BASF continues its reign as Continental climbs to second place

BASF has kept its number one spot in the Euro Top 100 while taking home six awards at last night’s black-tie IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2014, held at Grosvenor House in London’s Park Lane.

The dinner and ceremony, hosted by business and economics television presenter Simon Jack, saw more than 350 investor relations professionals come together to celebrate the profession – and find out which of their contemporaries would take home the most coveted awards of the night. Click here for a full list of the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2014 winners.



Magdalena Moll’s team at BASF once again added to an ever-growing collection of IR trophies, including the grand prix for best overall investor relations and the best IR by a CFO award, both in the large-cap category. The chemicals company was followed by Continental, another German firm, which climbed from fifth place to claim the number two position, as well as taking home four awards, including best investor relations officer for head of IR Rolf Woller. 

Rounding out the top three was Diageo, which took home two awards on home turf after forging ahead from outside the 2013 top 10. In fact, only three companies in this year’s top 10 – BASF, Continental and Novo Nordisk – also featured in last year’s. The highest climber to enter the 2014 top 10 was yet another German company, Deutsche Post, which jumped from joint 83rd place last year to eighth this year, as well as winning the best in sector award in the industrials category.



The Linde Group joined the top 10 for the first time at the fourth position, alongside five other German firms. Just one year after jumping 108 places to number 21, the Munich-headquartered company, which saw the appointment of new CEO Dr Wolfgang Büchele in May, came in as first runner up for the Best in sector-materials award.

Other winners included Unilever, Lanxess, Allianz, RWE and Novo Nordisk, while AkzoNobel received the most progress in IR accolade. Two new names also made it into this year’s winners’ list: medical and safety tech firm Drägerwerk won the grand prix for best overall investor relations in the small-cap category, and luxury sportswear maker Moncler claimed the best IR for an IPO award after a successful listing on the Milan Stock Exchange in December 2013.  

In total, 32 prizes were given out, including 17 pan-European awards, six regional awards and nine best in sector gongs. 

‘Over the 26 years since IR Magazine first launched, we’ve witnessed a massive transformation in investor relations and last night’s awards are evidence of the ever-rising standards in Europe,’ said founder Janet Dignan in a press release.

The winners of the awards, which have been presented every year since 1991, were identified through a comprehensive research survey of 700 buy-side and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers across Europe, the full results of which are available in the IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – Europe 2014.