Radius Limited S172 Statement

Year ended 31 March 2022

Section 172 Statement

 

This section of the Strategic Report describes how the directors have had regard to the matters set out in section 172 (1) of the Companies Act 2006 (the “Act”).

Section 172 (1) of the Act requires a director of a company to act in the way he or she considers, in good faith, would most likely promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole, and in doing so have regard (amongst other matters) to the:

• Likely consequences of any decisions in the long term;
• Interests of the company’s employees;
• Need to foster the company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
• Impact of the company’s operations on the community and environment;
• Desirability of the company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and
• Need to act fairly as between members of the company.

During the year ended 31 March 2022, the directors of the Company had regard to the matters set out above. They considered the interests of a wider set of stakeholders when decisions were made at board and executive committee levels, and when corporate culture, strategies and policies were developed. The directors reviewed the Company’s financial and operational performance, risk and compliance, legal, diversity and other stakeholder-related matters at board and executive committee meetings.

In common with most large companies, the directors fulfilled their duties partly through a governance framework that delegates day to day management of the Group to employees of the Group.

Other details of how the directors fulfil their duties in each of the areas set out opposite are:

Consequences of decisions in the long term

Each year, the directors undertake a review of the Group’s long-term strategy, including the business plan for the following five years. Once approved by the directors, the plan and strategy form the basis for financial budgets, resource plans and investment decisions. When making decisions concerning the business plan and future strategy, the directors have regard to a variety of matters, including the interests of the Company’s stakeholders and the impact of the Company’s activities on its employees, customers, suppliers, and the environment in which it operates.

In approving the business plan, the directors also consider external factors such as competitor behaviour, the performance of the underlying markets in which we operate or are proposing to operate, as well as the evolving economic, political and market conditions. Where these factors are deemed to be significant, additional forecasting activities are undertaken to understand the impact in a timely manner and enable informed decision making.

The directors have agreed a set of targets for an acceptable level of financial resilience and liquidity and regularly review the Group’s forecast cash flows, funding requirements, debt capacity and financing options. These targets are partly governed by the Group’s banking facilities agreement which covers the period to November 2024.

Interests of the Group’s employees – Our People

The directors understand the importance of the Group’s employees to the long-term success of its business. For our business to succeed we need to manage our people’s performance and develop and bring through talent whilst ensuring we operate as efficiently and safely as possible.

The directors regularly communicate business progress and strategy to our people through presentations, site visits, internal group-wide emails and the intranet. Additionally, employee surveys are undertaken periodically to allow our people to provide honest feedback about their experience working at the Group. The surveys also help the directors assess how they can improve our people’s engagement and wellbeing.

In the year ended 31 March 2022 the directors focused on supporting our people by considering their physical and mental wellbeing following the end of the Covid-19 related lockdown restrictions. Policies and procedures were implemented to ensure our people remain safe whilst working from home or at the various offices. The Group’s head office building was designed with a focus on enhancing our people’s wellbeing and has been recognised by the property industry as such. Many features of this building have been carried forward into other offices used by the Group, several of which have undergone extensive refurbishment programmes in recent years.

Further details of the Group’s approach to developing its people are set out in section 1.3 of the Group’s Annual Report and the directors review performance in this area on a regular basis.

Business relationships

The directors are fully committed to effective stakeholder engagement. They review how the Group maintains positive relationships with all of its stakeholders on a regular basis. The Group operates long term partnership agreements with many of its major suppliers and in the year ended 31 March 2022 the directors met with several major suppliers to review progress and develop new initiatives.

There were periodic meetings between the directors and significant shareholders in the Company to understand the strategic direction of the Group. There were also regular interactions with relevant regulators, industry associations, charities and community organisations to build trust, identify trends and consolidate business partnerships.

Whilst the Group has grown partly through mergers and acquisitions, the core strategy prioritises organic growth, driven by cross selling and up selling of services to existing customers as well as winning new customers. Maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction is key to this strategy and the Group conducts regular customer surveys and encourages feedback from customers to improve performance and generate new ideas. Trustpilot has been recognised as a particularly valuable source of feedback on customer service levels and the directors were particularly pleased to see UK Fuels being rated as ‘Excellent’ during the year ended 31 March 2022 after reaching more than 1,000 reviews.

In addition to using surveys the Group also communicates with its customers through its websites and social media, which enables the directors to understand customers’ needs and behaviours to deliver relevant products and services as well as to identify opportunities for growth.

Impact on the community and environment

As highlighted in section 1.4, the Group supports a number of local and national charities through fundraising, volunteering and engaging with the local communities in which it operates on key local issues and reacting promptly to any concerns.

The directors recognise the importance of the Group’s environmental responsibilities and monitor the impact of its activities on the environment to implement policies to mitigate any adverse impact that might be caused by the Group’s activities.

The Group is in the process of developing a more proactive sustainability strategy and has established a committee to monitor its wider ESG initiatives and compliance with regulations - details of which are set out in section 1.4 of the Group’s Strategic Report.

High standards of business conduct

The directors are committed to conducting business with integrity and in compliance with relevant laws and regulations. The Company’s group values of being agile, driven, inclusive and innovative define how the Group, including the Company and its directors, maintains its reputation for high standards of business conduct and securing long term success. The directors take the reputation of the Company and its group seriously and this is not limited to operational and financial performance. For example, in the year ended 31 March 2022, the directors reviewed and approved the Group’s policies on anti-bribery and corruption, anti-money laundering, anti-slavery and human trafficking, data protection, gender pay reporting and tax strategy; all of which can be found on the Group’s website (corporate.radius.com) and/or its intranet (Our Radius).