OREANDA-NEWS. On December 06, 2007 the winners of The Baltic Market Awards 2007 were announced, recognizing the best practices in investor relations in Baltic securities market, reported the press-centre of OMX Nordic Exchange. 

TEO LT from Lithuania was awarded for the Best Investor Relations in the Baltic Countries, while Hansapank from Estonia won the title of Member of the Year.

 “Mainstream and targeted investors increasingly make portfolio allocation decisions on the basis of a wide range of financial and non-financial criteria. Therefore, investor relations is crucial, particularly in emerging markets. Good investor relations keeps investors and stakeholders continually informed about a company’s position; ultimately, investor relations can serve as a magnet to attract investors. The Baltic Market Awards recognize excellence in investor relations according to best practice and international standards in financial and non-financial reporting,” according to Geoffrey Mazullo, Chairman of the Baltic Market Awards Evaluation Committee and Director of Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program, East-West Management Institute.

The winners of other categories were:
Eesti Telekom: The Best Investor Relations in Tallinn
TEO LT: The Best Investor Relations in Vilnius
SAF Tehnika: The Best Investor Relations in Riga and The Best Investor Relations among Small Cap Companies
Olainfarm: The Best Investor Relations Online

This year awards were also given in two new categories:
Sanitas won the award for The Best Annual Report
Silvano Fashion Group won award for The Most Visible Improvement over the Year in investor relations.
 
In 2007, listed companies on the Nordic Exchange’s Baltic Market improved their performance considerably; the overall results in 2007 improved by almost 20% vis-a-vis 2006. The evaluation committee of The Baltic Market Awards this year analyzed 69 companies. In some categories, the competition was extremely strong.

The most visible improvements this year are seen in annual reports, periodic reports and in companies’ corporate web pages. The progress can be attributed largely to The Baltic Market Awards project, through which companies that want to improve their investor relations receive technical know-how through individual meetings with specialists from the Nordic Exchange’s Baltic Market.

The Baltic Market Awards was introduced by the Nordic Exchange in 2006 to identify and encourage the best Baltic market participants, and to improve the overall standard of investor relations among listed companies.

Both issuers and members are evaluated against specifically defined evaluation criteria; the results are unbiased. The member evaluation was based on quantitative criteria related to their activity on the market – turnover in equity, turnover in fixed income, number of deals, etc.

Issuers were evaluated using only publicly available information in English; the evaluation comprises five criteria groups: annual report, interim reports, ongoing corporate disclosures, company website and investor evaluation.

The members of the Evaluation Committee represent academics, investors, an NGO and the Stock Exchanges. The company analysis was conducted by students from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, under the supervision of the evaluation committee and the Stock Exchanges.