FTSE100 websites do not meet stakeholder needs

By leahschothorst

The latest annual survey of FTSE100 corporate websites by Comprend has been announced this month. Webranking is the longest-running annual ...

The latest annual survey of FTSE100 corporate websites by Comprend has been announced this month. Webranking is the longest-running annual research of corporate websites in the world, and offers a unique insight as the survey reflects the content needs of a dedicated global focus group of typical corporate website stakeholders – such as analysts, fund managers, investors, journalists and jobseekers – rather than the personal opinion of a consultant.

Each of the 100 criteria are weighted based on responses from the global focus group. The more important the users see a particular piece of content, the higher a website scores for offering it on the site.

Top 10 in the FTSE 100:

Land Securities – 59.5
British Land – 57.2
Tullow Oil – 56.8
Royal Bank Of Scotland – 55.5
BP – 54.2
British American Tobacco – 52.4
Royal Dutch Shell – 51.8
Aviva – 50.6
Centrica – 50.1
Anglo American – 48.8

See the full results.

Although Land Securities comes out on top in the FTSE 100, a quick look at the top 10 Webranking scores in Europe shows just how far behind the top UK companies are at answering their key stakeholder’s content needs. Land Securities ranked only 32nd in Europe.

Eni – 87 (Italy)
Snam – 86.3 (Italy)
Telecom Italia – 83.3 (Italy)
SCA – 82.4 (Sweden)
Wärtsilä – 81 (Finland)
Swedish Match – 77.4 (Finland)
Fortum – 77 (Sweden)
Skanska – 74.9 (Sweden)
Danske Bank – 73.3 (Denmark)
Swedbank – 69.7 (Sweden)

See the full list of Europe’s 500 largest companies.

Poor disclosure on hot topics

The media are particularly keen on analysing the tax affairs of big companies these days – which is why it is a surprise that only 16% of the FTSE 100 had information on their responsible tax policy on their websites.

Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the few to do it properly:

Similarly, how companies manage and assess their risks is of increasing interest to many. Yet 49% of the FTSE100 present no information on this at all.

Anglo American is a good example of how to do it – outlining a range of risks, assessing the likelihood and describing the policy in place to counteract them.

Where’s the investment case?

After all, it is perhaps the main reason for having a corporate website – making out the case to sell your shares. Yet only 12% of the FTSE100 do this properly.

“Far too many sites make the potential investor do the work – having to download the latest results presentation, scrutinise the major press releases and find management speeches at Capital Market days. The best corporate sites put the story together for the user and present their investment case front and centre.” said Phil Marchant, Managing Director of Comprend in the UK. “We work on some of the biggest corporate websites in Europe and therefore have a detailed insight into their user behaviour. Believe me, they don’t have time to spare and don’t intend to linger. So you have to capture their attention quickly.”

Aviva do it well:

Market context

Just 31% of the FTSE100 offer market information and competitor analysis in their About us section. “Companies need to put their prospects into the context of their markets. What’s their market share? Who are the competitors? They are getting better at this, but it is too slow at the moment.” said Phil Marchant.

You have to go to Finland to find a very good example of how it can be done, with Wärtsilä :

Hoping for improvement

“Our research shows that these companies are not serving the needs of their most important stakeholders, including major potential investors. We’re hoping to see some significant signs of improvement when we research again at the end of this year”, said Phil.

See the full Webranking by Comprend UK results list here.

See also the article in Communicate Magazine. For more information about the UK results, please contact Phil Marchant at phil.marchant@comprend.com or +44 7740 933 415.