45th Edition of the Award for the Best Financial Information

For the 45th consecutive time, the Belgian Association of Financial Analysts (ABAF/BVFA) has
carried out an extensive study of the financial communication strategy of the Belgian listed
companies. As promised last year we changed our approach for this award this year. As such we
dropped the minimum market capitalisation criterion of Euro 250 million.
2005 is again a challenging year for the Belgian listed companies, working very hard on the
transition to new accounting standards. A large number of Belgian companies already comply.
Given the increased presence of foreign institutional investors, we think this is an important asset in
combination with the increased communication efforts. We do regret that the regulatory framework
on quarterly reporting has been attacked by a number of companies and as such has been dropped.
Our nature forces us to also raise a critical voice, something that happens to little. Last year for
instance we found out that some Bel-20 companies fail to provide adequate information on the
execution of the outstanding warrants/stock options in their annual report.
This year we have worked using a 2-stage selection process. During a pre-selection (phase 1),
analysts were asked to evaluate the quality of the annual report, the press releases, the availability
of a dedicated Investor Relations service and the quality of the website. They were also asked to be
on the lookout for companies that are striving to correct past underperformance in the area of
financial communication. In a second phase (phase 2), a thorough analysis of the different aspects
of the short-listed companies has been performed. 4 main topics were thoroughly analysed: annual
report, press releases, investor relations and the quality of the website
Unlike last year we did change our valuation grids, facilitating the comparability from year to year.
Changes were made in the items: permanent information flow and website.
Based on the pre-selection done by all Belgian analysts and the outcome of our valuation grids the
top 5 companies were selected. One of those wins the Award. Next to that, we have decided to
attribute three specific nominations to companies that excel in one domain of the selection criteria.
For the Award 2005 of Best Financial Information the following companies form the top 5 taking
all criteria of best financial information into account.
1) Barco 3) Solvay 5) KBC
2) Delhaize 4) Innogenetics
Due to the fact that the following companies have won the price in the former 3 years (Delhaize
2004, Innogenetics 2003, Umicore 2002) they can not win the Award 2005 for the Best Financial
Information.
Based on all selection criteria, the commission is delighted to present the Award for the Best
Financial Information to Barco.
The commission wishes to nominate the following 3 companies:
a) KBC for Best Annual Report
b) Global Graphics for Best Small Cap Investor Relations
c) D’Ieteren for Best Website
We wish to thank all Belgian Financial Analysts that helped us with this 45th session of the Award
for the Best Financial Information.