1st Jun 2005 07:02
Plant Health Care PLC01 June 2005 Embargoed until 7am 1 June 2005 Plant Health Care plc Partnership with John Deere Landscapes Major Initiative in the Landscaping Industry Plant Health Care is pleased to announce it has entered into an agreement withJohn Deere Landscapes. This partnership offers professional landscapers athree-year guarantee on select nursery stock purchased from John DeereLandscapes only when Plant Health Care's Tree Saver(R) Transplant product isincorporated at planting time. Plant Health Care's range of natural based products will be used by the scheme'sparticipants to ensure the warranty remains effective. The programme's keypromise to its customers is to replace any trees that fail during the three-yearperiod. John Deere Landscapes intends to offer this programme through all of its 50+"green" outlets in the United States, after a market testing period of fourmonths in Detroit in Michigan, Houston in Texas, and Nashville in Tennessee.These regions have been chosen because of the diversity of the climate andplanting conditions. This innovative combination of a replanting survival guarantee by application ofall-natural products is the first of its kind in the United States on thisscale. John Brady, CEO of Plant Health Care, said, "This is a very exciting opportunityfor both Plant Health Care and John Deere Landscapes to strengthen and expandour relationship. A warranty of this type is unique and a testament to thestrength of our products and our commitment to providing exceptional value tocustomers. Years of very positive testing have shown that our products areextremely effective at reducing transplant loss, and we are pleased to be ableto demonstrate this to the industry through the warranty scheme. We are lookingforward to working with John Deere Landscapes to develop this and otherinnovative programmes to solve real business problems and produce measurablereturns." Frank Bates, Senior VP of Operations, John Deere Landscapes, commented, "PlantHealth Care is a great company with high quality products. This is an excellentexample of our commitment to providing value-added services to our PartnersProgramme participants, and we're excited to work with PHC to offer thisWarranty Programme. Reducing plant losses in the landscape will save ourcustomers a lot of money." -ends- For further information please contact: Plant Health Care plc John Brady, CEO Tel: 001 603 525 3702Steve Whitcomb, CFO Tel: 001 412 826 5488 John Deere Landscapes Jennifer Orechwa Tel: 001 770 255 2125 Tavistock Communications Tel: 020 7920 3150 Jeremy CareyChristian Taylor-Wilkinson Notes to Editors: About the programme The programme requires eligible landscape contractors to be trained andspecially certified on the programme as well as planting procedures. Once theeligible landscape contractor is certified and enrolled in the programme, allplant material purchased and installed under the guidelines will receive a threeyear warranty. The warranty is a trade warranty extended to the certifiedlandscape contractor that is purchasing the eligible nursery stock and it is nottransferable to the property owner. To learn more about the programme, visit the website www.JohnDeereLandscapes.com. About Plant Health Care Plant Health Care plc ("PHC") is a leading provider of natural products forplants and soil. Established in 1995 in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) in the UnitedStates, PHC currently has approximately 60 employees and has operations in theUS, Mexico, UK, Spain, and the Netherlands with technical support in Austria.The Group has two principal operating subsidiaries in the US - PHC Inc (PA) andPHC-REC. The Company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange inJuly 2004. PHC's products are aimed at the horticulture, agriculture, turf grass,commercial landscaping, forestry and land reclamation industries and are bothenvironmentally beneficial and on the whole more cost effective than syntheticchemical alternatives. Through the commercialisation of these products, PHC iscapitalising on current long-term trends toward natural systems and biologicalproducts for plant care and soil and water management uses. PHC-REC is an environmental and reclamation engineering consulting firm whichprovides engineering and design services for reclamation lands disturbed bymining, construction, and other activities. PHC-REC is the recognised leader inthe use of biologically based solutions using mycorrhizal fungi and bacteria forthe establishment of trees, shrubs, and grasses on these disturbed lands.PHC-REC was established in 1997 to exploit PHC's products and technology. About John Deere Landscapes John Deere Landscapes, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deere & Company (NYSE:DE),is the nation's leading supplier of wholesale irrigation, landscape lighting,nursery and landscape supplies for green industry contractors. John DeereLandscapes also offers contractors additional related services that supporttheir core businesses. Established in 2001, John Deere Landscapes currently operates over 275 branchesin the United States, with approximately 1800 employees. Through the Company'svision of maximizing the success of all stakeholders, John Deere Landscapes isdedicated to becoming the distributor of choice for landscape and irrigationprofessionals nationwide. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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