We are delighted to announce that Lyreco has won yet another industry award having scooped the 2008 Dealer Excellence honour at the annual BOSS Awards. 

Run by the stationery trade association The British Office Supplies and Services Federation, the awards were held at The Royal Lancaster Hotel, London on 16^th October with office supply companies big and small competing for the top prize in each of the ten categories.

The Dealer Excellence Award was judged on how companies have developed their business and product range over the last twelve months to ensure continued growth with existing customers.  As the entry form said, it is 10 times more cost effective to grow sales with existing customers than acquiring new ones!

We were able to demonstrate a clear strategy in this area backed up by impressive sales results, a combination which clearly impressed the judges.

Tim Holmes, Marketing Director said: “The award is another reflection of the hard work that goes on at Lyreco every day.  Our award submission included the fact that we have extended the catalogue again this year, the new products which have come on stream, the relationships we have built with customers and above all our continued policy of putting the customer first. 

“Every person who works at Lyreco has either directly or indirectly had a part to play in us winning this award and we should all be really proud of this achievement.”

Pictured from left to right are: Nick Revell, Director of International Accounts, Charles Furniss, Product Manager, Adam Ward, Junior Product Manager, Tim Holmes, Marketing Director, Rachael Green, Field Sales Channel Manager, Carole Keane, Quality Security and Environmental Manager, Tasmin Evans, Marketing Communications Manager, Helen Cocker, Account Manager and Steve Moran, Corporate Accounts Channel Manager.

LyrECO

As part of Lyreco’s commitment to the environment, our distribution department was given the task of identifying how we could reduce the environmental impact of our delivery fleet without breaking the bank and still keep within the required specifications of load space and weight capacity. We have already identified several alternatives such as LPG vehicles, Bio-diesel and retrofitted hybrid / electric drive units, but the most promising so far is an 100% electric, 0% emission vehicle known as ‘MODEC’, the name being an amalgamation of ‘Modern’ and ‘Electric’. This is a totally unique and exciting direction and Lyreco is one the first companies in the UK to evaluate and consider such a vehicle.

The vehicle is unique to the market, offering 60 & 100 mile ranges and importantly sufficient payload to rival our current delivery vehicle of choice, the Mercedes Sprinter 511. You may think that a 60 mile range would not be anywhere near sufficient, but in actual fact 30% of our delivery fleet do less than 60 miles per day and 65% do less than 100 miles per day! To put this into context, every Regional Distribution Centre that delivers into a major city in the UK has at least 1 vehicle that does less than 100 miles per day, making this a potentially viable option for the range of the electric van.

There are other electric vehicles available on the market, but are based on traditional ‘Transit’ type chassis. The Modec vehicle is a bespoke chassis which means you can configure the vehicle’s box section in a large variety of ways to suit our operation and is designed to take the weight of the batteries. Here are a few technical facts & figures:

• Max speed 50Mph
• 102 Bhp
• 10.2m turning circle
• 2 tonne weight capacity
• 0% Emissions
• £0 Congestion charge
• £0 Road Tax
• No tachograph required
• 8 hour charge cycle from empty

• Regenerative braking (braking recharges the battery)

The MODEC van was on an operational trial at our Distribution Centre in London during earlier this year to properly assess its suitability for use as a delivery vehicle. This trial should be seen as a major environmental initiative to help Lyreco’s environmental and Corporate Social Responsibilty policies.

OfficeMax (NYSE:OMX) and Lyreco announce today they entered into an alliance to better serve their customers throughout the world. The partnership brings together the expertise and footprint of two leaders in business-to-business office supply solutions.  Utilizing the combined contract operations and infrastructure of Lyreco and OfficeMax around the world, the partnership is expected to provide improved selling opportunities for both companies.  Lyreco and OfficeMax will be able to provide exceptional office supplies service to their multinational customers in a broader geographical coverage now reaching 36 countries.

“I am delighted to have Lyreco as our partner”, said Sam Duncan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at OfficeMax. “Lyreco has always been a leader in Europe and this partnership will improve the OfficeMax service offering for our large international customers.  We expect improved selling potential from the partnership.”

“I am obviously excited about the two companies coming to such an agreement” stated Lyreco’s CEO, Eric Bigeard. “OfficeMax and Lyreco share the same commitment for the customers and the same dedication to delight them. OfficeMax has a long established and solid position and I look forward to developing the relationship in the future”.

About OfficeMax

OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both business-to- business office products solutions and retail office products. The OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers do their best work. The company provides office supplies and paper, in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress®, technology products and solutions, and furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses. OfficeMax customers are served by approximately 32,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and nearly 1,000 stores. To find the nearest OfficeMax, call 1-877-OFFICEMAX. For more information, visit http://www.officemax.com/.

About Lyreco

Lyreco is a privately-owned supplier of office products to the business community and a leader in business-to-business office products solution   With 11,000 employees including a sales force of over 4,500 people its core expertise is in the focus on customer service and distribution excellence. It operates in 29 countries around the world, covering 4 continents. For more information, visit http://www.lyreco.com/

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made in this press release and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the company constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the company’s future performance, as well as management’s expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates or projections relating to the future. Management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, the company cannot guarantee that the alliance with Lyreco will increase sales or that its actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date they are made. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise. Important factors regarding the company which may cause results to differ from expectations are included in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 29, 2007, under Item 1A “Risk Factors”, and in the company’s other filings with the SEC.

