Sustainability Report 2011 - Finlays

Sustainability Report 2011 

Finlays Sustainability Report 2011 1

We understand that sustainability 

is the only future we have and 

our commitment to sustainability 

is central to our long-term 

business strategy.

Contents 

Section 1 – Introduction 

1.1 Foreword – Managing Director James Finlay Limited, Ron Mathison 4 

1.2 A year in review – key highlights 6 

1.3 Scope of report 8 

1.4 Management approach to sustainability 9 

1.5 Sustainability commitments and supporting actions 10 

Section 2 – About Finlays 

2.1 Corporate profile 12 

2.2 Fast facts 14 

2.3 Group structure 16 

2.4 Global network 17 

Section 3 – Group performance review 2011 

3.1 Environment – Energy, Water, Waste, Carbon 18 

3.2 Economic Contribution 22 

3.3 People – Occupational Health & Safety, Training, Community 23 

Section 4 – Business unit performance 

4.1 Tea Estates – Kenya and Sri Lanka 29 

4.2 Leaf Tea Trading and Tea Extracts 41 

4.3 Finlay Beverages 50 

4.4 Finlays Colombo 54 

4.5 Finlays Horticulture 58 

Section 5 – Governance 

5.1 Group Operating Companies 68 

5.2 Legal Form and Governance 69 

Appendices 

i) Swire Group Sustainable Development Policy 70 

ii) Performance Data 71 

This report has been printed on 100% recycled paper 

using environmentally friendly vegetable based inks. 

3

Introduction 

1.1 Foreword – Managing Director James Finlay Limited, Ron Mathison 

As an agribusiness, we have a high level of dependence on the natural environment. We operate in markets 

where natural resources are scarce and ecosystems are fragile. Many of our businesses are cyclical and most 

of our investments have relatively long pay back periods. This requires us to take a long term view when 

investing and taking this long term view is fundamental to any sustainable business. We have a long heritage 

of taking good care of our people, looking after our land, husbanding resources, and helping the communities 

in which we operate. We understand that sustainability is the only future we have and our commitment to 

sustainability is central to our long-term business strategy. 

In this report, the third of its kind, we measure progress 

against the sustainability targets we have set ourselves 

over the last year and set new targets that build on the 

achievements so far for future years. Our key areas of 

focus remain energy, water, waste, carbon emissions and 

people, but we are also increasing the amount of resources 

allocated to biodiversity and community engagement. 

Working with others for a sustainable future 

As was the case last year, in some of our operations we 

have not achieved as much as we targeted, while in other 

parts of our business we have made more progress than 

expected. We have continued to make good progress on 

reducing packaging waste and increasing rainwater capture 

and recycling. We are proud of our contribution to the 

success of the Imarisha initiative which seems to have 

gained real traction in addressing the water management 

challenges surrounding Lake Naivasha, Kenya. Similarly, 

after several years of preparation, we have achieved 

4 

Finlays has a long established reputation for integrity, 

professionalism and quality, but the common thread that 

pulls all our businesses together, the glue that binds the 

Group, is our enduring commitment to sustainability. 

Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance accreditation for 11,200 

of our smallholders in Kericho, Kenya. This is the Kibagenge 

project that we have engaged in, in partnership with the 

Department for International Development (DFID), The 

Co-operative Group, The Co-operative College, and Africa 

Now (now called Self Help Africa). 

We recognize that we cannot achieve sustainability on our 

own. We need to engage with the communities around us 

and partner with like-minded institutions that understand 

the healthy symbiosis between smallholders and large 

estates. Empowerment of smallholders is only beneficial if 

it results in a sustainable business model. The key is mutual 

dependence built on trust and respect, where the rewards are 

fair and socially just for both smallholders and large estates. 

Learning more every year 

Data cleansing and data capture continue to be areas that 

require improvement. We have fallen behind on some of 

our water usage and energy usage targets and this needs 

Finlays Sustainability Report 2011

Introduction 

1.1 Foreword – Managing Director James Finlay Limited, Ron Mathison 

rectification in the years ahead. We continue to learn from 

our mistakes and improve on our successes. Much remains 

to be done but we are committed to achieving our goals 

and we are confident that we can make a real difference. 

Part of the process is learning how to manage some of the 

interesting trade-offs that are now emerging as we delve 

deeper into sustainability. 

For example, when the weather is wet we benefit from 

increased amounts of hydro electric energy but we then 

need to expend more of that energy to dry tea and firewood 

that has more moisture content. Similarly, when we use 

more sea freight instead of air freight we reduce our carbon 

emissions but we then need to use more water to rehydrate 

the flowers. 

Factoring in social impacts of sustainability initiatives gives 

rise to another set of potentially competing considerations. 

For example, growing flowers in Kenya provides social 

benefits in the form of employment, education, improved 

welfare and local wealth creation, but the requirement to air 

freight flowers to Europe creates large amounts of carbon 

emissions. We don’t pretend to have all the answers but 

again we are determined to do our best to find the right 

balance between environmental and social impacts. 

Reducing unnecessary waste 

Looking ahead, it is clear that the challenge for most 

businesses is sustainable growth: how can we reduce 

environmental impacts and at the same time achieve 

growth? This is a real challenge but I believe part of the 

solution lies in reducing unnecessary waste throughout the 

supply chain. This is particularly pertinent to food scarcity 

when you consider how much food is wasted as a result of 

overly stringent specifications on length, colour, shape – 

none of which have anything to do with shelf life, taste or 

nutritional value. At the same time as concerns about food 

scarcity are rising we are seeing an alarming rise in obesity. 

Something is deeply wrong when 1 in 10 of the world adult 

population is obese yet 1 billion people go hungry. 

What is required is behaviour change in the way 

we consume and I believe that suppliers, brands and 

retailers must all play an important part in driving this 

change in shopping and consumption habits. Instead of 

incentivizing shoppers to buy more stuff than they need 

through ‘buy one get one free’ promotions, we should do 

more to encourage shoppers to purchase lower grade food 

products that may not have the perfect shape or colour but 

nevertheless have the same taste and nutritional value. This 

approach is already being embraced by many enlightened 

retailers but there is still so much unnecessary waste that 

is being driven by unsustainable consumption behaviour. 

We will continue to do our part in trying to reduce discards 

and we will continue to work together with retailers to 

encourage consumers to embrace change. Change is 

never easy but where there is a will there is a way. 


Introduction 

1.2 A year in review – key highlights 

Key Highlights 

For the first time we have a full year of data on all indicators 

having made investments in installing more water meters in 

our tea estates in Sri Lanka and improving data collection 

processes on waste in Finlays Colombo. 

Data management has been a challenge but, with the help of 

our internal audit function, our Sustainability Managers have 

made a vast improvement in the accuracy of data collected. This 

now allows us to make informed decisions based on accurate 

data to improve the business. The challenge in the future is 

to make sure this data continues to be used as the basis of 

actionable analyses and, most importantly, used to help us 

identify actions and interventions to improve our performance 

and drive down costs associated with these indicators. 

Our performance in 2011 has been heavily impacted by: 

• The closure of the Tea Extracts factory at Mara Mara, 

with production being consolidated into the nearby Saosa 

site. We have achieved significantly improved energy and 

water performance in the Tea Extracts business as a result 

of this move. 

• The variability of weather. As an agribusiness our 

performance is very weather dependent. A high yield 

crop in Tea Estates Kenya resulted in significant firewood 

usage, and we benefited from good water availability 

for hydro-electric operations on our estates. This has 

enabled us to increase the contribution of renewables to 

our energy numbers. Encouragingly, the trend over the 

last 4 years has seen a steady increase in our renewable 

component. The higher air temperatures also resulted in 

increased water usage in Finlays Horticulture; this would 

have been higher if we had not installed the closed loop 

and rainwater systems. Year-on-year comparisons do 

not always accurately reflect the true meaning of shifts 

in metrics. In order to gain a better understanding of 

performance we will be comparing like-for-like years 

with regard to temperature and the water requirement 

of a specific crop. 

6 

In 2011, Finlays achieved a number of its key medium-term 

objectives, with Finlays Horticulture in the UK achieving their 

target of 0% waste to landfill, and there was an impressive 

increase in the Group’s use of renewable energy up to 73%. 

We still have some work to do on other key indicators. 

We have increased the resource in all businesses to help meet the increasing needs of coverage and 

reporting of sustainability, whilst still ensuring that current management activities address these 

needs. We are now committed to reporting to GRI C+ level in the next two years, with Sustainability 

Managers and Head Office Managers recently attending a GRI Reporting master class. 

Energy 

We are making incremental progress but with 

significant activity across the business engaged in 

energy efficiency improvements we aim to return 

improved numbers next year. 

Water 

We continue to dramatically reduce water usage using 

innovative techniques in the industry, especially 

across our horticulture businesses. This has resulted 

in a 20% net reduction across the Group. 

Waste management 

Waste management is showing sustained improvement 

with our horticulture businesses in the UK having 0% to 

landfill across all UK sites. As most of our waste is green 

waste we have further opportunities to reduce it and also 

to divert it to more valuable alternatives such as using it 

in biomax composting converters or biogas plants. 

Carbon 

We are continuing to develop sea freighting in Finlays 

Horticulture, whilst Finlay Beverages have been at 

the forefront of transferring movement of tea to rail 

transport - resulting in big carbon savings. 


Introduction 

1.2 A year in review – key highlights 

Supporting the wellbeing of the community 

Finlays Horticulture employs over 6,500 people across 

6 sites. The company has an on-going investment 

programme in training, including supervisory, vocational 

and employment-based training as well as life skills support 

to help reduce stress. Workers receive teaching in literacy 

and simple financial management, to help them cope with 

the impact on wages of high Kenyan inflation. Over 3,000 

local farmers also receive technical support to help them 

increase yield and income in sustainable ways. 

Biodiversity at its best: supporting the Mau and the Bongo 

(see full story on page 36) 

Finlays has supported conservation of the Mau for many 

years through funding of Friends of the Mau Watershed 

(FOMAWA), which seeks to educate local farmers and 

school children about the importance of protecting their 

environment. Spreading the conservation message to a 

wider and more influential audience, however, has proved 

more difficult. An ‘island’ of pristine forest, supporting a 

wide variety of flora and fauna, but surrounded by human 

settlement, Eburu has been decimated over the years by 

illegal logging and charcoal burning, as well as poaching 

and bush meat hunting. 

Now there is a glimmer of hope, with the discovery that 

Eburu is one of the last remaining refuges for the critically 

endangered antelope, the Eastern Mountain Bongo; research 

suggests a small population of between 7 and 12 of these 

beautiful animals lives in the South West Mau Forest, close 

to Finlays’ tea estates. This finding by the Mountain Bongo 

Surveillance Project, which Finlays also funds, has at last 

drawn the plight of Eburu to international attention. 

Imarisha: working with stakeholders 

(see full story on page 66) 

A three-person secretariat has been formed to execute 

the functions of Imarisha Naivasha. The first funding 

was received from the Kenya Government and from 

UK retailers ASDA, Co-operative Sainsburys, Marks and 

Spencer, Morrisons and Tesco. These retailers recognised 

the importance of identifying lasting solutions to the 

challenges facing the Lake Naivasha basin, particularly 

water, and were quick to seize the opportunity to 

enthusiastically support Imarisha Naivasha. 

Encouragingly, the trend over the last 

4 years has seen a steady increase in 

our renewable component. 

Examples of how the funds have helped: 

• Repairing the mechanical aeration equipment at the 

Naivasha sewage treatment works. 

• Planting 600,000 tree seedlings provided by the Ministry 

of Environment and Mineral Resources throughout the 

catchment. The planted seedlings cover approximately 

950 hectares of previously degraded areas. 

• Enabling 5 community forest associations to plant and 

nurture tree seedlings purchased from community nurseries. 

• Helping fishermen to improve sanitary standards of fish 

processing facilities and to install deep freezers. 

• Enabling pastoralist groups to install pilot domestic 

biogas plants, fencing to protect water springs, troughs 

for livestock and to restore water pans rainwater storage. 


Introduction 

1.3 Scope of report 

Scope of report 

The report covers all our business units within Tea and Horticulture that have a significant social 

or environmental impact or which constitute a key financial component of Finlays’ operations. 

All the main business units in Finlays are covered, 

with the following exclusions: 

• James Finlay Pakistan, whose main business is shipping 

and insurance. 

• The tea trading offices in Dubai, Indonesia, Vietnam 

and Malawi only report on EN16, LA7, LA1 given the 

small size of these offices. 

Our partners in instant tea manufacture, Tres Montes Lucchetti 

(Chile) and Damin Foodstuffs (China) and our decaffeination 

business with AV Thomas (India) are included in sales numbers. 

For the first time, Finlay Flowers BV are included in the report. 

In reporting on carbon we include Scope 3 given the 

importance of transportation to market in our horticulture 

and tea trading businesses. 

Performance is reported against two sets of objectives: 

i. Finlays group indicators, which are those that apply 

to all our businesses. 

ii. Finlays business unit indicators, which are selected by each 

business unit to reflect its main challenges, details of which 

can be found within the individual business unit reports. 

Changes in measurement 

Our Tea Extracts and Leaf Tea numbers will now be 

displayed as sales volume rather than production volume, 

given the trading nature of the business. 

Carbon data has changed slightly, due to changes with the 

carbon calculator software. These changes are minimal. 

Kenya Tea Estates have separated the measurement 

of domestic water and water for production sites. 

Finlays Colombo have re-assessed their energy use for 

the period 2008-9. 

Group sustainability objectives 

• Energy 

Continuously improve our resource management 

• Wa t e r 

Practice excellence in our management of water resources 

• Wa s t e 

Continuously improve our resource management 

and reduce our waste generation 

• C a r b o n 

Undertake to be carbon restorative and minimise 

emissions of other greenhouse gases 

8 

GRI Indicators 

We identified the Group GRI Indicators through an 

exhaustive review project called ‘A sustainable future 

for Finlays’, with the aim of developing a long-term and 

stretching sustainable development strategy for Finlays. 

We involved a range of stakeholders from across the group 

including some from our parent company Swire. We will be 

reporting under the following GRI Indicators: 

• Energy 

EN3 – Direct energy consumption by primary energy source. 

EN4 – Indirect energy consumption by primary source. 

• Water 

EN8 – Total water withdrawal by source. 

EN10 – Percentage and total volume of water recycled 

and reused. 

• Waste 

EN22 – Total weight of waste by type and disposal method. 

• C a r b o n 

EN16 – Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas 

emissions by weight. 

• Economic 

EC1 – Direct economic value generated and distributed, 

including revenues, operating costs, employee 

compensation, donations and other community 

investments, retained earnings, and payments to 

capital providers and governments. 

• Occupational Health & Safety 

LA1 - Total workforce by employment type, employment 

contract, and region, broken down by gender. 

LA7 – Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, 

and absenteeism, and number of work related fatalities 

by region and by gender. 

Reporting period 

The report is for the calendar year 2011. This follows 

on from our initial annual reports of 2009 and 2010. 

Our methodology uses the indicators based on Global 

Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines and carbon 

measurement is based on WRI/WBCSD GHG protocols. 

If there are any queries about this report please contact 

sustainability@finlays.net or write to: 

Sustainability Report, 

James Finlay Limited, 

Swire House, 

59, Buckingham Gate, 

London, SW1E 6AJ. 


Introduction 

1.4 Management approach to sustainability 

Each Finlays Business Unit faces different challenges 

depending on its location, products or stakeholders. 

Our management approach is one of ownership by senior 

management of each business whereby sustainability is 

embedded within the responsibility of the Business Unit. 

Management approach to sustainability 

The Head Office role is to provide oversight, facilitation 

and guidance but it is the responsibility of each business 

unit to prioritise objectives relevant to its business. 

Sustainability objectives are aligned with business 

objectives and owned by the relevant function in those 

businesses, with clear responsibilities and measurable 

targets. This is backed up by accountability and 

transparency through public reporting of performance. 

Essentially, we are committed to sustainability as a total business 

concept, driven by the senior management team within each 

business unit, supported and guided by Head Office. 

A Group Sustainability Committee was set up in early 

2009 to ensure that we bring appropriate expertise 

together on a regular basis to highlight emerging issues. 

The Committee also monitors the Group’s response to 

dealing with sustainability challenges and keeps abreast 

of external factors impacting our strategy. It has the remit 

to set targets, review and monitor our performance and 

where necessary, to commission Group sustainability 

projects addressing specific issues. It is also responsible 

for promoting and spreading best practice from outside or 

within the organisation, recognising notable achievements 

and reviewing participation in accreditation and 

certification schemes. 

The Group has many experts in water, energy, waste, 

certification schemes, labour relations and packaging and 

we are trying to use our subject matter experts as thought 

leaders to facilitate the spread of knowledge across the Group. 

The targets we set are designed to balance specific business 

priorities with a common approach across the group. 

Sustainability Managers are now in place in each of the 

businesses, in full time or part time roles, reporting to 

the Managing Director of each business. Generally acting 

in an advisory capacity, they are charged with objectives 

specific to the business in which they operate, and many 

of them have specialist skills pertinent to these objectives. 

Increasingly, sustainability metrics are being built into 

individual personal performance reviews as part of their 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). 

In a business characterised by diversified activities, setting 

common sustainability targets can be a complex process. 

