
Moore-Handley, Inc.
April 18,
2005
To Our Shareholders:
Last year, as in the preceding two years, we described our
business plan, which continues to consist of three
elements:
Improving our logistics function (the heart of our business)
by continuing to add automation and
electronic equipment while providing job
training and incentives, all aimed at increasing productivity,
while reducing
costs and errors.
Global sourcing
to provide our customers with high-quality product lines they can sell
at retails
comparable to the "big boxes" while
maintaining better than normal margins.
Taking our business national.
These remain the central elements of our business plan. In
2004 we took several steps to further
implement each of the elements of this
plan:
We entered into a new four-year contract with our warehouse
and delivery associates which will provide
them substantial wage and benefit
increases and continued interruption-free service to our customers.
Substantial continuing investment in equipment, along with intensive job
training and clear incentives,
have enabled us to continue to control our unit
logistics costs while making Moore-Handley a better
place to work thereby
reducing turnover.
We strengthened
our globally-sourced "Hardware House" brands
by adding a seasoned import executive
who is responsible for global sourcing.
He brought with him an experienced team on the ground in the
Far East.
This
team is responsible for maintaining daily contact and monitoring quality
control with our
manufacturing sources.
We hired a seasoned sales executive to establish rep
organizations nationwide for Hardware House
products, to accelerate national
penetration with these brands. We expect 2005 to show first results
from this
effort.
While carrying out these steps to increase the growth and
profit potential of Moore Handley, we have
continued to emphasize our primary
mission--providing a wide range of national brands to our core
customers in the
Southeast, accompanied by headache-free purchasing and delivery, along with
broad
marketing assistance.
/s/ WILLIAM RILEY
/s/ MICHAEL J. GAINES
WILLIAM RILEY
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
MICHAEL J. GAINES
President and Chief Operating Officer