SINGAPORE GUANGZHOU ABERDEEN YANTAI HENGYANG XIAMEN JILIN CITY LONDON HUNTER VALLEY SYDNEY HO CHI MINH CITY SHENYANG CORK ComfortDelGro Corporation Limited CHENGDU Annual Report NANNING SHANGHAI BIRMINGHAM 07 BEIJING GLASGOW CHONGQING EDINBURGH DUBLIN NANJING SUZHOU GALWAY KUALA LUMPUR 02Vision & Mission04Global Footprint 06 Chairman’s Statement 18Group Financial 20Corporate Information 21Board of Directors Highlights 25Key Management 34Green Statement 36Going Green CONTENTS 39 Corporate Governance 60 64 Share Price Movement Chart 150 Notice of Proxy Form Annual General Meeting OUR VISION To be the undisputed global leader in land transport. OUR MISSION To be the world’s number one land transport operator in terms of fleet size, profitability and growth within the next four to six years. OUR STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS Grow within our existing footprint and Never take our eyes off the ball By setting the performance bar above expand our global footprint industry norms Continuously redeploy people and Solve problems which might limit the assets to projects with greater value By giving credit where credit is due growth and efficiency of the Group in a prompt manner Never be afraid to admit and learn By not stinting on rewards from mistakes Be innovative and open to new ideas and opportunities OUR CORE VALUES FOR GUIDANCE We will: We will: We will: Set challenging and realistic goals Anticipate our customers’ needs and Conduct our affairs in a manner constantly upgrade ourselves to consistent with the highest ethical Focus on output provide them with outstanding value and professional standards and quality service Identify and solve problems Engage in fair and honest business Reward our shareholders by delivering practices Have a sense of urgency and steady and sustainable results through ownership growth in our core businesses Show respect for each other, our customers, business partners, Care for our staff by providing a suppliers, shareholders, the challenging environment with authorities and communities we ample opportunities for growth operate in and development Communicate in a factual, honest Continue to build on staff capabilities and prompt manner through effective recruitment, training and career planning, so as to develop Be open and transparent in their full potential our dealings Promote teamwork, initiative and creativity Stay committed to the authorities by upholding industry standards SINGAPOREGLOBAL FOOTPRINT GUANGZHOUCHENGDU ABERDEE ABERDEEN GLASGOW SUZHOU EDINBURGH HENGYANGDUBLIN GALWAY BIRMINGHAM HENYANGCORK LONDON IRMINGHAM ILIN CITY LONDON HO CHI MINH CIT SINGAPORE GUANGZHOUCHENGDU ABERDEE SUZHOU HENGYANG HENYANG IRMINGHAM ILIN CITY LONDON HO CHI MINH CIT SINGAPOGLOBAL GUANGZHOUFOOTPRINTABE SYDNEY RE KUALA LUMPUR EN CORK XIAMEN YANTAI GLASGOW N NANNINGJILIN CITY BEIJING SHENYANG YANTAI DUBLIN TY BEIJING SHANGHAI NANJING SUZHOU SHANGHAI CHENGDU CHONGQING SYDNEYHENGYANG XIAMEN RE KUALANANNING GUANGZHOULUMPUR EN CORK XIAMENHO CHI MINH CITY YANTAI GLASGOW KUALA LUMPUR N NANNINGSINGAPORE DUBLIN TY BEIJING SHANGHAI Forty-one thousand vehicles, 22,300 employees, spread over 23 cities in XIAMEN seven countries. This is how big ComfortDelGro is. In just five short years, we have widened our global YANTAI GLASGOW footprint and strengthened our HUNTER VALLEY position as world number two. Going OREforward, we will continue to look at NANNINGSYDNEY new opportunities for growth and ERDEENbuild on all that we have achieved. SHANGHAI PAGE CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT 06 2007 WAS THE YEAR IN WHICH WE DERIVED CLOSE TO 50%OF OUR GROUP TURNOVER FROM OVERSEAS PAGE 07 2007 WAS THE FIFTH CALENDAR YEAR OF THE MERGER BETWEEN COMFORT AND DELGRO. I WOULD LIKE TO LABEL THE FIRST FIVE YEARS (2003 – 2007) OUR FIRST CYCLE. Many significant corporate events have occured in 2007 was the year marked by another round of record Singapore during this period. Many changes were high oil prices. The sub-prime crisis in USA, followed by introduced by the authorities for listed companies to credit crunch globally, has affected all the major economies improve their transparency and accountability. Sometimes in the world. With these as major problems ahead of us, I wonder what would be the position of Comfort and prospects for the Second Cycle (2008 – 2012) will be DelGro if there had been no merger. On the one hand, the more challenging. deregulation of the taxi industry would have resulted in an erosion of Comfort’s profit since the fleet would have been THE FIRST FIVE YEARS (2003 – 2007) smaller without CityCab and the number of fuel pumps Our efforts in the First Cycle were undertaken by a new which taxi drivers frequent would be fewer since SBS Board of Directors made up essentially of some former Transit and DelGro would not be part of the stable. On Directors of Comfort and DelGro and a new Chief Executive the other hand, DelGro would not have had the capability Officer (CEO) who had absolutely no prior executive to sustain its expansion plans abroad. We would, in effect, experience