Our relationship with the community

Pursuant to its CSR policy, the Viscofan Group is firmly committed to carrying out its activity in a responsible manner, thereby contributing to improving the welfare of people by promoting the economic, environmental and social development of the communities in which the Group operates. This commitment leads it to contribute its own resources and know-how to support social initiatives that contribute to the improvement of the environments with which the Group interacts.

Under this premise, Viscofan believes that it is essential to maintain a fluid dialogue with local institutions to understand the needs that these societies have and formalise collaborative actions and investment initiatives, whether short-term or oriented towards the sustainability of longer-term projects.

To this end, Viscofan supports social investment initiatives in different areas and fields of action. These are some of the initiatives with which we have worked and collaborated in 2018:

• Ayuda en Acción (Help in Action). In Mexico, Viscofan works with the Mexican Association to Help Children With Cancer (AMANC). 2018 is the fourth year that Viscofan has been supporting this initiative. This new contribution of 5,000 dollars supports the work that this association carries out in the state of San Luis Potosí, where Viscofan has a production centre. The donation will go to supporting treatments, easing the burden of housing, and providing psychosocial support to sick children and their families.
• In Spain, Viscofan S.A. is a co-sponsor of the sixth edition of the "Impulso Emprendedor" (Entrepreneurial Drive) promoted by the Navarran European Business Innovation Centre, whose purpose is to create innovative companies in the region. Viscofan participates as a co-sponsor and mentor in one of the selected projects, providing its corporate vision and knowledge.
• Viscofan is part of the CETENA (Cemitec) foundation, which was founded to promote and develop scientific research, technology development and boosting innovation activities to improve company competitiveness.
• Orizont Project. Viscofan is collaborating with this project led by the Government of Navarre, which aims to finance and advise on various agri-food entrepreneurship projects intended to be implemented in the region.
• Museo del Prado Foundation. Viscofan's desire to promote art and culture was supported by a series of lectures on pictorial art at the Prado Museum.
• Library of the Monastery of Leyre. Viscofan has renewed its commitment to this project for a further two years, restoring several books of the Monastery of Leyre (Navarre) dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries.

In addition to these initiatives, Viscofan maintains contact and collaborates with local institutions, business institutions, research centres and training centres such as Universities and vocational training centres, both private and public, to encourage local development. This collaboration ranges from collaborative framework agreements in the form of scholarships and work experience, research and development projects, participations in meetings and forums, and collaboration with local development clusters. This collaboration activity was recognised with the University-Enterprise Award, granted by the Red Española de Fundaciones Universidad Empresa (REDFUE).

As a result of some of these relationships, there are now common projects with which it collaborates and for which financial support has been received through grants and loans from official organizations.

Viscofan is aware of the social impact generated by its activity, ranging from direct or indirect employment generated by its implementations, to the financial benefit it obtains from its activity in each of the different companies in which it operates (note 7 of the Viscofan S.A. financial statements) for which it contributes through taxes. In 2018, income tax payments amounted to 31.7 million euros as a result of its business activity in different countries. There is more information about taxes in note 21 of the consolidated report. There is information about capital grants in note 18 of the consolidated annual accounts. Finally, at 31 December, the loan from COFIDES (Spanish Development Finance Company) for 2.5 million euros is included in the financial statements. There are also loans with the CDTI and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Spain for 10.6 million euros (note 19 of the consolidated accounts).