Lead article

Strategic focus and change

2021 was a year of major growth and development at Verdo. A year in which we achieved a strong financial result, and set a new course with goals of more sustainable growth, for a healthy and robust company that now has annual revenue of DKK 2.9 billion. 2021 was the first year with a new strategy for Verdo. A strategy focused on ambitious development of our core business – operating and developing sustainable, critical infrastructure, for the benefit of our customers and society.

We have formulated a social contract in which Verdo commits to being a purpose-driven, consumer-led company with multiple bottom lines, through four pledges: • We aim to make life simpler for our customers by supplying sustainable and secure utility services at competitive prices.

• We aim to be a community that promotes growth for our employees by offering individual development and opportunities for great responsibility.

• We aim to contribute to development in our local communities by creating attractive conditions for business, and sharing knowledge and supporting projects in relation to a sustainable transition.

• We aim to build long-term relationships with our partners by being transparent and flexible in our collaboration.

The common thread in these social pledges is our vision to always be one green step ahead, which guides our work at several levels:

It applies at the strategic level, as we take co-responsibility for the green conversion, global goals and CO2 reduction by implementing energy-efficient solutions to the world’s climate challenges. And it applies at a more practical level, as we make it easy for our customers to make sustainable decisions about electricity, water and heating.

As part of Verdo’s strategic focus, we have divested our fibre business, resulting in a one-time gain which has added to our profit in 2021.

The annual report is based on the financial statements from the official annual report. It is a report on developments in the Group’s business areas, and its strategy and CSR activities.

Conversely, we have acquired Midtjysk Elhandel, opening up new opportunities in relation to electricity trading. Democratisation and transparency A number of the changes we implemented in our organisation in 2021 have been aimed at further democratisation and transparency. We have introduced a new, more stringent organisational structure with clear separation of the regulated utilities area from the commercial business areas. We have also simplified Verdo’s articles of association and fine-tuned the corporate form from self-governing institution to ‘cooperative society with limited liability’ (a.m.b.a.), to give our consumers greater insight into and participation in our development.

We decided to expand the Board of Representatives from 51 to 85 consumer representatives, and to democratise vote weighting, such that one meter is now equal to one vote in our cooperative democracy. We thereby hope to encourage more of our members – and ideally an even wider demographic range – to engage in the development of Verdo. The management team is looking forward to continuing the constructive teamwork with our consumers.

Digitalisation of utilities and business Overall, we have reason to be very optimistic about the future of Verdo. We have set a strategic course to serve as a foundation for more sustainable growth and development in the coming years. We have accelerated our ongoing digitalisation of the utilities area, where we are in the process of digitalising water and heating supply, and the commercial business areas, where we are digitalising our smart traffic management, for example to improve the driving experience and reduce CO2 emissions.

Verdo’s promising future prospects are largely due to the fact that Verdo’s approx. 500 employees have worked very hard, during a year still impacted by COVID-19 and working from home. This has demanded great flexibility to keep the business operating smoothly. We look forward to continuing the good teamwork between employees, the Board of Representatives, the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board in 2022.

We hope you enjoy reading the Verdo Group Annual Report for 2021.

Torben Høeg Bonde Chairman of the Board

Jakob Flyvbjerg Christensen CEO