P02 Strategic Session

P06 Talent Pipeline

P08 Our Guys in Uruguay

P09 Brazil Spreads its Wings

May 2012
ISSUE 33

Noble Strengthens Leadership

oble has further strengthened its leadership team with a reinforced Board and senior management appointments to lead the Group in its next phase of growth. In April, Yusuf Alireza joined as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors. With Richard Elman remaining as Chairman, Noble will continue building and developing the Group. Yusuf was most recently CoPresident of Asia (ex Japan) for Goldman Sachs and a member of that firms Global Management Committee. He brings deep experience from his 20-year career at Goldman, and a strong belief in the power of culture to build and sustain a company. Commenting on the appointment Richard says: Yusuf is an outstanding talent, and brings with him an unrivalled combination of commercial and financial acumen, and inspirational leadership skills. We have worked with him in his previous role and are very excited that he is joining Noble

Announcements of new Chief Executive Officer, Board appointments and management changes

Back row: Milton M. Au, Alan Howard Smith, Robert Tze Leung Chan, Yusuf Alireza, William Randall, Iain Ferguson Bruce, Irene Yun Lien Lee, Ambassador Burton Levin, Edward Walter Rubin Front row:  David Gordon Eldon, Richard Samuel Elman, Harindarpal Singh Banga, Li Rongrong

at this stage of our growth and development. Operating between the source of the product and the end-user, Noble is well-placed to access new markets as their ongoing development drives population growth and greater purchasing power, driving demand for more food, metals and energy. The appointments of William Randall and Jos Luiz Glaser reflect the importance Noble places on its ability to integrate and efficiently manage origination, processing, distribution and delivery of its diverse product portfolio.

William has been appointed to the Board and assumed the title of Head of Hard Commodities in February, responsible for Nobles Hard Energy and Metals, Minerals & Ores businesses. He was previously Head of Energy Coal & Carbon Complex. He started his career at Noble in Australia in 1997, transferring to Asia in 1999 where he established Nobles coal operations, mining and supply chain management businesses. He was appointed Global Head of Coal & Coke in 2006 and became a member of the Noble

Group internal management board in 2008. Jos heads up Noble Agri Limited, the parent company of Nobles agriculture businesses. In this capacity, Jos will be responsible for all of Nobles agriculture businesses, which store, handle and process a wide spectrum of key products from sugar, oilseeds and grains to palm oil, cotton, coffee and cocoa. Reporting to him are Ernesto Leon-Gambetta as Deputy CEO (Agri Softs) and Jacques Gillaux as Deputy CEO (Grains and Oilseeds) of Noble Agri Limited. Ernesto joined Noble in 2003

as Co-director of the Coffee Department in charge of Arabica coffee. Prior to Noble he held various positions with Cargill, Coex and Louis Dreyfus. Jacques joined Noble in December 2010 as Global Head of Grains & Oilseeds. He brings 26 years of experience at Cargill, across all its businesses. Stephen Brown, currently Head of Investor Relations, has been promoted to Director, Corporate Affairs, responsible for Nobles investor and media relations, and overseeing the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Stephen began his career with Cazenove & Co. in London, joining Noble in August 2007. Veteran banker Irene Yun Lien Lee has been appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Group. She has held senior positions with financial institutions involved in investment banking and fund management over the past thirty years.

This magazine is as good as the material you send us, so keep the stories, photos and anecdotes coming. HONG KONG Lelia Konyn lelia@thisisnoble.com Joni Chow jonichow@thisisnoble.com ARGENTINA Gabriela Campoamor gabrielacampoamor@noblegrain.com BRAZIL Lecine Amadio lecianeamadio@thisisnoble.com Sergio Luz sergioluz@thisisnoble.com CHINA Jeff Zhai jeffzhai@thisisnoble.com INDIA Smitie Misra smitiemisra@thisisnoble.com INDONESIA David Muflihano dmuflihano@thisisnoble.com SINGAPORE Vasugi Shanmugam vasugishanmugam@thisisnoble.com SWITZERLAND Annemarijn van Royen annemarijnvanroyen@noblelausanne.com UNITED KINGDOM Marcus Seelbach marcusseelbach@noblelausanne.com Tina Busby tina@nobleeurope.com UNITED STATES Pamela Rosati pamelarosati@thisisnoble.com

Message From the Chairman, CEO

and I am delighted to have him on board. Yusuf has a winning combination of skills, experience, enthusiasm, business acumen and leadership.In many ways he captures the spirit of Noble dynamism, global experience and tenacity with a sense of working culture that aligns very well with our own. The Group is in good hands. Noble Group well, and I have great respect for the organisation and our people. Noble is a large, truly global company that operates without a lot of inertia relatively small teams move quickly to identify opportunities and make things happen. An important part of this is having the right talent, and talent is something Noble has a lot of. Theres a strong can-do, entrepreneurial culture and this is something that I plan to nurture, particularly as we continue to grow. It is a culture I believe in, and I am excited and look forward to being part of it.

n February this year we announced that Yusuf Alireza would be taking up the role of CEO, and it is my pleasure to now welcome him to the position. Clearly this is an important step for Nobles future,

Richard Elman

Chairman

t is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I step into this role, and I am very thankful to the Board for their confidence and support. During my time in Asia I have had the opportunity to get to know

Yusuf Alireza CEO

VIETNAM Tran Thi Bao Nguyen trannguyen@noblecoffee.com

News

News

Steering Towards Sustainability in Asia

Richard Elman discusses the development of a sustainable future at Hong Kongs Asian Financial Forum
Richard Elman was joined on the visit by David Cherrett, Chief Commodity Strategist, and Sam ONeil, HR Manager Richard Elman delivers his introductory speech at the Asian Financial Forum

Bonel Resources team building in Rostov, April 2011

In Steppe
Noble has made solid progress in Mongolia, both in terms of operations and asset development
hen we published an article on Nobles entry to Mongolia last year, our nascent operation initially set its sights on coal. Today, the scope is substantially wider as Noble looks to build a multi-commodity platform in burgeoning Mongolia. Noble has taken a number of steps to build a sustainable competitive advantage in coal. Given Mongolias logistics challenges, controlling key parts of the supply chain is critical. We have been able to capture key parts of the supply chain and will continue to do this, says Hannah Badenach, Vice President Asset Development & Operations, Noble Energy. Mongolia is landlocked, making Nobles integrated supply chain strategy ideal.Unless you can physically move the product, it will not get to the market and most endusers do not have the reach in Mongolia to manage supply chain issues.Therefore Noble must coordinate and manage the entire supply chain process.

Top League
Richard Elman guest lecturer at Oxford Universitys Sad Business School
n February, Richard Elman addressed a full lecture theatre of MBA business students and the general public on the topic Beyond the safety zone: Building a business in difficult territories. The guest lecture series is one of Oxford Universitys Sad Business Schools collaborative events, inviting successful business people to speak at the

university. The successful twoday university visit is part of Nobles ongoing effort to build stronger strategic partnerships with universities and business schools ahead of formal recruitment events. It also allows Noble to engage with potential candidates for global trainees and internship programmes, and increases Nobles visibility among future potential recruits.

n 17 January, Richard Elman took part in a discussion panel at this years Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, entitled Asia: Driving Sustainable Growth. The event brought together influential members of the global financial

and business community to discuss Asias role in driving sustainable growth in the region and around the world. Richard joined a panel that included Richard Lavin, Group President of Caterpillar Inc and Tshepo Kgadima, President and

CEO of LontohCoal Limited. The topic of discussion was Asias anticipated growth boom in the coming decades, and what effect that will have on demand for energy and raw materials. The panel not only shed light on the challenges ahead, but also the opportunities to adopt eco-friendly technologies and solutions early in development. Prevention is easier than a cure, said Richard Elman during his introductory speech. It will be far more expensive to try and adapt to serious climate change than to reduce our impact in the first place. We cant control nature, but we can control our impact on it. And we can control our response to it.

Noble to the Bone

Bonel Resources LLC, Nobles grain business in Russia, becomes one of Russias top-ten grain exporters in just two years
011 was a year of remarkable change for Bonel Resources LLC, Nobles grain business in Russia. Sourcing grains through two offices Voronezh and Krasnodar Bonel Resources ships a variety of grains via the deep-water ports along the Black Sea (Novorossiysk and Tuapse) and the Baltic Sea (Liepja and Klaipda). Bonel started business operations in December 2009, following the acquisition of Bonel LLC. Not long after, the team of 19 faced a serious challenge with the introduction of an export ban in 2010 necessitating a switch to trading in the domestic market. Bonel set up a new base of reliable domestic customers

Strategic Session
Noble heads come together at the 2011 Global Strategy Meeting

and built it into a profitable domestic business. Since the export ban was lifted in July 2011, Bonel has increased origination and export opportunities via the Voronezh central office located in the Black Soil region in southeast Russia and the Krasnodar branch office in the grain production and export activities hub in southern Russia. Bonel expects to achieve 600,000 metric tonnes of grains exports by the end of the crop year. Today, the resourcefulness, hard work, expertise and market knowledge of the Russian team appear to have paid off. Bonel now joins the list of the top-ten Russian grain exporters.

