- Four new index participants: BZ WBK, WSE, RAFAKO and Tauron Polska Energia
- This year’s edition for the first time includes foreign companies listed on WSE
Warsaw Stock Exchange has announced the new portfolio of the responsible companies index: the RESPECT Index. Four new index participants include Warsaw Stock Exchange. The new index portfolio is effective as of 23 December 2013.
The new index portfolio includes a record-high number of 23 companies (in alphabetical order):
- Apator S.A.
- Bank BPH S.A.
- Bank Handlowy w Warszawie S.A.
- Bank Millennium S.A.
- Bank Zachodni WBK S.A. – new index participant
- Budimex S.A.
- Elektrobudowa S.A.
- GPW S.A. (Warsaw Stock Exchange) – new index participant
- Grupa Azoty S.A.
- Grupa LOTOS S.A.
- ING Bank Śląski S.A.
- Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa S.A.
- KGHM Polska Miedź S.A.
- Netia S.A.
- Pelion S.A.
- Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A.
- Polski Koncern Naftowy ORLEN S.A.
- Polskie Górnictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo S.A.
- Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń S.A.
- RAFAKO S.A. – new index participant
- Tauron Polska Energia S.A. – new index participant
- Telekomunikacja Polska S.A.
- Zespół Elektrociepłowni Wrocławskich KOGENERACJA S.A.
“As announced by the Exchange early this year, the classification procedure of companies for the index portfolio and the frequency of the survey have changed. Now companies are reviewed from the perspective of their sectors in three areas of environmental, social and governance activity; the index is updated only once per year. Despite the more stringent requirements, the index portfolio now includes a record-high number of companies. These results indicate that companies are increasingly and in rising numbers engaged in CSR activities,” said Tomasz Wiśniewski, Chairman of the WSE Exchange Index Committee.
The RESPECT Index is Central and Eastern Europe’s first social responsibility index (SRI). The project was initiated by Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2009 when the first index portfolio was published.
In the new format, the company survey and index revision are performed annually in the second half of the year and index participants may include foreign companies. The index portfolio is selected from among the biggest listed companies participating in the indices WIG30, mWIG40 and sWIG80.
The RESPECT Index portfolio covers Polish and foreign companies listed on the WSE Main Market which follow the highest corporate governance, disclosure and investor relations standards, and which also take into account environmental, social and governance factors. The participating companies are screened by WSE and the Association of Listed Companies (SEG) in a three-stage process of review of all these factors and additionally audited by the project partner since the first edition: Deloitte.
The share of each company in the index portfolio is determined according to the same rules as for other stock exchange indices, taking into account free-floating shares, subject to a cap of the weight of the biggest companies at 25% where the number of participating companies is under 20 and otherwise at 10%.
The return rate on the RESPECT Index was 72% from its first publication on 19 November 2009 until the end of November 2013.
Figure 1. Performance of the RESPECT Index and WIG in December 2008 – November 2013 (31.12.2008 = 100)
Detailed criteria of all project stages and information for companies: http://www.odpowiedzialni.gpw.pl/root_en