A Share & Sons T/A ScS Modern Slavery Statement

July 2024

This statement has been published in accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act.

Our business

In October 2023, ScS accepted a cash offer from an Italian furniture retailer, Poltronesofà. The sale was approved by ScS shareholders in December 2023 and the acquisition completed in January 2024.

ScS are one of the leading upholstery retailers in the UK and have 101 showrooms throughout Great Britain, as well as a transactional website.

The retail network is supported by nine regional distribution centres as well as a Head Office in Sunderland. Across all of the functions, ScS employ c. 1,800 people.

Our commitment

We have a zero tolerance policy to slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking, whether within our own business or within our supply chain, here in Great Britain and overseas.

We have clear policies and procedures in line with best industry practice that are underpinned by our values and principles. Together, these demonstrate our continual commitment to eradicate all forms of modern slavery within our supply chains.

Our supply chain

Under new ownership, ScS are currently going through a period of transition as we develop a new product range. As part of this transition, we have reviewed all suppliers and have significantly reduced our operations in high-risk areas to only 18% in the Far East, with the remaining 82% of now operating within the UK and Italy.

For the majority of our suppliers, we have long standing relationships, whom all share the same commitment in ensuring modern slavery does not exist. All of our suppliers are required to comply with our supplier terms, which sets out our expectations in relation to labour sourcing, health and safety procedures, anti-bribery and corruption policies, product quality standards and much more.

Our buying teams regularly visit our suppliers and in addition, as a member of SEDEX, we are able to monitor our supplier’s adherence to modern slavery regulations and best practice within our supply chains. This is coupled with our own supplier audits which includes issues relating to modern slavery.

Risk Assessment

As an organisation, we recognise that there is a risk of modern slavery in any area of our business. We risk assess our supply chain by:

• Assessing the risk profile of individual countries based on the Global Slavery Index, together with the inherent profile risk associated with the manufacturing of the goods in that territory. We consider the Far East to be our high risk sourcing area; and
• Analysing the insights and expertise of specialist third parties, such as SEDEX and associated audits.

Policies and Procedures

As part of our commitment to eradicate modern slavery, we have several policies and standards in place:

Hiring Managers Guide to Recruitment and Onboarding – ensuring employees legal status and right to work.

Whistleblowing – ScS has a whistleblowing policy, which is underpinned by our Safecall Helpline to report any unethical practices. Any reporting will be fully investigated and appropriate remedial actions taken.

Due diligence

We have long standing relationships with the majority of our suppliers, with whom we share the same commitment to ensuring that modern slavery does not exist within the supply chain.

Within our terms of business, we require suppliers to use ethical manufacturing processes to ensure alignment to local laws, comply with the standards set out by the International Labour Organisation and with the nine pillars of the ETI base.

Our whistleblowing policy allows the reporting of any wrongdoing and extends to human rights violations, such as modern slavery.

Commitments

In 2023 we reviewed our product offering and as a result, the decision was made to no longer sell flooring. For our remaining furniture suppliers we:

• significantly reduced our operations in high risk counties,
• reviewed and updated our terms of business,
• encouraged the use of a SEDEX membership along with SMETA audits, and
• 100% of our Far East suppliers have a SMETA audit.

In 2024, we will:

• continue to review our supply base,
• monitor high risk areas,
• ensure any new members of the buying teams are trained in the modern slavery policy and to raise awareness of any concerns in regards to modern slavery, forced labour or human trafficking,
• continue to encourage SEDEX membership, and
• insist on SMETA audits for our high risk areas.
• Following the acquisition by Poltronesofà, ScS will complete a short financial year of August 2024 – December 2024. Therefore, our next statement will be produced in January 2025.

Assessment of Effectiveness

We recognise that our commitment to tackling modern slavery is an ongoing journey, where we will continue to assess the effectiveness of our approach through our already established risk framework.

ScS continue to improve communication on this topic with our suppliers so that we will be more effective in meeting our common goal of eradicating modern slavery.

This statement is approved by the Board of ScS (pursuant to Section 54, Part 6 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and has been signed by the Board of Directors.

Marie Liston

Corporate Services Director

Date: July 2024