ESG reporting across the Hg Portfolio

Portfolio ESG review and reporting

Our businesses are assessed against our Sustainable Business framework as part of onboarding and annually thereafter. The assessment includes around 150 metrics covering all aspects of the framework: Essentials, Employees and Society.

It is a collaborative process starting with an initial introduction session followed by a self-assessment, discussion and review of status. Each business gets a score from 0 to 10 and a list of actions to help them improve their ESG performance.

The ESG assessment is led by Hg’s Head of Responsible Investment, who works together with key individuals, such as the Chief Human Resource officers and Chief Compliance officers from the portfolio companies. The final report, which includes a scorecard and an overview of status and agreed actions, is shared with the Chief Executive Officer and the Board.

Our portfolio at a glance

ESG metrics based on portfolio company assessments in 2020

+0%

revenue growth*

>0k

employees

0%

female employees

Our portfolio at a glance

ESG metrics based on portfolio company assessments in 2020

+0%

EBITDA growth*

0%

employment growth**

+0%

women in senior positions

0

average Glassdoor score

* These figures represent the last 12 months (as at 31 December 2020) sales and EBITDA growth of the top 20 investments held by HgCapital Trust plc (HGT.L), calculated on a weighted basis, based on the respective gross valuations of the underlying investments. HGT, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all Hg’s investments.  

** Annual LTM employee growth - Last 12 months as at 31 December 2020 Gender statistics and glassdoor scores represent the average across the portfolio based on Hg’s 2020 ESG assessment

Our ESG efforts are paying off – the portfolio is in good health

In 2020, we continued to embed the ESG reporting capabilities into our financial reporting system iLevel. This now means that anyone at Hg can access the ESG dashboard for each portfolio company at the same time as reviewing the company’s financial performance.

In 2020/21 we assessed 6 new portfolio companies for the first time and re-assessed 24 companies.

Many of our companies have now been part of the Hg family for more than three years, which means they have been assessed against our ESG criteria three years in a row. We are pleased to report that there have been some significant improvements in performances on their 2018 and 2019 ESG scores.

This shows that our assessment of and support to portfolio companies is having a positive impact and helping them improve their ESG performance.

Two of our companies have seen a decrease in their ESG score between previous assessments and the 2020 assessment. The key reason for this is that they have grown significanty as companies through new acquisitions and have had to include new business units, that are less mature, into their assessments.

Hg portfolio ESG scores

Status of key ESG metrics

Circle diagrams represent percentage of companies who have fulfilled the requirement

Essentials

Code of conduct

0%

Formal risk procedure

0%

Anti-bribery & corruption policy

0%

Whistle-blowing procedure

0%

Equal opportunities/ discrimination policy

0%

Health & safety procedures

0%

Employees

0,4

Average Employee NPS score

(Industry average: 27)

0,0

Average Glassdoor score

(Average on Glassdoor: 3.5)

0%

Employee turnover

(Industry average: 15%, 10% is considered ‘healthy’)

0%

Sickness rate

(Industry average: 2%)

Employee engagement survey

0%

Employee engagement initiatives

0%

Strategy for talent retention

0%

Diversity initiatives

0%

Society

Charitable giving . . .

0%

Portfolio companies using external data centre providers with carbon reduction commitments

0%

External CSR/ Sustainability communications

0%

Our portfolio: European base, global reach