Some of the medium term targets for incremental 

improvement are more easily achievable for some 

businesses than for others. To clarify our performance, 

we have provided data on total usage and carbon footprint 

as well as normalised data. Whilst we understand that 

carbon footprints have to reduce in total, normalised data 

in the short term helps the business demonstrate progress 

in terms of efficiency and cost reduction in addition to 

efficiencies driven purely by volume. Some areas are crucial 

to the long term viability within some businesses. Where 

this is the case, the Business Unit has taken a leadership 

position in the Group. Examples are energy use in Tea 

Estates and water use by Horticulture in Kenya. 


Introduction 

1.5 Sustainability commitments and supporting actions 

Sustainability commitments 

and supporting actions 

In 2008 we conducted an extensive review across 

the business with the purpose of formulating an 

uplifting yet realistic strategy to guide our actions. 

Working with our partners, Forum for the Future, 

we explored the major trends and uncertainties that 

the company could be facing over the coming years. 

The project, ‘A sustainable future for Finlays’, examined the 

possible impacts on the organisation and how it could become 

a more resilient and sustainable company and, at the same time, 

make as great a contribution as possible to the wider goal of 

sustainable development. In short, the aim was to develop a longterm 

and stretching sustainable development strategy for Finlays. 

From this process we identified a set of five high level group 

sustainability commitments by which we now guide our actions 

and evaluate our success. 

10 


Introduction 

1.5 Sustainability commitments and supporting actions 

Business 

We will address social, political and environmental issues 

by demonstrating that it is more financially rewarding 

to be sustainable: 

• Undertake regular business performance reviews, taking 

action to increase the long-term sustainability of our 

business portfolio over time; 

• Explore new business opportunities in keeping with 

our sustainability goals; 

• Maintain sufficient diversity in our markets and 

our products to ensure resilience; 

• Make the true cost of production (economic, environmental 

and social) clear and ensure, over time, that it is reflected 

in the price of the product; 

• Communicate openly with our supply chain, the local 

community, pressure groups and the wider public about 

the case for sustainable development; 

• Behave with honesty and integrity. 

Environment 

We aim to have ‘zero net impact’ as our minimum 

environmental standard. Overall we commit to 

making a positive contribution to environmental 

recovery and resilience: 

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of the likely 

impact of climate change and implement appropriate 

adaptation measures for our operations and the 

communities in which we operate; 

• Undertake to be carbon restorative and minimise 

emission of other greenhouse gases; 

• Continuously improve our resource management, practice 

excellence in our management of water resources and 

reduce our waste generation; reduce and eliminate the 

use and release of pollutants wherever possible; 

• Lead the way in community watershed management; 

• Protect and enhance biodiversity in the countries in 

which we operate; 

• Demonstrate and promote sustainable pest and 

disease management, eliminating any negative impact 

on the environment; 

• Maintain soil health through sustainable agricultural 

practices and avoid soil degradation by taking measures 

to prevent contamination and erosion; 

• Demonstrate excellence in forestry management. 

People 

We strive to make Finlays an enjoyable and rewarding place 

to work, an organisation that nurtures and develops its 

people for the benefit of the individual, the company, and 

the community: 

• Employ our workforce according to universal international 

standards and treat employees fairly, with dignity and respect; 

• Protect the health of our workforce and promote 

healthier lifestyles; 

• Ensure that all employees, and their resident dependents, 

have access to food and shelter, sanitation, clean water 

and primary healthcare; 

• Develop our employees’ life and business skills and 

empower all our employees to make their voices heard 

through democratic worker representative bodies; 

• Demonstrate leadership in equal opportunity 

employment, thriving as an ethnically and culturally 

diverse company; encourage and facilitate female 

representation and the contribution of women to 

the business; 

• Reward our employees for achieving the company’s 

business objectives; 

• Educate our employees on the values and principles 

of sustainable development. 

Communities and Partners 

We will take an active leadership role in dealing 

with sustainability issues, and share our knowledge 

for the benefit of our suppliers, communities and society 

in general: 

• A collaborative approach to addressing sustainability 

challenges and policy, engaging with growers, suppliers, 

customers, government, NGOs, union and industry bodies; 

• Adopt a leadership role in supplier and smallholder 

development; demonstrating and providing best practice for 

our suppliers in crop selection, sustainable farming techniques, 

production processes and environmental management; 

• Make sure we become a catalyst for positive change 

in the communities we serve. 

Products 

We will develop and provide sustainable products and 

services that contribute positively to the health and 

well-being of society: 

• Reduce the lifecycle impact of each of our products 

and ensure sustainability is built into our New Product 

Development processes; 

• Provide research and development capability exploring 

innovative, sustainable processes and products; 

• Deploy sustainable processing technologies to increase 

product efficiency and competitiveness; 

• Package our products in the most sustainable way 

possible using sustainable packaging innovation; 

• Transport our goods in the most efficient and sustainable 

manner possible; 

• Be proactive in supporting an equitable and ethical 

trading environment for our products. 


About Finlays 

2.1 Corporate profile 

12 

Finlays is a vertically integrated and geographically 

diversified agribusiness conglomerate taking a leadership 

role in sustainability. Sustainability is pivotal to our success; 

it lies at the very heart of what we do and what we stand 

for. It provides the common thread that pulls the group’s 

different business units together. 

Founded in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1750, Finlays began as a trader 

and manufacturer of cotton before expanding into tea in the 19th 

century, following the collapse of the British cotton industry. 

Over the years, Finlays has diversified to reduce its reliance on 

tea plantations. Diversification into horticulture began around 

30 years ago and, with the acquisition of Flamingo (now Finlays 

Horticulture) in 2007 Finlays is now one of the leading players 

in the UK cut flower and fresh produce industry. 



2.1 Corporate profile 

Tea, Coffee, Rubber and Timber 

Our Tea Estates in Kenya and Sri Lanka cover more than 

15,000 hectares, producing 40 million kilos of black tea 

annually. We are one of the only tea companies in the world 

to be involved in every aspect of the complex process of 

growing, trading, blending, extracting, packaging and 

distributing tea. Finlays is the largest trader of Fairtrade 

tea in the world and largest roaster of coffee in the UK. 

Finlays is also one of the largest independent tea traders in 

the world, trading more than 70 million kilos of tea each year. 

We are one of the world’s largest suppliers of quality tea 

extracts, including instant teas and aromas, dealing with 

the world’s top beverages companies. Our beverage packing 

businesses in the UK and Sri Lanka source, blend and package 

private label tea and coffee for customers in the UK, the Middle 

East and Japan. As well as managing 6,000 hectares of timber 

in Kenya and Sri Lanka, the Company also produces 1 million 

kilos of rubber latex annually in Sri Lanka, 204,000 stacked 

metres cubed (stm 3 ) of Eucalyptus and Cyprus per year. 

Flowers and Fresh Produce 

Finlays Horticulture is involved in the growing, processing, 

packaging, marketing and distribution of cut flowers and 

premium prepared fresh vegetables. Finlays Horticulture is a 

supplier to most of the UK’s leading retailers, including Marks 

& Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, the Co-operative, Morrisons, 

Asda and Next. 

The company has major farming interests in Kenya 

and South Africa through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, 

Finlays Horticulture Kenya and Finlays Horticulture South 

Africa. We are the largest vertically integrated added-value 

horticultural producer and exporter of fresh produce and 

flowers from Africa to the EU. 

Finlays markets and sells flowers in continental Europe 

through Omniflora, a wholly-owned subsidiary based 

in Frankfurt. Omniflora supplies fresh flowers to major 

retail multiples in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway 

and Luxembourg. Omniflora is committed to supplying 

ethical flowers, sourced from socially and environmentally 

responsible growers. The company trades almost exclusively 

in Fairtrade accredited roses sourced from FLO (Fairtrade 

Labelling Organisation) certified farms. 

Established in 2007, Taikoo Flowers, in Kunming, China, 

is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Finlays. This cut flower 

production facility supplies high quality carnations 

principally to the Japanese market. Taikoo Flowers has 

established a joint venture with Hilverda Kooij to develop 

state-of-the-art plant breeding and propagation programmes. 

FV SeleQt is a joint venture business between Finlays 

Horticulture and the Best Fresh Group formed to market 

premium fresh vegetables in Europe. The operation is 

based in Poeldijk in The Netherlands. The Best Fresh 

Group brings an expertise of marketing and distributing 

salads, vegetables and fruits in Continental Europe and 

this combined with Finlays expertise of both growing 

and sourcing vegetables makes FV SeleQt a compelling 

proposition for European customers. FV SeleQt currently 

supplies 15 customers all over Europe and is fully accredited 

for Fairtrade, Max Havelaar and the International Food 

Standard (IFS). 

Other activities 

Our subsidiary Dudutech, an integrated pest management 

company produces large quantities of biological control 

organisms to control common pests and diseases at its insect 

production facilities in Naivasha, Kenya. These indigenous 

beneficial insects have helped Kenyan growers to reduce their 

dependence on synthetic pesticides by almost 70% since 2004. 

Equally important, Dudutech also provides training to ensure 

that all its customers can maximise the benefits of Integrated 

Crop Management (ICM). ICM is a total approach to farming; 

it is not merely the use of biological products. 

Another Finlays subsidiary, Skytrain, is a dedicated cargohandling 

and freight forwarding agency, with facilities at 

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, handling sea 

and air freight export for fresh produce from East Africa. 

We are the world’s largest supplier 

of quality tea extracts, including 

instant teas and aromas… 

Finlays has a controlling interest in Finlays Colombo, 

a Sri Lankan based business quoted on the Colombo 

Stock Exchange. Its activities include warehousing of tea, 

blending and packaging tea for export, insurance broking, 

environmental services and representation for Cathay 

Pacific, for which it acts as General Sales Agent. Finlays 

Colombo also owns Sri Lanka’s largest and technologically 

most advanced cold storage facility, together with a factory 

which manufactures green tea. 

Finlays and its subsidiaries are well experienced in 

the environmental and social issues that come with the 

cultivation of tea, timber, flowers, vegetables and other 

such crops. 



2.2 Finlays fast facts 

14 

Tea 

Produces 40 million kg per annum from 15,000 hectares in Kenya and Sri Lanka. 

Trades over 70 million kg from offices in the UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, UAE, Malawi, Vietnam, 

Indonesia, Mainland China and the USA; blends and packs over 18 million kg per annum. 

Manufactures and trades over 6 million kg of extracts per annum. Trades over 4 million kg 

of decaffeinated tea. 

Coffee 

Blends and packs 2.3 million kg of coffee per annum. 

Flowers 

300 hectares under greenhouse or polytunnel in Kenya, South Africa and Mainland China 

producing over 450 million stems per annum for the UK, continental Europe and Japan. 

Sources and processes 850 million stems in Kenya, UK, China, Germany and Holland. 

One of the world’s largest producers and packers of Fairtrade roses and lilies. 

Fresh Produce 

Grows and processes 7 million kg per annum and sources 28 million kg per annum. 

First supplier of Fairtrade vegetables into the UK. 

Insects (Integrated Pest Management) 

12 hectares of insect production facilities in Kenya yield 956 million insects a month. 

Rubber 

2,000 hectares in Sri Lanka producing 1,000,000 kg rubber latex per annum. 

Timber 

5,000 hectares in Kenya and Sri Lanka producing 204,000 stm3 of Eucalyptus and Cyprus. 

Coconuts 

600,000 nuts per annum in Sri Lanka. 

Cold Storage 

Operating a 2.2 million cu-ft facility in Sri Lanka. 



2.2 Finlays fast facts 

Awards 

Finlays Tea Estates – Kenya 

• Gold medal for Kijani Mark, Chomogonday estate, 

Tea Board of Kenya 

• Silver medal for Tiluet Mark, Chomogonday estate, 


• Silver medal for Sisiba Mark, Kymulot estate, 


• Silver medal for Black Orthodox Tea, Kitumbe estate, 


• Bronze medal for best set of samples for special 

manufacture, Chomogonday estate 

• Fairtrade certification for Kitumbe Group 

• Rainforest Alliance Certification maintained 

for all factories and tea estates 

• Organic certification by Soil association of the UK 

maintained for Kitumbe factory, Chemase Estate 

and Chomogonday factory 

• Food safety certification (ISO 22000) maintained 

in four factories (Kitumbe, Changana, Kymulot 

and Chomogonday) 

Finlay Beverages 

• Asda Private Label Supplier of the Year Award 2011 

• Co-operative Retail Trading Group’s Ethical Supplier 

of the Year Award 2011 

Finlays Horticulture 

• Sainsbury’s Innovation Award 

• Plan A Award for Supply Chain work in supporting 

small scale farmers and Fairtrade development 

• Plan A Award to Richard Fox for outstanding personal 

contribution to water stewardship around Lake Naivasha 

• Contribution to the Industry Award, Grower of the Year, 

awarded to Bob Ellis 



2.3 Group structure 

Group structure 

The Group comprises of eight businesses encompassing Tea Estates, Leaf Tea, 

Tea Extracts, Beverage Packing, Flowers, Fresh Produce, Logistics & Services, 

and Forestry & Rubber. Each business has a number of business units 

operating in various countries around the world. 

Tea Estates 

Our tea estates are in 

Kenya and Sri Lanka 

Beverage Packing 

Expertise in sourcing, 

blending and packing in 

both the UK and Sri Lanka 

Leaf Tea 

We are black and green tea 

suppliers and manufacturers 

of decaffeinated tea 

Tea Extracts 

We’re one of the world’s 

largest suppliers of 

quality tea extracts 

Fresh Produce 

We grow a wide variety 

of fresh vegetables 

Logistics & Services 

We have logistics 

businesses in Sri Lanka 

and Pakistan 

Flowers 

We grow roses, carnations, 

chrysanthemums 

and lilies 

Rubber & Forestry 

We own rubber and 

forestry plantations 

16 



2.4 Global network 

Finlays worldwide 

We employ over 39,000 employees on flower farms in Kenya, South Africa and China, 

and tea estates in Kenya and Sri Lanka. 

Our primary markets are in the UK, USA, Asia and, increasingly, continental Europe. 

Total Net sales: £590,936,000. 

Total capitalization broken down in terms of debt and equity: £222,152,000 

(Equity £172,490,000 Debt: £49,662,000). 

South America 

1 Buenos Aires 

2 Santiago 

4 

2 

3 

1 

North America 

3 New Jersey 

4 Toronto 

Europe 

7 

5 

6 

5 Germany 

6 Holland 

7 United 

Kingdom 

London 

South Elmsall 

Stevenage 

Spalding 

Sandy 

Hull 

Africa 

8 Malawi 

9 Kenya 

Kericho 

Mombasa 

10 South Africa 

Finlays Sustainability Report 2011 17 

10 

8 

9 

12 

15 

16 

Asia 

17 

11 China 

12 Dubai 

13 Hong Kong 

14 Indonesia 

15 Pakistan 

16 Sri Lanka 

17 Vietnam 

11 

13 

14

Group performance review 2011 

3.1 Environment 

Energy 

Overall performance 

Overall there has been a 5% reduction in total energy 

usage across Finlays. There has been an increase in the 

renewable component to 73% of total energy used from 63%. 

This is due to an increased hydro-electric contribution in 

Kenya and higher firewood usage over 2010. Whether we 

can sustain the increased renewable status and continue 

to reduce overall energy requirements will be a major 

challenge for 2012. 

Finlay Beverages have entered into an energy contract 

with a higher percentage for renewable energy and Finlays 

Colombo have completed the switch from furnace oil to 

sustainable firewood at the Haldamullah factory in Sri 

Lanka, increasing their renewable energy contribution 

from 40% to 60%. 

2011 Highlights 

• Horticulture’s total energy use is down by 9% 

• Finlays Leaf Tea & Tea Extracts total energy use 

is down by 17% 

• Sri Lanka Tea Estates have seen an 8% reduction 

per unit of production and a 16% reduction overall 

• Finlay Beverages saw a 7% reduction per unit 

of production 

In 2012 we will be examining areas where we can make 

more significant changes to our energy usage by using 

our in-house energy knowledge experts across the business. 

We will also conduct detailed energy assessments across 

all sites to drive small-scale savings in machinery, methods 

and people’s behaviour. 

We are making progress on performance in Sri Lanka by 

converting steam to hot water boilers; this should greatly 

assist energy saving commitments. 

Our GRI Indicators are: EN3, EN4 

Medium term targets 

to be achieved by 2014 

• Reduction of 10% total energy usage 

on 2009 base year 

• Increase of 10% renewable energy over 

non-renewable energy 

18 

GJ (Thousands) 

2,500 

2,000 

1,500 

1,000 

500 

0 

Finlays Group energy usage 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Indirect 

renewable 

Indirect 

non-renewable 

Direct 

non-renewable 

Direct 

renewable 




Water 


For the first time all business units have reported full 

year water figures, with Sri Lanka Tea Estates metering 

all sites. There has been a 20% reduction in net water 

across the Group. This figure excludes the water used by the 

community in our Tea Estates in Kenya, which if calculated 

on the same basis equates to a 7% reduction overall. 

Improvements have been noted elsewhere with the 

shutting of the Mara Mara tea extracts factory which had 

a non-closed cooling system. These savings and changes 

in measurement have resulted in Horticulture Africa now 

being accountable for 92% of all water used in the Group, 

compared to 65% in 2010. 

With water consumption directly related to climate, 

in 2011 Horticulture Africa experienced a slight increase. 

An accurate comparison can only be made when years 

of similar climatic temperatures are reviewed against 

each other. Work continues on increasing the reuse and 

recycling quotas. 

Overall the Group saw a 12% increase in reused water 

and a 4% increase in rainwater capture, which shows 

a sustained positive trend on water management. 

