Notice of Webranking by Comprend 21st Annual Release — companies included and deadlines

The evaluation process for the latest edition of Webranking by Comprend 2017/2018  is off to a great start. The study is Europe’s most in-depth analysis of online financial and corporate communication, covering the largest companies in Europe as well as several individual country rankings. The ranking is conducted by Comprend in collaboration with Lundquist, which manages the Italian, Swiss and Austrian rankings.

Evaluation of Italian, Swiss & Austrian Listed companies commences

The Lundquist ranking process entails an evaluation of the largest 110 companies in Italy by market cap, the 50 largest listed Swiss companies and the 10 largest Austrian companies. The Italian research is published in Italy’s leading newspaper Corriere della Sera, with the Swiss research published in the leading Swiss business weekly, Bilanz. Find out if your company is included or excluded.

New this year: previously excluded companies now included

In the past three years, we had decided not to include the Italian, Swiss, and Austrian companies which had have scored less than 30 points (out of 100) in previous editions. However, this year we have re-included these lower scoring companies in the final evaluation, so as to give them the opportunity to compare their own positioning with their competitors and improve their  stakeholder communications. In today’s market, stakeholder engagement has become standard practice among companies and increasingly important to investors, therefore, all companies should be given the possibility to benchmark their practices with their competitors and improve their standing with stakeholders.

For last chance inclusions, please contact Caroline Becker (caroline.becker@lundquist.it) by 21 July.

Companies we will be evaluating this summer

• 110 Italian companies, now including newly listed companies Unieuro, Farmafactoring, IVS and ASP
• 50 Swiss companies
• 10 Austrian companies

The official close of the ranking process for listed companies will be Thursday, 31 August 2017. Companies planning on making any updates to their websites or launch new sites towards the end of July or beginning of August should send us an email notification by August 18th with a list of all updates (including links) to guarantee an accurate evaluation. A discount will be provided to those who pre-order a report by September.

An international communications event announcing the winners will be held in Milan in late November.

See the complete ranking list below.

Non-listed company evaluations in Italy and Switzerland to continue for fourth year.

In September, we will also evaluate the largest non-listed companies in Italy and Switzerland for the fourth time, based on criteria that are adapted to the specific requirements of these companies.

The evaluation for the fourth edition of Webranking for non-listed companies in Italy and Switzerland will be carried out after the evaluation process for listed companies closes. The final list of companies included in the ranking will be announced in early September.

The value of the research

Webranking evaluates information companies present on their websites based on the needs of stakeholders, which have been meticulously tracked through annual surveys of capital market participants and jobseekers.

The research evaluates companies’ ability to respond to external information requests in a business environment that is becoming increasingly competitive and complex. Companies receive a rank based on how they respond to stakeholder needs via their corporate website and digital channels. The companies that best respond to their stakeholders are able to create the opportunity for themselves to build a “premium” status with key stakeholders, access greater capital and business markets, attract the best talent, and build their internal capacity for effective reputational crisis management.

The Webranking study only evaluates the corporate and financial information found within the English language version of a company’s corporate website (excluding commercial sections), as well as the company’s communications through its social media channels.

Sector Benchmarks

The sector reports, indicate whether companies are responding transparently to the most critical issues facing their industry. The reports also offer a direct peer group comparison, giving companies an in-depth look into how their competitors are operating in this space.

Over the years, we have published sector reports on banking, insurance, oil and gas and healthcare, which were covered in the International Banker, Investment Europe, Insurance Day, and eHealthNews.eu.

For more information about the 2016-2017 results for Italy, Switzerland and Austria, please visit our whitepaper section.