Section 172 Statement
The Directors are fully aware of their responsibilities to promote the success of the Group in accordance with Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 and welcome the reporting requirement in relation to Section 172.
Promoting the success of the Company for the benefit of its shareholders is of the upmost importance to the board.
Further details on how the Directors’ duties are discharged, and the oversight of these duties are included below.
The CEO of Dalkia UK, Gautier Jacob, has developed and agreed a revised strategy to 2026 which is aligned with the intention to develop Dalkia internationally through acquisition and organic growth. The growth strategy will increase the UK activities above £600m.
The board makes decisions in respect of its operations considering the impact of the Group’s operations on the community and environment and the need to maintain high standards of business conduct. In taking decisions the board also considers the impact on its supply chain, which is key to the continued success of the business, across all sectors. In advance of making any decision, Directors are presented with papers and any relevant updates in relation to the Group’s strategic priorities. The board’s priority in making strategic decisions is about what it considers to be in the long-term success of the Group, from both a financial and safety perspective, as safety remains the overriding priority. The board uses information from stakeholder engagement, including employees and suppliers, together with community and environment factors to make these strategic decisions.
The feedback from stakeholders, particularly customers, supply chain partners and employees is paramount to the board when making decisions.
The board also regularly reviews the Group’s safety performance to ensure that the Zero Harm ambition is met. This commitment means making sure that our workplaces are safe and healthy for everyone, including our employees and anyone working on our behalf.
Our Dalkia UK values
Dalkia UK have identified four core values, which define how we like to do business and interact with key stakeholders.
- People First
- Better Together
- Trusted Partners
- Taking Responsibility
Our commitment to our People
At Dalkia UK, we prioritise People First, nurturing talent and building individualized career paths. Our inclusive and diverse culture supports the advancement of our people, focusing on safety, respect, inclusivity, innovation, challenge, and development.
During 2024, we continued to develop our people platforms improving data accessibility, and empowering managers and employees. Our commitment to enabling people to develop and grow their careers with us has been underpinned with the learning and development platform launched in January 2024. We have seen over 60,000 modules completed representing 42,000 hours of skills development.
As well as continuing to grow our craft apprenticeship opportunities, we are launching a new graduate apprenticeship scheme in September 2025. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) remains a top priority, with our ED&I Champions Forum shaping strategy and our EveryOne Inclusion Network rolling out across all divisions.
As well as the continued success of our ‘Changing Gear’ programme supporting an inclusive approach to health, safety, and wellbeing we have also launched the Good Day At Work programme. Both initiatives underpin our 2026 strategic ambition of ensuring we have a zero harm culture across all our divisions.
Wellbeing continues to be a critical focus for us. Our charity partnership with MIND and our extensive network of mental health first aiders has helped to develop activities and support networks for wellbeing. We continue to support flexible ways of working across Dalkia UK to ensure we can attract, grow and retain our talent.
Our commitment to our Clients
In 2024, we continued to focus on delivering for our client partnerships. We are investing in the relationships we enjoy with a wide range of public and private sector partners, while creating new partnerships and broadening our reach.
We recognise the importance of delivering for our customers and positioning for repeat business and new work. We are continuously focused to get closer to our markets, improve our services to existing clients and better understand their requirements, and strive for operational excellence.
Management at all levels continue to work to develop, maintain and strengthen relationships with new and existing customers by delivering high levels of customer satisfaction and value, supporting our ambition to become ’trusted partners’ in all the markets we operate.
Our commitment to our suppliers and partners
As a purpose-led, responsible organisation, Dalkia exists to create better outcomes for all stakeholders, including our suppliers and partners, with whom we seek to build lasting relationships, treating them fairly, while encouraging them to deliver.
Dalkia has in place a supplier credit facility with Santander, which is underwritten by our parent company EDF Energy Services Ltd. The facility allows suppliers to draw payment for approved invoices ahead of agreed payment terms, the use of the facility is purely at the discretion of the supplier and Dalkia receives no benefit.
Our commitment to society and environment
During the period Dalkia UK employed over 4,100 people within the UK. We strongly believe it is our collective responsibility to make a positive impact in our local workplaces, in the communities where we operate and on the environment that we all share.
In line with the Company’s vision ‘Together, we are delivering technical solutions for a better society and a Net Zero UK’, Dalkia monitors progress of our Net Zero strategy through a Net Zero Committee. Our ambition is to become carbon neutral for our own operations by 2030 (scope 1 and 2), this is underpinned by a clear action plan validated by the Board.
In 2024, we implemented various key initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint: we installed our Connect energy monitoring solutions in our main offices with the objective to reduce by more than 15% our energy consumption; we installed solar panels at Capula’s offices to produce local renewable electricity; and we continued to roll out electric vans that form part of our vehicle fleet. We have a role to play in sustainability and in enabling the UK’s energy transition, helping EDF achieve a net zero carbon future for everyone. These initiatives were able to generate -28% CO2 emissions decrease in 2024.
By raising awareness, taking part in numerous reputable events and encouraging business funded community days, we are dedicated to proactively making a difference. As we continue to grow, achieving our business goals and financial targets can only be assessed as a true success if we work in a sustainable manner to help our society.
Our commitment to supporting our employee’s overall wellbeing remains core part to our Corporate Social Responsibility plan. The Changing Gear programme, along with our charity partnership with Mind, ensures mental health remains a priority.
The future
Being part of the EDF Group provides us with support and backing to accelerate our growth plans, by giving us access to new customers and new innovative technologies.
We bring to EDF our experience and skill around delivering complex technical projects, our UK national presence and reputation in mechanical and electrical engineering, technical maintenance, and our systems integration capabilities.
We believe that working in this close collaboration with EDF provides us the opportunity to occupy a unique market position in the UK. Dalkia’s skills and experience can support EDF’s delivery of services, as well as offer our current and new clients an exciting range of innovative new services and technologies.
We continue to see high levels of uncertainty and market pressures largely driven by the global economic environment. Being part of EDF makes our Group more resilient.
Finally, we would like to take the opportunity to thank our clients and suppliers for their continuing support and we look forward to working together to build long term relationships in order to always add more value to our clients.