These are the areas we should see further progress 

across all businesses. 


• Finlays Leaf Tea & Tea Extracts has seen 

a reduction of 84% in net water 

• Flowers Europe have seen a 13% reduction 

in net water 

• Fresh Produce UK show a reduction of 4% in net water 

• Finlay Beverages have seen a 39% reduction 

in net water 

• Kenya Tea Estates installed their first rainwater 

capture system at Chomogonday factory 

In 2012 our businesses will continue to implement 

more water reduction measures, through extended 

water measurement and water efficiency assessment 

tools. The data collected will be used to make informed 

decisions on water use and sourcing water. 

Our GRI Indicators are: EN8, EN10 

Finlays Group water usage 


Water m 3 (Millions) 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Reused Net water - 

Rainwater 

Rainwater as 

component 

of net water 



• 15% reduction in water usage 

• 0% untreated water discharge to open ground 

• 20% of water to be recycled or reused



Waste 


Overall waste numbers are down 13%, with a significant 

38% reduction of waste to landfill, showing a sustained 

year-on-year performance improvement. Encouragingly, 

there was a 25% reduction in waste recovered; the majority 

of this being green waste. The supply chain in which we 

operate means we have variable demand, stringent product 

specifications and sensitivity to outside factors. This waste 

stream will continue to be difficult to eliminate but is an 

area in which we will continue to challenge all stakeholders 

in the supply chain. 


• Finlays Fresh Produce UK 

0% to landfill 

32% reduction in total waste 

• Finlay Flowers UK 


• Omniflora 


• Leaf Tea & Tea Extracts 


• Finlay Flowers Europe 


• Finlays Colombo is reporting waste 

for the first time 

The volume of green waste presents opportunities to gain 

value from recovering as much as possible for use either as 

a fuel or to improve soil health. Projects in both these areas 

are a priority for 2012. 



• 0% to landfill 

20 

Tonnes (Thousands) 

Tonnes (Thousands) 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

Finlays Group waste 

2008 

Waste to 

landfill 

Waste 

recovered 

Finlays Group waste to landfill 

2008 

Horticulture 

Beverages 

2009 

2009 

2010 

Waste recycled 

Waste reused 

2010 

Leaf and 

Extracts 

Tea Estates 

2011 

2011 




Carbon 


Overall there has been a 2% increase in total carbon 

emissions. Scope 1 emissions show a 6% reduction and 

Scope 2 emissions, a 21% reduction. This is due to a good 

performance across Finlay Flowers Europe and helped by 

the closure of the Mara Mara tea extracts factory in Kenya. 

Scope 3 numbers increased slightly, which is attributed 

to better data collection at Leaf Tea and Tea Extracts on 

tea shipping and increased air freighting of product. We 

continue to make progress on shipping and rail but Scope 3 

emissions, by nature, are controlled by others in the supply 

chain. We do not have total control on these emissions, 

therefore a long-term approach to monitoring change 

needs to be taken. 


• Finlays Horticulture Africa 

Scope 1 reduction of emissions by 15% 

• Finlay Beverages 

Scope 1 & 2 reduction of emissions by 4% 

Scope 3 reduction of 19% total carbon 

usage and 5% per unit of production 

• Finlays Fresh Produce 

Scope 3 reduction of emissions by 5% 

Finlays Group carbon footprint 


CO 2 Tonnes (Thousands) 

350 

300 

250 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Scope 3 Scope 1 

Scope 2 



• Scope 1: 15% reduction on 2009 base year 

• Scope 2: 15% reduction on 2009 base year


3.2 Economic Contribution 

Economic Contribution 

Finlays is committed to addressing social, political and environmental issues by demonstrating 

that it is more financially rewarding to be sustainable. 

In seeking to be financially profitable, our business 

understands that we need to take an active leadership role 

in dealing with sustainability issues, and we need to share 

1. This table is constructed based on data contained within the 2011 James 

Finlay Annual Report and follows guidance recommended by the Global 

Reporting Initiative (GRI EC1). 

22 

Direct economic value generated 

Revenues 

Revenues plus interest 

and dividend receipts, 

royalty income and 

proceeds of sales 

and assets 

£593.5m 

Our economic contribution includes: direct employment, 

buying from local, regional and global suppliers, and the 

distribution and retailing of our products. 

Investment over many years and far into the future - in our 

fields and factories and on our land - has resulted, and will 

continue to result, in significant economic contributions 

to the countries in which we operate, creating direct 

employment for thousands and indirect employment 

for many more. 

In the year ended 31 December 2011, Finlays generated 

£593.4 million in economic value, of which the majority 

was distributed through the course of our business to our 

employees, shareholders, suppliers and governments as well 

as to local communities through our sustainability activities. 

We look for opportunities to work collaboratively with small 

holders in many markets and our various projects involve 

over 40,000 farmers. We help provide them with an income 

so they can support their dependents and contribute to the 

development of the communities in which they live and 

where we operate. In many cases Finlays assist the farmers 

with marketing activity, logistical support and essential 

farming expertise and good agricultural practice. 

Economic value distributed 

knowledge and engage with the communities in which we 

operate. This will benefit our suppliers, our communities 

and society in general. 

Operating costs 

Cost of materials, services 

and facilities 

£458.2m 

Employee wages and Benefits 

Cost of employees salaries 

and benefits 

£73.6m 

Payments to providers of capital 

All financial payments made to the 

providers of the organisations capital 

£13.8m 

Payments to Government 

Tax paid including remittance taxes 

and excise taxes 

£28.8m 

Community Investments 

Voluntary contributions and investment 

of funds in the broader community 

£4.4m 

Economic value 

retained 

£14.6m 

2. Value retained to fund future capital expenditure and acquisitions. 

Economic value retained by region 

Economic Value retained (millions) 

16 

14 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

-2 

-4 

-6 

UK 

North & South 

America 

Africa 

Asia & 

Middle East 

Rest of 

Europe 



3.3 People - Occupational Health & Safety, Training, Community 

Occupational Health & Safety 

All our businesses are expected to embrace a health and safety culture which aims to provide a safe working 

environment for employees 

During 2011 we continued to focus our attention on strengthening the awareness of 

Health & Safety across all of our businesses whilst ensuring that they complied both 

with local labour laws and with internationally recognised standards. 

We now have a well embedded 

structure which features local 

Health and Safety Committees for 

each business unit supported by 

qualified Health and Safety personnel. 

These committees are designed 

to empower employees to make 

proactive suggestions to eliminate 

hazards which could result in 

accidents. A Group Health & Safety 

Committee coordinates policy which 

is encompassed in a Health and Safety 

Management System. This sets out 

standard guidelines and reporting 

structures to which businesses are 

expected to adhere. The system is 

currently being reviewed to take into 

account lessons learnt. We expect that 

actions arising from the review will 

be implemented by the middle of 2012 

and will help to further standardise 

health and safety arrangements and 

reporting across the Group. 

The Group Health & Safety Committee, 

which comprises of health and safety 

experts from around the Group, 

together with external consultants and 

a main Board executive director, meets 

four times a year ahead of the quarterly 

round of board and management 

meetings. Its remit is to review health 

and safety performance across the 

Group by analysing reports received 

from each business. Special attention 

is paid to investigating serious or fatal 

accidents where recommendations 

are made to help ensure that these 

do not reoccur. The committee also 

commissions health & safety audits of 

individual businesses which are carried 

out by external consultants or internal 

health and safety experts from other 

businesses in the Group. The committee 

reports directly to the Board of James 

Finlay Limited. In addition, Health 

and Safety performance is reported 

and reviewed at all management and 

statutory board meetings. 

During 2011 we continued work 

on implementing a standardised 

proactive reporting regime across 

the Group. Key Performance measures 

include workplace inspections, 

systems checks, achievement of HS 

Improvement activities, the number 

of safety meetings, and corrective 

actions closed out. All businesses are 

now reporting, other than Sri Lanka, 

which is expected to agree a programme 

which will be implemented during 2012. 

As can be seen from the key 

performance measures detailed 

below, further work is required to 

reduce incident rates and to ensure 

consistency of reporting. Unfortunately 

we suffered five fatalities in 2011; 

all of which were the subject of both 

external and internal investigations. 

Recommendations have been 

implemented. Last year saw a fall in 

major incidents when compared to 

2010 and, although it might seem that 

this has been offset by a rise 

in minor incidents, it is felt that this is 

due to better reporting rather than an 

increase in actual accidents. As can be 

seen, there is still a lack of awareness 

of what constitutes occupational 

illness in some of our smaller overseas 

businesses. We are working to ensure 

more accurate reporting in this 

area. Similarly, we are encouraging 

businesses to improve reporting 

of near-miss incidents and the 

identification of hazards. In the case 

of the latter, these are now included 

as a proactive measure. 

In conclusion, the reduction in the 

rate for lost time is encouraging and 

it is hoped that this can be further 

improved as employees become more 

aware of the importance of thinking 

safety and working safely. 

Occupational Health and Safety - key performance measures 

2010 2011 

Incidents Rates per 

100,000 

hrs 

Incidents Rates per 

100,000 

hrs 

Fatality 4 0.005 5 0.006 

Major 389 0.45 314 0.36 

Minor 2,870 3.29 3,132 3.62 

Occupational Illness 2 0.00 3 0.0035 

Property Damage 253 0.29 263 0.30 

Near Miss 354 0.41 450 0.52 

Claims 326 0.37 199 0.23 

Lost time hrs 71,374 81.84 59,743 69.06 




It is due to our committed and skilled 

workforce that Finlays is known for its 

‘bush to cup’ expertise in tea, ‘farm to 

shelf’ expertise in horticulture and long 

term commitment to sustainability and 

ethical trading. We deal with products 

and services that require significant 

manpower and application of skills, from 

harvesting to preparation to processing. 

Sustainability is at the heart 

of everything we do. 

Producing natural, sustainable and 

quality services and products that 

enhance quality of life is important to 

us and an explicit part of our company 

strategy. Finlays has subscribed to 

these values and activities for over 

260 years, and we support them by 

working to internationally agreed 

standards, with strict criteria. We 

are members of several bodies 

which independently audit our 

estates and farms; a process which 

helps to continuously improve our 

transparency and accountability. 

We continue to nurture a wide range 

of partnerships with organisations, 

including Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, 

Forum for the Future, FRICH, Ethical 

Trading Initiative and *Imarisha. 

Community 

Finlays are helping more than 3000 

small scale vegetable growers in 

Kenya and Guatemala providing 

access to export markets and 

supplying the technical expertise 

they need to meet European and 

UK retailers’ expectations for Good 

Agricultural Practice (GAP) and Good 

Manufacturing Practice (GMP). 

24 

Training and ‘Routes to Grow’ 

Our commitment to people is central to our business 

and our sustainability strategy 

We strive to make Finlays an enjoyable and rewarding 

place to work, an organisation that nurtures and 

develops its people to the benefit of the individual, 

the company, and the community. 

A similar model is used for our tea 

out-growers and we have helped 11, 

200 farmers gain Fairtrade status 

in Kenya. 

Maintaining these standards demands 

time, dedication, and training to ensure 

we meet the needs of the markets in 

which we operate. The standards also 

improve the knowledge and capacity of 

our workforce, both at work and in their 

private lives. 

Our integrated management 

succession and development process 

– ‘Routes to Grow’ came from our 

commitment to build a sustainable 

business, a key component of which 

is our commitment to our employees. 

In formulating Routes to Grow, we 

worked closely with the management 

in each business, and asked ourselves 

key questions about where the leadership 

of tomorrow would come from and if 

we could foster internal talent within a 

timeframe to fill key succession gaps. 

We also wanted to ensure that when 

we attract talent, our environment 

and processes enable us to retain 

and develop it. 

Since its inception, over 200 management 

employees have been through the Routes 

to Grow programme in Kenya, Sri Lanka 

and the UK. We have made consistent 

progress in creating an enduring 

pipeline of talented managers with the 

experience and competencies to lead 

our business, now and into the future. 

The Routes to Grow programme is also 

supported by the normal pre-existing 

training and development activity 

delivered within the businesses, 

and by Group, through such means 

as INSEAD courses. These activities 

culminate in individual development 

plans to build on participants’ 

strengths in their current roles, 

address any weaknesses, and provide 

clarity of the possible career routes. 

A key feature of Routes to Grow, in 

common with any other management 

process, is that it is driven by individual 

business needs and it must reflect and 

adapt to those needs as they change. 

This means that the programme will 

always be run to a timescale and 

frequency identified by each individual 

business. In some, it will be run 

annually, in others, less frequently. 

Nonetheless the commitment to develop 

our people, both within their current 

roles and in preparation for potential 

future roles, continues. 

We are fortunate in having a rich 

and broad pool of talent in Finlays, 

with depth of technical knowledge 

across our many and varied business 

disciplines. By being systematic about 

developing this talent we continue to 

invest in the long-term sustainability 

of our management capability. 

We have also embarked on an extensive 

supervisor training initiative based on 

Ethical Trading Initiative Supervisors 

Training Course and we also provide 

training in life skills, such as kitchen 

gardening for the tea estates residents 

in Kenya and Sri Lanka. Additionally, 

to assist our people in improving their 

lives, we provide community waste 

management schemes, and teaching 

in the construction of cooking 

jikos (stoves). 

* This is the Lake Naivasha catchment restoration programme, supported by the Government of Kenya and the Princes Trust. It builds on the significant progress 

that Finlays has made in meeting its objective to play a leadership role in watershed management. 




Human Resources Report 

Total Kenya Sri Lanka Europe Others 

Head count Total number - male 22,609 14,671 6,201 1,502 235 

Total number - female 17,556 8,401 7,861 700 594 

Total Employees 40,165 23,072 14,062 2,202 829 

Perm employees - male 17,871 10,659 5,982 1,094 136 

Perm employees - female 14,331 5,609 7,720 552 450 

Perm employees - total 32,202 16,268 13,702 1,646 586 

Temp / Agency - male 4,734 4,011 219 409 95 

Temp / Agency - female 3,229 2,793 141 147 148 

Temp / Agency - total 7,963 6,804 360 556 243 

Training Man hours training 319,230 270,824 31,403 7,532 9,471 

It is due to our committed and skilled 

workforce that Finlays is known for its 

‘bush to cup’ expertise in tea, ‘farm to 

shelf’ expertise in horticulture… 


Leading by example 

26 

Empowering Supervisors 

Gender discrimination is endemic in many workplaces, across many countries. Poorer 

and less educated women are often particularly vulnerable. They may know they are 

being harassed, but may be unaware of their rights and unaware of the protection 

they can gain through the law. Cultural norms mean that these women are often 

unaccustomed to speaking up for themselves, and this increases their vulnerability. 

Finlays Horticulture Kenya has over 6,500 employees, about half of them 

women, across six sites. 

We recognised that we had to ensure that we had a clear policy on gender 

discrimination back in 2004, when we received our first social audit. This 

recommended that Finlays Horticulture set up an internal training department 

and women’s committees. These were duly established, along with welfare, and 

health and safety committees. 

We found that the gender committee had a very beneficial impact. 

Empowering supervisors 


8.1 Soil Health And Quality, A Review Of Finlays Tea Plantations Article 

Empowering supervisors 


Despite these initiatives, problems persisted. It 

was reported that some supervisors were behaving 

inappropriately towards women workers, and some also 

failed to understand the role of the gender committee. 

Finlays wanted to do more to empower more women and 

enable them to take on more responsibility. One of the main 

issues identified by management was how supervisors – 

those charged with managing staff on a daily basis – 

were interacting with both male and female workers. 

We recognised that supervisors were under pressure both 

to deliver from an operational perspective, and to manage 

employees at the same time. With issues identified such as 

supervisors being promoted to supervisory roles without 

receiving adequate training on people management, 

Finlays decided to train all supervisors on awareness and 

avoidance of discrimination and sexual harassment, using 

ETI’s ground-breaking Supervisor Training Programme. 

This programme aims to change inappropriate behaviour 

of supervisors towards women workers, and assists 

supervisors in understanding the role of the gender 

committee, it is no longer viewed as onerous, but can 

be seen as an operational tool and appreciate and work 

within its guidance frameworks. 

We undertook a baseline study to isolate the real issues. 

In addition to communication problems, the assessment 

also revealed the need to strengthen our policies on 

discrimination and sexual harassment. 

We have created staff induction handbooks, summarising 

the company’s policies and procedures. These are made 

readily available, so that information is clear and easily 

accessible to all employees. 

We have also updated our Sexual Harassment and 

Discrimination policies in line with the ETI Guidelines. 

Through the ETI, we have now trained 40 senior managers 

to become trainers themselves, so we can roll out the 

programme internally to supervisors. It was important 

to equip our own staff to conduct the training since they 

understand the challenges faced by the supervisors and 

can also be involved in implementing any issues raised 

during the training sessions. 

From only 10% of supervisors, women 

now represent around 25%. Women are 

also now being recruited into positions 

that were once reserved only for 

men - for example as security guards, 

mechanics and drivers. 

Feedback received from the workers during the 

post impact assessment: 

‘‘ There is only one case that I know on sexual harassment 

where a supervisor was harassing a junior worker. He 

was sacked after investigations found him in the wrong”. 

Female worker, November 2011. 

Key achievements of this initiative: 

• Over 250 supervisors have been trained to date 

and Finlays Horticulture expects 400 supervisors 

to be trained by the end of the programme. 

• All departments have gender representatives, 

who are confident in advocating women’s rights. 

There is also a strong appeals process. 

