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Investis IQ Corporate Website Ranking Q3 2009 – Websites improve in spite of economic backdrop
03/11/2009
It's been a busy year for corporate communicators, but they've still found time to keep improving the quality of their websites. That's the conclusion of the latest IQ Ranking of corporate websites conducted by Investis, Europe's leading corporate website specialist. The IQ Ranking was launched a year ago, since when the average score for FTSE100 sites has risen from 50 to 58 - an impressive level of improvement against the backdrop of the recession.
Investis Director Al Loehnis commented "There's a natural tendency to lie low when times are tough, but many companies have used their websites skilfully to start rebuilding trust through more open, honest communications. The changes are often subtle - greater presence of senior management in interviews and in CSR sections, for example - but the cumulative effect can be powerful."
The biggest change in the year has been in the quality of the CSR sections, where scores have been driven up by better reporting of performance against KPIs, more evidence of leadership from senior management and improved levels of interactivity. There is also evidence that companies are starting to embrace social media in their external corporate communications with scores in the Web 2.0 category improving by nearly 50% over the year.
Investis initiated coverage of the Austrian ATX index during the quarter and the universe of companies covered is now more than 650.
Highlights for Q3 in the index rankings
UK
FTSE100: Shell reclaimed the top spot from Centrica during the quarter, while Barclays rose into the top 10 climbing 5 places to 8th spot. The biggest movers in the index were Cairn Energy, Standard Chartered and Home Retail Group, all up more than 10 places in the rankings. Both 3i Group and Wolseley rejoined the index in 34th and 35th position respectively.
FTSE250: VT Group held on to the number one spot but there was plenty of movement in the index in Q3, with 15 companies improving their scores by more than 10%. At the category level, scores were up most strongly in the Multimedia and Interactivity categories. Homeserve (+23 places), Jardine Lloyd Thomson (+41 places) and Chemring (+38 places) were the biggest movers, while Logica entered the top 10 rising from 15th to 8th spot.
Germany
DAX30: BASF topped the rankings in the German market rising from 2nd to 1st place. SAP and RWE joined the top 10 while the other notable improvement was from Deutsche Telekom up 5 points on both its score and its ranking, rising to 16th place.
MDAX: EADS retained its position at the top of the rankings for the MDAX. Sites across the index saw few major changes although Lanxess and Bilfinger both consolidated their positions in the top 10 as their scores rose nearly 10%.
Finland
OMXH25: The Corporate Governance scores for Finnish companies saw a big improvement in teh quarter, driven by increased disclosure about non-executive directors. Nokia extended its lead on the index with a rise in score from 65 to 70, while Neste Oil, Fortum and M-Real maintained their positions in 2nd, 3rd and 4th spot. Wartsila joined the top 10 rising from 13th to 7th, while Orion B was the most improved website in the index during the quarter.
The survey was conducted in the third quarter of the year based on index constituents at the beginning of July. The IQ Ranking is the most comprehensive and authoritative of its kind, assessing nearly 200 criteria in measuring website quality and performance. Investis now tracks more than 650 companies in its IQ Webscoring database each quarter, offering a unique view on the evolution of corporate websites for its clients and partners.
For more information on the IQ benchmarking service, please contact Joanna Smolka on joanna.smolka@investis.com , +44(0)207 038 9023 or visit http://www.investis.com/investis/aboutus/iqranking/.
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