Bakgrund: På global nivå har det vuxit fram en debatt avseende hållbar utveckling. Företag började aktivt arbeta för att främja denna utveckling, vilket gjorde att hållbarhetsredovisning som frivillig rapportering kom att utvecklas Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka varför noterade fastighetsbolag hållbarhetsredovisar, hur innehållet i deras hållbarhetsredovisningar ser ut samt vilka incitament de har för att upprätta hållbarhetsredovisningar. Vidare syftar den till att jämföra dessa incitament med dem för bolag i andra branscher som studerats. Den syftar även till att utröna hur bolagen ställer sig till lagstiftning om hållbarhetsredovisning fr.o.m. 2017. Slutligen syftar den till att utröna huruvida bolagen idag använder sig av frivilliga redovisningsnormer, särskilt GRI:s riktlinjer för hållbarhetsredovisning. Metod: Uppsatsen bygger på kvalitativ metod och baseras dels på studier av bolagens hållbarhetsredovisningar för 2015, dels en enkät till elva fastighetsbolag, noterade på Nasdaq Stockholm OMX. Enkäten besvarades av sju av bolagen och innefattade huvudsakligen frågor om vilka incitament bolagen har för att avge hållbarhetsredovisningar, samt deras inställning till den kommande lagstiftningen. Resultat: Sex av sju respondenter har angivit att efterfrågan från ägare, samt bidrag till långsiktig lönsamhet utgör viktiga incitament för hållbarhetsredovisning. Dessa incitament angavs också i studierna av livsmedelsbranschen, telekombranschen samt klädbranschen. Fastighetsbranschen särskiljer sig dock från de tre andra branscherna genom att fyra av sju bolag uppger ansvarstagande för samhälle och miljö som incitament, vilket också återspeglades i hållbarhetsredovisningarna. Nio av elva bolag hållbarhetsredovisar enligt GRI:s riktlinjer, då de är de mest vedertagna inom branschen. Synen på den kommande lagstiftningen avseende hållbarhetsredovisningen, som fyra bolag gav är att den ligger i tiden samt sätter fokus på hållbarhetsfrågan ur ett affärsmässigt perspektiv. / Background: At the global level, a debate on sustainable development has emerged. Companies started to actively promote this trend, which enabled the development of voluntary sustainability reporting. Aim: The study aims to examine why listed real estate companies publish sustainability reports, what information is included in these reports and what incentives the companies have to issue sustainability reports. Furthermore, it aims to compare these incentives with those of companies in certain other industries. It also aims to determine the companies´ positions on the legislation concerning sustainability reports, coming into effect in 2017. Finally, it aims to establish whether the companies currently use voluntary reporting standards, particularly the GRI guidelines for sustainability reporting. Method: The thesis uses a qualitative method and is based on studies of each company's sustainability report for 2015 and a questionnaire sent to eleven real estate companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm. The questionnaire was answered by seven of the eleven companies and included questions concerning what incentives companies have to issue sustainability reports, as well as their attitude towards the future legislation. Results: The two incentives for establishing sustainability reports that were stated by most, six of the seven, of the respondents, were the demand from owners and the contribution to long-term profitability. These incentives were also reported regarding companies in the food industry, the telecommunications industry and the clothing industry. The real estate companies are distinguished from the other three industries due to the fact that four of the seven respondents named society and the environment as incentives. Ten of the eleven companies published sustainability reports that declared what actions the company had taken in order to build a sustainable society. All eleven companies published sustainability reports that declared what actions that had been taken in order to decrease the companies’ environmental effects. Nine of the eleven companies publish sustainability reports following the directions outlined in GRI guidelines. The companies use these guidelines, as they are the most recognized in the industry. Four of the eleven companies gave their views on the upcoming Swedish act regarding sustainability reports. Their view is that the act reflects the global discussions and that it shows that sustainability issues are important from a business perspective.

