NWDS Garners Three Honors from MERCURY Awards: Annual Report Commended for the 10th Consecutive Year while Sustainability Report Recognized for the First Time
New World Department Store China Limited (“NWDS” or the “Company”; Hong Kong stock code: 825), one of the largest owners and operators of department stores in Mainland China, is pleased to announce its 10-year streak of winning at the 2016/17 MERCURY Awards – its annual report clinched the Gold Award in the “Annual Reports - Overall Presentation: Department Store” category and the Bronze Award in the “Annual Reports - Cover Design: Drawings/Illustrations” category. The Company’s sustainability report, which made its debut three years ago, was also honored for the first time in the contest, winning the Honors Award in the “Annual Reports - Overall Presentation: CSR - Corp. Social Responsibility Report” category. The international recognition is a testament to the Company’s excellent performance in corporate communication and information disclosure.
NWDS’ FY2016 Annual Report is built from its innovative corporate branding of “The Artisanal Movement” with the theme of “exquisite craftsmanship, happiness-packed experience”, its cover features a timber-colored and woodgrain-textured background matched with an elegant carving pattern, which is given additional depth and finesse to the patterns with a debossing effect. The crafted cover does not only engage stakeholders visually and sensibly, but also highlight the Company’s relentless efforts and thoughts put into generating refined and happiness-packed shopping experience for customers. Besides, the floral carving on the cover links up the entire report: design of the inner pages is carefully structured with matching background, illustrations and charts. Stakeholders are able to sense the Company’s persistence for excellence as they read the contents of the report. Such dedication is what takes NWDS on a 10-year streak in gaining recognition from MERCURY Awards.
NWDS has been a pioneer in ESG reporting and its third sustainability report published in 2016 is themed as a “happiness-packed gift box”. The report cover features a gift box filled with NWDS’ sustainability performance and achievements. By delivering the gift box to the doorstep of its stakeholders, the Company invites its stakeholders to unwrap the gift box to read about its accomplishments. The report is cleverly crafted with easy-to-understand infographics, vivid cartoon illustrations and vibrant colors to accurately, clearly and comprehensively showcase the Company’s sustainability performance and achievements in its four key sustainability aspects.
To carry through the Company’s green culture, both reports were printed with paper accredited by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and soy ink to minimize their environmental impact.
MERCURY Awards was founded by MerComm Inc., an independent awards organization in the United States, in 1987 to commend organizations that have outstanding performance in corporate communication. The panel of judges comprises industrial experts from more than 20 countries, who evaluate the entries based on how effectively the material meets the stated objectives; how well the material is communicated to the designated audience; the use of material to illustrate and clarify the information; and the overall expression of the message. Winners of the Gold, Silver, Bronze and Honors Awards of each category are selected by point totals.
Ms. Violet Chan, Deputy General Manager of Corporate Communication & Investor Relations and Chairman of Sustainable Steering Committee of NWDS, said, “NWDS has always attached importance on corporate communication. We strongly believe that effective corporate communication can facilitate sharing of information and interaction between the Company and its stakeholders. Therefore, we have been meticulously striving for excellence in the compilation, design and production of our annual reports and sustainability reports. We are extremely honored that the Company’s annual report has been recognized by the MERCURY Awards for the tenth year, and that our sustainability report is awarded for the first time in the contest. Going forward, we will continue to communicate with our stakeholders through different channels, introduce more creativity and new attempts in our corporate publications to bring our stakeholders refreshing experiences as our way to thank different sectors for their recognition and support for NWDS.”
About New World Department Store China Limited
As New World Development Company Limited’s (Hong Kong stock code: 17) retail arm in Mainland China, New World Department Store China Limited (NWDS) is one of the largest owners and operators of department stores in Mainland China. Established in 1993, NWDS currently operates a large national network of 30 “New World” branded department stores and 12 “Ba Li Chun Tian” (巴黎春天) branded department stores and shopping malls in Shanghai. Among them 37 stores are self-owned while five are managed stores. The department store retail chain covers 22 major cities in Mainland China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Wuhan and Chengdu etc. The Company was successfully listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on 12 July 2007.