NZX50’s savviest communicators revealed

NZX50’s savviest communicators revealed

Of the NZX50 companies, Pike River Coal investors receive the best communication on-line and Ebos Group’s the worst, the fourth annual Best Investor Website Awards (BIWA) show.

The awards evaluate how well listed companies’ websites meet the needs of investors. The survey is held annually by Christchurch-based Wired Internet in conjunction with Bruce Russell, information design lecturer at Christchurch Polytechnic.

Pike River Coal scored 90 out of a possible 100 – the highest in the Awards’ four-year history - ahead of second placed Fletcher Building (87) and Goodman Fielder (84).

Pike River was 11th last year, Fletchers 6th and Goodman 4th.

Last year’s winner NZ Oil and Gas was seventh equal.

At the tail of the field were Mainfreight (43), Michael Hill International (37) and Ebos (36). These companies showed their consistency – they were also last in 2009.

The awards are endorsed by the New Zealand Shareholders’ Association.

New Zealand Shareholders’ Association Chairman John Hawkins commented;

“As the importance of this relatively new medium grows, we would expect to see a steady lift in the clarity and user-friendliness of their websites. The Awards are a great initiative to hasten this process,” Mr Hawkins said.

“Celebrating those who are succeeding and challenging others is a sure path to improving the overall standard of investor websites. This can only benefit both shareholders and the companies they own.”

Pike River Relationships Manager Helene Ambler said they are thrilled with the acknowledgement. “Our website is a critical and integral part of our investor communications tool box so this award is very encouraging.”

A large proportion of Pike River’s 9,000 plus shareholder base is reliant on their website for company updates, so the site is key vehicle for communicating. “It allows investors to make direct contact with company representatives and personalises communication with our shareholders which is important to them and to us,” said Ms Ambler.

BIWA judge Bruce Russell is author of the book “Preparing for Take-off” on effective online communication, launched this year. Mr Russell said that this year’s results show the growing importance of online communication with investors, and that the best sites were those that directed this information clearly at the investment audience, as distinct from retail customers.

Key trends from the BIWA report are:
1. The good are getting better, the worst worse - The gap between best and the worst continues to widen – there was 54 points between Ebos and Pike River, compared with 52 between first and last in 2009 and a 39 point spread in 2008.The overall mean score this year was much the same as last year’s, at 66.3 – while the mean of the Top 10 increased by two points this year to 82.5, and that of the Bottom 10 declined by three points to 46.2.
2. Ethical marketing is on the rise – Half the sites in the NZX50 use either social or environmental responsibility as a plank of their investor and customer relations strategies. This is a new but sharply increasing trend that we will be tracking in future years. This is more pronounced among new designs – 12 of the 15 new sites had both social and environmental initiatives.
3. Social media not yet important in investor relations – Only five investor sites used Facebook, four used Twitter and only three were blogging about corporate affairs. Some companies clearly used social media to communicate with customers, but this happens outside the corporate sites surveyed.
4. Standing still is going backwards - This year six of the Top 10 sites were new designs. Sites with no major improvements in the last twelve months score on average five points less - year on year.
5 Bigger not always better - A big budget is still not as important as a clear understanding of what investors want. Like last year, the largest and most liquid listed companies fared only just above average – the average for the NZX50 was 66.3, and the NZX15 average was 66.7.
6. New sites continue to do better - Of the sites that had been significantly revised 80% either retained or improved their rankings compared with last year, when only 68% of all redesigned sites scored better than in the previous year. In 2008 only 50% of new designs actually ranked higher. This year six of the Top 10 company sites feature new designs - four of which are in the top five. By contrast, in the Bottom 10, six have not been significantly redesigned since at least 2007.

Following are the best and worst results. The full results are in the report online here: http://www.wired.co.nz/Files/BIWA-2010-Report.pdf
The best and worst of the NZX50 companies in BIWA 2010
Top five
Rank Business - NZX code Homepage
1 Pike River Coal - PRC www.pike.co.nz

2 Fletcher Building Ltd – FBU www.fletcherbuilding.com/

3 Goodman Fielder Ltd – GFF www.goodmanfielder.com.au/

4 Auckland International Airport Ltd - AIA www.auckland-airport.co.nz/

5 Kiwi Income Property Trust – KIP www.kipt.co.nz/

5 Port of Tauranga Ltd (NS) - POT www.port-tauranga.co.nz/

Bottom five

46 Cavalier Corporation Ltd - CAV www.cavcorp.co.nz/

47 AMP Limited - AMP www.ampgroup.com/

48 Mainfreight Ltd - MFT www.mainfreight.com/

49 Michael Hill International Ltd – MHI www.michaelhill.com/

50 Ebos Group Ltd - EBO www.ebos.co.nz/

ENDS

© Scoop Media