• We have selected training champions for the 

training among senior management, to ensure 

the implementation of actions agreed in the 

training sessions are met. 

• We have established a system to monitor the 

outcomes of the training – the system includes 

staff surveys, audits and full impact assessment. 

• Africa Now!, a leading NGO in Kenya carried out 

the first impact assessment of the programme 

and the results showed a positive improvement 

especially in communication between the 

supervisors and workers. There were no notable 

incidents of sexual harassment or discrimination. 

This investment in training our employees centres 

on making Finlays Horticulture a better place to 

work and being an employer of choice. 



28 

While the rest of the world agonizes over the possibility of exhausting the global oil 

supply, Africa is beset with an additional kind of energy crisis: a growing scarcity of 

firewood. Many families rely on firewood and charcoal as their main fuel for cooking 

and may not be able to afford electric bills or gas for cooking. 

These households still cook using the traditional three-stones stove, which requires copious amounts 

of firewood to function which, in turn, contributes to destruction of the forests and to pollution 

of the environment. 

In 2010, James Finlay Kenya commissioned a pilot 

programme to address the issue of sustained fuel wood by 

introducing a cooking alternative that best suits the social 

environment. The improved stoves are made of bricks and 

clay and installed in the same fire place of the concrete 

stoves in employee’s houses, as shown in the picture. 

The main concern was to design a programme for fuel 

wood efficiency to guide the actions of employees. The 

company also felt the programme would encourage 

employees to contribute to a clean environment and avert 

the health hazards of fuel-smoke and lessen the drudgery 

to women and children in fetching fuel-wood. 

Energy efficient clay brick stoves (jikos) at James Finlay Kenya 

Energy efficient clay brick stoves (jikos) 

• A positive outcome of the programme has been the 

creation of employment to the rural women and artisans 

installing the stoves. 

• The initiative has since benefited more than 1500 

households among Finlays’ workforce. Employees have 

adapted enthusiastically to the new stoves. 

• Through James Finlay Kenya’s phased extension 

programme, all employees will be provided with energy 

saving stoves by 2015. 


Business Unit Performance 

4.1 Tea estates – Kenya and Sri Lanka 

Tea estates – Kenya and Sri Lanka 

Tea Estates Kenya Sri Lanka 

4 tea factories, 12 tea estates in Kericho 19 tea factories, 26 estates in Rakwana, 

Ratnapura, Halli’ella, Passara, Nuwara’Eliya 

and Matale 

Activity Black CTC (cut, tear, curl) 

and Orthodox teas 

Green tea 

CTC main marks made from Finlays leaf tea: 

Chemamul, Matuta, Kapsongoi, Sisiba, and 

Tiluet. Bondet and Masingi are made from 

our out-growers leaf 

The primary Orthodox tea mark is Milima 

Sustainable timber 

Markets Tea products are sold to: 

Awards & 

Certification 

Europe; predominantly the United Kingdom 

and former USSR countries 

Asia; Pakistan, Afghanistan, 

United Arab Emirates 

Africa; Egypt, Sudan and Southern Sudan 

Local Market; Kenya 

Fairtrade certification for Kitumbe 

Group maintained in 2011 following 

audit by Flo-Cert 

Rainforest Alliance Certification maintained 

for all factories and tea estates following 

audit in 2011 

Organic certification by the Soil Association 

maintained for Kitumbe factory, Chemase 

estate and Chomogonday factory 

ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management system) 

maintained for Kitumbe, Changana, Kymulot 

and Chomogonday factories following audit 

by Bureau Veritas Certification Kenya 

Black CTC (cut, tear, curl) and Orthodox teas 

Green tea 

Main marks of Hapugastenne plantation: 

Amunutenne, Galbode, Alupola, Hopewell, 

Lellopitiya, Madampe, Hatherleigh, 

Springwood, Palancotta, Demodera, 

Oodoowerre, Rooketenne, Newburgh GT, 

Adawatte, Shawlands, Hopton, Uvatenne, 

Court Lodge, Summerhill, Kenmare and 

Hetherset, Tommogong and Kandapola, 

Madulkelle and Duckwari 

Rubber 

Sustainable timber 

Coconuts 

Spices and minor crops 

Tea products are sold to: 

CIS countries 

Japan, UK, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq 

Rubber and minor spice crops are sold 

to the local market 

Oodoowerre tea estate received the 

‘Green Job’ award for waste management 

and pollution control, by the Ministry 

of Environment 

STING Corporate Accountability 

Silver category 

Rainforest Alliance Certification achieved 

and maintained for Passara, Halli’ella and 

Nuwara’Eliya groups 

Fairtrade certification for Concordia 

(Hethersett and Kenmare marks) and 

Nahavilla (organic) 

ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management 

system) certification 




2011 review 

Our tea estates in Kenya experienced a high crop yield 

and high prices during the review period. Sri Lanka Estates, 

however, saw low prices - with severe weather impacting on 

both quality and crop yield. 

All the estates in Sri Lanka now have water and waste 

management systems in place. The Nuwara’Eliya and 

Halli’ella group were certified by Rainforest Alliance. 

For Nuwara’Eliya this was extremely challenging, given 

the position of a market town close to a vibrant vegetable 

smallholder community. An approach to involve all local 

stakeholders culminated in a rally by the wider community, 

from farmers to civil authorities, to draw awareness to the 

environmental issues in the area and to facilitate change. 

In Kenya, work steadily progressed to reduce water, energy 

and waste. The Chomogonday factory piloted formal water 

audits and installed a rainwater harvesting system. These 

will be rolled out in 2012 to all the other factories in Kericho. 

Changana factory incorporated as much natural light 

as possible into its extension design, to reduce 

energy requirements. 

Looking to the future, both Kenya and Sri Lanka have 

begun to articulate what is important to them to ensure 

the future of their businesses. Common to both is how 

tea estates act as an economic, social and environmental 

catalyst in the community. 

In Kenya the FRICH smallholder project, Kibagenge, 

achieved major milestones with five co-operatives formed 

and now beginning to trade and work towards achieving 

Fairtrade certification. 

In addition to our work with FOMAWA (Friends of the Mau 

Watershed) on the preservation of the Mau Forest, we have 

begun to fund work with Rhino Ark and the Mountain 

Bongo Surveillance Project. 

30 

tea-kgs (Millions) 

st m 3 harvested (Thousands) 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

300 

250 

200 

Tea Estates 

0 0.75 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

150 

100 

50 

0 

Sri Lanka Tea 

Kenya Tea 

Timber Harvested 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Sri Lanka 

Rubber 

Kenya 

1.05 

1.00 

0.95 

0.90 

0.85 

0.80 

rubber-kgs (Millions) 




Future thinking – 

Kenya 

Key areas identified as important 

to focus on for the future are: 

• Land stewardship 

As the custodian of the land, it is imperative 

that we continue to maintain the land to a 

high standard, employing good agricultural 

practice, understanding and protecting 

the biodiversity around us, and ensuring 

continued productivity. 

• Competitiveness 

We must also ensure that we remain 

economically viable, improving 

competitiveness in the products we 

offer, consistently reducing input costs, 

and developing and introducing new 

equipment and processes such as new 

continuous withering and more energy 

efficient machine harvesters. 

• Community Catalyst 

To be a catalyst for positive change 

in the communities we serve. 




32 

Future thinking – 

Sri Lanka 

The areas requiring further study are in 

addition to the Group’s objectives of energy, 

water, waste, carbon and educating our people. 

These areas are: 

• Crop diversity 

To diversify and increase contributions from 

forestry and rubber, coconut and minor crops 

such as Cinnamon; and to create a balanced 

portfolio of CTC (cut, tear, curl) and Orthodox 

teas to ensure economic resilience. 

• Impact of climate change and required 

agricultural practices 

To analyse the potential impacts of climate 

change in the different micro-climates of our 

estates and use this to improve our agronomy 

practices and crop selection. 

• Forestry 

To be proactive in implementing and sharing 

good forestry practices with the community. 

• Community Catalyst 

To be a catalyst for positive change in the 

communities we serve. 




Achievements in 2011 

Objectives Targets 2011 Achievements 

Energy Kenya: 5% reduction in total energy used 14% increase in total energy used 

Sri Lanka: 5% reduction per unit 

of production 

Water EN8, EN10 Kenya: 5% reduction per unit 

of production 

Sri Lanka: Collection of water data 

for a full year 

23% increase per unit of production 

16% reduction in total energy used 

8% reduction per unit of production 

90% reduction per unit of production due 

to domestic water figures being excluded 

All units metered and reporting 3 

Waste Kenya: Reduce landfill by 45% Reduction to landfill of 98% 3 

Sri Lanka: Passara Group to reduce 

landfill to 0% 


5 

5 

3 

3 

254 tonnes to landfill (All estates) 5 

All estates should be reporting waste All estates reporting 3 

Carbon Kenya and Sri Lanka: Scope 1: 5% 

reduction in emissions 

Kenya Catalyst for 

positive change in 

the communities 

we serve 

Sri Lanka- 

Sustainable 

Agriculture 

Standards 

14 % increase in emissions 5 

Scope 2: 5% reduction in emissions 6% reduction in emissions 3 

Extension of kitchen gardens and energy 

saving jikos (stoves) in the community 

Continuation of the 

FRICH Kibagenge project 

Social: Finlays Charitable Trust 

(educational grants etc.) 

Nuwara’Eliya & Halli’ella to achieve 

Rainforest Alliance certification 

Rainforest Alliance systems to be 

in place for Matale, Ratnapura and 

Rakwana estates 

Demonstrations on how to grow a 

kitchen garden were carried out in the 

community in 2011. This will progress 

in 2012 with monitoring and evaluation 

to determine actual uptake. Jikos have 

been introduced into the community 

Five cooperatives and one cooperative 

union successively established in the year 

Cooperatives achieved Fairtrade 

certification (Jan 2012) 

Cooperatives completed preparations 

for Rainforest Alliance audit (audit was 

scheduled for the early part of 2012) 

Distribution of grants to the community 3 

Rainforest Alliance certification achieved 3 

Systems in place, certification to be 

determined in 2012 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3 

3



Plans for 2012 

34 

Objectives Major activities 2012 Targets 2012 

Energy Kenya: LED lighting technology in factories 

to reduce dependence on external power source 

5% overall reduction on 2011 

Sri Lanka: Energy audits to be conducted 5% reduction per unit 

of production 

Water Kenya: Focus on rainwater harvesting 

off all factory roofs 

20% increase in 

rainwater collection 

Sri Lanka: Water audits to be conducted 20% increase in 

rainwater collection 

Waste Kenya: Investigate the application of biomax technology 

to eliminate our biomass waste disposal challenges 

Sri Lanka: Central contracts to be put in place 

with waste recyclers 

Carbon Kenya: Ropeway to be completed in 2012 reducing leaf 

tea collections by vehicle 

Kenya: Catalyst for 

the community 

Kenya: 

Competitiveness 

Kenya: Land 

Stewardship 

Sri Lanka: 

Sustainable 

Agriculture 

Standards 

Finance and support long-term conservation of the 

Mau forest and its biodiversity through funding of a 

Bongo surveillance unit, and through support of the 

Rhino Ark’s fencing initiatives as well as collaboration 

with FOMAWA 

Complete FRICH Kibagenge project 

Continue with grants given through 

Finlays Charitable Trust 

Kenya: CCW (Continuous Conveyor Withering) and 

CPW (Continued Process Withering) to be commissioned 

at Chomogonday 

Form a ‘Best practice’ Group: looking at others outside 

and inside industry for new approaches 

Lead MAS (Marker Assisted Selection) participation to 

breed drought-tolerant tea bush clones ensuring that 

we are more adaptable to climate change challenges 

Research into biodiversity on and bordering our estates 

Achieve Ratnapura, Rakwana and Matale Rainforest 

Alliance certification 

Work with the community to implement Rainforest 

Alliance standards on waste, water management and 

biodiversity protection 



Scope 1: 10% reduction 

Scope 2: 5% reduction 



Sustainability in energy supply 


Sustainability 

in energy supply 

James Finlay Kenya’s vision for energy 

supply is to be completely self-sufficient 

in electrical and heat energy within 

the next decade. We would also like 

to generate this energy in carbon 

neutral generating plants, be they biogas, 

gasification, Combined Heat and Power 

(CHP), solar, efficient boiler technology, 

or hydro-electric. We are actively pursuing 

all these latest technologies. 

We will also attempt to reduce internal use of diesel 

by installing, where appropriate, a carbon neutral 

ropeway transport system to move most of the tea 

and fuel wood. 

In actively pursuing these strategies and technologies 

we will be able to operate sustainably by considerably 

reducing the impact of increasing oil prices and 

other energy costs. 

We are evaluating alternative financing options in 

order to accelerate the process of implementing 

many of these projects. 

The following steps were taken in 2011 to improve 

the sustainability of our energy supply: 

Fuel wood / heat energy 

1. Energy monitoring / auditing 

Two comprehensive external energy audits were 

conducted and the reports indicate that we can save 

gain significant annual savings on the estates. This 

may be optimistic and we are investigating the 

investments required to make these savings. We 

have decided to fit inverters on one drier to see 

if the savings are as expected. 

2. Steam boiler / turbine CHP – potential for Kitumbe 

We conducted a comprehensive study to investigate 

the possibility of a CHP system for Kitumbe. This will 

be considered along with other options for sustainable 

energy at Kitumbe. 

3. Tea Extracts specific firewood consumption 

This has improved considerably and is better than budget 

in January 2012 by almost 30%. The main boiler is being 

maintained more regularly and closely monitored, and 

the three new additional boilers have been commissioned 

and are now in operation. Firewood stocks have been built 

up to the required 40,000 m3 which will bring down the 

moisture content. 

4. Firewood forecast model 

This model is fully functional and 2011 figures show we 

have a sustainable supply of fuel wood into the future. 

Lower crop in 2012 will reduce firewood consumption 

by black tea factories in 2012. 

5. Black tea factories - new boilers 

This project is currently on hold as we look at gasification 

and CHP for Kitumbe. 

6. Bagasse briquettes 

We will continue to buy briquettes and sell telegraph poles 

to compensate if necessary. Supply has dried up for the 

reason that we have too many tea bush stumps to burn. 

7. Biogas 

This is budgeted for 2012 and is currently on 

schedule although we will be discussing the biomax 

composting proposal. 

8. Solar Energy 

We installed one thermal solar system on the roof of the 

CPW (Continued Process Withering) in Kitumbe in 2011. 

This is operating extremely well and proves the concept. 

This is a successful test case for future solar installations. 

With increasing firewood costs there will be a reduction 

on the current 4 year pay-back period. 

Electrical energy 

Combined Heat and Power (CHP) – Saosa 

The steam turbine at Saosa has been operating and 

producing up to 600 kW under the current steam flow 

regime. However the feasibility study for a much larger 

CHP Scheme has been finalised. 

Gasification 

We are currently evaluating a fluid bed gasifier, coupled 

with a 1000 kW electrical generator, for black tea factories. 

Lobbying / feed-in tariffs (FITs) 

Finlays have joined with other major players in the agricultural 

sector to lobby the government to increase FITs for electricity. 



36 

Catalyst for the community – Kericho 

Catalyst for the community - Kericho 

We have recently lent a helping hand in protecting the Mau Eburu Forest, a cause to 

which we have long been committed. In line with our endeavours to serve as a catalyst 

in the community, James Finlay Kenya supports efforts such as saving the Mau Forest, 

conserving the Bongo, supporting 11,200 small scale farmers through the Kibagenge 

project, and supporting the NGO Rhino Ark. 

Located in the African Rift Valley, immediately south-west of Lake Naivasha and the 

Mount Kenya Forest, Eburu is part of the 420,000-hectare Mau Forest Complex - the 

largest remaining area of indigenous mountain forest in East Africa, and the largest 

water catchment area in Kenya. 

The South West Mau borders our property along its entire eastern boundary and is the 

source of the five rivers that pass through the tea estates and flower farms. The farms 

derive their water and a substantial amount of hydroelectricity from these river systems. 

Climatically, the Mau provides ideal conditions for the cultivation of tea and forestry 

products such as eucalyptus so the health of Mau forest, including the Eburu ecosystem, 

is critical to our success. 



Catalyst for the community - Kericho 


Finlays has supported conservation of the Mau for 

many years through funding of Friends of the Mau 

Watershed (FOMAWA), which educates local farmers 

and school children about the importance of protecting 

their environment. Spreading the conservation message 

to a wider and more influential audience is a more 

difficult challenge. 

An ‘island’ of pristine forest, supporting a wide variety 

of flora and fauna, but surrounded by human settlement, 

Eburu has been decimated over the years by illegal 

logging and charcoal burning, and has suffered from 

poaching and bush meat hunting. 

There is now a glimmer of hope with the discovery 

that Eburu is one of the last remaining refuges for the 

critically endangered antelope, the Eastern Mountain 

Bongo. It is also believed a small population - between 

7 and 15 of these beautiful animals - lives in the South 

West Mau Forest, close to Finlays’ tea estates. This 

finding by the Mountain Bongo Surveillance Project, 

which Finlays also funds, has at last drawn Eburu’s 

plight to international attention. 

At the end of 2010, the UK and Kenya-based Charitable 

Trust, Rhino Ark, announced it was joining forces with 

the Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Forest Service to 

initiate a project to fence the Mau Eburu Forest against 

predation. At around 50 kilometres long, the fence will 

cost 100 million Kenyan Shillings to build. In 2011, longtime 

Rhino Ark supporter, Finlays, donated Ksh 5 million 

to help kick-start the project and has pledged to donate a 

second, similar amount in 2012. 

