48


Finsbury Food Group Annual Report and Accounts 2020


Directors’ Report/Continued


Foreign Exchange Risk The Group uses forward foreign exchange contracts to manage its exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency rates. Full details are given in Note 23.


Diversity


Finsbury Food Group is committed to encouraging diversity, promoting a diverse culture where everyone is treated with respect and valued for their individual contribution and creating a work environment free of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination. We have a Diversity Policy in place to ensure that selection for employment, promotion, development or any other benefit is on the basis of merit and ability and does not impact negatively upon diversity. It is a key objective to ensure that all employees are helped and encouraged to fulfil their potential.


Equal Opportunities


It is our policy to ensure equal opportunity in recruitment, selection, promotion, employee development, training and reward policies and we have an equal opportunities and diversity policy in place. It is a key objective to ensure that successful candidates for appointment and promotion are selected taking account of individual ability, skills and competencies without regard to age, gender, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation.


Involvement of Employees


Employees are key to the Company’s success and we rely on a committed workforce to help us achieve our business objectives. Employees are encouraged to operate in an open environment, embracing teamwork and aligning personal development with the strategy of the business and their behaviours with Company values. We are keen to engage our employees by providing an environment where they can contribute their own ideas and challenge those of others. We are committed to involving employees and consider that good communication helps to achieve this. All sites have regular briefings, employee forums and communication mechanisms which are designed to keep colleagues informed of, amongst other things, the financial and economic factors that affect the Company’s performance. Many sites also hold open days to allow employees’ families to see the environment in which their family members work. We have also rolled out Workplace by Facebook across the Group to improve communication between employees, increase engagement and drive forward idea generation and sharing of good practices.


Political and Charitable Contributions During the year charitable donations amounting to £9,000 (2019: £9,000) were made. No political donations were made.


In response to the pandemic and support needed in the local communities we provided charitable food donations to NHS and key workers as well as local care homes.


Going Concern


There have been major disruptions to markets since March 2020 as a result of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Post Covid-19 consumer spending behaviour and lifestyle choices are an unknown. Since the start, the Company has been guided by clear priorities to protect employees, safeguard supply, respond to new patterns of consumer demand and to preserve cash. The response by the Company to mitigate cash outflows was swift and proportionate with prioritisation and limitation of capital expenditure, salary reductions across senior executives, use of the furlough scheme and cancellation of interim dividend. We have continued our close working relationship with our banking partners and have full support with a reset of debt: EBITDA covenant tests at 26 December 2020 and 26 June 2021. Debt levels have decreased over the year by £9.1 million to £26.5 million with a debt to adjusted EBITDA measure of 1.1x down from 1.4x at 29 June 2019.


With knowledge and experience since lockdown a bottom-up full year 2021 budget and strategic forecast to June 2023 has been compiled, challenged and sensitivities have been considered. Our supply chain and manufacturing have been robust when faced with unprecedented fluctuation in demand. Revenue trends have improved over the final quarter, with April 24% down year on year, May, 19% down and June 14% down. The Group has a debt facility to February 2023 of £55.0 million with scope for the facility to be increased by up to a further £35.0 million, providing increased capacity for the Group to explore future growth opportunities and support its long-term investment strategy and the Group has a relatively conservative level of debt to earnings. Having taken all the above factors into account the Directors believe that it remains appropriate to prepare the accounts on a Going Concern basis.


Auditors


In accordance with Section 489 of the Companies Act 2006, a resolution for the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditors is to be proposed at the forthcoming AGM.


• So far as each Director is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Company’s auditors are unaware; and • Each Director has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Director in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Company’s auditor is aware of that information.


The Directors’ Report was approved by the Board of Directors on 18 September 2020 and was signed on its behalf by:


Stephen Boyd Director


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112