A disappointing roadshow lunch

In 2016, I attended a roadshow lunch for an upcoming initial public offering (IPO).  This was of course in the “good old days” before the pandemic.  It was a biggish launch, so maybe 100 of us crammed into a room in a grand West London hotel.

As we juggled laptops with dinnerplates, the CEO stepped up to the lectern.  He was leading a global business with over £1bn in revenues and over 9,000 employees.  The first thing he wanted to talk to his potential investors about?  The company’s clever tax structuring. Read more …

Much ink has been spilt announcing net-zero carbon (NZC) targets over the past few months, with WHEB no doubt contributing more than our fair share. A recent survey of UK businesses, for example, found that 52% of respondents worked for businesses that had already set a NZC target.[1] A proportion of these announcements will doubtless amount to rather little. Greenpeace believes that we are currently living in ‘a golden age of greenwash’.[2] Certainly, some companies have been more focused on setting ‘aims’ rather than ‘commitments’ and have been pilloried by NGOs and investors alike.[3] Read more …

The WHEB investment strategy has evolved considerably over the past fifteen years. But the core has always been quite simple. We invest in companies that provide solutions to sustainability challenges.  The companies’ products and services are good for society or the environment, and because of that, they have the potential to grow profits and generate strong investment returns. Read more …