Internal governance and control
One of the tasks of Stena AB’s Corporate Governance function is to ensure that the operations are conducted in a responsible and efficient way. One aspect is to ensure a common approach through the governing documents within the Group. Another task is to support the business areas in dealing with the ever growing demands for corporate governance and compliance, as well as the increasing information security threats.
Another task for the function and an important part of the governance work is to review the internal control of the financial reporting, which is regularly reported to the Audit Committee under Stena AB’s Board of Directors.
Decisions regarding corporate governance are established by Stena AB’s Board of Directors and executed by the operations.
WHITE BOOK WITH SHARED GROUP VALUES
Each business unit is responsible for its own profitability, but there are also a number of common denominators for conduct within the Group. In the White Book, the principles, beliefs and fundamental values applying to all companies in the Stena AB Group are to be found. Besides Stena’s vision, mission and business idea, this sets out shared success factors and describes the Group’s values. To ensure long-term value creation, the focus is not only on financial earnings; the goal is also to work for the next generation and contribute to lasting change.
The ninth edition of the White Book was published in 2019.
COMMON FRAMEWORK
In addition to the White Book, there are also two codes that ensure good corporate governance within the Group. The Code of Conduct describes the social norms, rules and responsibilities within the Group, and guides relations with business partners, employees and other stakeholders. The Code of Governance describes rules and responsibilities for the operations. This includes how Stena is governed and how decisions are taken within Stena, as well as risk management and the governing documents within the Group.
The White Book, Code of Conduct and Code of Governance constitute overall rules and responsibilities and serve as an umbrella for other governing documents such as Group-wide and company-specific policies. Corporate governance within Stena is important for doing good business, creating trust and ensuring that we work as one company with a common culture.
Code of Conduct
SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT
The sustainability work at Stena is based on a common set of values and a sustainability framework, SuStenability, which defines the overall agenda for all sustainability management within the Group.
The central Sustainability department is responsible for consensus and coordination of the strategic sustainability work in the business areas. The department is also responsible for reporting the results to the Audit Committee, under Stena AB’s Board of Directors, on a regular, annual basis.
PRUDENT RISK MANAGEMENT
The Group’s stability is safeguarded by a deliberate strategy to focus on several different industries that face various risks, in contracyclical industries. Increased stability is also achieved by gradually moving investments to assets with secure cash flows. During the last years, the share of properties and other non-maritime assets have increased, as a share of capital employed. The proportion of maritime assets exposed to the spot market or short-term contracts have decreased accordingly. In addition, investments in land-based logistics have been increased in recent years. Prudent risk management will maintain confidence in Stena’s ability to achieve its strategic ambitions, in line with its values and goals.
Governance in the business areas
Within Stena we have a delegated business acumen which also characterises the governance process. The Corporate Governance function within Stena includes a coordination and overview of the governing documents, a structured risk management area where the risk analysis performed by the business areas are consolidated on group level and reported to the Stena AB Board. Corporate Governance reviews status in compliance of certain regulations, information security and the protection of cyber threats as well as internal control and audit to verify efficient processes to the Audit Committee.
The Audit Committee
The Stena AB Audit Committee, represented by four board members and appointed by the Stena AB Board of Directors, assist the board in fulfilling its oversight responsibility relating to the group’s accounting matters, the system of internal control, the management’s monitoring and controlling business risk, the corporate governance activity and – to the extent it applies to financial matters – the legal and regulatory requirements. The meetings are held in connection with the Stena AB Board meetings.