Tesco 2011 Annual Report Download - page 7

Richard Brasher has assumed the newly created role of CEO for the UK,
as well as having responsibility for the Republic of Ireland, whilst David
Potts has become the first CEO of our growing Asia business. Laurie
McIlwee has taken on responsibility for Group Strategy in addition to
his role as CFO.
Andrew Higginson and Lucy Neville-Rolfe will continue in their roles
as CEO Retail Services and Executive Director (Corporate and Legal
Affairs) respectively.
There have also been a few changes to the Non-executive members
of the Board this year. Rodney Chase CBE retired from his position
as Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director in July. Patrick
Cescau, who has served on the Board since February 2009, has
replaced Rodney as Senior Independent Director.
Charles Allen CBE and Dr Harald Einsmann, who had both served
on the Tesco Board since February 1999, also retired in July and were
replaced by Stuart Chambers and Gareth Bullock.
Stuart, formerly CEO of NSG Group and Pilkington plc, has replaced
Charles as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee. Gareth, former
Group Executive Director of Standard Chartered PLC, has joined the
Audit Committee.
I would like to thank Charles, Harald and Rodney for their excellent
advice and important contributions over a combined 30 years’ service,
and also formally welcome Gareth and Stuart, who bring with them
a wealth of international experience and new expertise in financial
services, further adding to the overall strength of the Tesco Board.
Dividend
I am delighted to report that we have again increased our dividend –
for the 27th consecutive year. The Board has proposed a final dividend
of 10.09p per share, taking the full-year dividend to 14.46p. This
represents an increase of 10.8% on last year’s full-year dividend, which
is in line with the growth in underlying diluted earnings per share at
constant tax rates.
Community
This year, we donated over £64 million to charity – again meeting our
target to donate the equivalent of over 1% of our profits to charities
and goodcauses.
We’ve made further progress towards our goal of becoming a
zero-carbon business by 2050. This year we have reduced emissions
from our baseline portfolio of buildings by 7.7%.
Our people
Our growth over the past year is a direct result of the dedication,
passion and hard work of our people – a team which is now over
492,000 strong. I’m delighted that our share ownership incentive
schemes are helping our staff to get their own personal stake in the
business. This year 216,000 employees shared a record £105.5 million
through our Shares In Success scheme. On behalf of the Board,
I would like to thank all of our people for their ongoing commitment
to providing the best possible service for our customers.
David Reid
Chairman
I am pleased to report another
good set of results in what has
been a challenging year in some
of our markets.
After 14 years as CEO, Terry Leahy announced his retirement in June
and, as part of our long-term succession plan, Philip Clarke replaced
him at the helm in March 2011.
Terry is undoubtedly one of the leading businessmen of his generation.
Under his leadership we have more than quadrupled our sales and
profits, expanded into 13 countries outside the UK and entered new
markets such as online retailing and financial services. On behalf of
everyone at Tesco and all our shareholders, it is a privilege to thank
Terry for his unrivalled contribution to the success of the business.
There could be no better person to lead us going forward than Philip
Clarke. Philip has worked at Tesco throughout his career, spending
many years in Retail and Commercial. He joined the Tesco Board in
1998 and, as part of his role as Asia, Europe and IT Director, has been
at the heart of many of our most important developments and
operational improvements in recent years, such as entry into China,
Turkey and India and the introduction of the Tesco Hindustan Service
Centre (HSC) – our global services arm.
I set the Nominations Committee the objective of delivering a seamless
succession and I am delighted with the outcome. The handover process
from Terry to Philip was very smooth. I have every confidence that
under Philip’s leadership, Tesco will go on to achieve even greater
success in the future.
In order for the Tesco Board to better reflect the global nature of our
business, provide more focus on key areas of performance and deliver on
our immediate objectives, we made additional changes in March 2011.
Tim Mason has become Deputy CEO and Chief Marketing Officer in
addition to his role as President and CEO Fresh & Easy.
TESCO PLC Annual Report and Financial Statements 2011 — 3
OVERVIEW
Overview Business review Governance Financial statements
Chairman’s statement