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Commentary General

What does it mean to be a B-Corp?

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I had only recently joined WHEB in 2015 when George Latham asked me if I knew what it meant to be a B Corp. I didn’t! But soon afterwards I embarked on the journey to certification, and in 2016 WHEB joined the cohort of founding B Corps in the UK.

Roll the clock forward to 2024 and there are now more than 1,500 B Corps in the UK, and over 6,000 worldwide in more than 80 countries spanning 150 industries. We are now in the company of many well-known brands and there is even a B Corp ‘aisle’ in Waitrose where you can add positive impact to your weekly shop!

So, what does it mean to be a B Corp?

Primarily, a B Corp has to legally commit (by changing its constitutional documents), to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just its shareholders. Just as important as the legal framework, is the assessment. This is an intensive process that ensures that key stakeholders are taken into account in decision-making and that processes and performance is verified to meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. Focusing on ‘five pillars’ this requires consideration of the impact of the firm’s activities vis-à-vis Governance, Workers, Customers, Environment and Community. During the certification process we realised that this approach to doing business was very much aligned with WHEB’s own mission “To advance sustainability and create prosperity through positive impact investments”.

The process of certification itself offered us the opportunity to consider how well we serve the interests of these stakeholders. As we were completing the initial assessment, we quickly realised where we had a gap or didn’t score so well, and could ask ourselves whether this was an opportunity to do things better? The answer was very often: ‘Yes’!

B Corp score

Approaching the certification with this mindset has enabled us to embrace the challenge and actively seek improvements in the way our business interacts with all of our stakeholders. Our score increased accordingly; in 2016 we registered a score of 106.6, in 2018 we achieved 125.4 and our current impact score is 139. The B Lab assessment is, in our view, a really useful framework for continuous improvement.

Being part of the B Corp community has many other benefits including valuable opportunities to knowledge share and network with like-minded businesses and their teams with a common aligned goal to address society’s most critical challenges, from different sectors, businesses and countries. We also try to ensure our own procurement is focused on other B Corps wherever possible.

As we set off on another recertification cycle, we are excited to continue on this journey with the B Corp community. We look forward to making further improvements to our score and being at the vanguard of the movement to transform the global economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet.

 

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Important Notices:
Risks include: the price of shares (“Shares”) in FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund, WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund or WHEB Environmental Impact Fund may increase or decrease and you may not get back the amount originally invested, for reasons including adverse market and foreign exchange rate movements. Past performance does not predict future returns. The Fund invests in equities and is exposed to price fluctuations in the equity markets, and focuses on investments in mid-sized companies in certain sectors so its performance may not correlate closely with the MSCI World Index (the benchmark). For full risks, please see fund prospectus on www.whebgroup.com

 

General: This information, its contents and any related communication (altogether, the “Information”) is issued by WHEB Asset Management LLP (“WHEB Asset Management”). It is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to buy or sell any security including any shares in the FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund or WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund, including in the United States. It should not be relied upon to make an investment decision in relation to Shares in the FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund or WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund or otherwise; any such investment decision should be made only on the basis of the Fund scheme documents and appropriate professional advice. This Information does not constitute advice of any kind, investment research or a research recommendation, is in summary form and is subject to change without notice. The performance shown does not take account of any commissions and costs charged when subscribing to and redeeming shares. WHEB Asset Management has exercised reasonable care in preparing this Information including using reliable sources, however, makes no representation or warranty relating to its accuracy, reliability or completeness or whether any future event may or may not occur. This Information is only made available to recipients who may lawfully receive it in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and rules and binding guidance of regulators. WHEB Asset Management LLP is registered in England and Wales with number OC 341489 and has its registered office at 7 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0PE. WHEB Asset Management LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 496413.

 

FP WHEB Sustainability Impact Fund

FundRock Partners Limited (formerly Fund Partners Limited) is the Authorised Corporate Director of the Fund and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with Firm Reference Number 469278 and has its registered office at 6th Floor Bastion House, 140 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5DN. The state of the origin of the Fund is England and Wales. The Representative in Switzerland is ACOLIN Fund Services AG, Leutschenbachstrasse 50, CH-8050 Zurich, whilst the Paying Agent is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Limmatquai 1/am Bellevue, P.O. Box, 8024 Zurich . The relevant documents such as the prospectus, the key investor information document (KIIDs), the Articles of Association as well as the annual and semi-annual reports may be obtained free of charge from the Representative in Switzerland.

 

WHEB Sustainable Impact Fund

The Manager of the Fund is FundRock Management Company S.A., authorised and regulated by the Luxembourg regulator to act as UCITS management company and has its registered office at 33, rue de Gasperich, L-5826 Hesperange, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The Representative in Switzerland is ACOLIN Fund Services AG, Leutschenbachstrasse 50, CH-8050 Zurich, whilst the Paying Agent is NPB Neue Privat Bank AG, Limmatquai 1/am Bellevue, P.O. Box, 8024 Zurich. The relevant documents such as the prospectus, the key investor information document (KIIDs), the Articles of Association as well as the annual and semi-annual reports may be obtained free of charge from the representative in Switzerland. The state of the origin of the Fund is Ireland. The Fund is registered for distribution to professional investors in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and is registered for offering to retail investors in Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Fund is also available for professional investors in Belgium and Hong Kong. It is not available to investors domiciled in the United States.

 

WHEB Environmental Impact Fund

The Manager of the Fund is FundRock Management Company S.A., authorised and regulated by the Luxembourg regulator to act as UCITS management company and has its registered office at 33, rue de Gasperich, L-5826 Hesperange, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The Fund is registered for distribution to professional investors in the United Kingdom. It is not available to investors domiciled in the United States.

 

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