Taking the longer view

摘要

The City does not, as folklore has it, view R&D spending as an unnecessary drain on corporate earnings that would be better handed out as dividends to investors. While this may have been true in the past, "all the evidence has been that investors are prepared to take a long term view," says Dr Robert Hawley, chief executive of British Energy until 1997 and, among other roles, non-executive chairman of engineering group Rotork.