Message from the Leadership Team 2025

In fiscal 2025, Premier Tech implemented a series of tactical and strategic actions aimed at ensuring not only short-term performance, but also the company’s longevity.  

In response to the current economic environment, we took concrete initiatives to adapt our operations and strategically position ourselves for the next phase of dynamic growth. We adjusted our cost structure and focused on increasing organizational efficiency to ensure our competitiveness. 

We also launched innovative offers to meet the evolving needs of our clients, paving the way for a return to growth and increased market shares. This ongoing commitment to innovation, to our clients as well as to operational excellence enables us to deliver on our promise to make a difference.

As mentioned above, over the past fiscal year, we continued investing strategically, demonstrating our commitment to support the implementation of our strategic plans and building the future of Premier Tech. 

Whether it is modernizing facilities, acquiring state-of-the-art equipment or strengthening our technological or manufacturing capabilities, these actions are critical to sustaining our growth and reinforcing our leadership position in an ever-changing environment.

Over the past year, significant headway was made on expanding Premier Tech Water and Environment’s manufacturing footprint across its various markets and territories. 

A major milestone was reached in winter 2024 with the construction and opening of a plant in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. This new facility will support the growth of the Business Group in the U.S. and strengthen its presence in the northeast market. This new facility brings us closer to our clients, improves delivery times and will support accelerating growth in the U.S. market. 

Premier Tech Water and Environment also pursued its expansion in Europe with the opening, in autumn 2024, of a new manufacturing and logistic site in Montbrison, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. This new site will play a key role in the Group’s growth strategy in France. Supported by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, this investment — dedicated namely to the manufacturing of concrete-based products — strengthens our local presence and optimizes both cost and delivery times, while strengthening ties with local partners.

The team at the Innovation and Advanced Training Halls (Halles d’innovation et de formation avancée — HIFA), of which Premier Tech is a founding member, inaugurated its new facility in Rivière-du-Loup on June 27, 2024, marking a milestone for the innovation and improvement of manufacturing efficiency in Québec. 

This transformative initiative was carried out in collaboration with the Aluminum Development and Research Centre of Quebec (CQRDA), and the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi Entrepreneurship and Spin-Off Centre (CEE-UQAC) and represented an investment totalling $27.5 million. It was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Québec, the Government of Canada, Premier Tech, Cascades, the Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Desjardins Group. 

By paring training and skill development with innovation and advanced automation, HIFA will support innovation projects with manufacturing businesses across Québec and help them increase their competitiveness. 

In November 2024, HIFA held its first forum to discuss the digital shift, artificial intelligence and innovative manufacturing. The forum highlighted the increased access to automation and the crucial role of this transition in improving business performance. It gathered some 65 participants from about 30 businesses and organizations.

Over the past fiscal year, Premier Tech has made significant investments to strengthen and diversify its product and service offers. Our teams have developed and launched new innovative commercial offers, enhanced and optimized existing ones, and scaled up their go-to-market effort.

The following projects highlight some achievements of the past 12 months.

In September 2024, Premier Tech Systems and Automation launched a new product line designed to accelerate and facilitate packaging automation projects for manufacturing companies. It draws on the features and characteristics of collaborative robotics to help them and their teams carry out automation projects with a do-it-yourself, fast and intuitive approach. 

Developing this brand new offer and approach took the lead team nearly two years and brought together the expertise of several other teams, namely from two Business Units of Premier Tech Digital — Smart Manufacturing and Mirego.

From the outset, it was clear that this new commercial offer needed its own brand to capture the scope and essence of what Premier Tech Systems and Automation was about to launch. That is how the TOMA™ brand was created. It embodies a new approach to automation based on a mindset we call FriendustrialT™, combining industrial robustness with user-friendliness. The TOMA™ product line stands out for its sleek, ergonomic industrial design where safety prevails, as well as for the intuitive design of its MOVN™ software and interfaces, which are intended to be both simple and powerful. 

