LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Mar 21, 2017) - Institutional Investor is pleased to announce the results of the 2017 rankings of Europe's top CEOs, CFOs, Investor Relations Officers, and Investor Relations programs. This year 2,594 investment professionals globally, up from 1,664 in the previous year, voted in the All-Europe Executive Team survey, nominating 2,961 officers from 1,513 companies across 31 sectors. The IR programs were evaluated on six performance criteria, including accessibility of senior management, authoritative IR, and transparency of financial reporting.
Research from Institutional Investor shows three clear themes emerge this year:
- Changes to both the buy and sell side in anticipation of MiFID II mean that strong IR programs relative to peer companies as an indicator of likely success in investor engagement are increasingly important.
- Small- and mid-cap companies saw significantly increased voting, suggesting they are responding to new regulatory pressures, becoming more proactive and as a result an increasingly important value play for investors. This has led to a new mid-/small-cap ranking across sectors this year.
- Effective and timely financial disclosure remains investors' No. 1 priority for IR activities.
Thirteen companies sweep their sectors -- capturing first place in every category in which they are eligible to compete. Repeating last year's success are Airbus, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Deutsche Telekom, Iberdrola, and Reckitt Benckiser Group. New to this year's top performers are ASML Holding, British American Tobacco, Intesa Sanpaolo, Roche Holding, Ryanair Holdings, and Unilever.
Top-Performing CEOs and their sectors include:
| Matthias Zachert | Lanxess (Germany) | Chemicals | ||
| Ivan Glasenberg | Glencore (Switzerland) | Metal & Mining | ||
| Anthony Smurfit | Smurfit Kappa (Ireland) | Paper & Packaging | ||
| Jacques Aschenbroich | Valeo (France) | Autos & Auto Parts | ||
| Carlos Brito | Anheuser-Busch InBev (Belgium) | Beverages | ||
Top-Performing CFOs and their sectors include:
| Ernesto López Mozo | Ferrovial (Spain) | Building & Construction | ||
| Graeme Pitkethly | Unilever (Netherlands) | Food Producers | ||
| Adrian Hennah | Reckitt Benckiser Group (United Kingdom) | Household & Personal Care Products | ||
| Nicholas Cadbury | Whitbread (United Kingdom) | Leisure & Hotels | ||
| Jean-Jacques Guiony | LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (France) | Luxury Goods | ||
Will Rowlands-Rees, Managing Director of Research at Institutional Investor, comments, "MiFID II continues to drive the agenda across all parts of the investment community, with corporations no exception. With an expected reduction in sell-side research both produced and consumed starting next year, excellence in IR becomes even more important as IROs and corporate C-suite need to tell their story effectively to the right investors. Mid- and small-cap has become an obvious area of interest for investors, and we're delighted to release our inaugural mid- and small-cap rankings, shining a light on those companies delivering excellence in this area."
With top positions in all four categories, Top-Performing Mid-cap Companies include:
| Moncler (Italy) Luxury Goods | Logitech International (Switzerland) Technology/Hardware | |
| Gamesa Corp. Tecnológica (Spain) Capital Goods | Davide Campari-Milano (Italy) Beverages | |
| Tullow Oil (U.K.) Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | Lanxess (Germany) Chemicals | |
| Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación (Spain) Retailing/Food | Straumann Holding (Switzerland) Medical Technologies & Services | |
For the full list of winners, visit here.
The Most Honored Companies from the All-Europe Executive Team rankings will be recognized at a dinner and awards ceremony on June 27 in London.
For more information and complete survey results, please contact Amani Korayeim at amani.korayeim@institutionalinvestor.com or +44 207 779 8535.
About Institutional Investor
For 50 years Institutional Investor has consistently distinguished itself among the world's foremost media companies with groundbreaking journalism and incisive writing that provide essential intelligence for a global audience. For more information, visit institutionalinvestor.com.