IFCO Systems to Provide Pallet Management Services to BJ's Wholesale Club

Business Wire, Jan 18, 2001

Business Editors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 18, 2001

IFCO Systems North America ("IFCO") (Nasdaq:IFCO)(Frankfurt:IFE) announced today it has finalized a contract to provide pallet management services to BJ's Wholesale Club Inc.

The agreement calls for IFCO to service BJ's Bristol, Pa., distribution center, as well as providing service for 33 of BJ's 118 club locations. Based in Natick, Mass., BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. is a leading wholesale club chain operating in the eastern United States via a member-based retail format.

"We decided to use IFCO for three reasons: a broad national network; financial stability for a long-term partnership and their ability to consolidate our pallet needs into a single service," said Joe Munley, manager of distribution for BJ's Wholesale Club Inc.

IFCO will recover large quantities of pallets from 33 BJ's clubs and the Pennsylvania distribution center. "This contract is a nice complement to our overall pallet management services program and leverages our broad infrastructure," said David Russell, IFCO NA senior vice president of sales and marketing. "BJs participation in our pallet management program, along with other large retailers and mass merchandisers, increases our market share in the pallet recycling markets. The more retail operations we add to this program the greater the economies of scale and the more efficiencies we can create for our customers."

Munley said BJ's was "very impressed" with IFCO's presentation and the services being provided. He noted, "IFCO's services and broad geographic coverage give them the flexibility to accommodate our specific needs."

"At BJ's, our goal is to create excellent service while keeping prices low for our members," Munley added. "We believe that by working with single-source providers like IFCO, we can achieve this goal."

IFCO Systems is a global logistics systems and service provider with an international network of more than 160 facilities, primarily in North America and Europe. IFCO Systems operates round-trip container ("RTC") systems, which include containers for consumer goods, pallets and industrial containers. IFCO Systems owns and manages the leading rental pool of round-trip containers for consumer goods in Europe and the second largest rental pallet pool in North America. It is also the largest provider of recycled pallets and industrial container reconditioning services in North America.

IFCO Systems is listed on the SMAX segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "IFE" and on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol "IFCO".