In the News
19 September 2019 - American corporations often focus on quarterly earnings or short-term stock movements, but the real goal for long-term value creation is to build a business that can be a reliable source of growth for all stakeholders — customers, employees, communities and investors.
In the News
19 July 2019 - “That would really bother me,” Clayton told an SEC round table that zeroed in on complaints a short-term focus has surged in public companies while a long-term emphasis has waned to the detriment of retail investors. The regulator’s chief said the cost of SEC-mandated short-term, quarterly reports has discouraged companies from going public.
In the News
16 July 2019 - A growing body of research confirms that companies managed under a long-term strategic business plan substantially outperform their short-term peers over time. In addition, the primary referees of corporate law in the United States, the Delaware judiciary, are signaling a readiness to confirm there is a fiduciary duty for corporate directors to consider strategic business planning focused on sustainable long-term success.
In the News
1 July 2019 - FCLT Global, a non-profit organization led by institutional investors including BlackRock and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has released new guidelines that aim to help allocators and asset managers become better long-term investors.
In the News
5 June 2019 - Apple’s share price tumbled, bringing the rest of the market temporarily down with it. But that forecast Apple missed, known on Wall Street as quarterly “guidance,” is falling out of favor among many corporations, with some of the biggest names in business pushing for an end to one of the most common ways investors value companies.
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12 April 2019 - To explore the most important factors influencing long-termism in the current environment, Toppan Merrill commissioned Mergermarket to speak with four leading experts for their insights. Topics of discussion include: • What effect, if any, has the push for ESG investing had on efforts to move toward long-termism? • Do you think recent interest in passive investment strategies makes it easier for companies to focus on the long term? • Are there particular regulatory changes you think would be effective at encouraging longer-term thinking at companies?
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8 April 2019 - Sarah Williamson, chief executive, Focusing Capital on the Long Term, a US-based non-profit consortium of asset owner and managers dedicated to encouraging long-term behaviour, urged investors to refine and sharpen their beliefs. “At many funds, if you ask different members of the board what their beliefs are, you get different answers,” she said. Engrained beliefs are particularly important during market bumps when “ownership” of long-term strategies tends to fall away. She urged investors to hone their “purpose” and be clear about the things they find...
In the News
27 March 2019 -
In the News
15 March 2019 - Now more than ever, investors need to decide whether they want to lock up their money in bets that could pay off richly–or fail disastrously–down the road.
In the News
7 March 2019 - The numbers speak for themselves. Fewer than 15% of S&P 1500 companies refer to longer-term metrics—anything beyond 2 years—in their proxy statements. Globally, only 8.7% of companies in the MSCI All Country World Index issue guidance beyond one year. But these kinds of long-term plans are exactly what investors are clamoring for. Our own survey of institutional investment decision-makers found that 86% want companies to share targets at least three years out. And a survey from Rivel Research found 93% of global buy-side investors prefer targets...
In the News
15 February 2019 - A new paper by Focusing Capital on the Long Term (FCLT) acknowledges that investors typically have competing time frames while most of the tools for risk and performance management are for only one investment period. The paper, Balancing Act: Managing risk across multiple time horizons, gives investors, from boards to investment personnel, much-needed practical tools and processes to address this issue successfully.