Performance Responsable : Euro Zone stocks

Giving meaning to your investments

Past performances should not be seen as a guide to future performances.

ISIN Code : FR0010397588

Information to download

Simplified Prospectus : Performance Responsable

Monthly management report : April 2012

Disclaim : This English translation is for the convenience of English-speaking readers. However, only the French text has any legal value. Consequently, the translation may not be relied upon to sustain any legal claim, nor should it be used as the basis of any legal opinion. Euronext Paris SA expressly disclaims all liability for any inaccuracy herein.

Background

Financière de Champlain has invested over the long term in defensive, yet buoyant stocks such as those relating to the environment and the aging of the population.

Now, Financière de Champlain is seeking to reinforce its unique and original position in the field of sustainable development with the launch of the ethical fund Performance Responsable.

The market already offers funds known as ‘exclusion funds’, which do not as a matter of policy invest in such sectors as tobacco, alcohol, etc, and ‘best in class’ funds, which select the best performing stocks which do not have disqualifying criteria.
But such funds do not, in our view, adequately address fundamental ethical problems.

By means of Performance Responsable we aim to combine the added value of our management team (stock picking and dedicated themes) with a strong commitment to ethical values.
This two-stage ethical and financial filter allows us therefore to reconcile finance and responsible values:giving meaning to your investments.

Objectives

  • Maximum protection of the capital invested
  • To obtain a yield better than that of the European equity markets over the medium to long term by investing in the countries of the European Union

Management strategy

Financial filter

Rigorous stock picking allows us to identify those companies offering both growth and clear visibility at the same time

Detailed financial analysis of their strengths and weaknesses

In-depth knowledge of their management structure which includes regular meetings with the management teams

Ethical filter

‘Ethical audits’ undertaken on the basis of detailed terms of reference developed in partnership with ETHIFINANCE

  • Corporate governance criteria
  • Human Resources Criteria
  • Environmental criteria
  • Other criteria, such as relations between the business and its external environment
  • Establishment of regular ethical audits to guide the ethical development of companies making up the portfolio.

Portfolio Composition

The fund was established on 8 December 2006, and has therefore not had time to mature in investment terms.
However we can give the following as examples of the values selected:

  • Auréa (Waste Recycling, France)
  • Celeos (Real Estate, France)
  • Séché Environnement (Waste treatment, France)

ETHIFINANCE

ETHIFINANCE is an independent extra-financial analysis agency specialized in Corporate Social Responsibility assessments (CSR). A team of 6 people, working in partnership with the SiRi Group, covers nearly 1800 companies worldwide.
Quality is an integral part of, and a fundamental requirement of the services provided by the firm. To satisfy this requirement, ETHIFINANCE reviews its methodology regularly using a quality system.

Furthermore, CSR facilitates the development of new practices. It is therefore fundamental for ETHIFINANCE to ensure that it monitors and carries out research on emerging issues in CSR in order to keep pace with and adapt to these developments.

Concerned about their professionalism and integrity, each member of the team signs a Charter of Ethics. It should also be emphasised that ETHIFINANCE is paid by its clients and not by the companies which it audits.

Its mission:

  • To guaranty a high level of expertise in extra-financial issues
  • To supply its investor clients with quality information related to the extra-financial performance of companies
  • To assist companies (issuers and clients) in their strategies, the management and follow-up of extra-financial risk performance
  • To provide advice in keeping with the expectations of stakeholders, whether investors or businesses.

For more information on the rating methods used or on the principles of ETHIFINANCE click on the following link

Archives : Ethical analysis

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantage: The purpose of this fund is to yield performance in the medium term, by using extra-financial rating criteria (social, company-related, environmental and governance), securities for the company’s long-term survival of and the results of convincing management.

Disadvantage: The currently significant small and mid-cap component, combined with the stringent of excluding sectors deemed unethical, can decorrelate the fund’s performance with that of the major indexes.

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