Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd Annual Report 2019

WWW . F N . C O M . M Y 016 F R A S E R & N E A V E H O L D I N G S B H D CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE As a measure of appreciation to our employees, whom we consider as extended family, since 2003 F&NHB has been presenting the Chairman’s Award to their children to motivate them to excel. A total of RM198,300 was awarded to 106 children who attained excellent academic and co-curricular achievements this year. We also continue to undertake programmes which serve to create greater social equity through strengthening of vulnerable communities to reduce inequalities of opportunities; and promoting a healthy nation through sports development and advocating an active lifestyle. SUSTAINABILITY AT THE CORE T he values we create for our stakeholders form one component of good environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices which investors look for today. More importantly, our strategic decisions are guided by ESG principles because they safeguard our long-term sustainability. We had set clear 2020 Sustainability Goals, and I am pleased to share that we are making good headway in achieving our targets. A healthy environment is critical because it affects the quality of our life. We are playing our part in this regard through our school recycling programme and efforts to minimise our carbon footprint across our value chain. This year, the number of schools in the programme has more than doubled the previous number, with 756 participation nationwide while the volume of recyclable waste collected more than quadrupled. Through this programme, we are nurturing a future generation of environmental conscious consumers who realise that the way we live and the choices we make have a strong bearing on the preservation of our planet. More directly, F&NHB is reducing as far as possible our usage of natural resources and energy. I am particularly delighted by the fact that we are gravitating towards a circular economy. This year, we invested in a solar roof at our plant in Thailand. Following its successful implementation, we will be installing similar systems in other facilities. F&NHB is also one of the strongest corporate advocates of healthy lifestyles, encouraging Malaysians to take part in sports and be more physically active. Through 100PLUS, we continued to support no less than 1,000 sporting events during the year. We believe that governance is a key component in strengthening the trust our stakeholders have in us. We continued to maintain a high level of corporate integrity as well as disclosure while adhering to the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance 2017. We acknowledge the inherent value of diversity and will continue to leverage opportunities to further enhance our Board diversity in terms of skills, gender and experience. Meanwhile, we are happy to see the number of women in management increased to 44 per cent this year, from 41 per cent at the end of FY2018. As a measure of our commitment to good governance, we were listed in the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia (F4GBM) Index for the first time this year. The F4GBM is the gold standard for overall compliance to ESG, and our inclusion in the index is something we are very proud of. F&NHB is also one of the companies under the Green Lane Policy of Bursa Malaysia Berhad which is a privilege awarded to selected companies with good corporate governance practices. *** RM198,300 was awarded to children of employees who attained excellent academic and co-curricular achievements this year through F&N Chairman’s Award. *** To read more about how we deliver value through Innovation, Human Capital Development and Social Collaboration, please refer to pages 032 to 065 in our Sustainability Report.