By putting the user experience first, we turn every component — from product design to the end-user experience — into a seamless, consistent and intuitive experience. Requiring neither complex engineering nor programming, TOMA™ enables companies of all sizes to fully leverage the benefits of automating their packaging operations. This launch goes well beyond bringing a new product line to the market: it paves the way for more agile, accessible and intuitive automation.

Premier Tech Water and Environment focused its efforts on accelerating the commercialization of the Ecoflo® linear biofilter, launched in early 2024, and introducing it to new territories. This innovative wastewater system combines treatment and dispersal while maintaining the high wastewater treatment efficiency that makes Premier Tech’s reputation for now 30 years.

To stay aligned with ever-evolving market needs, Premier Tech Growers and Consumers completed the development and improvement of its new PRO-MIX® growing system launched last year, an innovative grow bag optimized for greenhouse production. Guided by market feedback, the improvements include namely size adjustments, optimization of distribution logistics and investments to increase production capabilities, thus supporting the success already achieved in the market.
 
Premier Tech Digital launched an improved version of its Manufacturing Execution System (MES), incorporating more than thirty improvements, while repositioning it under a new brand identity, OpRize™ — which was formerly marketed under Rizeline®.

These projects reaffirm our ongoing commitment to innovate and enhance our product portfolio, while reasserting our leadership position in the various market segments and territories where we operate.

After years with fewer acquisition projects given valuation expectations, we are noticing a repositioning of sellers’ expectations over the past 18 months, enabling us to seize opportunities and complete four strategic projects during the last fiscal year.

Aquatreat — Spain

A first acquisition was made in March 2024 by Premier Tech Water and Environment in Spain, with the integration of Aquatreat. This transaction enables the Business Group to pursue its European expansion strategy and strengthen its proximity and presence in the Spanish market. It also strengthens the commercial offer of Premier Tech Water and Environment for client solutions, reinforces its presence in the northern part of the country and accelerates the development of its service network across Europe.

Hectiq.AI — Québec, Canada

At the start of fiscal year 2025, Premier Tech Digital entered into an equity investment and strategic partnership with Hectiq.AI to develop its deep learning expertise in the manufacturing industry. This initiative is core to the development strategy of Premier Tech Digital and is aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence by Premier Tech and its clients.

MG Tech — France

In April 2024, Premier Tech Systems and Automation and the French group MG Tech entered a strategic partnership. This entails a minority stake in MG Tech’s share capital and provides for a ramp up to full ownership in the coming years. This will enable Premier Tech Systems and Automation to expand its portfolio of technological platforms in the rigid secondary packaging sector, broaden the scope of integrated solutions it can offer clients across North America and internationally, and strengthen its European presence.

IMECO — Italy

Premier Tech Systems and Automation also acquired the IMECO brand and its clients installed base, along with its technological and product portfolio. Completed in November 2024, this transaction has again allowed the Group to expand its portfolio of technological platforms. Clients of IMECO, an Italian company specializing in weighing and bagging solutions, now benefit from Premier Tech Systems and Automation’s extensive global after-sale network, as well as its broad range of products and services.

We plan to stay active and on the lookout for projects that can accelerate the execution of our strategic plan, while remaining disciplined with our valuation approach and operating with our five-criterion acquisition framework. Each project is assessed for its potential to amplify commercial offers, extend our geographic reach, and/or strengthen our supply and value chains. By pursuing these objectives, we are laying a solid foundation for long-term, profitable growth while remaining fully aligned with our strategic vision.

Strategic planning has been core to our business model for over 30 years. Through this structured process, we build a shared understanding of where we stand in our journey and rally around a common direction, uniting team members worldwide around shared goals and strategies. Knowing where we come from, where we stand and where we are headed is essential to the success of Premier Tech’s business model. Our strategic planning process operates like a relay race, with each sequence carefully designed to ensure integrated, consistent and continuous progress. 

Our ongoing strategic plan, VISION 2027, focuses on clear, complementary objectives designed to deliver distinctive, long-term value to our clients. In fiscal 2025, we continued implementing various strategies to achieve the 2027 objectives set by the Leadership Team back in 2022. 