Noble has also created an asset development platform to provide a pipeline of assets in the future through the companys investments in Aspire Mining and Xanadu Mines.In addition, a 50-50 coking coal joint venture has been established with Xanadu Mines, with three prospective coking coal licences acquired. We commenced robust exploration programmes on these licences in 2011.And our joint-venture technical team has spent the past 12 months undertaking detailed reconnaissance throughout Mongolia, which has enabled us to prepare a clear strategy on which areas in Mongolia we should be acquiring exploration licences, says Hannah. In terms of operations, Noble continues to build its origination (supply) platform and secured a marketing agreement with Aspire Mining to market the hard coking coal from the companys Ovoot project.Noble physically moved its first coal across two Mongolia-China border

crossings in 2011 at Ceke and Ganqimaodao and continues to expand operations to other border points. We have built a strong and capable team that is committed to being part of Nobles growth opportunities in Mongolia. This is critical for Nobles success, says Hannah. This was possible because of the rich in-country experience the management team brought to the table when setting up the foundation for the business. Hannah was very familiar with Mongolia, having lived there for five years prior to joining Noble. For three of those years, she led an exploration company, and as a result has a good understanding of the mineral potential and logistics challenges in Mongolia. The hard work has paid off with Noble well positioned to capture the upside as a result of growth in the commodities sector. We remain focused on the job at hand and try not to be distracted by what our competitors are doing. Our strategy is clear and we continue to execute, which in turn is creating more value for the company. We are concentrating on building a long-term, sustainable, multicommodity business for Noble, says Hannah.

Reading Palms
The future is bright for the palm oil industry with the right application of standards and resources
oble is building a sustainable palm oil business in Indonesia by deploying the best agricultural and milling practices and investing in human capital. At Noble Plantations we are addressing all these elements, says Anlo du Pisani, Managing Director

Palm oil production

Palm oil yields on average 4.5 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) per hectare per year where its nearest competitor, rapeseed, produces less than 1 tonne.
Anlo du Pisani (third from right) joins the team onsite at the project in Timika where the nursery will be started in early 2012

he Global Strategy Meeting (GSM) held from 9 to 11 December 2011 in Macau, again provided an important platform for the Group to come together and discuss achievements and results for the past year, as well as present business plans for the years ahead. With attendees spanning the full range of Nobles divisions and businesses, the GSM provided an ideal opportunity to

receive feedback from peers while also providing valuable time to meet with colleagues from around the world. Packed with presentations, Q&A panels and business-specific meetings, the GSM comprises three busy days focused on interactive discussions and evaluations. An important event on the Noble calendar, the meeting provides a high level of interactivity and open forums for

discussion on business objectives, and Group direction. Keynote speeches by Jing Ulrich, Managing Director & Chairman of Global Markets - China, JP Morgan and Andy Xie, Independent Economist, Shanghai provided thoughtprovoking views on China. Jings very positive take contrasted sharply with Andys less optimistic position on the current situation. Nevertheless, they both

closed with a very upbeat outlook for China in the future. The GSM also gave attendees a chance to deepen their knowledge of Nobles businesses. One afternoon and one morning were spent on outlining global themes, and setting segment focus themes. Attendees were then split into groups Agri, Hard Commodities and Energy (Oil Liquids, Power & Gas) and

asked to define business goals and present the outcomes. Looking at the year ahead, Richard Elman discussed the need to take advantage of structural shifts in the market. Our competitive advantage will be determined by access to new forms of capital, ability to get closer to our customers and suppliers, access to superior intelligence and most importantly groups of high performing teams able to innovate.

Palm Oil Plantations. We are also striving to implement and train our staff in best-in-class agricultural practices and harvesting techniques. Doing things right the first time is very important in plantations, as mistakes made during planting stay with you for 28 years, which is the life cycle of an oil palm.

Sustainability in practice
Noble is also an approved member of the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), following the guidelines set in the organisations new planting procedure (NPP) to ensure:

Environmental and social impact studies are done. Free prior informed consent is obtained from communities
and a fair negotiated price paid for land released.

Eight www.eightpartnership.com

No planting in areas with high biodiversity or marginal land.

Magnum Opus Awards Honorable Mention: Best All Around Employee Publication TV Nord Certified: Carbon Neutral Company

Noble World is published by Eight Ltd on behalf of Noble Group. All rights reserved. This publication may not be sold. No part of this publication may be otherwise reproduced, adapted, performed in public or transmitted in any form by any process without prior authorisation of Noble Group. Noble Group, 2012.

 imultaneously, Noble is working towards becoming both S Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil and RSPO certified.

Noble acquired 51 percent of PT Henrison Inti Persada (PT HIP) in June 2010, which owns a palm oil plantation located in the Klamono district, 50 km south of the town of Sorong in West Papua, Indonesia. We are also constructing a mill, using the latest technology to extract crude palm oil, which will be completed in July this year as well as preparing the infrastructure for harvesting, says Anlo. To give you an idea of the task at hand, it requires the construction of 620 bridges and culverts, 26,500 footbridges, 36 km of main roads and 176 km of collection roads to prepare an area of 5,200 hectares for harvesting. This is all done in

difficult conditions with rainfall in excess of 4,500 mm per year. Simultaneously, Anlo has been busy recruiting staff at all levels for the expanding operations. Noble is meeting the recruiting challenge head-on with enhanced on-the-ground training that will be complemented by the introduction of a training centre in 2012. Noble has also added another plantation to the palm oil business PT Pusaka Agro Lestari (PT PAL) more than doubling Noble Plantations current portfolio. This plantation is located near the town of Timika in Papua. The nursery will be started May this year with the first planting planned for the early part of 2013.

World CPO production is currently around 47 million tonnes with Indonesia producing half of the worlds production. Global palm oil consumption has grown by more than 20 percent in the past three years. China and India are the biggest importers of palm oil, accounting for 35 percent of total imports, and are in close proximity to our plantations in Indonesia. China is the biggest consumer of palm oil, followed closely by Indonesia (13 percent of world consumption).

News

News

Colombian Confidence
New Colombian operations positioned to strategically access the larger local markets as well as ports on both the Atlantic and Pacific
n 2011, Noble showed confidence and longterm commitment to Colombias development through the collaborative effort of Nobles Coffee and Carbon divisions to open a Colombian operation to meet the requirements of their customers. Colombian Commodity Group and Noble Resources International Colombia were formed to take charge of the commercialisation of agricultural and energy products respectively. Before the establishment of these two companies, Noble Energy had been operating in Colombia since 2010, and the Coffee division since 2003.

From left: Manuel Rueda, Fernando Ortegon, Gabriela Albornoz, Sebastian Amador, Michael Rodriguea, Oscar Burgos, Catalina Osorio, Veronica Sewards, Edgar Nieto, Karen Fandio, Oscar Osorio, Liseth Galvis

Today, with Colombian Commodity Group in place, Noble has become an important exporter and receives an additional margin as it is present along the whole pipeline, from the bush to the roaster. Colombias geographical location, along with inexpensive land costs and the governments willingness to provide benefits for new foreign investments, make the country one of the most attractive financial destinations in Latin America and the developing world. Noble has situated itself strategically throughout the country in order to provide a

more diverse range of products to both its coffee and coal customers. The company currently works with six different coffee mills located throughout the coffee producing departments and has also developed business alliances with five leading metcoal producers in the three most important coal producing regions of the country. In 2011, Noble Colombias Coal division will account for over 20 percent of the total metcoal market. Noble Coffee has gained a spot as one of the top-ten coffee exporters, with projections to become one of the top-five exporters in 2012.

