BDO announces winners of the BDO ESG Awards 2019

Second year of the pioneering awards shows exemplary HK-listed companies increasing disclosure quality in response to growing interest in ESG from investors and stakeholders

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HONG KONG, CHINA - Media
OutReach - 20 February 2019 - BDO, the world’s fifth largest accountancy network, has
announced and honoured today the winners of the second BDO ESG Awards (“the Awards”). Launched in 2018, the
Awards was the first in the city to recognise listed companies which have implemented
outstanding sustainability initiatives with remarkable results and achieved
high standards in Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting.

 

With an emphasis on independence and credibility, the BDO ESG Awards is organised
and hosted by BDO in Hong Kong, co-organised by the South China Morning Post, with
the support of BDO International Limited & BDO China, in a concerted effort
of the BDO global network to drive development in ESG and ESG reporting.

 

The top three companies from each of the large market capitalisation,
middle market capitalisation and small market capitalisation segments of Main
Board listed companies, as well as GEM companies were selected as winners in each
of the following two award categories: (1) Best in ESG Awards and (2) Best in
Reporting Awards. The companies with the best combined scores in those two
categories were granted the ESG Report of the Year Awards. This year, a new
award category was also added to recognise newly listed companies which
demonstrated exceptional performance in the areas of ESG (full list below).

Dr William Yu, Chairman
of the Judging Panel of the Best in ESG Awards, said, “We are so excited to
see the sustainability impact demonstrated through the ESG best practices
brought by the participating companies. Companies are becoming more aware of
the roles of ESG integration, addressing the emerging global sustainability
challenges, ranging from climate risks, flooding, data security to
regulatory pressures. My appreciation went to the awarded companies, which have
successfully brought positive social and environmental benefits alongside
a financial return. My sincere wish to BDO to continue its leadership and
support to companies’ ESG journey in Hong Kong and worldwide and attract more
companies to join the sustainability bandwagon.“ 

Professor Carlos Lo, Chairman
of the Judging Panel of the Best in Reporting Awards, said, “ESG Reporting is an important mechanism for actively engaging
listed companies in corporate social responsibility in order to pave the way
for them to achieve business sustainability. The Reporting Awards organised by
the BDO aspire to recognise listed companies that have displayed the best
corporate endeavors in compiling and communicating their ESG activities and
performance to their stakeholders. The Judging Panel greatly appreciate the
award-winning companies’ earnest efforts, expressed in ideas with a high degree
of originality and thoughtfulness in organising a state-of-the-art ESG
presentation.”

Mr Clement Chan, Managing Director of
Assurance, BDO in Hong Kong, said, “We are pleased to see that Hong Kong listed companies
are caring more about the quality of their ESG disclosure, evident from their
increased inclusion of more information which are useful and of interest to
stakeholders and investors in ESG reporting, telling us that the transition from
basic ESG report to the global trend of “impact reporting” is in good progress.
We see that even some newly listed companies have
demonstrated great effort in this area, and hence we have specially created a
new award category this year to acknowledge their commendable achievements. We believe companies
have come to appreciate the value of ESG reporting and are therefore putting time
and resources to incorporate sustainability elements in their business models
and value chain that in return brings new business opportunities to them. We at BDO, as a comrade of
ESG facilitators, will continue to offer support to them in helping their companies raise ESG
standards and performance and in turn contribute to overall ESG development in
Hong Kong.”

 

Mr Johnson Kong,
Managing Director
of Non-Assurance, BDO in Hong Kong,
said, “On behalf of BDO, I
would like to express our sincere gratitude to the judges who have committed
precious time and their expertise in the judging process to ensure the
credibility and representativeness of the Awards. Moving forward, BDO will
remain committed as a keen advocate for continuous enhancements in the ESG and
ESG reporting standards of Hong Kong-listed companies towards international
standards, so that the city can stay competitive in the global markets.”

 

Mr
Ricky Cheng, Director and Head of Risk Advisory, BDO in Hong Kong,
said, “We see that global
investors increasingly look for companies‘ non-financial information as indicators
for investment analysis and actively seek for ESG-related
information of the companies in
which they invest, in order to understand how they manage ESG risks, and ultimately, to
protect their
long-term capital investment and good returns. ESG reporting thus essentially
influences a company’s
competitive positioning. This gives a strong reason for companies to
attempt to communicate the ESG strategies, management approaches and
achievements or difficulties, in which investors are more interested in, in a
more transparent, interactive and informative way, as well as progressively
shifting the ESG reporting to “Impact Reporting” in meeting not only the
stakeholders’ expectations but also the investors in ESG performance.”

 

BDO ESG Awards 2019 Winners (listed in no particular order)

 

Best in ESG — Large Cap

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (293.HK)

CLP Holdings Limited (002.HK)

Lenovo Group Limited (992.HK)

 

Best in ESG — Mid Cap

COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (1199.HK)

Fortune Real Estate Investment Trust (778.HK)

Shun Tak Holdings Limited (242.HK)

 

Best in ESG — Small Cap

Esprit Holdings Limited (330.HK)

Tsui Wah Holdings Limited (1314.HK)

Yip’s Chemical Holdings Limited (408.HK)

 

Best in ESG — GEM

1957 & Co. (Hospitality) Limited (8495.HK)

Allied Sustainability and Environmental Consultants Group Limited
(8320.HK)

Roma Group Limited (8072.HK)

 

Best in Reporting — Large Cap

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (293.HK)

CLP Holdings Limited (002.HK)

Lenovo Group Limited (992.HK)

Best in Reporting — Mid Cap

COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (1199.HK)

Shun Tak Holdings Limited (242.HK)

Yuexiu Property Company Limited (123.HK)

 

Best in Reporting — Small Cap

Esprit Holdings Limited (330.HK)

Karrie International Holdings Limited (1050.HK)

Tsui Wah Holdings Limited (1314.HK)

 

Best in Reporting — GEM

1957 & Co. (Hospitality) Limited (8495.HK)

Allied Sustainability and Environmental Consultants Group Limited (8320.HK)

Roma Group Limited (8072.HK)

ESG Report of the Year — Large Cap

CLP Holdings Limited (002.HK)

ESG Report of the Year — Mid Cap

COSCO SHIPPING Ports Limited (1199.HK)

ESG Report of the Year — Small Cap

Esprit Holdings Ltd. (330.HK)

ESG Report of the Year — GEM

Roma Group Limited (8072.HK)

 

ESG Report of the Year (Newly Listed Companies)

China Resources Pharmaceutical Group Limited. (3320.HK)

Nameson Holdings Limited (1982.HK)

Zhou Hei Ya International Holdings Company Limited (1458.HK)