Britain’s
largest companies have doubled the amount of money they donate to charities and
community projects, according to new research.
The
figures suggest that the much talked about corporate social responsibility is
beginning to take hold among UK firms.
The
Guardian study shows that 0.95 per cent of pre-tax profits was donated by
companies in the FTSE 100, a rise of 0.4 per cent from last year.
However,
a wider review of the top 400 firms shows that levels of giving are at 0.42 per
cent of pre-tax profits overall – the same as a decade ago.
The
figures dropped to 0.29 per cent in 1995-96 but have now climbed back up to the
1990-91 levels.
The
Reuters Group topped the list of UK companies, giving 12.7 per cent of its pre-tax profits, or £6.4m cash support.
The rest of the top five was made up of Northern Rock, Kingfisher, Unilever and
Smith & Nephew.
