The last read. Before the score goes public.
A short, targeted engagement before the FTSE Russell review window opens. Final read of the public disclosure, last-mile translation fixes, SID portal review support, and a board memo on the likely score and the reasoning behind it. The retainer that protects the score, year on year.
Five stages. Two cycles a year.
FTSE Russell runs two assessment cycles annually — June and December reviews. Pre-review readiness sits in the four-week SID portal window where companies have one chance to influence the analyst’s draft assessment.
Research Cycle
FTSE Russell analysts collect public disclosure throughout the year for the upcoming assessment.
Data Cut-Off
Documents published after these dates do not score in the upcoming review cycle.
SID Portal Window
4-week feedback window. Companies review the analyst’s draft and submit additional public information.
Pre-Review ReadinessFinal Assessment
FTSE Russell analysts incorporate company feedback and finalise scores.
Score Published
Final FTSE Russell ESG scores released. Public on SET websites from 2026 onwards.
Pre-review readiness, done by the same firm that translated the disclosure.
Most pre-review work is split across multiple vendors — translation by one firm, ESG advisory by another, internal coordination by the company secretary. Othello does it under one roof. The team that prepared the bilingual disclosure also prepares the pre-review readiness.
One firm. One operating standard. One coordinated read.
The firm that translated the disclosure is the firm that does the pre-review read. No handoff. No re-reading the document with fresh eyes by someone who has never seen it before. No “let me check what the translator meant” moments. The same senior linguists who built the bilingual disclosure now read it for analyst risk.
This is a structural advantage that compounds. Pre-review readiness done by an outside vendor takes longer, finds fewer issues, and costs more — because the vendor is reading the document for the first time. Othello reads the document with full context: every translation choice, every methodology reference, every governance ownership phrasing.
NDA from the first email. Annual retainer. Two cycles per year. Year-on-year score protection without the procurement overhead of a fresh vendor every cycle.
Same team, same context
The senior linguists who translated the annual report and sustainability report do the pre-review read. No briefing time, no re-reading from scratch.
ISO 17100:2015 standard
Pre-review readiness uses the certified Translation–Editing–Proofreading workflow. Senior linguist drafts, independent editor reviews, native speaker proofreads. Every fix.
Two cycles per year
Annual retainer covers both June and December review cycles. The board sees the likely score before each one. Budget once, protect twice.
NDA ตั้งแต่อีเมลฉบับแรก
Strict confidentiality from initial contact. No public references on listed-company engagements. Standard procedure on every retainer, every cycle.
Board-ready memo
A pillar-by-pillar likely-score memo before the public release. The board knows the number first. Year-on-year movement explained, indicator-by-indicator.
Pre-review by a separate vendor
- External firm reads disclosure for the first time
- Days of context briefing before useful work begins
- Fresh translator reads original translator’s choices
- Fixes done by someone outside the disclosure team
- Procurement reset every cycle
- Multiple confidentiality agreements layered together
- Coordination overhead falls on the company secretary
Pre-review by the same firm
- Same senior linguists who built the bilingual disclosure
- Full context from day one — no re-reading from scratch
- Translation choices already understood and defensible
- Fixes integrated with the team that wrote the original
- Annual retainer, predictable cycle planning
- One NDA, one operating standard, one point of contact
- Coordination handled by a single retainer team
Most companies waste the SID window.
FTSE Russell gives every assessed company four weeks in the Sustainable Investment Data (SID) portal to review the draft assessment. Most companies do not understand what they are looking at, what to submit, or how to respond — and the score reflects it.
Missed evidence
The analyst’s draft assessment shows what scored and what did not. Companies that do not read it indicator-by-indicator miss opportunities to submit existing public disclosure that the analyst missed.
Language mismatch
Thai is not among the six languages FTSE Russell states its research covers (English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Chinese — ESG Scores and Indices FAQ v1.5, s1.8). Thai disclosure that scores in the local market may not satisfy the indicator if the English equivalent is weaker, vaguer, or missing. This is the single most common scoring penalty for Thai companies.
Late discovery
By the time the score is published in June or December, it is too late. The next chance to influence it is six months later. Companies that wait until publication to engage advisors lose two cycles of remediation runway.
Five workstreams. One to two weeks.
Pre-review readiness runs for 1 to 2 weeks before the SID portal opens. Five workstreams run in parallel — each one closes a specific risk before the analyst finalises the score.
Final disclosure read
A senior linguist reads every public disclosure document — both languages, in parallel — looking for last-minute issues that could affect the analyst’s read.
- Bilingual lockstep verification
- Indicator-language consistency check
- Newly published disclosure cross-reference
Last-mile translation fixes
Targeted bilingual edits for indicators where the Thai and English versions diverge. Mismatch is the single most common scoring penalty — and one of the easiest to fix.
