Savola Group first in food, retail sectors to get sustainability accreditation

Savola Group announces that during March 2014 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 Saudi Arabia to receive this accreditation.
Savola CEO & MD Abdulraouf Mohammed Mannaa 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."
He added: “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."
The accreditation follows Savola’s annual sustainability report for 2012-2013, which was filed in accordance with the fourth and newest version of the GRI’s standards for GRI-G4. The GRI 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.
With operations across its core food and retail sectors, the 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 Economic City of which it is a founding shareholder.