Fondita Annual Responsible Investment Review 2023

Fondita’s Annual Responsible Investment Review for 2023 has been published and can be found here.

As we look back at 2023, we had yet an event­ful year in several aspects. At the end of the day, market returns turned out good, even great when looking at some sectors, like technology for instan­ce. Small caps continued to underperform, as did thematically environmental stocks. Environmental-and Climate smart companies were not the darlings of investors which stands in clear conflict with the alarming statistics published in 2023 regarding record temperatures, droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events.

For us at Fondita the two biggest achievements regarding responsible investing in 2023 were the reclassification of Fondita Healthcare to an article 9 fund and Fondita Sustainable Europe winning the United Nations Global Sustainable Fund Award 2023.

We continued our journey to reach carbon neutral portfolios and can report again that our carbon footprint continues to be well below the market, approximately 57% lower.

A declining trend in our carbon footprint is impor­tant as we aim for a 70% reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero portfolios by 2050 at the latest. When considering social sustainability aspects, we focus on improved diversity, inclusion and equali­ty, in the companies we own. In our company meetings we, among other topics, continue to dis­cuss what climate actions our holdings are taking and what kind of policies are in place for improved social equality.

Regarding active ownership and engagement, Fondita participated in the large collaborative engagement initiative led by CDP, namely the CDP Non-Disclosure campaign. As lead signatories we contacted 12 of our portfolio companies and encouraged them to disclose and report in the Cli­mate, Water and Forest module relevant for them. We are pleased to see that 3 companies improved the transparency in their reporting significantly.

We also remained an active advocate for sustaina­bility by participating in events organized by Finsif, having dialogues with our holdings on sustainability topics and delivering guest lectures about respon­sible investing. Our Head of ESG was also elected to the Finsif Board of Directors for 2024.

During 2023 our UNPRI scorecard also resulted in a four-star rating in the most relevant category, namely listed equities (fundamental). The result is a testament that our responsible investing principles, processes, and methodologies are walking the talk.

We think it’s clear at this point that environ­mental, social and governance risks should be considered as impacting the financial profile of companies. Equally we see the opportunities stemming from ESG.

We firmly believe at Fondita that combining the fundamental financial analysis with an integrated ESG assessment gives a holistic view of the company’s operations and potential, which should generate higher risk-adjusted returns in the long run. We focus on financial materiality in sustainability related opportunities and risks to identify downside risks and identify opportunities in relevant markets.

A more informed investment decision is a better decision which is why we work with our responsible investment po­licy throughout all our funds, independent of what category (Article 8 or 9) or external certification our fund has attained. Our aim as investors has not changed. We continue to target value adding long-term returns for our customers while also respecting sustainable development.

We want to thank all our customers for your trust and co-operation. Even if the report is in English, we are glad to continue the discussions in Swedish or Finnish. We hope you enjoy the review and let’s keep in touch and continue discussions!