Our relationship with all our stakeholders is based on the following values that are entrenched and supported by Remgro’s Code of Ethics, and which values assist the effective leadership by the Remgro Board in achieving strategic objectives and positive outcomes over time:

  • Integrity, in acting ethically beyond mere compliance
  • Competence, in ensuring due care, skill and diligence are exercised
  • Responsibility, for the assets and actions of the Company
  • Accountability, for justifying its decisions and actions to shareholders and other stakeholders
  • Fairness, in considering the legitimate interest of stakeholders
  • Transparency, in disclosing information in a manner that enables stakeholders to make informed decisions about the Company’s performance and sustainability

Remgro’s Board is the ultimate custodian of its corporate reputation and stakeholder relationships. In this regard a formal Stakeholder Policy sets out the approach and strategy of Remgro with respect to stakeholder engagements, ensuring that the approach takes into account appropriate corporate governance guidelines.

Remgro utilises a wide variety of communication methods to ensure that its communication with stakeholders is clear and understandable, as well as transparent, balanced and truthful, and sets out all relevant facts, whether positive or negative. Care is taken to ensure that engagement with stakeholders is, where appropriate, not just one-way communication but constructive, partnership-based engagement. This ensures that all legitimate stakeholder expectations are identified and addressed as far as possible.

Remgro, like other organisations, has an economic impact on our stakeholders through, amongst other things, the generation and distribution of value, the creation of employment opportunities, remunerating our employees fairly and competitively, and our corporate social investment. We continuously manage these matters and engage with our stakeholders on matters relevant to them, as reported on elsewhere in this report.

Shareholders and the investment community

Remgro’s primary objective is to maximise value creation and sustainable growth and in this regard particular care is taken to ensure that all shareholders, or classes of shareholders, are treated equitably. Special care is taken to protect minority shareholders from actions by or in the interest of the principal shareholder that may be to their detriment. In this regard the Lead Independent Director acts as chairman during meetings in situations where the independence of the existing Chairman may be potentially conflicted.

Communication with investors is based on the principles of timely, balanced, clear and transparent information. In this regard the investment community has access to the same information as Remgro shareholders. Firm protocols are in place to control the nature, extent and frequency of communication with investors. Shareholders and the investment community are encouraged to attend Remgro’s Annual General Meetings where topical matters are discussed openly. Further interactions with institutional investors take place twice a year at the dial-in interim and final results presentations, where questions can be directed to the CEO and CFO. During the year, Remgro established a new Investor Relations function to improve investor engagement. The investment community is encouraged to contact the investor relations manager directly.

The most recent and historic financial and other information is published on the Company’s website here.

Employees

In order for Remgro to be able to achieve its main objectives it is essential to attract and retain employees of the highest calibre. Our employees are treated fairly and remunerated competitively and Remgro strives to afford all staff the opportunity to realise their full potential. During corporate actions special care is taken to ensure that employees belonging to the Remgro Equity Settled Share Appreciation Right Scheme, Share Appreciation Rights (SAR) Plan and Conditional Share Plan (CSP) are not treated more favourably than ordinary shareholders.

As Remgro is an investment holding company with a small staff complement at head office level, communication with employees is kept informal and is conducted through a variety of channels, including email updates, the in-house intranet, Remgro website, information sessions and notice boards. Care is taken that all communication with shareholders is also communicated to employees.

Investee companies and other shareholders of such investee companies

Remgro’s performance is directly linked to the performance of its underlying investee companies and accordingly communication with those entities and co-shareholders is regarded as very important. Relationships with investee companies are managed principally through board representation, with Remgro directors or senior management acting as non-executive directors on the investee companies’ boards. These representatives interact with the directors and senior management of investee companies at investee companies’ board meetings and, as and when necessary, representatives of investee companies are encouraged to arrange to meet with Remgro senior management to discuss their business. All dealings with co-shareholders in the investee companies are done fairly in terms of the underlying shareholders’ agreements and Remgro strives to add value to these investments.

Community

Corporate citizenship, the commitment of a business to contribute to sustainable economic development, endorses the principle that no business exists in isolation but undeniably forms an integral part of the environment in which it operates and to which it owes certain responsibilities.

In its relationship with the community Remgro strives to be a value partner and in this regard its involvement in the community focuses on eradicating the effects of poverty and investing in young people from disadvantaged communities in the belief that such an investment will provide sound dividends far into the future. Remgro’s corporate social investment initiatives and donations are discussed in more detail in the detailed Sustainable Development Report.

Suppliers and service providers

Remgro believes in building long-term partnerships with service providers through establishing a relationship of mutual trust and respect. Various criteria play a role in selecting suitable service providers, such as compliance to quality standards, the stability and proven track record of the organisation, BBBEE status and available support network.

As part of ensuring alignment of its service providers with Remgro company values, Remgro has embarked on a process to update Service Level Agreements at head office to reflect its expectations regarding environmental responsibility, compliance with human rights and anti-corruption policies.

As Remgro is an investment holding company its cost structure is constantly measured against that of unit trusts to ensure that its shareholders are not prejudiced. As part of managing corporate costs good relationships are maintained with suppliers and service providers.

South African government and regulatory bodies

An open and honest relationship is maintained with the Government and relevant regulatory bodies. In this regard communication is on an ad hoc basis as and when the need arises, and is usually in the form of formal meetings. Regulatory bodies such as National Treasury, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the JSE Limited are kept up to date regarding corporate actions in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. Annual meetings are held with the SARB in order to keep them up to date regarding Remgro’s offshore activities.