Tesco 2009 Annual Report Download - page 5

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Tesco PLC Annual Report and Financial Statements 2009
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT
I am pleased to report that despite the extraordinary economic
environment we find ourselves in, Tesco has once again delivered
a good set of results. This demonstrates that Tesco is coping well
with the downturn. Despite the challenging conditions around
the globe we have remained resilient and are growing as fast as
any major international retailer.
We’ve made several new appointments to the Tesco Board in the year,
including Laurie McIlwee who takes on the role of Group Finance
Director, replacing Andrew Higginson who has been appointed Chief
Executive of Retailing Services whilst retaining his responsibility for
Group Strategy.
Laurie has been with Tesco for nine years and has a very strong track-
record in both finance and operations. In his most recent role as
Distribution Director Laurie was responsible for transforming our
network – a tremendous achievement. His appointment shows once
again how careful management succession planning works in Tesco
and I have every confidence he will do an outstanding job as our Group
Finance Director.
We’ve also appointed three strong new Non-executive Directors in
recent months – Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker, a former Director
General at the Ministry of Transport in the Netherlands who has also
held senior positions at McKinsey & Co. and Shell, Patrick Cescau,
former CEO of Unilever and Ken Hanna, Chairman of Inchcape plc and
former CFO of Cadbury. They bring with them a wealth of international,
commercial and financial experience which will further strengthen our
Board and support our plans for the long-term growth of the Group.
Whilst the downturn has presented many challenges, it has also opened
up some opportunities. We have made two very significant acquisitions
this year.
We have acquired the remaining 50% of Tesco Personal Finance from
Royal Bank of Scotland, a move which will enable us to develop an
already very successful financial services offer towards our objective
of becoming a full-service retail bank.
In South Korea we purchased 36 hypermarkets from E-land, mostly in
Seoul, which has put us in a very strong position to challenge for market
leadership in one of our most successful markets.
Most of our growth has again been organic – we’ve opened nine
million square feet of new space this year, excluding the acquisition in
South Korea. In August we announced our entry into India, with plans
to establish a cash & carry operation and a franchise agreement with
Trent to support their Star Bazaar hypermarkets. This complements our
entries into China and the United States, giving us access to another of
the world’s most important economies.
Whilst many of our customers are focused on managing their shopping
budgets, it is still important to them that we behave responsibly in the
communities we serve. We now have a Community Plan for each
country and earlier in the year we launched our Community Promises.
These are: actively supporting local communities; buying and selling
our products responsibly; caring for the environment; giving customers
healthy choices; and creating good jobs and careers.
We’ve made some great progress this year – we’ve opened our
greenest ever store at Cheetham Hill in Manchester, with a carbon
footprint that is 70% smaller than a typical store – bringing our total
number of green stores across the Group to 37. This will be a blueprint
for how we build stores in the future.
Our work to encourage customers to make greener decisions is going
well. Through green Clubcard points we have reduced the number of
single-use carrier bags in the UK by 50% and we are finding innovative
ways to use green Clubcard elsewhere – for example by rewarding
customers for cycling to our stores in South Korea.
I’m also pleased to announce that in the UK we have once again broken
our ‘Charity of the Year’ record, raising a remarkable £6.2 million for
Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Although it was impossible to predict the scale of the global economic
slowdown, Tesco has responded well by adjusting our business to this
environment. Our 470,000 strong team have done a fantastic job –
staying close to customers and reacting quickly to their changing needs
around the world.
I am confident that this hard work will continue as we press on with our
long-term strategy which I believe will put us in an even stronger
position once economies start to recover.
David Reid, Chairman