The UK arm of Yell, the international directories business, was today presented with a second Queen’s Award for Enterprise by His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent, in an official ceremony at the company’s Reading headquarters.

On behalf of The Queen, The Duke of Kent marked the company’s winning of the award for sustainable development by presenting Yell chief executive John Condron with a special lead crystal bowl.

Accompanied by the Lord-Lieutenant of the Royal County of Berkshire, Philip Wroughton, he also presented an official citation from The Queen which was read out by Cadet Flight Sergeant Elliott Noble of the Air Training Corps.

Yell was named in April as a second time winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, for its continuing excellence in pursuing sustainability – an approach to business that entails the fostering of strong economic growth whilst also benefiting society, encouraging protection of the environment and demonstrating prudent use of resources.

John Condron said today: “It is a great honour to receive this award today from His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent on behalf of Yell and our 4,000 people in the UK.

“Winning a Queen’s Award for a second time is a phenomenal achievement for us and marks us out as a significant benchmark within the field of sustainable development by which others can be judged.

“Our commitment to maintaining and developing a sustainable approach to the way we operate lies at the very foundation of our success as a business. We never lose sight of our responsibilities both to ourselves and within the wider context in which we operate.”

The company, part of the FTSE 100 Yell Group, has won the award for its development of an innovative management and leadership system to implement and promote sustainable development. It won its previous Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the sustainable development category in 2002 – an honour that is held for five years.

In winning a second award, Yell showed that a sustainable approach lies at the heart of every aspect of its business, from its management principles and structure, through to measures to minimise its impact on the environment and initiatives to benefit the wider communities in which it operates.

The official award summary in April stated: “The outstanding sustainability performance of the company is reflected by the wealth of external recognition it has received, recognising its successful embedding of sustainability within all aspects of its business.

“Yell Ltd provides an exemplary benchmark for others within and beyond its sector.”

Yell was praised for “its impressive array of innovative initiatives embracing all aspects of sustainability”. Particular mention was made of the Yellow Woods Challenge, Yell’s flagship environmental campaign for schools run in partnership with the Woodland Trust and local authorities across the UK.

The Challenge entails youngsters taking old Yellow Pages directories into school for recycling, with every participating school getting a free environmental education pack to help teach pupils about paper, recycling and woodland conservation. A Challenge mascot, Kirk, helps bring the issues of recycling and the environment to life and make it fun. Almost two million children have taken part since it was launched in 2002 and almost two million old directories have been recycled.

Prior to the presentation ceremony today at Yell’s Queens Walk head office, The Duke of Kent was given an overview by John Condron of the company and the key elements that support its approach to sustainable development.

He was also taken on a tour of a call centre and given demonstrations of some of Yell’s products and services, before meeting executive management as well as colleagues representing elements of Yell’s approach to sustainable development.

Councillor Chris Maskell, the Mayor of Reading, and Mrs Trish Haines, chief executive of Reading Borough Council, also attended the award presentation.

For further information about this press release, please contact the Yell Press Office.


Notes to Editors:

About Yell Group
Yell is a leading international directories business operating in classified advertising markets in the UK, US, Spain and Latin America through printed, online and telephone-based media. Yell’s principal brands include: in the UK, Yellow Pages, Yell.com and Yellow Pages 118 24 7; in the US, Yellow Book and Yellowbook.com; and in Spain, Paginas Amarillas and PaginasAmarillas.es. All these brands are trademarks.

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the UK’s most prestigious awards for business performance. They recognise and reward outstanding achievement by UK companies. The awards are made each year by The Queen, on the advice of the Prime Minister, who is assisted by an advisory committee that includes representatives of Government, industry and commerce, and the trade unions.

Amongst other highlights demonstrating Yell’s continuous achievement in its approach to sustainable development are:

Integrated management approach incorporating sustainable development

• Fully integrated leadership and management approach based on the Principles of Excellence, which underpin the European Foundation for Quality Management’s Excellence Model - Europe’s most widely used management framework
• Principles incorporated into Yell’s own Guiding Principles, Values and Competences against which Yell selects, recruits, appraises, develops, rewards and recognises
• An all-encompassing approach that addresses all aspects of the business’s impact and performance, including impact on environment, society and the wider community

Leadership and Management dimension

• Guiding Principles of excellence, reliability, respect and integrity introduced in 2005 to ensure stakeholders have confidence Yell is a well-managed and responsible company
• Code of Ethics introduced in 2006 giving guidance to employees on expected standards of behaviour and commitment to integrity in dealings with stakeholders
• Members of UK executive team are champions of specific elements of Yell’s approach
• Governance and Responsibility steering group set up to guide and manage overall approach to sustainability, governance and corporate responsibility; reports directly to the CEO and supported by a Corporate Responsibility steering group

Environmental dimension

• Yell works with its people and business partners to ensure its impact on the environment is minimised; registered to the ISO 14001 environmental management standard for more than six years
• Promotion of the re-use of paper through the Yellow Pages Directory Recycling Scheme in partnership with local authorities, 99 per cent of whom offer Yellow Pages directory recycling. Millions of Yellow Pages directories are recycled each year into, for instance, cardboard, animal bedding, insulation, packaging materials and paper for newsprint.
• Effective paper use with world class level of low paper wastage at printers; paper containing virgin fibre sourced from well-managed, sustainable forests; reduction in directory paper weight to 34 grams per square metre(gsm)
• Reduced consumption of resources in offices through a three “Rs” philosophy of Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
• Policy of reducing the impact of vehicle emissions through transport and car usage; commitment to effective management of CO2

Social dimension

• Recruitment and retaining the best people; involvement of employees through setting of annual targets for each part of the business using a scorecard based on four key areas – customer, process, organisation and finance; personal objectives are linked to company objectives; an annual employee survey
• Yell supports equal opportunities and welcomes diversity and is accredited with the UK’s “Two Ticks” symbol for its positive approach to the disabled
• Working with national charities – Yell’s support and involvement focuses on two national charities. These are Marie Curie Cancer Care, which provides high quality cancer care to terminally ill people in their homes, and The Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity, through the Yellow Woods Challenge
• Employees throughout the UK support local charities or regional branches of national charities, co-ordinated by a network of “Community Champions”; Yell also works with school pupils to help them prepare for work

Economic dimension

• Supporting economic growth. In the financial year 06/07, Yell’s UK printed products attracted 450,000 advertisers, the majority being small or medium-sized businesses employing fewer than ten people. Its product range was used more than a billion times a year by 84 per cent of the population, with the leads generated providing a very important source for many businesses
• Supporting of local communities around Yell UK business locations