- Target precision (dates, scopes, commitments)
- Methodology references (SBTi, GRI, IFRS S2)
- Governance ownership consistency
Likely score memo
A board-ready memo estimating the likely FTSE Russell score for the upcoming review, with reasoning indicator-by-indicator. The board sees the score before the public does.
- Pillar-by-pillar score estimate
- Theme-level commentary
- Year-on-year movement explanation
SID portal review support
Once the SID portal opens, we read the analyst’s draft assessment alongside the company secretary or IR team and identify where evidence-based feedback can move the score before publication.
- Bilingual reading of analyst commentary
- Evidence response drafting
- Public disclosure citation support
Response submission
Drafted SID portal responses are reviewed by the company secretary or IR team and submitted before the four-week window closes. Each response is supported by verifiable public disclosure the analyst can re-read.
- Response drafting in both languages
- Internal review coordination
- Submission window tracking
Post-publication board briefing
Once the final score publishes, we produce a board briefing comparing the actual score against the pre-review estimate, explaining variances, and identifying the highest-value priorities for the next cycle.
- Final vs. estimated reconciliation
- Year-on-year score movement analysis
- Next cycle priority memo
Four weeks. One chance per cycle.
FTSE Russell’s Sustainable Investment Data (SID) portal is the only formal channel through which companies can influence their score before publication. Most listed companies use it badly. Few use it well.
Reading the analyst’s draft. Submitting evidence. In English.
FTSE Russell gives each assessed company a four-week window in the SID portal to review the analyst’s draft assessment and submit additional public information. The analyst’s notes and queries are in English only. Many Thai company secretaries find the technical FTSE methodology language difficult to engage with at speed.
Othello reads the analyst’s draft alongside the company secretary, IR team, and sustainability lead. We translate the queries into Thai, draft evidence-based responses citing existing public disclosure, and coordinate the four-week submission window so every response lands before the deadline.
Why most clients stay on retainer.
FTSE Russell scores year on year. The companies whose scores climb fastest are the ones with continuous review cycle support — not the ones who engage advisors only when something goes wrong.
What clients ask about pre-review readiness.
คำถามที่ 01 How is this different from disclosure remediation?
Disclosure remediation is the substantive work of writing new disclosure to close indicator gaps — typically 4 to 12 weeks, ending with publication. Pre-review readiness sits after publication and before the FTSE Russell review window. It is short (1 to 2 weeks), tactical, and focused on the SID portal window where you have one chance to influence the analyst’s draft. Most clients run remediation once and then stay on pre-review readiness as an annual retainer.
คำถามที่ 02 What does the annual retainer actually cover?
The retainer covers two pre-review readiness engagements per year (one before the June review, one before the December review), continuous methodology change tracking, a likely-score memo before each publication, and SID portal response coordination during both 4-week windows. Year-on-year score tracking and next-cycle priority planning are included. The retainer does not include substantive disclosure drafting — that is scoped separately as remediation work when needed.
คำถามที่ 03 Can we engage you only for the SID portal window?
Yes. Some clients engage Othello only for the 4-week SID portal window — typically the first time they go through the cycle. After that experience most clients move to the annual retainer because the pre-cycle preparation work (final disclosure read, score memo, response groundwork) is what makes the SID portal window productive. The portal window alone is not where the score is won.
คำถามที่ 04 What happens if we miss the SID portal window?
The score publishes as drafted. There is no extension and no appeal once the window closes. The next opportunity to influence the score is the following cycle six months later — meaning a missed window is a 12-month delay before the score can move. This is the central reason pre-review readiness exists as a service: the four-week window is the only formal channel and it does not move.
คำถามที่ 05 Do FTSE Russell analysts respond to every submitted comment?
FTSE Russell analysts review submitted feedback and incorporate it where the supporting evidence justifies a change. They do not provide line-by-line responses. The strongest submissions cite specific public disclosure (page numbers, document names, URLs) for indicators the analyst marked as missing or partial. Submissions that argue the methodology rather than provide evidence rarely move the score. Othello drafts every SID response with this in mind.
คำถามที่ 06 How does the retainer work alongside our existing IR consultancy?
Most retainer clients run pre-review readiness alongside an existing IR consultancy or sustainability advisor. Our work is the disclosure layer — the writing, translation, framework alignment, and SID portal response. We do not compete with IR consultancies on investor relations, governance advice, or capital markets strategy. We work with them, providing the bilingual disclosure backbone they need to advise their clients credibly on FTSE Russell scoring.
The four-week window does not move.
Most companies waste it. The retainer clients use every week. One to two weeks of focused work before each cycle. Annual engagement. Bilingual. NDA from the first email.
