Bacardi Limited Pioneers Groundbreaking "BEST" Method

HAMILTON, Bermuda, March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bacardi Limited today announced that it has pioneered a new auditing method that accurately measures performance and progress against key environmental sustainability objectives. Called BEST – Bacardi Environmental Sustainability Tracking – the new system represents an innovative best practice in assessing a variety of metrics typically included in sustainability initiatives.

Bacardi Limited, the world's largest privately held spirits company, created this innovative system using general accounting principles. The Company then built upon standard metrics to include non-financial performance measurements in water use, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from all of its manufacturing operations. The results provide an accurate assessment of not simply the cost of goods, but also the degree of efficiency in the Company's use of resources.

Using the BEST method, Bacardi Limited is able to gain a precise comparison of its performance against sustainability initiatives over time. The Company calculates very specific data from a set baseline to understand just how much water and energy it would have used in prior years if those years had had the current-year mix of goods and services. All reporting compares today's results to specific base years and provides data on a monthly basis. Other companies, using standard methodology, apply average cost of resource use that shows only the difference between the current and base year mix of goods and services; this method does not fully capture efficiencies in the use of resources.

BEST provides Bacardi Limited with a more accurate picture of performance, which, in turn, enables more accurate budget forecasting. The Company's unique and innovative system was featured in Strategic Finance magazine and has been widely praised by industry leaders.

"The methodology advances Bacardi's sustainability efforts through an application of the principles of activity based flexible budgeting to produce indices of improvements (efficiency metrics) for sustainability KPIs based in physical quantities rather than monetary amounts," write Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University professors Jon Bartley, Ph.D.; Frank Buckless, Ph.D.; Y.S. Al Chen, Ph.D.; D. Scott Showalter, CPA; and Gilroy Zuckerman, Ph.D. in Strategic Finance magazine. "These new metrics have transformed the way Bacardi measures progress in meeting its key sustainability objectives, and they represent an innovative best practice for management control and for external reporting."

To learn more about Bacardi Limited environmental efforts and the "Good Spirited: Building a Sustainable Future" initiative, visit http://www.bacardilimited.com/good-spirited.

About Bacardi Limited
Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, produces and markets internationally recognized spirits and wines. The Bacardi brand portfolio comprises more than 200 brands and labels, including BACARDI® rum, the world's best-selling and most-awarded rum, as well as the world's most-awarded spirit; GREY GOOSE® vodka, the world's leading super-premium vodka; DEWAR'S® Blended Scotch whisky, the world's most-awarded blended Scotch; BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, the top-valued and fastest-growing premium gin in the world; MARTINI® vermouth and sparkling wines, the world's leading vermouth and the world's favorite Italian sparkling wines; CAZADORES® 100% blue agave tequila, one of the most popular premium tequilas in Mexico and the United States; and other leading and emerging brands including WILLIAM LAWSON'S®, the fastest-growing global Scotch whisky brand; ERISTOFF® vodka, one of the fastest-growing vodka brands in the world; and ST-GERMAIN®, a super-premium elderflower liqueur.

Founded 152 years ago in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, family-owned Bacardi employs nearly 6,000 people, manufactures its brands at 27 facilities and sells in more than 150 countries. Bacardi Limited refers to the Bacardi group of companies, including Bacardi International Limited.  www.BacardiLimited.com

LIVE PASSIONATELY. DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

©2014 BACARDI

BACARDI, THE BAT DEVICE & OTHER MARKS RELATED TO PRODUCTS ARE TRADEMARKS OF BACARDI & COMPANY LIMITED OR OF OTHER SUBSIDIARIES OF BACARDI LIMITED.

Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/FX-FL75392-20140304-01.mp4

SOURCE Bacardi Limited