Financial returns
This section will help you understand the financial performance issues that the charity you support should consider.
All charities will be concerned that their investments provide good financial returns. There are now many years of practical experience demonstrating that ethical funds need not underperform. In fact a well-managed, balanced ethical portfolio can outperform its non-ethical peers.
The degree to which a particular Responsible Investment approach has a beneficial or a detrimental impact on performance will primarily rest with the skill of the fund manager and their team – and in particular their stock selection abilities.
In this section
Studies of Responsible Investment and financial performance
The impact of screening
The impact of engagement
The role of fund managers
Identifying risks and opportunities
Further information and resources
Studies of Responsible Investment and financial performance
The European Centre for Corporate Engagement (ECCE) summarised the findings of a number of academic and industry-backed studies on the effect of SRI investments on financial returns (see table below). The ECCE concluded from these studies “Even though they do not present irrefutable evidence that SRI investments generate higher returns than “normal” investments, most studies have found that they do not result in worse performance, either, while, at the same time, they might actually decrease risk exposure.”
| Authors | Year | Market studied | Period studied | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bauer, Koedijk, Otten | 2004 | Germany, UK, US | 1990-2001 | No difference |
| Bello | 2005 | US | 1994-2001 | No difference |
| Boutin-Dufresne, Savaria | 2004 | Canada | 1995-1999 | No difference |
| Derwall, Guenster, Bauer, Koedijk | 2003 | US | 1997-2002 | “Good” stocks outperform |
| Derwall, Guenster, Bauer, Koedijk | 2005 | US | 1995-2003 | “Good” stocks outperform |
| Foerster, Asmundson | 2001 | Canada | 1995-1999 | No difference |
| Gluck, Becker | 2004 | US | 1998-2003 | Incorporating SRI higher alpha |
| Hong, Kacperczyk | 2006 | US | 1962-2003 | “Bad” stocks outperform |
| Kempf, Osthoff | 2006 | US | 1991-2004 | “Good” stocks outperform |
| Mill | 2002 | N/A | 1982-2002 | No difference |
| SRI World Group | 2002 | US | 1999-2001 | No difference |
| Statman | 2000 | US | 1990-1998 | No difference |
| Statman | 2005 | US | 1990-2004 | No difference |
Other evidence and assessments of financial performance include:
A 2006 Investment Management Association reportsaid, "Investing ethically does not mean that you have to sacrifice investment performance. As with any investments, some perform better than others".
Several fund managers of Responsible Investment funds are rated as AAA or AA by Citywire, and a 2005 Lipper Citywire All Stars Award was won by an ethical investment fund manager. According to Citywire, "fewer than 5% of all UK fund managers achieve an AAA rating... If they do, it means that they have performed very well and are among an elite."
Margolis and Walsh synthesised 80 studies on SRI portfolios, and found that more than 50% of the studies indicated a positive link between CSR practice by companies and SRI fund performance. 5% of these studies showed a negative link, whilst the remainder failed to evidence the link. Thus, the conclusions testify largely to a neutral or positive link.
An analysis of 52 quantitative studies produced over 30 years, conducted in 2003 by the University of Sydney found a statistically significant association between corporate social performance and financial performance exists, which varies "from highly positive to modestly positive."
Bauer et al examined 103 international ethical mutual funds from 1990-2001. The 2002 study found: "Little evidence of significant differences in risk-adjusted returns between ethical and conventional funds."
Information on the financial performance of SRI funds can be found on websites such as www.morningstar.co.uk or www.trust.net.
The impact of screening
As negative screening limits the available stocks for selection, some investors are concerned that this could have an adverse impact on returns. Others argue that many fund managers make too much of thisand point to the ample evidence that demonstrates investing responsibly need not lead to lower returns.
The information below relates specifically to a sensible and appropriate level of screening.
For actively managed screened ethical funds, success or failure is primarily a function of:
- fund management skill
- asset allocation
- stock selection
- risk control
- the accuracy of the analyst's views
- the overall quality of resources of the fund management house
In this respect, they are like any other active investment approach.
In an efficient market the impact of negative screens on expected financial return is likely to be negligible (and also low in terms of absolute risk).
In practice the actual return often differs from the expected return and so there will be occasions when the stocks excluded perform relatively well or relatively badly. When that happens the portfolio may perform better or worse than the unrestricted investment universe or an index measuring the performance of that universe. So where negative screens may have a greater impact is on relative risk - risk against a particular index.
For many charities, this may be an acceptable difference as the performance of a particular index is not of paramount concern. A sensible fund manager can minimise even this risk through careful portfolio construction.
