For a non-profit membership organisation like the Chamber, the first quarter of every calendar year is an anxious period. Our renewal due date is technically the 31st of December of every year, and obviously we hope as many companies as possible renew by then because we depend on your dues to maintain operations. However, we are always mindful of members' cash flow situation and of the time needed to make financial decisions, so we often grant a "grace period" before we formally close out the renewal.

This year, the official closeout date was March 31st, in recognition of the very difficult economic times we are living in these days. I am pleased to inform you that 84 percent of those companies who needed to renew did renew by this date, and that is a percentage close to the historic high of 86 percent three years ago. In view of the tough situation many companies are in, we are very appreciative of the support of those who did renew, and we think that perhaps you think we are doing the right things for you to keep your Chamber membership.

We check with each one of the non-renewals to see if we can improve our services. Many who did not renew unfortunately are no longer in business, and others have changed their business focus and found membership no longer necessary. Still others are so busy with their business they do not find time to attend our many programmes. And then there are those who simply do not find our services relevant to their needs.

For the rest of you, a major member survey -- the last one was in May 2001 -- will go out to you in the next couple of months so that we can adjust our services again to cater to your needs. Again, we thank you for remaining our members. We also hope you can help bring in new members for us. Recruitment is important every year so that the Chamber can replace those who have left us.