As a company built on performance, we take human capital development very seriously. after all, the Group's continuing success depends on our ability to develop our staff into future leaders of the Company. That is evidenced by the sizeable slice of our annual operating budget which is channeled to the training efforts. During the year, the Group accomplished a commendable 90% of its training target, with each employee fulfilling the minimum training man-hours established at the beginning of the training calendar year.

While some of our training programmes are conducted internally at Tradewinds plantation academy, we also depend on external trainers to provide their expertise in a number of specialised courses. each year, the training curriculum is carefully reviewed and calibrated to ensure that it is current and relevant to the training needs of our employees. Training programmes cover a broad spectrum of subjects. During the year under review, the calendar included courses on Corporate Governance and Compliance; Effective Leadership and Managerial Skills; Enterprise-wide Risk Management; Finance, Accounting and Taxation; Management Information Systems and Information Technology; Project Management; Quality, Environment and Safety Management Systems; Sugar Refining Technical Skills and plantation operations Skills, to cite a few.

Specialised training programmes have also been specifically tailored to our sugar mills such as the Food Safety Management System which is a prerequisite for obtaining the Hazards analysis and Critical Control point ("HACCP") certification from the Ministry of Health. HACCP serves as a preventive tool to detect where potential biological, chemical and physical contaminations can occur so that they can be effectively managed.

Human capital development at TWS goes beyond the training efforts. It has always been our objective to create an environment that is convivial yet professional where we are supportive of one another as a team in creating innovative synergies and striving for common goals. ours is a culture that encourages and rewards hard work, but there is time for play as well. Family Day 2009 brought employees and families together to a hill resort in Cameron Highlands. Special activities such as golf and tele-matches were organised to foster closer ties between the management, staff and their families.

We also celebrate Malaysia's unique diversity in many festive gatherings in the spirit of 1Malaysia, for example, the event to bring together all staff and guests to celebrate one of the major festivals in Malaysia. Birthday celebrations are also organised bi-monthly to leverage on the spirit of caring within the Group. Such activities go a long way towards inspiring feelings of loyalty, encouraging job satisfaction and from a bigger perspective, creating a sense of "Family".

The Group enjoys a healthy working relationship with the staff unions. In recognising the important role played by the unions, regular meetings are held at both, management and working levels to establish rapport with the unions and clear the air on issues of mutual interest. In doing so, we have a better understanding of one another's view-points, enabling the Group to function in a more effective and cohesive fashion. It is the policy of the Group to review the Collective agreement every three years to ensure that the terms and conditions of employment are comparable with the rest of the industry.