ESG investment relationship with financial performance of Russian companies

Abstract

Despite the increased interest in socially and environmentally responsible investments, there is a lack of consensus about the effects they exert on companies’ financial performance. The paper examines the reaction of Russian companies’ stock prices to the news about ESG investments made by these companies. The theoretical basis is stakeholder theory suggesting that firms can achieve long-term success solely by protecting the interests of all their stakeholders – not only shareholders, but also employees, local communities, and future generations. To implement the research, we use the event study on a sample of 202 news items about ESG investments of 11 Russian companies topping the ESG-rating by RA-Expert agency. Data were collected from news search engine Factiva and Yahoo!Finance. The data sample include news and stock prices over the period of 2019–2022. According to the research findings, news about Russian companies’ investments in environmental projects, solution of social problems and corporate governance issues do not lead to a rise in stock returns for these companies. Thus, Russian investors do not consider ESG projects and practices as an important decision-making criterion that increases the investment attractiveness of companies.