In April 2018 the Investment Association of asset managers whose members own a-third of the FTSE, and the governmental Hampton-Alexander Review send letters to 35 of the UK’s largest listed companies with low female representation at leadership level, calling for action on gender diversity. The recipient companies with low representation of women in top management and among their direct reports include BP, British American Tobacco and Tui. Various studies point to higher performance by more diverse companies. Credit Suisse has found that companies where women made up at least 15% of senior managers had 18% higher profitability than those where female representation was less than 10%. MSCI found that companies enjoyed premium returns and higher average valuations if they had three or more women on the board. Companies with stronger female leadership had superior average annual ROE of 10.1%.
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