During recent years many fund managers have merchandised their funds as accounting for “ethical”, “responsible” and “sustainable” criterions during the investment process (the generic term “ESG funds” will be used hereafter). These managers have used this as a marketing tool and claimed that this brings added value to their investors.  However, it has been very hard for investors to actually determine if the fund managers have been following these announced “ESG” criterions and strategies. In addition to this there have been a lot of discussions around whether or not funds that incorporate “ESG” criterions during their investment process sacrifice return in order to fulfill their obligations.   During March this year Morningstar launched the first independent rating that aims to evaluate how the underlying holdings in fund, i.e. companies in which the fund own shares, manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. By analyzing the underlying holdings from the aspects mentioned above, Morningstar has been able to aggregate this information into a sustainability measure for funds. This new sustainability measure has been named Morningstar Sustainability Rating™, which is a rating for how sustainable a fund is.   This thesis address questions regarding how ESG funds, or rather funds that market themselves as ESG funds, tend to have different attributes compared to traditional funds in the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. The specific attributes that has been examined are relative fund flows, total returns, risk-adjusted ratings and sustainability ratings.   The results suggest that ESG funds do not show a difference in Sustainability Ratings compared to traditional funds. Furthermore, it could be verified that ESG funds in some cases generate higher relative fund flows compared to traditional funds. It has also been confirmed that these ESG funds actually outperforms traditional funds from a total return perspective.

Financial markets have many different key actors, but one of the most important ones are the financial analysts. They are considered as experts in gathering and disseminating the information that firms produce, to those that seek it, such as stock recommendations and reports on firms. Related to this is a growing interest in society toward disclosures in regards of CSR as well as ESG. There has been considerable discussion in academia of whether or not CSR can be considered to be value relevant. This is a question which relate to both institutional and legitimacy perspectives in terms of theory, but also discussions in regards to agency and stakeholder theory as well:   Has value relevance of CSR disclosures increased in stock recommendations for the Nordic markets?   Thereby, the main purpose of this thesis is to find out whether or not there has been a shifting view of CSR over time, which would be evidenced in an increasing legitimization of CSR in terms of an increasing value-relevance to financial analysts. This would also be related to a shifting institutional logic, whereby it would be possible to relate to a shift in the view of the firm and its role in society. This is both looked at purely from the starting point of the dataset to the end point, but also for two different periods of time, so as to test if there is a different view of the issue after the financial crisis. In addition to this main purpose, this thesis furthermore sets out to answer whether CSR is value-relevant or not in different subsegments, such as nations, industries and the different types of recommendations that exist.   To answer the research question, an objectivist and positivist stance is taken, which subsequently leads the authors to utilize quantitative methods and statistical analysis to the data. Here, different panel models are fitted to the data to account effects that exist within it. To explain the findings, a theoretical framework is built upon three different levels: societal, firm and individual level. Here, on the societal level theories such as institutional theory as well as legitimacy theory are dealt with. On the firm level, agency theory and stakeholder theory as well as theoretical views of CSR forms the basis, and the individual level deals with theory related to the financial analyst.   In looking at the results and the analysis, one cannot draw the conclusion that there has been a shifting view of the value-relevance of CSR. Financial analysts appear to not find it value-relevant in issuing their stock recommendations, except for two cases: namely in terms of the industrial sector Basic Materials and the Buy recommendations. In terms of Basic Materials, it appears to be value-relevant in a positive manner. In regards to the Buy recommendation, it appears to have a negative effect on the value-relevance. All in all, this thesis cannot find evidence for a value-relevance of CSR to financial analysts in the Nordic markets. Essentially, the view of it appears to be pessimistic.

Un consensus peut être observé dans la littérature au sujet de l’augmentation du risque financier due à la mauvaise performance environnementale ainsi que la diminution du risque due à la bonne performance environnementale. Autant les chercheurs que les investisseurs s’entendent pour dire que la réputation de l’entreprise a un impact sur ses activités et sa performance. Les marchés financiers ajustent donc leur appréciation du risque des entreprises selon leur performance environnementale telle que mesurée par les cotes MSCI-KLD. Toutefois, est-ce que ces cotes sont véritablement liées au risque environnemental vécu par les entreprises? C’est la question de recherche abordée par ce mémoire. Plus spécifiquement, cette étude tente de déterminer si le niveau de performance environnementale d’une entreprise, telle que mesurée par la cote MSCI-KLD, a un impact sur sa probabilité d’expérimenter un événement environnemental, et donc sur sa réputation et son risque.

