Executive Summary Telecom Italia calls in at number one Telecom Italia retained its top position in 2007, with UniCredit and Edison again rounding out the best performers. Italian companies have improved their online communications signicantly, but content presentation still remains an area of improvement. Milan, November 5th, 2007 - The sixth annual edition of Webranking Italia Top80, conducted by H&H (Hallvarsson & Halvarsson) in partnership with Corriere della Sera, awarded top honours to Telecom H&H Webranking Italia as the best Italian website for corporate online communications. 11th European edition and 6th Italian edition Telecom Italia reafrmed that it was best in class with a score of 89 points (out of a possible 100), followed closely by UniCredit (with 87.75 630 surveyed companies points), which overtook Edison (at 85.5 points) this year. in Europe and 82 in Italy Parmalat and Seat Pagine Gialle entered the top ten for the rst time. Evaluation Protocol with The two companies were also this year’s ‘best improvers’, with the 125 criteria most signicant changes in score from 2006. This placed them in front of Unipol Gruppo Finanziario, Terna and UBI Banca. Webranking Questionaire: answers from 350 The average score of the 82 rms considered in the ranking increased analysts, investors and by 6.3 points to 46.2 points this year. Another signicant result was that business journalist from all 31 companies achieved a score above 50 points - which indicates over Europe that the sites a good website standard - as opposed to 23 in 2006 and only 9 in 2005. ‘The steady rise in the average Webranking scores over the last few Top 10 years reects an increased awareness among Italian companies of the importance of web-based communication’, explained Joakim 1. Telecom Italia Lundquist, the head of H&H in Italy. ‘The future challenge for Italian 2. UniCredit Group 3. Edison companies now lies in improving the impact of their message and 4. ENI quality of the language used.’ 5. Pirelli & C 6. Hera The evaluation is based on criteria which are updated every year to 7. Snam Rete Gas account for new trends in web communications as well as emerging 8. Autogrill user requirements. The research is based on a survey of analysts, 9. Parmalat investors and business journalists. 10. Seat Pagine Gialle This year new criteria were introduced in sections such as corporate governance (i.e. whistle blowing) and copy editing (i.e. paragraph structure and clear labelling). Best improver 1. Parmalat (+62 positions) 2. Seat Pagine Gialle (+47) 3. Unipol (+33) H&H Webranking 2007 Italia Top 80 4. Terna (+21) Webranking Awards Italy - November 26, 2007 5. UBI Banca (+15) The fourth annual Italy Top80 Webranking awards ceremony will be held on Tuesday morning, the 26th of November in the Sala Buzzati of Corriere della Sera 1 (10) How the H&H Webranking survey works H&H Webranking 2007 Webranking Questionnaire he H&H Webranking survey, now in its eleventh annual More than 50% of analysts visit corporate websites edition, represents the most comprehensive survey of T more than once a day corporate online communications in Europe. 90% consider the corporate website the most The study evaluates the English language version of important source when searching of nancial companies’ websites, excluding the commercial sections. information for listed companies The 82 largest listed companies in Italy are considered, out English language users are the most demanding: il of a total of 630 companies throughout Europe. 70% expect website to be updated in real time The 160 largest blue-chip companies make up the European Top150 ranking. Other signicant ndings were respondents’ primary concern as to the accuracy of information presented as well as how frequently the site was updated. New companies Sixty percent of interviewees expect nancial statements, press releases and presentations to be published on the site in real time or at the most half an hour after they are • Prysmian (37°) • Piaggio (58°) announced. • Saras (43°) • Gemina (64°) • Iride (44°) • Cementir (67°) • Banca Generali (54°) • Credito Valtellinese Breakdown of respondents to the 2007 H&H Webranking questionnaire by profession Suddivisione dei professionisti che hanno risposto al Questionario Webranking 2007 Business journalists Taking the pulse of international nancial markets: giornalisi 20%economici the Webranking questionnaire 20% Analysts (buy-side) analisti (buy-side) 37%37% Every year the Webranking survey taps into the demands of the nancial marketplace via a questionnaire which is sent out to analysts, investors and business journalists. Three hundred fty professionals throughout Europe replied to the 2007 questionnaire, which investigates how they use the web and what information and functionalities they Investorsinvestitori (sell-side) (sell- 43% side) require of corporate websites. These answers are then used 43% to dene the protocol on which the evaluation is based. The results revealed that 80% of those interviewed work Fonte: H&H Webranking Questionnaire 2007 constantly connected to the internet - a rising trend over the last couple of years. ‘This was especially true of nancial analysts, and conrms that corporate websites and online communication have progressively become the principal source of information on listed companies’, explained Mr. Lundquist. 