Socrates Involvement Reports Updated:
Revenue and Ownership Data Added

KLD has added updated ownership information for its tobacco, alcohol, nuclear power, adult entertainment, gambling, abortion and contraception involvement reports. KLD has also updated revenue information where applicable for the alcohol, tobacco and gambling reports in SOCRATES. As a result, more than 1,000 existing involvement report companies have been updated with new information; 22 companies have been removed for no longer meeting KLD's involvement criteria; and 17 companies have been added to the reports.

KLD conducts ongoing maintenance and research on its involvement reports throughout the year, including monitoring corporate actions such as acquisitions and divestitures. KLD conducts regular news searches to check for new company involvement.

Each summer, KLD brings on additional staff to conduct its annual review of the involvement reports to update ownership and revenue figures with the most recent corporate public filings and company website information. During the summer update KLD also communicates with companies to confirm involvement.

Nelle Coady, KLD's involvement reports analyst, has primary responsibility for updating the involvement reports. She has overseen the annual involvement report update research process for the past three years.

Over the past year, Ms. Coady noted several trends among involvement report companies. Over the course of the summer, Ms. Coady conducted extensive research into these trends, resulting in several new types of companies being added to the reports. The most notable trends were the increasing number of online gaming sites and the popularity of poker. As a result, KLD added PartyGaming Plc, an owner and operator of online gambling websites, and WPT Enterprises, producer of the World Poker Tour, to the gambling report.

Ms. Coady predicts the online gaming trend will continue as online access increases. Recent legislation to legalize online wagering in certain states and a challenge at the World Trade Organization to the U.S.'s prohibition on gambling may further soften the United States’ regulatory stance on the issue.

Finally, Ms. Coady pointed to a significant consolidation among large alcohol manufacturers. Major recent acquisitions by alcohol manufacturers include the United Kingdom's Allied Domecq Plc by France's Pernod-Ricard SA; Australia's Southcorp Limited by Australia's Foster's Group Limited; and the United Kingdom's Jennings Brothers Plc by the United Kingdom's Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries Plc.

Ms. Coady refined and expanded the criteria for inclusion on a report for licensing a brand or company name. KLD's decision to review and expand its criteria for licensing was sparked by the increasing use of well-recognized brand names to distinguish products. As a result, KLD has added Harley-Davidson, Inc. (gambling), Viacom (gambling), Campbell’s Soup (alcohol) and Starbuck’s Corporation (alcohol) to its involvement reports.

For the second consecutive year, KLD welcomed a number of Posse Foundation Scholars as members of its involvement reports summer staff. Since 1989, the Foundation has identified urban public high school students with notable academic and leadership potential and provided them with four-year, full-tuition scholarships to over twenty partner colleges and universities. The foundation works with scholars throughout their college years.

For more information please contact Darragh Gallant, Manager of Client Services, at dgallant@kld.com or (617) 426-5270 ext. 228.