From left: Leopold Rinvet, Operations for import; Thierry Renault, Trader; Anne Huitorel, General Manager; Sebastien Tournier, Trader; Valerie Bricaud, Accountant; Anthony Bouillaud, Financial Controller

France en Route
Nobles office in Saint Nazaire, France, shows theres still room for solid growth in Europe
t may seem unlikely timing for opening an office in Europe given the regions current battered markets but not so says Anne Huitorel, General Manager, Noble Resources France. Within a difficult EU economic

Sugar Central
Noble Bioenergia opens its new administrative office in So Jos do Rio Preto, and picks up best-of-the-year awards at MasterCana 2011
The new office in So Jos do Rio Preto is strategically located at the centre of Nobles four industrial units

Under South African Skies

Nobles investment in the Groups first owned multi-seed asset in Africa seizes the moment
outh Africa has the biggest economy in Africa, with welldeveloped infrastructure and a growing middle class. It is expected that mandatory incorporation of biodiesel will take effect this year, and South Africa has a well developed futures market, allowing for crush margin hedging. Nobles multi-seed (soybean and sunflower seed) crush plant will be the largest in the country, with completion estimated in Q1 2013. The location was carefully selected in the heart of the oilseeds growing areas, and in close proximity to end-users. Ideally placed to take advantage of the market and regulatory changes, Noble holds a leading position in South Africas industry and has a strong team in place. The business had reached a point where expanding the revenue potential any further needed additional hardware. And the time to do it is now, says Ronald Jetten, Managing Director, Noble Resources South Africa. It is only in recent years that South Africa has made a big shift towards soybean production, pushing the region into a role of net bean exporter while maintaining a sizeable deficit in proteins and vegetable oil. The result has been excessive crush margins. Nobles crush plant in South Africa can sustain and expand to to provide more comprehensive service and generate better results for the company. Paulo was also a prominent figure in the MasterCana Centro Sul 2011 awards, recognised as the Best Executive of the Year. The MasterCana Social award is organised by Gerhai (Agribusiness Human Resources Study Group) in partnership with the publication Cana Journal. The objective of the award ceremony is to encourage, recognise and reward people management and socio-environmental responsibility practices of companies from the sugar and energy sector. Noble Bioenergia came in second place in this category for its internship programme Nota 10 and in third place with the Gestante Saudvel pre-natal programme.

environment, Frances agricultural sector remains a solid, mature industrywhere knowledge of customers allows reliable flows. A number of factors bolster Annes confidence. France is the second biggest compound feed producer in the EU, as well as a

major grain exporter. In both areas it is important for Nobles global grain and oilseeds strategy to participate actively in the French market, create customer and supplier relationships, as well as collect market intelligence in grain and oilseeds to analyse world flows. France will also offer logistics synergies for other developing destinations like Spain or Northern Europe, where Noble can combine shipments. As a distributor of protein meal, Noble ResourcesFrance creates

an outlet for the Groups crush plant in Argentina, contributing to a value chain from farmer/ crusher to feed producer. As an originator of grain, Noble France will provide supply to Noble customers, especially in the Mediterranean basin. To distinguish itself from established players in the market, Anne put together a local team of experienced and committed professionals with strong customer contacts. Noble will be welcomed as a new player, says Anne. The development of assets in the origins, the support of a professional internal network in commodity trading, freight and logistics, the agility and quick response indecision-making, and the working capital availabilityare all advantages that Noble will capitalise on in order to build a strong market position. The French office will continue offering a wider product portfolio than other players, Anne adds. The team is composed of people with strong knowledge of the local market and a good

mix of cultures with diverse business experience, ranging from small entities and experts in trading niche markets to highly experienced people from the industry. This is Nobles trump card. In this very competitive environment, a key factor for progress lies in attracting people with not only customer and market knowledge but also with the enthusiasm and willingness to build the business, says Anne.

French scope
Noble Resources France will distribute a portfolio of products derived from different producing countries (Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Black Sea) to feedcompounders and originate grain in Franceto supply Noble customers. The new office is located in Saint Nazaire, close to the major import port for animal feed ingredients.

enjoy a true leading position in the market, says Ronald. In terms of tradeflow, South Africa is closely connected to South America, where Noble has major interests, and South Africa imports the majority of its soymeal, soyoil, corn and wheat from Argentina. South Africa is also a major corn exporter, linking to key destinations such as South Korea and Japan where Noble has a marketing presence. Noble is also an occasional importer of sunflower seeds, which synergises with the Groups operations in the Black Sea.

Upgrading Ukrainian Operations

Modernisation of the Satellite joint venture will increase crush capacity to 1,500 metric tonnes a day
Botlek Tank Terminal B.V. in Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Pushing Boundaries in Botlek

Noble World catches up with Charles Smissaert, General Manager, Botlek Tank Terminal B.V., for an update on recent developments
Briefly, please bring us up to date on whats been happening at the terminal in the past two years.
Charles Smissaert: Noble became a 50 percent shareholder in Botlek Tank Terminal (BTT) in 2008. The other 50 percent shareholder is HES Beheer, a local dry bulk stevedoring company. When Noble became a shareholder, a decision was taken to change the course of the company, demolish the silo, build a tank terminal that can store liquid bulk products for Noble and others, and change the name of the company to Botlek Tank Terminal (BTT). The silo business had been on the decline and Noble was looking for a tank terminal in Rotterdam to support trading activities in edible oils and mineral oil. In 2010, the silo was demolished and construction of the terminal began. By November 2011, it was completed with start-up in December 2011. BTTs existing personnel of 13 people have been retained and trained for their new roles and about 15 new staff have beenrecruited and trained. From an environmental point of view, best practices have been applied with the terminal virtually emission free. Vapour from loading a ship is recovered, thus saving the value of the product for Noble and also protecting the environment.

Outlook: South Africa

South Africa is showing strong yield improvements on corn, returning the country to the role of a structural exporter, and it continues to see an import flow of proteins and vegetable oil. A steady expansion of bean plantings, though, is expected at the cost of corn, as well as an increase in total acreage planted. There are surpluses in landlocked countries like Zambia and Malawi where an acreage shift to beans will follow. South Africa imports about 20 percent of its poultry consumption and cheaper and more abundant local feedstock will imply a continued increase in poultry production.

oble Bioenergia started off the year with a new locale, opening its administrative unit in the city of So Jos do Rio Preto, So Paulo. So Jos do Rio Preto was selected because of its strategic location at the centre of Nobles four industrial units, and for the infrastructure and services that facilitate access to customers, suppliers, visitors and employees of Nobles other operations. For Superintendent Director Paulo Kronka, being in So Jos do Rio Preto creates the opportunity to manage the four industrial units from one central point. One

of the positive factors of the central building is being closer to related areas, resulting in greater synergy and thus narrowing the communication gap. Therefore we have greater speed in decision making to support the operational areas and, in return, we expect better results, says Paulo. Supply Director Carlos Alberto Zanon agrees: With much of the team centralised and holding points of support in local mills, we have more integrated and active participation in other Noble businesses in Brazil. Thus, we can consolidate new acquisitions, turn supply into a strategic department

How does this move complement Nobles strategy and growth plans?
CS: BTT fits in Nobles pipeline strategy for edible oils (soybean oilor soy biodiesel from Argentina, palm oil from Indonesia), ethanol from Brazil and the US. BTT also supports Noble mineral oil trading in northwest Europe.

MasterCana Award winner Noble Bioenergia Superintendent Director Paulo Kronka

What steps have been taken to build a sustainable competitive advantage for BTT?
CS: BTT has invested heavily in automation in order to havea state-of-the-art, efficient terminal.

atellite began operations in 1991 as a grain and oilseeds export business, more recently developing a crushing division. It is located in Mariupol in the Donetsk region, 17 km from the Azov Sea Port. In 2006, Satellites crush capacity was 150 metric tonnes (mt) per day, increasing to 600 mt a day by 2008. But after Nobles majority share purchase in 2010, the goalpost moved significantly with a planned upgrade underway to increase crush capacity to 1,500 mt a day and the potential to scale up to 2,000 mt a day. The upgrade is scheduled to be completed in Q4 2012. Noble is also working on the construction of a port terminal in Mariupol with 30,000 mt of vegetable oil storage capacity. The terminal plans to transship sunflower oil produced by the Satellite crush plant and other surrounding crush plants located in the region, with a transshipment capacity of 450 kilometric tonnes per year.

Noble plans to build another multi-seed crush plant and grains port terminal facility to further strengthen the supply chain. Nobles agriculture strategy for Ukraine and the Black Sea becomes critical to all main agriculture product destinations including Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East where Noble is present, says Ivan Miroshnichenko, Black Sea Regional Director, Noble Resources Ukraine. The Black Sea region is the number one supplier of sunflower oil and rapeseed in the world, holds a leading position in barley trade flows, and is second globally in wheat and corn exports. The growth of the business also increases the Groups presence in the region and widens Nobles customer base. Despite being a new market participant in the region, Noble has built a strong reputation for being a reliable, respectful and professional partner.

