1) Van Houtte is a publicly traded company, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol VH. The company, which was established in 1919 by Albert-Louis Van Houtte, competes in the Consumer Products (Food Processing) industry and is engaged in the packaging, roasting, distributing, and marketing of gourmet coffees to is office coffee services (OCS) networks, cafes, and hotels, restaurants, and institutional channels (HRI). The company¡¯s services network is comprised of 35 and 33 corporate branches in Canada and United States respectively. In addition, the Montreal-founded business has 19 franchised branches south of the border and employs around 1800 people in Canada, United States and Eastern Europe. The company also manufactures and designs coffee brewers and equipment through the aid of its subsidiaries, VKI Technologies and Keurig Inc.
ASSETS - On-balance sheet items
2) BUSINESS/OPERATING RISKS
Van Houtte¡¯s primary product is coffee, a commodity vulnerable to considerable price fluctuations. Any large upward price swings in the price of green coffee may limit Van Houtte¡¯s ability to pass these price increases on to consumers. However, since Van Houtte specializes in gourmet coffee, unlike traditional coffee, its main customer base does not generally buy based on price, thus making the company¡¯s price sensitivity less pronounced.
Since Van Houtte¡¯s uses coffee beans to produce its finished product and distribute it to the customers, the quality of raw inventory plays an important part in delivering a satisfactory product to the customer. Van Houtte will likely be expanding into geographic markets in which it h ...