Safaricom - 2020 Sustainable Business Report

85 INTRODUCTION OUR BUSINESS OUR MATERIAL TOPICS OUR STAKEHOLDERS CONCLUDING REMARKS Shareholders Our shareholders expect us to remain a high- performing company that balances delivering consistent and sustainable financial returns against ethical and environmentally responsible operations. As a reflection of this, they expect us to retain a stable, experienced, and proven management team and to uphold the very highest standards of corporate governance and practices. An ever-increasing global emphasis on sustainability metrics allocates capital to companies demonstrating their intention of generating measurable, beneficial social or environmental impacts, as well as financial returns. Many global funds give higher weightings to organisations that adopt the SDGs. We take a holistic approach to reporting on our business, of which sustainability is an integral part, and so are committed to reporting on total impact, not only financial performance. Shareholding structure Proportion of ‘free float’ shareholders by category Shareholder category (%) FY20 FY19 FY18 FY17 Foreign corporate 44.7 45.1 48.4 51.8 Local corporate 39.7 39.0 35.6 31.4 Local individual 15.3 15.5 15.5 16.4 Foreign individual 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 During the year, there was a slight decrease of shareholding numbers across most bands compared to FY19. We attribute this to the impact of the pandemic, which has triggered a negative outlook on the economy and prompted investors to secure their investments. Delivering value to our shareholders We deliver value to our investors through our strong financial performance and through how we engage and communicate with them. Despite difficult economic conditions, we continued to leverage the strength of our balance sheet and our resilient business model to increase margins and reward shareholders. We delivered a strong financial performance again this year, which has resulted in a proposed dividend for FY20 of KSh 56.09 billion, and a proposed dividend per share (DPS) of KSh 1.40. We engage with individual investors, fund managers, analysts and other members of the investment community actively. On a regular, ongoing basis, we deliver value to these important stakeholders by ensuring that we are available to them and respond to their telephonic, email and message-based enquiries swiftly. We also publish an annual report to keep investors updated on financial and non-financial performance, and we hold an annual general meeting, which provides a forum for discussion and debate with shareholders. We also disseminate information about financial results, reports and upcoming events to them via press releases and other communiqués. In addition, we will invite shareholders and other members of the investment community to briefings and workshops as required. • We will continue to increase our investor engagement frequency and strengthen the company strategy towards becoming an agile, digital services provider that transforms lives in alignment with the SDG goals. Looking ahead % Breakdown of shareholders FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 Vodacom Vodafone Free Float Govt. of Kenya 25% 35% 5% 35% 25% 35% 5% 35% 25% 35% 5% 35% 40% 25% 35%