Annual Report 2010 - S&T

Foreword by the Management Board | Positioning and Markets | Investor Relations | Corporate Governance | Group Management Report | Consolidated Financial Statements | Service
Human Resources
Highly trained people used to working and communicating in
different cultures and markets work for the S&T Group. For
this reason, the main responsibilities of the Human Resources
Department are personnel development and the targeted
advancement of promising young employees. Specific performance
incentives and significant variable salary components
for most positions are offered at both the local and Group
levels. The quality of S&T’s human resources work was also
recognized by external institutes in 2010.
The average number of employees (FTEs) declined from 2,419
to 2,106, taking discontinued operations into account.
Non-financial performance indicators
• Customer satisfaction
Every one to two years, S&T implements a “Customer Satisfaction
Survey” in 13 countries, asking 1,250 of its most important
customers to respond. The representative results (with a
response rate of over 44 percent) of the last available study
carried out in 2009 shows an improvement in overall customer
satisfaction. Whereas S&T was rated at a level of 2.3 in the year
2008, the company was given an overall rating of 2.2 in 2009
(1 = very satisfied, 6 = very dissatisfied). The results are a fixed
component of the performance targets set with our employees.
• Corporate Social Responsibility
Despite economic pressures, the S&T Group strives to support
the sustainable development of the markets and countries in
which the company operates. The CSR Report describes the
specific measures taken by the Group in detail. They include
adult education programs and cooperation with universities.
Particularly in difficult times, we strive to cushion, if possible,
the effects on employees whose employment contracts must
be terminated and identify new perspectives for them. The
coaching focus is on professional issues such as professional
reorientation, burnout, conflict management and personal
consulting.
Non-financial performance indicators such as capacity utilization
or customer satisfaction are used within the framework
of the balanced scorecard system already applied in several
countries on a local level.
• Information on environmental issues
The business activities of the S&T Group do not encompass the
production of material goods. For this reason, the environmental
impact is naturally very limited. Nevertheless, S&T attaches
considerable importance to the issue of energy efficiency in
selecting the suitable IT infrastructure for customers and for its
own use.
Events after the balance
sheet date
At the Supervisory Board meeting held on January 17, 2011, Ms.
Viktoria Kickinger was elected to serve as the Chairwoman of
the S&T Supervisory Board. Mr. Andreas Frech, the previous
Chairman, resigned from this position for personal reasons and
shortly afterwards also resigned from the Supervisory Board.
Effective January 31, 2011, Mr. Michael Lanik was appointed
by the Supervisory Board to serve as the Chief Restructuring
Officer (CRO) and Spokesman for the Management Board. The
agreement may be terminated at short notice.
At the end of January 2011 S&T reached principle agreement
with banks on a financing package, calling for an extension of
the corporate bond featuring a nominal value of EUR 30 million
until April 1, 2012, the deferment of interest payments and
making required funding available to ensure continuing shortand
medium-term operations. In this regard, reference is made
to the above-mentioned financing and liquidity risk and to Point
5.1 of the accounting policies of the consolidated financial
statements.
As part of the financing package, it was agreed to sell the
subsidiaries in the Ukraine and Moldova to a strategic investor
(refer to the above-mentioned explanation contained in the
section on “Assets, finances and liquidity”).
After the announcement of shut down of the German subsidiary
a precise analysis of the potential courses of action, concluded
that bankruptcy proceedings were unavoidable. Because of the
close ties with this company and a similarly difficult economic
development, the shutdown of the Swiss subsidiary was announced
on February 22, 2011 via bankruptcy proceedings.
Both processes have not yet been concluded. As things stand
at present, within the context of the upcoming deconsolidation
of S&T Deutschland GmbH, Germany and S&T Schweiz Consulting
AG, Switzerland, impairment losses on Group receivables
and provisions for legal claims are expected to comprise EUR
4.0 million to EUR 7.0 million.
On April 19, 2011, the Management Board announced that the
shareholders’ equity of the mother company fell below the
value of half of the company’s issued capital. The Management
Board plans to report about these circumstances and required
measures at the scheduled shareholders’ meeting to be held
on July 1, 2011.
The restructuring process of the S&T Group is currently being
implemented and should be concluded by the end of 2011.
The focus is on the Austrian subsidiary. Furthermore, all
other Group companies including S&T AG are being evaluated
with respect to the potential to improve earnings. External
consultants were contracted in cooperation with the banks.
39