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SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2017
15
My deep appreciation is extended to our Board for their astute insights
and wise counsel. To the CMS family of employees, I wish to convey my
utmost gratitude for their dedication, diligence and resilience amidst the
challenges of our business. CMS has become deeply entrenched among
the communities that we operate in simply because of their worthy
support and efforts, particularly by way of employee volunteerism.
To the communities that we operate in and which in turn support us,
a big thank you for your unrelenting trust in us. Having you as one of our
four stakeholder groups continues to be both encouraging and beneficial
and CMS look forwards to your continuing support as we work together
to see the development and the progression of our State.
It is with a tinge of sadness that I pen my final note on sustainability
to you. As you may know, I retired as Group Managing Director on
31 December 2017 after having served the Group for over 11 years.
In that time, my team and I have worked hard to lay some solid
groundwork for the next phase of CMS’ transformational growth.
The Group’s businesses now all have clear strategic direction that will
carry them to greater heights. Our profits are now solidly sustainable,
diversified and on a clear upward trend reflecting Sarawak’s
own economic growth. On top of this, we can now expect future
transformational profit growth once our energy-intensive investments
accelerate into profitability. Today, we have in place engaged,
competent and high performing employees at all levels which gives us
the bandwidth to manage our businesses and to grow. Above all, the
building blocks are in place to ensure the sustainable growth of CMS’
business for the long-term.
As I take my leave, I leave you in the good hands of my accomplished
successors both of whom are Sarawakians from within CMS, who will
lead CMS to the next level of success. Dato Isaac Lugun and Mr Goh
Chii Bing will serve as Group Chief Executive Officer – Corporate, and
Group Chief Executive Officer – Operations, respectively, as part of
the Board’s dual leadership strategy. They have a combined 46 years of
work experience in CMS and are a fine testament of the Group’s prudent
succession planning efforts.
These two gentlemen bring with them an intimate understanding
of CMS’ businesses and a shared belief in the Group’s
direction. Collectively, their proven track-record and profound
business acumen translates into an absolute continuity that
all stakeholders can leverage on as we usher in a new era of
leadership for CMS. Both gentlemen will work together with
our current Group Chief Financial Officer, Tuan Syed Hizam
Alsagoff, to deliver on our targets while I will remain on the
Board as Non-Independent Non-Executive Director. These three
gentlemen’s familiarity with the workings of CMS instils in
the Board a confidence that CMS’ succession planning is sound,
solid and geared for even greater success. I am confident that
under their leadership, CMS will take its sustainability practices
to the next level.
As the Group ventures forth to explore new areas of opportunity,
rest assured that your Board and the new leadership remain
committed to conducting business in a responsible manner by
upholding good EES performance. I call upon all four groups of
our key stakeholders to continue lending the new leadership team
their steadfast support as they venture forth to secure the future of
the Group and create long-term shared value for our stakeholders.
Thank you all for your very kind support all these years. May our
CMS truly become the ‘
PRIDE
of Sarawak and Beyond’. I bid you
all adieu.
Yours sincerely,
Dato’ Richard Curtis
Group Managing Director
Message from Our Group Managing Director