Webranking by Comprend is the leading in-depth survey of digital corporate content provided by major listed companies across Europe and beyond. This year, the annual ranking found substantial gaps in the information that Portuguese companies provide to corporate audiences.
Webranking 2015-2016 assessed nine listed Portuguese companies – of which five are part of the Financial Times Europe 500 list. The companies were ranked on the basis of 100 criteria that summarises the expectations of portfolio managers, securities analysts and jobseekers, among other stakeholder categories.
Investor information: still falling behind
Webranking by Comprend, which ranked 803 corporate websites from 36 countries this year, found that Portuguese companies provide scarce information about strategic goals, scope of operations and financial outlook. This is in stark contrast to the expectations of financial audiences. An example of this is information on financial targets and achievements, an item in which three out of four investors show a keen interest, but where Portuguese companies average only 4% of the total score.
Corporate governance: also in need of improvement
Portuguese companies continue to ignore the importance of transparent communications on corporate direction and control. This is exemplified by the absence of information about group management, director remuneration and insider dealings – which Portuguese companies average only 35.4% of the maximum corporate governance score.
Reporting: a bright spot
Financial reporting is the area where Portuguese companies best manage to keep up with its northern European peers, averaging 85% of the maximum score for financial presentations, an item that 91% of capital market survey respondents rated important.
Dividend policy and history: a major achievement
Portuguese companies perform better than the Financial Times Europe 500 average on the guidance provided to shareholders about payout ratios – an item that 91% of survey respondents rate as important. A quite impressive 77.8% of the Portuguese companies surveyed also provide dividend history data covering up to five years.
Career information: unexplored territory
Information about what it is like to work at a company is a topic of increasingly high demand. Yet, the failure of Portuguese companies to provide this and other requested career content, such as information about the work environment or company culture, leaves Portuguese companies with only 9.2% of the maximum score.
Accessibility from mobile devices: still a challenge
As visits from mobile devices keep rising, corporate websites should facilitate access and enhance user experience through responsiveness and faster loading speed. On access, the lag is best described by the modest 22% of companies whose website is responsive. On loading speed, no more than 11% of Portuguese corporate websites attain satisfactory levels for mobile devices.
Webranking by Comprend 2015-2016 – Portugal
Galp Energia is the Portuguese winner for the fourth year running, with a score of 54.4 points, in comparison to 46 points for runner-up EDP and 43.8 points for Jerónimo Martins. From a fifth place last year, Portugal Telecom dropped out of this year’s list.
- GalpEnergia – 54.4%
- EDP – 46%
- JerónimoMartins – 43.8%
- EDPRenováveis – 39.5%
- REN – 36.3%
- BPI – 30.6%
- Millennium BCP – 29.3%
- CTT – 25.7%
- Sonae SGPS – 23.8%
See the full Portuguese Webranking results here.
Commenting on the Portuguese results, Miguel Cruz de Oliveira, Director for Portugal, Spain and France, said:
“This year’s average score for Portuguese companies is comparable to last year’s, possibly meaning that improved online communications as an item has not moved substantially higher on senior management agendas. As the bulk of corporate communications now happens online, lack of progress on this front results in a missed opportunity to engage with key audiences.”
Webranking by Comprend – est. 1997
Webranking by Comprend is Europe’s leading survey of corporate websites. Established in 1997, it is the only research that has ranked over 800 corporate websites according to how well companies address the information requirements of corporate stakeholders.
Read more about Webranking by Comprend here.
More information
For more information about Webranking and the global findings, please download the 2015-2016 Webranking Highlight Magazine.
