Norwegian companies still struggle with IR and Careers

By Timmy Fredriksson

The websites of the 22 largest companies in Norway have been ranked to see how well they meet the demands of the capital market and jobseekers. According to the latest survey, improvements have been made in reporting since last year but the struggle to provide important IR and careers related content continues.

Investors are missing financial goals

The Norwegian companies’ IR sections need attention: the average stakeholder fulfilment this year is a measly 27%, similar to the rest of Europe. This is a number to take seriously, considering the importance of the capital market and shareholders for listed companies.

According to our surveys, one of the most important pieces of content wanted is financial targets and achievements in numbers, which is presented by 9% of the Norwegian companies. Disclosing this information would greatly aid investors and analysts in making qualified decisions regarding their potential and already made investments. Especially presenting these numbers, both targets and achievements, with explanations on how to reach them and how they’ve been reached is what is missing. No wonder that IR contacts are highly sought-after in our surveys, which on a positive note, Norwegian companies are very good at providing in comparison to the rest of Europe.

Reports and presentations are Norway’s strong suite

It’s not all bad for investors looking towards Norway. Norwegian companies are becoming increasingly better at providing reporting related content. While the average is on par with the rest of Europe, Norway stands out regarding PDF reports and especially presentations, with a great stakeholder fulfilment of 95%. A lot higher than the European average. One to look at is Orkla, top scoring in the IR-section when it comes to the Norwegian companies.

Include diversity in workplace culture

One of the weaker sections for Norwegian companies are their career pages and the stakeholder fulfilment is at the same level as it was in 2013. With an average of 32%, there’s quite a way to go to reach European standard. Not to mention what their Nordic counterparts achieves as Norway lags quite a lot. While a lot has been done to present values and culture in the workplace, an important piece of information to show jobseekers the company from its best side, there is a lot missing by jobseekers.

Norwegian companies actually have the lowest average out of all ranked countries regarding diversity policy and diversity in numbers. Less than a third present this information. According to the Careers Survey by Comprend, the importance average for diversity policy and data is 3.7 / 5. A number to take seriously, and if not, Norwegian companies could be missing out on future talents. Top performer in Norway regarding Careers is Telenor.

Top performers in Norway

This year top three features names familiar to top placements in the Norwegian list of Webranking by Comprend 2018-2019. In fact, the podium looks almost exactly the same, besides third placing Equinor (previously Statoil). Their score this year was 57.2 of 100. The runner up is Telenor, which backs down in score to 66.6. The winner is once again Orkla, with a score of 72. This year’s climber in the Norwegian list is Gjensidige Forsikring, which saw an increase in score from 44.6 to 56.9.

See the full Norwegian results here