b'9 5 2-20 2 Tatsuya Suto1 2A Chief Executive Officer of Hartz MountainN DDB NOYEHow has Hartz Mountain managed to keep moving forward all these years?Hartz has been caring for Americas pets for over 96 years! Longer than most any other brand in pet care, which is one reason that Hartz is considered by US consumers as one of the most trusted brands. The longevity of the brand is held in high regard by consumers today who will not trust the care of their precious pets to just anyone. The brand and our Company has evolved over the years. Most notably, the Company used to be focused on pet care for small animals, birds, and fish. But as dogs and cats have become more popular as pets, we have changed our focus to making the best products for dog and cat care in specific categories. There are over 82 million dogs and over 62 million cats in the US and those numbers are projected to keep growing, providing much opportunity for Hartz continued growth. Our product assortment has evolved greatly over time to reflect the changing attitudes and needs of pet owners. Todays pet owners truly see their pet as an integral part of the family. They are sharing their lives and their homes with their pets in every way. Our product assortment has been honed in to provide only products that allow these pets and pet parents to live together happy, healthy, and comfortably. So no matter the size of the home, or whether it is in an urban or suburban or rural location, or if the pet owner is not home for extended periods, our prod-ucts are made to make it easy for pets and their parents to live together happily. We have focused our product portfo-lio on those pet care categories that modern pet parents today need most like dog pads when they are away from the home, and delicious treats to reward them when they return home, and the best assortment of flea and tick products that allow them to be pest free so they can share their bed at night! We conduct a lot of consumer research to deeply understand pet care trends and pet owners needs to develop products that are better and better and delivering great value. This means we need to pay especially close attention to the youngest and the newest pet owners to make sure that they start and stay with Hartz across all their pet needs and for the lifetime of their pet. The Millennial and Gen Z generation are now the largest generation of pet owners, so we make sure we know them and they know Hartz.How does sustainability now play a part in the production of Hartz pet products?Sustainability is an important part of all aspects of our product development from packaging to shipping to consumer usage and disposal. It is important to our con-sumers, our retail partners, our employees, our shareholders, and our communities. Although there are many examples I can share, probably the best are the sustainability efforts at our plant in Pleasant Plain Ohio. First, in terms of materials, as you can imagine, we use a fair amount of master cartons shippers for our products and we use only recycled materials exclusively. We are also in process to develop recycled material for all our bottles and for our individual folding cartons. This is a major project for us to undertake. For our dog pad production we use 100% sustainable wood pulp and are PEFC certified (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification). Our plant also participates in social and ethical auditing via the SMETA (Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit) which is one of the most widely used and comprehensive ethical audit formats in the world; and the Renewable Energy Credits program.The billon-dollar pet care industry is now larger than it has ever been. How has Hartz kept up with the industrys increased demand and expanded its reach?Hartz is one of the few companys in pet care that spans so many different categories, from dog and cat treats and toys to excretion care dog pads and diapers to grooming and wellness products to of course the category we are best known for, flea and tick. Moreover, we are a top manufacturer of the countrys largest retailers in pet care, like Walmart. Our in house manufacturing capability in our Pleasant Plain Ohio plant, combined with our longstanding partnerships (continued)Sumitomo Corporation of Americas 19'