On behalf of the Board of Crystal International Group Limited, I am pleased to present the annual results of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2022.
2022 marked a year of substantial progress under the leadership of Mr. Andrew LO, our CEO. Despite the challenging market conditions and uncertain economic prospects, Crystal delivered a strong and resilient business performance. In the post-COVID-19 era, coupled with high inflation, rising interest rates and improved global logistics, our customers encountered high inventory. Short-term operational challenges will examine Crystal’s business capability of dealing with adversity. These challenges have pushed us to reshape our strategies to enhance our competitiveness and better satisfy our customers.
Enhancing Crystal’s competitiveness through improved productivity, manufacturing excellence, and talent development has been essential to our strategic priorities. In 2022, the management continued its efforts to achieve system transformation. We made satisfactory progress in revamping various internal systems of the Group for simplification, standardisation, automation, digitalisation and our ultimate goal of achieving Industry 4.0. We completed the acquisition of a fabric mill in Bangladesh in 2022, which was another milestone in the long-term vertical integration strategy of Crystal.
One of the primary responsibilities of the Board is to oversee the Group’s risk management, of which people risk was identified as one of our overriding risks. Management oversight focused on mitigating this risk through well-planned succession planning and talent development. Our efforts in employer branding and talent retention have earned us prominent awards like HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2022 in the Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Vietnam markets.
Climate change remains at the forefront of our corporate sustainability agenda. In 2022, following the national policy of China and the advocacy of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, we continued to ramp up our decarbonisation efforts for our Net Zero 2050 vision and the interim target of 35% absolute carbon reduction by 2030. We invested in enhanced energy efficiency, expedited our solar photovoltaic adoption from 3.6MW in 2021 to 7.8MW, and completed a consultancy study on a net zero roadmap, setting individual goals and pragmatic action plans for each of our factories. With the intensified focus on the rally towards net zero globally, I envision and look forward to deeper collaboration with our customers and value chain partners.
In 2022, we accomplished our third Global 5-year Sustainability Targets, including environmental and social indicators on carbon reduction, freshwater conservation, tree planting, women empowerment and employee volunteering. I am immensely grateful for the unwavering commitment of the management team and the unswerving dedication of our employees. I welcome readers to peruse our Sustainability Report 2022 for details of our achievements.
With the approval of the Board, in 2022 we established the Sustainability Committee, a new Board committee led by the CEO with two Non-executive Directors as members. I believe the Sustainability Committee will bolster our sustainability governance and make insightful recommendations to the Board on the Group’s sustainability work in alignment with our business strategies.
The management, all levels of staff and our workforce have maintained their resilience and agility in responding to the evolving market and business environment. I join with the Board of Directors in congratulating our management team on its performance in 2022. It was our people that made this happen.
My key responsibilities as Chairman of Crystal are to lead the Board and ensure good governance of Crystal. I have been exceptionally well supported by our Board members. The Directors with diverse backgrounds bring the Group a good balance and a wealth of skills and experience, which perfectly complement the talent of our management team. I am grateful for all their tremendous support and contributions. We maintain the right size and composition of the Board through orderly succession. In 2022, we welcomed Mrs. MAK to our Board, who joined us in June 2022 as an Independent Non-executive Director. Mrs. MAK is a highly experienced executive with considerable expertise in people management, technology, manufacturing and IT. Her addition complements the talent and capabilities mix of the Board and has increased female participation on the Board. Board discussions now include new perspectives, especially in IT and manufacturing. Mr. Frankie WONG was re-designated as a Non-executive Director effective from 1 February 2023. We are grateful for his excellent contribution to the Group spanning over 40 years during Crystal’s significant growth. I wish him well in his new role.
Again, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our shareholders, customers and business partners for their trust and support, and to our management team and staff for their diligence, contribution and efforts to ensure the continued success of the Group.
Mr. LO Lok Fung Kenneth
Chairman of the Board
Hong Kong, 23 March 2023