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5
NEWS
December 2012/January 2013 www.esb.ie/em
Sustainable Innovation Awards 2012
THE WINNERS of the 2012 Sustainable Innovation Awards were announced on Thursday October 18th at an event in ESB Head Office during Responsible Business Week.
First place went to Wilton, ESB Networks, with ESB Aghada and ESB Moneypoint coming second and third respectively. An Individual Award was presented to Linda Daniel Christie, an ESB Sustainability Champion, for her work in leading the Grow-It-Yourself initiative in Head Office. The Schools Sustainability Programme received the Community Award.
This year’s winners were selected from a shortlist of 12. Assessors developed the shortlist from their review of over 640 Sustainable innovations, logged in over 60 ESB locations.
The shortlisted locations were:
- Rousch, ESBI
- Electric Ireland. Sustainability and Environmental Management Group (Swift Square)
- ESBI Stephen Court (Publishing Unit)
- Mullingar, ESB Networks
- Moneypoint, Generation
- Osprey House, ESB Networks
- Head Office Champions Network
- Wilton, ESB Networks
- Aghada, Generation
- Enniscorthy, ESB Networks
- Sligo, ESB Networks
- Dunmanway, ESB Networks
The selection of the final winners was made by a panel comprising: Eamon Connolly, ESB Internal Audit: Darina Eades, Business In the Community Ireland: Mick Loughnane, ESB Group HR, and Tony Merriman, ESB Worker Director. Speaking at the awards ceremony People and Sustainability Executive Director Pat Naughton said that reviewing the entries he was very impressed by the quality of work underway across the country.
Thanking staff and sustainability champions and managers throughout the organisation for their work and congratulated the winners on their success, he said, “It is evident that the concept of sustainable innovation is well embedded in many business areas, with reports now focusing on the achievement of realised savings and efficiencies. It is true to say that a quiet revolution has taken place in ESB in terms of our moving to the forefront of best practice in Sustainable Innovation in Ireland.”
ESB WINS AWARD FOR ANNUAL REPORT
ESB’s 2011 Annual Report was awarded the top prize by the Leinster Institute for non-quoted companies. This is a great achievement and reflects a lot of hard work, determination to produce a quality document and retain the high standard we set ourselves in 2010.
The Annual Report is the key document our shareholders, banks, rating agencies and bond holders look to for financial information - so it is very important and been part of all our fundraising in the last twelve months.
ESB MADSOC at the Helix
ESB MADSOC took to the boards again on the 6th and 7th of October in the Helix Theatre with our highly accomplished production team: Director Christine Scarry, Musical Director Gay Kirwan and Choreographer Denise Donohoe. We put on one hell of a show! It was hard work, but lots of fun. The cast was made up of staff, family members and performers from other societies. Auditions were held in June and we were blessed to end up with such a highly talented group of people.
The show entitled A Little Light Music turned out to be lively, slick and very entertaining. It had something for everyone, with music from various shows. Sister Act really appealed to our audience, no doubt because of our lively bunch of singing and dancing nuns. Our excellent soloists wowed us with songs from ‘The Hired Man’, ‘Billy Elliot’, and ‘Miss Saigon’. Just when the audience thought it couldn’t get any better along came ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Barcelona’.
The finale, an ABBA medley, had the entire on stage strutting their stuff. The sound, lighting, set and costumes all served to enhance our show greatly.
Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable and happy experience for all and we especially want thank those who continue to support us by contributing to the MADSOC draw.
A big thank you also, to all who came to see the show and for being such an appreciative audience. The atmosphere in the theatre was truly electric!
Finance Transformation Programme (FiTP) update
BU Performance Management Review Meetings commence
ONE OF THE key objectives of the Finance Transformation Programme (FiTP) is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ESB’s approach to performance management. One such improvement sees the introduction of monthly business performance review meetings. The first series of meetings began in November and was based on the October month end results.
Each month, the Business Unit Executive Director and Financial Controller will meet the Chief Executive, and the Executive Director for Group Finance & Commercial to assess business performance and review a mix of financial and non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs). Using standardised reporting templates, the meetings will focus on key issues within the month against the latest forecast and provide an update on significant operational developments.
“The new performance management meetings provide clear management accountability for business performance at the very highest level within the organisation,” said Group Finance & Commercial Executive Director Donal Flynn.
“They are aligned with our broader strategic objective of developing a high performance culture. The first round of meetings in November was very productive, providing an essential platform for an open conversation on performance management within each of the business units.”
Next year, the reporting templates that are currently produced in PowerPoint will be transformed into a new online interactive dashboard, allowing for greater analytical investigation. FiTP’s Reporting Team are currently working very closely with each of the Business Units to finalise the functional design and business requirements of the new reporting system, which is scheduled to go live in April 2013 when the Business Unit month-end results for March are produced.
Bond success for ESB
ESB HAS successfully priced a €500m bond with a seven year maturity and a coupon of 4.375%. The bonds are being bought mainly by European institutional investors and the total amount of orders received was over EUR 6 billion.
This bond follows ESB’s successful €600m 5 year issuance in September 2012. The longer tenor and lower yield of today’s deal reflects improving market sentiment towards ESB and Irish bonds generally.
This bond issue will support ESB in funding its ongoing capital investment programme in Ireland which includes investments in the electricity networks and renewable generation. The proceeds from the bond issue will also be used to refinance some of ESB’s existing debt. In that context it supports ESB’s liquidity position and demonstrates its continued ability to attract international capital for infrastructure investment in Ireland.
ESB continues to grow its business through new investment while also reducing its cost base. It has a target of achieving €280m in annual cost reductions between 2010 and 2015, which equates to an overall reduction of 25% in costs excluding fuel. This is being achieved through an integrated programme that includes payroll cost reductions and reductions in staff numbers.
