TALENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

Success, in life and in business, never depends solely on immediate satisfaction. Loyalty implies that the focus, in both the management of our lives and our companies, is to create a long time value. The success of our companies does not depend on sales, but on repeat sales, and these only happen if we adapt our products to changes in the market, i.e. if we change when our customers change.


Customers want proximity and relationships, in addition to digitalisation, and they demand that companies reward talent, society and the planet as much or more than shareholders. Financial sustainability does not lose importance: it is the basis for wealth generation. However, both the generation and distribution of wealth must consider social and environmental sustainability. The corporate governance model must also be designed to fulfil social and environmental responsibilities.


Wealth creation depends on a well-defined strategy and a governance model that implements it effectively.

OUR GOVERNANCE MODEL

The governance of NOV Group companies begins with the Board of Directors of the holding company, which defines the strategy for the Group and appoints an Executive Committee (CEGNOV) from among its members or from outside, ensuring top management and implementation of the defined strategy. This CEGNOV integrates the Board from each one of the sub-holdings owned and it chooses the Executive Committees, in conjunction with CEGNOV’s CEO as Chairman of these Boards. The model is replicated, in principle, in the companies owned by each sub-holding.

Everyone involved in the governance of our companies must sign our code of conduct and lead by example, in accordance with Group values: Ethics, Competence, Rigour, Cooperation and Strength.

The Group’s 5-year planning is reviewed every year between September and December. Planning kicks off in September with the presentation of GNOV’s strategic objectives, to be incorporated into the companies’ plans. From then on, all the companies prepare their marketing, human resources, financial and IT plans, among others, which are then sent to the GNOV Executive Committee by the end of November for approval. In December, the GNOV Executive Committee approves them and in January, those approved strategic plan objectives will be delegated throughout the hierarchy via the performance assessment system (PAS).

The PAS measures individual contributions to overall performance and identifies training needs to be filled at the GNOV Business School (ENOV).

The values harmonisation plan (VHP) measures compliance with GNVOV values at its companies and is audited at least every 2 years. On a scale of 1 to 100, scores below 60 prevent the company from presenting itself publicly using our image.

In conclusion, our model is geared towards wealth creation and presupposes a clear organisation, a strategic plan that is delegated and monitored through an evaluation system and a culture, to which we are bound through the code of conduct, and whose practice must be perceived by our partners, a guarantee given by the audits of the Values Harmonisation Plan (VHP).

WEALTH TO DISTRIBUTE

Having presented our governance model, which is geared towards wealth creation, it makes sense to identify some concrete actions aimed at the financial sustainability of GNOV projects:

 

  1. All new investments must be assessed for profitability and strategic cohesiveness with current businesses. The maximum payback referenced is 8 years.
  2. Financial autonomy must not be less than 30 % and the NETDEBT/EBITDA ratio must be less than 3.
  3. Activities with negative results for 3 years in a row should be specifically analysed and obvious prospects for profitability found, otherwise they should be discontinued.
  4. The incorporation of companies into a partnership involves a minimum GNOV stake of 67 %.
  5. Innovation with a focus on profitability must be proven in all planning processes.
  6. Improving skills, segmenting GNOV customers by value, and internal cooperation to improve the cross-selling of products and services, are the pillars of our commercial policy.

Sustainably generated wealth must remunerate investors’ risk. Without jeopardising the financial structure of the companies, dividend payments should be natural and frequent. But this wealth has more stakeholders to reward.

GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY

Sustained wealth which, right from the production process, is made with social and environmental responsibility, must pay back the communities with which we interact, giving back a part of what they have helped us to create, and the planet, our “green house” which deserves present investment in order to house the future. Here are some of the many social and environmental payment actions we have developed:

  1. Support for culture: Music Festival in Leiria and Engenho e Arte.
  2. Support for various associations that promote sports in disciplines such as football, futsal, handball, hockey and athletics, among others.
  3. Support for entrepreneurship: involvement with Startup Leiria by contributing to their capital.
  4. Support for training and links with universities: participation in the capital and management of the Leiria Business school, sponsorship of various activities for undergraduate and master’s degrees at IPL, IPT and the University of Coimbra, among others.
  5. Support for home medical services provided by the Leiria District Hospital with NOV Automóveis.
  6. Support for various charities with an annual cheque, through RL, in the “Fazer Bem Olhando a Quem” project.
  7. Involvement with the process of reforestation of the Leiria pine forest thanks to the NOV Turismo team.
  8. Decarbonisation of our industrial sector.
  9. Investment in the production of photovoltaic energy.
  10. Monitoring energy consumption and waste production, with annual efficiency targets.

Global sustainability is guaranteed when we give the best of ourselves, so it will always be a goal in the making. The main objective of our TALENT AND SUSTAINABILITY Convention is to make ourselves more aware of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) responsibilities, to identify what we already do, but above all to add new commitments, in the knowledge that global sustainability, which rewards shareholders, talent, society and the planet, depends primarily on the ability to generate and maintain wealth, and this does not “fall from the sky”.