Budimex remains in RESPECT Index

The index now has 23 participating companies, including one new member: Bank Ochrony Środowiska. Budimex has been listed in the RESPECT Index continuously since January 2011.

The new RESPECT Index portfolio will take effect on 21 December 2015. The RESPECT Index has gained 31% from the first publication on 19 November 2009 until December 2015, while WIG has gained 11%.

“The results of this year’s edition confirm that listed companies focus on responsible business despite demanding market conditions. This is demonstrated by the number of enrolling companies and their audit results, which have improved year on year. We also observe that Polish and international investors are increasingly interested in the index. I believe that this will draw the attention of other companies to the importance of corporate social responsibility,” said Paweł Tamborski, President of the Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The RESPECT Project is a multi-step research initiative: the index includes companies of strong liquidity and excellent practice of corporate governance and stakeholder relations. They are invited to complete a survey in the last phase of the project. This year’s survey additionally included questions on dispute resolution and diversity management.

“Year after year, companies participating in the RESPECT Index improve their ESG (environmental, social and governance) performance, as demonstrated by the average score, which has increased from 64.08 points to 71.01 points in the last three editions (the maximum score being 90 points). Most importantly, companies in the index are increasingly popular with issuers and investors, as shown by the RESPECT Index return rate,” said Irena Pichola, Deloitte Partner and Leader of Sustainability Consulting, Poland and Central Europe.

A growing number of RESPECT Index companies, but not all of them, report non-financial information. However, all listed companies which have more than 500 employees and total assets exceeding EUR 20 million or net sales exceeding EUR 40 million will be required to report non-financial information as of January 2017 under the EU Directive concerning disclosure of non-financial information (Directive 2014/95/EU).

The RESPECT Index is Central and Eastern Europe’s first social responsibility index. The project was initiated by the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2009, when the first index portfolio was published. The RESPECT Index portfolio covers Polish and foreign companies listed on the WSE Main Market which follow the highest corporate governance, disclosure and investor relations standards, and which also take into account environmental, social and employment factors. In the current format, the company survey and index revision are performed annually in the second half of the year. The index portfolio is selected from among the largest listed companies participating in the WIG20, mWIG40 and sWIG80 indices. The participating companies are screened in a three-step process by the WSE and the Association of Listed Companies (SEG) in a review of all the above-mentioned factors and additionally audited by the project partner involved since the first edition: Deloitte. The share of each company in the index portfolio is determined according to the same rules as for other stock exchange indices, taking into account free-floating shares, subject to a cap of the weight of the largest companies at 25% where the number of participating companies is under 20, and otherwise at 10%.

(source: www.gpw.pl)