Corporate Policies

Egmont Foundation

Egmont distributes part of its profits to charitable activities through the Egmont Foundation. Proceeds from Story House Egmont Limited’s titles support initiatives that generate positive change and value for children and young people at risk.

To date, over €356 million has been donated to children’s charities.

Statement for the UK Modern Slavery Act

The Egmont Group has commercial activities in the UK and an annual global net turnover of more than GBP 36m and is thus obliged to prepare a statement for the UK Modern Slavery Act.

This statement outlines the measures taken by Egmont to prevent forms of modern slavery and human trafficking for the 2019 fiscal year. In doing so, Egmont is fulfilling its duties pursuant to Section 54 (1) of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Egmont

Egmont is a leading media group in the Nordics, founded in 1878. Egmont is a commercial foundation with a dual purpose: to develop tomorrow’s media and to support vulnerable children and young people to an education and a better life. The strategy Grow with the Modern Consumer entails investments in digital growth and new tech based businesses while applying technology to strong storytelling. The annual profit is invested in business development and in the charitable activities to support vulnerable children and young people as well as donations for film talents through Nordisk Film Fonden.

Any and all forms of modern slavery, forced and child labour, exploitation and discrimination are prohibited at Egmont. Egmont is committed to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the Core Labour Standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Ensuring fair working conditions is an integral part of Egmont’s corporate culture and Egmont operates a number of policies to ensure that its companies are conducting business in a transparent and ethical manner and in compliance with relevant legislation, including Egmont’s Business Ethics Policy, the Corporate Recruitment Policy and the Whistleblowing Policy. All relevant Egmont employees are well-informed about the rules of conduct and their rights through group-wide communication and training measures concerning Egmont’s Business Ethics Policy. In 2019, a new online training in business ethics was implemented across the Egmont divisions. Furthermore, Egmont has established comprehensive communication and speak-up channels that allow for the reporting of Compliance violations, e.g. human rights violations.

In addition, Egmont regularly conducts an employee survey addressing, inter alia, working conditions and employee satisfaction. If survey results indicate a need for improvement, appropriate measures are implemented. The most recent employee survey took place in November 2019.

Supply Chain Compliance

Business partners and suppliers (and their subcontractors) are required to comply with Egmont’s Code of Conduct. The Egmont Code of Conduct together with the Egmont Social Compliance Programme operationalises Egmont’s efforts against modern slavery in third party supply chains. The Egmont Social Programme requires social audits at first-tier/core suppliers based on a risk assessment of the country and sector they are in. Egmont operates with three country risk groups:

Country Group 1: Suppliers are audited every 12 months
Country Group 2: Suppliers are audited every 12-24 months
Country Group 3: Suppliers are audited ad hoc

If Egmont experiences or is made aware of an instance of modern slavery, this will be dealt with by the Corporate Legal and Compliance team.

The statement was approved by Egmont’s board of directors and will be reviewed annually.

Egmont International Holding A/S

Workers’ Rights

Publishing is a global business and we use suppliers located in many different regions of the world. To help us choose suppliers who treat their workers with the respect they deserve we insist that they conform to our ethical code of conduct.

This code of conduct has strict rules including the minimum age of employment, wages, hours worked and safe factory conditions.

We subscribe to a robust system of social audits to help us check that our suppliers meet our ethical standards and we work closely with them to make sure they carry out any necessary improvements.

Commitment to Safety

We only produce products that are safe for young people – from the very earliest age. Our standards are very high and our procedures are rigorous in every detail of every product.

We have a dedicated product safety team who work with our creative departments to make sure safety considerations are part of every stage of product development.

We have two crucial long-term policies: we never hide behind safety warnings and we design products for foreseeable as well as intended use. Both policies have become enshrined in EU legislation.

Our ethical publishing principles are agreed at Board level. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about our approach.

Tax Strategy

Story House Egmont Limited is part of the Danish based Egmont Group. The Egmont Group has operations in 30 jurisdictions, including the UK. The commercial operations in the UK are conducted via Story House Egmont Limited. In addition to this the Egmont Group has a number of inactive subsidiaries in the UK. This Tax Strategy is applicable to all subsidiaries in the UK.

It is noted that Story House Egmont Limited solely operates within the UK.

In compliance with section 161 and section 19(2) of Schedule 19 Finance Act 2016, the Egmont UK group is publishing its tax strategy. The tax strategy is published here: Egmont – Egmont Tax Strategy.

We confirm that our strategy is part of the Egmont Tax Strategy published here and will apply for all Egmont UK group companies.

Code of Conduct

The Egmont Group Code of Conduct is published here: Egmont Code of Conduct.

Corporate Social Responsibility

To read more about the Egmont Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility, please visit the Egmont website.