Independent Limited Verification Report of the Annual Sustainability Report of Grupo Herdez, S.A.B. de C.V. for 2014
To the Board of Directors of Grupo Herdez:
WORK SCOPE
We performed an independent limited review of the information and indicators included in the Annual Sustainability Report of Grupo Herdez for 2014.
The scope of the information reviewed included:
- Plants: Alimentos Deshidratados del Bajío, Chiapas, Complejo Industrial El Duque, La Corona, Industrias, México, Nutrisa, Revolución and Santa Rosa.
- Distribution Centers: Chalco, Cuautitlán, Guadalajara, Mérida, Los Mochis, Monterrey, San Luis Potosí and Tijuana.
- Corporate Office: Mexico City.
The preparation of the report is responsibility of Grupo Herdez’s management. Grupo Herdez Management is also responsible for the information and the assertions contained therein, defining the scope of the Report and the management and control of the information systems that provided the information reported.
Our work was conducted in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000 issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). This standard requires that we plan and perform our engagement to obtain limited assurance about whether the report is free of errors or material misstatement and that we comply with ethical requirements, including independence requirements included in the Code of Ethics of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA).
OUR RESPONSIBILITY
Our responsibility is to issue an independent limited verification report based on the procedures applied in our review.
STANDARDS AND VERIFICATION PROCEDURES
We performed our review based on the G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
The reviews that we performed correspond to 2014; however, we also verified that the data related to the main indicators of the prior year matched with the 2013 report.
Based on this framework, we visited the McCormick plant in San Luis Potosí.
The procedures we performed are as follows:
- Meetings with the individuals responsible for the information in order to understand the activities performed and the procedures used to gather the information.
- Analysis of the information structure based on GRI-G4.
- Understanding of the procedures used in compiling and consolidating quantitative and qualitative data, as well as their traceability.
- Review of the support documentation through analysis and recalculations, as well as sampling, to have more reasonableness of the indicators reported.
The verified indicators were:
It is worth mentioning that the scope of this review is substantially less than a reasonable assurance engagement. Therefore, the assurance provided is also less. This Report shall in no way be considered to be an audit report.
CONCLUSIONS
Subject to the scope limitations mentioned above and based on our work described in this independent limited verification report of the Annual Sustainability Report of Grupo Herdez for 2014 and with the indicated scope, we conclude that:
There is no evidence that would lead us to believe that the Report has not been prepared based on the G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the GRI.
There is no evidence that would lead us to believe that the rest of the information and indicators included in the attached report contain any significant errors.
AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY
Notwithstanding our conclusions, we have detected areas of opportunity in the preparation process of the Sustainability Report of Grupo Herdez, which are detailed in the management letter submitted to Grupo Herdez Management.
This report has been exclusively prepared for the Board of Directors of Grupo Herdez, S.A.B. de C.V., in accordance with the terms of our engagement agreement.
Mancera, S.C. a member practice of
ERNST & YOUNG GLOBAL LIMITED
LUIS FRANCISCO ORTEGA
Partner
Mexico City, April 7, 2015