WoolWorths holdings limited 2013 good BUsiness JoUrneY report

setting out
ABOUT US
Woolworths Holdings Limited (“WHL”) is the parent company of Woolworths (Proprietary) Limited (“Woolworths”), commonly known
as Woolworths in South Africa. It is one of two WHL subsidiaries, the other being Country Road (Proprietary) Limited (“Country Road
Group”), listed on the Australian stock exchange, and Woolworths Financial Services (“WFS”), a joint venture with Barclays Africa Group
(previously Absa bank).
Vision
To be a world leader in retail
brands that appeal to people who
care about quality, innovation
and sustainability.
INTEGRATED SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING
Woolworths regards its
sustainability reporting process
as a valuable opportunity to
engage with its stakeholder groups and
to respond to issues that have been
raised during the course of the year.
The focus of our sustainability report is
to provide readers with an overview
of the highlights and challenges of Good
Business Journey (GBJ) progress, as well
as our future objectives, in the context
of our operations and geography. This
context, and the feedback we receive
from stakeholders, informs the material
issues that we focus on in the report.
We hope that our reporting credibly
portrays the work we are doing to allow
stakeholder groups to understand the
strategy of the company and assess
our prospects in a way that covers
our financial and sustainability risks
and opportunities.
This annual sustainability report covers
the period from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013,
is the successor to the 2012 report and
focuses largely on South African-owned
operations, as well as including information
on our Australian subsidiary, Country Road
Group. Our carbon footprint information
covers the period from 1 January 2012
to 31 December 2012, based on the
timelines for our submission to the
Carbon Disclosure Project.
There have been no significant changes
in reporting standards regarding
sustainability reporting, and any
restatement of information is noted
in the section concerned.
This volume should be read together
with the 2013 Integrated Report and
the 2013 Annual Financial Statements,
as a compendium of our strategy
and performance.
As with our 2013 WHL group Integrated
Report, we have considered the
application of the six capitals (as
recommended by the International
Integrated Reporting Council) in our
thinking about sustainability. Where this
report predominantly covers the aspects
related to human, social and relationship
and natural capital, the Integrated Report
offers detail about financial, manufacturing
and intellectual capital.
The recommendations of King III and
the G3.1 guidelines of the Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) form the basis for this
report cycle (we have also looked
ahead to the G4 guidelines that will come
into effect in the near future), and an
analysis of the Group’s compliance with
the G3.1 guidelines appears in the GRI
Index. We welcome any feedback on our
programme and reporting, and contact
details for this purpose can be found on
the inside back cover of the report.
APPROVAL AND ASSURANCE
The Social and Ethics committee and
the Sustainability committee reviews
and recommends the Good Business
Journey Report to the Board
for approval.
WHL 10 / 2013 GOOD BUSINESS JOURNEY