October 9, 2003 • Ames, IA –
Becker Underwood, Inc., the world’s leading producer of rhizobium inoculants, beneficial nematodes, seed and landscape coatings, turf products and other agricultural specialties, achieved record sales during its 2003 fiscal year ending September 30, according to Roger Underwood, company CEO. Combined sales from its operating divisions exceeded $60 million, up over 24% from the previous fiscal year, with sales projected to reach $70 million in 2004.
“It is extremely gratifying to have earned the trust necessary to expand our relationships with current customers and to establish relationships with new ones,” said Underwood. “We will continue to aggressively develop new technologies and refine our capabilities in order to enhance the value we bring to our customers. Everyone at Becker Underwood is pleased that we have maintained our 21-year unbroken record of increasing sales in every year since the Company was founded in 1982.”
“Since 1982, the company has grown through a combination of new product development and strategic acquisitions” says Peter Innes, company President. “We are stable, well capitalized and headed for continual expansion”, he went on to say. Innes stated that the increased sales in 2003 were the result of organic growth and growth through acquisition. “We have made acquisitions on three continents over the past 12 months, and are very pleased with the progress made in integrating those businesses into Becker Underwood”. The 2002 purchase of Urbana Laboratories was the company’s most recent acquisition. That transaction also added an inoculant plant in Brazil and a seed coating company in Idaho to Becker Underwood’s holdings. This followed the acquisition of the Sepiret line of colorants and coatings in Europe, and the establishment of Becker Underwood, France. A two million dollar expansion of the Becker Underwood inoculant manufacturing facility in St. Joseph, Missouri is in the final stages of completion.
Becker Underwood began in 1982 with a single product, Spray Tracer™, developed for “spot-spray” applications of herbicide. Today Becker Underwood is an international developer of products for the seed, agriculture, landscape, turf, greenhouse, pest control and retail garden markets with operations located in Ames, Iowa; St. Joseph, Missouri.; Caldwell, Idaho; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; Littlehampton, U.K.; Curitiba, Brazil, Toulouse, France and Buenos Aires, Argentina. To learn more, visit the company’s web site at www.beckerunderwood.com.