People

People

Talent Pipeline
Noble draws on past practices and current business needs to expand the trainee programmes
uilding on prior years successes, the global Commodities Trainee Programme has been further aligned to Nobles business platforms and corporate function requirements. Despite market fluctuations and economic changes, Noble has continued to steadily grow its trainees intake, further establishing its talent pipeline. It is vital that we continue to hire at this level to grow our future generations of professionals, managers and leaders, says Richard Elman. Since 2005, when the first trainee programme was established, Noble has steadily increased its number of trainees. In 2012, Noble globally plans

By the Numbers
Liyun Jiang joined Commodity Enhanced Finance (CEF) in 2009 as an international trainee, and has been learning ever since
Tell us a bit about your experience as a Noble trainee, and your transition to employee?
Liyun Jiang: My overseas trainee rotation was in Lausanne, Switzerland, where the majority of my team is located. I worked in the CEF execution team from October 2009 to February 2010. (I hadnt seen so much snow in my life!) It was a very intense learning period and I got to know how the procedure works, why the documentation is in place, how we should follow up on deals, and so on. It helped a lot when I moved to Hong Kong in March 2010 and started to pick up the front desk trading job.
Liyun Jiang, Regional Manager for Asia Pacific in Commodity Enhanced Finance

Why did you decide to return to Noble after receiving your MBA?
LJ: I felt it was a very natural decision at that time, as I wanted to switch to finance after my MBA. Since I have years of experience in the commodity trading industry, I felt my competitive advantage would be to combine my trading experience and finance knowledge and work with people, so I applied for the international trainee programme and found a great opportunity within CEF.

to hire over 120 trainees for commercial support and industrial management roles. In close cooperation with the business, the application selection process, and programme content and training are being tweaked further. We are looking for greater involvement from our employees who are ex-alumni of the universities we are targeting, says Lelia Konyn, Group Human Resources Director. It is so powerful for potential Noble employees to hear from people who were in their position, and it can really give a good picture of life at Noble. Programmes include training on business fundamentals, as

What exactly does CEF do and what do you enjoy about it?
LJ: My department provides financial solutions to banks and companies and looks to access cross-border arbitrage opportunities through the use of Nobles product flows. Our principal activities are to place deposits with banks and fund

companies for six to 12 months. Each transaction is secured by a letter of credit that we can discount with our relationship banks. As well as having our own customers we work closely with a number of the business units to access their customer base. I enjoy meeting people and the flexibility of my job very much, as we need to be very close to the market to identify new opportunities and take hold of them. So we need to build good relationships with our banks, talk to them on a daily basis and brainstorm new structures together to capture the opportunities.

well as, operations, research, risk and finance. To further build our trainee pipeline, Noble is also increasing the number of interns it will hire in 2012.

Noble careers
All Noble positions are advertised through www.thisisnoble.com/careers. If you are interested in supporting our campus recruitment, please contact Lelia Konyn or Miriam Elman.

If you hadnt been accepted as a Noble trainee in 2009, what do you think you would have been doing today?
LJ: I think I would have very likely become a banker, but I dont think I would have been as happy as I am right now.

Opportunities Without Borders

Argentinas deployment of the Commercial Trainee Programme has been a proven success. We retrace the steps of four trainees who graduated from the programme
n 2008, when Argentina rolled out the Commercial Trainee Programme, Managing Director South Cone Alfonso Romero and local traders participated in the candidate selection process. One of the young hopefuls to come through was Federico Thompson, Soybean Oil Trader, who joined the programme and began a carefully designed four-month rotation that covered almost all areas and businesses of the company. Federicos mentor helped to guide his learning process and focus him on key points in the rotation. After the rotation, he worked on the Free On Board desk to round out his understanding of basic tasks related to commercial support. Today he focuses on vegetable oil product flows and has been relocated to Singapore to enhance his experience in the destination desk. I thought the most interesting aspect of the

rotation was to meet people with whom you would be working and interacting on a daily basis. To know who is on the other side of an email or telephone makes things happen with fluency and trust, says Federico. Federicos, as well as other trainees ground experience in trading, illustrates what was behind the early success of the programme in Argentina. So positive was the feedback that less

The trainee programme helped me a lot in learning more about the sector, and I found it to be a great experience.

The most interesting aspect of the rotation was meeting the people with whom you would be working and interacting on a daily basis. - Federico Thompson

- Toms White

The Noble trainee programme is a wonderful experience without limits.

The programme provides constant challenges within a dynamic company that offers opportunities to learn and grow day by day. - Santiago Marc del Pont

- Mariano Bustillo

than a year later in 2009, Noble Argentina was eager to continue expanding the initiative and came out with a second edition. Mariano Bustillo joined in this second wave and his rotation plan was modified in line with the feedback received from the year before. To improve rotations through sharing and reinforced learnings in key areas of the business, Mariano joined the Free On Board desk after his rotation, taking on basic tasks from Federico so that he could move on to new responsibilities. Mariano describes his training as a wonderful experience without limits. Encouraged by the feedback of both trainees and managers, two more trainees were added in 2010 with the recruitment of Ion OFarrell and Santiago Marc del Pont. Both of whom completed rotations in Origination and Execution where they learned details about the day-in, day-out tasks of each area. We were given lots of challenges within dynamic environments providing us with opportunities to learn and grow day by day, recalls Santiago. And with good cause while still on his rotation a permanent position opened up in Origination and Santiago was offered the position due to his outstanding performance as a

trainee. Meanwhile Ion took over from Mariano on the FOB desk allowing for both Mariano and Federico to transition to other responsibilities. Argentinas 100 percent success rate in the selection of trainees was the springboard for 2011s fourth intake of commercial trainees, which welcomed Toms White to the fold. He started on a rotation in Origination in Rosario and in Buenos Aires. I had never worked in the grain industry before entering Noble, says Toms. The trainee programme helped me learn a lot more about the sector, and I found it to be a great experience, says Toms. Maggie Escuder, HR Officer, asserts: Without any doubt this is a programme that provides us not only with a great deal of talent but also satisfaction. To watch the participants grow from young people with no experience to people who today are capable of taking a role in their businesses, that makes us incredibly proud! HR Director South Cone Gabriela Campoamor adds: We no longer question whether the programme will be carried out or not. The Commercial Trainee Programme in Argentina is a proven success and I look forward to it continuing to grow seeds of talent for many years to come.

Energy Pull
Never a dull moment in Coal, according to Eduardo Nieto Del Rio, Manager, Coal & Coke, Indonesia. He had just earned his MBA when Lehman Brothers crashed in 2008, and happily accepted the manager trainee route at Noble
Eduardo Nieto Del Rio, Manager, Coal & Coke

Chartering Success
Noble World learns whats been occupying Tony Lous time since transitioning from trainee to employee
Tony Lou, Vice President, Freight Marketing, Hong Kong

and what do you enjoy about it?

ENDR: It is no doubt a dynamic environment. We have all sorts of things going on, we have M&A, structured trades, marketing agreements, hedging. If you have a question on anything coal related you can find someone who can answer it. Aside from being a very professional team, we have people with a brilliant sense of humour, which always makes the day more enjoyable.

What are you responsible for as Manager, Coal & Coke, Indonesia?
Eduardo Nieto Del Rio: Noble has a marketing agreement with Berau Coal. I am in charge of managing the day-to-day of this relationship.

Briefly, tell us a bit about your experience as a Noble trainee and what it was like making the transition to employee?
ENDR: Learning and working at Noble as a trainee was quite exciting. I got thrown into the business from the start, and was lucky to be surrounded by people who invested the time to teach me, focusing more on my dedication rather than on industry experience. The transition was smooth because since day one I trained in Indonesia on a specific project. When the trainee programme ended I continued working on the same project but was paid a little more money.

How long have you been with Noble and how did you first come to hear of Noble?
Tony Lou: I have been with Noble since September 2007. I started as a trainee and have been working as an employee since September 2008. I first came to know of this company from a few friends who were working in commodities and Noble is a big name in the industry.

Have you always worked in the Coal & Coke division? What excites you about the area youre in?
ENDR: Yes, I have always worked in Coal. I believe it is a very dynamic division comprised of very talented individuals who have a good mix of risk taking and sound judgement. As there is an evergrowing demand for energy, I am confident I am in a division that will grow.

If you hadnt been accepted as a Noble trainee in 2008, what do you think you would have been doing today?
ENDR: Hmm, hard to say... I graduated with an MBA in August 2008 and joined Noble on 16 September the day Lehman Brothers collapsed. My guess would be that if I hadnt taken this route Id be back home in Mexico working in the family business (inland logistics involving food and beverage distribution) a thought that is not very exciting!

As a trainee, key priorities are to observe and learn and figure out where your interests and strengths lie. You do have some flexibility to choose your role later, based on mutual agreement. As a freight marketer, we have targets to achieve and responsibilities; as part of the business, you develop the business as well as yourself professionally.

What was it like making the transition from trainee to employee?

TL: Being a trainee, the main target is to learn and understand the business, the market and the company operations. You are assigned different tasks that give you good exposure to various areas of the business.

How would you describe the work environment at Noble Chartering?

