Ryder and Imperial Tobacco Canada Build Leading-Edge Retail Supply Chain

MIAMI, July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ryder System, Inc. , a global leader in supply chain, warehousing and transportation management solutions, today announced that Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited is expanding its supply chain agreement with Ryder in order to execute its major supply chain transformation announced in May.

Since 1998, Ryder has provided warehousing services for Imperial Tobacco across Canada. Ryder's services are being significantly expanded to include complete order fulfillment and supply chain management services for Imperial Tobacco's products, including offshore warehousing and inbound transportation management. As part of its expanded services, Ryder will provide direct-to- store finished product delivery to more than 26,000 retail locations throughout Canada. This "purpose-built" delivery system, the first of its kind in the Canadian tobacco industry, will employ over four hundred specially trained truck drivers and material handlers, more than two hundred customized delivery vans, and twenty-one warehouse and cross dock facilities. In addition, Ryder will design and operate customized information technology systems to provide order visibility and inventory management.

"We selected Ryder to help us design and implement our direct-to-store delivery initiative based on their strategic planning capabilities, supply chain management expertise and strong operational insight into driving efficiencies throughout our supply chain," said Benjamin J. Kemball, President and CEO of Imperial Tobacco Canada. "Having Ryder as our supply chain partner will enable us to deploy best-in-class supply chain practices, and to meet the needs of our valued retailers and their adult customers in the fast-paced, ever-changing tobacco environment in Canada."

"Ryder is proud to play a leading role in the design and execution of this new and innovative supply chain strategy," said Ryder President of International Operations Bobby Griffin. "We have developed a deep understanding of Imperial Tobacco's customer needs over our longstanding partnership, and we're excited about being chosen to lead their unique retail delivery transformation."

About Imperial Tobacco Canada

For close to 100 years, Imperial Tobacco Canada has been an industry leader in Canada. Headquartered in Montreal, Imperial Tobacco Canada aims to compete successfully for market share in any segment the Company enters, by satisfying adult smoker preferences better than the competition. Imperial Tobacco Canada is owned by British American Tobacco (BAT), one of the world's largest tobacco companies.

Further information on Imperial Tobacco Canada is available on the Internet at: http://www.imperialtobaccocanada.com/ .

About Ryder

Ryder is a Fortune 500 company providing leading-edge transportation, logistics and supply chain management solutions worldwide. Ryder's stock is a component of the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. For more information about Ryder System, Inc., visit http://www.ryder.com/ .

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements and information included in this press release are "forward-looking statements" under the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Accordingly, these forward-looking statements should be evaluated with consideration given to the many risks and uncertainties inherent in our business that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, among others, our ability to obtain adequate profit margins for our services, our inability to maintain current pricing levels due to customer acceptance or competition, customer retention levels, unexpected volume declines, loss of key customers in the Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) business segment, our failure to successfully implement new growth initiatives in our FMS business segment, unexpected reserves or write-offs due to the deterioration of the credit worthiness or bankruptcy of certain customers in our SCS business segment, changes in financial, tax or regulatory requirements or changes in customers' business environments that will limit their ability to commit to long-term vehicle leases, changes in market conditions affecting the commercial rental market or the sale of used vehicles, labor strikes or work stoppages affecting our or our customers' business operations, adequacy of accounting estimates and accruals, changes in general economic conditions, sudden changes in fuel prices, availability of qualified drivers, our ability to manage our cost structure, changes in government regulations including regulations regarding vehicle emissions and the risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks included here are not exhaustive. New risks emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors or to assess the impact of such risks on our business. Accordingly, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.