Flooring Systems produces linoleum, vinyl and textile floor coverings, as well as a range of building and construction (B&C) adhesives and leveling compounds for the commercial project market. A limited part of the products are also available for use in the residential consumer market, these products are sold via retailers for floor covering and interior decoration. Part of the building and construction adhesives product offer is also available via DIY stores and in general is sold under the brand Eurocol.

With its product portfolio Flooring Systems offers a complete, and ready to install solution for buildings all over the globe. Over the years billions of square meters of our floor coverings have been installed in public buildings, education facilities, health care institutions where they perform year on year on their functional and durable characteristics that apply to each of the specific sectors.

Today our floor coverings also find its way into areas such as retail, hospitality and leisure and commercial offices, where using a combination of different types of floor coverings that can be designed to the orientation of the customer are becoming ever more popular. Finally there are specific market sectors such as the high-tech industry with data centers, IT and pharma environments, or the transport sector in which the railways, automotive and marine sector use our products for their carriages, coaches and vessels.

Building and construction adhesives is active in all of the above mentioned market sectors. In addition Building and construction adhesives also produces adhesives for ceramics (both floor and wall applications), parquetry and wooden floor coverings. Sports floor installation material for indoor and outdoor sports are also part of the portfolio.

For an update of the market developments for Flooring Systems in the year under review, please refer to the Forbo Group annual report 2022.

The Flooring Systems division offers a broad and attractive range of environmentally friendly natural linoleum. Flooring Systems’ linoleum is produced in the Netherlands (in Assendelft) and in Scotland (in Kirkcaldy). Forbo’s key linoleum brands are Marmoleum© for sheet, tile, and plank options, Marmoleum Click© for floating floors in the residential and semi contract market. Marmoleum Sport© for indoor sports floors, Marmoleum Ohmex© for anti-static floor panels, Furniture Linoleum© - a surfacing material - and Bulletin Board© used for pin wall/pinboard applications. A special collection in our linoleum offer is Impressa©, a linoleum which is printed with a wood or concrete décor.

Flooring Systems also offers a state of the art, innovative and in-house designed collection of heterogenous (multi-layer) and homogenous (single layer) vinyl floor coverings. Our vinyl portfolio is produced in Reims (France), Coevorden (the Netherlands), Kaluga (Russia) and Giubiasco (Switzerland). Forbo vinyl brands comprise Allura© and Effekta© for luxury vinyl tiles and planks, Eternal© for heterogenous vinyl, Sphera© for homogenous vinyl, Step© for slip resistant vinyl, Sarlon© for acoustic vinyl, Modul’up© for loose lay vinyl sheet, Colorex© and Sphera© for static dissipative vinyl floors, and Novilon© for residential applications in vinyl flooring.

The Flooring Systems textile floor covering offer is broad and unique in that, next to carpet tiles and entrance floors, Flooring Systems also offers Flotex, a washable high-tech carpet made from densely packed 6.6 nylon fibers which make this floor covering indestructible as well as easy to clean. Our textile floor coverings are produced in Bamber Bridge, Telford and Ripley (United Kingdom), in Krommenie (the Netherlands) and in Reims (France). In the United States, a digital printing facility for high definition print Flotex is available. Brands are: Tessera© for tufted carpet tiles and planks, Flotex© for flocked flooring in sheet, tile or plank formats, Forte© for needlefelt, Coral© for textile entrance floors, and Nuway© for rigid entrance floors.

The B&C adhesives portfolio consists out of a large range of waterborne adhesives for all types of floor covering and construction applications, leveling compound and water barriers under the brand Eurocol© as well as a range of so-called liquid floor coverings under the brands of Liquid Design©, Beton Design and Deco Design© which can be used both as floor covering and as wall covering.

Forbo is a leading producer of floor coverings, building and construction adhesives, as well as power transmission and conveyor belt solutions. Forbo’s linoleum floor coverings are made from natural raw materials. They are biodegradable and carbon-neutral (cradle to gate), without off-setting. In the manufacture of its heterogenous vinyl floor coverings, Forbo uses phthalate-free plasticizers of the latest generation. Vinyl floor coverings also contain up to 25% recycled material in relation to their total product weight. The BioBelt™ is a biologically degradable conveyor belt made largely from renewable, plant-based materials. The AmpMiser™ conveyor belt enables energy savings and therefore also a reduction in CO₂ emissions of up to 50%.

For Forbo as a responsible manufacturer, the careful use of all resources for a sustainable future is a guiding principle.

Forbo employs about 5,400 people and has an international network of 25 sites with production and distribution, 6 fabrication centers, and 49 sales organizations in a total of 39 countries around the world. The company generated net sales of CHF 1,293 million in the business year 2022. Forbo is headquartered in Baar in the canton of Zug, Switzerland.

Forbo Holding Ltd is listed on SIX Swiss Exchange (security number 354151, ISIN CH0003541510, Bloomberg FORN SW, Reuters FORN.S).

Forbo is recognized for its strong profitability and solid balance sheet. This is a prerequisite for the development of a sustainable organization, be it towards its employees, other stakeholders and in particular with regard to limiting the impact on the environment. At the same time, we are convinced that superior performance in terms of sustainability will lead to improved financial performance and vice versa. We offer products and services as superior sustainable solutions and thus are very well positioned within the relevant industry.

Maintaining a strong financial position is central to our objective of being a sustainable organization and therefore part of the triple bottom line, next to the social and ecological dimension of sustainability. The financial dimension is enhanced by continuous improvement and innovation in the design, service, performance, scope, and quality of our offer to all stakeholders. We aim to achieve this while respecting the responsibilities covered by corporate governance, risk and crisis management, code of conduct, and in compliance with international law and regulations.

Effective and ongoing stakeholder engagement is the foundation of our business and is part of our sustainability reporting initiatives such as this annual report. We engage with our stakeholder groups on an ongoing basis to ensure we maintain our social license to operate both within our operations locations as well as in our marketing and sales organizations. The selection of stakeholders with which we engage, reflects the relevance environmental, social and governance aspects as valued by our stakeholders. In a broader sense our stakeholder engagement involves a range of activities, they are;

- Our employees– through regular meetings and surveys and audits

- Customers – through customer feedback mechanisms and satisfaction surveys

- Suppliers – through regular meetings and audits

- Policy makers (national, state, and local) – through representation on committees and other regular contact regarding environmental and safety compliance

- Environmental non-governmental organizations – through meetings, representation on committees, and other regular contact

- Unions – through meetings and representation on committees

- Communities – through representation on committees, open days at our production plants, and involvement with charities and local sponsorship activities

- Industry and trade associations – through meetings, representation on committees, and other regular contacts.

DOUBLE MATERIALITY ASPECT

A Flooring Systems working group for this report confirmed the sustainability topics that had been identified as specific to Flooring Systems based on written questionnaires that have been sent out. In our materiality assessment for 2022 focus was on the three pillars of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) rating, involving our stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers investors, policy makers and partners). After this an assessment was made on our success of each of the sustainability topics in relation with our society and the environment as such confirming the so-called double materiality of our matrix.

THE MATERIALITY MATRIX

The plotted matrix based on the response of our stakeholders confirms our endeavor in pursuing our sustainability strategy. Of course all aspects fall with the highest category on importance, none of the ESG questions lack relevance in the eyes of our stakeholder. However it is very satisfying to see that the circular economy, a low carbon profile as well as the quality of the portfolio, a starting point a our business, rank amongst the highest criteria.