Portuguese listed companies still lag their European peers as online communicators

Like in previous years, the 21^st edition of Webranking by Comprend reviewed the web presence of 805 of the world's largest listed companies to find out how posted content, met the expectations of online corporate audiences.

The 18 Portuguese companies that Webranking reviewed this year achieved an average score of 30.4. This places Portugal as the worst performing country, with less than half of best performing country Finland's average score (66.7).

Against this bleak background, energy operator Galp outclassed once again most peers as it retained Portugal's first place with an overall score of 58.0 points. Jerónimo Martins with 48.9 points and EDP with 45.4 progressed relative to last year and kept their second and third places. 

Investor relations: a persistently weak spot

According to Comprend’s Capital Markets survey 2017, corporate websites are the most trusted online information source for financial investors looking for reliable data about company performance.

Despite this, the results of this year's Webranking have shown that only two Portuguese companies present important data such as financial targets, with corresponding information about whether they were achieved and only six companies present their total debt.

On strategy, only ten companies provided useful data and only sevencompanies presented the funding or indebtedness information that investment audiences expect. The scarcity of forward-looking information is another notable feature of Portuguese companies’ online financial communications.

The resulting picture is one of low transparency, where information that is critical for investment decisions is lacking, either by laxity or design. This is a situation that does not bode well for Portuguese companies' ability to attract equity or debt capital.

Careers: the most neglected section

Almost 63% of respondents to this year’s Careers survey said that a company’s corporate site is their primary information source when looking for a job. The site is also where they expect to find information about vacancies and other employment matters.

Considering these findings, Portuguese companies need to devote more attention to their communication on careers than they currently do. Firstly, to raise their very low score; secondly, to respond to candidates' expectations, thereby attracting the best.

Portuguese companies continue to hide contact details for their human resources team with 78% of them do just that. Top performer Galp is the only company that provides more than a general telephone number or e-mail address.

Webranking by Comprend 2017-2018 – Portugal 

This year's steepest climber is by far Corticeira Amorim, with an increase of 14.7 points on last year, followed by Altri with an increase of 11.5 points.

SEE ALL PORTUGESE RESULTS HERE

For further information, please contact Viktoria Enmark, Head of Webranking, at +46 76 109 05 08 or viktoria.enmark@comprend.com.