Marks and Spencer 2007 Annual Report Download - page 35

www.marksandspencer.com/annualreport2007 MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC 33
Audit information
The directors confirm that, so far as they are aware, there is no
relevant audit information of which the Company’s auditors are
unaware and that each director has taken all the steps that they
ought to have taken as a director to make themselves aware of
any relevant audit information and to establish that the
Company’s auditors are aware of that information.
Employee involvement
We have maintained our commitment to employee involvement
throughout the business.
Employees are kept well informed of the performance and
objectives of the Group through personal briefings, regular
meetings, electronic communications and Chief Executive
broadcasts at key points in the year to all head office employees
and store management. These are supplemented by our
employee publications including, 'Your M&S' magazine, and
DVD presentations. More than 3,500 employees elected onto
Business Involvement Groups across every store and head
office location represent their colleagues in two-way
communication and consultation with the Company. They have
continued to play a key role in a wide variety of business
changes including proposals in January 2007 to put our final
salary pension scheme on a more secure footing for the future.
The twelfth meeting of the European Council took place last
July. This council provides an additional forum for informing,
consulting and involving employee representatives from the
countries in the European Community.
Directors and senior management regularly visit stores and
discuss, with employees, matters of current interest and
concern to the business.
Share schemes are a long-established part of our total reward
package, encouraging and supporting employee share
ownership. In particular, over 21,000 employees currently
participate in the Company’s All Employee Sharesave Scheme.
Full details of all schemes are given on pages 45-46.
We maintain contact with retired staff through communications
from the Company and the Pension Trust. Member-nominated
Trustees have been elected to the Pension Trust Board,
including employees and pensioners. We continue to produce
a regular Pensions Update newsletter for members of our final
salary pension scheme and our M&S Retirement Plan.
Equal opportunities
The Group is committed to an active Equal Opportunities Policy
from recruitment and selection, through training and
development, appraisal and promotion to retirement.
It is our policy to promote an environment free from
discrimination, harassment and victimisation, where everyone
will receive equal treatment regardless of gender, colour, ethnic
or national origin, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation
or religion. All decisions relating to employment practices will be
objective, free from bias and based solely upon work criteria
and individual merit.
The Group is responsive to the needs of its employees,
customers and the community at large and we are an
organisation that endeavours to use everyone’s talents and
abilities to the full.
Employees with disabilities
It is our policy that people with disabilities should have full and
fair consideration for all vacancies. During the year, we
continued to use the Government’s ‘two ticks’ disability symbol
to demonstrate our commitment to interviewing those people
with disabilities who fulfil the minimum criteria, and endeavouring
to retain employees in the workforce if they become disabled
during employment. We will actively retrain and adjust their
environment where possible to allow them to maximise their
potential.
We continue to work with external organisations to provide
workplace opportunities through our innovative ‘Marks & Start’
scheme and by working closely with jobcentreplus.
Creditor payment policy
For all trade creditors, it is the Group’s policy to:
• agree the terms of payment at the start of business with that
supplier;
• ensure that suppliers are aware of the terms of payment;
and
• pay in accordance with its contractual and other legal
obligations.
The main trading company, Marks and Spencer plc, has a policy
concerning the payment of trade creditors as follows:
• general merchandise is automatically paid for 11 working
days from the end of the week of delivery;
• food is paid for 13 working days from the end of the week of
delivery (based on the timely receipt of an accurate invoice);
and
• distribution suppliers are paid monthly, for costs incurred in
that month, based on estimates, and payments are adjusted
quarterly to reflect any variations to estimate.
Trade creditor days for Marks and Spencer plc for the year
ended 31 March 2007 were 14.7 days, or 9.8 working days (last
year 13.1 days, or 8.8 working days), based on the ratio of
company trade creditors at the end of the year to the amounts
invoiced during the year by trade creditors.
Market value of properties
The last formal valuation of the Group’s properties was carried
out as at 30 September 2006. Taking into account movements
in the Group’s property portfolio since that date, the directors
are of the opinion that the market value of the Group’s properties,
at 31 March 2007 exceeded their net book value (including
prepayments in respect of leasehold land) of the fixed asset
and leasehold properties by approximately £1.1bn.
Charitable donations
During the year, the Group made charitable donations to
support the community of £13.9m (last year £9.3m). These
principally consisted of cash donations of £3.8m (last year
£3.4m) which includes the cost of our flagship community
programme ‘Marks & Start’, Breakthrough Breast Cancer,
Prostate Cancer Awareness and other charitable donations,
£3.0m (last year £1.3m) of employee time principally for the
‘Marks & Start’ programme and local community projects,
and stock donations of £6.6m (last year £4.2m) to a variety of
charities including Shelter, Fareshare, Birth Defects Foundation
Executive Team Your Board Financial
Review Governance Financials
Shareholder Information