Investing with ethical values does not necessarily mean forfeiting income objectives, according to Legg Mason affiliate Martin Currie Australia.
In a statement, Martin Currie Australia found that its Ethical Income strategy, launched in December 2015, has not hindered its ability to achieve the income and investment objectives of its clients.
Chief investment officer Reece Birtles said it aimed to deliver yield and income stream growth in excess of market expectations.
“In both our Equity and Ethical Income strategies, we aim to deliver an annual dividend yield in excess of the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation index yield, and long-term income stream growth in excess of the Consumer Price Index,” Mr Birtles said.
“Currently both portfolios have an expected 12-month yield of 7.7 per cent, and income is expected to grow by around 5 per cent in 2016.”
Martin Currie Australia portfolio manager Will Baylis supports Mr Birtles' comments, saying that “only a further 11 stocks are excluded by the ethical values screen”, and that “only four of these would have been included in our Equity Income portfolio in the first place”.
The Ethical Income strategy is a screening process that excludes stock from companies deriving more than 5 per cent of their revenue from businesses deemed inconsistent with ‘ethical values’, such as alcohol, gambling and tobacco businesses, the statement said.
Companies that generate more than 20 per cent of revenue from thermal coal mining are also excluded in the screen.
In addition, companies that do not conform to international standards and principles, such as those contained in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, are also excluded.
Read more:
Charter Hall selects OneVue for unit registry
Tough markets buffet AMP's Q1 cashflows
Budget could reshape super industry: Tria
Private banking is one of its fastest growing businesses for one of the big four as the nation continues to see a rise in the number of high...
The head of a major bank has admitted that the group did not take measures to remove conflicts of interest within its financial advice busin...
AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver has warned that there is a real risk President Trump will blame the Fed for the next inevitable dow...
