Setting the standard in Europe

For the second year in a row, Danish healthcare major Novo Nordisk topped the charts at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe, taking home three trophies: best overall investor relations in the large-cap category, best in sector and best in Northern Europe. The awards ceremony, held in London on June 22 at the Park Lane Hotel, also saw victory for Spanish utility firm Iberdrola, which moved up from third to second in this year’s IR Magazine Euro Top 100, taking home three trophies. Germany’s RWE won the mid-cap award for best overall IR, while the top prize for small caps went to Portugal’s REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais.

New to this year’s list of accolades were three judged categories where nominations were self-submitted and winners were chosen by a jury made up of IR Magazine editorial team members and investment management professionals. Martin Kjær Hansen, senior IR manager at ISS, was distinguished as IR Magazine’s first rising star in IR. The award for best investor event was snatched up by Unilever – which ranks third in this year’s Euro Top 100 and took home three other accolades, including best sustainability practice – while Deutsche EuroShop won the prize for best use of multimedia for IR.

For all the photos from the night, see the gallery on our event mini-site.

Roche Holding, Nestlé and Deutsche Post DHL all re-enter the top 10 this year at rank 5, 8 and 10, respectively. Former serial winner BASF – whose IRO Magdalena Moll left for OMV this past year – is outside the top 10 for the first time at rank 13 but retains the best in sector award. German firms in general are the most represented nationally in this year’s Euro Top 100 with 22 companies, while the UK comes second with 11, and Spain and Switzerland come joint third, with eight each.

The Euro Top 100 and the majority of the award winners were identified by means of a survey of the European investment community. This included extra research categories, in addition to the award categories (see Euro top 10, above). The full list of research categories and further coverage of the results of this research are reported in detail in the IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – Europe 2016. For further information or to order a copy of the report, please contact Dahman Djimani at +44 20 8004 5337.

Main awards - voted for by investors and analysts

Grand prix for best overall investor relations 

Large cap: Novo Nordisk
What the investment community says: ‘Novo Nordisk produces a high standard of materials, both online and in hard copy. It also holds good roundtable meetings where you can meet with senior management, as well as insightful conference calls on a variety of subjects, including research and development’ – Denmark, buy side

Mid-cap: RWE
What the investment community says: ‘There is good access at RWE and plenty of meetings. It doesn’t shy away from communicating with us even if the performance is poor’ – Netherlands, buy side

Small cap: REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais
What the investment community says: ‘I am not voting for the quality of REN’s IR package but for the efforts of its IRO. In what remains of investor relations in Portugal, Ana Fernandes stands out as being one of the best and most helpful’ – Portugal, buy side

Best use of technology

Iberdrola
What the investment community says: ‘Iberdrola is clearly number one for its website because of the way the site is structured and the ease with which you can get what you need’ – Spain, sell side

Best sustainability practice 

Unilever
What the investment community says: ‘Many companies are clear about the future but Unilever goes that bit further and inspires belief’ – Switzerland, sell side

Sector winners

• Communications: Deutsche Telekom
• Consumer discretionary: Continental
• Consumer staples: Unilever
• Energy: Galp Energia
• Financials: Allianz
• Healthcare: Novo Nordisk
• Industrials: Deutsche Post DHL
• Materials: BASF
• Technology: Amadeus
• Utilities: Iberdrola

Regional winners 

• Central & Eastern Europe: ˇCEZ Group
• Germany: Continental
• Northern Europe: Novo Nordisk
• Southern Europe: Iberdrola
• UK & Ireland: Unilever
• Western Europe: Roche Holding

Judged awards

This year, IR Magazine introduced three new categories that complement our researched awards categories. Each of these new awards was presented to a publicly listed company that made an outstanding contribution to the practice of IR and the community of IR professionals. While the rest of the IR Magazine Awards are determined by a survey of the investment community, these new awards invited nominations and the winners were decided by a panel of judges made up of IR Magazine editorial team members and investment professionals. 

The winners

Rising star: Martin Kjær Hansen, ISS (Denmark)
Part of the team that came third in the best IR for an IPO category in 2015, Hansen (left in this picture) works hard to further the IR profession and has built up a strong reputation among his peers. He is the youngest ever board member to join the Danish IR society and has developed new sell-side practices that have been copied by other firms.

Best investor event: Unilever (UK)
Unilever was nominated for its innovative and interactive 2015 Unilever Investor Seminar, which included hands-on experience of new technologies, interaction with management from divisional levels and beyond, and visits to consumers’ homes.

Best use of multimedia for IR: Deutsche EuroShop (Germany)
Hamburg-based Deutsche EuroShop used free video-streaming app Periscope to allow investors and analysts the chance to watch the firm’s incoming and outgoing CEOs give speeches at its AGM.