Stakeholder relations
Stakeholder engagement
Snam’s engagement system is present at all levels of the business. The Company regularly collaborates with investors, government authorities, institutions and companies with the aim of offering a service which is consistent with local and national needs and growth plans and makes available its expertise to foster the development of activities to ensure ongoing improvements in the reliability of plants and the quality of services offered, while placing a priority on the health and safety of its employees and contractors.
Due to the development of the company’s activities and business scope, a project was launched at the end of the year to update the stakeholder mapping and hold direct consultations with the stakeholders. The project will be completed in 2015.
Investor Relations
Since listing on the stock market in December 2001, Snam has been known for the transparency of its relations with investors and the financial community, and provides detailed reports of its objectives and results to enable shareholders and the financial market to assess all the ways in which the Company creates value.
Based on assessments expressed by the financial community, Snam is a company with a limited industrial and financial risk profile, operating in a stable and transparent regulatory environment which guarantees visibility over its future earnings and cash flows.
Best practice benchmarks are adopted every year which enable shareholders and the financial market to thoroughly assess the Company’s drivers of value creation. In 2014, 20 road shows were conducted to meet shareholders and institutional investors in the major financial centres of Europe and North America. In total, management held dedicated one-to-one meetings with more than 100 investors, and there were also 32 group meetings and 5 industry conferences.
A “Site Visit/Investor Day” was also held in 2014 for a foreign delegation interested in learning directly about the most significant aspects of the group’s operating excellence.
The year also saw extensive communication with Snam bondholders and credit market analysts, with management taking part in dedicated conferences (two during 2014) and organising numerous one-to-one meetings and conference calls.
At the same time, we continued to communicate with the rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, retaining an “investment grade” credit rating from Moody’s (Baa1) and receiving an upgrade from Standard & Poor’s in December 2014 (to BBB), which reflects the Company’s financial soundness and structure.
Information of interest to shareholders and investors, such as quarterly and half-year reports, is available in Italian and English from the Investor Relations section of the Company website, at www.snam.it.
This section also features some periodical publications, such as the “Financial Markets Review”, which offers a monthly analysis of the financial markets and the stock market performance of Snam, its competitors and the utilities sector in general, and “News&Facts”, a quarterly publication for individual investors.
Since 2010, the Investor Relations section of the website has featured the “Shareholders’ Guide”, including an interactive version, which is updated weekly and aims to provide a summary of useful information which will enable all shareholders to play a more active role in their Snam investment.
2013 saw the launch of “Sustainability. Creating a shared value”, an annual publication summarising the sustainability policies that dictate Snam’s relations with its stakeholders. Since December 2014, the new Corporate Social Responsibility newsletter “CSR Review” is also available.
Communities and local areas
In keeping with the principles of sustainable development and its strategic growth plans, Snam arranges social and cultural events. The Company is involved in ongoing positive discussions with the local communities where it operates. It cooperates with local and national authorities, participates in the work of several associations and committees and provides its commitment and expertise to encourage improvements in the area of corporate social responsibility.
In 2014, institutional meetings continued with representatives of local government agencies and local governments with the aim of greater sharing and the participation of local stakeholders in the Company’s strategic decisions. During the course of the year, 127 meetings were held with local government authorities and regional associations to present projects involving the construction of works in the transportation segment. From this point of view, a network of ad hoc relationships has been developed with regional branches of Confindustria and other local associations to discuss issues of energy, economic and environmental policy affecting the territory. Since 2012, the Snam Group has consistently increased the presence of its personnel on the management bodies of Confindustria associations, as well as those with participatory and environmental aims that relate to its business.
Every year since 2002, Snam has supported the environmental “Clean Up The World” volunteer initiative, organised by Legambiente, and Clean Up The World’s Italian campaign, a great global event for volunteer environmental action in which volunteers spend three days cleaning our country’s beaches, squares, gardens, parks and rivers. By means of an internal awareness campaign, Snam encourages its people to participate in the event.
Customers and the Electricity, Gas and Water Authority
Snam has always placed special emphasis on its relationship with customers, with a view to satisfying the diverse needs resulting from the evolving gas market. This is done by monitoring the needs of customers and identifying, and then introducing, tools and procedures which facilitate access to our services.
Operating and commercial activities are carried out using increasingly advanced computer systems with applications that can also be migrated to web systems and enable a high degree of automation in managing various contracts. These systems are implemented from time to time with feedback and involvement from customers, and comply with the Resolutions issued by the Electricity, Gas and Water Authority (AEEGSI), which regulates our services.
