Business in the community

Recognition of our responsible business practices

Corporate Responsibility Index 2009 logo

We have again received recognition for the responsible way we run our business by achieving a ‘Gold’ performance rating in the 2009 Business in the Community (BITC) Corporate Responsibility Index.

Participating companies in the Index are evaluated in terms of how responsible business practices are integrated into their core business processes throughout their organisation. The Index provides a benchmark for companies to evaluate their management practices in four key areas of corporate responsibility – community, environment, marketplace and workplace – and performance in a range of environmental and social impact areas.

This year more than 140 companies have used the Index as a management tool, with 126 companies participating publicly.

BITC has provided a summary of our Index results, comparing our performance against our peers and other Index participants.

Our 2009 score of 93.8 per cent was a significant improvement on the 84.5 per cent rating in 2008 and demonstrates the success of integration activities post the Altadis acquisition.

CR Index Performance Environment Index Performance1
2009 Score 2
93.8%		 Band
Gold		 2009 Score
96.2%
Performance In Previous Years Industry Sector Information
2008 84.5% Silver Sector:
Tobacco		 Benchmarking Sector3:
Food & Beverages Producers
2007 90.0% Gold Benchmarking comparators:
Diageo, Heineken UK, Northern Foods Plc*, Shire Pharmaceuticals, United Biscuits.
* Company reporting on UK operations only
2006 91.0% Gold
2005 86.0% n/a
2004 n/a n/a
2003 n/a n/a
2002 n/a n/a

1. The Environment Index score is a combination of Corporate Strategy, Integration, Environment Management, Environmental Impact and Assurance and Disclosure scores.

2.CR Index Performance Band Thresholds: Platinum (≥ 94.76%); Gold (≥ 89.76%); Silver (≥79.76%); Bronze (≥70%)

3.Where there are insufficient industry sector participants, the company may be assigned to a wider "Benchmarking" sector.

Performance by CR Index section

This chart summarises our performance across each section of the CR Index Survey, and compares our 2009 performance with 2008.

Chart summarising our performance across each section of the CR Index Survey in 2009 compared with 2008.

Download our 2009 Feedback report for more detail on our performance PDF (824KB)

To view the full Index, including details of each element of the survey, visit the BITC website www.bitc.org.uk.