Les bénéfices que procurent une saine réputation sont multiples : avantage comparatif inimitable, certification de la qualité, productivité supérieure des employés, etc. À l’opposé, en plus de ne pas avoir accès à tous ces bénéfices, les entreprises ayant une réputation trop embryonnaire ou qualifiée de mauvaise sont souvent limitées dans leur potentiel de croissance par des contraintes législatives et sociales. S’appuyant sur ces observations, plusieurs chercheurs se sont intéressés à évaluer les impacts de la réputation sur la performance et sur le risque d’une entreprise. À ce titre, les résultats concernant la performance anormale divergent en fonction de la période analysée, la méthodologie et l’estimateur de la réputation employé (p. ex. Filbeck et al., 2013; Anginer et Statman, 2010). En revanche, plusieurs études constatent une relation significative entre la réputation et les deux types de risque d’une entreprise, soit le risque systématique et idiosyncratique (p. ex. Delgado-Garcia et al., 2013; Oikonomou et al., 2012). Dans le même ordre d’idées, ce mémoire vise à analyser l’effet réputation sur la performance des entreprises américaines. Pour ce faire, nous employons une approche inconditionnelle suivant la méthode de Fama et French (1993) et une approche conditionnelle suivant la méthode de Ferson et Schadt (1996) afin d’expliquer le rendement quotidien de cinq types de portefeuilles. La réputation est évaluée de manière fragmentée, soit par agrégat global, par aspect, par dimension et en combinaison complémentaire, à partir de la base de données MSCI-KLD. Nos résultats soutiennent la présence d’un effet de réputation pour le marché américain entre 2004 et 2014. Cela s’exprime par une performance supérieure des modèles d’évaluation d’actifs financiers intégrant des facteurs de risque relatifs à la réputation. Soulignons toutefois que l’ajout de variables instrumentales relatives à la réputation n’améliore pas de manière significative l’explication des modèles traditionnels.

The last decades have seen a rapid increase of sustainable investing, also known as ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing. There has also been an increasing body of academic literature devoted to whether investors can gain any financial benefits from taking ESG under consideration. Previous literature of portfolio performance in terms of risk-adjusted returns has given much of its attention to best-in-class approaches, which is a strategy that selects top performers in ESG within a sector or industry. The purpose of this study is foremost to investigate a best-effort approach to ESG investing, which is a strategy that focuses on the top improvers in ESG. The purpose is further to compare this with a best-in-class approach, since the findings from earlier studies of this strategy still are inconsistent. The region chosen to perform this study in is the Eurozone. Several theories that have implications for portfolio studies and abnormal returns are taken under consideration in relation to the study and its findings. This includes the efficient market hypothesis, the adaptive market hypothesis and modern portfolio theory. The theoretical framework also cover asset-pricing models and the notions of risk-adjusted returns. A quantitative study with a deductive approach are used to form portfolios, with a Eurozone index as the investable universe. Best-effort and best-in-class portfolios as well as difference portfolios of the two approaches are created, based on ESG data and different cut-off rates for portfolio inclusion. As for risk-adjusted performance measure, the Carhart four-factor model are used. The overall results are mostly insignificant findings in terms of abnormal returns. However, three best-effort portfolios based on the top ESG improvers show significant positive abnormal returns. These findings are strongest for the environmental and social factor. As for the best-in-class approach, only the governance portfolios provided weakly significant results in terms of abnormal returns. Further, the study is not able to significantly distinguish between a best-effort and a best-in-class approach when it comes to risk-adjusted performance. The exception is the environmental factor based on the top performers in each approach, where the best-effort portfolio outperforms the best-in-class portfolio. Finally, none of the portfolios provided significant negative risk-adjusted returns. This can at least be considered as good news for ESG investing, since it indicates that investors do not have to sacrifice risk-adjusted returns in order to invest in a more sustainable way.