The project follows on from Rhino Ark’s successful 

20-year project to fence a 2,000 square-kilometre 

conservation area in the Aberdare Mountains, in an 

effort to deter wanton poaching of the endangered black 

rhino. The last post in the 400km, two-metre high, solarpowered 

electric fence was set in place in August 2009. 

One of the features of the Aberdare fence is that around 

20% of its poles are made of plastic, manufactured from 

recycled waste material from the burgeoning Naivasha 

floriculture industry. The recycling scheme was the 

brainchild of Rhino Ark trustee and flower farmer Mike 

Higgins, who set up a manufacturing plant on his farm. 

Mike died in 2009 and after completion of the Aberdare 

fence, the plant fell into disuse. 

In 2010, Finlays approached Rhino Ark, to ascertain if it 

would be possible to reactivate the plant. The outcome was 

an agreement to transfer the plant to Finlays’ Kingfisher 

Farm, where fence posts for Rhino Ark’s use are now made 

There is now a glimmer of hope with 

the discovery that Eburu is one of the 

last remaining refuges for the critically 

endangered antelope, the Eastern 

Mountain Bongo. 

at cost from Finlays’ waste material. This is a ‘win-win’ 

partnership, which means that we can dispose of the 

approximately 140 tonnes of plastic waste we generate 

every year, in an environmentally friendly manner, while 

at the same time supporting a worthwhile conservation 

project. The waste generated translates into 10,000 fence 

posts – or 40kms of fence a year. Plastic posts have a 

number of advantages over traditional wooden ones: they 

are cheaper to make, they avoid the need for expensive 

insulators for the electrified fence, and will even spring 

back into place if charged by an angry elephant. 

As a staunch supporter of the Mountain Bongo 

Surveillance Project, we also host outreach programmes 

in two of our estate primary schools close to South West 

Mau. Our employees’ children have the opportunity to 

learn about the Bongo, the technology used to track it and 

the threats faced by its natural habitat - though with the 

Mau Eburu fence set to begin construction in the first half 

of this year, in around 18 months’ time these threats will 

hopefully become a thing of the past. 

Smallholder engagement is an essential component to a 

sustainable future for us at Finlays and we are engaged 

in several projects in Kenya and Sri Lanka, across Tea 

and Horticulture. 

By working with smallholders we can demonstrate that 

our local communities have the ability to contribute 

to major global changes. Our level of support for and 

investment into projects like Kibagenge, to enhance the 

contribution of out-growers has been very successful. 

In the words of one of our smallholder Fairtrade farmers 

who is a member of the Fintea Co-operative Union: 

“We are seeing a better price. Training has enabled both 

better quality and quantity of tea to be produced.” 

Kibagenge was set up by Finlay Beverages, The 

Co-operative Group, international development 

organisation Africa Now! and The Co-operative College. 

The consortium secured funding from the 

UK Government’s Department for International 

Development (DFID) Food Retail Industry Challenge 

Fund (FRICH) two years ago and is now well on the 

way towards completing the project. 



38 

Land Stewardship: Soil Health and Quality 

Soil Health And Quality 

Soil health refers to the biological, chemical, and physical features of soil that 

are essential to long-term, sustainable agricultural productivity with minimal 

environmental impact. Soil health provides an overall picture of soil functionality. 

Although it cannot be measured directly, soil health can be inferred by measuring 

specific soil properties (e.g. organic matter content) and by observing soil status 

(e.g. fertility). 

James Finlay Kenya recognizes that soil is fundamental to agriculture and 

a major item of physical capital in tea production. Sustaining tea production 

therefore requires that the soil resource is also sustained so that the soil 

functions effectively today and will continue to produce long into the future. 

Finlays is therefore committed to implementing good agricultural practice 

programmes; demonstrating deliberate management steps toward building 

and maintaining healthy soils. 



Soil Health And Quality 


Soil acidity and fertility 

Tea growth is very poor in highly acidic soils, due to poor 

root development, reduced activity by microorganisms 

and low availability of nutrients such as nitrogen, 

phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and 

molybdenum. To maintain soil fertility, great effort is 

made to control soil erosion and compost is added to 

raise soil organic matter levels whenever they decline. 

Finlay’s fertilizer programme encourages the replacement 

of exported nutrients - utilizing suitable ameliorants to 

maintain soil pH at optimal range - and judicious use of 

other inputs that cannot affect ecological equilibrium of 

soil micro flora. Recent reviews of long-term trends of 

soil analytical data provide useful substantiation that soil 

quality in terms of Ca, Mg and K has steadily improved 

over the period and this can be attributed to changes in 

the fertilizer programme, as well as soil amelioration 

(lime application) after uprooting seedling tea. Thus, 

from a nutritional perspective, our current husbandry 

practices are sustainable. 

Soil organic matter 

The levels of soil organic matter in old tea soils are 

low compared to the forest soils. Soil organic matter is 

important for maintaining soil health and soil structure, 

reducing soil loss and increasing nutrient and water use 

efficiency. It also provides a carbon (energy) source for 

soil microorganisms. Organic matter levels should be 

maintained at, or improved to, satisfactory equilibrium 

level. This is achieved in tea plantations through return 

of crop residue - mainly pruning every 4 years - and the 

application of compost. James Finlay (Kenya) Limited has a 

variety of organic waste streams and we are in the process 

of researching the possibilities of converting these waste 

streams into compost on a commercial scale. 

Soil compaction 

Where land was prepared using heavy machinery during 

the early years, compaction of soil layers over time could 

have led to change in soil structure and formation of 

hardpan, thus contributing to deterioration in soil fertility. 

We aim to minimize use of such machinery that will 

compact the soil in all areas of field operations. 

…committed to implementing 

good agricultural practice programs, 

demonstrating deliberate management 

steps toward building and maintaining 

healthy soils. 

Biologically dormant soils 

Soil livestock are excellent indicators of soil health. 

Earthworms are abundant in forest litter and topsoil 

but somewhere between rare and absent in tea soil. 

Earthworms are important in maintaining soil structure, 

aeration, nutrient cycling, and drainage and in breaking 

down organic matter for incorporation into the soil 

profile. The addition of compost and introduction of 

beneficial fungi such as mycorrhizae, has improved 

soils biological activity. The production and use of 

vermi-compost is currently being trialled. 

Soil erosion 

Poor soil conservation results in the loss of valuable 

topsoil contributing to poor physical and chemical 

properties and decreased nutrient content, leading 

to reduced performance of plants and lower yields. 

In Kericho, water erosion is considered a major risk to 

agricultural sustainability. Finlays has thorough soil and 

water conservation systems, with programmes to prevent 

erosion in all vulnerable areas. Annual review of these 

systems during field management open days has made 

it possible to continuously improve them to address the 

established needs. 

Soil Moisture Conservation 

Due to the free-draining nature of tea growing soils 

(nitisols) in Kericho, and the changing weather patterns, 

in-field water/moisture conservation is becoming 

increasingly important for survival of plants in the dry 

season. At Finlays we encourage maximum infiltration of 

water to minimise losses of water through surface run-off, 

and also to greatly diminish the loss of topsoil by erosion. 

This is achieved through introduction of infiltration pits, 

particularly in new planting areas. 

With good agricultural practices and a comprehensive 

soil and fertility management system in place, the tea 

soil’s natural productivity is managed in a sustainable 

way, the reliance on purchased inputs declines, and land 

value and income generation increases year by year. 

Healthy soils will therefore be productive and profitable 

now and for future generations. 



40 

In 2008 we initiated work 

to bring the estates up 

to Rainforest Alliance 

standards on ecosystem… 

Crop Diversity: Sri Lanka 

When Finlays took over the tea estates in Passara Group in 1992, Dammeria A, 

Dammeria B, Hopton, Shawlands and Adawatta, there was little future for the 

majority of the tea. The bushes were old, the land degraded; it was a year of rising 

temperatures and intermittent water availability, and the area was increasingly 

characterised by the exposed rocky landscape. 

Significant changes were necessary if we were to 

develop these unproductive estates. At the time 

they could not support the replanting of tea, and 

there was also a surplus workforce due to the poor 

tea yield. 

In 1995 we carried out estates trials into the viability of 

planting rubber. At the time, the prevailing theory was 

that the altitude of Passara was unsuitable for the growing 

of rubber. However, the Finlays management team, 

long experienced in the crop, believed that the soil and 

temperature would sustain rubber and allow productive 

use of the land and fields. 

By 1997 rubber trials showed vigorous growth and high 

yields. Accordingly, a five-year programme of replanting 

tea into rubber was undertaken. Today we have over a 1000 

hectares of new rubber fields that record very high yields. 

Initially the workforce - tea pickers for generations - was 

wary, unhappy and reluctant to change. Retraining was 

The Passara Group of estates, Sri Lanka 

required to alleviate this situation. Today, the community 

sees the importance of rubber not only in sustaining and 

diversifying estate agriculture, but in bringing in new 

skills and ensuring the future economic wellbeing of 

the community. 

An unforeseen consequence of the establishment of 

rubber trees and the extension of the watershed forest has 

been a fall in temperatures, creating a cooler climate with 

year-round availability of water; at the same time, the 

topsoil is being built up thanks to ground cover legumes 

(nitrogen fixing plants). Other crops such as cinnamon 

and cocoa are now being introduced. 

In 2008 we initiated work to bring the estates up 

to Rainforest Alliance standards on ecosystem and 

community management, covering 10 key principles. 

The long-term solutions developed through this 

programme, without requiring consultants and large 

budgets, have resulted in the estates moving further 

forward in creating sustainable economic, environmental 

and social communities. 



4.2 Leaf Tea Trading and Tea Extracts 

Leaf Tea Trading and Tea Extracts 

Trading offices in UK, Kenya, Sri Lanka, UAE, Malawi, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, USA 

Manufactures Tea Extracts in Kenya, Chile and China 

Decaffeination in UK 

Products Tea Trading Tea Decaffeination Tea Extracts and Aroma 

Market Global Global Global 

Employees Permanent: 478 

Awards and 

certification 

Membership of ethical, 

environmental and 

industry bodies 

Temporary: 241 

Fairtrade ‘Processor’ 

Rainforest Alliance 

ISO 22000 

Organic ‘Processor’ certification 

United Kingdom Tea Council (UKTC) 

UKTC Technical Committee 

ISO Tea Committee 

Members of the US Tea Association 




Review 2011 

The major event towards the end of 2010 was the 

consolidation of our Tea Extracts manufacturing sites 

in Kenya: Mara Mara and Saosa. The closure of the Mara 

Mara factory at the end of 2010 has brought great savings 

in terms of energy and water abstraction. In 2011 we also 

strengthened our environmental reporting. 

Throughout 2011, Saosa factory was subject to extensive 

engineering works associated with the consolidation of the 

Mara Mara factory equipment. The consolidation has been 

positive in terms of our overall sustainability performance, but 

has brought new challenges to the factory’s resource efficiency. 

Energy and water usage remains a primary focus, and at 

the end of 2011 we invested in boilers that offered greater 

efficiencies. Fuel wood storage sheds were expanded to 

accommodate more wood for firing at a moisture content 

of



Leaf Tea Trading performance 2011 

Target Activities 

Finlays Hull: Natural gas 

usage kWh/kg produced: 

15% reduction from 

2008 baseline 

Finlays Hull: Electricity 

usage kWh/kg produced: 

reduction of 15% from 

2008 baseline 

17% reduction 

18.5% reduction 

Tea Extracts performance 2011 

Activities Achievements 

Mara Mara 

factory closure 

Installation of more 

efficient boilers 

Stockpiling fuel wood 

under cover 

Utilise spent leaf for 

energy generation 

Major contributor to 

meeting 2011 targets 

on energy 

3 new efficient boilers 

were commissioned at 

the end of 2011 

In 2011, the Saosa factory 

extended its fuel wood 

sheds to accommodate 

more logs. This was 

incentivised to ensure 

logs are kept for a 

sufficient period of time 

to obtain a moisture 

content of < 25% 

This has not yet been 

implemented. Burning 

spent leaves for energy 

generation is problematic 

as the high moisture 

content of the spent 

leaves makes them 

harder to work with. 

We are investigating 

alternative methods of 

utilising our spent leaves 

Energy 

The overall business target for 2011 for Leaf Tea and Tea 

Extracts was to reduce overall energy usage by 5% compared 

to 2010. Finlay Extracts and Leaf Tea Trading exceeded this 

target by reducing energy by 17%. The most significant 

activity leading to this reduction was the closure of the Mara 

Mara factory. Indirect energy consumption reduced by 46% 

in comparison to last year’s performance, as high rainfall 

allowed us to generate more from hydro-electric power. 

Fuel wood usage reduced by 16%, resulting from lower 

production volumes and firing fuel wood with a lower 

moisture content. 




Water 

Leaf Tea Trading and Tea Extracts water target in 2011 

was to reduce overall usage by 15%. The closure of Mara 

Mara meant this target was significantly exceeded, with 

a reduction of 84%. The Mara Mara factory contributed to 

the majority of our water usage (88%) in 2010 due to the 

large amount of water required for cooling duties. Mara 

Mara was built in a way which meant cooling water was 

returned clean to the river rather than being re-circulated 

within the process. As the Saosa factory re-circulates its 

cooling water, we have achieved considerable reduction 

in our water abstraction volumes. 

0% to landfill has not been achieved yet 

but we continue to work towards this 

target. Overall good progress was made in 

2011 by reducing waste to landfill by 20% 

44 


Activities Achievements 

Implement CIP 

(Cleaning In Place) 

initiatives to reduce 

water usage in plant 

Meter water streams 

at different stages 

of production 

Meter water usage 

at different stages 

of production 

Initiative has been taken 

to reduce the volume of 

water used for flushing 

the tanks. No savings in 

this area have yet been 

determined due to the 

increased frequency in 

CIP regimes 

Extensive mapping of 

the Saosa factory’s water 

streams was undertaken 

in 2011 

9000L/h water derived 

from evaporators has 

been re-circulated in the 

process 

Water meters have been 

sourced and will be 

installed in 2012 




Carbon 

In 2011 we set an overall target to reduce Scope 1 carbon 

emissions by 5% and Scope 2 emissions by 5%. We exceeded 

our target for Scope 2, with a reduction of 72%. We did not 

meet our targets for Scope 1 due to fugitive gases resulting 

from the commissioning of new chillers and refurbishing 

of old chillers in the Saosa factory. Overall, Scope 1 carbon 

emissions increased by 6%. 

The greatest overall increase in carbon emissions was 

seen in Scope 3 with a 51% increase when compared to 

our performance in 2010. The increase was due to air 

freighting material required to keep up with customer 

orders. Accuracy in reporting distances for Tea Extracts 

and Leaf Tea Trading is another factor that has greatly 

influenced our Scope 3 carbon output. An element of 

under-reporting on mobile freight in 2010 has also skewed 

this year’s performance.. Air freighting is unfavourable 

both from an economic and environmental point of view. 

Although our long-term goal is avoid air freight as a reoccurring 

transport mode we anticipate it will continue to 

play a significant role in 2012 in order to meet customer 

expectations of order deliveries. 


Target Activity 

5% reduction in Scope 1 

and 2 carbon emissions 

Commissioning 

new chillers with 

screw compressors 

which provide fewer 

possibilities for leakages 

Waste 

Overall, there was a total reduction of waste by 34%. 

Lower production volumes of instant tea and the 

associated reduced generation of spent leaf waste is 

the main contributor to achieving this reduction. Other 

contributing activities include increased recovery of green 

waste at Finlays Hull and decreasing blending activities in 

the Mombasa office and the Saosa factory. 

The 2011 target for waste was to reduce plastic waste by 5% 

and this target was achieved. Saosa made improvements in 

its data collection of plastic waste in the second half of 2011 

whilst in Mombasa recording will improve in 2012. 

The 2011 target was to reduce paper and cardboard waste 

by 5%. Our performance resulted in a 79% reduction in 

paper waste. The major contribution to this reduction 

came from our Mombasa site, where blending activities 

were reduced, resulting in the generation of less waste, 

including paper waste. 

0% to landfill has not been achieved yet but we continue to 

work towards this target. Overall good progress was made 

in 2011 by reducing waste to landfill by 20%. 

Health and wellbeing 

We continue to explore options for the assessment of health 

and wellbeing credentials of our products and services. Our 

Kenyan operations will pilot a carbon footprint assessment 

in 2012. If this assessment proves successful then the toll 

will be used in conjunction with other more qualitative 

assessments. The installation of water meters in Saosa, 

scheduled in 2012, will also inform better understanding of 

our products’ water usages along the manufacturing cycle. 





46 

Objectives Targets 2011 Achievements 2011 

Energy 5% reduction in energy usage 17% reduction 3 

Water 15% reduction in water usage 84% reduction 3 

Waste 0% to landfill 

5% reduction in plastic waste 

5% reduction in paper and 

cardboard waste 

Demonstrate that 100% of 

recovered waste is dealt with 

in a sustainable manner 

Develop a water footprint model 

Carbon Scope 1 emissions: 5% reduction 

Scope 2 emissions: 5% reduction 

Develop carbon footprint model 

Health & wellbeing Implementation plan for developing 

the health & wellbeing credentials of 

our products 

225 tonnes to landfill 

79% reduction in paper waste 

54% reduction in plastic waste 

A review of existing water footprint 

models undertaken, no methodology 

has been selected as yet 

6% increase 

72% reduction 

A carbon footprint methodology has 

been developed but yet to be validated 

through pilots in our Kenyan operations. 

