Beware the headlines
September 17, 2025
We have been working on a valuation where ESG is a big issue, but all is not as the headlines might suggest…
There’s a particularly interesting valuation on our desks at the moment which definitely made me think about how very careful you have to be with the evidence you gather and how you use it.
In this case the events and happenings of the environmental sector play a huge role in the company’s likely success or failure in the future. What the company does is not the issue; the key is what’s happening within the industry in which it operates.
And the environment is a big and noisy industry that’s in the press pretty much all the time. Here in the West the rhetoric is all about whether the West has “gone too far” with its Net Zero ambitions and the target of achieving this by 2050. Cursory glances at news headlines give that impression don’t you think?
Fortunately my brother is very engaged in the Climate Change world and when any information appears to be too heavily leaning in one direction, I am immediately sceptical. So I gave him a buzz and he, as an expert, gave me the low down. In practice, outside Fleet Street and popular politics, most of the world is getting on with decarbonisation and addressing all the other issues which the moniker “Environment” encapsulates. He gave me some pointers and our excellent analysts went off to dig out more facts which we could use.
So when we did our analysis in the Evidence Collection, we were able to provide a balanced global analysis of the issue. That in turn played into our analysis of the impact industry trends would have on the company. And that impacted on the valuation we are just about to publish.
With the arrival of AI (we are working on what our guardrails should be, as it will have a place in valuations activity) it is even more important to check the verifiable facts and not just trust the first results that come back in the initial searches.
Do you have a client who cares about what ESG means and more importantly how to value it within a business? If so, do give us a call or email as we would love to help them to articulate it. And of course we will do other valuations too…
