Traditional corporate stakeholders – investors, financial analysts, certain media outlets – have begun to grow out of a black-and-white view of business that took into account only financial issues. Over the past two decades, and particularly since 2008, stakeholders want more. They want more from a business in terms of communications and in terms of reputation and brand development. Companies, thus, in dealing with this change, have had to alter their communications strategies and practices.

The winners of the 2014 Corporate & Financial Awards represent the best in investor relations, stakeholder engagement and city communications. The awards, which have been growing since 2012, have reflected the changing nature of communications and consistently honour excellence in the industry.

At the 2014 awards, held last night, awards were distributed to companies from across the spectrum of investment, including those listed on foreign exchanges, unlisted and from the AIM to the FTSE 100. Judges rewarded entries on the basis of their ability to communicate complex topics in a transparent way, to meet and surpass the requirements placed on corporate reporting and the quality of the completed work.

Thomas Churchill, a Corporate & Financial judge and IR executive at Premier Farnell plc, says, “The range of entries to the Corporate & Financial Awards demonstrated the considerable level of innovation in corporate reporting today. It was exciting to see how companies continue to find new ways to tell their stories and express their business’s culture and personality.”

The consultancy of the year prize was won by MHP Communications which also took home a gold, two silvers and a highly commended award on the night. VTB Capital, which won best in-house team was the winner of two gold awards last year for its work with the media, analysts and investors.

Andrew Thomas, founder of Cravenhill Publishing, says, “The Corporate & Financial Awards is the only awards programme to recognise the convergence of investor relations, corporate communications and financial PR and, since the event was launched in 2012. Those who will receive trophies or certificates this evening have been unstinting in their communications efforts, maintaining dialogue with investors, analysts, business journalists and the wider stakeholder community.”

The full list of winners is as follows:

Specifics

Best corporate website: FTSE 100

Gold - BG Group plc and Addison Group

Silver - RBS and ORM Bronze - Rexam plc and Addison Group

 

Best corporate website: FTSE 250

Gold - Inchcape plc and Black Sun Plc

Silver - Stock Spirits Group PLC and Addison Group

Highly commended- Taylor Wimpey plc

 

Best corporate website: Unlisted/International

Gold - Ageas and The Crew Communication

 

Best printed report: FTSE 100

Gold - Tullow Oil and Black Sun Plc

Silver - ARM Holdings and Radley Yeldar

Bronze - Sage Group plc and Black Sun Plc Highly commended - Lloyds Banking Group

Highly commended - Severn Trent and Radley Yeldar

 

Best printed report: FTSE 250

Gold - Berendsen and Radley Yeldar

Silver - Hays plc and Conran Design Group Bronze - African Barrick Gold and Black Sun Plc

Bronze - Derwent London and MerchantCantos

Highly commended - Catlin Group Limited and Emperor

Highly commended - National Express Group PLC and Luminous

 

Best printed report: Unlisted/International

Gold - Cancer Research UK and Conran Design Group

Silver - Pacific Basin Shipping (HK) Ltd and Accrue Fulton Silver - WorldPay and Carnegie Orr

Bronze – Gemalto N.V. and Radley Yeldar

Highly commended - Uralkali and Black Sun Plc

Highly commended - TAQA and MerchantCantos

 

Best printed report: Small cap/AIM

Gold - London Mining and MerchantCantos

Silver - Anite plc and Emperor Silver - Tribal Group plc and Accrue Fulton

Bronze - Grainger and Radley Yeldar

Bronze - Xchanging and MerchantCantos

Highly commended - Novae Group and Haggie Partners

 

Best online report: FTSE 100

Gold - Legal & General Group plc and nexxar

Silver - ARM Holdings and Radley Yeldar Bronze - Standard Chartered and SAS MSLGROUP

Highly commended - Rio Tinto and Black Sun Plc

Highly commended - Rolls-Royce and Conran Design Group

 

Best online report: FTSE 250

Gold - Thomas Cook Group and Radley Yeldar

Silver - Inchcape plc and Black Sun Plc

 

Best online report: Small cap/AIM

Silver - Next Fifteen Communications and Radley Yeldar

 

Best online newsroom

Gold - Adidas and TheNewsMarket

Bronze - Ageas and The Crew Communication

 

Most innovative financial communications

Gold - Berenberg and MHP Communications

Silver - State Street

 

Campaign/Strategy

Best M&A/other transaction communications

Gold - Tata Consultancy Services

Silver - CALA Group and MHP Communications

Bronze - Old Mutual Global Investors and Smithfield Consultants

 

Best IPO communications

Gold - Lenta Ltd and Instinctif Partners

Silver - Seplat Petroleum Development Company and World Television and FTI Consulting

Bronze - Stock Spirits Group PLC and Addison Group

 

Best crisis communications

Gold - The Shard and Weber Shandwick

 

Best management of corporate & financial media relations

Gold - Old Mutual Global Investors and Smithfield Consultants

Silver - Berenberg and MHP Communications

Highly commended - CALA Group and MHP Communications

 

Best evaluation of a communications campaign

Silver - Verizon and Commetric

 

People

Best in-house corporate and financial communications team

VTB Capital

 

Best IR agency or PR consultancy

MHP Communications