Brian Joffe, chief executive

Business snapshot

Corporate provides support services, coordinates strategic initiatives and houses investments that fall outside divisional areas of responsibility, including the Bidvest property portfolio. It focuses on business sustainability, brand-building, communication and executive training while ensuring Group resources are effectively leveraged. In accordance with Bidvest’s decentralised business model, Corporate is deliberately kept lean.

Performance

Our trading profit increased by 158,8% from R79,5 million to R205,9 million.

Pleasing progress was made with the communication of strategic sustainability objectives while the Bidvest brand achieved enhanced recognition. Within South Africa, Bidvest’s growing alignment with soccer became a source of pride and staff motivation in World Cup year.

Bidvest Properties put in another good performance in a challenging environment. Commercialisation opportunities flowing from the FIFA World Cup 2010^TM were optimised.

Continuing operations within a restructured Ontime Automotive in the UK made a return to profit.

Sustainable development

Corporate coordinated sustainability initiatives across the decentralised business and helped embed sustainability practice through constant encouragement and information-sharing. The sustainability committee is integrated into governance structures as an integral part of the Bidvest risk and sustainability committee. An employee survey was conducted to raise sustainability awareness and gauge the commitment of Bidvest people to sustainability strategy. The Group’s sustainability data collation tool was further refined.

Transformation

We continue to drive and entrench the principles of transformation throughout the Group.

Bidvest Academy

Academy IX is scheduled for completion in October. Sixty-eight participants were inducted into the class of 2010 and split into 11 teams, including a team of four from Bidvest Namibia.

Team-building, teamwork sessions, group projects, workshops and site visits to Group companies were again key features of the curriculum, though increasing attention is paid to each delegate’s working environment to assess the value added day by day as individuals apply the skills acquired at the Academy.

The intention is to ensure that a delegate’s home base derives benefit from Academy exposure as well as the person under development and does so as quickly as possible. “Energy coaches” are assigned to each Academy participant to help ensure new insights are channelled effectively.

Growing emphasis is placed on pre- Academy workshops to ensure each inductee shares a common understanding of financial and managerial concepts that may fall outside the current scope of an individual’s work. Four workshops are conducted, two in Johannesburg, one in Durban and one in Cape Town.

Communication

“We refuse to participate in the recession”, the rallying cry of Bidvest chief executive Brian Joffe, shaped communication initiatives. The quality and topicality of articles in the Bidvoice quarterly publication were improved. Lead articles and the chief executive’s message were translated from English into Business Mandarin, French, Dutch, Polish and Czech to communicate with the worldwide Proudly Bidvest family and a downloadable version of Bidvoice was created for those with internet access.

A personalised e-mail (“The recognition you deserve”) was sent by the Group chief executive to all staff with e-mail addresses to announce Bidvest’s No 37 ranking in the list of the world’s best performing companies. Regular e-mails are sent to more than 30 000 employees to keep them up to date on topical developments.

Increasing use was made of internal TV broadcasts by the chief executive to communicate Bidvest strategy and a “welcome aboard” induction brochure was developed.

Reporting standards were maintained at a high level with recognition for excellent reporting in the Ernst & Young sustainability awards and category honours in the “Consumer Services” section of the annual Investment Analysts Society awards. Second place for reporting was achieved in the South African Carbon Disclosure Project awards.

Bidvest branding has been revamped and operational businesses are increasingly leveraging the strength of the Bidvest name, following the successful rebranding of businesses in Australia as Bidvest Australia and Rennies Bank as Bidvest Bank. More recently, the New Zealand business was rebranded as Bidvest New Zealand. The contract distribution arm of 3663 in the UK adopted the identity “Bidvest Logistics”. The Group obtained naming rights to South Africa’s premier venue for international cricket, now Bidvest Wanderers Stadium.

2010 commercialisation

The World Cup opportunity was energetically pursued by all Bidvest businesses in South Africa, although the short-term economic impact was negligible.

Medium-term economic opportunities through an increase in tourism, as an example, will be derived by South Africa and in turn by Bidvest. Precise quantification of economic benefits by year-end was complicated by timing factors (the event was only at the halfway stage on June 30) and the indirect nature of some business gains.

Direct business springing from our interaction with FIFA, the Local Organising Committee, MATCH and host cities was won by Bidvest Services (Prestige, Steiner, Bidtravel, TopTurf and Execuflora), Bidvest Foodservice SA, Speciality, Bidvest Paperplus (Lithotech) and Bidvest Industrial and Commercial (CN Business Furniture, Voltex, Waltons and Vulcan Catering Equipment).

Revenue of more than R314,0 million across the Group was derived from direct contracts.

Indirect benefit as a result of the World Cup effect on various sectors of the economy was derived by companies such as Bidvest Bank and its foreign exchange business, Bidair, Budget Rent a Car, Bidvest Prestige, Laundry Services and our South African foodservice businesses.

Some gains were intangible but significant, including the value to brand Bidvest of close involvement with the tournament and the pride felt by South African employees in the contribution made by their company to a historic event.

Focus now shifts to legacy issues; specifically, how to derive long-term benefit from Bidvest’s World Cup experience and expertise.

Sports administrators and major cities across South Africa have the task of earning a return from some of the world’s best football and sports stadiums. Sports tourism can be expected to grow. Bidvest businesses have a proven track record as reliable suppliers to international sporting events. This creates a platform from which to explore further opportunities.

Investments managed by corporate include listed and unlisted associates and listed and unlisted investments. The most material investment relates to the investment in Mumbai International Airport Limited. Full details regarding those investments are shown under note 19 in the financial statements.

Bidvest Wits

The Bidvest Wits soccer team rounded off a successful season by winning the Nedbank Cup, the club’s first trophy in over a decade. The victory, in mid-May, occurred as soccer fever was running high on the run-in to the World Cup and ensured strong brand awareness.

Bidvest’s position as a leading soccer sponsor was further underlined by the support of the corporate soccer Fridays campaign, which became a feature of the South African countdown to the opening of the World Cup tournament. Proudly Bidvest soccer jerseys were distributed to staff and were worn week after week at operations across the country. Amazing team spirit and sense of belonging resulted when staff members saw colleagues they had never met similarly dressed.

Sponsorship and a controlling interest in Bidvest Wits are linked to soccer development programmes and youth work. The club has total membership of more than 1 500 players and is believed to be the largest football club in Africa.