Royal Greenland – “Committed to Greenland” Mikael Thinghuus CEO our slogan is “royal greenland – Committed to seafood”. Although everyone in the fishing industry knows that Royal Greenland deals with fish and shellfish, we decided on this slogan because many customers and consumers outside of Northern Europe do not know what Royal Greenland does. They may know what Greenland is, but they do not necessarily associate the country with fish. Therefore, we chose a slogan to clearly communicate the fact that Royal Greenland and fish go hand in hand. For us at Royal Greenland, it is equally obvious that Royal Greenland is “committed to Greenland”. However, I feel that we owe it to ourselves and everyone we meet to emphasise this point. For all of us who work at Royal Greenland, it is quite natural that the fruits of our labour benefit the Greenlandic society. One of my key focus areas in 2013 will be working to ensure that the outside world also understands our commitment. It is the best possible time to communicate this message: Coinciding with the publication of this issue of Navigatio which you are holding in your hands or reading online, we have announced the best results in Royal Greenland’s history. Our CFO has written an article in this issue about these results, which are due to the hard and skilful work of Royal Greenland’s nearly 2,000 employees in sales, at sea, in production and in the various support functions. Two years ago, we conducted an extensive image survey among 600 representatively selected Greenlanders. Unfortunately, the survey in 2010 clearly showed that Royal Greenland had a very poor image among the population that owns us. We repeated the survey a couple of months ago and the results are very encouraging. There is also an article about the survey in this issue of Navigatio. We are still far from being one of the most highly regarded companies in Greenland, but we have made significant progress in all key parameters. I am especially pleased that the Royal Greenland employees who participated anonymously in the survey expressed their considerable pride in Royal Greenland. We must now convey this pride to the rest of our owners. The past couple of years have required hard work by everyone. We are now truly beginning to see the results of these efforts, which benefit our society as a whole. At some point in the future, Greenland will hopefully (and probably) reap major earnings from oil and minerals. Until then, the country’s undisputed biggest source of income is the fish and shellfish living in our waters. As I have somewhat jokingly said, we must make a living from the living resources until the day we can begin to make a living from the dead resources. As long as fish and shellfish are the main source of income – which they will continue to be for many years to come – and after oil and minerals start contributing to the national economy, these resources must be maximised in a sustainable way. This is precisely what Royal Greenland does, for a number of reasons: Firstly, Royal Greenland is wholly owned by the Greenland Home Rule. All our profits belong to the Greenlandic people. Secondly, Royal Greenland’s size enables us to enjoy a share of all the profits from trawler to factory to sales companies. Smaller companies have to sell their fish to middlemen, who often sell to other middlemen before the fish is bought by the consumer. All these middlemen have to make a living. When a fish goes through Royal Greenland, it is sold by our own sales subsidiaries, bypassing the middlemen and ensuring that all earnings belong to us – and thus our owners. And thirdly, with our size and roots, Royal Greenland does not merely do business when things are going well. We are also there when things are a little more difficult. This can be seen on a small scale: Our cod first sales are not just open during the peak season, but also during the less busy months when our first sales ships are docked in the harbour. And it can also be seen in relation to large-scale issues: Because of our size, we can invest in new species and new fishing areas in a way that smaller companies cannot. Royal Greenland contributes substantially to the Royal Greenland A/S · Postbox 1073 · 3900 Nuuk, Greenland · Tel. +299 36 13 00 · Fax: +299 32 33 49 · royalgreenland@royalgreenland.com · www.royalgreenland.com Navigatio is publishEd by royal grEENlaNd a/s Editor: layout: Info Design aps The magazine is free and can be ordered from royalgreenland@royalgreenland.com Káte Hansen, kaha@royalgreenland.com priNtiNg: Specialtrykkeriet Viborg as
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