IR community celebrates its highest achievers including winners of three new judged categories
For the second year in a row, Danish healthcare major Novo Nordisk topped the charts at IR Magazine’s Europe Awards, taking home three trophies, including best overall investor relations in the large-cap category, best in sector and best in Northern Europe.
The awards ceremony held in London on June 22 at London’s Park Lane Hotel also saw victory for Spanish utility firm Iberdrola, which moved up from third to second in this year’s IR Magazine Euro Top 100, taking home three trophies.
Germany’s RWE won the mid-cap award for best overall IR, while the top prize for small caps went to Portugal’s REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais.
New to this year’s list of accolades were three judged categories where nominations were self-submitted and winners were chosen by a jury made up of IR Magazine editorial team members and investment management professionals.
Martin Kjær Hansen, senior IR manager at ISS, was distinguished as IR Magazine’s first rising star in IR. The award for best investor event was snatched up by Unilever – which ranks third in this year’s Euro Top 100 and takes home three other accolades including best sustainability practice – while Deutsche EuroShop won the prize for best use of multimedia for IR.
Roche Holding, Nestlé and Deutsche Post DHL all re-enter the top 10 this year at rank 5, 8 and 10, respectively. Former serial winner BASF – whose IRO Magdalena Moll left for OMV this past year – is outside the top 10 for the first time at rank 13 but retains the best in sector award.
German firms in general are the most represented nationally in this year’s Euro Top 100 with 22 companies, while the UK comes second with 11, and Spain and Switzerland come joint third, with eight each.
The Top 100 and the majority of the award winners were identified by means of a survey of the European investment community. This included extra research categories, in addition to the award categories which are listed below. Full list of research categories and details of the results of this research are reported in detail in the Investor Perception Study – Europe 2016.
The full list of winners:
| Best investor event | Unilever |
| Best use of multimedia for IR | Deutsche EuroShop |
| Rising star | Martin Kjær Hansen, ISS |
| Best use of technology | Iberdrola |
| Best sustainability practice | Unilever |
| Best IR by region: Central & Eastern Europe | ČEZ Group |
| Best IR by region: Germany | Continental |
| Best IR by region: Northern Europe | Novo Nordisk |
| Best IR by region: Southern Europe | Iberdrola |
| Best IR by region: UK & Ireland | Unilever |
| Best IR by region: Western Europe | Roche Holding |
| Best IR by sector: Communications | Deutsche Telekom |
| Best IR by sector: Consumer discretionary | Continental |
| Best IR by sector: Consumer staples | Unilever |
| Best IR by sector: Energy | Galp Energia |
| Best IR by sector: Financials | Allianz |
| Best IR by sector: Healthcare | Novo Nordisk |
| Best IR by sector: Industrials | Deutsche Post DHL |
| Best IR by sector: Materials | BASF |
| Best IR by sector: Technology | Amadeus |
| Best IR by sector: Utilities | Iberdrola |
| Grand prix for best overall investor relations (small cap) | REN ‒ Redes Energéticas Nacionais |
| Grand prix for best overall investor relations (mid-cap) | RWE |
| Grand prix for best overall investor relations (large cap) | Novo Nordisk |
Full details of the results are reported in the Investor Perception Study – Europe 2016
