Rieter Holding Ltd. (Rieter) reports for the first time for the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 on non-financial matters in accordance with the revised Swiss Code of Obligations (Art. 964a ff. CO).
The company is organized as a public limited company under Swiss law with its registered office in Winterthur (Switzerland) and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
This report includes all Group and associated companies as listed on page 103 of the 2023 Annual Report. Publication takes place on March 13, 2024. As an integral part of the Group Report, it shows how the company develops, implements and measures its sustainability strategy. The report focuses on progress against the 2025 targets for “Planet” and “People”.
“Planet” environmental targets include energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, water, and waste and recycling. Greenhouse gas emissions are measured according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The environmental indicators are measured on a CHF 1 000 sales basis. As the report will be published in March 2024, the environmental data is collected for the first 11 months of 2023 and then annualized for the month of December.
The company measures the following data under “People”: employee turnover, women in management positions, training, absenteeism and occupational safety. Targets are measured against defined performance indicators. The base year for measuring progress is 2020, and the company is guided by the Global Reporting Initiative.
The report also provides information on how the company is making production in key markets more environmentally friendly and improving equal opportunities within the company through specific initiatives. One chapter is dedicated to relief efforts for the earthquake victims in Türkiye.
The business model provides insights into yarn production, the spinning process, the market and the corporate strategy. Since 2016, Rieter has set itself measurable targets with a planning horizon of five years in the environmental and social areas.
Since 2011, environmental, social and corporate governance data has been recorded in a dedicated SEED (Social, Environmental, Economic Data) database. Progress reports are published annually.
The reporting for 2023 also includes a materiality analysis based on a survey in the fourth quarter of the reporting year of the company’s most important stakeholder groups. They responded to 26 questions on the 12 key topics of the European Sustainability Reporting Standard (ESRS). The material topics identified will be taken into account in the further development of the sustainability strategy in 2024. The GRI Content Index is available separately here.
Restatement of information
The data will now be compiled by the Rieter Group’s finance department in order to increase transparency. As part of this change, the company has decided to shift the focus of the turnover rate to the number of voluntary departures as this provides a more precise indication of employee satisfaction. The relative measure per thousand francs of turnover for greenhouse gas emissions was corrected from kg to t. The Board of Directors has decided that the Strategy and Sustainability Committee will be dissolved as of December 31, 2023, and that relevant issues will be dealt with by the full Board of Directors in the future.
External audit
No external audit was carried out by the auditors. The report was reviewed by the Board of Directors and will be submitted to the Annual General Meeting for approval.
Employees
As of December 31, 2023, Rieter employed around 5 081 full-time employees worldwide, excluding apprentices and temporary employees. Around 16 percent of these are in Switzerland. Further information on employees and equal opportunities can be found here. The figures on social objectives are collected via the national companies and consolidated at Group level.
Corporate Governance
The responsibility for non-financial reporting lies with the Board of Directors and was handled in the year under review by the Strategy and Sustainability Committee. It was chaired by the Chairman of the Board, Bernhard Jucker. The Board of Directors delegates the implementation of the sustainability strategy to the Executive Committee. The Finance Department coordinates a cross-functional team consisting of members from Legal, Communications and Human Resources to consolidate the necessary data at Group level. Further information on the management structure, composition and nomination of the Board of Directors can be found in the Corporate Governance Report on pages 20 ff. Information on the compensation of the Board of Directors can be found in the Compensation Report on pages 64 ff. In December 2023, the members of the Group Executive Committee were trained by KPMG on sustainability.
Sustainability strategy
This report contains information on corporate governance on non-financial matters, including conflict minerals and child labor.
Stakeholder engagement
The materiality analysis provides an insight into how the company involves stakeholders in the identification of material topics.
