2008 Annual Report - Hubbell Wiring Device-Kellems

A FOCUS ONHUMAN ANDFINANCIALRESOURCESHubbell’s commitmentto all-important humanand financial resourcesis paying off. With theobjective of developingtalent across theCompany, humanresources initiativeshave been implementedin performancemanagement, leadershipdevelopment and succession planningfor a broad spectrum of employees.Over the years, Hubbell people haveconsistently shown that they are loyal, effective,collaborative and customer-focused. Today, positivechange is moving the Company forward whilepreserving these valuable attributes. Perhaps mostimportant, an organization that had been brandandplatform-based is evolving into a single, unifiedHubbell culture.Today’s “one Hubbell” is being proactivelysupported by a number of initiatives. One exampleis moving managers across platforms to broadentheir experiences and to develop strong functionalleaders in sales, engineering, operations, finance,and human resources. Another is a performancemanagement process – tied to compensation –that provides employees with rich feedback onaccomplishments against objectives as well asactions for improvement.One recognition for the Company’s humanresources philosophy: Hubbell Lighting Inc.’sGreenville headquarters was voted the best place towork in the state of South Carolina.In financial management, Hubbell’semphasis on a strong balance sheetmeans that the Company is wellpositioned, both defensively towithstand an uncertain economy andoffensively to invest in growth.In terms of financial resources, Hubbell’sstrategy is to manage its liquidity and credit profileso that it is able to invest in profitable growth andabsorb any disruptions that may arise externally. Tosupport this strategy, the Company stresses efficientutilization of capital - strong cash flow generationcombined with asset turns. With a solid financialposition, Hubbell is not captive to conditions inthe credit markets. The Company moved to ensureliquidity by increasing its undrawn committedcredit facility to $350 million in March 2008 andby issuing $300 million in 10-year bonds in May2008 to pay down all remaining commercial paper.As a result of its approach to financialmanagement, the Company in 2008 was able toreturn cash to shareholders by increasing thedividend per share to $1.40 annually andrepurchasing approximately $100 million ofcommon stock, while maintaining a single A creditrating and a 33% debt to capital ratio.12