Green Monday: June 2011

Will the real investor please stand up?

Arrive: 5:45pm / Start 6:15pm / Networking: 8:15pm / Close: 9:30pm

6th June 2011

Bank of America Merrill Lynch: Canary Wharf
5th Floor 5 Canada Square Canary Wharf E14 5AQ

Dr Craig Mackenzie
Head of Sustainability Scottish Widows Asset Management

Philip Middleton
Speciality Finance Research Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Roger Seabrook
VP, Investor Relations Unilever

Matthew Sexton
Director of CSR B&Q UK

Event overview:

Will the real investor please stand up?

What will be the trigger for taking Sustainability out of a silo and into the organisation's core business strategy? That question sits at the back of the minds of most Sustainability strategists. Many of the core drivers remain weak: the policy framework is evolving too slowly, only 10-15% of consumers typically seem to care and employee preferences generally fail to impact strategy.

Is it time for the Investor to stand up?

There are signs that Institutional Investors are starting to wake up, and they may be the most important driver group to watch. If the environment enters the conversation between the CEO, Investor Relations and their shareholders, it will quickly enter core strategy. There are a number of reasons for thinking that this is starting to happen:

Osmosis Investment Management has shown that companies who use resources most efficiently tend to outperform the market. Its resource efficient FTSE World Companies outperform the FTSE World Index by 6% per annum on a consistent basis.
Environmental supply chain issues are starting to impact values. In February, Britvic saw its share price fall by 12% when it announced its raw material costs rose to 10% due to the rising cost of oil.

Green Monday on the 6th June will reach out to Institutional Investors, Investor Relations and internal Sustainability strategists to discuss the significance of these changes, and how these groups should be communicating with each other.

We have a panel of experienced speakers – detailed below - who represent the different stakeholders and will lead the debate.

Gerrit Heyns, Partner, Osmosis Capital

Roger Seabrook, VP Investor Relations, Unilever

Philip Middleton, Speciality Finance Research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Matthew Sexton, Head of CSR, B&Q