Foreword

Sustainability is and will remain an important factor in Bellevue Group’s business strategy, because it is crucial to the success of our business over the long term and for creating value for all stakeholders. In order to deliver on this claim as best as possible going forward, we strengthened Bellevue’s sustainability governance and organization in 2023. All relevant roles and responsibilities were reviewed at management level as well as throughout the workforce and changes were made where necessary.

We have expanded the sustainability section of our company's 2023 annual report in compliance with the Swiss non-financial reporting rules and regulations. This ESG report meets the requirements of the pertinent art. 964a et seq. of the Swiss Code of Obligations and was approved by the Board of Directors of Bellevue Group on February 19, 2024.

An important part of the Swiss non-financial reporting rules is the disclosure and presentation of climate-related matters. This ESG report therefore includes a section with such data that, for the first time, is in alignment with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). It provides an overview of how Bellevue is addressing the issue of climate change and how it is managing the opportunities and risks that arise from the transition towards a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. Since Bellevue does not operate in a carbon-intensive industry, climate change has a rather small impact on its business activities. Climate change does, however, have a major impact on investment product regulations and transparency requirements.

Bellevue also thoroughly reviewed and revised its ESG materiality matrix during the past year. Our reporting is now based on the principle of «double materiality». This means we report on the impact that the relevant ESG issues have on Bellevue’s business operations, reputation and financial performance and on the impact that our business activities have on environmental, social and community issues.

In 2023, we made operational progress on several ESG fronts:

• For example, the proportion of women on Bellevue Group’s Board of Directors has been 50% since the annual general meeting held in March 2023, which means we have already achieved and exceeded our initial goal of having 30% female representation on the Board of Directors by 2025.
• In August 2023, we analyzed the salaries of our employees using the Swiss government's national salary analysis tool and were pleased that this revealed no indications of a gender pay gap.
• Acting on the findings of the latest employee survey conducted in 2022, a number of measures pertaining to employee information channels, employee development and collaboration between executive management teams were implemented in 2023.
• All employees received training on data protection and market conduct rules during the year under review, and all new hires additionally received training on compliance issues.
• Furthermore, Bellevue Group was certified by Swiss Climate for the fourth consecutive year in 2023.

We also protect the long-term interests of our investors by making active use of our voting rights at the general meetings of the companies in our portfolios via proxy voting. In 2023, our portfolio managers and analysts participated in 572 general meetings and cast votes on 909 of a total of 934 votable proposals – which represents a participation rate of 97.3%.

During the 2023 financial year, the employee turnover rate rose above 10%. There are several reasons for this: On the one hand, long-serving employees left the company to pursue new career challenges and, on the other hand, strategic management decisions led to the voluntary departure of some employees as well. In 2024, we are aiming to bring the turnover rate below 10% again. This is in alignment with our efforts to continuously expand and integrate sustainability at both the corporate and the product level.

Veit de Maddalena

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Gebhard Giselbrecht

Chief Executive Officer