Wealth management firm EQ Investors has released a new impact investment report which revealed Positive Impact Portfolios delivered “long-lasting social and environmental benefits, alongside an attractive financial return.”

The Chartered Financial Planning firm says the report provides evidence to support the hypothesis that investing in companies making a positive impact can be good for returns.

The company claimed that whether you judge in terms of revenues, profits, or employees, companies held by ethically-focused EQ Positive Impact Portfolios were growing “significantly faster” than those in the FTSE 100 Index.

Statistics showed that over the last five years, companies in the EQ Positive Impact Portfolios had, on average, grown their revenues by 60.4% (annualised at 9.9% per year) compared to 10.3% for companies in the FTSE 100 Index (annualised at 2.0% per year).

As well as the financial returns the firm highlighted the social and environmental impacts for money invested in the portfolios.

It said that over the last year, £1m invested in them had:

• Generated 168 MWh of renewable energy, equivalent to the electricity used by 42 UK households;
• Cleaned 3.5m litres of waste water, equivalent to the water used by 26 UK households;
• Recycled 45 tonnes of waste material, equivalent to the waste provided by 45 UK households;
• Made 439 medical interventions; and
• Delivered 338 hours of school or university-level education.

Damien Lardoux, manager of the EQ Positive Impact Portfolios, said: “We are excited to publish our latest findings.

“Within the portfolios we have seen record levels of growth over the last twelve months.

“Increasing number of investors are interested not only in making superior returns, but also understanding the impact of their investments.”