JEDDAH – Savola Group announced that it received the GRI-G4 international sustainability accreditation from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The accreditation takes into account a company's performance, standards, social initiatives and sustainability. This makes Savola the first organization in the food and retail sectors at a global level, and the only organization in KSA, to receive this important accreditation. Dr. Abdulraouf Mohammed Mannaa, Savola CEO & Managing Director, said: “This accreditation is a reflection of Savola's successful strategy and is evidence of our commitment to operating within a framework of the highest moral values, a strong work culture and well established principles of corporate governance and transparency. We achieve this through effective control systems and a transparent approach to communicating our performance through financial and corporate reporting. “Such reporting allows us to not only disclose financial indicators and performance, but also communicate non financial performance such as our strategies and expectations in addition to indicators of how we are performing with regards to social responsibility, the environment, safety issues and industrial security. “We strive to provide our investors and stakeholders with all of the necessary information that relates to our business and operations in accordance with international best practices and standards in corporate governance. This is a key milestone for Savola as we take another step towards becoming an internationally recognized and leading diversified group.” The accreditation follows Savola's annual sustainability report for 2012/2013 which was filed in accordance with the fourth and newest version of the Global Reporting Initiative's standards for GRI-G4. The Global Reporting Initiative is a global body that is mandated to evaluate the reports submitted by companies, institutions, according to a set of standards and criteria. The report includes detailed performance information covering the Group's financial position as well as social, environmental and governance concerns. The Savola Group is a leading manufacturing group in the region with operations across its core sectors, namely food and retail. Moreover, Savola Group has a diversified portfolio of strategic investments in which it owns 36.52 percent of Al-Marai Fresh Dairy Company, 49 percent of Herfy Foods services, and 29.99 percent of Kinan International Real Estate and 11 percent of the Knowledge Economy City of which it is a founding shareholder. — SG