In parallel and in alignment with our relay approach to strategic planning, we initiated, last fiscal year, the process for the 2031 horizon. This process will be completed in fiscal year 2026 (autumn 2025), enabling us to look ahead to fiscal year 2027 in full alignment with VISION 2031 across all Groups and Business Units at Premier Tech.

Innovation has always been a cornerstone of our profitable growth, enabling Premier Tech to position itself as an international leader across its various industries. Today, more than ever, innovation is setting the pace for the years ahead and is fully embedded in our strategic planning process.

It has always been key for Premier Tech to ensure the relevance and adequacy of the processes driving its development. This is something we believe to be crucial and have therefore evolved and improved over the past year by focusing the scope of our innovation efforts and structuring them into two distinct streams:

• evolution innovation, which aims to ensure the ongoing evolution and market relevance of our existing commercial offers, products and services
• exploration innovation, which focuses on developing new technological platforms, products, and services to launch commercial offers that will fuel our long-term development and support delivering our strategic objectives.

This evolution of our innovation model has also allowed us to rethink how innovation planning fits into strategic planning, so that each process can fuel the other. Designed to run in parallel, these processes aim to align our efforts to maximize their reach and impact.

By better harmonizing these two processes, we can ensure that our innovation initiatives are fully aligned with our long-term objectives.

2025 is a significant year for two of our Business Groups: the 30-year anniversary of Premier Tech Water and Environment — and its flagship brand Ecoflo® —, and 35 years for Premier Tech Systems and Automation.

These are more than symbolic milestones in our journey. These are opportunities to celebrate the relevance and value of what we bring to our clients through our commercial offers. And above all, it is a steppingstone for shaping the future with confidence and ambition.

For both Premier Tech Water and Environment and Premier Tech Systems and Automation, this is still part of a long-term perspective. Built on solid foundations, these two Business Groups reflect the vitality and capacity for innovation that testify to how we support our clients and position ourselves as market leaders. 

As we reflect on the journey so far, we can clearly see all the potential still to be achieved. Deeply rooted in high-potential industries, these verticals still offer huge growth opportunities, and we are ready to seize them by continuing to invest, innovate and push boundaries.

We have always put people first in how we move forward. That is why we put the well-being and development of team members, partners and communities front and centre in everything we do. Our people-centred initiatives are essential to Premier Tech’s longevity and are a fundamental pillar of how we operate daily.

University of Premier Tech (UPT), which is proudly celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, embodies this commitment perfectly. With more than 250 courses available in-person and on our mobile platform, UPT plays a crucial role in the professional development of team members. 

Over the past fiscal year, the company continued to support team member training and development, with both investments totalling nearly $6 million and team members investing in themselves for some 90 000 hours.

At Premier Tech, we believe that sustainability is more than just measurable goals, it is an ongoing journey. Rooted in a structured and intentional approach, our concrete initiatives reflect a clear strategy, with well-defined spheres and impact areas. This dynamic is anchored in the priorities of each of our Business Groups, where each team is committed, thus translating our sustainability ambitions into tangible day-to-day actions.

This is why we continue to align our sustainability approach with major recognized international initiatives, driven by our ambition to actively contribute to global efforts toward a better future for our planet.

Since 2021, we are engaged in measuring and reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In keeping with our leadership in the industry and building on efforts dating back to the 1990s, we set reduction targets over the past year for our biogenic emissions related to peatland operation and management. These reduction targets are fully in line with our commitment to use this natural resource responsibly, guided by long-term thinking, while contributing positively to the habitats in which we operate.

Premier Tech is driven by its purpose: to make a difference by feeding, protecting and improving our world. Guiding our decisions and actions, this promise allows us to rally and engage in a collective effort as one global and unified team. 

This responsibility to act together, driven by some 5 200 team members in 28 countries through our five Business Groups, is core to our ability to meet challenges, seize opportunities and push the boundaries of our industries. By leveraging our depth of knowledge, as well as our competencies and assets, we are fostering the courage to innovate, explore and shape the industries in which we operate.