Online Disclosure Improves in Eleven Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Countries; First-Time Comparison with Peers in Portugal and Spain

Published 03-02-06

Submitted by East-West Management Institute

Today, the PFS Program publishes its tenth 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 intern Pawel Dziedzic conducted the survey in February 2006.

Investor Relations Online: Survey of Websites of the Largest Listed Companies in CEE analyzes the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Czech Republic Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia for the tenth time and in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania for the fourth time. The survey provides current data as of February 15, 2006 and comparisons with the nine previous surveys, published in August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001. Moreover, the survey includes for the first time an analysis of the websites of the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Portugal and Spain.

The survey demonstrates that online disclosure by CEE listed companies has improved since the last survey, conducted in August 2005. In particular, the number of companies with local-language and English-language websites has increased to the highest levels recorded since the PFS Program launched its surveys in August 2001. In February 2006, all of the companies surveyed have a local-language website. This is the first time since August 2001 that the PFS Program has observed existence of a local-language website at each of the companies surveyed. Also, the number of companies that provide additional information on supervisory board members (which is traditionally the category with the poorest survey results) increased significantly.

Survey results include the following:

In February 2006, all of the CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website. As noted above, this is the first time that all CEE companies surveyed have a local-language website since the first survey was conducted in August 2001. In August 2005, 97% of the companies surveyed had a local-language website.

In February 2006, 94% of the CEE companies surveyed have an English-language website. This is also the highest percentage recorded since the first survey. In August 2005, 87% of the companies surveyed had an English-language website. Furthermore, there has been improvement in the underperformers. Now, in one country, seven of the ten companies surveyed have an English-language website; in four countries, nine of the ten companies surveyed have an English-language website; and in six countries, all ten companies have an English-language website. This represents an improvement since the last survey. In August 2005, in two countries, seven of the ten companies surveyed had an English-language website; in two countries, eight of the ten companies surveyed had an English-language website; in four countries, nine of the ten companies surveyed had an English-language website; and in three countries, all ten companies surveyed had and English-language website.

The PFS Program surveys analyze the websites of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned eleven CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this "blue-chip" peer group and identify best practice among the peer group. Whereas the universe of companies surveyed may change over time due to changes in a company's market capitalization, the ongoing surveys represent a snapshot of this peer group's disclosure practices on a given day twice a year and thereby provide insights into blue-chip companies' corporate governance and investor relations practices.

A comparison of the results of the tenth survey of the largest listed companies in eleven CEE countries and the first survey of peers in Portugal and Spain includes the following:

All of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries and in Portugal and Spain have a local-language website;

94% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries (and 97.5% of the companies surveyed in the eight new member states of the European Union [EU]) have an English-language website, compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain;

81% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide a list of management online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain;

46% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide additional information on management online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain;

76% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide a list of board members online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain; and

41% of the companies surveyed in the eleven CEE countries provide additional information on board members online compared with 90% in Portugal and 100% in Spain.

The first-time survey of Portugal and Spain enables the comparison of the disclosure practices of the CEE blue-chip peer group with peers in EU.

Note: The survey, consisting of databases of results by company and a presentation of the results by country, contains the following information: current data as of February 15, 2006 on companies in all eleven CEE countries; comparisons of the data from February 2006 with data from the previous surveys conducted in August 2005, February 2005, August 2004, February 2004, August 2003, February 2003, August 2002, February 2002 and August 2001; and separate data as of February 15, 2006 on companies in Portugal and Spain.

Starting today, the survey is available online at: http://www.pfsprogram.org/capitalmarkets_research.php

About the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program
The Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program, established in December 1999, is a cooperative program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and East-West Management Institute (EWMI), a New York-based non-profit organization.

The objective of the PFS Program is to accelerate financial sector reform and development in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe in order to integrate these countries more quickly in the European and international financial system. The PFS Program works in a broad range of areas integral to the financial sector: accounting, audit, banking/bank supervision, capital markets/corporate governance; financial sector research, insurance, pension reform/regulation and prevention of money laundering.

From late 1999 through 2005, the PFS Program was active in eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries that joined the European Union (EU) in 2004: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. In 2005, the geographical focus of the PFS Program shifted to South East Europe (SEE): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.

For more information, please visit the PFS Program website at .

Online Disclosure Improves in Eleven Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Countries; First-Time Comparison with Peers in Portugal and Spain

Online Disclosure Improves in Eleven Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Countries; First-Time Comparison with Peers in Portugal and Spain

East-West Management Institute

East-West Management Institute

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