There have been previous studies aimed at finding out what factors influence whether a company's shares are trading at a premium or at a discount to its net asset value. Several studies have examined all or large parts of the market but have not at an early stage focused on niche markets. Many papers have also been based on data from other countries such as the UK, France, the Netherlands, Australia, and the US and have been executed under completely different macroeconomic conditions than those prevailing in Sweden in 2022. This study aims to investigate which factors can explain premium and discounts in relation to net asset value in Swedish real estate companies, listed on the OMX Stockholm Real Estate GI index. The study is based on 12 real estate companies listed on OMX Stockholm Real Estate GI. For a company to be relevant, it must have been listed on the index continuously since 2011. The data cover the period 2011-2021 and the results are based on three models: An OLS regression model, a fixed effect model, and a random effect model. Overall, the results of the study show that the company's size, leverage ratio, and investors' sentiment of the market correlate positively with the net asset value discount. At the same time, there is a negative correlation between the net asset discount and the stock volatility as well as return on equity. The results also showed that the industrial real estate sector correlated negatively to net asset discounts in some of the models used. The liquidity variable as well as the office and retail sectors had no statistically significant impact on net asset value discounts in real estate companies. / Det har gjorts tidigare studier som syftat till att ta reda på vilka faktorer som påverkar om ett företags aktier handlas till ett premium eller med rabatt gentemot sitt substansvärde. Flertalet studier har undersökt hela – eller stora delar av marknaden men inte i ett tidigt skede fokuserat på nischade marknader. Många av dessa undersökningar har också varit baserade på data från andra länder som Storbritannien, Frankrike, Nederländerna, Australien och USA och har gjorts under helt andra makroekonomiska förhållanden än vad som råder i Sverige 2022. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka faktorer som kan förklara premium och substansrabatter i förhållande till substansvärde i svenska fastighetsbolag, noterade på fastighetsindexet OMX Stockholm Real Estate GI.Studien är baserad på 12 fastighetsbolag noterade på OMX Stockholm Real Estate GI. För att vara en del av datamaterialet måste företaget varit noterat på indexet kontinuerligt sedan 2011. Data omfattar perioden 2011–2021 och resultaten baseras på tre modeller; en OLS regressionsmodell, en fixed effect - samt en random effect modell. Övergripande visar resultaten i studien på att företagets storlek, skuldsättningsgrad, och investerares uppfattning om marknaden korrelerar positivt med substansrabatten. Samtidigt finns det en negativ korrelation mellan substansrabatten och volatiliteten hos en aktie, samt avkastning på eget kapital. Resultatet visade även att sektorn industrifastigheter korrelerade negativt mot substansrabatter i vissa av modellerna som användes. Likviditetsvariabeln samt sektorerna kontor och handel hade ingen statistisk signifikant påverkan på substansrabatter i fastighetsbolag.

Asymmetric information in the management-investor relationship implies that the management’s actions will give signals to investors. According to the signalling hypothesis, an announcement of a share repurchase program is interpreted by investors that the management is putting its money where its mouth is, i.e. signalling that the stock is currently undervalued. Using the event study methodology to analyze share repurchases of listed Swedish real estate companies, we find significant short-term abnormal returns of 1,96% on the announcement day and cumulative abnormal returns of 2,32% (although not significant on conventional levels) for the ten first days subsequent to the announcement. At the most fundamental level of corporate finance theory, the Efficient Market Hypothesis stipulates that the whole value of the announcement should be discounted in the stock price immediately. On the other hand, it might be rational for investors to await certainty that the share repurchase program will be executed, before discounting its full value. We find indications of underreaction as the analysis suggests long-term positive stock price reactions to the announcement. The Jensen’s alpha approach utilized in the long-term analysis suggests an average abnormal return of 10,30%, although insignificant on conventional levels, the year following a share repurchase announcement. From a stock investor point of view, the results from this study suggest that buying real estate stocks that announce share repurchase programs can yield positive abnormal returns for investment horizons of 10 days as well as 12 months.