REPORT OF
THE DIRECTORS
The directors have pleasure in submitting their Annual Report together with the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017.
PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS
Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings) Company Limited (the "Company") is a company incorporated and domiciled in Hong Kong and has its registered office and principal place of business at 98 Tam Kon Shan Road, TYTL 102, Ngau Kok Wan, North Tsing Yi, New Territories, Hong Kong.
PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES
The principal activity of the Company is investment holding and the principal activities of its subsidiaries are property development, property investment, ferry, shipyard and related
businesses and securities investment.
The analysis of the principal activities of the Company and its subsidiaries (the "Group") during the financial year are set out in
note 3 to the financial statements.
BUSINESS REVIEW
A review of the business of the Group during the year is provided in Management Discussion and Analysis on page 12 and Chairman's Statement on pages 10 and 11 of this Annual Report. A discussion on the Group's future business development is provided in the Chairman's Statement on pages 10 and 11 of this Annual Report. Description of the principal risks and uncertainties that the Group may be facing can be found in the Chairman's Statement on pages 10 and 11 and the section of Risk Management and Internal Controls on pages 35 to 38 of Corporate Governance Report of this Annual Report. Financial risk management of the Group can be found in note 26 to the financial statements on pages 142 to 145 of this Annual Report. An analysis of the Group's performance during the year using financial key performance indicators is provided in the Financial Highlights on page 9 and Ten Years' Financial Summary on pages 161 and 162 of this Annual Report respectively.
Discussions on the Group's environmental policies and performance, relationships with its key stakeholders which have a significant impact on the Group are contained in Environmental, Social and Governance Report on pages 41 to 72 of this Annual Report. These discussions form part of this Report
of the Directors.
Discussion on Environmental Policies and
Performance
The Hong Kong Ferry Group carries out its strong commitment to environmental stewardship through the responsible use of resources and adoption of sustainable practices in daily operations. The Group instils a sense of responsibility of environmental protection and continually identifies opportunities to improve performance in this area. The Energy. and Carbon Management Programme has been in place
since 2011 and carbon audits have been carried out for our
two fuel-intensive shipyard subsidiaries. At our Principal and subsidiary offices, we continue to explore and undertake energy efficient solutions, providing energy-saving and other environmental benefits, which are constantly monitored by
commissioned environmental consultants. Energy performance is also taken into consideration in our property development
and investment business division where we closely adhere to the latest requirements of the government and the Hong Kong Green Building Council's BEAM Plus.
The Group places great emphasis on improving the air quality of the harbour, which helps safeguard the health and well-being of the community. With our continuing efforts in reducing emissions, we have successfully completed a self-initiated voluntary replacement programme to switch generators and engines on all our vessels with eco-friendly options. We extended our water conservation efforts through the installation of automated water faucets and water-saving aerators at the Principal Office and at Harbour Cruise - Bauhinia operations. Water collected from the on-site rainwater harvesting tank at The Hong Kong Shipyard Limited was utilised for day-to-day operations to help reduce freshwater consumption. We made considerable efforts to ensure waste and other useful resources are reused, recovered and recycled whenever possible before considering disposal in landfills.
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Hong Kong Ferry (Holdings) Company Limited
Annual Report 2017
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REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS (CONTINUED)