with either Comfort or DelGro. However, the have two separate entities, Comfort and DelGro, with great inherent advantage was that the merger concept operations and capitalisations which are comparatively was conceived by both the Chairman and the new CEO small. We would therefore not be in the global league. and strongly supported by the former Directors of Comfort 2007 was the year in which we derived close to 50% and DelGro. Our task was to put into reality what we of our Group turnover from overseas, the first and only thought was best for all our stakeholders. target that I have set upon merger. We have therefore The first two years of the First Cycle were confined to established a significant benchmark. Singapore has given delivering what had been promised in the Merger Document birth to a global company which is ranked the second – namely business synergies, capitalisation on economies largest in land transport in the world. This is indeed an of scale, elimination of duplicated functions and a planned achievement we are proud to be associated with. overseas expansion plan. I am very pleased that the new PAGE CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT 08 OUR ANNUAL TURNOVER IS IN THE REGION OF S$3 BILLION AND OUR ANNUAL OPERATING PROFIT OF THE ORDER OF S$335 MILLION management under the very capable leadership of our areas as insider trading and delay in announcements of Managing Director/Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Kua sensitive and crucial events. Hong Pak, had very successfully achieved these tasks. I am very pleased to say that none of these These have been clearly demonstrated in the stock prices, occurrences has happened to us, whether as a company, the excellent write-ups in the various analyst and newspaper as a Board or as an individual Director. We should be reports, and the commitment in the shareholdings of our proud of this fact and it places us in good stead as a shares by established global institutional funds including global company. the single largest shareholder, the Singapore Labour Such standing does not happen to us by chance. We Foundation. We have therefore created a global company advocated for a strong governance right from the beginning with a premium footprint second to none. and made sure that our conviction was indeed carried While the business synergies and streamlining out. Our Board is independent of management. More than processes were being carried out, the new CEO a third is independent and no major shareholder or Director systematically undertook an aggressive overseas expansion dominates our discussions and decision-making processes. plan. Large investments were made in new destinations, Directors are encouraged to surface issues for discussion in particular, Australia and some remote parts of China. and review. Two separate persons, totally unrelated, hold Consolidation was undertaken in the United Kingdom. the positions of Chairman and CEO. The Board plays its This has resulted in higher efficiency and greater productivity. part by laying down strategy and direction. The Board Our fleet size has increased to over 41,000. Our global does not interfere and does not see the need to interfere workforce has reached 22,301. Our investments are now in the day-to-day matters. The CEO reports to the Board in seven countries, 23 cities and four time zones. In financial promptly on major issues and presents major issues terms, our annual turnover is in the region of S$3.0 billion for discussion and consideration. He keeps the Board and our annual operating profit of the order of S$335.0 informed of the Group’s monthly financial performance. million. Over the first five-year period, our annual turnover The Board’s four standing committees – Audit, had a compound growth rate of about 10% per annum. Remuneration, Nominating and Investment – meet Likewise our profit growth is also advancing at almost frequently to discuss the various issues under their charge. the same rate. Most impressive of all, total returns to Quarterly results are released promptly. Annual General shareholders is at an extremely high annual compounded Meetings are also held promptly within the prevailing laws. growth rate of 25%. An annual visit is made by the Board to see at first hand the substantial overseas operations. A system of checks CORPORATE GOVERNANCE and balances is thus put in place. I feel that our level of Corporate governance is very crucial for listed companies corporate governance is comparatively high. with a global footprint and a global shareholder base. We Indeed, a quality assessment review of our Internal have read in the newspapers of differences between Audit function by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2007 boards of directors and shareholders. These can be on found that our activities are in accordance with the issues of management or changes in vision. Another set standards of the Institute of Internal Auditors. This has of differences is between the board of directors and the provided a further assurance to the Audit Committee CEO.