In its initial application for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) was successfully included in the DJSI STOXX and WORLD. "The concept of corporate sustainability has been a central element of the Heidelberg group's overall strategy for a long time," CEO Bernhard Schreier points out. In March 2001, Heidelberg's environmental report 1999/2000 already won the Deutsche Umwelt-Reporting Award for the most meaningful and innovative presentation of its environmental commitment. The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are a cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes, USA, STOXX Ltd, UK, and Sustainability Asset Management (SAM) in Zurich. In their assessment they are taking into account the economic, social and environmental dimension of companies. The indexes combine various industries and therefore allow investors to objectively assess the environmental and social commitment of a company without considerably having to deviate from the market in terms of sector allocation. Above all, investors are now in a position to allocate assets not only based on financial considerations but also on sustainability criteria. "The consistent implementation of the concept of corporate sustainability increases the company's shareholder value in the long term. It underlines that our company is taking responsibility for its employees, shareholders and customers," says Dr. Herbert Meyer, CFO at Heidelberg. The DJSI STOXX, which was released for the first time on October 15, 2001, tracks the financial performance of the top 20% of the companies in the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index, a total of 152 companies. Here, Heidelberg became the No. 1 German company in the industrial goods and services sector right away. Additionally, with more than 50% of the total score, Heidelberg achieved an excellent positioning with regard to its sustainability performance in the DJSI WORLD, the most respected environmental stock index. With this result, Heidelberg was well above the industry average of some 35%. Especially in the environmental dimension and in such specific criteria as eco-efficiency, Heidelberg achieved the same score as the best company of the entire index, BAA Plc. The DJSI WORLD was first launched in September 1999. Heidelberg's first sustainability report "Report 2000/2001 - Economy, Ecology and Social Responsibility" was published recently and can be ordered at [email protected].