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Corporate Social Responsibility
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3.05.2007 - 02:50pm ET
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Online Disclosure of the Largest Listed Companies in Eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries Improves; Second-Time Comparison with Peers in BRIC and Ukraine
(CSRwire) March 5, 2007 - Today, the PFS Program publishes its 12th semi-annual
Survey of Online Investor Relations of the Ten Largest Listed Companies
(by market capitalization) in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE)
countries. PFS Program Manager Agnieszka Cenzartowicz, PFS Program
Research Assistant Igor Solodovnik and Catherine Sykes, East-West
Management Institute (EWMI) New York conducted the survey from January 2
through March 2, 2007.
Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed
Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies
in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. For the second time, the
survey provides comparisons with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China)
and Ukraine in order to compare online disclosure practices with peers in
other emerging markets.
This survey analyzes the English-language websites and annual reports of
the 10 largest listed companies in the aforementioned CEE countries in
order to document the current disclosure practices of this 'blue-chip'
peer group. Although the market capitalization of companies changes over
time, these semi-annual surveys represent a snapshot of disclosure
practices of the blue-chip peer group on a given day twice a year. Since
the definition of the survey universe has remained the same since the
first survey, the surveys provide time-series data for CEE blue-chip
companies and thus enable the identification of online disclosure
trends.
The survey provides current data as of February 15, 2007 and comparisons
with the 11 previous surveys, published in August 2006, February 2006,
August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003,
February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001.
In this survey, disclosure in almost all categories remains at or reaches
its highest level since the first survey was conducted in August 2001.
This trend has been observed since February 2006 and may be viewed as
sustainable. As of February 15, 2007 all companies surveyed in all 11
countries have a local language website. A large majority have an
English-language website: including all 10 companies in surveyed in Czech
Republic, Estonia, Hungary Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. However, while
basic information about management and boards is now generally available
online, detailed information is still lacking in many markets.
Beginning in 2004, the survey includes recommendations on the ideal
corporate website and compares CEE companies to this ideal. This component
of the survey is designed to help identify best practice and enables CEE
companies to benchmark their disclosure against peers in the region
against other emerging markets and against industry best practice
according to standardized parameters. Here also, the time-series data
permits identification of trends.
Survey results include the following:
Websites: Each of the 110 CEE companies surveyed has a
local-language website. This is the third consecutive time since the first
survey was conducted in August 2001 that each CEE company surveyed has a
local-language website. 94% of the companies surveyed have an
English-language website; the percentage has remained constant for the
past 18 months.
Information on Management: 82% of the companies surveyed
provide a list of management online; 53% provide additional information on
management. The former category decreased slightly (5%) whereas the later
increased significantly (15%) vis-a-vis August 2006.
Information on Board Members: 81% of the companies surveyed
provide a list of board members online, whereas 40% provide additional
information on their board members. The former category remained at the
highest level reported since the first survey and the latter increased
7.5% to a level comparable to the highest level reported (41% in February
2006).
Comparisons with BRIC and Ukraine: On average, the largest
listed companies in the BRIC countries equal or outperform their CEE peers
in every category. However, in several categories the difference is
minimal. In Ukraine, in contrast, the companies surveyed disclose less
information in English than their peers in both BRIC and CEE.
Complete survey results and report are now available online at: http://www.pfsprogram.org/capitalmarkets_research.php
About the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) established
the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program in 1999 as a
public-private partnership to help complete reforms necessary to create
sound, private and well-functioning financial sectors in the eight Central
and Eastern European (CEE) countries that have since joined the European
Union. In 2005, the geographical focus of the program shifted to South
East Europe (SEE).
East-West Management Institute (EWMI), a New York-based not-for-profit
organization, is currently the primary implementing partner.
The PFS Program is mandated to fill remaining gaps in the institutional
development of the financial sector in CEE and SEE countries through
regional integration and cooperation, selective technical assistance
programs and the practical application of lessons learned in neighboring
countries. The substantive areas covered under the PFS Program are:
accounting, auditing, banking, capital markets, insurance and pension
reform. For more information, please visit the PFS Program website at www.pfsprogram.org
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