1 • In 2021, we also ran our first year of the We will maintain our focus on investor 4 relations until our shareowners’ trust S Fellowship, an immersive, four-year paid programme aimed at fostering the is restored. next generation of talent by empowering • Engagement with shareowners gives us students from traditionally underrepresented a broad insight into their priorities, which communities. The inaugural class of Fellows influences our own decision making and our — three students hailing from historically strategic direction. black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — joined Media.Monks to work alongside and • We aim to recover all of the value recently learn from highly-skilled mentors. lost for shareowners, in the short term, 4 through our commitment to high ethical • We also ran the first S Women Leadership standards of business conduct, significantly Program, in collaboration with the Haas strengthening our corporate governance School of Business at UC Berkeley in and continuing to act with integrity so California. Several Media.Monks and shareowners can regain confidence in the S4Capital female leaders from all over the way we do business. In the long term, it world participated in a six-month interactive is our goal to create significant value for programme aimed at helping women shareowners by providing an appropriate progress in their careers — with the goal of return through long-term growth. more female representation at the top. How we engage with shareowners Shareowners • The Directors have regular contact with • Our intention is to behave responsibly existing shareowners and potential towards our shareowners and treat them shareowners in S4Capital. Sir Martin Sorrell fairly and equally, so that they may fully (Executive Chairman), Mary Basterfield benefit from the successful execution of (Chief Financial Officer) and Scott Spirit our vision and strategy. It is important (Chief Growth Officer) and, where necessary, that shareowners have confidence in the practice heads and others communicate via Company and how it is managed, given email, calls and face-to-face meetings with their investment in the business. We’ve shareowners, although during 2021, given recently fallen significantly short of this restrictions around covid-19, most meetings goal. Our shareowners expected us to were virtual. report our results in March and they were • After each quarterly results announcement instead released in May 2022. This delay and major transaction, we have held was partly down to covid-19 and related extensive roadshows with investors such lockdowns in the Netherlands, but also as, Rathbones, Fidelity Management & due to issues with the control environment Research, Jupiter Asset Management, and the application of reporting standards Permian Investment Partners, Aegon Asset for revenue recognition in our Content Management, Canaccord Genuity, Columbia practice. Under the leadership of our new Threadneedle, Bestinver, Baron Capital Chief Financial Officer, significant changes and BlackRock. We have also participated to our financial control, risk and governance in broker-arranged virtual roadshows in structure resources are being implemented London, New York, San Francisco, Frankfurt, to try to ensure this doesn’t happen again. Los Angeles and Paris to meet existing and • We rely on our shareowners from time prospective investors as well as some face- to time to finance our activities and the to-face roadshows in London. continuing expansion of our business. • All our investor presentations, reports Their trust in us is key to sustaining and earnings calls are available on the continuous investment and we recognise S4Capital website. that we will have to rebuild that trust; and that will take time. Once the delay • The Directors (including Victor Knaap, to our audit was known we contacted Wesley ter Haar and Christopher S. Martin) all of our shareowners and analysts to and D.J. Edgerton (who leads Tech.Monks) explain what was happening and reassure also regularly attend investor conferences them that we had not announced more and invitations from analysts to speak. information because there was nothing more to announce. S4Capital Annual Report and Accounts 2021 31