Active Ownership

How have we helped?

We believe we can create better outcomes for our clients by actively engaging when we invest. In 2022, Quintet voted on over 11,984 proposals at more than 887 shareholder meetings across the world.

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Our voting group comprises representatives of diverse investment teams overseeing voting decisions.

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Support for environmental proposals: 93%. This is almost triple the industry
average*^.

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Support at social proposals: 80%. This is more than triple the industry
average*^.

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We voted against the election of 340 directors because of failure to address gender diversity.

case studies

Engagement with companies

Walt Disney

We have engaged with the Walt Disney Company, which has recognised the need to amplify under-represented voices, and the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment. The company has created two senior leadership councils focused on DEI* in the workforce and content. We also welcomed the company’s intention to advance representation for people of colour and other diverse groups in front of and behind the camera. We see this in its film Encanto, which depicts a Colombian family. We encouraged the company to set and disclose qualitative and quantitative DEI goals, and we expect its content representation dashboard to provide a baseline to support this.

Source: EOS. *Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a framework which seeks to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people.

Microsoft

Tech giant Microsoft found its own culture under scrutiny when it announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard in January 2022. In Q1 2022 we engaged with Microsoft on a 2021 shareholder proposal that had gained 78% support, asking the board to report on the effectiveness of its workplace sexual harassment policies. The company said that its communications on these issues had improved. It also committed to annual public reporting on the implementation of its sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies, including the total number of reported concerns, the percentage substantiated and the types of corrective actions taken. We appreciated this transparency and encouraged it to integrate its policies and practices at Activision Blizzard if/when acquisition closes. EOS forwarded to Microsoft our expectations for board oversight of sexual harassment and discrimination issues that we had sent to the Activision board. EOS were pleased to receive Microsoft’s first report on its workplace culture with an independent review via email in late 2022.

Volvo

As part of our ongoing engagement on climate change with Volvo, EOS pressed for better disclosure of the risks and opportunities relating to the low carbon transition, given the materiality of this issue for the company, which manufactures commercial vehicles including trucks, buses and construction equipment. In a meeting with a corporate social responsibility representative (CSR) in Q1 2018, we asked for reporting aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). EOS reiterated the request in a letter to the chair in Q1 2019, along with concerns about the company’s low score on the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI). In its response, the company clarified some inaccuracies in its TPI assessment and confirmed that it had begun implementing some TCFD recommendations. EOS sought a progress update in a call with the CSR representative in Q2 2019 and at the company’s capital markets day in Q3 2020. We were pleased to hear a formal commitment to align its reporting with the TCFD recommendations. We welcomed the company’s first TCFD aligned section in its 2020/21 annual report, which includes risks and opportunities along with a corporate strategy explicitly aligned to decarbonisation targets. Climate change remains a material issue for the company, and we continue to engage on the progress of its electrification strategy, as well as its anticipated circular economy strategy.

Taking responsibility

We are proud members of the Climate Action 100+ initiative, a leading collaborative investor engagement on climate change. We are also signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the world’s leading proponent of responsible and sustainable investing. By participating in these influential networks, we reinforce our commitment to driving meaningful change.

Active ownership reports

How we vote

Where possible and feasible, we seek to vote at all shareholder meetings of the companies in which we invest for our clients. Currently, we vote for direct line equities in portfolios of our in-house funds managed by Brown Shipley, InsingerGilissen Asset Management N.V. and Kredietrust Luxembourg S.A. (Rivertree and Essential Portfolio Selection fund ranges).

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How we engage

We invest in a wide range of companies to align with the diverse needs of our clients. As many of these companies are large, our direct investments may be small relative to the size of the firm. To be effective in engaging with these companies, we believe that collaborative engagement is likely to achieve better results than efforts we might undertake on our own. We have therefore hired a specialised external service provider, EOS Hermes, to conduct engagement on our behalf. In cases where collaborative engagement is not practical, we may undertake direct engagement ourselves with the companies we invest in.

Learn more about our active ownership policy

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