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Report of the Directors
Annual General Meeting continued
by rotation and will seek re-appointment. The Directors seeking
re-appointment all have service contracts on a rolling 12 month
basis. Sir Timothy Sainsbury and Rosemary Thorne will also retire
at the AGM and are not seeking re-appointment.
Auditors
Following the merger of Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse
on 1 July 1998, Coopers & Lybrand resigned as Auditors in favour of
the new firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the Directors appointed
PricewaterhouseCoopers to fill the casual vacancy created by the
resignation. A resolution to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as
Auditors of the Company and to authorise the Directors to agree
their remuneration will be put to the Annual General Meeting.
Staff, social responsibility and the environment
Employment policies
The Company remains committed to achieving its business
objectives through the motivation and development of its people.
In the belief that ‘how we manage is how we serve’, there is
continued commitment to provide all colleagues with:
• the information they need in order to perform effectively;
• a regular opportunity to review performance with their
manager; and
• a personal training and development plan.
As a direct result, 48 supermarkets and parts of the head office
complex have now achieved the Investors in People standard.
It is planned that Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd will achieve this
standard for the whole of its operation by the end of the year 2000.
This year Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd won the National Training
Award in conjunction with Campden & Chorleywood Food Research
Association, Tameside College (Manchester) and Brooklands College
(Weybridge) for the Bakery Manager Focus Programme.
Full roll-out has begun of the Sainsbury’s GUILD programme which
will progressively equip store colleagues with the skills to offer
outstanding customer service through improved product knowledge
and other skills.
The Company is committed to providing fair and equal treatment
for all employees and recognises the importance of diversity within
the organisation. As part of that commitment to equality and
diversity, the Company believes that, given the chance, people with
a disability have at least as much to offer as anyone else. During
1998, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets won two ‘Ease’ awards from the
Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People as the Best
Employer of People with Disabilities and the Best Supermarket for
Customers with Disabilities. These awards reflect our continuing
work to ensure the social inclusion of people with disabilities.
26 J Sainsbury plc Annual report and accounts 1999
The Company continues to place great emphasis on the value of
open communication both through an ever more effective network
of local and central staff councils and through the annual attitude
surveys which are demonstrating increasing levels of satisfaction
and commitment.
Staff are offered a full range of employee share schemes and about
one third of all shareholders are employees or former employees.
Policy on payment of suppliers
The policy of the Company and its principal operating companies
is to agree terms of payment prior to commencing trade with
a supplier and to abide by those terms based on the timely
submission of satisfactory invoices. The Company subscribes
to the CBI Code of Good Practice (which can be obtained from
the CBI, Centrepoint, 103 New Oxford Street, London, WC1A 1DU)
on the prompt payment of suppliers. The performance of the
operating companies in respect of payment to suppliers is
contained in their accounts.
Donations
Donations to charitable organisations and local community projects
amounted to £3.8 million, which included contributions of money
and time to enterprise agencies, job creation, educational schemes,
town centre management initiatives, community projects and the
arts. There were no political donations.
Research and development
The Technical Division employs 200 people and has an annual
expenditure of £8.5 million. It works in close co-operation with
suppliers to achieve the highest standards of product quality,
integrity, hygiene and safety and to maintain these throughout the
Group’s distribution chains and stores. The Division also develops
and co-ordinates policies to address issues of concern and interest
to our customers, for example environmental management and
healthy eating. The Company Environment Report is produced by
the Division. This document sets out the primary environmental
policies adhered to by the Company as well as detailing the
objectives set to improve our care for the environment.
By order of the Board
Nigel Matthews
Secretary
1 June 1999