The Group’s employees consist mainly of professional, administrative and office support staff and consequently the risk of any involvement in modern slavery or any exploitative practices is low. It is notable that the Group’s Vietnamese offices have their own trade union, in conjunction with Vietnamese law and regulation.

Given the nature of the Group’s business services, including investment management services for VEIL, the risk of their suppliers’ involvement in modern slavery and human trafficking is low: as an office-based asset manager, they work with professional service providers, information technology providers, building services, office furniture providers and such like.

The Company is aware of, and endorses, the Group’s recognition of the importance of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) issues, and notes that the Group has a strong responsible investment policy which has been prepared in line with the performance standards of the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), the private investment arm of the World Bank, with whom the Group has maintained a long relationship. The Group considers ESG factors at the start of and throughout the investment process, and across all asset classes. This means the Investment Manager makes appropriate inquiries as part of its ESG screening process, and ensures that VEIL will not invest or finance companies that are or seem to be involved in forced, harmful or exploitative forms of labour. IFC’s “Labour and Working Conditions” performance standard is integrated into the Group’s ESG management system. Thus, each investee company is asked to confirm that it has an adequate process to ensure that forced labour is not used directly or indirectly through contractors or in the supply chain.

The Board believe that taking a strategic, long-term approach to responsible investment creates sustainable value for the Company, our stakeholders and the wider community, not just in an economic sense but also in the ESG context.