The cover gives an appearance of a coffee table magazine, probably chockfull of photographs and text for light reading, the inside pages don’t disappoint, and this was among the reasons that Demerara Distillers’ Ltd. (DDL) Annual Report 2009 was adjudged Guyana’s best for 2010.

Company annual reports are the subject of serious statistical and other performance-related information, providing both shareholders and the public at large with sought-after information. That being the case, they are, frequently, bland documents that focus on substance rather than style. DDL’s 2009 Annual Report bucks the trend, its landscape style flush in green parading a strong pro-environment posture. On the first inside page readers are greeted with the refreshing sight of the firm’s Diamond Complex set among colourful flora and fauna, sending a strong message of oneness with the environment.

A month ago DDL’s cleverly contrived annual report emerged well ahead of its seventeen rivals in a competition organized by accountancy consultants Ram and McRae to mark its 25th anniversary of service to businesses.

The task of naming the best 2009 annual report was given to a five-person committee; Ram and Mc Rae went to pains to point out that no member of the panel is either in the company’s employ or is, in any way, connected with the company.

Inside the report, Board Chairman Yesu Persaud reported that the group of companies comprising DDL had recorded a 2.5 per cent increase in turn over moving from $12 billion in 2008 to $12.3 billion in 2009 and that profit before  taxes had jumped to $2.1 billion, up from  $1.9 billion in 2008.

What may well have swayed the judges, however, was DDL’s bold departure from custom. The company report disdainfully set aside the practice of board room photographs of austere, be-suited top officials, offering on its first page a photograph of a casually dressed Chairman planting a sapling.

“We did not look at the numbers, we left that for the auditors,” Chairman of the Committee, Quincy Bourne told Stabroek Business. The judges, he said were particularly concerned with creativity and artistic impression.

The concept of ‘Treading the Green Pathway,’ the theme of the winning annual report is supported by photographs of company officials involved in related activities. Even the business pages of the document are adorned with illustrations and photographs reflecting environmental concerns. Bourne, a University of Guyana Internal Auditor, says that what set DDL’s submission apart from the rest was the fact that “it had a green theme.”

Nor is it a matter of the company simply parading a popular theme. Its showpiece environmental initiative, a US$5 million bio methanization plant, is currently in its final stages of completion. When completed, the plant will capture and store distillery waste which will be converted into biogas to power the boilers at the Diamond Complex. Apart from doing its bit for the environment, the new plant will significantly reduce the company’s dependence of electricity. Persaud himself is at pains to point out that apart from the commercial benefits of the project, the treatment of spent wash and substitution of fossil fuels are in-keeping with the company’s drive to seek more environmentally sustainable methods of operating.

Judging Committee Chairman Bourne explained that the judges separately looked at five different groups of criteria including theme and artistic manifestation of the 18 annual reports, then got together to compare their findings.“Our collective comment when we met was the theme was consistent [for DDL].” In this category the judges were also impressed with the relationship of the green cover page with an embedded DDL logo to the company and the report’s theme.“In some annual reports we could not identify the cover picture with the company,” Bourne said.

In addition to theme and artistic manifestation, other benchmarks taken account of by the judges were presentation and accessibility of the report; compliance with statutory requirements; corporate governance; and social responsibility. “After the Enron issue a lot of companies were looking hard at how large businesses are run,” Bourne said. “The whole thing about corporate governance is that you as a shareholder or investor must have that confidence that the company is doing the best for your money. The more information given, the more people would feel confident and loyal to a company.”

Ram and McRae Partner, Rakesh Latchana told Stabroek Business that the degree of circulation of an annual report is determined by size and public obligation of the company. “Every company is required by law to produce annual reports, but not all are required by law to circulate them publicly.”

Private companies with relatively few shareholders usually restrict circulation of annual reports while firms with wider shareholding usually circulate their reports more widely.  State entities are obliged to circulate their annual reports widely.