TL: To work in Noble Chartering, you need to work extremely hard and also play hard. Great team spirit is crucial for delivering good work here. Everyone needs to take initiative and responsibility in whatever we do.

How would you describe the work environment

People

Feature

From left: Fernando Almada, Execution Manager; Christian Bolz, Director; Irene Ferreri, Execution Manager; Maggie Caresani, CPA and Controlling and Finance Manger; Veronica Pereira; Gabriela Antelo, Execution Oils; Carolina Artigas, Receptionist; and Ignacio Espasandn, Accountant

Brazil Spreads its Wings

Noble World takes a look at the youth education and career development initiatives underway in Noble's Brazil sugar mills, home to Nobles largest workforce

Cultivating Opportunities for Brazils Growth

Rural youth programme empowers young people in the job market
Noble Bioenergia in Brazil witnessed the graduation of 52 young adults from the government-run rural youth programme, Jovem Aprendiz Rural, which Noble supports and encourages. Nine of the programme graduates are from the NGO Criana Cidado do Futuro (Child Citizen of the Future) based in Catanduva, where Noble operates. Jovem Aprendiz Rural is a professional training programme developed by governmental organisation SENAR (the National Service of Rural Learning). Its aim is to train future workers, preparing them to enter the job market. The programme comprises 23 modules, including ethics and citizenship, marketing and commercial fundamentals, health, and communication. The programme also addresses agriculture, rehabilitation of degraded areas, maintenance of farm management and human resources.

Ready to Roll
Sebastianpolis and Meridiano teams celebrate completion of apprentice programme
Apprentices from Sebastianpolis and Meridiano

Our Guys in Uruguay

A decade on, the three employees who helped launch the Uruguay office, are joined today by many more for their 10th anniversary
Noble started operations in Uruguay in January 2002 with only Christian Bolz, Director and Veronica Pereira, Execution Oils, on board. One month later, Fernando Almada, Execution Manager, joined as well and the three remain with Noble to this day. Noble World speaks with Christian Bolz following the anniversary dinner for staff, which was also attended by other Noble offices. CB: They are one in the same: the potential, the style, the culture, the will to grow and the respect and care for Nobles people.

In your opinion, what makes the business in Uruguay successful?

CB: Deep market knowledge, our team and reputation, the Groups support and cooperation, and the original investment in the grain port terminals.

What can we expect in the next decade?

CB: Uruguays crops will continue to grow. There are many business opportunities in the agribusiness and agri-logistics sectors. Noble is in a good position to capitalise on such opportunities.

Future workers get a head start with practical training through rural youth programme

Key milestones achieved in the last ten years?

CB: Our market is small and weve worked towards expansion, diversification and growth of several businesses in synergy with our core activities, including origination, co-shared country elevator operations and farming. Now we are returning to the core business: international product flows, logistics and port terminal operations. Were returning to our roots, but with more experience.

Within the company, what is the most significant change youve seen in your area since you started?
CB: The shift from a light asset orientation and culture, to a more industrial asset approach. Through these years we witnessed and supported Noble's growth. Nobles change is not merely a change, its a real transformation.

Long Service Award

ates ed celebr m a h o M Peer Uduman nniversary 10-year a

Attending the graduation event, Social Responsibility Coordinator, Eliete Palhares da Silva Benetti, underlined

the course's importance in expanding opportunities for youth entering the job market.

In November 2011, 15 apprentices from the Sebastianpolis and Meridiano sugar mills held a presentation for management and HR as part of their course work showcasing what they had learned. The apprentice programme prepares youth for the job market, says Leandro Land,

coordinator of the "Aprendiz Paulista Programme" of Escola Tcnica Estadual de Votuporanga. This programme makes the process of admission to a company smoother for everyone, showing some work experience and not just the resume alone, says Leandro.

Project Enabler
Projeto Crescer provides hands-on training for employees in the Catanduva, Potirendaba and Sebastianpolis sugar mills
Since its establishment in 2008, the Crescer Project for employees in the Catanduva, Potirendaba and Sebastianpolis Units has more than 600 graduates who went on to develop 50 new roles within the agricultural industry. There is a constant need to have skilled labour, notes Marcos Tavares, Human Resources Supervisor, and the off-season is utilised to train and provide opportunities for employees. Courses are conducted by SENAI (National Service of Industrial Learning). "Our goal this year is to further refine the training as Crescer classes are formed according to changing skills demand. Today we are working on open positions for operators and mechanics, says Marcos. Everyone is committed to learning. The companys contribution is essential to the success of learning as a whole, says SENAI instructor Francisco da Silva. Overall, the discovery of new ways to work engages and motivates participants. Feedback from employees is also positive, particularly on operating machinery. It was the highlight for Micheli Medalha Bologna, one of the seven women graduates who will operate machinery. Commitment and willingness to learn helped us in training. I did my best and Im very happy with the result, says Micheli. Bitencur Aparecido Lima, considered the spokesman of the group, adds: I am very happy with this opportunity. I tried to be the best; I focused on developing and did it!

Sebastianpolis had 30 employees graduate from the Crescer Project with a focus on planting and soil preparation

What are the various positions youve held in the last ten years?
Christian Bolz: I have been a Director of the Board with executive functions as the local manager.

Is there a difference in the types of people you worked with ten years ago compared to today?
CB: The Group has grown, hence the number of people working for it, but the top management remains basically the same. Continuity, which is a basic principle in any project, is therefore preserved. Also as new people join they bring with them innovation, which is needed and is an indispensable complement to continuity.

Tell me about one high peak and one low that stand out for you in the past decade.
CB: The high: the consolidation, growth and results of our port terminal operations. The low: I am always optimistic and see a cup as half full. I turn bad episodes into lessons on improvement, where although something may be hard at that very moment, it could be turned into a positive opportunity in the future.

What is your first recollection of Noble?

CB: In the very early days, everything was done almost in an artisan way. I also remember Richard Elmans first visit to the region.

Girish Koulgi (left), Coal Division , India, presents Uduman Peer Mohamed, Grains, with the 10 years service certificate.

What attracted you to the company in 2002? What has kept you there?

The smiles on traine es from the Catandu va unit illustrate how impo rtant it is to provid e new opportunities for em ployees and comm unity
ba unit the Potirenda Trainees from

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Getting Back in the Game

Brazils "Fortalecer" Project looks to motivate staff returning to the workforce after extended leave

HIP to the Environment

Success of a palm oil plantation rests on its people
Nobles commitment to corporate social responsibility programmes is already fully integrated into its Indonesia palm oil origination business. The programmes were put in place after Noble acquired 51 percent of PT Henrison Inti Persada (PT HIP) in June 2010. (See full story Reading Palms on page three.) Palm oil plantations operate in remote areas and become economic hubs for the local community. We are no different, says Anlo du Pisani, Managing Director Palm Oil Plantations, referring to the PT HIP plantation, and can see the economic growth around us as our operations expand and we employ more people. To facilitate the growth and

Noble has built churches to cater to the communitys needs

Biodiversity Boon
Noble enters collaborative effort to protect one of the worlds great ecosystems
In March, Noble entered into an agreement with CEMEX, a global high-quality building materials company, to collaborate on habitat conservation efforts at El Carmen, a private trans-boundary nature reserve along the border between Mexico and the United States considered one of the five great wilderness ecosystems of the world. Spanning nearly 200,000 hectares, El Carmen is home to incredible biodiversity more than 500 species of plants, over 200 species of birds, 80 species of mammals and 65 species of reptiles and amphibians. Among other conservation efforts, four species of mammals have been reintroduced to the area and over 10,000 hectares of grasslands have been restored. Noble and CEMEX will cooperate in habitat conservation, restoration and enhancement, as well as scientific work, wildlife management programmes and other initiatives that will benefit El Carmen. As part of the agreement, both parties will contribute to the nominal operating and management costs of the reserve over the next five years.

This years recipient of the apprenticeship position at Noble Brazil

Seal of Approval
Noble recognised as a social friend of apprentices in the city of Lus Eduardo Magalhes
Noble was honoured with the seal and certificate of "Social Friends of Apprentices" in the city of Lus Eduardo Magalhes, in the agribusiness region of Bahia in Brazil. The recognition is a result of the partnership between Noble and "Instituto Recycle" to hire and train young apprentices. Instituto Recycle is a non-profit organisation that partners with corporates to promote education among children and adolescents from communities in the Lus Eduardo Magalhes region.

To keep employees on leave up to date and informed on company events, and to assist with their reintegration into the workforce, "Projeto Fortalecer" holds themed meetings for all

those getting ready to return to work. The four sugar mills of Noble Bioenergia delivered presentations on motivation, self-esteem and rehabilitation in November 2011.

