Message from the CEO

We are committed to integrating sustainability practices into our day-to-day core business because we recognise that sustainability is no longer a “nice to have” or even a matter only of good corporate citizenship – it has become central to business success.

We firmly believe that the way a business conducts itself in society, the way it treats its employees, communities, suppliers and the environment have an impact on its bottom line. One need only consider the power of consumer pressure, the very real business risks posed by the effects of climate change, the effects on business of an uneducated and unskilled populace, or legislative controls to highlight how important it is for businesses to employ triplebottom line thinking when one identifies risks and opportunities and formulates future business strategy.

One of the key sustainability highlights for the year was the full, group-wide roll-out of our sustainability measurement system. This year represents the first full financial year that we have had the benefit of this reporting system, which has standardised the definition of key indicators and greatly enhanced the collection of data across our operations. In a company as large and diverse as ours, the benefit of such a system cannot be overstated. Because we can only manage what we can measure, the accuracy and integrity of data is central to our ability to improve our sustainability performance.

We are confident that we now have a good baseline against which to measure our future progress.

Our business affects a broad array of stakeholders and we have structured the report around the broad pillars of economic, social and environmental impact – or “profit, people and planet”. We have addressed the material issues pertaining to each group.

Imperial employees are undoubtedly one of our most important stakeholder groups. We rely on their collective talent, energy, enthusiasm and commitment for our continued success and seek to invest in their ongoing development. During the year we invested R175 million in training and development initiatives. These deliver ongoing benefit not only to individual employees but to our company as we secure the pipeline of skills we need for future growth and success.

Looking beyond our own Imperial family to our broader community I am, as ever, deeply impressed by the work being carried out by the Imperial and Ukhamba Community Development Trust. During the year, the Trust implemented a new programme in our adopted schools to establish state-ofthe- art libraries with thousands of books, visual equipment and staff school libraries with full-time librarians. This initiative has ensured learners and teachers derive maximum value from the libraries we have established, but the project also has an important job creation spin-off that is close to our hearts. Librarians are selected and trained from among unemployed family members of Imperial employees.

I am also proud of the many other corporate social investment projects being carried out in businesses across our divisions. These projects deliver care and relief to some of society’s most vulnerable and needy individuals. In many cases they are identified by Imperial employees who are volunteering in their own communities.

On the environmental front we remain committed to reducing our environmental impact wherever possible. The year saw the roll-out of some groundbreaking environmental initiatives, including the world’s first solar-powered Kia dealership in Weltevreden Park. We have made a commitment to follow sustainable building practices in all new developments. Similarly, the majority of our motor-related businesses have implemented waterless wash bays and many have invested in water recycling facilities and established rain harvesting systems to reduce their dependency on municipal water.

The introduction of Carbon Tax in South Africa, together with rising electricity tariffs, highlighted the importance of our efforts to reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint. All our operations have stepped up their efforts in this regard and the report contains numerous examples of both “quick wins” and sophisticated systems to reduce our carbon load.

In this report we have sought to provide a balanced and transparent view of the ways in which we have integrated sustainability practices into our business. While we are pleased with the progress we have made thus far, we also recognise that integrated sustainability is a journey. What follows is a snapshot of our current position on this continuum.

We welcome your input and feedback on both our progress and this report.

Hubert Brody
Chief executive officer
30 September 2013