Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc., the global leader in intangible value analysis, has released a new 100-page report on the relative corporate environmental performance among 29 pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Innovest found that companies with better environmental performance (eco-efficiency)
outperformed laggards by 17% (1700 basis points) in the stock market since May 2001. The
results of the study suggest that investor returns can be substantially improved by investing in
companies with superior eco-efficiency. Mainstream Wall Street analysts typically overlook this increasingly important source of value-creation.
The analysis was conducted using Innovests EcoValue21 ® environmental performance rating model. The model analyzes over 60 aspects of environmental risk exposure, management quality and business development. Investor risk exposure related to environmental issues is growing due to factors such as increasing regulation, growing consumer demands for environmentally responsible products and services, increasing public concerns about global warming and other environmental problems, and expanding information transparency through the internet, which makes it easier for stakeholders to identify a firms negative impacts on the environment.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) achieved the top ranking with Innovest despite the fact that the
company saw its stock drop by over 60%. During the last year, Bristol-Myers Squibb along with others in the industry have issued profit warnings because of expired patents, risky business deals with biotechnology companies and a lack of approved new drugs. (Bristol-Myers invested $2bn in ImClone in August 2001, hoping to develop a promising colon cancer drug, which was rejected by the FDA in December 2002.) In spite of a dismal six months for the company, Innovest still believes that Bristol-Myers Squibb is likely to rebound to pre-crisis levels due to a superior quality of management and strategic integration of environmental sustainability issues, as detected by Innovest proprietary EcoValue21® rating model.
Bristol-Myers considers that constructive action to support a clean and healthy environment is
essential to achieving its corporate goals. Its environmental management system covers all
aspects of the entire value chain. BMY already has 22 sites ISO14001 certified and more in the pipeline. It has an integrated environmental accounting system that allows for cost/benefit
analysis of its EHS initiatives. BMY is also one of the few companies with a public policy
addressing environmental and ethical issues associated with bio-prospecting.