Attendees from the Sebastianpolis unit at a Fortalecer meeting

prosperity of the local community Noble provides basic infrastructure like roads, bridges and community buildings such as shops. In addition to providing workers housing at PT HIP , Noble also set up two schools with another on the way for primary and secondary education. Basic healthcare is also available with two clinics onsite, a visiting doctor and village hygiene services. The community religious and sport needs are catered for through mosques, churches and basic sport fields. We have just completed a community needs study conducted

by a well known anthropologist. This study, as well as further input from the local community, will be used as the base for our future CSR programmes, says Anlo. One initiative already underway is developing part of the Noble plantation on behalf of the local community. 4,400 hectares or 20 percent of the PT HIP planted area will be for the benefit of the local inhabitants. Noble will manage the scheme through a cooperation agreement whose members comprise the local community that the plantation supplies.

Recycling Starts at Home

Brazils recycle exchange programme raises local awareness about waste
Loosely translated as reward exchange for recycling well, the Brazilian local project Recicle Bem Troca Premiada ended 2011 with prizes for a few lucky draw winners. Noble Bioenergia, in partnership with the municipalities of Sebastianpolis do Sul and Meridiano, co-organises the project annually and has the support of schools to conduct classes and lectures on environmental education. Established in 2009, the project has gained greater involvement
Lucky draw raffle drum Brazilian style

Leadership: A Core Competency

Brazils "Lder Mais", a leadership development programme, draws more than 300 managers from Catanduva and Potirendaba sugar mills
"Lder Mais" participants

From bumps to babes: Healthy pregnancy meeting, Sebastianpolis do Sul unit

from the local community, largely thanks to children and residents who perform selective waste collection in their homes. From this they can redeem coupons for a lucky draw held at the end of the year. In addition to plastic, metal and cardboard, there was an investigation into the possibility of also including used cooking oil, to reduce the amount of waste released into water sources. According to Human Resources Analyst Dayse Borges de Lima, residents store used

cooking oil in plastic bottles and deliver it to exchange points. Periodically, project partner Ecotudo (Votuporanga Recycling Center) collects the oil and makes the correct disposal of this waste for processing into biodiesel. In 2012, we will implement the 'Recicle Bem Troca Premiada' also in Catanduva and Potirendaba units, says Dayse. We are presenting the project to municipalities and seeking partners that have the same common goal: preserving the environment.

Noble participants take to the marshes and learn about migratory birds' favourite winter wonderland

Wetlands Walkabout
A journey to rediscover mother nature amidst Hong Kongs concrete jungles
In collaboration with WWF-Hong Kong, Noble HR organised a tour of Mai Po Nature Reserve, an internationally protected site in the New Territories, Hong Kong. Led by a nature interpreter, Noble employees on the threehour tour made their way through six wetland habitats including fishponds, gei wai (traditional shrimp ponds), mudflats, mangroves, reedbed and freshwater ponds. Situated on the East AsiaAustralasian flyway, the Mai Po wetland acts as an important stopover site for tens of thousands of migratory birds to rest, feed and replenish their energy reserves before setting off on the next stage of their long journey.

Health Tips for Future Mums

Healthy Pregnancy Programme for Noble employees sees threefold increase in participants
The second meeting of the Healthy Pregnancy Programme organised for female employees and wives of employees from Sebastianpolis and Meridiano sugar mills was a full house. Close to three times the number of 2010 participants joined in 2011: 162 mums-to-be compared with 55 the year before. These meetings are important, as we can closely monitor the pregnancy of future mothers in the programme. At this meeting, we saw mothers who participated in the first meeting and have now given birth, and they are all healthy and well cared for. Through these meetings, we can provide guidance on antenatal care, breastfeeding, healthy eating, hygiene and care for the baby, says Human Resources analyst, Dayse Borges de Lima. Ingrid Laiane dos Santos, a participant, says: I really enjoyed it, especially the part where I was able to interact and ask some questions. This work that the company does is very important.

2011 results
During 2011 more than three tonnes of rubbish and about 400 litres of oil were collected in Meridiano. In Sebastianpolis, 5,195 pounds of recyclables (such as plastic bottles, cardboard and tins) and more than 503 litres of used cooking oil were collected. Since the beginning of the project in 2009, 90 prizes worth a total of US$26,800 have been donated. All waste collected is sold by partners of the project to recycling companies, contributing to the improvement of household income.

Giving for a living planet

The yearly "Lder Mais" programme develops leadership competencies and training on management concepts in line with company policies, reinforcing culture and values. Clelia de Ftima Nozaki, Noble Bioenergia Human Resources Manager, notes that at the end of 2011, Lder

Mais brought together some 330 managers and coordinators. Managers and coordinators are responsible for the development of their teams. Besides sharing knowledge about our practices and values, they also become multipliers of

the processes of Human Resources, comments Clelia.

Noble renews its diamond member commitment to WWFHong Kong. On behalf of Noble, Meike Diemer (left), Manager CSR, accepts a WWF recognition plaque from Eric Bohm, CEO, WWF-Hong Kong.

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Students enjoy their time at the rural primary school

Bull Rush!
Noble joins bulls charging through the heart of Singapore in charity fun run

Bioenergia Christmas
Brazils Adopt a Child this Christmas campaign makes the holiday season a happier time for children
Noble Bioenergia stirred the giving spirit in all employees with its Christmas campaign to distribute cheer to children from low-income families. In 2011, the Adopt a Child this Christmas initiative put a smile on 244 childrens faces from seven institutions within proximity of Nobles plants. Each November, Christmas trees decorated with cards are placed in all Nobles industrial units. The cards are completed by children in need who provide a wish list to Santa. The requests are often for footwear, clothing and school supplies. Employees select their adoptive child by taking one of the cards and buying the gifts for the child. Gift value is capped at 20 to 50 Brazilian reals (US$1128) with Social Services handling distribution. The campaign has been hosted by Noble Bioenergia units for years, with Catanduva and Potirendaba joining for the first time in 2011 and achieving great success. Social Responsibility Coordinator Eliete da Silva Palhares Benetti recalls the event as heavily oversubscribed, with many calling and asking for more children to adopt. Altamiro Antonio Sarchesi, Milling, walked away from the experience with new appreciation. I thought I would make a child happy by delivering a gift, but to my surprise they presented us with much larger gifts, that is, with shining eyes, smiles and love, he says.
Children were delighted to receive the presents from Noble employees

Santas supply chain

Nobles So Paulo office joins Brazil Post Office to bring cheer to disadvantaged children

Noble employees, senior citizens... and a few exotic animals!

Schools in
Staff donations ensure rural school is equipped for new term
Getting to Provincial Rural School No.544 in La Rosilla, Province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina is not easy. It is 29 kilometres from the nearest city of Bandera along a provincial road before veering six kilometres north along an unpaved road. Nonetheless, a connection has been made with Noble employees in Argentina who have organised fundraisers and made donations to the primary school. The school currently has 14 pupils aged 5 to12, and almost all the children who graduate from this school continue their studies in secondary schools. Noble commercial representative in the area, Luis Miliani, presented the school with a first aid kit, two computers, schoolroom items, games, a net for the football goal, and balls for football and basketball. In addition, thanks to the commitment of all Noble employees, kitchen equipment such as mugs, plates, cutlery, jars and saucepans were also donated.
Presenting the 2011 Bull Challenge team at the annual charitable event organised by the Singapore Exchange. Noble Group is a Diamond sponsor

Noble participated in Brazil Mail's Christmas Campaign for the fourth consecutive year, delivering gifts to children who may otherwise not have opened any last Christmas. Employees were given letters written by children to Santa and they fulfilled the wishes, buying the presents while Brazil Mail delivered them to the children on time, of course.

Noble Singapore sent a strong team of 49 runners, one relay team, one bull challenge team and nearly 40 supporters to the 2011 Bull Charge Fun Run held at The Float@Marina Bay. This is the eighth year Noble has participated as a Diamond Sponsor in this meaningful event organised by the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Funds raised this year will be directed to

five beneficiaries, including the Autism Youth Centre, Lions Befrienders and families in need. In addition to the annual fundraising event, which looks to provide significant contributions to change lives, sponsors are also able to enjoy time with the beneficiaries. Noble Singapore spent a morning with 20 senior citizens from Lions Befrienders Service Centre at Sentosa in

Relay team 2011

Production Train
At the end of October 2011, Noble participated in the first stage of the Production Chain programme, and had the pleasure of being visited by seventh-grade students from Jos M. Cullen School in Timbes. Argentinas Noelia Conzoli and Sabrina Guerrini took part in representing Noble. The programme involves theoretical and practical lessons on how the regional production chain works, and how the production chain players

Sustainable Art
Noble Bioenergia holds fourth recycled art drawing contest
Four business units participated in this years Reciclart Drawing Contest, using the opportunity to promote environmental education with art as a general awareness tool. The project seeks to raise childrens interest in the environment and in recycling, encouraging discussions and the development of creativity through the production of art. Employees children produced drawings using painting and collage techniques involving different materials and textures. Biodiversity was the theme for 2011, with a special focus on demonstrating the richness and diversity in nature, from microorganisms to animals and plants. In October 2011, the drawings were exhibited for voting by employees. The three best drawings from each unit were used to illustrate the 2012 calendar for Noble Bioenergia. In addition, all contestants received a Project Reciclart trophy and a painting kit. Congratulations to all the rising artistic talent selected from the four units!

