KWD Webranking has in a survey asked analysts, investors and business journalists what they expect from a corporate website. In the annual ranking of corporate websites, KWD has looked at how well the 70 largest Swiss companies by market cap live up to target group needs.

1. 93% have the latest annual report in pdf on the corporate website; 80% publish interim reports.
2. 59% offer at least 3 years of archived presentation material.
3. 24% have some information about different markets and market shares. ABB, Nestlé and Oerlikon are the only companies presenting a list of company peers supported by historic performance data.
4. Credit Suisse Group, Nobel Biocare, Swisscom and Zurich Financial are the only companies providing  3-4 reporting dates, the date for AGM 2011 and 2012, future dividend dates and capital market days.
5. 80% have an archive for annual and interim reports.
6. 12 companies present financial goals either with or without a description of how to reach them.
7. 91% have the latest press releases on the home page.
8. 5 companies describe their growth drivers and give an indication of their future performance.
9. More than half (57%)  provide both a general and personal IR contact.
10. 1 out of 3 has some form of information about their interest-bearing liabilities.

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Trends and challenges of Swiss corporate websites

Switzerland’s results from KWD Webranking 2011

Checklist for a successful website

Swisscom retains the KWD Webranking crown in Switzerland followed by Credit Suisse Group and UBS. The 8^th edition of the research found no improvement in Swiss results between 2010 and 2011

 The telecommunications provider Swisscom, with 71.75 points, retains the top spot in the KWD Webranking awards for the third year in a row, closely followed by Credit Suisse Group (70), gaining the second position from UBS (68), which dropped to third.

This year the Swiss ranking was expanded to 70 companies from 48 to provide an even more significant study of the country’s online corporate communications landscape. Of the new entries, Alpiq Holding and Kuoni did best, finishing in 21st position.

 Givaudan, with an improvement of 7 points, is the best improver compared with last year’s edition, followed by SGS (+5.5), Logitech (+5.25), Sulzer (+5.25) and Roche (+4.5).

The average Swiss score dropped to 38.4 from 46.9, although the decrease is mainly due to the introduction of more companies, all of which scored less than 50. Considering only the 46 companies analysed both in 2011 and 2010, this year’s average score would be 44.3 points, a decline of 2.6 from 2010.

The study shows that the quality of Swiss corporate websites remains virtually unchanged between 2010 and 2011: this is confirmed by the decrease in the average score and by the fact that three quarters of the companies scored less than 50 points, considered a minimum level for an effective corporate website that responds to user needs.

Read more:

• KWD Webranking 2011 Switzerland Top70 Executive Summary (PDF)
• Swiss result list
• Article in Finanz und Wirtschaft (PDF)