to the Supervisory Board and is responsible for their implementation.
Cooperative directors
The Boards of Directors represent forums for exchanges and discussions. They work on all the operational guidelines for sugar beet activities, notably making it possible to factor in their cooperative’s specific local features. The directors are direct links and dedicated relays for information between the 12,000 cooperative members and Tereos.
