Engaging with stakeholders

The Group's stakeholders include a wide range of groups and individuals who may be affected by our activities, products, and services, and whose actions can be reasonably expected to affect Motus' ability to successfully implement its strategic objectives.

All stakeholder groups have varying levels of involvement in the business, and diverse and sometimes conflicting interests and concerns that need to be balanced over time.

1
Business relationships
  • Customers – their needs drive the nature of the products and services we offer and how we deliver them. Intense competition and industry changes require that we strengthen our customer focus and unlock value for them.
  • OEMs – many OEMs have specific requirements on how we retail their products. The Group's suppliers are critical to our customer relationships given their role in delivering quality products and services, as well as their adherence to our ethical standards.
  • Suppliers – Motus' suppliers, and their adherence to the Group's ethical standards, are critical to our customer relationships given their role in enabling the Group to deliver quality products and services.
  • Business partners – strategic partners, including finance partners,
    B-BBEE partners, and joint venture partners, enable a greater reach for our products and services.
  • Industry bodies – the industry bodies we are members of represent us and help to shape the Group's regulatory environment, promote the sector's interests and ensure a competitive yet collaborative industry.
How we engage

Our engagements include

  • Regular executive engagements with OEMs and suppliers.
  • Client surveys.
  • Operational meetings.
  • Membership in business forums and industry associations, where Motus representatives hold a number of officer roles, including the National Automobile Dealers' Association, naamsa, SAVRALA, National Business Initiative, Nexar, Business Leadership South Africa and IRMSA, among others.
  • SENS announcements.
  • Media releases.
Key issues
  • Ensuring transparency throughout the vehicle purchasing process, in both traditional and digital channels.
  • Vehicles, parts and services that meet customer affordability needs and offer value for money.
  • Customer communication focusing on vehicle availability, as well as on parts and vehicle delivery dates and service completion times.
  • Meeting OEM quality and customer satisfaction targets.
  • Safety of customer-facing environments and overall management of the ongoing impact of COVID-19.
  • Ensuring client data privacy and safety of information.
2
Human capital relationships
  • Employees – every employee contributes skills, perspective, and energy to building, maintaining and deepening the relationships with our customers and other stakeholders on which we depend. Providing a high-quality working environment with career development intervention and our ability to attract and retain talent are key imperatives contributing to a high-performance culture.
  • Organised labour – many of our employees choose union representation in exercising their rights. While we respect their choice to do so, it can never diminish our obligation to interact directly with them individually in a fair, open and respectful manner.
How we engage

Our engagements include

  • Employee surveys.
  • Regular employee interactions and communications.
  • Employee evaluations, appraisals, and processes for setting key performance criteria and performance management.
  • Whistle-blowing hotline.
  • Training initiatives and programmes.
  • Employee mx innovation platform.
Key issues
  • Safe working environment, particularly relating to COVID-19.
  • Performance against employment equity targets.
  • A diverse and inclusive work culture that supports transformation.
  • Continuous training initiatives and programmes.
3
Financial capital relationships
  • Owners – shareholders expect favourable long-term returns on their investments and have the inalienable right to exercise effective ownership over their investments.
  • Investment community – research analysts facilitate an understanding of the Group for our owners and prospective investors, who provide the capital we need to deliver our strategy. Collectively, the investment community supports the effective functioning of equity markets, which is essential to attracting capital at a fair price.
  • Debt providers – our balance sheet position supports our strategic initiatives, and we work with debt providers to access debt funding at competitive rates in different jurisdictions.
How we engage

Our engagements include

  • Transparent reporting for interims and at year-end.
  • Annual general meeting (AGM).
  • Continued Investor communication and engagement, via JSE SENS announcements, attending interviews with stakeholders and online conferences.
  • Meetings with funders on a regular basis.
Key issues
  • Response to weaker economic growth and declining new vehicle sales.
  • Our ability to fund our strategic initiatives.
  • The impact of foreign currency volatility on margins, volumes and related product pricing.
  • The role Motus plays in addressing climate risk, for example introducing electric and hybrid vehicles into the market and sourcing alternative low emissions vehicles manufactured by OEMs.
  • ESG targets and strategies, including initiatives relating to water and waste management and reducing electricity and fuel consumption.
  • How the Group manages the impact of legislative changes.
4
Regulatory relationships
  • Government departments and regulators – the Group is subject to a complex range of regulations across our markets.
How we engage

Our engagements include

  • Representation in business forums and industry associations, as described above.
  • Ongoing interactions with regulators.
Key issues
  • General compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
  • Support for the transformation of the South African automotive industry.
  • Response to cybersecurity risks.
  • High duties, ad valorem taxes and the carbon tax.
  • Quality of customer outcomes and oversight controls on regulated products and services.
  • The impact of legislative changes, for example POPIA and Right to Repair, on Motus' businesses.
  • Requests for information to better understand VAPS sold in dealerships and dealer introductory commission.
5
Societal relationships
  • Civil society and communities – our social licence to operate depends on good corporate citizenship and maintaining constructive relationships with the communities in which we operate.
  • Media – provides a channel of communication with our stakeholders and influences their opinions about the credibility of our investment proposition and reputation.
How we engage

Our engagements include

  • Road safety awareness programmes.
  • Long-term relationships with partners and programmes that align to the three pillars the Group has identified for social upliftment and empowerment within underserved communities: including the Imperial and Motus Community Trust, Unjani Clinics, and Motus Safe Scholar programme.
  • Supported the South African YES programme.
  • Work closely with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and business associations providing monetary and vehicle donations and assistance.
  • Media outreach and response, including CEO and CFO radio and online interviews.
Key issues
  • Skills development, job creation, meaningful employment, and enterprise and community development.
  • Procurement strategies that support transformation.
  • Managing environmental concerns.
  • How climate change risk is being addressed.

More detail about our response is provided in our Material Priorities section.