Media Release
Basel, 14 September 2004
Roche
joins Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes
Membership underscores more than a century
of sustainable development at Roche
Roche has been selected as an index
component of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Indexes (DJSI World) and the Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability
Indexes (DJSI STOXX). Inclusion in the Indexes, effective as of 20 September, follows a thorough assessment
of the company’s economic, environmental and social performance and allows selection of Roche equities
into additional sustainability-driven portfolios. Ranked equal second in its sector for both Indexes,
Roche has been certified as one of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide.
“I
am pleased that Roche has fulfilled the high criteria set by the Dow Jones family of Sustainability
Indexes” said Franz B. Humer, Chairman and CEO of Roche. “This underlines our efforts in the area of
sustainable development. Since our company’s founding over 100 years ago, the principles of sustainability
have guided our activities as we have striven to unite entrepreneurial responsibility with innovation
for health – both central to Roche’s pharmaceutical and diagnostic businesses. In addition, we are breaking
new ground to resolve healthcare challenges in the developing world while concurrently placing great
emphasis on state-of-the-art environmental protection technologies and on innovative programmes for
our employees and the global community.”
Selection as an index component
of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes follows Roche’s membership of the FTSE4Good Index series. This
series, established by the Financial Times Stock Exchange Group (FTSE), is also designed to measure
the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards and to
facilitate investment in those companies.
Sustainable development
at Roche
Sustainable development has been a core value at Roche ever since the
company was founded in 1896. In recent years Roche has extended its internal and external reporting
on its efforts in sustainability, adopting the definition proposed in the 1986 Brundtland Report — namely,
that development is sustainable if it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs. In late 2002 the Roche Corporate Sustainability Committee,
which reports directly to the Group’s Chairman and CEO, was established to assess and coordinate corporate
policies and all activities as they relate to sustainable development. In early 2003 Roche revised its
Corporate Principles, giving more emphasis to, and instituting additional formal structures for, good
corporate citizenship, environmental stewardship and corporate governance. In late 2003 Roche launched
a separate section on its internet website detailing the many ways in which it is working towards sustainable
development, and in 2004 the first Roche Corporate Sustainability Report, based on the guidelines of
the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), was published as an integral part of the Group’s Annual Report.
Dow
Jones Sustainability Indexes
Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes
are the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven companies
worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, STOXX and SAM, they provide asset managers
with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios. Currently 52 DJSI licenses
are held by asset managers in 14 countries to manage a variety of financial products including active
and passive funds, certificates and segregated accounts. In total, these licensees presently manage
2.8 billion euros based on the DJSI.
Roche
Headquartered
in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-intensive healthcare groups. Its
core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services
for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts
to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is number one in the global diagnostics market,
the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology.
In 2003 the Pharmaceuticals Division generated 19.8 billion Swiss francs in prescription drug sales,
while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 7.4 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 65,000
people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including
majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai.
Additional
information
- Sustainable Development at Roche: www.roche.com/home/sustainability.htm
-
Roche Sustainability Report 2003: www.roche.com/home/figures/fig_annualrep_2003.htm
-
Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes: www.sustainability-indexes.com