NKT Flexibles

We supply flexible subsea pipe systems for recovering oil and natural gas reserves in demanding offshore conditions and for transporting water and chemicals in coastal waters all around the world. It is natural that we are focused on the quality and environmental performance of our products and their method of manufacture.  

Last year, we introduced a Code of Business Ethics defining how we as a company wish to conduct our business responsibly both internally and in relation to external stakeholders. We set a series of goals for awareness across the organization in order to create a higher degree of knowledge at senior levels and they have been accomplished. We believe that in the future the Code of Business Ethics will strengthen the company vis-à-vis our customers and partners.

This year, we have focused on the concept of Transparency in our dealings. Arising in part from the added focus on agents’ fees, NKT Flexibles is turning towards a strategy of responsible transparency where the need of confidentiality in business is tempered by a transparency whenever possible. Two cases in particular illustrate the value of transparency: the case of falsified Certificates of Conformity from Special Forged Products (SFP) and the award of the 9.7-billion DKK Frame Agreement II with Brazilian oil company Petrobras.

In the falsification case, our transparency strategy went both ways. We provided as much information as possible for all potentially affected clients. In our meetings with SFP owners SSG, we insisted on the same openness in order to get to the bottom of the case. The result was an investigation which in only five months revealed that the falsifications, while serious, had not resulted in any circumstances which necessitated a shut-down of operations or reinstallation of flexible pipe systems.

With regards to Petrobras, our openness resulted in a much closer relationship and respectively a better contract than anticipated. Petrobras made it clear to our team of negotiators that our approach was a welcome change from many other companies.

Transparency makes demands on everybody involved, but two facts make it possible for us to take this approach and profit from it. First, as a supplier to the oil and gas industry, we partner with some of the world’s leading corporations as well as many small and medium-sized companies in the customer segment and the supply chain – all clients which focus on quality and safety to appreciate open and honest communication. And second, as supplier of highly processed, technically complex industrial products to the international market we are characterized by a dedicated, highly-skilled workforce, a workforce which can handle a high level of communication and act independently on it in the best interest of the Company.

It is by continuing the approach of transparent partnership, and clear communication, and a constant focus on UN Global Compact principles that NKT Flexibles will continue our growth in Denmark and begin our new venture in Brazil.

Brøndby, Denmark, 13 October 2011
Michael C. Hjorth
CEO, NKT Flexibles