Q1 2022 spotlight on

ESG AND DATA: THE NEED FOR CONSISTENCY

We assess the need for global consistency and guidelines on sustainable investment.

									We voted at
241
Annual General Meetings
+
84
Extraordinary General Meetings
on behalf of our clients

								

									We engaged with
31
issuers
for the purpose of raising ESG concerns or seeking further information

								

									Examples of engagement with companies included matters such as:
												supply-chain management
climate change
human capital management
food and nutrition
compensation
diversity
board effectiveness
disclosure
strategy

											

								

Voting profile: Q1 2022

During the quarter, we exercised our clients’ voting rights at a total of 325 shareholder meetings.

Across all regions, votes were instructed against management recommendations on 570 separate resolutions, which equated to 54% of the 325 meetings.

¹ In favour of management on all resolutions.
² Against management on one or more resolutions.
Including abstentions and withhold votes where there was no option to vote against.
³ Took no action owing to share blocking.

took no action³

149

in favour of management¹

abstained

176

against management²

Key issues of concern

ESG quality reviews

We conduct quality reviews analysing the separate ESG aspects of all companies our global sector analysts are considering recommending for investment. These quality reviews are undertaken by our responsible investment team who award an ESG rating score out of 10. Each quarter key issues of concern are identified and are closely monitored by our responsible investment analysts.

Emerging-market companies’ continued timidity in disclosing their approaches and targets in relation to corporate social responsibility and sustainability matters.

US executive compensation arrangements not being aligned sufficiently with performance.

US company auditors serving for multiple decades.

Article amendments which would limit or reduce shareholder rights.

Examples of ESG engagement

Newton firmly believes that responsibly managed companies are best placed to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and provide strong long-term investment opportunities. For this reason, we engage companies on a variety of environmental, social and governance matters.

Click on each pin for examples of our global engagement.