b'34 Mercia Asset Management PLC Annual Report & Accounts 2022Responsible business continuedRecognised for responsibilityAs Mercia has focused on strengthening our commitment to responsible investing internally, we have also been recognised by external bodies for our work so far in this area.EISA Impact Award 2021 winnerMercia was recognised for our credibility as an impact investor in 2021 with the EISA Impact Award, as much of our EIS portfolio already contains businesses that offer environmental or health solutions.Awayday Investing in female foundersMercia was first recognised by the Financial Times media site Sifted Mercia is based across eight offices in diverse regionsfor our commitment to diversity and of the UK. As a result of our cross-fund, Completeinclusion in October 2021. A Pitchbook Connected Capital strategy, our teams frequentlydata report commissioned by Sifted collaborate with each other on deals but do not revealed that we were one of the top get to spend much time together in person to bond 15 most active European providers of and socialise. venture capital (VC) for investing in female founders over the past five years.We decided to re-instate our annual awayday, after the challenges of the last two years, to encourage a feelingNorthern Leadership Awardsof collaboration between team members. In September,Jill Williams was nominated for the approximately 100 Mercia employees headed toNorthern Leadership Awards Diversity Hexham in the North East for two days at Slaley Halland Inclusion Leader category for Hotel where they played team-building games andher work in implementing Mercias spent time together in nature.initiatives in this area as the Head of ESG and Responsible InvestmentCommittee leader.North West Rainmaker Awards 2021Because I joined Mercia duringJill Williams also received a nomination the COVID-19 pandemic, I hadntfor the Changemaker category at the 2021 North West Rainmaker Awards spent any time with the rest of thefor her work in advancing responsible team face-to-face. I loved gettinginvestment and ESG principleswithin Mercia.to know everyone in person and the games were really good for thatespecially the C4 Hunted-themed one because everyone had to dress up!Abbie HollisterInbound Marketing Manager'