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SAN
25/01/2012 14:00
ADDRESS
REL: 1400 HRS Sanford Limited
ADDRESS: SAN: Sanford Limited Annual Meeting - Chairman's Address
SANFORD LIMITED
SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD
25 January 2012
CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS
Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure as Chairman of Sanford Limited to welcome you here today at
this our 107th Annual Meeting.
The Sanford AGM provides an opportunity for the Board to offer to
shareholders an account of their work through the past financial year. But
before doing so I would like to recognise the huge contribution of Bruce
Sterling Cole as a Board member and Chairman of the Board until his untimely
death in May 2011. We record with gratitude his commitment to creating value
for shareholders while maintaining a growth strategy built on sustainable
development. Bruce is sorely missed by his family, and friends and
colleagues at Sanford.
A full account of the Board's work is provided in the Annual Report but I
want to highlight briefly the Board's main points of focus this year.
The Board is elected by Shareholders to provide corporate governance,
direction and control of the Company's activities.
Our focus this year has been in the following three areas.
1. Leadership in Strategic Direction
The Company's strategy remains focussed on the seafood and aquaculture
business in New Zealand and internationally. The Board is continuing to
focus on achieving cost of capital returns on each of its operations to
achieve growth in shareholder returns and share value. We must ensure that
decisions are based on an assessment of longer-term returns and prospects
rather than the short term which is influenced by highly fluctuating factors
such as global market conditions and, of course, the exchange rate. Our
Board and Management workshops this year have emphasised the need to obtain
an adequate return on investment from every division and branch of the
Company and from every asset.
Our investment priorities this year have been focussed on the integration of
the Pacifica mussel business into Sanford following the $85 million
acquisition of the Company and the upgrading of mussel processing facilities
in Havelock which will contribute materially to improved profitability and
share price growth over time. In operational and investment activity, the
Board is confident that the interests of shareholders, the Board and
Management are totally aligned.
2. Corporate Governance
Sanford expects the highest standards of corporate governance and ethical
conduct in all aspects of our business. Identification and mitigation, where
possible, of business risks, the integrity of management systems and the
quality and relevance of reporting to Shareholders are responsibilities of
the Board. We have recently completed a comprehensive review of all
corporate governance policies, practices and processes to ensure the Company
maintains best-practice standards. Additions and improvements to the new
Board Manual will confirm those best-practice standards, including updated
Board and Committee Charters, Codes of Conduct, Independence and Delegated
Authorities Policies and Directors' Deeds of Access.
3. Board Succession Planning
The Board's succession plan includes increasing the size and improving the
diversity of the Board as well as reducing the average age of its members.
The first new Director appointed during the year was Elizabeth (Liz) Coutts
who joined the Board in June and immediately and ably took over the role of
Chair of the Audit Committee. Not only is Liz a very experienced and
competent Company Director but she also has practical experience at senior
management level and, when she joined the Board, already had corporate
governance experience on the Board of a fishing company (fortunately not a
competitor). So she had a good knowledge of the industry already.
Our second new Director is Mark Cowsill who was appointed at the beginning of
the current financial year, last October. Mark is a New Zealand business
leader with extensive experience in profitable and complex business
enterprises. He has a deep knowledge of a range of international consumer
markets and branding after leading Frucor Beverages over a period of 18
years.
More detailed information about Liz and Mark is, of course, provided in the
Chairman's Review in the Annual Report.
We will hear later in the meeting from both Liz and Mark and you will then be
invited to consider their re-appointment to the Board.
J G Todd
Chairman
End CA:00218847 For:SAN Type:ADDRESS Time:2012-01-25 14:00:10