November. The morning started with close encounters with interesting animals like pythons, parrots and monkeys followed by a quick Singapore history lesson at the Images of Singapore museum.

Middle school students visit Timbes, Argentina

interact with each other and with society. The Production Chain project is sponsored by the participating companies and coordinated by the San Lorenzo Chamber of Commerce, and also sponsored by the Ministry of Production. The programme involves more than 3,000 seventh-grade students from the schools Capitn Bermdez, Fray Luis Beltrn, San Lorenzo, Puerto General San Martn, Ricardone, Villa La Ribera and Aldao y Timbes.

Wang Bin in 2009 (left) shortly after she began physiotherapy sponsored by Noble. Today, the bright young secondary student continues to excel in her studies and looks forward to university

Star Student
Wang Bin, a student in Liangping County, Chongqing Municipality sends greetings and thanks for Nobles support
In 2008, primary student Wang Bin lost her right arm when a building collapsed during the quake that shook Central China. Today the young student has learned to not only live with her disability but looks to emulate a mentor shes met recently through Noble. Following physiotherapy sessions sponsored by Noble, Bin has learned to write with her left hand and hopes to one day win awards. In a letter (inset left) to Noble, Bin writes about drawing inspiration from someone shes recently met who, like her, is living happily even with a disability. Noble is sponsoring Bin's secondary education through university and she currently attends school in Liangping County close to a school rebuilt by Noble six months after the March 2008 earthquake. Along with all the other students, she is happy to be able to go to school and continue her studies. Overall, Nobles support has helped all the students regain their confidence.

Paulo Sergio dos Santos, rural worker at the Catanduva unit, with his son Joo Vitor dos Santos, 11, a winner in the Reciclart Drawing Contest

Paulo Jos Marques, rural worker at the Catanduva unit, with his son Gabriel Henrique Marques, 9, whose painting came first

Visiting students show great interest in the Timbes production chain

Sebastianpolis Unit 1st Place Maria Eduarda Pontes Arteta 2nd Place Carolina Genaro 3rd Place Caroline Silvrio Alves Meridiano Unit 1st Place Letcia Fernandes Franco 2nd Place Smith Guilherme Lima de Oliveira 3rd Place Maylon Bichofi do Prado

Catanduva Unit 1st Place Gabriel Henrique Marques 2nd Place StfanyVeroni de Lima 3rd Place Joo Vitor dos Santos Potirendaba Unit 1st Place Gabriela Marcossem Rizzato 2nd Place Rafael Marcossem Rizzato 3rd Place Tain Carolina Momesso

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Fit Together
Nantong Plant uses award winnings for teambuilding exercises
The Nantong Noble Plantrecently won several local government awards, including: "Top Ten Best Foreign Investors"; "Top Tax Paying Companies"; "Top 50 Scaled Companies"; "Top Growing Companies"; and"Safety Management" awards. The plant used the prize money to hold company
Extreme paddling with no paddles

Maurcio Mizrahi thanks employees for all their hard work in 2011

Take a Seat
Sedan Chair Race in Hong Kong brings Noble employees together to support their local community
Noble Dragons, led by black caps veteran, Lou Vincent, finish a creditable third

management training and improvement activities, including a team-building outing in November 2011, with more than 30 managers and supervisors from all functions attending. The two-day event focused on risk assessment, communication and collaboration to further improve management and performance.

The Organising Committee

Party participants enjoy the food

Performance by the Oficina Jovem Choir

Festivities of Friendship
Staff year-end parties bring together Noble Bioenergia employees from four locations
On 21 and 28 December 2011, Noble Bioenergia management met with all the staff for the traditional year-end party held in two locations: one in the city of Votuporanga for employees of the Sebastianpolis and Meridiano units, and one in Catanduva for employees of the Catanduva and Potirendaba units. In addition to ace entertainment, food, drink and music, everyone had a shot at the lucky draw with a range of great

Crash Course
Across the company Noble Lunch & Learn sessions are hosted in an informal way for staff to refresh skills or learn more about Nobles businesses and corporate functions worldwide. Here Noble World drops in on classes in Hong Kong and India
many of the worlds most respected business authorities. The Delhi office also held a lunchtime workshop on how to ensure a healthy work environment free from discrimination.

prizes given away. Management attending both events included: Mauricio Mizrahi, Noble Country Manager in Brazil; Paulo Fernando Bolini Kronka, Superintendent Director of Noble Bioenergia; and Jos Sergio Fernandes da Luz, Director of Human Resources of Noble Bioenergia, who thanked employees for their commitment and dedication throughout the year.

For the last six years, each May, Noble Hong Kong has convened to discuss the October Sedan Chair Race a staple on Hong Kongs charity circuit. Finding members is never an issue as Noble draws some of the companys most creative (and fit!) people to its ranks. Not only does the team comprised only of volunteers have to design and build its sedan chair, they have to carry it with someone seated inside, racing around a 2.1 km route. So why do it? Besides the obvious its fun the company sees this as its corporate responsibility to the society it lives in, says Debra Li, Administration Manager, who has participated in the race for the last four years. The funds raised go towards charities in Hong Kong that generally do not receive assistance from major charity bodies.

We all live in a yellow submarine

The Hong Kong team boarded their awardwinning yellow submarine in last years charity sedan chair race.

Indian Diggers Charm Cobras

Cricket legends provide star power to the 10th anniversary of the Noble Cricket Sixes
Eleven cricketing legends descended on Hong Kong to mark the 10th anniversary of the Noble Cricket Sixes, held at the Kowloon Cricket Club at the end of December, 2011. Among the big names taking part were South African legend Clive Rice, Australian test and world cup veteran Craig McDermott, New Zealands Lou Vincent and Dipak Patel, Indian greats Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal, Anshuman Gaikwad, and recently retired Ajay Jadeja, Nikhil Chopra, Atul Wassan and Nilesh Kulkarni. Each of the 12 teams was assigned a star player. In a close-fought final the Indian Diggers, led by Anshuman Gaikwad, defeated reigning champions the Cobras, a team of youngsters drawn from the Altius United Cricket Club. Altius is one of Noble's charitable initiatives in South Africa. The Noble Dragons, led by black caps veteran, Lou, finished a creditable third. The 10th anniversary was marked in great style, thanks to the international cricket stars. More importantly, it provided a oncein-a-lifetime chance for cricket enthusiasts at Noble Chartering to play alongside and against some of their sporting heroes.

Each year we participate in different charity functions and campaigns, such as the Standard Chartered Bank Marathon, Community Chest Dress Casual Day, HSBC Pok Oi Cycle for Millions, and so on, says Debra. Colleagues are always very enthusiastic about participating in the various activities and we

regularly receive early enquiries from across the business. Noble will be participating in the race again this year. Nobles 2011 yellow submarine sedan chair won the Best Decorated Chair award so mark your calendars and get ready to bring your creative ideas and start your physical training for the 2012 race!

Speedtronic
Paraguay rally has everyone picking up the pace

How to Excel
Staff at the Delhi office take up advanced Excel and Visual Basic training
Left: Meet Delhis Excel gurus Below: Employees fine-tune their programming skills with 20 hours of intensive VBA training

HONG KONG INDIA

Delhi office hosts a 70 Minute Hour Lunch & Learn session on time management
Time locks, how to be more productive using the importanturgent matrix, the 80-20 rule and tips on recognising procrastination were some topics packed into the workshop. Nineteen participants attended the session led by external training company Crestcom. The 70 minute hour session is part of the companys Bullet Proof Manager programme and is delivered through a unique combination of face-to-face and video instructions, the latter featuring

Hong Kongs Lunch & Learn draws a crowd for business finance 101
Jonathan Hugh, Group Finance Director, Business Finance, led the first Lunch & Learn session for 2012 in Hong Kong with a discussion about the Business Finance function. The session covered the departments strategy, role and how it supports and adds value to the business.

