PCC Rokita SA one of two chemical companies in Poland’s sustainability index

Duisburg / Brzeg Dolny (Poland), December 2017 – PCC Rokita SA, the chemical producer headquartered in Brzeg Dolny, Lower Silesia, has been included in the RESPECT Index of the Warsaw Stock Exchange for the second time in a row. The listed company is the largest subsidiary of the PCC SE holding company from Duisburg, Germany.

Following the 11th update of the index in December 2017, it now comprises just 28 out of the nearly 500 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Only two are chemical companies. Participation in this select group is a truly prestigious distinction: “It is a real honor to have our company’s stock included in the RESPECT Index,” says Wiesław Klimkowski, Chairman of the PCC Rokita Management Board. “PCC Rokita is not only striving to achieve ever better financial results. It also matters to us how those results are achieved.”

Ulrike Warnecke, Managing Director of the parent company PCC SE, is also delighted: “We are proud of the achievements of our largest subsidiary. When we took over Rokita in 2003, it was a functioning business, but there was a large investment backlog and a substantial need for rationalization. So we have achieved a lot in the last 15 years. There was a great deal of restructuring and we implemented large-scale investment. Cooperation with the local management has also been excellent. It took a long time and a lot of effort, but today PCC Rokita is a thriving company and a strong partner on the market.”

The RESPECT Index project aims to focus investor attention on companies that are managed in a responsible and sustainable manner. Companies belonging to the RESPECT Index stand out in terms of the quality of their reporting, their investor relations, and information policies. Given the fact that it also includes stock liquidity among its eligibility criteria, the RESPECT Index constitutes a real benchmark for professional investors, on a par with other stock market indices.

“Today’s investors do not solely focus on economic factors when assessing value creation in a company,” says Rafał Zdon, Vice Chairman of the PCC Rokita Management Board. “Globally, environmental, social and management issues are gaining importance when it comes to investment decisions. This trend is also becoming increasingly noticeable in Poland.

A good example of this is how the government pension fund of Norway is obliged to avoid “investments which constitute an unacceptable risk that the fund may contribute to unethical acts or omissions, such as violations of fundamental humanitarian principles, serious violations of human rights, gross corruption or severe environmental damage.”

“Both in Europe and around the world, more and more capital is being invested each year based on a more holistic analysis. In addition to the normal financial indicators, this analysis also takes into account non-financial factors,” says Tomasz Lalik, director of investment banking at the brokerage DM BDM S.A. “In this way, investors encourage corporations to take a greater look at topics such as the environment, corporate governance, or social responsibility.”

The decisive factors to be considered for the RESPECT Index include a company’s share price, its dividend and a positive assessment by Deloitte. The auditors visit a company’s headquarters to view documents and interview key employees at specific key divisions.

The first listing of the RESPECT Index in its new composition took place on December 18, 2017.