Websites of leading European companies fall short of the needs of the capital market

The majority of the 500 largest European companies by market cap included in the Financial Times Europe 500 list lack critical IR content on their corporate website. Findings from KWD Webranking 2011 show that market information, financial goals and risks are scarce, and few present their debt maturity structures. The more worrying as this is the kind of information financial markets are looking for in these troubled times.

Only 10 companies mention their financial targets and achievements

The most apparent gap between stakeholder demands and actual performance occurs for financial targets and achievements. Among surveyed capital-market stakeholders, 87% want information on targets and 77% on financial achievements. Only 10 companies of the Europe 500 list provide both – Telecom Italia, the winner of KWD Webranking 2011, is one of them.

Few mention loans and repayment plans

Across Europe, the mention of interest bearing liabilities is also far below stakeholder demands. 3 out of 4 want information about loans and bonds. Only 40% of European companies present their liabilities and slightly less (37%) inform about repayments and maturity structure.

When doing sector analysis*, ‘Gas, water & multiutilities’ ranks best in information on interest bearing liabilities (82% give at least some information). Not a single company in either ‘Software & computer services’ or ‘Household & luxury goods’ provides this information.

‘Telecommunications’ is the sector which has the best average score for debt maturity structures (48%). Here again, the ‘Software & computer services’ sector provides no information.

Tobacco and Telecommunications companies reveal market shares

Virtually all companies (95%) have some information about their business operations but very few talk about market share – only 32%. For instance, in both the ‘Oil equipment & services’ and ‘Real estate’ sectors, only one company in each gives this data: the UK energy supporting company Wood Group and the French real estate company Klepierre.

The sectors with most transparency regarding markets, market shares and competitors are ‘Beverages & Tobacco’ and ‘Telecommunications’, followed by ‘Software and computer services’.

From a geographical perspective, companies in Finland, the United Kingdom and Sweden are the most open ones on this topic.

Clear investor propositions are rare

Investors want a rationale for investing in a given company, but only 8% provide an investor proposition on their website. Of these, 46% are from the UK, 13% Germany and 8% France.

“Our results show that only a few of the biggest companies across Europe take the time and effort to clearly outline their investment case on the corporate website. All the others expect the visitor to do the work – to piece it together from random bits of information sprayed around the site. The 8% that do it properly are surely at an advantage – as a potential investor I can understand the key strengths of the company in just a few seconds,” says Phil Marchant, Managing Director (UK) of KWD.

Financial and operational risks are left out

The majority of the capital market (80%) finds it either important or very important with a risk management section with details on how well the company is prepared for risks and how they intend to react, should risks become a reality. Only 30% of the companies, however, present information about financial or operational risks.

Out of the 30% with risk management on their website, the following sectors have a higher proportion of companies giving this information: ‘Insurance’, Oil and gas producers’, ‘Beverages & Tobacco’.

A sensitivity analysis is also highly sought after by financial analysts. Only 10% of the companies, however, present an estimate of how individual risk factors, such as fluctuations in currency or oil price, affect the company’s business.

* KWD Webranking’s sector categorization is based on the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB), an industry classification taxonomy developed by Dow Jones and FTSE. The ICB uses a system of 10 industries, partitioned into 20 supersectors, which are further divided into 41 sectors. KWD Webranking has consolidated ICB’s 41 sectors into 28 sectors. ICB’s ‘Banks’ sector has been divided into two sectors in KWD Webranking (1) Large international banks and (2) Other banks.