Section 172

Section 172 statement and stakeholder engagement 

Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 requires a director of a company to act in the way he or she considers, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its members as a whole. In doing this, section 172 requires a director to have regard, among other matters, to: 

  • the likely consequences of any decision in the long-term; 
  • the interests of the Company’s employees; 
  • the need to foster the Company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others; 
  • the impact of the Company’s operations on the community and the environment; 
  • the desirability of the Company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; 
  • and the need to act fairly with members of the Company. 

The directors give careful consideration to the factors set out above in discharging their duties under section 172. The key stakeholders the Board has identified in this context are:

  • Our consumers
  • Our customers
  • Our employees 
  • Our owner
  • Our suppliers
  • Our local community
  • The environment

The Board recognises the value of building and maintaining strong relationships with these stakeholders and is committed to delivering regular and sustained ways of doing so.  The objective is to  provide an exceptional consumer experience while being a partner of choice for customers and suppliers as well as delivering value for the shareholder.  

The Company plans and manages the interactions with stakeholders through the application of our ‘Change for Better’ corporate strategy.  The Company is fully engaged and has embedded our group strategy. Our ‘Change for Better’ strategy outlines:

  • Within the ‘Win with Customers’ section of our corporate strategy, we recognise that customers and consumers are at the heart of our business.  We aim to be the supplier of choice for our customers.
  • Our approach to creating an open and inclusive environment for employees is set out in more detail in the Employment Matters section of the Directors Report.
  • We aim to deliver consistent profit and cash delivery for our owner.
  • We work with our suppliers and local community for mutual benefit. We treat our suppliers with fairness and integrity and encourage them to respect our Weetabix Values. 
  • Our local community in and around Northamptonshire is very important to us. We have a number of longstanding partnerships which enable us to find ways to support our community and give back. We’ve also lent our support to Marcus Rashford’s campaign to end child food poverty and we’re very excited to have partnered with Magic Breakfast to support school breakfast clubs. We continue our long-standing partnerships with FareShare and GroceryAid. FareShare is the UK’s largest food redistribution charity, fighting hunger and food waste by redistributing good food that would otherwise go to waste to over 11,000 charities and community groups. GroceryAid has been looking after those in the grocery industry for 160 years.
  • Our approach to sustainability and the environment is set out in more detail in the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting section of the Directors Report