Titel: CSR-aktiviteters samband med revisionsarvodet samt företagsvärdet. En kvantitativ studie i europeisk kontext. Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Camilla Uppgren och Therese Karlsson Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2019 - Juni Syfte: CSR och revisionsarvode är var för sig två välstuderade ämnen. Studier som studerar sambandet mellan företagets arbete med CSR och det debiterade revisionsarvodet är däremot ett i stort sett outforskat område. Studiens syfte har därför varit att förklara huruvida ett företags CSR-aktiviteter påverkar företagets revisionsarvode. Samt att identifiera om ett företags CSR-aktivitet i kombination med revisionsarvode påverkar företagets värde. Metod: Studien förhåller sig inom en positivistisk forskningsfilosofi med en hypotetisk-deduktiv forskningsansats. En kvantitativ metod används för att studien ska erhålla kvantifierbara och generaliserbara resultat. Som tidsperspektiv har en longitudinell design använts där data från Thomson Reuters Datastream har hämtats hem för företag under åren 2007–2017. Där datainnehållet sedan har analyserats i SPSS. Resultat & slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på att det existerar ett signifikant samband mellan delar av företagets CSR-arbete och revisionsarvodet för europeiska företag. Vår studie går med stor försiktighet emot de tidigare studierna genom att indikera att det inte finns något samband mellan företagets CSR-arbete i relation med revisionsarvodet och företagets värde, resultatet har däremot hög multikollinearitet och avsaknad av signifikans. Examensarbetets bidrag: Arbetet har bidragit med mer empirisk bevisning och ytterligare forskning gällande relationen mellan CSR och revisionsarvode. För övrigt bidrar studien med ett praktiskt bidrag för företagsledningen att fatta ekonomiska beslut kring val att införa hållbartföretagande i verksamheten. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Den här studien använder sekundärdata och en kvantitativ forskningsmetod. Vi anser att det även hade varit intressant att inkludera revisorernas tankar och erfarenheter av CSR arbete. Vilket gör att vårt förslag till fortsatt forskning därmed är att använda exempelvis kvalitativa intervjuer för att få in revisorernas sida och syn på ämnet.

I och med att hållbarhetsfaktorer får en allt större inverkan på investeringsbeslut är syftet med studien att undersöka huruvida en strategi baserat på ESG-poäng genererar avvikelseavkastning. Studiens teoretiska ansats bygger på den effektiva marknadshypotesen och tidigare litteratur inom hållbart investerande. Populationen som undersöks är svenska företag noterade på Nasdaq OMX Stockholm under perioden januari 2010-december 2016. Genom att konstruera jämviktade portföljer av 53 företag baserat på ESG-poäng från Thomson Reuters skapas två skilda portföljer, en hållbar och en icke hållbar. Portföljernas avvikelseavkastning undersöks först genom CAPM för att sedan ytterligare justeras efter Fama & French trefaktormodell. Studiens resultat visar att sambandet mellan hållbara portföljer och avvikelseavkastning är neutralt. Undersökningen visar därför att en strategi i vilken ESG-poäng ligger till grund för portföljstruktur inte är finansiellt överpresterande i Sverige. Indikationer ges dock om att en investeringsstrategi som innehar långa positioner i hållbara portföljer och blankar icke hållbara ger positiv avvikelseavkastning.

Lönsamheten hos olika typer av aktier har länge intresserat både investerare och företag. Detta intresse sträcker sig även till många akademiker och forskare, där en del kunnat påvisa att så kallade värdeaktier kan generera en högre avkastning jämfört med marknaden och tillväxtaktier. Dessa värdeaktier anses vara undervärderade på marknaden och kan identifieras genom låga prismultiplar, så som P/E- och P/B-värden, till skillnad från tillväxtaktier som anses vara övervärderade på marknaden och identifieras genom höga prismultiplar. En strategi som fokuserar på att investera i värdeaktier är värdeinvestering, som har utvecklats sedan 30-talet och genererat goda avkastningar för många investerare. Under flera år har dock intresset för hållbara investeringar ökat och fått större vikt i investeringsbeslutet. Investerare är beredda att kompromissa med lönsamheten för mer hållbara investeringsalternativ, men de vill inte förlora för mycket i avkastning. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka huruvida värdeinvestering kan vara en fungerande strategi för hållbara investeringar på en europeisk marknad, och fokus ligger på företag med höga ESG-poäng samt högt marknadsvärde under åren 2011-2018. Detta undersöks genom att jämföra prestationerna hos värde- och tillväxtaktier, samt hos ett marknadsindex utan hållbarhetsfokus som representerar den europeiska marknaden. I studien skapas fyra olika portföljer, baserade på hållbara företags låga respektive höga P/E- samt P/B-värden. Prestationen hos dessa portföljer, samt hos marknadsindexet, mäts i form av riskjusterad avkastning, och genom hypotesprövning undersöker studien ifall det finns någon signifikant skillnad i den riskjusterade avkastningen mellan dessa portföljer samt mellan portföljerna och marknadsindexet. Samtliga hypotestester visar att det inte finns någon signifikant skillnad i riskjusterad avkastning mellan de hållbara värde- och tillväxtaktierna, eller mellan de hållbara portföljerna och marknadsindexet. Detta indikerar att aktierna på marknaden är korrekt prissatta och är således varken under- eller övervärderade, i enlighet med den effektiva marknadshypotesen. Denna står i kontrast till strategin för värdeinvestering som bygger på att finna undervärderade företag på marknaden. Utifrån dessa resultat dras slutsatsen att värdeinvestering inte nödvändigtvis är en fungerande strategi vid hållbara investeringar i stora företag på den europeiska marknaden. Enligt studien kan inte värdeaktier anses generera en signifikant högre riskjusterad avkastning jämfört med tillväxtaktier eller den generella marknaden. Investerare kan dock välja att investera i antingen ett brett marknadsindex, eller i mer hållbara värde- eller tillväxtaktier, och förvänta sig en relativt lik riskjusterad avkastning på denna marknad oavsett vilket investeringsalternativ de väljer. Att investera mer hållbart behöver således inte innebära en lägre avkastning.

