We all know that stockholder's meetings can be dreadfully dull. But you can breathe easy. That's not going to be the case here. As we begin our first stockholder meeting here at Flowers Plus, I'm going to set a precedent and start a new yearly tradition. The precedent is that our meeting will be brief and to the point — providing you with all the information you need to know clearly, quickly, and efficiently. And the tradition? I'll get to that later.

Without further adieu, let's look at the facts. If you will consult the handouts we have prepared for you and turn to page three, you will see that in our first quarter, Flowers Plus had a 17 percent increase in profits. As this is our maiden voyage, we are thrilled with this progress. The second quarter projections look even rosier. Okay, I promise, no more flower puns!

We plan to reinvest our profits from quarter one, but we need to decide where and how. Our market research indicates that the money might best be invested into our Internet division. Our Internet division netted the company over $100,000 in its first quarter, and the World Wide Web shows no signs of slowing down. There is huge growth potential here. After much analysis, we believe that our sales will increase directly in proportion to our investments in this area. But we need to take a vote on this matter. Once you have reviewed the collateral material we have provided you with, please fill out the ballot at the back of the packet indicating your support of or opposition to this reinvestment.

Last on our agenda today is a review of Flowers Plus's retail division. Our retail stores are covering their own costs and should start to pull a profit starting next quarter. However, our flower stands made a profit right out of the gate. We propose to take the profits from the stands and use them for in-store promotions at our retail outlets. As you already know, Flowers Plus has primarily marketed itself with a strong commitment to teaching the consumer to have a green thumb. We can expand on this image by giving in-store seminars. This is a relatively inexpensive way to create goodwill and generate new business and hopefully even media buzz all at once. You'll find a detailed proposal in your packet regarding this exciting possibility.

You can review it and we'll open it up to discussion at our next quarterly meeting.

To sum up: In our first quarter, we have made more of a profit than our projections indicated. We now want to reinvest in our Internet division and need your vote. And we want to take the excess profits from our stands and funnel the money into retail promotions.

Now, for starting that tradition that I referred to earlier. We'd like to invite you back to our corporate garden where we are going to plant flowers. We hope to end every stockholder's meeting with this activity. To us, it's a symbol of how working together, we can all take a part in the growth of our company.