The pilot assessment is scheduled to take 

place in 2012 

5 

3 

3 

5 

5 

3 

3 

Work is scheduled for 2012 5 






Energy 5% reduction in energy usage. Saosa factory: 

Reduce Firewood usage by 2.2% (m3 fuel 

wood/MT instant tea produced) 

Saosa factory: Improve electricity efficiency 

by 13.5% (kwh/kg instant tea produced) 

Water Saosa factory: Recycling of condensate 

All sites - Increased training and awareness 

in managing water usage during processing 

Finlays Hull: Reduce waste water load by 

removing caffeine 

Waste Saosa factory: Zero organic waste to landfill 

Saosa factory: Reduce waste associated with 

intermediate storage 

Saosa factory: Commence project converting 

spent leaf into commercially viable product 

Saosa and Mombasa: Improvements in 

recycled waste separation and storage 

Carbon Decommissioning old chillers prone 

to leakages 

Regular maintenance of chillers to 

avoid leakage 

Health & wellbeing Assess piloted carbon footprint model 

and apply accordingly across products 

Develop a water footprint model 

3% reduction in total energy 

15% reduction in water 

10% reduction of waste to landfill 

3% reduction in plastic/paper/cardboard 

5% reduction in scope 1 carbon emissions 

Develop an implementation plan to drive 

health and wellbeing credentials across 

our products 



48 

Finlays Hull: the story so far 

Finlays Hull: The story so far 

The factory, dating from pre-1900, was owned by Chambers and Fargus and was 

previously an oil seed crushing mill which produced edible oil and cattle cake from 

linseed, cottonseed, peanut (groundnut), rapeseed and palm kernel. In the early 1970s 

the mill was converted to a solvent extraction plant which extracted edible oil from 

soya beans utilising highly flammable hexane as the extracting solvent, therefore 

requiring the extraction plant to be built to flameproof standards. By the end of 

that decade the mill was closed down and stood idle. 

In 1985, with America promoting decaffeinated tea as a health drink, James Finlay PLC in 

Glasgow saw the potential of decaffeinated tea and decided that it should be added to their 

portfolio of tea products. 

The factory in Hull was a suitable extraction plant for decaffeinating tea and with the 

American decaffeination market in sight Finlays went ahead with trials to evaluate whether 

the plant could be a commercially viable acquisition. At the time, energy costs, water costs 

and usages were not high on the agenda for any business. However, we had to comply 

with Yorkshire Water’s strict effluent consents. Finlays qualified for a coastal region 70% 

reduction in effluent costs; 3 years later, after Yorkshire Water built a new effluent plant, 

the coastal discount was abolished. This increase now became a much higher production 

cost, directly related to water usage. 


Finlays Hull: the story so far 

The savings in water usage have been generated from 

a wide combination of initiatives, which includes: 

- small-bore hose pipes 

- process water to a minimum level 

- water misers installed on all cisterns and urinals 

- cooling towers fitted with high efficiency drift 

eliminators and multi speed fans 

- chilled water system enclosed 

- reuse of the reverse osmosis blow-down water. 

- steam usage and condensate returns managed 

and monitored 

- cooling tower water treatment - parameters continually 

monitored to reduce the quantity of chemicals used and 

also importantly reduce the blow-down water rate. 

We implemented a sustainability training scheme 

for all employees. 

We are introducing a new plant to recover caffeine from 

the waste/effluent stream. This will enhance the cleaning 

of the effluent waste, prior to disposal, and the caffeine 

will then be refined to produce a saleable product. After 

the recovery of the caffeine, the effluent will be retested 

by the local water authority; the consents can then 

be reset, producing a saving on the effluent charges. 

Finlays will ensure that waste water discharges from 

our undertakings are properly managed and controlled, 

whilst at all times minimizing the impact of such 

discharges on the natural environment. 

Whilst the development work took place to capture 

the American market, it soon became apparent that 

decaffeinated tea was beginning to be recognised 

in the UK. 

Progressing with the building of the decaffeinated 

tea business, amongst other ventures undertaken, 

we relocated a spray drying operation from our factory 

in Swindon to Hull, for instant tea production. 


To monitor all production lines, meters were installed to 

individual production areas, giving an understanding of 

energy and water usage and enabling us to formulate a 

long-term strategy for gas, electricity and water versus 

production costs. 

The plan also includes maintaining all plant and 

equipment, controlling and managing systems and 

energy infrastructure in such a way as to minimise 

energy wastage. We will monitor and report on energy 

consumption and identify and implement opportunities 

for improved energy efficiency, e.g. boiler efficiency, 

condensate returns, chemical usage and minimizing 

blow-down water. 

We were audited by the Carbon Trust in 2007. The audit 

identified a small saving of electricity from lighting, high 

efficiency motors, and installing inverters to high usage 

motors. Most of these improvements have now been made. 

In 2010 the original extraction plant was closed down and 

decaffeinated tea production was transferred to the newer 

second plant which met production needs by round-theclock 

operations and improved efficiency. With gas and 

electric costs still rising rapidly, a significant change in 

the process needed to be implemented, and an alteration 

to the decaffeination extractor resulted in an extra 

20%+ throughput. 

We utilised the space in the old plant for the construction 

of the caffeine recovery plant. This meant that the caffeine 

effluent extracted from the tea, which previously went to 

waste, could now be refined to provide a saleable natural 

caffeine product and in doing so improve the quality of 

the remaining effluent stream. 

We still have long-term targets to achieve, including 

investigations into a water treatment plant, to recover all 

waste water for reuse and the use of 100% green energy. 

We have become the leader in our field producing the 

best quality decaffeinated tea in the world, at a very 

competitive price. 



4.3 Finlay Beverages 

Finlay Beverages 2011 review 

In 2011 Finlay Beverages showed sustained improvement against Group objectives, although the targets set for 2011 

were not met on a number of indicators. Given the changing product mix, these indicators may have been too stretching. 

Significantly, however, the company has shown consistent year-on-year improvement over the last 3 years. 

50 

Finlay Beverages 1 Site 

Activity Tea blending & packing 

Coffee roasting & packing 

Market UK Private Label retail, food service and export 

Employees 194 permanent 

Awards and 

certification 

Membership 

of any ethical, 



24 casual 

Quality Management System 

Food Safety management System 

Environmental Management System 

British Retail Consortium 

Fairtrade Processor 

Organic Processor 

BRC Certification – A Grade 

Coffee Community 

British Coffee Association 

UK Tea Council 

FLO Tea Product Advisory Committee 

Valpak (Packaging Waste Regulations) 

Beverage Service Association 

Institute of Packaging 

Common Code for the Coffee Community 

Food and Drink Federation 

Institute of Packaging 




Total energy consumption reduced by 4% against the 

previous year which, in the context of a 1% increase in 

volume, equated to a net reduction in consumption of 7% 

per unit of production. We have introduced several initiatives 

over the last 12 months which have contributed to this 

reduction. In the coffee factory, we replaced the coffee 

grinder with two smaller, more energy efficient units and 

installed intelligent lighting systems in the warehouse. In 

the tea factory, we installed new air compressors equipped 

with the latest inverter control systems, helping to reduce the 

base load of electricity. Other initiatives across the site have 

included the installation of intelligent lighting systems in 

all lavatories and the equipping of office spaces with energy 

efficient air conditioning systems. These have allowed us to 

eliminate the need for gas fired central heating, resulting 

in a 65% reduction in gas consumption in these areas. 

The renewable component of indirect energy shows an 

increase as a result of a change in the electricity supply 

agreement, whereby 31% of the electricity purchased is 

now generated from renewable resources. 

Net water usage in 2011 represents a 39% reduction in total 

consumption against 2010. Building on the successful 

installation of a metering system during 2010 that now records 

the usage of all utilities, water consumption was reduced 

by a further 1315m 3 . Cumulatively, water consumption has 

been reduced by 59% since the project began. 

We have achieved this reduction by the identification 

and elimination of water leaks across the site and the 

installation of automatic water management systems 

on hand washing stations, sinks and lavatories. 

The target for reduction in packaging has been more difficult 

to meet given a changing product mix. Performance was less 

than the 5% reduction targeted; a shortfall predominantly 

due to a shift in mix from larger count packs to smaller 

ones driven by changes both in promotional activity and 

consumer preference. The growth of the convenience store 

format has also created pressure to decrease the average 

SKU (stock keeping unit) size thus increasing the overall 

percentage of packaging per unit of production. 

Looking forward to 2012, the changes in product mix with an 

increase in coffee and reduction in tea will have an impact on 

carbon due to different transport arrangements and higher 

energy and water requirements for coffee roasting. Targets 

have been set that are both achievable and stretching. 

Finlay Beverages packed 


kgs (Millions) 

Water m 3 (Thousands) 

16 

14 

12 

10 

8 

6 

4 

2 

0 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Coffee packed 

Tea packed 

Finlay Beverages water usage 

6 0.5 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0 0 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

net water 

per unit of 

production 

0.4 

0.3 

0.2 

0.1




52 


Energy 5% reduction in energy usage 4% reduction 5 

Water 5% reduction per unit of production 39% reduction per unit 3 

Waste 50% reduction in waste to landfill 27% reduction 5 

Carbon 5% reduction in Scope 1 & 2 emissions 4% reduction in both Scope 

1 & 2 emissions 

Scope 3: 19% reduction in emissions 

Packaging 5% per unit of production reduction of 1.85% per unit of production 5 



Energy Continue to undertake interventions 

highlighted by the metering system 

Water Install automated water systems in factory 

welfare facilities and modification to tea 

factory air cooling system 

Carbon Plan to mitigate the impact of the substantial 

mix change driven by the loss of volume in 

tea and increased volume in coffee 

Waste Continue progress on coffee chaff disposal 

options to composting/biomass 

Continue progress on coffee aluminium 

laminate waste disposal 

Investigate options for further reductions 

in materials to landfill 

Packaging Removal of overwrap from fruit 

& herbal products 

Investigate metalized film options 

on coffee packaging 

Offer more flexible options to meet the 

retailers demand for smaller and mixed 

SKU sizes 

To not exceed the forecasted 10% increase 

in energy usage, driven by changes in mix 

Reduce water usage in the tea factory by 5% 

To ensure that the 10% forecasted increase 

in Scope 1 emissions and the 20% increase 

in Scope 2 emissions are not exceeded 

Further 30% reduction in waste to landfill 

To not exceed the forecasted 10% increase 

per unit of production, driven by mix change 

and demand for smaller SKU sizes 

5 


The transition from road to rail transportation for imported raw materials Leading by example 

The road to rail 

During the summer of 2006, the warehouse building next door to Finlay Beverages 

in South Elmsall, Pontefract, became available for lease. Over the following weeks 

our operations team looked at the feasibility of using this building to store and 

process all our raw tea requirements. As part of the project we reviewed options 

for moving all the imported tea from the main container ports, without the need 

to store at third party facilities. 

Of the options explored the most attractive was that of using rail freight to move the containers from 

Felixstowe port to Doncaster rail terminal (187 miles) and then to use a local haulage company to transport 

the final 7.5 miles. Whilst the costs were similar to road haulage, the big saving was on the amount of CO 2 

generated by rail versus road transport. On average there is a 13 times saving in the amount released 

into the atmosphere per container. 

Volume mix moved by rail has steadily increased 

since 2007 through the improvement of the 

rail freight infrastructure. This is attributed to 

being able to move high cube containers in larger 

quantities starting with the Felixstowe Doncaster 

line in 2008/2009 and then the Tilbury line. 

There was limited capacity for handling Tilbury 

containers through most of 2010 which meant 

they had to be moved by road, and subsequently 

we saw a fall in volume mix of containers. 

Felixstowe port has also identified the need to 

expand its capacity for handling containers onto 

the rail network and has announced plans to build 

a third rail terminal which can handle trains up 

to 30 wagons long. This will increase its capacity 

from 750,000 containers to 1.5 million annually; 

some operational capacity will be in place as 

early as 2013. 

With regards to coffee, the majority arrives in the 

UK in standard 20 ft containers, so from 2008 we 

asked our raw coffee provider, where possible, to 

start transporting the coffee from Tilbury to Leeds 

via the rail link. We are now achieving over half the 

volume being transported by rail from the port - 

resulting in significant CO2 emissions reductions. 

kgs (Thousands) 

20 

15 

10 

Volume Transported Rail v Road 

0 0 

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 

Rail 

Percentage 

moved by Rail 


5 

Road 

100% 

75% 

50% 

25%


4.4 Finlays Colombo 

Finlays Colombo 2011 review 

In 2011 Finlays Colombo strengthened data collection across all sites and developed site specific priorities 

for its business units. 

There are a number of viable opportunities to reduce waste and move waste streams from recovery to recycling. 

The reduction in energy is not as significant as anticipated (revision of numbers 2008-2010) with numbers steadily 

increasing although the renewable component has also increased. 

54 

Finlays Colombo Organised around 6 strategic business units 

Activity Tea Packing & Warehousing 

Green Tea Manufacture 

Temperature Controlled Logistics 

Environmental Services 

Insurance 

Airline Agency 

Markets Europe, America, Middle East, Far East and Asia 

Employees 765 

Awards and 

Certification 

Quality Management Systems including ISO certifications 

Food Safety Management System 

Environmental Management System 

British Retail Consortium (BRC) 

Fairtrade Processor 

Organic Processor 

Memberships Employers Federation of Ceylon 

International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses 

Ceylon Chamber of Commerce 

Exporters Association of Sri Lanka 

Legal Ownership Finlays Colombo is a public quoted company in Sri Lanka 

Its major shareholder is James Finlay Limited UK, holding 96% of its shares 



4.4 Finlays Colombo 



Energy 5% reduction in energy used 

10% increase in renewable 

4% increase 

0% increase 

Water 10% reduction 3% reduction 5 

Waste Recording waste in all units All recording 3 

Carbon Scope 1 & 2 emissions: 5% reduction 12% increase in scope 1 & 2 emissions 5 

Products & Services Develop specific business unit objectives Objectives set for 2012 3 



Energy Energy audits 5% reduction 

Water Water audits 5% reduction 

Waste Explore options for moving waste from 

recover to recycling 

0 waste to recovery 

Carbon Scope 1 & 2 emissions 5% reduction 

Products & Services Develop specific business unit objectives 

Business unit objectives 

Environmental 

services 

Implement an Environmental Management 

System (EMS) and move to new location 

Beverages Deploy sustainable processing technologies to 

increase product efficiency and competitiveness 

Temperature 

Controlled Logistics 

Collaborate with key government 

departments to ensure responsible 

regulation and management of the food 

safety industry 


5 

5


56 

Pioneering medical waste disposal in Sri Lanka 


Sri Lanka has one of the fastest aging populations in South East Asia. By 2031, 22% 

of the population will be over 60 years of age. As a result, the healthcare industry 

in Sri Lanka has grown considerably in the past decade. From a fairly extensive but 

poorly supported island-wide network of government hospitals, the industry rapidly 

expanded with the emergence of the private sector. Regrettably, support services 

struggled to keep up with the expansion. 



In this context, Finlays Colombo realised that 

the country faced an acute problem with the 

safe disposal of medical waste – a by-product 

of the healthcare industry. Safe, effective and 

environmentally sound methods for disposing 

of clinical waste were unresolved issues for 

many healthcare institutions. 

Mixing clinical waste with other solid waste could 

cause mass contamination, and careless dumping 

posed a health hazard to the public. Disposal 

of sharps to common dumps not only had the 

potential to cause injuries and cross infections 

to waste handlers and scavengers, but also left 

the possibility of re-use wide open. 

Sterifirst had a history of working with businesses which 

were environmentally engaged; areas such as pest control, 

timber preservation and disposal of sanitary napkins. It 

decided to leverage this expertise and launch services for 

the safe, environmentally friendly disposal of medical 

waste from hospitals and laboratories. 

The service uses the hydroclave technology to sterilize 

such waste, combined with an incineration method for 

other segregated waste. As the first step in extending its 

services to the healthcare sector, Sterifirst launched a 

campaign to educate healthcare practitioners on the 

need for the safe disposal of their by-products. 


Safe, effective and environmentally 

sound methods for disposing of clinical 

waste were unresolved issues for many 

healthcare institutions. 

The hydroclave sterilizes the waste utilizing steam, 

similar to an autoclave, but with a faster and much more 

even heat penetration. It hydrolyzes the waste’s organic 

components, such as pathological material, and removes 

the water content (dehydrates) the waste. The process also 

breaks the waste into small pieces of fragmented material 

and reduces the waste substantially in weight and volume. 

This process occurs within the totally sealed vessel, which 

is not opened until all waste is totally sterile. The residue 

can then be safely used as landfill. 

For medical sharps and syringes a simple incineration 

process is used, with waste treated at temperatures above 

1200 degrees. 

Licensed by the Central Environmental Authority, 

Sterifirst’s healthcare division offers an end-to-end 

management solution including segregation at site, 

packing into WHO approved containers, daily removal, 

transportation with final treatment and disposal of the 

treated and sterilized end product to landfill. 

In terms of health and safety, strict procedures are in 

place to ensure the wellbeing of the teams involved in 

the process; including protective clothing, footwear and 

gloves. Teams receive a high level of training. The training 

is also extended to clients, in an endeavour to create and 

enhance awareness of potential environmental issues 

and safety. 

In a relatively short period of time, the Sterifirst service 

has proved popular and has provided an effective solution 

to a potential health hazard whilst at the same time being 

a viable business venture for the company. 