The issues surrounding sustainability continues to be at the forefront of the human agenda and firms are increasingly being held accountable by their stakeholders to assist in bringing about sustainability. Despite this, there is a tension surrounding the role of firms and the benefits implementing sustainability practices and policies has for these actors. On the one hand, being sustainable underpinned by a strong CSR-oriented governance board with the right compositional factors results in superior firm performance. On the other hand, sustainability is suggested to increase costs and reduced competitiveness thereby reducing firm performance. These contrasting results supported by mixed scholarly findings concerning different mediating factors influencing the overarching relationship creates a confusion gap that warrants this current study. As such, the study’s purpose is to investigate the relationship between two distinct yet interrelated relationships, the impact of board of directors’ composition on CSR performance measured by ESG scores and the impact of CSR performance on firm performance so as to contribute to the debate on these notion that continues to plague academia and the pragmatic world. This study is realized through a quantitative archival-longitudinal study design underpinned by metaphysical assumptions. Regression analyses using panel data on a sample of 123 listed companies headquartered in the Nordic Countries for the period 2010-2018 is undertaken to analyze the potential relation between CSR performance and five board composition factors, specially the gender diversity, independence, size, frequency of meetings and the presence of CSR committee. The association between CSR performance and firm performance is investigated in a similar way. Under rigorous statistical testing and analysis, the results indicate that there potentially is a relation between board composition and firms’ ESG performance. The results derived from the relationship between CSR and firm performance is inconsistent and cannot be fully accepted. This study contributes theoretically to CSR, corporate governance and finance literature by expanding upon how these three notions are linked in light of the sustainability trend that is gripping modern society. Socially, this research is useful for providing empirical evidence on the value of strong governance structures so as to foster sustainability and encourage debate on its value. Pragmatically, our study suggests what board composition factors are most conducive for supporting CSR that may assist firms’ corporate governance structuring and focus.

This study investigates the relationship between corporate sustainability and dividend policy in the Nordic countries. In the field of finance, the importance of corporate sustainability is growing, particularly in the Nordic countries, which excel in global sustainability rankings. In response to this occurrence many firms are increasingly incorporating sustainability into their operations, which in turn might affect the strategic decisions of these firms. One of these is the dividend policy decision. Dividend policy in the form of cash dividends is a central concept in finance and is affected by conservation of capital and time value of money. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between sustainability and dividend policy, which the authors have done by including different theoretical arguments. These are grounded in the agency theory, the signaling theory and the stakeholder theory. Previous research such as Benlemlih (2019) has examined the relationship between sustainability and dividends, but not in the same regional setting. ESG is used as a proxy for sustainability, while two proxies are used for dividend policy; dividend payout ratio and dividend yield. Through a quantitative approach information is collected on the ESG score and dividend data using the Thomson Reuters Eikon database and then analyzed using regression analysis. The data spans over 10 years (2008-2018) and covers 117 firms with available ESG and dividend payout data.  The findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between the ESG score and the dividend payout ratio of Nordic firms, while the dividend yield has no relationship with the ESG score. As both measurements had positive coefficients, the authors determined that there is a positive relationship between sustainability and dividend policy. Based on the findings, the excess liquidity hypothesis was dismissed, while the authors concluded that there was support for and against the overinvesting hypothesis and the signaling hypothesis. The authors believe one possible explanation for these mixed results could be due to the regional setting, as it differs from the settings of previous studies. By illustrating the relationship between corporate sustainability and dividend policy, this study could be of interest to large and medium sized firms in the Nordic countries that use business strategies involving ESG practices or consider implementing such strategies. Similarly, it could be used by investors that use ESG-screening as a decision criterion when investing.