BT 2008 Annual Report Download - page 7

Overview
Chairman’s message
I am pleased to report that we are recommending a full year dividend of
15.8 pence per share, up 5% from last year, reecting the group’s strong
performance and the Board’s continued condence in the future of the business.
Thanks to Ben and Christopher
Before saying anything else, I want to pay tribute to your Chief
Executive of the past six and a half years, Ben Verwaayen, who
will be stepping down on 1 June 2008. Ben has been a truly
exceptional Chief Executive. His courage, determination, vision and
energy have transformed BT.
When he arrived in 2002, BT was a deeply troubled organisation
with huge debts and an uncertain future. Since then, under his
leadership, BT has delivered Broadband Britain, built a successful
and fast growing global operation and changed the regulatory
landscape in the UK through the creation of Openreach. This has
enabled the most competitive broadband market in the world
to ourish. Ben has also – and I’ll return to this – overseen the
creation of a diverse and hugely impressive talent pool in BT at
executive team level and throughout our many operations and
specialist businesses around the world. He has restored pride in BT
and I know that he feels that in many ways this will prove to be his
most important legacy.
Great credit is also due to my predecessor Sir Christopher Bland
who stepped down in September. He was an outstanding Chairman
to whom I and the rest of BT owe a tremendous debt of gratitude.
Number one for customer service
I’ve been at BT for eight months and have enjoyed my time here
enormously. Having had a chance to meet BT people and get a rst
hand view of operations, I am convinced that we have the right
strategy and, just as importantly, the right team to take it forward.
That team consistently demonstrates that it has the imagination
and agility to deliver for our customers.
We need to drive standards higher for the whole of the industry.
Being number one for service in our own sector is simply no longer
good enough. We have to make outstanding customer service a
differentiator for BT. That will enable us to build on our position
as Britain’s favourite broadband provider, grow our wholesale and
global businesses, and drive down the costs we incur when things
go wrong.
The transformation that Ben and Christopher initiated
continues.
Our wider responsibilities
It is vitally important for companies to be responsible and
contributing members of the communities in which they operate.
BT has an enviable track record when it comes to living up to
its social and environmental responsibilities and I am delighted
that we won Business in the Community’s prestigious Company
of the Year award for our positive impact on society. The award
goes to the company judged to be improving its business and
its overall impact on society, in the marketplace, the workplace,
the environment and the community, through leadership and
integration of responsible business practices. We were also the
top telecommunications company in the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index for the seventh year in a row.
The importance of such awards is that they highlight all
the hard work, imagination and commitment throughout our
organisation that is focused on operating in an ethical, sustainable
and socially responsible way.
Around one third of BT people are involved with corporate
social responsibility related activities. We provide the manpower
and technology for major charity appeals including Children in
Need and Comic Relief, and we are working closely with children’s
charity Childline on a campaign to ensure that no call for help goes
unheard.
As we increasingly operate globally, so the emphasis is on being
good citizens of the world and making a difference worldwide.
For example, when your Board recently held a meeting in India,
we were able to see the marvellous work that the Katha IT and
E-commerce School (KITES) – which BT supports – is doing for kids
in one of Delhi’s slums.
We recognise that we have a responsibility to the environment
and aim to be a leader in the new low-carbon economy. Ben
Verwaayen chaired a recent CBI task force which was set up to
make recommendations on combating climate change. And we
are very conscious of the importance of reducing our emissions
and reducing waste in-house. Our CO2 emissions in the UK are
58% lower than they were in 1996 and we aim to improve this to
80% by 2016. Our contract to purchase green energy is one of the
largest in the world and we are developing wind powered projects
which should meet up to 25% of our UK electricity needs by 2016.
Regulation
The creation of a genuinely competitive environment, wherever we
operate around the world, is fundamental to our continued ability
to meet our customers’ needs.
In the UK, it is vital that the regulatory environment should
enable us to make the necessary investments in the next
generation of the UK’s communications infrastructure with
condence.
In the European Union we are also looking for a level playing
eld that allows BT access to other markets.
6 BT Group plc Annual Report & Form 20-F