OMV Group, Erste Group, and Wienberger top the Austrian podium

By Greta Castelli 

The latest Webranking by Comprend 2019-2020 Austrian edition conducted in collaboration with Lundquist, the 14th edition locally and 23rd globally, evaluated 28 Austrian companies. The findings this year reveal a significant fall in the rankings for many Austrian companies. The overall average dropped by 4.8 points, a higher drop than the European average drop of 2.1 points. However, Austrian companies have remained fairly stable when it comes to passing the stress test and achieving over 50 points in their ranking – 43% passed, 46% were held back, and only 11% failed.

Oil & Gas company OMV Group (65.9) narrowly takes first place this year, jumping ahead with a score increase of 8.5 points, which also makes them this year’s Best Improver, and are just above last year’s winner Erste Group (65.2 points). Wienberger comes in third place with 63.3 points.  

Austrian companies are not fully matching their communications with stakeholder expectations 

Looking closer at the performance of Austrian companies, only one company improved their score this year: OMV Group. With only 1 improving company and 14 new companies on the list, 14 out of 28 companies’ scores decreased this year. Given that half of the companies on the Austrian list had a score decrease this year, it is clear that they need to invest more in communications.

Austrian companies fare well in specific areas of the protocol

Austrian companies this year have improved the information they present regarding their corporate governance. Moreover, Austrian companies seem to be doing well when it comes to the new criterion regarding past Research and Development programs: 68% of Austrian companies present this information while the European average is only 25% completion.

The European average stands at 45.1 points and Austrian companies at 46.9. Overall, Austrian companies’ average lines up with the European one, notwithstanding the fact that Austrian companies had a higher point-drop this year. The overall European average drop indicated that stakeholder expectations have risen, and companies’ transparency communication needs to catch up.

Austrian companies will need do far more to meet the expectations of stakeholders and step up to the plate when it comes to presenting more information on their websites and not hidden away in their yearly reports.

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