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| | MESSAGE FROM MICHEL ARSENAULT
|  | Michel Arsenault
Chairman of the Board of Directors |
The Solidarity Fund QFL, our greatest pride!
2010 has started well. The Solidarity Fund QFL’s results for the first six months of the year, which ended November 30, are excellent. I am very proud of the 11.5% return that the Fund earned over the last two six-month periods. Despite difficult economic conditions, we have succeeded in increasing the value of our shares to $23.51 and our net assets have now surpassed the $7 billion mark. Congratulations to all the Fund’s personnel for their hard work!
Together we have succeeded in creating unique and effective tools that support the Québec economy and allow us to participate in its development. And, through this, we are creating wealth for everyone.
A call for savings
I would like to specifically acknowledge the dynamism of our 2,000 local representatives and their work with their colleagues in their workplaces. Dear friends, please know that your contribution is indispensable!
I would also like to take this opportunity to call on all Quebeckers to save, because for too many years now we have experienced a spectacular fall in the savings rate, and that worries me a great deal.
For example, in Québec the savings rate was 2.1% in 2008, compared to 20% at the beginning of the 1980s. That’s alarming.
All ways of saving are good, but the RRSP of the Solidarity Fund QFL, because of the 30% tax credits the governments grant our shareholders to support us in our mission of economic development, is clearly a vehicle to consider. It is a profitable savings solution that compares favourably to other savings products and effectively allows our shareholders to play a significant role in the Québec economy because the money invested in the Fund is reinvested in companies here at home. It is also a profitable way for governments to encourage savings because within two to three years they recover the value of the tax credits they grant our shareholders, through a combination of increased economic activity, increased employment, taxes paid, etc.
In addition, raising workers’ awareness of the importance of saving, particularly retirement saving, is an integral part of the Solidarity Fund QFL’s mission. And I believe that our 571,000 shareholders can testify to the importance and overall relevance of this mission. The solidarity and trust they put in us, year after year, has allowed us to invest in thousands of companies throughout Québec.
Some major investments
This year we are going to continue investing and creating partnerships that are profitable for the economy, work that is already off to a good start. In addition, not only is the Solidarity Fund QFL present throughout Québec, but it is active in almost every industry: aerospace, agri-food, wood and paper, real estate, culture, life sciences, transportation, financial services, information technology, telecommunications, metal products, machinery and equipment, recreo-tourism, etc.
Our way of seeing economic development and the patient capital we provide to the Québec economy have allowed us to stand out in the eyes of Québec entrepreneurs. Last September, the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) awarded the 2009 Transaction of the Year award to the Solidarity Fund QFL and its co-investors, in the venture capital category, for the Virochem Pharma transaction. This honour is on top of the one awarded by the prestigious California-based magazine, Red Herring, which listed the Fund among the 100 best venture capital funds in the world.
These are just a few reasons to be proud of our very productive achievements.
What makes the Solidarity Fund QFL strong is its mission. A mission focused on workers, centered on employment, quality jobs, economic development and worker training.
It is a winning formula and, for as long as we can count on our partnerships with Québec entrepreneurs, on the solidarity of our shareholders, on the work of our LRs and on the quality of the commitment of Solidarity Fund QFL personnel, I believe we can look to 2010 and the coming years with a lot of optimism despite the numerous challenges awaiting us.
Thank you,
Michel Arsenault
Chairman of the Board of Directors
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