| Aim |
Progress |
|
| |
2009 |
2008 |
Earnings per share
Achieve long term steady growth in EPS |
38.75p |
33.26p |
Operating margins Maintain and strengthen margins |
13.31% |
13.15% |
Free cash flow Maintain strong free underlying cash flow |
£280m |
£219m |
Return on capital employed (ROCE) Achieve ROCE which exceeds our cost of capital |
20.6% |
20.3% |
Economic profitAchieve steadily increasing economic profit |
£162m |
£139m |
Gearing – interest cover
Maintain an efficient capital structure, with relatively low gearing |
10.9x |
7.4x |
Capital expenditure Keep at or below 4% of revenue |
2.5% |
3.5% |
Shareholder value
Grow dividends at least in line with earnings – annual growth of
total dividends |
17% |
20% |
Retaining people
Maintain high retention rates for senior managers
(salaries exceeding £90k p.a.) |
88% |
88% |
Maintain overall employee retention at or above industry average
(2009: 84.3%, 2008: 82.7%)1 |
84% |
82% |
Controlling our environmental impacts
Continue to measure and assess our carbon footprint (tonnes CO2) |
79,212 |
73,057* |