21 Finsbury Food Group Annual Report & Accounts 2016


 to secure its borrowings. The Group owns   Campbells in Scotland. In addition, the Group has a strong trade debtor book to support the invoice discounting facility, made up primarily of the UK’s major multiple retailers. This debtor book stood at £44.9 million (2015: £42.8 million) at the period end date.


The Group recognises the inherent risk from interest rate rises. To mitigate these risks, the Group has two interest rate swaps in place with a total coverage of £9.0 million (2015: £14.0 million) equivalent to 46% (2015: 66%) of year end net bank debt at a weighted average rate of 1.8% (2015: 2.5%).


 year end, taking account of the interest rate swaps in place and deferred consideration  was 3.00% (2015: 4.04%). A £5.0 million  7 September 2016 the Group entered into a  


Financial Covenants


 forecasts and key covenants on a regular basis to ensure that it has adequate facilities to cover its trading and banking requirements with an appropriate level of headroom. The forecasts are based on management’s best estimates of future trading. There has been no breach of covenants during the year.


Interest cover (based on adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation  23.4 (2015: 17.8). Net bank debt to EBITDA (based on adjusted EBITDA) for the year to 2 July 2016 was 0.8 (2015: 1.0).


Taxation


The Group taxation charge for the year was £3.3million (2015: £1.9 million). This represents  


Further details on the tax charge can be found in Note 9 to the Group’s Financial Statements.


Environmental Matters


The Group has re-launched its Sustainability Strategy across the business with a broad focus on Supply Chain, People and the Environment. Each site has an Environmental Champion and KPIs have been standardised across the Group. The Group is working together with specialist advisors to further develop environmentally sustainable business practices. Energy reduction and environmental sustainability projects have continued around the business. From a new  refrigeration plant and high insulating ovens   the Group and compressed air leak surveys are underway. Environmental considerations are at the heart of our decision making. Working partnerships with local universities have created a key project that will deliver quality improvement and waste reduction and for which funding is currently being sought.


Employee Social and Community Issues


All manufacturing sites are active within their local communities and have developed strong links with local schools, universities and   School on an environmental awareness project and have funded an outdoor classroom in which to conduct work related to sustainability and the environment.


Technical Matters


All sites have achieved A, or the highest AA, rating under the new, much tougher British Retail Consortium version 7 standard with several of these audits now being unannounced. This is a strong performance across the business  additional requirement to understand the vulnerabilities in supply chains the Group is implementing a supply chain mapping system which will eventually be rolled out to capture all suppliers.


 Director


Health continues to be a major focus for the business with tougher 2017 salt targets and the Government’s Childhood Obesity Strategy. As a result, we have formulated a health strategy which focuses on a broad range of health metrics. Dedicated resource has been released to work on formulation development in key areas of the business and the capture of health metrics is being supported by an IT project. As part of the Food and Drink Federation, Finsbury has a voice in recommending appropriate categories for sugar targets to Public Health England and we continue to play an active role in this area.


The Johnstone’s acquisition has integrated rapidly into the technical requirements of the Group and the site now has a new Technical Manager.


The Strategic Report was approved by the Board of Directors on 16 September 2016 and was signed on its behalf by:


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