Yell, the international directories business, has unveiled the winners in inaugural awards recognising outstanding support from its UK suppliers.

Software testing company Vizuri is the winner in the Service Excellence category, with stationery supplier Lyreco named as runner up. Print paper supplier UPM, with whom Yell has worked for more than 30 years, is the winner in the Continuous Improvement and Innovation category, with the runner up title going to IT solutions supplier Portal Partnership.

They were selected by Yell’s UK executive management from a shortlist compiled from an original list of around 50 nominations throughout the UK business. 

John Satchwell, operations director of Yell in the UK, said: “We choose our suppliers carefully and we view our relationships with them as vitally important to the success of our business.

“The introduction this year of special awards for exceptional work to support us ensures that suppliers are publicly recognised for their achievements, by Yell as well as amongst their peer group, and that they know that they are highly valued.”

The awards’ winners and runners up were announced at Yell’s fourth annual Supplier Forum, held in June in the conference centre at Madejski Stadium near Reading, where Yell’s UK head office is based.

As well as a framed certificate, the winning suppliers will receive a special trophy and have the opportunity to meet Yell’s UK executive management group at a celebratory dinner.

Pictured above is Lyreco Account Manager, Louise Hourihane collecting the award from John Satchwell, Operations Director, Yell.

The Lyreco supplier day was held on 12th June at the Golf and Spa hotel in Telford, Shropshire.

Lyreco has over 130 suppliers who deliver products to our National Distribution Centre in Telford, Shropshire, daily to ensure that we can meet our guarantees of next day delivery and Yours tomorrow Yours free. Throughout the year we measure and monitor all suppliers using the Supplier Performance Improvement Programme which identifies and scores all aspects of a supplier that is considered critical to our business. There are 8 categories including Logistics, which focuses on service level, delivery accuracy and invoicing and Marketing which focuses on promotional and catalogue support together with ISO accreditations.

The nominees and winners are as follows:

2007 - Marketing Supplier

Winner: 3M UK PLC

Nominee: Fellowes Manufacturing (UK) LTD

Nominee: Sealed Air LTD

Winner: Sealed Air LTD

Nominee: Pap De Clairefontaine SA

Nominee: Curtis EI LTD

Winner: Durable (UK) LTD

Nominee: Pilot Pen (UK) LTD

Nominee: Werner Dorsch GmbH

Winner: T.B.S. (South Wales) LTDNominee: Systemcare Products LTD

Nominee: Prym Whitecroft UK

Winner: Paul Dixon - XMA

Nominee: Elizabeth Dodd - 3M

Nominee: Paul Clayton - Brother UK

Winner: Office Chairman

Nominee: Durable (UK) LTD

Nominee: Sealed Air LTD

Winner: Brother UK LTD

Nominee: XMA Limited

Nominee: Philips Speech Processing

Winner: Map Marketing LTD  (No picture available)

Nominee: Werner Dorsch GmbH

Nominee: Mitsubishi Pencil.co.uk LTD

There was also an evening Dinner to reward our winners and nominees.

Shropshire based Lyreco has been awarded the ultimate accolade by its French parent company having been named Subsidiary of the Year.  The UK and Ireland operations, collectively know as WISE beat off competition from 29 other subsidiaries including France, Germany, Canada and Australia to be singled out as the group’s best performing company worldwide.

Based in Donnington Wood the company employs nearly 2000 people across the UK and Ireland, 650 of which are based in Telford.

It’s the 6th time WISE have won the award which was judged on a number of factors including business performance, structure and organisation of the company as well as the leadership of the management team.

Richard Ford, Managing Director for WISE said: “As a business we enjoyed a tremendous year in 2007 and that’s largely down to the people who work for us, they continue to do a consistently good job on a daily basis.  From great productivity in Logistics and Customer Services, superb cost control across our entire business, outstanding sales in our Corporate Accounts and Field Sales force, everyone played their part.”  We have a great team here in Shropshire and we are proud to have been recognised by the group worldwide in this way.”

Indeed, the company is no stranger to winning awards having picked up more than 30 assorted industry honours in the last five years for its products, staff training and its green credentials. 

Impega Paper - Number 2 in Europe

For the second year running Lyreco’s own branded Impega paper has been recognised as Europe’s No. 2 office paper brand out of 21 brands that qualified.

The brand came second in the 8^th annual edition of the “Brand Equity Tracking Survey for Office Paper” which is compiled by Opticom International research.

This industry standard benchmark survey has been conducted among more than 4000 professional end-users within different sizes of organisation and located across 7 countries in Europe including; Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the UK

The research assesses the impact of individual office paper brands, benchmarks the leading brands against each other and evaluates the success of individual brand strategies over time through four indexed key drivers of brand equity:

1. spontaneous awareness
2. top-of-mind
3. qualities & associations
4. loyalty

This is great news for Impega who has regained this position for a second year.

Notes - Opticom International Research is a leading global market research and consulting firm.