A FTSE250 Company Secretary writes...
We are a newly listed FTSE250 company. We have received a draft report from Oekom Research who claim to be a leading rating agency for CSR matters. Before we spend time responding, I wondered if anyone had experience of this organisation – are they credible and influential with investors? Do they actually try to engage if we were to make comments on their reports?
A FTSE100 Company replied: Never heard of them. I’d ignore.
A FTSE 250 company replied: The other respondent is correct. Some of the more mainstream ones ask you to fill out their questionnaires; others assess and then ask you to read through their report. Oekom is one of those that does the research and asks you to read it. I have only become aware of them in the last 18/24 months.
If i can, I do skim through the draft report in case there are fundamental issues. But there are so many of these organisations and questionnaires, that it is very time consuming.
A FTSE 250 company replied: Responding to CSR related questionnaires is becoming an industry which would necessitate recruiting additional staff to fill them in if they are all to be taken seriously. Oekom is a producer of CSR research and charges its clients a fee for the privilege. I am not aware of anyone who takes their investment decisions based solely on their research but they are known to organisations such as UNPRI and present at their member sessions. They have a place in the market but I would not spend too much time doing their job for them.