Page 14 - MELLBY_MAGASIN_2022_WEB_EN

Sustainability at the heart
of current and future
investments
Long-term, responsible and active ownership are the cornerstones of Mellby
Gård’s investment philosophy. With a sharper focus on sustainability in all
business activities, this philosophy is more relevant than ever. The Mellby
Gård Group is now ready to step up its sustainability efforts and generate
even more positive change.
Mellby Gård’s commitment to sustainability can be
divided into three levels: the work that takes place in the
parent company Mellby Gård AB, the sustainability work
conducted in all companies in the Mellby Gård Group and finally
the way in which new investments are valued. All the work is based
on Mellby Gård’s ownership philosophy – the Mellby model – which
focuses on long-term, responsible and active ownership. This is
combined with a strong social commitment.
“Where Mellby Gård is concerned, sustainability in the broader
perspective is about helping to tackle major societal challenges,” says
Mellby Gård CEO Johan Andersson. “We’re seeing a major shift in the
business world and what is expected of us as a group, where it’s no
longer sufficient to be able to describe the ‘what’ of your business, but
also the ‘how’ and the ‘why’. That’s why we’re secure in the Mellby model,
which gives us a clear direction and purpose in what we do, so that we
can help effect positive change for the environment and society.”
Today, the Mellby Gård Group comprises 15 companies in various
industries. This naturally means that companies face different
requirements and have different levels of maturity when it comes
to their own sustainability efforts. Where this is concerned, Mellby
Gård has always been supportive of those companies that want to
be at the forefront, but also acted as a sounding board for those
companies that have required extra support. There is now a clear
change regarding the issue of sustainability, linked in particular to
the forthcoming EU legislation, in which the parent company of a
group is expected to have a more defined coordinating role in the
sustainability efforts that take place in all its subsidiaries.
“So far, work on sustainability at Mellby Gård has largely been
performed within each individual company, with our support,” says
Johan Andersson. “Most companies manage their sustainability
efforts perfectly well on their own, clearly integrating them in their
business models. But there will be changes in requirements for our
sustainability efforts for us as a group and for all our companies in
the coming years, and we need to decide how to tackle that.”
A COMMON FRAMEWORK
In order to meet more exacting requirements and higher expectations,
the Mellby Gård Group is currently working hard to establish a
common approach to sustainability going forward.
“When we get to 2023, we’ll form a joint body with selected
companies in the Group, enabling them to share knowledge with us as
14
the owner company and with other companies in the Group, partly
because we as the Group parent want and need to become more
active in this work,” says Johan Andersson. “We strongly believe in
continuing to take a decentralized approach to sustainability efforts,
but at the same time, we in the parent company must be clearer
about what we expect from our companies, and together we need to
establish a common framework that will apply to everyone.”
The common framework for sustainability will include a set of
common metrics (KPIs). Again, the hope is for those companies that
are well advanced in their sustainability efforts to share knowledge
and working methods for data collection with those that need a
little extra support.
Sustainability is also becoming an increasingly important factor
when Mellby Gård makes a valuation of companies to potentially
invest in. Given the Mellby model’s focus on the long-term,
sustainability – and having a sustainability mindset in your business
model – is about identifying companies that are relevant over time.
“Sustainability is certainly an important aspect when we look at
new investments,” says Johan Andersson. “If we don’t get the right
answers to our questions, we prefer to refrain from an investment
or acquisition. On the other hand, we get even more excited about
companies that have a strong, positive impact on society and the
environment via their business. A sustainable business concept
is quite simply more attractive to us, because it demonstrates
the company’s ability to survive in the long term – and attract
customers, skills and capital.”
WANTS TO GENERATE POSITIVE CHANGE IN SOCIETY
Mellby Gård’s sustainability efforts also include the company’s
extensive social commitment, where they provide financial support
to a number of individuals and organizations working on one of the
issues close to Mellby Gård’s heart.
“I’m aware that there are differences of opinion on whether
philanthropy should be considered part of sustainability, but
for us, as a small operation with large assets, we see it as an
opportunity and a duty to give back to society and help effect
positive change,” says Johan Andersson. “We’re particularly
passionate about issues related to children’s rights, young people’s
educational opportunities, labor market and skills supply issues,
entrepreneurship and sports and health. You can read more about
this in several places in this year’s magazine.”