4.5 Finlays Horticulture 


58 

Finlays 

Horticulture 

Operations Processing & Despatch 

Products Cut Flowers 

Finlay Flowers in Europe 

Finlay Flowers, Sandy, UK 

Finlay Flowers, Spalding, UK 

Omniflora, Germany 

Finlay Flowers BV, Netherlands 

Fresh Produce 

Finlays Fresh Produce, Stevenage, UK 

FV SeleQt (Joint Venture), Holland 

Roses 

Carnations 

Spray carnations 

Chrysanthemums 

Lilies 

UK grown seasonal flowers 

Bouquets 

Growing & Processing 

Finlays Horticulture Kenya with 

the following sites: 

Mt Kenya 

Naivasha 

Kericho 

JKIA (Jomo Kenyatta 

International Airport), Nairobi 

Finlay Flowers South Africa 

Taikoo Flowers, China 

Taikoo Flowers 

Taikoo Young Plants 

Fresh Produce 

Fine beans 

Runner beans 

Sugar snaps 

Mangetout 

Asparagus 

Prepared produce 

Markets UK, Europe and Japan private label retail UK & SA private label retail, EU retail, 

Japan and Australia 

Awards and 

certification 

Membership 

of ethical, 



British Retail Consortium (BRC) Certification – Higher 

British Ornamental Plan Producers certificate (BOPP) 

FLO Cert (Fairtrade certification) 

GLOBALGAP 

Kenya Flower Council (KFC) Gold 

SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) 

MPS A (Horticulture sustainability certification) 

Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) 

Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) 

GLOBALGAP 

Chilled Food Association 




2011 review 

Finlays Horticulture has a turnover of £317 million and 

employs 14,000 people in its operations that grow, procure 

and supply flowers and fresh produce to retailers in the 

UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Norway 

and Japan. The horticulture division has farms in Kenya, 

South Africa and China. 

Finlays Horticulture sets out to maximise the benefits 

of vertical integration, working either with products 

from our own farms or from virtually integrated preferred 

partner suppliers that we invest in, working closely in 

long-term partnerships. 

In 2011 we sold over 850 million flowers (stems) with 

approximately 50% grown on our own farms and 28,000 

tonnes of fresh produce, 40% of which was grown on our 

own farms or by our dedicated smallholders. 

Finlays Horticulture strategic sustainability priorities 

are to: 

• Reduce our carbon footprint focusing on reducing 

Scope 3 emissions 

• Use water and energy more efficiently 

• Take an active role in water stewardship 

• Strive to make Finlays an enjoyable and rewarding 

place to work; seeking to be the employer of choice in 

the regions where we operate, by providing a work place 

that constantly strives to meet the aspirations of the 

ETI Base Code 

• Tackle sustainability issues proactively and share 

our knowledge and best practice with our suppliers 

and others 

• Produce high quality, safe flowers and fresh produce 

through the use of integrated crop management, thereby 

reducing reliance on pesticides 

• Reduce waste in our supply chains 

Horticulture Sales Volumes 


stems (Millions) 

1,600 

1,400 

1,200 

1,000 

800 

600 

400 

200 5 

0 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Flowers (stems) 

Fresh Produce 

(kgs) 

40 

35 

30 

25 

20 

15 

10




60 

Objectives Targets 2011 Achievements 

Carbon Scope 1 emissions 5% Reduction 13% Reduction 3 

Scope 2 emissions 5% Reduction 3% Reduction 5 

Scope 3 emissions 10% Reduction 2% Reduction 5 

Water Water abstracted 5% Reduction 12% Increase 5 

Water recycled 12% Increase 11% Increase 5 

Water per unit production 10% Reduction 24% Reduction 3 

Energy Total used 10% Reduction 9% Reduction 5 

Total per unit production 10% Reduction 9% Reduction 5 

Waste Waste to landfill 0% 345 tonnes to landfill 5 

Carbon 

Overall our carbon emissions reduced by 3% to 239,595 

tonnes. We had most improvement in Scope 1 emissions, 

where emissions reduced by 13% driven by tight control 

on fuels used by Finlays Horticulture Kenya. 

Scope 3 emissions reduced by 2% and we failed to meet our 

target of a 10% reduction. However, we moved 3,400 tonnes 

of flowers by sea and road as opposed to air freight with a 

saving of almost 7000 tonnes CO 2 e. 

Energy 

We just missed our energy reduction targets achieving 

a 9% reduction vs. the target of 10%. 

Our farms in Africa used 13% less energy. 

Water 

Water use increased by 12% due to increased production of 

fresh produce on our own farms. We improved our water 

efficiency per tonne of product using 24% less water in 2011. 

We increased the total amount of water we recycled on 

farms by 11% but due to the increased water used we did 

not meet our target of increasing the % of recycled water to 

12% of water used. The amount of water recycled remained 

static at 8% of water used. 

Waste 

Waste to landfill reduced by 21% of waste at 345 tonnes 

Our UK and German flower businesses achieved the 

target of 0% to landfill as did Finlays Fresh Produce for 

the first time. 





2012 Target 

Carbon Scope 1 emissions 5% reduction 

Scope 2 emissions 5% reduction 

Scope 3 emissions 10% reduction 

Water Water abstracted 5% reduction 

Water recycled 12% increase 

Water per unit production 10% reduction 

Energy Total used 10% reduction 

Total per unit production 10% reduction 

Waste Waste to landfill 0% to landfill 




However, as we work to reduce costs, 

any gains we make in efficiency are 

quickly minimised by inflation and 

currency movements. 

The high inflation we are experiencing 

also impacts our employees and 

we will continue to work with their 

elected representatives to seek ways to 

remain an attractive employer whilst 

remaining cost competitive. Following 

requests from the worker welfare 

committees at Finlays Horticulture 

Kenya we are providing all employees 

with training in basic financial 

planning, seeking to assist them 

in making their money go further. 

Whilst not ‘job-specific’ training, it 

underlines the importance we attach 

to social commitment. These welfare 

committees have been fundamental to 

our success. This mature approach to 

industrial relations allows us to work 

constructively with our employees 

addressing their concerns in a way 

that is truly sustainable. We believe 

that our workers have the right to 

choose their own method of freedom 

of association and we will continue to 

defend this right. 

Inflation has also had an effect on 

the smallholder farmers that have 

been an important part of our supply 

chain for the last 20 years. Over 

3,000 local farmers are receiving 

technical support from Finlays to help 

them increase yield and income in 

sustainable ways. In 2012 we will be 

reviewing our ways of working with 

this special group of suppliers to 

ensure their system is sustainable 

for both them and us in the future. 

The smallholders and our own 

farming operations have been affected 

by less predictable and more extreme 

62 

A ‘budding’ issue 

Our focus for 2012 remains the same as 2011 

and this is reflected in the same targets 

The outlook for 2012 is that trading conditions 

will remain challenging and this will put us under 

greater pressure to be ever more competitive. Our 

sustainability agenda remains central in helping us 

meet this challenge, leading to improved resource 

efficiency and cost reduction. 

climate conditions and in 2012 we 

will be working with our suppliers in 

all regions looking at ways to protect 

our farming operations from the 

impact of these extremes. Through 

Dudutech, our Integrated Pest 

Management business, we continue to 

develop indigenous natural solutions 

to the pest and disease pressures 

faced by our crops. This strategy, 

combined with a review of our policy 

on soil health, enables us to continue 

developing our farming operations to 

be more efficient and sustainable and 

we will continue to share our insights 

in this regard with our supply base 

and others. Since 2003, the increased 

use of indigenous biological products 

has eliminated the use of class 1 

pesticides and reduced all other types 

between 63% and 97%. 

Water efficiency and water stewardship 

are critical concerns in sustainable 

farming, and we will also continue to 

work with all stakeholders from the 

water catchment areas we operate in 

to ensure the long-term sustainability 

of water resources. A pilot scheme 

using an electrolysed water system 

has reduced water demand for product 

washing in our fresh produce packing 

operation at JKIA in Nairobi by 90% 

and cut effluent leaving the site by 

45%. Energy required to chill wash 

water has been cut by 80%. Following 

the successful trial, the system will be 

fully installed in 2012. 

Our response to the challenges that 

face us lies in delivering great quality, 

value and service, supported by 

insight and innovation to meet the 

expectations of our customers and 

their consumers. The creative talent 

of the teams in Finlays Horticulture 

helps us meet the challenges of the 

changing trading landscape we work 

in. There is no doubt that we will come 

under even more price pressure and 

we will have to ensure we remain as 

efficient as possible. 

Some see sustainability as an added 

cost; we have always seen it as 

best practice and common sense: - 

protecting our future, using resources 

as efficiently as possible, and nurturing 

our skilled and talented people. 




Tonnes CO 2e (Thousands) 

m 3 (Millions) 

300 

250 

200 

150 

100 

50 

0 

8 

7 

6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

0 

Finlays Horticulture carbon footprint 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Scope 1 

Scope 2 

Scope 3 

Finlays Horticulture water usage 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Net Water 

Recycled 

Finlays Horticulture energy usage 


GJ (Thousands) 

600 

500 

400 

300 

200 

100 

0 

2008 2009 2010 2011 

Indirect 

renewable 

Indirect 

non-renewable 

Direct 

non-renewable 

Direct 

renewable


64 

Reducing pesticide usage 

Dudutech 

Dudutech Integrated Pest Management Solutions, a division of Finlays Horticulture, 

was started in Kenya in 2001. Dudutech pioneered integrated pest management 

(IPM) in Kenya, working with local and foreign government agencies to formulate an 

approved protocol, accepted by the Pest Control Products Board and the Kenya Wildlife 

Services (the custodians of living organisms in Kenya). 

Dudutech’s focus is to find, develop, trial and register products 

suitable for biological pest control in Kenya. Under Kenyan law, all 

live organisms for the purposes of pest control must be endemic. 

Dudutech is therefore involved with the production of indigenous 

natural antagonists for the horticultural and food production sectors. 


Dudutech 

Dudutech now offers 17 products for use in the flowers 

and vegetable sector in Kenya and continues to develop 

solutions for the pest pressures faced by these industries. 

Dudutech introduced new IPM Packages in June 2011, for 

thrips, mealy bugs and root health, as a progression in IPM. 

Since the introduction of IPM on Finlays farms in Kenya, 

supported by Dudutech’s innovative biological control 

options, there has been a progressive reduction in the use 

of pesticides. Most importantly there has been a change 

in the pesticide profile; zero class I, less class II and more 

use of WHO class III and IV pesticides that are considered 

less harmful to the environment, workers and others. 

In 2011 Finlays started a multi-pronged approach to thrips 

and mealy bugs, using a combination of five biologicals, 

further reducing the need for insecticides. Mytech and 

Trichotech are used for nematodes. 

As Dudutech develops and registers more products, 

the trend in increasing use of biological products 

and decreasing use of class II and class III pesticides 

continues. The indigenous biological sprays are classified 

as class IV products. The efficacy of these bio-rational 

products is improving year by year due to research and 

development, improved application techniques, and 

synergistic effects. Pests do not build up a resistance to 

biological products; this factor enhances the long-term 

sustainability of the solutions. 

Production volumes of bio-rationals and insects are ever 

expanding to allow larger areas to be treated; annually 

more products are being registered and can therefore be 

used commercially, increasing the rollout of IPM in Kenya. 

The development of indigenous Kenyan biological products 

has allowed the benefits of IPM to be enjoyed on Finlays 

own farms, other farms and smallholdings in Kenya. 

…committed to implementing 

good agricultural practice programs, 

demonstrating deliberate management 

steps toward building and maintaining 

healthy soils. 

Pesticide use on 


Flower Farms 

– kg active per Ha 

per year. 


2003 2011 % 

WHO Class I 6 Nil -100% 

WHO Class II 99 8 -92% 

WHO Class III 544 14 -97% 

WHO Class IV 115 42 -63% 

This has led to a reduction in the amount and toxicity of 

the pesticides used on the farms, decreasing the risk to 

the environment and to worker welfare. 

Our plants have better root systems through the use of 

hydroponics combined with Dudutech’s trichoderma and 

mycorrhiza, needing less water and fertilisers. The foliage 

is stronger, as it is not being sprayed with pesticides. The 

crop is better managed as our staff have daily access - there 

are no requirements for the withdrawal periods involved 

in the use of more toxic pesticides. Flowers last longer 

in the vase and open better when grown under IPM, and 

vegetables have a better flavour and higher nutrient density. 

All this means we produce better quality products 

that meet the environmental and social sustainability 

expectations of our customers and their customers, 

protecting the livelihoods of the Kenyans who work 

on our farms. 



66 

‘Imarisha Naivasha’ is a recently launched programme created to tackle the 

degradation of Lake Naivasha and its catchment and put future development 

on a sustainable footing. 

Watershed Management 

Centred on a large freshwater lake, the Naivasha catchment supports hundreds of thousands of 

livelihoods, principally through commercial flower and vegetable growing, smallholder farming 

and tourism. Pastoralism and fishing are also important aspects of the social and economic profile 

of the area. The local horticulture and tourism activities are substantial foreign exchange earners, 

and Naivasha is the hub of flower production for export from Kenya. Naivasha Town has grown 

in an ad hoc manner to support a population of over 300,000, and several informal settlements 

have developed around the lake, mainly to house workers from flower farms. There is also a 

rapidly developing geo-thermal industry nearby. 

The last 20 years has witnessed extensive deforestation in 

the upper catchment, widespread erosion and catchment 

degradation, over-abstraction of water, under investment 

in social and municipal services and a lack of enforcement 

of laws intended to protect the environment. Poor smallholder 

farming practices and urban pollution are now arguably 

the biggest issues, but some inappropriate commercial 

horticultural practices have also contributed to the 

decline. All these threats were heightened in 2009 

when Kenya experienced severe drought which became 

a catalyst for the birth of the Imarisha Naivasha project. 

Imarisha Naivasha is a unique initiative of the Kenya 

Government, supported by HRH Prince of Wales’ 

International Sustainability Unit that aims to address 

the economic and environmental challenges facing the 

catchment in an integrated and concerted way. It builds 

on a legacy of local public sector, private sector and civil 

society partnerships currently undertaking conservation 

and community support projects. Wide stakeholder 

‘Imarisha Naivasha’ - ‘Arise Naivasha’ 

participation will be critical to success, and at the 

programme’s organisational heart is a management 

board drawn from the main civil society and private 

sector interest groups, with government also represented. 

The board is responsible for the planning, allocation 

and management of resources in the Lake Naivasha 

Basin, and is unusual in having significant powers and 

a ‘hotline’ to the Office of the Prime Minister. It aims to 

prepare a long-term development plan that will provide 

for the sustainable management and equitable allocation 

of the basin’s natural resources for all stakeholder 

interests. It is also mandated to coordinate all research 

and development activities aimed at restoring the 

catchment environment and to ensure the proper 

enforcement of laws relating to environmental 

protection and resource allocation. 

Lake Naivasha itself has attracted both national and 

international interest from academic institutions, NGOs 

and the horticultural industry but much of this good 


‘Imarisha Naivasha’ - ‘Arise Naivasha’ 

effort has been uncoordinated and has failed to achieve 

sustainable solutions to the challenges facing the lake 

and its catchment area. 

For the last five years or so, The Kenya Wildlife Services 

(KWS) has been undertaking a comprehensive stakeholder 

consultative process that has resulted in the recent 

adoption by stakeholders of the 10 Year Lake Naivasha 

Basin Integrated Management Plan (LNBIMP). This 

essentially presents a compendium of joint efforts 

required to promote environmental conservation, 

sustainable development and improved livelihoods 

for stakeholders in the Naivasha Basin. 

It is the responsibility of the Imarisha Management Board 

to coordinate all the activities that contribute to achieving 

the vision of the LNBIMP. To do this, Imarisha Naivasha is 

formulating a five-year action plan that will set in motion 

activities to initiate the reversal of the negative influences 

that have contributed to the current state of affairs in the 

basin. This will establish a sound foundation for longterm 

sustainable management and use of resources. 

The Board of Imarisha Naivasha was constituted in 

May 2011. Finlays currently represents the commercial 

growers and is Chairman of the Board. A small secretariat 

has been created and a series of immediate ‘no regrets’ 

actions have been initiated to address urgent needs and 

to create awareness amongst stakeholders of the vision 

of Imarisha Naivasha. 

These activities include: 

• repair of mechanical equipment at the Naivasha sewage 

treatment works; 


• support of community forest associations to create 

improved tree nurseries; 

• support for beach traders to create better fish 

processing facilities with cold storage equipment; 

• support for pastoralist communities to rehabilitate 

storage pans for stock watering; 

• a pilot biogas system aimed to demonstrate the 

opportunity to reduce the reliance on wood fuel. 

Funding for these immediate activities and to run the 

Imarisha secretariat has been received from government 

and from the major UK retailers who sell the flowers and 

vegetables produced in Naivasha. In addition, under the 

umbrella of Imarisha Naivasha, support to address issues 

in water resources management is being provided by WWF, 

and two continental European retailers are supporting 

environmental restoration projects being supervised by 

the University of Leicester. 

Imarisha Naivasha is an exciting development in harmony 

with Finlays’ sustainability strategy to play a leadership 

role in watershed management. Already, in both national 

and international forums, Imarisha Naivasha is being 

recognised as an innovative approach to public and 

private sector engagement for the benefit of people living 

and working in the Naivasha catchment, and for the longterm 

sustainable use of natural resources. 

