Disciplined Investment
Hand in hand with our focus on strong growth and higher margins, is an even greater discipline on how we spend our money. We aim to improve the returns from each £ or $ of capital invested in our business while at the same time ensuring that we invest appropriately in the business for the longer-term.
Our focus on fewer and bigger projects requires us to be more disciplined in how we allocate our resources across brands, markets and projects - choosing where to invest and at times where not to invest, or deciding when we should invest on our own and when it would be better to invest along-side a partner. In 2007, for example, we extended our partnership with Barry Callebaut, the world’s largest cocoa processing company, to co-invest at our growing chocolate production facility in Poland.
We are also continuing to focus aggressively on how we manage our working capital. Over the last four years, we have reduced or working capital days by over 10%, effectively releasing over £200 million of cash. During the next few years, the reduction in our manufacturing sites, the rationalisation of our portfolio and external partnerships will allow us to reduce our working capital further.