Investors
We value the essential contribution our capital providers make to our success and prosperity, allowing us to pursue a long-term-oriented, purpose-led, performance-driven strategy. This should also lead to an increase of the company’s value for the benefit of all its stakeholders including its shareholders and debt holders. We see the focus of our capital providers increasingly moving from financial returns on financial capital providers increasingly moving from financial returns to requiring simultaneous value-creation across social, environmental, and economic dimensions.
Transparent communication with financial markets
We ensure that accurate financial and relevant non-financial information is communicated to the financial markets in a transparent and simultaneous way. All information is made easily accessible to the public via the company website. Besides the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, we also reach out to the financial markets through events such as our Investor Days, participation in roadshows and conferences, in person and virtually. We actively seek engagement with both financial and ESG advisors who cover DSM on behalf of their financial market clients, such as brokers, credit rating agencies, proxy advisors, shareholder representative organizations, and ESG rating agencies.
Feedback from the engagement with financial markets is periodically discussed and assessed by the Managing Board and the Supervisory Board. We highly value the insights gained through these dialogues.
In 2022, we engaged with our investors and their representatives on topics such as the SDGs, climate change, biodiversity, governance, sustainability in supply chain management, human rights, responsible taxation, and diversity, equity & inclusion.
Updating investors on our strategic progress
During 2022, we continued to update the market on our progress against our strategic targets and sustainability ambitions, and on the progress of our large sustainability-driven innovation projects.
In 2021, we announced the biggest step yet in the strategic transformation of the company into a Health, Nutrition & Bioscience company. In May 2022, we announced our intention to enter into a merger of equals with Firmenich, a global leader in flavor and fragrances, headquartered in Switzerland. Together we will aim to be the leading creation and innovation partner in nutrition, beauty and well-being. DSM and Firmenich hosted a joint Capital Markets Day for institutional investors and equity analysts in Paris, outlining key value drivers and demonstrating how the complementary nature of the companies can enable enhanced innovation and co-creation with their customers.
There were many macro-economic disruptions in 2022, for instance, caused by COVID-19, turbulent geopolitics, and rising energy costs and inflation. Financial markets continued to be impacted by uncertainty and volatility during 2022. We intensified in-person and virtual contact with our investors in order to keep them informed about business conditions and our actions to counter the situation.
In 2022, our Investor Relations team was ranked number one in its sector by Institutional Investor EMEA Research. Among the recognitions we received were the number one positions for Best IR Team, Best IR program, Best ESG engagement, Best Analyst/Investor Event, and Best Company Board. On an individual basis, both co-CEOs were ranked number 1 in our sector, and two individual DSM IR members were ranked in the top 3 of Best IR Professional. In the Netherlands, the IR team was awarded with Best IR Professional of the AEX in 2022, as well as Best Digital Investor Communication of listed AEX companies.
Engaging with the market about purpose and ESG
Purpose and profit go hand in hand at DSM, as has been demonstrated by a continuing strong performance in terms of both financial and non-financial metrics. In 2022, we actively advocated purpose-driven entrepreneurship among our shareholders. We engaged with investors, including pension funds, to discuss their responsibility in long-term value creation for their customers, but also for the society and the environment their participants live in.
We actively participated in projects of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), including the CFO network and the Capital Market engagement group. We participated in FCLT (Focusing Capital on the Long Term) projects including the ‘Multistakeholder Capitalism in Practice’, on how stakeholder strategies are being integrated into long-term decision making.
We are committed to staying ahead in sustainability reporting and ensuring we report against new and future requirements of regulating authorities including the EU Sustainable Finance Action Plan, EU Green deal, EU Taxonomy, EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). We emphasize the need to make reporting metrics uniform, comparable and auditable.
We continued our engagement with leading ESG Ratings and Benchmarks advisors to the financial sector, including Sustainalytics, MSCI, Moody’s-Vigeo and ISS-ESG.
In 2022, we continued to see an increased focus in our engagement dialogues on nature and biodiversity, as well as social topics including human rights and diversity, equity & inclusion. We also saw the number of direct engagements between investors and DSM on ESG topics, including SDG impact, increase in 2022. ESG has become part of the regular agenda of our investor meetings. Being recognized as a leader in sustainability and at the same time showing continued good financial progress, we were frequently invited for in-depth engagement calls and meetings on how to include – and compare – important non-financial parameters in our investors’ investment processes.
At the end of 2022, 89% of our shares held by institutional investors were held by signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI investors) and 17% of our outstanding shares at institutional investors were in dedicated sustainability funds.
