Purpose
The purpose of the annual report is to provide a comprehensive picture of VR Group's operations in 2016. VR Group's financial performance and the performance of its business divisions are detailed in the report. The publication also describes the Group's responsibility commitments and principles, results already achieved and future prospects.
Previous reports
VR Group publishes its annual report each year. Annual reports have been published continuously between 2009 and 2015, and VR Group has also published three corporate responsibility reports (2005, 2007 and 2008). Before the year 2009, VR Group published its annual report each year and a separate environmental report every two years.
Target groups
The annual report is intended for all VR Group stakeholders. Many of the issues covered in the report are primarily intended for decision-makers, the authorities, VR Group's corporate customers and individuals using our services.
The 2016 annual report is published on VR Group's website in electronic form in Finnish and English. The annual report comprises a report on operations and financial statements as well as a responsibility report which can both be viewed separately as part of the annual report.
Scope of the annual report and calculation limits
The information in this annual report covers the 2016 financial year. The annual report covers all business operations of VR Group.
The responsibility indicators do not include the international operations of VR Track or VR Transpoint's international road logistics. The responsibility data reported for Pohjolan Liikenne and Avecra in the passenger services division, VR Transpoint’s road logistics and VR Track represents the information that can be collected with the systems currently in use. This does not have a significant impact on the data for the Group or subsidiaries or on the comparability of the figures.
The environmental indicators only include the information on the Group's Finnish operations.
The annual report of VR Group does not include information about the operations of subcontractors. The fuel consumption figures are an exception as they also include the fuel used by VR Transpoint's road logistics subcontractors. This is because all road logistics operations are carried out with subcontractors’ vehicles.
The report does not cover the operations for which the Finnish Transport Agency or the Finnish Transport Safety Agency are responsible, such as the state-owned railway network or its development.
Sources
A large number of individuals from all VR Group business divisions and responsibility sectors took part in the compilation of the figures. The work was coordinated by the annual report steering group. The annual report is presented to the Group's Board of Directors and Supervisory Board.
The data for this report has been collected from numerous sources. Information about financial responsibility is derived from the Group’s audited accounts and adopted financial statements. Figures for personnel are based on the Group’s staff statistics. Safety indicators are based on the information collected from VR Group's internal safety reporting system (TUTTI).
The environmental figures for energy consumption and waste are based partly on monitoring data compiled by the business divisions and partly on supplier reports and invoicing. Data on traffic emissions is obtained using the LIPASTO system of calculations applied by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT). The origin of the electricity and the energy sources used in electricity production are based on data provided by electricity suppliers.
Management is described in operating policies and guidelines specific to areas of responsibility. There are definitions in the ERP systems of the different Group companies, and in the environmental management system, the rail safety management system, the occupational safety management system and the data security management system. More detailed information about the systems is provided under each of the five responsibility themes of this report.
The corporate governance section of the annual report is based on the Corporate Governance Statement of VR-Group Ltd. This statement is in accordance with the reporting guidelines contained in the Finnish Corporate Governance Code issued by the Securities Market Association in 2015. The Corporate Governance Statement 2016 can be viewed on the company's website (www.vrgroup.fi/en/vrgroup/).
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 guidelines have been used as the reference framework for this report. In VR Group’s own assessment, the Group has applied the Core reporting guidelines. The 2016 report has not been verified.
