Statement by the directors of the Company in performance of their statutory duties in accordance with section 172(1) Companies Act 2006 (the "Act") for the Financial Year ended 31 December 2022.
Each director of the Company considers that they have individually and as a board acted in a way which they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its members as a whole having regard to the matters set out in section 172(1)(a)-(f) of the Act.
The following paragraphs summarise how the directors fulfil their duties:
Purpose, strategy and consideration of the consequences of our decisions for the long term
The Company’s strategy and operational focus is to provide best in class investment advisory services to the CVC investment management business. The board takes a risk based approach to long term decision making over its client investment strategies taking into account the socio and economic factors of Brexit, COVID-19 and the Ukraine conflict.
Employees and culture
In 2022 hybrid working practices continued with staff working more from the office as local restrictions were lifted. Online Learning and development opportunities continued, supported by mentoring and coaching programmes. For the first time in 3 years, a junior offsite was held in person with a focus on sharing best practices across the network. Two global induction programmes also took place face to face. An employee engagement survey was carried out across all business strategies. Employees consistently value the contribution of their colleagues, feel they have the opportunity to do challenging work as well as the opportunity to learn and progress within CVC. A global head of DE&I was appointed in 2022 to advance the inclusion agenda focused on measured outcomes internally, externally and within CVC portfolio companies.
Impact of the Company's operations on the community and environment
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters remain a key focus of the Board. The company has taken steps to measure and reduce its carbon footprint via initiatives such as using a zero waste landfill provider; electricity from 100% renewable sources and a more energy efficient office through it's ongoing refurbishment project. The company has neutralised its carbon footprint since 2019 through nature based carbon offset projects and the Group has also made a commitment to the Science Based Target Initiative.
CVC has a corporate philanthropy programme that makes donations to non-profit organisations working in the areas of education and employability of disadvantaged young people. The Group supported over 30 organisations with multi-year funding. In addition, CVC staff give their time as volunteers, fundraisers and pro bono advisers. The employee matching programme, designed to encourage staff to contribute to their communities, is very popular and during 2022 over 400 donations were matched to charities selected by employees. This included generous donations to NGOs working to provide humanitarian relief for people affected by the war in the Ukraine. Towards the end of 2022, the impact of double-digit consumer price inflation was starting to affect families already struggling to make ends meet and CVC responded quickly by providing emergency grants for food vouchers and breakfast clubs for school children in low income neighbourhoods.
Engagement with stakeholders
The Company supports building and maintaining strong working relationships with our suppliers, sole shareholder and our clients (being other entities within the CVC network). The Company regularly engages with its sole shareholder to ensure its strategic vision is aligned. Each year the Board also considers and approves the Company’s modern slavery statement, which explains the activities it has undertaken during the year to demonstrate our commitment to seeking to ensure that there is no slavery, forced labour or human trafficking within any part of the Company’s business or in its supply chains.
Maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct
The company continues updating its internal policies and procedures and monitoring compliance against these in order to maintain high standards of business conduct. The Company’s internal Compliance team provides, introductory, annual and adhoc Code of Ethics training sessions to Company employees. The Company conforms with the Walker Guidelines and works closely with UK based portfolio companies owned by Funds advised by CVC to improve their level of transparency and the quality of disclosures.