It was presented at COP 17 (the 2011 climate change 

conference), Durban, as one of the Kenya Government’s 

initiatives to adapt to climate change in an area of 

significant economic importance. 


Governance 

5.1 Group Operating Companies 

• James Finlay Limited 

• James Finlay (Kenya) Limited 

• Finlay Beverages Limited 

• Finlay Extracts Limited 

• Finlay Tea Solutions UK Limited 

• Finlay Hull Limited 

• Finlay Vietnam (ME) DMCC 

• James Finlay (Blantyre) Limited 

• James Finlay Mombasa Ltd 

• Xiamen James Finlay Limited 

• Omniflora Blumen Center Gmbh 

• Yunnan Taikoo Flowers Ltd 

• Taikoo Young Plants (Yunnan) Limited (50%) 

• Hapugastenne Plantations PLC (91.8%) 

• Newburgh Green Teas (Pvt) (54%) 

• Udapussellawa Plantations PLC (91.5%) 

• Finlays Colombo PLC (96.7%) 

• Finlay Properties (Pvt) Limited 

• Finlay Cold Storage (Pvt) Limited 

• Finlay Rentokil (Ceylon) Limited 

• Finlay Airline (Agencies) Limited 

• Finlay Insurance (Brokers) Limited 

• Finlays Maldives (Pvt) Ltd 

• Finlays Linehaul Express (Pvt) Ltd (50%) 

• Finlay Tea Solutions US Inc 

• Finlays Horticulture Holdings Ltd 

• Finlays Horticulture South Africa (Pty) Ltd 

• Finlays Horticulture Kenya Ltd 

• Finlays Horticulture Tanzania Ltd 

• Skytrain Limited 

• Finlays Fresh Produce UK Ltd 

• Finlay Flowers BV 

• Finlay Flowers UK Ltd 

• FV SeleQt BV (51%) 

68 


Governance 

5.2 Legal Form and Governance 

Finlays was founded in Scotland 

in 1750. James Finlay & Co. was a 

partnership until 1909 when a private 

company was incorporated as James 

Finlay & Company Limited, before 

being floated on the Glasgow Stock 

Exchange in 1924. The Company 

was re-registered as a public limited 

company, styled James Finlay PLC, in 

1981. Acquired by John Swire & Sons 

Limited in 2000 when it was renamed 

James Finlay Limited, the Company 

is now a subsidiary of Finlay Group 

Limited which in turn is a whollyowned 

subsidiary of John Swire 

& Sons Limited. 

Main Board 

The Main Board, which is tasked with 

organisational oversight and setting 

strategy, comprises four Executive Directors 

responsible for various aspects of the 

business, three Non-Executive Directors 

representing the shareholder, John Swire 

& Sons Limited, and three Independent 

Non-Executive Directors. 

Merlin Swire 

Non-Executive Chairman 

Ron Mathison 

Executive Director – Group Managing 

Director 

Paul Henson 

Executive Director – Group Finance Director 

Duncan Gilmour 

Executive Director – Director Corporate 

Affairs & Company Secretary 

Martin Hudson 

Executive Director – Chief Executive Officer: 

Finlays Horticulture Holdings Ltd 

James Hughes-Hallett 

Non-Executive Director 

James E Hughes-Hallett (Appointed 2012) 

Non-Executive Director 

Stuart Strathdee 

Independent Non-Executive Director 

Giles Weaver 


Isabella Wemyss 


The Chairman of the Board is Merlin Swire 

who is a Non-Executive Director and a 

Director of the Company’s parent, 

John Swire & Sons Limited. 

Divisional Boards 

Each Division is overseen by either 

a statutory or a management board 

comprising of senior executives and 

representatives of the Main Board. Like 

the Main Board these meet quarterly. 

Sri Lanka 

In Sri Lanka, the Group operates through 

three publicly listed companies in which it 

has controlling stakes. The Boards of these 

companies, in addition to the representation 

referred to above, also include a number 

of Independent Non-Executive Directors. 

They are fully compliant with corporate 

governance regulations applying in 

Sri Lanka. 

Internal audit 

The Group has an extensive Internal 

Audit function which is monitored by a 

series of committees which report to a 

Group Audit Committee comprising two 

Independent Non-Executive Directors and one 

representative of John Swire & Sons Limited. 

In addition, the Managing Director, 

Financial Director and Director Corporate 

Affairs, who acts as Secretary to the 

Committee, also attend the Group Audit 

Committee meetings together with the 

Group Internal Auditor and, as required, 

a representative of our external auditors, 

KPMG LLP. 

The Audit Committee’s remit, as set out 

in its Terms of Reference, involves: 

• Evaluating the adequacy of the 

mechanisms for the assessment and 

management of risk and ensuring that 

recommendations for the improvement 

of internal controls made by internal 

and external auditors have been 

implemented. 

• Reviewing all risk management processes 

including policies around fraud and 

competition compliance. 

• Reviewing the external auditors’ 

independence, proposed audit scope 

and annual performance as well as the 

level and nature of co-operation between 

internal and external audit. 

• Monitoring the timing of management’s 

response to recommendations made by 

the internal and external auditors. 

• Reviewing planned internal audit 

activities and considering their adequacy. 

• Reviewing Group Internal Audit (GIA) 

structures to ensure they provide the 

basis for an independent and objective 

opinion on risk management, control 

and governance. 

• Reviewing the effectiveness of the 

Group’s systems for monitoring, 

addressing and reporting on compliance 

with laws and regulations. 

• Monitoring the integrity of the company’s 

financial statements and reviewing 

significant financial reporting issues 

and judgments contained therein. 

Other committees 

A number of functional committees are 

in place at both Group and Divisional level. 

These cover a range of issues including 

Health and Safety, Sustainable Development, 

Human Resources, IT and Insurance. 

Sustainability Committee 

The Sustainability Committee has been set 

up to ensure that Finlays: 

• Horizon-scan and identify emerging 

sustainability issues as well as assess 

impact risk and opportunity for the Group. 

• Prioritise key sustainability factors 

according to their relevance for long-term 

organisational strategy. 

• Ensure a cohesive focus on the current 

Group sustainability factors. 

• Review progress and identify best practice. 

Policies and procedures 

A series of policies and procedures 

have been developed with the aim of 

making all employees fully aware of their 

responsibility for ensuring that the Group 

conducts its business in accordance with 

applicable laws and regulations. These 

include a Group Corporate Code of Conduct 

and a Whistleblowing Policy designed to 

ensure that good governance is maintained 

across the Group. A series of Guidance 

Notes have been issued to employees on 

such matters as competition compliance, 

and the UK Bribery Act. All relevant staff 

have also been given appropriate training 

on these and other issues. 

Each business unit maintains a Risk 

Register which is updated at least twice 

per annum and the main board formally 

reviews the consolidated Group Risk 

Register annually. 

Employee forums 

Finlays is committed to having mature 

systems of industrial relations and 

understands the importance that good 

employee management dialogue is to this 

goal. Throughout the group our employees 

have opted to use a number of different 

options to engage in this dialogue. This 

includes Trade Union recognition and also 

democratically elected worker forums. A 

variety of other internal communications 

vehicles are also used to facilitate 

interaction between management and 

employees, such as employee feedback 

forms, conferences, workshops, magazines 

and newsletters. 


Appendix (i) 

Swire Group Sustainable Development Policy 

As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swire Group, Finlays adheres to all Group policies. 

The sustainable development policy is based on two fundamental principles: 

• Long term value creation for our shareholders depends on the sustainable development1 of our businesses and the communities in which we operate. 

• We wish to excel as corporate citizens. 

Our policy 

• Industry leadership: We will work with others to promote 

sustainable development in the industries in which we operate. 

• In our operations: We will meet or exceed all legal requirements and: 

70 

- Be a good steward of the natural resources and biodiversity 

under our influence and ensure that all potential adverse 

impacts of our operations on the environment are identified 

and appropriately managed. 

- Operate as far as is reasonably practicable in a manner which 

safeguards the health and safety of all our stakeholders. 

- Strive to be an employer of choice by providing an environment 

in which all employees are treated fairly and with respect and 

can realise their full potential. 

- Favour suppliers and contractors who promote sustainable 

development and encourage the responsible use of our 

products and services by our customers and consumers. 

- Promote good relationships with the communities of which 

we are a part and enhance their capabilities while respecting 

people’s culture and heritage. 

1 Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the 

present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet 

their own needs. – “Our Common Future”, 1987 - World Commission on 

Environment and Development. 

Making it happen 

• All companies in which the Swire group has a controlling interest 

will have action plans for applying this policy in a way which is 

relevant to their business. We will encourage other companies in 

which we have an interest as a shareholder or through our supply 

chain to implement similar policies. 

• We will encourage and empower our staff to be proactive 

on sustainable development matters both at work and in 

the community. 

• We will monitor our performance and report it regularly. 

• We will review this policy periodically, having regard in particular 

to stakeholder dialogues. 

Both Swire and Finlays are 

signatories to the Copenhagen 

Communiqué in support of more 

stringent climate change regulation. 

Sustainable development covers environment, health & safety, employment, 

business partnerships and community matters. 


Appendix (ii) 

Performance Data 


Data corresponds to EN3, EN4, EN8, EN10, EN16, EN22, LA1, LA7 and EC1. Given the partial coverage of data across all businesses only summary 

information has been provided. It is the intention to report fully against GRI C + indicators in subsequent reports. 

The reporting carbon protocols are in line with guidelines set by WRI/WBCSD GHG reporting initiative (the GHG protocol). 

Energy GJ’s 

* Revised energy data 2010 

Energy 2010 Report 2010 Revised 2011 

Finlays Group direct renewable 1,524,855 1,549,866 1,499,269 -3 

direct non-renewable 500,972 455,163 -9 

indirect non-renewable 147,809 134,077 -9 

indirect renewable 127,873 113,269 -11 

Finlays Tea Estates direct renewable 865,962 915,173 6 

(Kenya/Sri Lanka) direct non-renewable 75,141 79,975 6 



Finlay Beverages direct renewable - 0 0 



indirect renewable 1,310 4,024 207 

Finlays Colombo direct renewable 59 25,070* 29,944 19 


indirect non-renewable 7,907 10,079 27 


Leaf Tea Trading direct renewable 655,212 551,187 -16 

& Tea Extracts direct non-renewable 66,159 62,670 -5 

indirect Non-renewable 21,746 12,042 -45 

indirect Renewable 27,090 14,284 -47 

Finlays direct renewable 3,622 2,964 -18 

Horticulture direct non-renewable 330,170 286,536 -13 



Finlays Fresh direct renewable 38 0 -100 

Produce direct non-renewable 0 2,856.00 0 

indirect non-renewable 9,746 9,693.32 -1 

indirect renewable 0 0 0 

Finlay Flowers direct renewable - 0 

Europe direct non-renewable 8,206 10,954 33 


indirect renewable - 963 

Finlays direct renewable 3,584 2,964 -17 

Horticulture Africa direct non-renewable 321,964 271,146 -16 



Taikoo Flowers direct renewable 0 0 



indirect renewable - 0 0 


y-o-y 

+/- %

Appendix (ii) 


Energy GJ’s 

72 

Finlays Group Energy by source GJ 

Indirect Energy renewable 113,268 

Direct Energy 

non-renewable 134,078 

Renewable biomass power - 

biomass thermal 1,471,014 

hydroelectric, solar etc. 28,416 

Non-Renewable diesel transport 130,387 

diesel stationary 47,689 

gasoline/petrol 31,371 

LPG 4,186 

mains gas 68,084 

kerosene 2 

fuel oil - 

propane 70 

furnace oil 3,230 

coal 170,004 

oxyacetylene 145 


Appendix (ii) 


Carbon Footprint (Tonnes CO 2 e) (EN16) 

Total Group 2010 Report 2010 Revised 2011 +/- 

Finlays Group Scope 1 50,792 50,891 47,222 -7 

Scope 2 35,555 36,682 28,893 -21 

Scope 3 217,431 207,344 20,8451 1 

Finlays Tea Estates Scope 1 4,572 5,203 14 

(Kenya/Sri Lanka) Scope 2 6,107 5,771 -6 

Scope 3 3,731 3,014 -19 

Finlay Beverages Scope 1 543 520 -4 

Scope 2 2,028 1,956 -4 

Scope 3 514 417 -19 

Finlays Colombo Scope 1 920 1,095 19 

Scope 2 1,494 1,657 11 

Scope 3 38 -100 

Leaf Tea Trading Scope 1 5,779 6,788* 7,178 6 

& Tea Extracts Scope 2 8,761 9,889* 2,817 -72 

Scope 3 20,093 10,103* 15,295 51 

Finlays Horticulture Scope 1 38,978 38,068 1 33,226 -13 

Scope 2 17,164 16,692 -3 

Scope 3 192,981 192,895 1 189,677 -2 

Finlays Fresh Scope 1 155 217 41 

Produce Scope 2 1,366 1,359 -1 

Scope 3 119,588 119,539 1 113,572 -5 

Finlay Flowers Scope 1 2,382 2,707 14 

Europe Scope 2 4,370 4,065 -7 

Scope 3 72,505 75,218 4 

Finlays Horticulture Scope 1 36,345 35,436 1 30,198 -15 

Africa Scope 2 10,962 10,722 -2 

Scope 3 104 67 1 93 39 

Taikoo Flowers Scope 1 96 104 8 

Head Office Scope 1 

Scope 2 466 546 17 

Scope 3 784 794 1 

Scope 2 

Scope 3 73 48 -34 

* After an internal audit review the numbers were revised 

1 Carbon data changed slightly due to changes with the carbon calculator software 


Appendix (ii) 


Waste (tonnes) 

74 

Waste 2010 Report 2010 Revised 2011 

Finlays Group waste recycled 6,754 6,905 6,716 -3 

y-o-y 

+/- % 

waste reused 3,629 3,479 7,973 129 

waste recovered 43,082 32,295 -25 

waste to landfill 1,790 1,113 -38 

Finlays Tea Estates recycled 66 217* 224 3 

(Kenya/Sri Lanka) reused 1,103 953* 0 -100 

recovered 1,003 2,066 106 

landfill 683 260 -62 

Leaf Tea Trading recycled 435 255 -41 

& Tea Extracts reused 234 463 98 

recovered 7,248 4,464 -38 

landfill 281 225 -20 

Finlays Colombo recycled 23 

reused 0 

recovered 41 

landfill 0 

Finlay Beverages recycled 317 303 -5 

reused - 328 

recovered - 0 

landfill 388 282 -27 

Finlays recycled 5,936 5,911 0 

Horticulture reused 2,292 7,182 213 

recovered 34,832 25,725 -26 

landfill 439 345 -21 

Finlays Fresh recycled 1,830 1,456 -20 

Produce reused - 0 0 

recovered 563 275 -51 

landfill 169 0 -100 

Finlay Flowers recycled 3,613 3,461 -4 

Europe reused - 0 0 

recovered 3,282 3,170 -3 

landfill - 64 0 

Finlays recycled 479 984 105 


Africa recovered 30,855 22,048 -29 

landfill 270 277 3 

Taikoo Flowers recycled 14 9 -31 

* After an internal audit review the numbers were revised 

reused 0 0 

recovered 131 232 77 

landfill - 4 5,800 


Appendix (ii) 


Waste by type 2011 

Waste Tonnes 

Reused Green Waste 7,164 

Plastic 51 

Paper & Cardboard 2 

Metal - 

Electrical - 

Other 757 

Recycled Green Waste - 

Plastic 817 

Paper & Cardboard 4,716 

Metal 238 

Electrical 0 

Recovered Green Waste 31,881 

Plastic 75 


Metal - 

Electrical - 

Other 297 

Landfill Green Waste 297 

Water by type 2011 

Plastic 13 


Metal _ 

Electrical _ 

Other 762 

Type Source m 3 

Green Water Harvested rain water 743,635 

Blue Water Municipal mains water 240,242 

Surface water (Lakes, Wetlands, rivers) 6,215,444 

Ground water 721,125 

Recycled & Reused Water treated before reuse 594,288 

Water not treated before reuse 7,918 

Total Water Use Green Waste 8,522,652 

Net Water Use 7,920,446 


Appendix (ii) 


Water m 3 (EN8, EN10) 

76 

Water 2010 Report 2010 Revised 2011 

Finlays Group net water 9,936,906 7,920,446 -20 

y-o-y 

+/- % 

reused 537,302 602,206 12 

rainwater as component 

of net water 

715,785 743,635 4 

net water: rainwater 9,221,121 7,176,811 -22 

Finlays Tea Estates net water 1,555,732 194,078 -88 

(Kenya/Sri Lanka) reused 0 

rainwater 189 

Finlay Beverages net water 

reused 

rainwater 

3,343 3,343.5 2029 -39 

Finlays Colombo net water 

reused 

rainwater 

56,183 54,627 -3 

Leaf Tea Trading net water 1,704,701 266,868 -84 

and Tea Extracts reused 

rainwater 

3290 

Finlays net water 6,616,946 7,402,845 12 


rainwater 715,785 743,446 4 

Finlays Fresh net water 10,163 9,732 -4 

Produce reused 

rainwater 

Finlay Flowers net water 42,222 36,671 -13 

Europe reused 

rainwater 

Finlays net water 6,484,123 7,253,312 12 


Africa rainwater 715,785 743,446 4 

Taikoo Flowers net water 

reused 

rainwater 

80,438 103,129 28 



78 


80 

Finlays is committed to creating a sustainable future. 

It’s the only future we have.

Sustainability Report 2011 - Finlays

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