IR Magazine Awards ‒ Europe
Celebrating IR excellence

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Virtual event; 4.00 pm - 6.45 pm CET

About the awards

The IR Magazine Awards – Europe will take place on Thursday, June 24 as a virtual awards ceremony. We will once again be bringing together the investor relations community to celebrate and honor excellence in the IR profession.

Since the annual event first launched in 1990, tens of thousands of analysts and investors have voted in the surveys behind the awards. The result: vital benchmarking information on which companies do the best IR. In recent years, the awards program has expanded to recognize more aspects of an IRO’s role as we add new categories to the list and give IR teams the opportunity to nominate themselves.

By popular demand, we present two types of award categories – researched and nominated – both celebrating the success of those individuals and companies that are leading the way in IR across Europe.

For our researched categories, companies do not submit nominations. Instead, hundreds of analysts and investors cast their votes and give their opinions on which companies provide the best IR service. In our nominated categories, companies submit written entries to articulate their success and achievements from the past year, giving any publicly listed company the opportunity to be considered for an award.

Event timings

Timings shown are Central European Time (CET)

16:00 PM
Pre-event networking

During this time you can either join a table to network with an exclusive group of guests (table invites will be sent prior to the event) or make use of our one-to-one speed networking function, where you will be matched at random with another attendee for a few minutes at a time
16:45 PM
Awards ceremony
Join us in the stage area to recognize excellence in IR teams across 28 categories. The awards will be presented in the following order:
- Best in sector: communications
- Best in sector: consumer discretionary
- Best in sector: consumer staples
- Best in sector: energy
- Best in sector: financials
- Best in sector: healthcare
- Best in sector: industrials
- Best in sector: materials
- Best in sector: real estate
- Best in sector: technology
- Best in sector: utilities
- Best annual report (small cap)
- Best annual report (mid-cap)
- Best annual report (large cap)
- Best crisis management
- Best ESG materiality reporting (small to mid-cap)
- Best ESG materiality reporting (large cap)
- Best investor event (small to mid-cap)
- Best investor event (large cap)
- Best IR during a corporate transaction
- Best IR website
- Best use of multimedia for IR
- Rising star
- Best investor relations officer (small to mid-cap)
- Best investor relations officer (large cap)
- Best overall investor relations (small cap)
- Best overall investor relations (mid-cap)
- Best overall investor relations (large cap)
18:10 PM
Award for best viewer photo announced

It’s your time to shine. Send us a photo of you watching the event to get in the running to win a prize and an award!
18:15 PM
Post-event networking

Join all winners and nominees to celebrate after the ceremony. Be matched at random with another attendee via the one-to-one networking function
18:45 PM
End of the awards

Awards by Nomination

For our awards-by-nomination categories, individuals and companies are given the opportunity to submit written entries, free of charge, to be put forward to a panel of expert judges made up of investment professionals and IR Magazine editorial team members.

The entry deadline for 2021 nominations has now passed and we are no longer accepting entries. We will be in touch with successful short-listed companies at the end of April/beginning of May.

Please note that categories are subject to change based on the final number of submissions received. Some categories may be split by market cap size.

Nominees announced: view the entire list here

awards-by-nomination Categories
How winners are chosen

Best annual report (large cap)

Are shareholders and analysts raving about the quality of your annual print or online report? Give us your vision of good reporting practice. Judges will be looking for a well-articulated equity story, ease of flow or navigation, state-of-the-art design and consistency/complementary between different reports. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Anglo American
AstraZeneca
BASF
InterContinental Hotels Group
Polymetal International

Sponsored by

Best annual report (mid-cap)

Are shareholders and analysts raving about the quality of your annual print or online report? Give us your vision of good reporting practice. Judges will be looking for a well-articulated equity story, ease of flow or navigation, state-of-the-art design and consistency/complementary between different reports. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Assura
Britvic
Garanti BBVA
Hays
National Express
Synthomer

Sponsored by

Best annual report (small cap)

Are shareholders and analysts raving about the quality of your annual print or online report? Give us your vision of good reporting practice. Judges will be looking for a well-articulated equity story, ease of flow or navigation, state-of-the-art design and consistency/complementary between different reports. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Barco
Halfords
Implenia
Naked Wines

Sponsored by

Best crisis management

Have you recently dealt with an unexpected event threatening your company's business or reputation? How did you company respond to the Covid-19 pandemic? Tell us about your ‘crisis ready’ plan, the strategy you implemented when the storm hit, and how the IR team’s actions successfully protected or restored shareholder value.

