Press release
Paris, December 23rd, 2009 Euronext Paris: LG
A study has ranked the Lafarge Internet site n°1 amongst French corporate sites for the second year running
The Swedish communication agency Hallvarsson & Halvarsson has recently published the ninth edition of its pan-European study on the Internet sites of 800 major companies. This study puts the Lafarge Internet site www.lafarge.com in the leading position out of 75 French sites under review, and in third position among all the web sites in the 'Construction & Materials' sector.
A wide-reaching study
H&H Webranking is an annual study carried out by the Swedish agency Hallvarsson & Halvarsson. This year, the study focused on Internet sites of the 800 companies located in 25 European countries with the strongest market capitalization, covering 28 fields of business. As such, it enables the agency to measure the relevance of Internet site content in relation to the expectations of stakeholders and to identify best practices.
In 2009, Lafarge was ranked n°1 among French sites for the second year running. The study places particular emphasis on the quality of the headings "Journalists" and "Job Candidates", which were ranked n°1 among French sites. The "Sustainable Development" section (n°2 in France) was also praised, highlighting the Group's goal of being transparent in its commitments and projects in terms of environment, health and safety and relationships with stakeholders.
Lafarge, leader in building materials and developing on the Web
This new distinction is a credit to the Lafarge Internet site that was launched in early 2008 after a full editorial and technological overhaul, aimed at offering Internet users a site that is attractive and high- performance as well as rich in content with practical features that are easy to use.
Every month, www.lafarge.com receives an average of 130 000 visitors, who are easily able to find out about the Group, its businesses and challenges through the site’s 200 pages, which include case studies, themed search engines and even glossaries of technical terms. Many innovative tools are available such as registration for RSS feeds, podcasts, or social bookmarking (i.e. shared Favorites).
In addition, Lafarge is developing its presence in social media and uses its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/LafargeGroup), Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Lafarge) and Twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/LafargeGroup) to give users interactive follow-up on the Group's breaking news, especially focusing on information given in real time, "live" photos and discussions with experts from the Group.
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December 23rd, 2009
In 2008, Lafarge was already the first group in the CAC 40 to be identified for its efforts in terms of Internet site accessibility, by making it available for all Internet users, including people with disabilities, and regardless of hardware used. At that time, the Group received the "Silver" certification from the French label AccessiWeb and level A from the European label Euracert.
Notes to editors Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates & Concrete and Gypsum. With more than 84,000 employees in 79 countries, Lafarge posted sales of Euros 19 billion in 2008. In 2009 and for the fifth year in a row, Lafarge was listed in the ‘Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World’. With the world’s leading building materials research facility, Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction and architectural creativity. Additional information is available on the web site at www.lafarge.com
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Claire Mathieu : +33(0) 1 44 34 18 18 [email protected]