The cornerstone ceremony for Nordic Light, Skanska Property Hungary’s 7th office building in Budapest, was held on April 2nd. Located conveniently on inner Váci Road, Nordic Light is to become one of the most prestigious new office buildings in the capital of Hungary. CBRE was appointed as the exclusive letting agent of Nordic Light office building. 

During the cornerstone ceremony, the building’s foundation act was signed by His Excellency Niclas Trouvé – Ambassador of Sweden to Hungary –, Mr. György Arató – Chief Architect of the 13th district –, Dr. Gergely Paulinyi, DLA – President and CEO of Mérték Group Zrt.-, Mr. Zoltán Linczmayer – Managing Director of Skanska Property Hungary – and Richard Burleigh, President of Skanska Construction Romania.

 Based on its vision of today’s choice of new office accommodation and its role in corporate social responsibility, Skanska Property Hungary planned Nordic Light to be an ‘A’ class office complex, developed in line with the green building principles. The building will have a total leasable space of around 26,200 sqm and will be built in two phases. The first building consists of 6,600 square meters of modern office space, while the second phase will provide offices on 19,600 square meters. Tenants will be able to use a three-level underground car park with 404 parking spaces, as well as bicycle racks with showers and changing rooms, fitted for cyclists’ convenience. The 8-storey building will be equipped with modern sustainable solutions providing optimal indoor environment quality combined with high cost-efficiency.

The building has been pre-certified in the LEED system with a Gold rating.

 ‘Nordic Light is situated on Váci corridor, one of the most sought-after office locations of the city, and offers great visibility to our tenants. The technologies applied in this building represent our commitment to the energy-efficient, environmental friendly and healthy office spaces Skanska is famous for. With the design of the building, our aim was to create a workplace where people love to spend their time’, Zoltán Linczmayer, Managing Director of Skanska Property Hungary commented.

Currently, the superstructure of Phase I of the project is being developed and construction works of the underground levels of Phase II are also ongoing.

The architecture of the Nordic Light project comes from the Mérték Group, while Skanska Construction Hungary is the general contractor and Skanska Property Hungary in charge of its commercialization.

 Skanska believes in developing a greener society and that by building green they do not just provide service to the customers, but just as much to the environment. With this vision, the company has been at the forefront of the office development market for many years of its Hungarian and worldwide operations. The Nordic Light development will be another prime example of how a building can be built with care for sustainability and be the heart of tenants’ business and an enjoyable place at the same time.

Coca-Cola HBC AG (Coca-Cola HBC or the Company), the world’s second largest bottler of products of The Coca-Cola Company in terms of volume, published its 2014 Integrated Annual Report ‘It’s Good to Share on 20th March 2015.

This is the Company’s third integrated report and the first time it is reporting on all aspects of business, governance and sustainability performance in a single report, celebrating the relationships and partnerships that are key to its success.

Dimitris Lois, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We know that our success is closely linked to the vibrancy and wellbeing of our consumers and the communities we serve. For more than ten years, we have continuously refined our approach to managing our business responsibly and sustainably, ensuring that we earn trust by creating value for all our stakeholders. This value is increasingly shaped by factors beyond financial performance, such as environmental and social responsibility, reputation in the communities we serve, stakeholder engagement and investment into the development of our people – all of which contribute to the resilience of our business.”

Coca-Cola HBC endeavours to deliver value through outputs achieved with the highest level of quality, efficiency and care. In 2014, these included:

• 2 billion unit cases of beverages sold
• 589 million consumers served
• 2.1 million customers in 28 countries
• 36,362 direct employees, over 600.000 people employed in the entire value chain
• €8.7 million invested in community programmes
• 31,296 volunteer hours invested to further social and environmental initiatives
• Water footprint reduced to 18.4 billion litres
• Carbon footprint reduced to 718,766 tonnes
• Packaging recovery 73%
• Recycled waste from operations 91%

In 2014, the Company’s sustainability initiatives focused on three key areas: promoting health and wellness, minimising environmental impact and benefitting local communities. Highlights in these areas include:

Health and wellness

• 1.6 million active participants in sports and fitness programmes
• Low or no calorie soft drinks options available in all markets as of 2015
• Voluntary front of pack calorie information on packages

Minimising environmental impact

• Reducing total absolute carbon emissions by 7.8 % compared to 2013
• Investing €5.8 million in water saving projects in more than 20 countries, saving more than 1.1 million cubic metres of water
• Eight production plants awarded European Water Stewardship Gold certification
• €4.3 million investment in energy saving programmes, reducing energy consumption by 300 million mega joules

Benefitting local communities

• Investing €8.7 million (2.5% of pre-tax profit) in community partnerships and initiatives that address environmental and social issues
• Investing €2.4 million in supporting the education of young people to increase chances of employment, and empowering women to become entrepreneurs
• Supporting communities in need by investing over 30.000 volunteer hours combined with financial and in-kind donations at times of natural disasters

Coca-Cola HBC became the global industry leader amongst beverage companies in the Dow Jones World and Europe Sustainability Indices in 2014 and has been listed on the FTSE4Good index since the index was established in 2001. The Company was also awarded an A rating by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and a place in its Global Climate Performance Leadership Index.

‘It’s Good to Share – Building Trust, Spreading Happiness’ follows the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) framework and is in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative GRI 3.1. It fulfils Coca-Cola HBC’s commitment to communicate progress on the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the UN CEO Water Mandate and the UN Caring for Climate Business Forum.

Social and environmental disclosures in the Report have been independently verified by Denkstatt GmbH, including the content covering GRI requirements and UNGC communications on progress. Community investment data are verified by the London Benchmarking Group.

