Financial Review - Bouygues

Corporate social responsibility:a sense of commitmentThe Group plays an active part in the economic and socialdevelopment of each region in which it operates, througheconomic action, support for social activities and medical,humanitarian and social sponsorship initiatives.An Ethics and SponsorshipCommittee, established by Bouygues'Board of Directors, advises on applicationsfor financial or material supportexamined in the light of the parentcompany's sponsorship policy.Beneficiaries of the policy, which focuseson humanitarian, medical,social and cultural causes, include theMother and Child Hospital in Kabul;the Neurodon campaign run by theFrench brain research federation; theFrench association for multiple sclerosisresearch (development of theEuropean Database for MultipleSclerosis); Acanthe, an associationcreated by the parents of autistic children;SOS Accueil and RIVE, charitieswhich run day centres for homelesspeople; the French Ondine's syndromeassociation; Astrée, a charityproviding moral support for people indifficulty; the School of Journalism createdby the National Foundation forPolitical Science; and the Scout andGuide movement (development andlong-term support of scout and guidegroups in deprived areas).The Bouygues group acts to help victimsof the Asian tsunami disasterThe Group's five business areas willdonate more than €1 million to humanitarianorganisations.• With the support of the parent companyand Bouygues Construction,Bouygues Thai is helping to rebuild aschool, allocating €220,000 to the project.Bouygues Thai is also involved inofficial French government actionscoordinated by the French Embassy,providing financial support to Frenchresidents in Thailand and taking part inreconstruction projects in areas hit bythe disaster.• Bouygues Immobilier has offered€10,000 to the town of Boulogne-Billancourt for the rebuilding of aschool in Indonesia with the Fondationde France. A campaign has also beenorganised among employees to collectfrancs that can be changed at theBanque de France, the proceeds beingdonated to UNICEF.• Six local Colas subsidiaries have takenvarious initiatives. Wasco in Indonesiaand Tasco in Thailand are matchingdonations from employees, TCP andTSS in Thailand are making plant andworkers available to rebuild roads,Tasco and Raycol in Thailand are providingstorable emulsions and asphaltmixes, Tasco is providing trucks totransport aid, and Wasco is helping toadminister the French aid effort.• TF1 has given €600,000 to six charitiesand TPS €100,000 to the RedCross. TF1 Publicité has donated advertisingspace to UNICEF. TF1's solidaritycommittee and individual employeeshave made donations to the charityPlanète Urgence. TF1 aired three specialprogrammes, one in the prime-timeevening slot on 3 January with calls fordonations and two special editions ofWho Wants to be a Millionaire? on 11January, the proceeds from which were0given to charity.• Bouygues Telecom introduced emergencymeasures for its 1,500 customersin the region when the disasteroccurred, including free roaming callsbetween 26 December and 2 January,the suspension of procedures for collectingunpaid bills and the creation of aspecial customer relations unit. Itoffered €300,000 to UNICEF during thespecial edition of Who Wants to be aMillionaire?, of which €25,000 wasdonated by employees and €275,000by the company. Objectif Soleil, anassociation made up of BouyguesTelecom employees, donated €20,000to UNICEF. Bouygues Telecom took partin a text message campaign whichended on 31 January: customers of allthree operators could make a donationby typing the word "Asie" and sending itto one of three selected charities. Thecost of the text message and €1 werethen paid to the chosen organisation.Preference is always given to proposalsput forward by Group employees.On 1 March 2005, the Ethics andSponsorship Committee approved thecreation of a Francis BouyguesFoundation. Each year, the foundationwill select thirty or so young Frenchschool-leavers and give them grantsto finance their studies for four to sixyears. The grants will be awardedmainly on the basis of school resultsand social and financial difficulties.Because of the Group's decentralisedorganisation, each of its main subsidiariesdefines its own social policy. Themain actions in 2004 are describedbelow.Bouygues ConstructionIn France, Bouygues Constructionuses local sub-contractors for activitieswhich are not part of its core businessand in which it does not havethe necessary skills. Consequently,Bouygues Construction subsidiariesinvite tenders for sub-contracted tasksand select firms on quality and pricecriteria. Major projects can thus stimulatethe economy of an entire region.In partnership with the national jobseekersagency and local offshoots,Bouygues Construction regularlyincludes social initiatives in its arrangementsfor large-scale projects.48