2014 saw the creation of a new web portal, named ServiRe, to support the disconnection and opening of redelivery points on the transportation network, preparatory activities for the organisation and activation of the alternative supply service via cylinder truck in the event of interruption of the transportation service, and 24-hour management of the needs of transportation service users, distribution companies and owners of plants connected to the pipeline network. The portal simplifies the related activities for customers by using a single, clear channel of communication and monitoring request statuses in real time to improve communication with customers. In this way, we also comply with the Resolutions issued by the Electricity and Gas and Water Authority, which regulates our services.
During the year, the collaboration continued between Snam and the Prisma platform, the international project involving 31 European gas transportation operators in 12 countries, which makes it possible to offer transportation capacity through a single shared electronic platform, with the aim of encouraging the harmonisation of service provision and access rules, facilitating the creation of a single natural gas market in Europe.
With regard to storage activities, 2014 saw the implementation of the SAMPEI system, the key system for the management of contracts and utilisation of the storage system by users, and in the Capacity Portal there was a refinement of the auction processes for Peak and Uniform Modulation Storage services.
Relations with the AEEGSI are of key importance for companies operating in the energy business. Over the years, Snam has established a constructive relationship and worked effectively with the Electricity and Gas Authority by continually maintaining an advisory role and providing substantial information to support changes in the regulatory environment in the natural gas sector. In particular, during the consulting phase, it has always made a significant contribution to the preparation of resolutions and provides support in response to all of the Authority’s requests for information, including in the form of round table discussions and specific technical meetings.
Suppliers
In 2014, Snam dealt with 970 suppliers, of which 628 were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), entering into 1,573 supply contracts, of which 60% were with SMEs, with a total value of €1.17 billion (92% in Italy), covering goods, works and services.
Snam has adopted a procurement procedure based on transparency, impartiality and responsibility in compliance with the principle of free competition, and continues to achieve operating and performance targets over the short and long term.
Results are achieved based on the strategic planning of procurement activities and the preparation of a long-term procurement plan. The plan is used to identify procurement targets, to maximise operating efficiency and to guarantee a high level of service, adhering at all times to the sustainability principles which Snam has adopted.
Our activities have always emphasised the respect and protection of human and labour rights, environmental protection and the search for a sustainable development model. It is our wish to share these values with all counterparties.
In this respect, we ask suppliers to adopt Model 231 and to observe the principles of Snam’s Code of Ethics, to comply with legislation on occupational health and safety and with environmental laws, and to adhere to international standards regarding labour law.
Snam supports the Global Compact, an international initiative launched in 2000 by the United Nations to support ten universal principles concerning human rights, employment, the environment and anti-corruption. Snam Group companies share the ten principles of the Global Compact with all their suppliers through their contractual documentation, with the intention of disseminating the values contained therein.
Snam is guiding its suppliers through a process of improvement and optimisation of the procedures that govern subcontracting, entailing greater subcontractor accountability while at the same time ensuring the growth of the supplier and improving the quality of work carried out for the Company.
As part of the dissemination of Snam’s culture of sustainability, the first group workshop devoted to sustainability issues was held in July 2014. The central theme of the event, the third of its kind, was “Responsible relations between business and supply chain”, and more specifically the sharing of information between the business and its suppliers – a key factor for strengthening the culture of sustainability – and improving, wherever possible, the good practices followed by Snam and its suppliers.
During the course of the year, various sections of the suppliers’ portal – a tool intended to become a point of reference and a preferred channel of contact between suppliers and the Company – were supplemented in order to improve and optimise the day-to-day operations of everyone involved in the management of the entire supply chain.
The sharing of information also contributes to the proper objective evaluation and management of suppliers. For this reason, during the course of the workshop, there was also an in-depth examination of continuous supplier performance monitoring and vendor rating, i.e. the systematic evaluation of suppliers through the calculation of a rating index assigned on the basis of the supplier’s ability to: (i) comply with contractual requirements, both in technical terms and with regard to health, safety and environment (Quality); (ii) comply with delivery deadlines (Punctuality); and (iii) maintain optimal relations with the contracting entity for the entire duration of the contract (Conduct). During 2014 there was a continuation, in the supplier performance evaluation system, of the reward mechanism, in terms of scoring, for suppliers recording no accidents during the conduct of gas infrastructure construction and maintenance activities. Suppliers’ accident rates also continued to be collected in relation to their entire working cycle, and not only with reference to their relationship with Snam. The aim of the initiative is to foster increased transparency and supplier awareness, and where necessary to implement specific awareness-raising initiatives.