The charity you support can minimise such impacts by taking a measured approach to its criteria, such as not excluding all companies in a particular sector unless clearly appropriate.
For instance charities that avoid alcohol investments may not avoid all companies that produce or sell alcohol. They may instead choose to avoid only companies who derive over 10% of sales from alcohol. They would therefore take a more selective approach to investing in the hospitality and supermarket sectors.
Their may be a case for a "Best of sector" approach or a measured approach that considers, for example, a balance of positive and negative factors, and identifies those companies that perform best in those terms in each sector. This could be combined with setting tougher standards in selected sectors in view of the charities areas of concern.
The impact of engagement
Any potential impact of engagement on financial performance will depend upon the objectives and effectiveness of the engagement strategy.
- If the objective is to protect the company against risks or to help it seek out new opportunities, the intention is to create value. The potential gains might need to be balanced against the costs of carrying out the engagement.
- If the objective is to create change in pursuit of the charity’s mission, the trustees should weigh the benefits they seek (and the likelihood of success) together with any effect on the value of their investment or costs incurred.
Measurement of the outcomes of engagement activity is an area in its infancy. Greater clarity is likely as experience grows.
The role of fund managers
A recent ACCA study found concern amongst some charities that financial institutions may use ethical screens as an excuse for poor performance. It is therefore important that the charity you support monitors financial performance using clear benchmarks, and that the impact of any ethical policy is analysed in a balanced way. The performance of other ethical funds and indices may help shed further light on their performance.
All active fund managers screen out or select stocks for various reasons. Over the longer term, performance is often held to be primarily a function of fund management skill. When fund managers incorporate ethical issues into a portfolio, they usually consider how the portfolio can be re-balanced to take account of excluded companies.
Identifying risks and opportunities
Some argue that a focus on sustainability issues and consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns can help investors to identify risks that could be materially significant in the long-term. An example is the concern over obesity and how food and beverage companies are responding to the growing health crisis and its potential impact on their business.
A focus on ESG issues can give investors the chance to get involved with emerging social and environmental investment themes at an early stage, before many others have identified the investment opportunity. This happened with environmental technologies such as solar power.
A study commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme's Finance Initiative concludes that, "the links between ESG factors and financial performance are increasingly being recognised. On that basis, integrating ESG considerations into an investment analysis so as to more reliably predict financial performance is clearly permissible and is arguably required in all jurisdictions."
The study was primarily focused on pension funds but its findings are relevant for all long-term institutional investors, which can include foundations and charities.
Further information and resources
To find out more about investment terminology you can use the glossaries available at:
Investor Words
This is Money
Investment Management Association
Studies of Responsible Investment and Financial Performance
Bauer, R, Koedijk, K. and Otten, R (2002) International Evidence on Ethical Mutual Fund Performance and Investment Style. ABP Investments/Maastricht and Erasmus University
CIS (2002) Sustainability Pays
Citywire: Why we follow managers
Visit website: www.citywire-fmi.com
Cowe, R. (2004) Risks, Returns and Responsibility. Association of British Insurers
EIRIS (1999) Does Ethical Investment pay
Download
PDF file
European Centre for Corporate Engagement (2007)
Use of Extra-Financial Information by Research Analysts and Investment Managers
Visit website: www.corporate-engagement.com
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, (2005).
A legal framework for the integration
of environmental, social and governance issues into institutional investment.
UNEP Finance Initiative
Investment Management Association. (2006)
A Guide to Ethical and Socially Responsible
Investment Funds
Visit website: www.investmentuk.org
Kreander, N., McPhail, K. and Molyneux, D. (2004)
'God's Fundmanagers: A Critical Study of Stock Market
Investment Practices of The Church of England and UK
Methodists', Accounting Auditing and Accountability
Journal, 17(3): 408-41.
Kreander, N., Gray, R., Power, D. and Sinclair, D.
(2005)
'Evaluating the Performance of Ethical and
Non-Ethical Funds: A Matched Pair Analysis', Journal of
Business Finance and Accounting, 32(7&8): 1465-93.
Mansley, M (2000) Socially Responsible Investment - a guide for pension funds and institutional investors
Margolis, J. D. and Walsh, J. P. (2001) People and Profits?
The Search for a
Link between a Company's Social and Financial Performance. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
Orlitzky, M (University of Sydney) and Schmidt, F and Rynes, S (University of Iowa). (2003) Corporate Social and Financial Performance
Statman, M. (2000), 'Socially Responsible Mutual Funds', Financial Analysts Journal, May-June: 30-9. SustainAbility/UNEP (2000), The Global Reporters (London).
WestLB Panmure (2002) More Gain than Pain
