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About our Shareholders
There are well over 1000 shareholders in the company,
investing amounts ranging from £100 to over £700,000. All
investors but two are individuals and include families, bankers, a trainee
rabbi, a financial adviser and celebrity comedian Mark Thomas. There are
two institutional investors: Henderson Investors and Morley Fund Management.
Ours is the first company into which ethical unit trusts have made a substantial
investment that puts social and environmental values at its core and is
not quoted on the stock exchange.
There are ten shareholders with holdings over 100,000 shares. These include managing director Jamie Hartzell, with 148,280 shares, non-executive director Andrew King, with 436,095 shares, Morley Fund Management (462,000 shares) and Hendersons (881,000 shares).
On 30 September 2005, the composition of shareholdings of ordinary shares in the company was as follows:
Shareholding |
Shareholders |
Shares |
%
of shareholders |
%
of shares |
| 100 - 300 | 88 |
20,050 |
7% |
Less than 1% |
| 301 - 999 | 397 |
200,357 |
31% |
3% |
| 1,000 - 2,499 | 462 |
620,030 |
37% |
10% |
| 2,500 - 4,999 | 102 |
333,227 |
8% |
5% |
| 5,000 - 9,999 | 119 |
669,230 |
9% |
11% |
| 10,000 - 24,999 | 76 |
1,013,500 |
6% |
16% |
| 25,000 - 99,999 | 10 |
465,235 |
Less than 1% |
7% |
| 100,000 - 500,000 | 9 |
2,217,073 |
Less than 1% |
35% |
| Over 500,000 | 1 |
759,350 |
Less than 1% |
12% |
| Total | 1264 |
6,298,052 |
100% |
100% |
Shareholder survey
Our shareholders are such a vital part of our business that we decided
in 2005 to send them a questionnaire to build a better picture of their
profile and to find out their views on the company and the way it is developing.
Of 1264 shareholders, 548 replied, a response rate of 43%. A selection
of the results are shown here; fuller details can be found in the 2005
Annual Report.
Age
| Age Range | % of shareholders |
Over 60 |
38 |
45 - 60 |
37 |
30 - 44 |
22 |
Under 30 |
3 |
Total |
100 |
Ethical finances
Many of our shareholders demonstrated that they are highly conscious of the wider implications of their financial decisions and have chosen other ethical organisations for banking or investment in addition to their Ethical Property Company shareholding.
Cash accounts:
69% of respondents have a cash account with Triodos Bank, 48% with the
Co-operative Bank and 10% with the Ecology Building Society.
Shareholdings:
Approximately 27% hold shares with Café Direct and 23% hold bonds
with Shared Interest. 20% have invested in Traidcraft, 11% in Good Energy,
7% in Triodos Renewables and approximately 7% in other investments such
as the Baywind Co-operative, The Wind Fund, The Phone Co-Op, The Centre
for Alternative Technology and Golden Lane Housing.
Newspapers
Shareholders reported reading the following as their main regular newspaper:
| Newspaper |
%
of shareholders |
| Guardian | 32 |
| Independent | 10 |
| Observer | 9 |
| Times | 6 |
| Telegraph | 3 |
| Daily Mail | 1 |
| A local newspaper | 5 |
| Other | 2 |
| No regular Newspaper | 32 |
| Total | 100 |
Letting policy
We asked our shareholders about their attitude to our letting policy. Their responses are shown below. The most common responses are shown in bold.
Shareholder's response |
||||||
| About
Our Letting Policy |
Strongly
Agree |
Agree |
No
Opinion |
Disagree |
Strongly
Disagree |
Don't
know |
| The Ethical Property Company lets to the organisations that I am most interested in supporting | 15% |
53% |
22% |
4% |
1% |
5% |
| The company should only support registered charities | 2% |
5% |
17% |
55% |
17% |
4% |
| The company should support social change organisations, whether charitable or not | 22% |
63% |
10% |
1% |
1% |
3% |
| The company should also support businesses with social objectives | 12% |
68% |
13% |
2% |
0% |
5% |
| The company should also support local businesses in disadvantaged areas | 12% |
57% |
16% |
7% |
0% |
7% |
| The company should also let to any private business | 1% |
5% |
19% |
39% |
31% |
6% |
| The company should give priority to small, start-up organisations over larger tenants | 7% |
44% |
33% |
8% |
1% |
7% |
The results confirm our current policies of letting to not only charities but also all social change organisations, ethical businesses and social enterprises; of letting to local business in disadvantaged areas but not to any private business; and of giving priority to small start-up organisations.
Investment in the Ethical Property Company
We also asked shareholders about their attitudes to their investment in the company. The responses confirmed shareholders’ desire for a regular dividend as well as an investment that holds its value, though there is less concern about the investment offering as good a return as a commercial company. Respondents were also in favour of having an option to waive dividends.
Most respondents also wanted to be able to sell their holdings quickly and easily when they needed to, although 82% intended to hold their investment for five years or more.
There was also strong support for seeing both the company and the Foundation continue to grow, and to develop new ethical business areas. Close to half also felt that investors should share the same values.
The Ethical Property
Company, The Old Music Hall, 106-108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JE
Tel: 01865 207810 Local calls 0845 458 3853 Fax: 01865 207828 Email
Us
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