The JSE Social Responsibility Investment (SRI) Index is the rst of its kind in an emerging market. It showcases the listed companies that comply with increasingly-stringent criteria on triple bottom-line performance and commitment in four areas: corporate governance, environment, economy and society.

Altron has qualified as a constituent of the index since its inception in 2004. More encouragingly, Altron has year-on-year incrementally improved both its performance and ranking. Importantly, our inclusion in this index underscores our commitment to sustainability as a business practice an integral part of our survival and success and our corporate duty to contribute to the wellbeing of all our stakeholders.

In assessing Altron's performance in the 2005 survey, the adjudicators commented on three areas for possible improvement:

• Communicating non financial challenges
• Reporting guidelines to informon non-financial issues
• Influencing suppliers and contractors to improve non-financial performance.

Altron has made excellent progress on the rst two issues by implementing its own reporting system to provide a holistic appraisal of group performance. Progress on the third issue will be more complex, given the quantum of factors beyond the group's control. However, the inclusion of sustainability issues in our group discretionary procurement criteria will facilitate improvement in this area.