2 (10) The criteria and how companies are evaluated Structure of the H&H Webranking 2007 Protocol Categories Criteria Points The Webranking protocol is comprised of 125 criteria divided into ten sections, for a maximum score of 100 points. Technology Struttura, Design & Tecnologia 11 11,5 The structure of the protocol is similar to the past three years, although many of the criteria have been re-weighted and Global/interactive functions 15 10,75 re-grouped. New criteria have also been introduced. Homepage and IR index page 6 6,25 This substantial similarity allows for an easier comparison of results over time, even though the protocol becomes more Contents demanding every year. General company information 10 10 The most heavily weighted section of the protocol is still that Press room 10 5,25 which is dedicated to nancial information and comprises 32% of the nal score. Financial information 33 31,5 The technology and usability sections have seen the most Corporate governance 15 10,75 change with the inclusion of new copy editing, accessibility CSR 10 4,25 and search engine criteria. Contact information 9 5,25 On the content side, new criteria were introduced in the Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility Website calendar 6 4,5 and Company Information sections. Total 125 100 New criteria included in the 2007 survey Technology Contents Copy editing and Navigability Company information Typography R&D and innovation Table and hyperlink usability Brands Navigability Corporate governance Sitemap Internal compliance code Searcg engine and accessibility Whistle blower process Google search Board meetings attendance General code quality Corporate governance report User friendly URLs Corporate social responsibility and contacts HTML standards Information on CSR standards WAI standards CSR contact Meta data quality HR contact 3 (10) The H&H Webranking results Do Italian companies meet the demands of the press releases. There has also been an increase in the market? number of companies that present a company fact sheet in PDF. ne of the worst practises of Italian companies in O the past has been the failure to supply symmetric Companies are increasingly publishing general media and information to foreign and Italian users. This is now occurs investor relations contact information as well as for their less frequently. social responsibility and human resources departments. A signicant ndings from this year’s research is that only This has not resulted in faster response time to queries from two Italian companies failed to publish their annual report the departments however, as evidenced by a practical test in English by the month of August. This is in comparison to 10 which was conducted to measure the speed of responses the previous year. to a simple request sent by email. However, there is often an excessive time delay between Best companies in publication of information in Italian and its translation into the media section Over 50% of companies English. Annual nancial reports in English are often only did not send any answer available one to two months after their original release. to the email or One notable exception is the utility company Hera. The • Benetton answered outside the Bologna-based rm posted its latest annual report in both • UniCredit time limit of 48 hours - languages the same day as results were approved at the • Pirelli & C. the same result as in board of directors meeting, not only in PDF but also in 2006. HTML. Italian companies also generally provide good archives of nancial and press documents. However, 13% of those sampled do not have a presentation archive and 70% do not supply nancial information downloadable in Excel. Only 15 sites have published information on their nancial targets and growth factors and only 11 companies present + • Homepage • Corporate governance communication • Contact information • Corporate social communication • Archived information • Financial information information on risk management while a mere 5 put up information such as sensitivity factors. Many rms still do not have a complete section containing a presentation of their company. A fth of those evaluated do not supply a proper introduction as to who they are, a quarter are without an organisational chart and a fourth do not present information on the composition of their shareholders. In the media section, 80% of companies now have a media archive and 30% put time stamps on their 4 (10) Corporate governance gradually improves Despite almost 70% of companies providing a code of ethics or declaration of social obligation, there are few rms which publish a CSR report in English (30%) and even fewer Corporate governance sections saw encouraging results who list a specic CSR contact (27%).