Semi-Annual Changes To The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index
02/11/09
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) and CRD Analytics, LLC announced today the results of the semi-annual evaluation of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index (Nasdaq:QCRD), which will become effective with the market open on Monday, November 2, 2009.
The following 23 securities will be added to the Index: Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX), AXA (NYSE:AXA), Astrazeneca PLC (NYSE:AZN), BHP Billiton PLC (NYSE:BHP), The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS), British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC (NYSE:BSY), BT Group PLC (NYSE:BT), Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB), Reed Elsevier PLC (NYSE:ENL), GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE:GSK), Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE:JCI), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Merck & Company, Inc. (NYSE:MRK), Potash Corp. Of Saskatchewan Inc. (NYSE:POT), Praxair, Inc. (NYSE:PX), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (NYSE:RDS.A), The Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY), SAP AG (NYSE:SAP), Siemens AG (NYSE:SI), Banco Santander SA (NYSE:STD), Telefonica SA (NYSE:TEF), and Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL).
As a result of the evaluation, the following securities will be removed from the Index: Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), Companhia de Bebidas das Americas - AmBev (NYSE:ABV), Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL), The Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL), Applied Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT), BHP Billiton plc (NYSE:BBL), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), Diageo plc (NYSE:DEO), Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), H.J. Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), ING Group, N.V. (NYSE:ING), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY), Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT), Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT), Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq:ORCL), ProLogis (NYSE:PLD), Schlumberger N.V. (NYSE:SLB), Total, S.A. (NYSE:TOT), and UBS AG (NYSE:UBS).
The NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index is an equally weighted equity index that serves as a benchmark for stocks of companies that are taking a leadership role in sustainability performance reporting and are traded on a major US stock exchange. The Index is comprised of companies that are most comprehensively disclosing their carbon footprint, energy usage, water consumption, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, employee safety, workforce diversity, management composition and community investing. These are companies that are voluntarily disclosing their current environmental, social and governance risks as well as their revenue opportunities and how it will affect future performance. Securities of component companies must also meet other eligibility criteria, including minimum requirements for market value, average daily share volume, and price. The Index components are evaluated on a semi-annual basis in the beginning of May and November. To access more information about the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, including a list of companies in the Index and detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/data.aspx?IndexSymbol=QCRD&menuIndex=0.
"This development ensures that investors can track a relevant benchmark that is comprised of high performing companies that are committed to environmental, social and governance issues," said NASDAQ OMX Executive Vice President John Jacobs. "With the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index, CRD Analytics and NASDAQ OMX are leading the push towards sustainable investing."
"The reconstitution of the NASDAQ OMX CRD Global Sustainability 50 Index comes at a critical and pivotal point in the Investment environment," said Michael Muyot, CRD Analytics President. "CRD analytics now screens over 3,000 global corporations across all sectors for over 200 financial and ESG performance metrics. This larger universe led to an almost 50% turnover in the top 50 leaders, attributable to better disclosure from firms adopting the Global Reporting Initiative G3 Guidelines and the increase in asset managers and owners signing the U.N. Principles for Responsible Investing."
"It has become very competitive to stay within the top 50," Muyot added. "Those companies that publicly disclose before September 30th with real quantitative information are better positioned for sustainable, risk-adjusted performance. Companies with higher sustainability scores using a rule-based methodology make them more attractive to the investment community that is increasingly looking for better investment analysis of risks and opportunities."
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