“Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring, disclosing, and being accountable to internal and external stakeholders for organisational performance towards the goal of sustainable development. ‘Sustainability Reporting’ is a broad term considered synonymous with others used to describe reporting on economic, environmental, and social impacts (e.g. triple bottom line, corporate responsibility reporting, etc.)”

[Source: Sustainability Reporting Guidelines - Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)]

The Purpose of the Sustainability Report is to Communicate to the stakeholders the Company’s philosophy and framework on sustainable wealth creation. This also helps stakeholders to assess the Company’s role in sustainable development. It also provides an opportunity to review the adequacy of the existing framework and reflect upon improvements. The Contents of this report that follows will facilitates this process.

SUSTAINABILITY AT DIMO

Developments in knowledge, trade and technology are driving global and local change at a previously unimaginable pace. While much of this change is positive these developments have also raised new risks and challenges for populations all over
the world.

As one of Sri Lanka’s leading corporate entities we at Dimo have been proud to be both a driver and a beneficiary of this change. Our vision as a corporate entity has been to produce new opportunities and better lifestyles for all our stakeholders through our entrepreneurial activities.

We are also conscious that our operations, products and services are having new and different impacts on the economy, on society and on the physical environment. This has compelled us to re-think some of the traditional ways of doing business and influenced us to develop newer ways of entrepreneurship that add value in multiple ways to our many and constantly expanding group of stakeholders.

In this Sustainability Report we report on how our activities have been impacting on the economy, on the environment, and on society in general. It examines in some detail Dimo’s philosophy and the role in generating a larger social wealth that percolates beyond our shareholders. While the other sections of this annual report capture Dimo’s performance with regard to the more conventional aspects of corporate reporting, in this section we report in some detail on the less traditional aspects and on the less visible aspects of Dimo’s performance. By doing this we hope to enhance transparency in as complete a way as possible about all aspects of the Company’s performance. Greater transparency can only promote better stakeholder dialogue, increase stakeholder confidence in our operations, and create better opportunities for all our stakeholders.

Reporting in detail on the processes within the Company for creating sustainable wealth also enables us to assess these processes more stringently and to constantly improve the processes we already have in place.

At the global level the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) has developed a set of concepts, a discourse and a language to facilitate greater transparency in corporate reporting. We have modeled our report partly, though not exclusively, on the GRI Framework.

This is Dimo’s fourth Sustainability Report and covers the period 1st April 2007 to
31st March 2008 and draws briefly from some of the previous reports. The Sustainability Report is prepared annually and is published as a part of the Annual Report. Any questions regarding the Sustainability Report may be directed to the Board of Directors and could be sent to dimo@dimolanka.com.

ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE

COMMITMENTS, GOVERNANCE & ENGAGEMENTS

Creating Value for all Our Stakeholders

The Company’s stakeholders are many. They consist of our customers; our employees and their friends and families; our shareholders; our business partners; our financial partners; the larger society; and generations yet unborn. Dimo’s approach to value generation has been to add value for all these stakeholders. While our primary responsibility is to our shareholders since they provide the capital to run the business, we believe that shareholders in turn benefit from the other diverse ways in which the Company generates value. As a modern corporate citizen we know that our responsibilities today extend to a larger number of groups than before and we therefore strive to build value for all these groups.

The Chain of Command

Stakeholder Dialogue

Dialogue with Dimo’s multiple and diverse stakeholders is a quintessential part of our approach to sustainable entrepreneurship. Our processes and systems have been engineered so as to enable all stakeholders to added value to decision making within the Company and their input has, over the years, been invaluable to the Company.

Participation and inclusivity are the two key values that drive our process of stakeholder dialogue. Participation at Dimo has meant not just listening to the stakeholder, but accommodating those points of view to the greatest extent possible.

Inclusivity at Dimo has meant engaging with as many stakeholders as possible. Some stakeholders naturally, such as customers and shareholders, because of the stake they have in the Company, tend to influence decision making more profoundly. Yet we have endeavoured to balance customer expectations and shareholder demands with social and environmental goals and employee aspirations. One of the challenges for us at Dimo has been to strike that fine balance amongst the demands of all stakeholder interests and ensure an equitable and sustainable outcome.

The Stakeholder Dialogue Process in Summary

Shareholders

The AGM provides the principal forum for shareholders to discuss performance, Financial Statements, returns, appointments and other relevant matters. The Annual Report is distributed well in advance so that the shareholders can review its contents and engage in a constructive dialogue at the AGM. Quarterly Financial Statements provide an opportunity for the shareholders to monitor progress during the year.

Price Sensitive and other Corporate Announcements are made at the Colombo Stock Exchange and are available at the CSE website. The Company secretary is available for regular consultations with shareholders.

Employees

Principals

Customers

Total Number of Complaints Recorded at CRM

Analysis of time taken to provide solutions during year 2007/08 Solutions Provided

Thus far this report has considered the factors which drive sustainable change within the Company. We will now begin to focus on the ways in which Dimo has created and put into practice sustainable economic, environmental, and social systems.

The diagram below gives an overview of the different areas covered.

Sustainability Performance Framework