Hydro Agri Will Become Yara
December 19 2003 - 4:11AM
PR Newswire (US)
Hydro Agri Will Become Yara OSLO, Norway, Dec. 19
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hydro Agri will take the name Yara upon
the demerger and stock exchange listing planned for March 25, 2004.
At the same time Yara will keep the rights to the "viking ship" for
use in their new logo and marketing. -- We have found a short name
built on our traditions with a strong affiliation to our
activities. The name will carry our message all over the world in a
distinct way. In addition we see great possibilities to link our
new name to our cultural heritage with the strongly recognized
(acknowledged) symbol which we will bring with us from Hydro, says
Thorleif Enger, who will head the new listed company. Yara is a
designed name with its' starting point in both the Norse lingual
heritage and in the old Germanic rune alphabet". In the Norse
language Jar creates the prefix jardar, often tied to cultivated
land: * Jardavoxtr -- crop from the soil -- which is growing *
Jardareign -- property of land * Jardarhofn -- a person who owns
and cultivates the land Jara is moreover the twelfth character in
the rune alphabet and means "the year," often signifies a good year
with good harvest (crop, production). The word Jara is also the
origin to "year" in English and "Jahr" in German. -- To make it
easier to pronounce the word jara in a consistent way in multiple
languages, we have chosen the prefix Y that incidentally relates to
the English word "Yield" (produce, support, profit), which is the
core message in our business, says Enger. Yara will continue with
the viking ship symbol in the new logo and marketing. Different
versions of the Viking ship have been the core element in Hydro's
logo since the company's inception in 1910, and today's version has
been in use for the last 20 years. The Viking ship is a well
recognized brand for Hydro's fertilizer products all over the
world. Hydro Agri is the world's leading fertilizer company and the
only global player in the fertilizer industry. Hydro Agri is
present in approximately 50 countries and sold 22 million tons of
fertilizers to customers in 130 countries in 2002. Hydro has
decided to position Agri for further growth through a listing of as
a separate company. The listing of the new company on the Oslo
stock exchange is planned for March 25th, 2004, and the company
will have its headquarter in Oslo. Thorleif Enger, who has led
Hydro Agri since 1999, will continue to lead the new company after
the separation from Hydro and listing. Certain statements in this
press release are or may constitute "forward- looking" statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Statements that are not in the nature of historical facts
may be deemed to be forward-looking statements and may contain
identifying words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans,"
"expects" and similar expressions. These forward looking statements
are based on Hydro's current expectations, assumptions, estimates
and projections about the company and the industries in which it
engages in business. All forward-looking statements involve risks
and uncertainties. For a detailed description of factors that could
cause Hydro's actual results to differ materially from those
expressed in or implied by such statements, please refer to its
annual report on Form 20-F for the year-ended December 31, 2002 and
subsequent filings on Form 6-K with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. With respect to each non-GAAP financial
measure Hydro uses in connection with its financial reporting and
other public communications, Hydro provides a presentation of what
Hydro believes to be the most directly comparable GAAP financial
measure and a reconciliation between the non-GAAP and GAAP
measures. This information can be found in Hydro's earnings press
releases, quarterly reports and other written communications, all
of which have been posted to Hydro's website (
http://www.hydro.com/ ). For further information, please contact:
Arne Cartridge, Chief Communication Officer of Norsk Hydro,
cellular, +47 47 900 900, or Norsk Hydro ASA, Hydro Agri, N-0240
OSLO, Norway, (+47) 22 53 81 00, or fax, (+47) 22 53 26 80,
http://www.hydro.com/ . DATASOURCE: Norsk Hydro CONTACT: Arne
Cartridge, Chief Communication Officer of Norsk Hydro, cellular,
+47 47 900 900, or Norsk Hydro ASA, Hydro Agri, N-0240 OSLO,
Norway, (+47) 22 53 81 00, or fax, (+47) 22 53 26 80 Web site:
http://www.hydro.com/
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