In the 27th edition of the Webranking Europe 500 research, six Austrian companies have been included in the research sample. Notably, making a significant comeback after its absence in the research last year, Voestalpine secures the top position in the Austrian ranking, followed by OMV Group and Verbund. This comprehensive study, conducted by Lundquist in collaboration with Comprend, assesses the transparency of corporate communications of the 500 largest listed European companies based on market capitalization in the STOXX All Europe 800 index.
“A significant disparity remains between words and actions. In an era of growing scepticism towards companies and institutions, it is crucial to invest in communication that is concrete and easily accessible to a wider audience.”
Austria’s performance in the 2023-24 edition
In the latest edition of the Webranking research, Austrian companies have demonstrated a good overall performance, achieving an average score of 49.4 out of 100, marking an improvement from the previous year’s score of 47. This not only surpasses the European average but aligns with the continent-wide trend of improving transparency since the previous year. Specifically, notable improvements are seen in Verbund and BAWAG Group, recording increases of 8.3 and 7.4 points, respectively.
However, upon closer inspection, the majority of Austrian companies in this year’s assessment closely hover around the 50-point threshold, with two companies scoring significantly below it. Additionally, when looking at the Europe 500 ranking, only one Austrian company, Voestalpine, secured a position in the Top 100.
PERFORMANCE OF AUSTRIAN COMPANIES IN EUROPE 500
Austria compared to the rest of Europe
Despite the limited representation of Austrian companies in the research sample, the country secures the 8th position out of the 22 European countries included in this year’s Webranking research. Austria stands out as the top-performing country in Europe for the Press section, scoring an average of 54%. Additionally, the country excels in the Reporting and Governance sections of the research protocol, ranking among the top 3 in both categories, surpassing its German-speaking neighbours, Germany and Switzerland.
However, Austrian companies face challenges in investor communication, scoring a mere 20% in the Investor Relations section. Austria also emerges as the lowest-scoring country in Europe, together with Ireland, concerning communication about ESG and sustainability commitments, scoring 38%, despite the considerable attention to these themes by stakeholders.
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Transparency to combat greenwashing and build trust
In an era of growing scepticism towards companies and institutions, the results of the Webranking research emphasize, once again, the importance of prioritizing transparency in corporate communications. This not only entails presenting data and figures but contextualizing them, narrating the vision, and illustrating the impacts related to the company’s key topics. Transparency, in essence, means reaching a broader audience through accessible language.
This year’s edition reveals encouraging developments, notably the improvement in communication targeting employees and jobseekers, an area historically among the weakest in the research.
However, financial communication remains a persistent challenge for European companies, struggling to offer a compelling interpretation of their strategy and investment case, which extends to their approach to communicating ESG topics, where the absence of tangible numbers, objectives, and examples often leaves statements superficial.
The real opportunity lies in making one’s commitment tangible, especially in the face of a vast and diverse audience that demands more than mere statements of intent. The Lundquist .trust research, which builds on Webranking, helps companies that demonstrate excellent levels of transparency to push towards new frontiers of credibility, transforming transparency into trust.