Coca-Cola HBC’s 2014 Integrated Annual Report ‘It’s Good to Share – Building Trust, Spreading Happiness’ can be downloaded from: http://www.coca-colahellenic.com/investorrelations/annualreports

Source: http://www.coca-colahellenic.com/newsandmedia/News/2015/20-03-2015b

The Czech Republic based Karlovarské Minerální Vody Group (KMV) buys Kékkúti Ásványvíz Zrt. (Kékkúti). KMV is the largest bottler of mineral water in CEE and has deep expertise in the mineral water business and also wider beverage portfolio offering. KMV plans to employ in full the existing organisation of Kékkúti Ásványvíz Zrt. (110 people) and its Hungarian market entry will bring additional investments as well as ensuring the continued development of the Nestlé Waters brand portfolio.

“We have an ambitious plan for the growth of Kékkúti and it is based on the principles that have made us successful: innovation and a product portfolio for the healthy lifestyle of adults and children. We are consumer-oriented and passionate about local traditions and local products. Our mission is to infuse innovation and competitive drive to Kékkúti inspiring brands that are the part of Hungary’s tradition and that Hungarians love,” Alessandro Pasquale, CEO of KMV, specifies.

KMV started its European program of expansion in 2008. The group, employing 750 people, is now directly present in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, Poland and Ukraine and exporting to more than 20 countries.

According to the European Federation of Bottled Waters, the Hungarian market for packaged water is among the most developed in Europe, consumption per capita was particularly high, 119 litres in 2013. The Hungarian market of packaged water shows positive trend with 3,5% CAGR growth in the period of 2008-2013.

Kékkúti Ásványvíz Zrt. is one of the largest mineral water bottlers in Hungary. The company bottles the Theodora and Nestlé Aquarel brands and distributes the international brand portfolio of Nestlé Waters (San Pellegrino, Acqua Panna, Perrier. As a separate legal entity, Kékkúti Ásványvíz Zrt. has been owned by Nestlé Waters, part of Nestlé Group.

Another Hungarian subsidiary of Nestlé Group is Nestlé Hungária Kft. that is not affected by the above changes. Nestlé Hungária Kft. employs over 2000 people in Hungary and made investments in value of more than 60 billion HUF in the Hungarian market during the past 23 years and it is committed to make further significant investments in the future. Nestlé Hungária Kft. has three production facilities in Hungary and 80% of its products are exported to more than 40 countries all over the world.

About KMV
KMV bottles the Mattoni, Magnesia and Aquila brands which are exported to 20 countries around the world. The company’s product portfolio includes natural and flavoured mineral waters, spring waters, iced teas, and distributes fruit juices Granini and carbonated soft drinks Schweppes under a licence agreement.

METRO GROUP is one of the largest and most important international retailing companies. In the financial year 2013/14 it generated sales of around €63 billion. The company operates around 2,200 stores in 30 countries and has a headcount of around 250,000 employees. The performance of METRO GROUP is based on the strength of its sales brands that operate independently in their respective market segments: METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry – the international leader in self-service wholesale – Media Markt and Saturn – the European market leader in consumer electronics retailing – Real hypermarkets and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.

METRO Cash & Carry is the leading international player in wholesale trade and is the largest sales lines of METRO GROUP: customer-focused, international and innovative. The distinctive business concept is oriented towards helping professional customers to successfully run their own businesses. Celebrating its 50th birthday in 2014, the wholesale company strives to be championing the passion, ambition, creativity and flexibility of independent business.

In Hungary, as in every country it operates, METRO Cash & Carry stays true to its social responsibility and is widely engaged in the local community development as a reliable employer, a dedicated player in the trade infrastructure upgrade and an expert supplier of a broad range of products for its customers. As a responsible corporate citizen, METRO Cash & Carry Hungary aims to make a sustained contribution to the society as well as the environment within its business activities to help secure long-term sustainable growth.

METRO Hungary has joined BCSDH in February 2015.

In an award ceremony in the end of November 2014, SCA Hungary was awarded for its corporate social responsibility program. “The prestigious award is the acknowledgement of all the efforts of SCA colleagues for the execution of the program. This is how SCA’s Care of Life concept has been put into practice.

SCA Hungary started a strategic cooperation with Bethesda Children’s Hospital to build a dormitory for mothers who want to stay with their children while staying in hospital. Children can pull through the hard medical treatments and recover more easily close to their mother. The goal was well defined, the actions were well planned and executed while SCA could mobilize all the local business units (Incontinence Care, Consumer Goods and AfH Professional) involving also the business partners, consumers and its own employees.

Win-win for all parties
Our efforts proved to be successful, using our communication resources and marketing expertise the hospital could collect enough money to start construction. “We must emphasize the sustainability element behind our CSR activity. Sustainability means it should be win-win for all parties therefore by definition we cannot just give away money,” says Zoltán Venter, Country Manager SCA Hungary.

SCA Hungary’s “Health is our joint mission” program has deserved the award because it is successful, efficient, and sustainable which is a model for other companies. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of SCA Hungary next year we can be proud not only for our business results, but also our sustainable social responsibility which is an additional success factor in the forthcoming years.

Proud representatives from SCA Hungary receiving the award, from left: Zoltán Venter managing director, Dóra Pessenlehner Libero brand manager, Gyula Markovics Public Affairs manager, Personal Care, Judit Sándor trade marketing manager, László Molnár commercial director of personal care  and Dezső Tápai sales manager AfH Professional Hygiene Europe.