Fund Size: £215.59

Total screened & themed / SRI assets: £2000.00

Total Responsible Ownership assets: £60200.00

Total assets under management: £60200.00

As at: 31/12/22

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Policy:

We don’t invest directly in any company that derives more than 10% of its sales from gambling, high interest-rate lending, pornography or from the manufacture of tobacco or tobacco products, alcohol, thermal coal/tar sands or armaments.

Sustainable, Responsible &/or ESG Process:

Through an holistic appraisal of ESG opportunities and risk, we take a well-informed approach to responsible investment. To that end, we have developed a core set of guiding principles that apply to our responsible investment activities:

• ESG integration: We consider ESG factors when evaluating investments to help us identify ESG opportunities and risks.
• Voting with purpose: We actively vote over 95% of the value of our clients’ holdings. We will vote against management to help drive positive change when necessary.
• Engagement with consequences: We prioritise engagement where we believe we can make a real difference to the world’s systemic environmental and social challenges. We will reduce our holdings in companies that present an ongoing ESG risk when other avenues such as engagement have failed to produce the change we seek.
• Transparency: We report regularly on the progress of our responsible investment activities.

Resources, Affiliations & Corporate Strategies

For equity research, there is a very strong emphasis on in-house research. The investment team undertake their own stock and industry analysis. Whilst this will be supplemented by external sources of research, home-grown ideas and themes are valued highly.

The investment process has been developed over many years, and every member of the team understands that an investment rationale has to be framed within certain lines of argument: - trinity of risk (price, business, financial) with a firm understanding of cash returns on invested capital.

Whilst much third-party research is discarded as being biased or corporate led, there are some sources that are held in high regard. This can be especially useful in understanding the wider industry. We can also benefit from research demonstrating views which oppose our own. We are open to challenge and understanding differing views and expectations can improve our own analysis and outcomes. Elsewhere, Rathbones pays for economics and strategy research from several independent groups, in addition to in-house teams.

Under the MiFID II regulation, all research is paid for on our own P&L and not charged to clients.  

The majority of our research is undertaken in-house. However, we also draw on research from the following strategists: BCA, Oxford Economics, Capital Economics, Cornerstone Marco, Macrostrategy Partnership, Stratfor and Gavekal. In each case their economists visit Rathbones for regular internal meetings as well as providing written updates. These views form an integral part of the debate over asset allocation.

Finally, the team is also in a position to leverage intellectual capital from across the Rathbones Group in terms of utilising the various committees (stock selections, collectives, overseas equities, amongst others), analysts and the internal and external research available.

In order to encourage adoption of best practice, Rathbones has appointed a Stewardship Committee which plays a vital role in helping us meet our duties as responsible investors. Each committee member has responsibility for a number of specific companies and must oversee the implementation of Rathbones’ voting policy for those companies.

Our major responsibility is to ensure that company boards are functioning well in their role to independently oversee the activities of companies and their management, and to make sure the full scope of ESG risks are reported on and managed.

ESG affiliations and accreditations

Listed below are a number of memberships organisations and investor discussion groups that either Rathbone investment management or Rathbone Greenbank are involved in:

• Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (Rathbones).
• Long-term Investors in People’s Health – ShareAction – Signatory (Greenbank)
• Finance for Biodiversity Foundation – Member and signatory (Greenbank)
• Financing a Just Transition Alliance – Member (Greenbank)
• FTSE4Good Index - Constituent (Rathbones)
• Living Wage - Accredited (Rathbones)
• Payroll Giving Award - Accredited (Rathbones)
• PRI - Signatory (Rathbones) / Respondent (Rathbones)
• CDP - Signatory (Rathbones) / Respondent (Rathbones) / Investor Member (Greenbank)
• UKSIF - Member (Greenbank)
• ECCR (Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility) - Member (Greenbank)
• Climate Action 100+ - Signatory (Rathbones)
• IIGCC - Member (Rathbones)
• Access to Nutrition Index - Signatory (Greenbank)
• BBFAW (Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare) - Consultation / Contributor (Greenbank)
• B Team Responsible Tax Principles - Consultation / Contributor (Greenbank)
• FAIRR - Member (Greenbank)
• Just Transition on Climate Change - Signatory (Greenbank)
• New Plastics Economy Global Commitment - Endorser (Greenbank)
• Paris Aligned Investment Initiative - Participant (Greenbank)
• Access to Medicine Index (& AMR) - Participant (Greenbank)
• Workforce Disclosure Initiative Member - (Greenbank)
• Investor Alliance on Human Rights - Member (Greenbank)
• UK Stewardship Code - Commitment (Rathbones)

Dialshifter

Literature

• Fund Factsheet
• Responsible Investment
• Website fund information