Paddle to the Metal

Office fun sees paddlers compete for title
The Noble paddle tournament closed at the end of November 2011 in Timbes, Argentina. It was organised by two virtuous teams whose members were Engineers and Managers Diego Pereyra and Nstor Coassin under the name If it works it shouldnt be touched and Accountants Oscar Amezqueta and ngel Lodi under the name How much do you want it to be? respectively. After controversial scoring and some different playing styles, both teams managed to show their competitive side. The scores will now forever be recorded in the annals of bragging rights Engineers 12, Accountants 8. As expected, the tournament slowed to a very relaxing third period, in which the players enjoyed a few snacks and drinks. Congratulations to the Engineers! (We hear the Accountants are still demanding justice) If you didnt know Microsoft Excel had calculation options beyond autosum, this course would not be for you. The advanced Excel training programme organised by the Delhi office in January was designed for employees already familiar with the basics and who would like to work with more advanced features that help in improving their working efficiency with worksheets, analysing data, creating MIS reports and automating various tasks. Advanced training in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) was also held in January for Agri Research, Commodity Enhanced Finance and Finance teams. Not for the lay user, VBA is a powerful event-driven programming language used in developing applications. In the office environment, its particularly useful for developing programmes for Excel to automatically perform many time-consuming procedures.
Hugo Pastore (top, first from left) and friends enjoy the festive celebrations for their hard-earned second place

Noble Paraguay participated in the 38th Rally del Chaco, an annual rally that takes place in the Paraguayan Chaco, a large semi-arid region, and is organised in honour of those

who fought in the war against Bolivia (1932-1935). Country Manager Hugo Pastore and a friend drove a twowheel drive, non-standard Gol 2000 model class A7 car.

Nobles representatives did well, securing second place in the class A7 category and 15th in the general score, out of 85 cars that participated in the race. Congratulations!

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Events

Events

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Team Circuit
Noble Resources Spain and Portugal (Grains) host annual dinner at Carlos Sainzs Formula One centre in Madrid, Spain

R. Raghunath, Senior Executive Vice President, Noble Chartering, placing a bid at the Hong Kong Shipping Dinner auction, and seated next to him Harry Banga, ViceChairman Emeritus, Noble Group

India Lights Up
Colleagues come together to celebrate Deepavali, the festival of lights
Far left: Winner of the diya lighting contest, Somnath Sangale, Admin, Mumbai Upper left: Diya symbolises the supremacy and consequence of brightness over darkness Left: The Ahmadabad office Deepavali rangoli, a design typically made of coloured chalk, paints, flowers and coloured grains and placed in courtyards

Indian Winter
2011 came to a happy end with birthday and Christmas celebrations for Noble employees in India
All those with a birthday in December and in January come on up

Sailors' Ball
Noble puts its best foot forward at the Sailors Societys first Hong Kong Shipping Dinner
The international charity Sailors Society held its first fundraiser dinner in Hong Kong at the end of February. Providing all-round wellbeing services to merchant mariners around the globe, aboard ship and while ashore, the Society shares Noble values in terms of caring for seafarers. Noble was one of the lead sponsors of the Hong Kong dinner event, which saw a whos who of Hong Kong shipping industry attend and HK$1 million raised for seafarers worldwide. The funds will go towards supporting the charitys Port Chaplains around the world, so that they are able to give emotional and practical support to all seafarers they meet. R. Raghunath, Head of Chartering, commented at the event: I am grateful to the Sailors Society, both personally and professionally for a fantastic evening and the vital work that it does. My Vice-Chairman Emeritus, Harry Banga, and I have both been seafarers ourselves and have seen firsthand what a great job organisations such as the Sailors Society do for our sailors. It was indeed an honour to be involved and to contribute to the cause.

Winners of the te am-build competi ing tions too k home hmmth e cup

Above: Teams gathered in recognition of a solid year of work, in light of Europes difficult environment. Antonio Seplveda, Office Manager, thanked the team and encouraged everyone to continue the hard work

Deepavali, Indias festival of lights, was celebrated in various offices across the country in October/November 2011, honouring Laxmi (goddess of wealth and prosperity) in the traditional religious ritual of puja, which is an offering to deities, and Diwali gift distribution. One highlight of Nobles celebrations included a shankh (conch shell) blowing contest. The conch shell, according

to Hindu mythology, was the primordial sound of creation. It is also used as an offering vessel by many cultures globally, and was one of the five weapons of Vishnu to destroy evil forces. The diya lighting contest was another highlight. Diya is the small earthen lamp specially lit on Diwali for the offering ritual puja. This not only gives Diwali, the festival of lights, its meaning it also symbolises the

supremacy of brightness over darkness. Contestants had to light as many diyas as possible using only one match stick. Twentyseven staff from Cotton, Coal, Iron Ore, Finance and Admin participated, and Somnath Sangale emerged the winner by lighting 11 diyas. CFO Alok Sanyal was on hand to distribute prizes to the winners.

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Running and Living

Colleagues in the Delhi office lace up and hit the road for a 10 km run
All those who ran the 10 km course received a medal and certificate of completion. They are all winners!

Wind in Their Sails

Staff sailing weekends in Argentina strengthen working relationships and set the stage for Noble's entry in the "Regacic" sailing race in May

Party on!
Nobles offices in South America celebrate with end-of-the-year parties

The Geneva office rang in the West-themed party

New Year with a Wild

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Above: Damin Medina, Logistics Coordinator (left) and Lucas Gallo, Crush Trade Manager (right) Left: Delia Guadarrama, P.A. to Country Manager

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In December 2011, blanketed in perfect weather, more than 1,000 participants comprising professional and amateur marathon runners made their way to the start line for the 7:00am gun. Thirteen Noble runners took

part in the 10 km run organised by running group Running and Living which encourages people to run irrespective of experience. Showing his mettle Ankur Kaushik, Agri Research, was among the first of the Noble team to cross the finish line.

1. Noble employees in Lima, Argentina enjoy a day's outing together 2. Employees in Timbes, Argentina bask in the festive atmosphere 3. Brazilian employees say cheers to a happy and prosperous 2012 4. In Paraguay, employees enjoy an alfresco lunch 5. Employees in Uruguay toast the new year

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Hatched and Matched

Hatched and Matched

Welcoming the new births and marriages from all across the world of Noble
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1 Amalia, daughter of Alex Haubert, Chartering Geneva, was born on 26 February 2012 2 Andrew, son of Dylan Ho, Macroeconomic Research Team Hong Kong, was born on 21 November 2011 3 Anshika, daughter of Birendra Sahoo, Finance India, was born on 16 December 2011 4 Aricia, daughter of Betty Ho, Oil Liquids Singapore, was born on 12 October 2011 5 Aydan, son of Sueva Natali Wimmer, CEF Geneva, was born on 17 February 2012 6 Benicio, son of Romina Colucci, Administration Timbes, was born on 1 February 2012 7 Catalina, daughter of Maximiliano Auad, Rosario office Argentina, was born on 18 December 2011

8 Cyrus Ng, Operations and Post Fixture Hong Kong, married Fanny Wong on 11 November 2011 9 Eva, daughter of Slava (Vyacheslav Skudarnov), Structured Finance Geneva, was born on 13 December 2011 10 Farid, son of Julin Manzur, Movement & Embarkment Lima, was born on 20 July 2011 11 Felipe Oliveira, son of Robson Kassardjian, IT Brazil, was born on 26 September 2011 12 Fermn, son of Santiago Arzubi Borda, Grains Argentina, was born on 16 October 2011 13 Florence, daughter of Richard Gambrill, Middle Office UK, was born on 15 December 2011 14 Genio Alghifari, son of David Muflihano, HR Indonesia, was born on 5 January 2012

15 Hritish, son of Rajiv Koner, Finance India, was born on 23 September 2011 16 Isabela, daughter of Leandro Tonon, IT Brazil, was born on 6 February 2012 17 Isabella and Angelina, daughters of Oscar Michelini, Maintenance Timbes, were born on 19 December 2011 18 Jarrett Booysen, Logistics South Africa, married Adri on 16 December 2011 19 Juan, son of Miguel ngel Navarro, Maintenance Lima, was born on 18 February 2012 20 Julia Torres, daughter of Luciano Evangelista dos Santos, Cotton Brazil, was born on 25 January 2012 21 Leo, son of Felix Fellmann, Risk London, was born on 4 November 2011

22 Matilde, daughter of Giacomo Galli, Grains Geneva, was born on 15 February 2012 23 Paige, daughter of Ellen Chon, M&A Hong Kong, was born on 31 December 2011 24 Pankaj Mulatkar, Grains Operations India, married Rohini on 14 November 2011 25 Pankajini Bal, Iron Ore India, married Heramba Kumar Mukharjee on 4 December 2011 26 Richa Singh, HR India, married Bibhuti Singh on 21 November 2011 27 Sze Yu, daughter of Tony Chan, IT Hong Kong, was born on 6 January 2012 28 Yunkun, son of Terrence Li, Nantong Plant, was born on 19 December 2011