The FINANCIAL — The Ljubljana Stock Exchange has awarded its 14th annual Portal prize, which compliments exemplary investors relations and corporate governance.
Krka has been awarded the prize stressing the company’s openness toward all interest groups in Slovenia for the third consecutive year. This achievement proves that people at Krka are well aware of the importance of openness and corporate communication with the existing as well as with potential shareholders and that they successfully present Krka’s business story to investors, analysts and other interest groups.
The winner was selected by an assessment board of investors, analysts, the press and representatives of the LJSE, applying a two-level assessment method comprising 10 criteria. They looked at the companies' quality of disclosure, corporate governance, communication strategies and investor relations in the period from October 2008 to September 2009.
The assessment period was marked by fierce economic conditions and the financial crisis. Companies therefore had to invest additional efforts into corporate communication with all publics and into corporate governance. The Portal prize assessment board concluded that the company that coped best with the challenges of the assessment period Oct. 2008-Sept. 2009 is the Novo mesto-based Krka, d. d., which has thus won the Portal prize for the 3rd consecutive year.
The financial crisis called for listed companies to provide credible and comprehensive information to both the domestic and international public about their operations, the situation inside the company and any potential changed estimates of their future business on account of the stringent conditions.
The Portal prize assessment board believes that the most successful among all listed companies in handling this situation was precisely Krka.
Aside from disclosing information through public media, the 2009 winner also organized or took part in road shows at international financial centres, teleconferences and held other conferences for investors and analysts, as well as held press conferences. The board considers Krka's corporate website to fully meet the criteria of transparency and scope of information available to investors in electronic format, which thus functions as an efficient supplement to Krka's other means of informing the public. This has convinced the assessment board that Krka's corporate communication strategy, both for the domestic and international public, is truly comprehensive and meticulous.
The assessment board agreed that the role of the company's management and supervisory board and their attitude to the public were crucial in these difficult times. Krka scored the highest number of points under this criterion.
2009 was a difficult year, more or less for everybody. Maintaining a straightforward relationship with all publics in such conditions was a much more challenging task than in the previous years. According to the Portal assessment board, Krka managed to preserve its excellence from previous years intact despite the crisis.
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