RWS AR 23 Final Single pages - Flipbook - Page 9
SUSTAINABILITY AND ESG
Against a di昀케cult macroeconomic environment
background, it has been a challenging year for the Group
and I would like to recognise, on behalf of the Board, the
signi昀椀cant e昀昀orts by all our teams across the world in
continuing to deliver high quality services and products
to our clients. During the year the Group continued
to support those colleagues impacted by the ongoing
con昀氀ict in Ukraine. In February, following the earthquake
in Türkiye and Syria, we immediately provided additional
support to our home-based team members and their
families in Türkiye. The RWS Foundation made donations
of £13,000 to the humanitarian appeal and colleague
donations raised more than £7,500. After the year end, in
light of the con昀氀ict in the Middle East, we moved quickly
to provide additional support for colleagues in our
Lebanon o昀케ce.
Candida Davies was appointed the Group’s Chief
Financial O昀케cer and joined the Board at the start
of the 昀椀nancial year on 3 October 2022. She brings
deep expertise in 昀椀nance, strategy and business
transformation and a wealth of international experience
in executing and integrating signi昀椀cant corporate
transactions. In order to ensure a smooth handover of
responsibilities, Candida worked closely with Rod Day,
who continued as a member of the Board and as Deputy
Chief Financial O昀케cer until 31 December 2022 when, as
planned, he left the Group. I would like to thank Rod for
the signi昀椀cant contribution he made during his year with
the Group.
On 3 October 2022 Jane Hyde joined the Executive Team
as General Counsel and Company Secretary, taking
overall responsibility for the Group’s legal, governance
and risk functions. She has an outstanding record in
advising public companies and has held a mix of private
practice and in-house general counsel roles alongside
commercial and compliance roles in international
organisations, including De La Rue plc, JPMorgan
Cazenove and Nomura International. The Group’s legal
team now reports directly to Jane. She also leads the
company secretarial and risk management activities for
the Group.
On 2 October 2023, Andrew Brode stepped down as
Chairman. Andrew has been fundamental to RWS’s
success since leading a buyout in 1995 and has overseen
a series of signi昀椀cant milestones, from listing the Group
on AIM in 2003 to overseeing signi昀椀cant growth in
revenues and pro昀椀ts, driven both by the underlying
business and a series of acquisitions. I would like to thank
Andrew for his dedication to the Group, without which
we would not have achieved our market-leading position.
The Board, and everyone at RWS, owes Andrew a huge
debt of gratitude for his contribution over many years
and we look forward to continuing to bene昀椀t from his
wise counsel as a Non-executive Director.
RWS remains fully committed to achieving the highest
standards in Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") in
its business activities and interactions with stakeholders. We
made further progress during the year towards becoming
a truly sustainable business and for the second year we
have published a separate ESG report, which sets out our
progress in detail. The report is available to download
from the Group’s website www.rws.com/about/corporatesustainability/. We provide a summary of our sustainability
activities and SASB disclosure on pages 25-38 and an update
on our progress in adopting the Task force on Climaterelated Financial Disclosures ("TCFD") on pages 48-59.
DIVIDEND
The Group continues to deliver its progressive dividend
policy and this marks the 20th year in succession that we
have increased the dividend. The Group remains highly cash
generative and notwithstanding our share repurchase and
investment programmes, both of which will last into FY24, we
will continue to deliver high levels of cash conversion.
The Board therefore recommends a 昀椀nal dividend of 9.8p
per share. Together with the interim dividend of 2.4p per
share, this will result in a total dividend of 12.2p for the year, an
increase of 4% compared with FY22. Subject to 昀椀nal approval
at the AGM, the 昀椀nal dividend will be paid on 23 February 2024
to shareholders on the register at 26 January 2024.
SUMMARY
The Group has continued to make solid progress in
delivering its medium-term strategy, particularly in relation
to its growth initiatives, transformation programmes and
portfolio expansion. This progress has helped to mitigate
some of the e昀昀ects of a challenging market environment,
which has dampened demand and increased price
pressure in some of our end verticals in the last 12 months.
We are well-positioned to take advantage of developments
in AI and technology and the long-term drivers of demand
for our products and services are clear. We are leaders in
the majority of markets that we serve and are con昀椀dent of
the opportunities for growth. The Group remains highly
cash generative and has a strong balance sheet.
With our global reach, diverse set of end markets and high
levels of client retention and satisfaction, I am con昀椀dent
in the Group’s long-term prospects. I would like to thank
Andrew for his support during my 昀椀rst 18 months with RWS
and I look forward to working with him and the rest of the
Board as we continue to deliver on our strategy.
Julie Southern | CHAIRMAN
11 December 2023
STRATEGIC REPORT RWS Holdings plc — Annual Report 2023
9
