FGV Annual Report 2018

28 PRACTICED LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE FGV HOLDINGS BERHAD MESSAGE FROM THE GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Dear Shareholders, I took over as GCEO on 23 January 2019, at the start of the new financial year and the point of a new beginning for FGV. DATO’ HARIS FADZILAH HASSAN Group Chief Executive Officer During the last financial year, our Board of Directors had made certain tough decisions that led to the appointment of several new members to the Management team. As such, the new Management team and I have inherited an aggressive Transformation Plan, with clear directions set and competitive targets to achieve. My job is to make sure that the team and I implement the plans successfully and deliver the promised results. In an open letter to our Shareholders on 14 January 2019, our Chairman, Datuk Wira Azhar Abdul Hamid outlined the historical reasons for FGV’s current performance. Much of this is already well documented and thus, I will not dwell on the past, except to learn from it. THE STEPS FORWARD FGV’s Transformation Plan is necessarily multi-pronged in its approach and is captured in our BP21. However, it can be synthesised into two broad areas of focus, namely: Driving culture change is not an easy task. Change is not always welcome and may face resistance in the best of organisations. Your Board and Management are well aware of the challenges ahead of us, and we are determined to succeed. Arguably, the most important step was to ensure that FGV has the right team in place to achieve our Transformation Plan. Your Board of Directors took the lead by appointing several new members to the Management team, emphasising the need for a proven track record and the ability to drive change. This team has already started to move the levers of change within FGV. We have started with the required top-down approach to address our Human Capital needs. Each member of the Management team will take the next steps forward to ensure that we have the optimal number of employees who are equipped with the right skill sets and empowered to perform. However, reducing 10% manpower will not be a simple task. While this will be painful, I am clear that this is the crucial way forward to be followed if we are to turnaround FGV. We will, however, ensure that any rationalisation will be fair, equitable and take into account the welfare of those affected. The other critical aspect of our Transformation Plan lies in the review and reset of our operations, and better capital management. We have put in place various initiatives which remain on-going to improve our capital management and bring immediate benefits to our operations. We know that our operational performance lags behind our industry peers. There are many reasons for this, some of which can be addressed immediately, such as savings from improved procurement processes which will run into millions of ringgit. However, other factors will take time to correct or reverse. We will continue to report transparently on the steps we are taking and the progress we are making. Our estate and mill operations are also under review and several measures are being implemented to improve estate husbandry and mill practices. We are clear that our estate operations are the mainstay of the business and must be well managed for us to leverage on our many inherent strengths. Addressing Our Human Capital Requirements Improving Operational and Financial Management