Growing competition in the responsible investing sector has not hampered fund manager Australian Ethical Investments, which has increased its full-year revenue by 23 per cent.
AEI's funds under management grew by 38 per cent to $2.15 billion in the year ending June 30, while superannuation membership rose 34 per cent to 35,352.
Managing director Phil Vernon says the growth comes amid a rising social awareness among investors of issues such as sustainability and climate change.
The belief that investing ethically means compromising on returns has also continued to disintegrate, he said.
The latest Responsible Investment Benchmark Report showed the value of investments made with ethics and sustainability in mind have quadrupled in Australia over the past three years, to $622 billion.
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Mr Vernon says the expansion of the sector has meant increasing competition for AEI, including start-ups and mainstream players offering sustainability options, but the fund manager has embraced that.
"The more the better - we're all about growing the sector as a whole," he said.
"Where we stand apart is that we have an ethical charter that applies across our entire business, so it's not just a product."
Mr Vernon said there is no sign that growth in responsible investing, or at AEI, will soften in the coming years.
"We certainly have a very optimistic outlook for our funds under management growth, and revenue essentially follows that," he said.
While AEI's revenue rose in 2016/17, profit fell three per cent to $2.9 million, impacted by costs linked to a unit pricing error in its superannuation fund in June 2016, and an employment restructure.
It spent $795,000 in 2016/17 on remediation to members over the error, and $1.16 million on consultants.
AEI said it has boosted resources in its operational, risk and compliance roles to minimise the chances of such an error reocurring.
Shares in AEI were up $1.0, or 0.9 per cent, at $116.00 at 1500 AEST.
AUSTRALIAN ETHICAL INVESTMENT WELCOMES COMPETITION:
* Profit down 3pct to $2.92m
* Revenue up 23pct to $28.3m
* Fully franked final dividend up 30 cents to $2.10
