Stewardship at Sanford DeLand
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Stewardship Documents
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Sanford DeLand’s overriding investment ethos is Business Perspective Investing. This has been embedded in our DNA from day one and is reflected in the companies we choose to invest in. If you believe, as we do, that a share is an ownership claim on a business, then business success and investment success go hand in hand.
One of the key assessments we have always made as part of our Business Perspective Investing process is how sustainable we believe the investee company is. Early on in our process, we ask ourselves the question, “Is this a company we expect to be around, in more or less its current form, in 20 years’ time?” If the answer is "no", we will not invest.
There are a number of factors that feed into this assessment of sustainability.
Firstly, we will look at the markets the company serves. Are they long-term in nature? Are they growing or declining? What are the risks posed by changes in habits or perception of these markets? Can future earnings be predicted with a reasonable degree of certainty? For instance, we do not hold a single share in the Oil & Gas or Mining sectors.
Secondly, we look at how our target investee companies behave in relation to their markets. Are they perceived as good operators? Do they have strong competitive positions? Are they using their market position for the benefit of all stakeholders? We are interested in how our executives behave: do they act with the eye of business owners, not just managers?
During 2020, we formalised our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) process to include an assessment of holding companies through the introduction of a proprietary scorecard which examines performance against 15 ESG criteria. This takes place both for existing and potential new holdings and is conducted by the investment team at least annually. The outputs of each assessment prompt engagement with holding companies where appropriate and are used to direct voting at company general meetings.
Our full Stewardship & Responsible Investment Policy can be accessed here. This dovetails with our Shareholder Engagement Policy which can be accessed here. Historic voting records for periods of twelve months can be found here.
In May 2021, Sanford DeLand was proud to become a signatory to the UN PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) which works to promote the incorporation of ESG factors into investment decision making.