Ethical firm finds perfect punchline

Anarchic comedian Mark Thomas has such a record of corporate-bashing, it is a shock to hear he has invested cash in a company.

To get his seal of approval, the Ethical Property Company must be very ethical. He put his money into the firm in 1999, and has been surprised to see the investment rise in value. "All I wanted was to have the money there, not disappeared in a pension funds scandal or up a chief executive's backside," he says. "To my shock and horror it has done more than that."

Others who consider the stock market to be the epitome of evil will be interested to hear that the company plans a new share issue later this month, through its website ethicalproperty.co.uk, in an attempt to raise £4m. The shares can even be traded, although on an obscure market at Triodos, an ethically minded bank, rather than through the City.

Ethical Property buys up buildings and then leases them to charities and non-governmental organisations like Oxfam and The Big Issue. When it refurbishes the sites, it considers environmental factors like energy use and recycling areas. It now has six sites and plans to open three more, using the proceeds of the share offer in more central city locations.

The company is not allowed to project the returns shareholders will get. It has given a 3p-a-share dividend over the last three years, an annual return of about 2.9 per cent. But Ethical Property says it considers social and environmental factors to be just as important as financial ones.