Q&A:PETER  &NICK Peter Birtles, Chief Financial Officer, andNickBinns,BusinessSystemsManager,  talk about Financial Management and  Information Technology systems. Can you describe the company’s  investment management process?  Peter: All expenditure in the business is considered against the annual  budget expenditure plans approved by the Board, and is authorised through a formal approval process. Items of major expenditure are assessed  using the Company’s financial model  which calculates the Return on  Investment, the Pay-back period and  the Net Present Value of the proposed  investment. For expenditure to move  forward to approval it has to exceed  certain criteria, which have been  approved by the Directors. Nick: We took the decision about three years ago, to implement ‘Tier 1’  software which is capable of adopting  and growing to support the changing  needs of the company. For example,  when we acquired the Marlows  business, we were able to integrate all 20 stores and two distribution  centres with 26,000 products into our  system within 20 days. The technology  that we have put in place allows us to provide new functionality to the  business by building on the existing  software rather than changing it. Peter: Effective technology is critical to the ongoing success of the business  so this is an area in which we have and  will continue to invest. Going forward  we have made plans for investment in technology to enhance our  merchandising and marketing systems. How do you ensure your systems can  support the company’s growth plans?  FINANCIAL CONTROL  TREASURY MANAGEMENT  BUSINESS ANALYSIS  FINANCIAL PLANNING  ACCOUNTING SERVICES  GLOBAL STANDARD SOFTWARE  SCALEABLE SYSTEMS  ROBUST AND SECURE TECHNOLOGY  DISASTER RECOVERY  PLANNING  DEVELOPING NEW FUNCTIONALITY 