Nominees

Airbus
BBVA
Boohoo Group
Enel
Polymetal International
Royal Dutch Shell

Sponsored by

Best ESG materiality reporting (large cap)

Investors are increasingly looking to determine the material ESG risks and opportunities for companies. But the range of data and inconsistency of reporting can make it difficult to get a full picture. This award recognizes the achievement of companies that produce clear investor-facing communications about ESG issues that are material to their business. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

ArcelorMittal
BASF
British American Tobacco
Polymetal International
Polyus
Schneider Electric

Sponsored by

Best ESG materiality reporting (small to mid-cap)

Investors are increasingly looking to determine the material ESG risks and opportunities for companies. But the range of data and inconsistency of reporting can make it difficult to get a full picture. This award recognizes the achievement of companies that produce clear investor-facing communications about ESG issues that are material to their business. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Barco
Cembra Money Bank
EN+ Group
Greencore Group
Rotork
TechnipFMC

Sponsored by

Best investor event (large cap)

Did you hold a capital markets day, site visit or other investor event that made your company stand out from the crowd? Tell us how you came up with an original initiative, the way you managed its organization, and how your audience’s expectations were met; audience feedback is also welcome. Both virtual and in-person events can be considered for this award. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Aegon
BAE Systems
Enel
Novartis
Severstal
Vodafone Group

Sponsored by

Best investor event (small to mid-cap)

Did you hold a capital markets day, site visit or other investor event that made your company stand out from the crowd? Tell us how you came up with an original initiative, the way you managed its organization, and how your audience’s expectations were met; audience feedback is also welcome. Both virtual and in-person events can be considered for this award. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Akbank
Gerresheimer
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works
Nexans
QIAGEN
Technip Energies

Sponsored by

Best IR during a corporate transaction

How did your IR team go above and beyond to support a recent corporate transaction? Let us know the details. We’ll be looking at the IR team’s involvement in crafting/releasing the messaging for the financial markets and how it organized outreach and dialogue to gain approval from key shareholders.

Nominees

BBVA
Flutter Entertainment
Novartis
OMV
Valmet

Sponsored by

Best IR website

The IR website is the first point of contact for an IRO’s audience. We want to hear from companies that have developed a best-in-class website displaying top-notch customer experience, engaging content that meets analysts’ and investors’ needs, and multiplatform access.

Nominees

Ocado Group
Pearson
Polymetal International
Royal Dutch Shell
Valmet
Vodafone Group

Sponsored by

Best use of multimedia for IR

Are you a tech-savvy IRO always looking out for cutting-edge technological solutions for IR? Describe the innovative ways you have incorporated video, audio, infographics or webcasts into your IR program. Judges will be looking for evidence of heightened investor and analyst engagement via these channels.

Nominees

Banco Santander
BBVA
Laboratorios Farmacéuticos ROVI
PATRIZIA
Valmet

Sponsored by

Rising star

This award seeks to honor individuals who bring fresh thinking and a unique approach to the profession. This category is open to anyone who has been working in IR for less than five years and has less than 10 years of professional experience.

Nominees

EDAG Group, Sebastian Lehmann
Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Veronika Kryachko
RSA Insurance Group, Matthew Cohen
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Maarten Otte

Sponsored by

The awards-by-nomination categories differ from our traditional researched awards, as individuals and companies are given the opportunity to submit written entries, free of charge, to be put forward to a panel of expert judges made up of investment professionals and IR Magazine editorial team members.

The judging process consists of three simple phases:

Phase one: Once the entry deadline has passed, the IR Magazine editorial team reviews all submissions and produces the short list

Phase two: The short-listed entries are shared with an independent judging panel made up of industry experts. The judges review each short-listed entry and select their top two picks per category

Phase three: The judges come together to discuss, debate and select the final list of winners who will go on to win an award

The judges’ votes are not made public, but their comments may be published in articles or reports after the event. Judges are not required to make comments against every submission.

Meet the judges

Click on the judges photos below to find out more

Mike Allen
Head of research
Zeus Capital

Mike is an experienced analyst, having worked at UBS Global Asset Management and Numis Securities, before becoming a founding director in the Panmure Gordon Liverpool office. In his current role, Mike is Head of Research at Zeus and has been instrumental in attracting a number of key corporate clients, and has also played a role in some of the company’s largest deals. During his career, Mike has been rated as a top three analyst in the business services sector in the Extel Survey and has also won numerous awards with Starmine and The Wall Street Journal.
Heinrich Ey
Co-CIO for European small caps
Allianz Global Investors

Heinrich Ey has worked at Allianz Global Investors since April 2006.

He is Co-CIO for European Small caps since 2016 and manages in his function retail and institutional money together with a team of 5 members. Before taking on his current role, he was managing an analyst team of six regional telecom and media analysts and covering 30 telecom stocks with his own modelling and formal recommendations. He was also the lead portfolio manager for the Allianz Telemedia funds, which has won several awards from Lipper and Euro Finanzen in the last couple of years. His focus had been also on digital disruption trends and their impact on traditional business models within his industries, and he is part of the jury for the German Stevie Awards since 2016.

Before taking on this role, Ey worked for four years as an analyst at AGI. Prior to that, between 2000 and 2002, he managed European and global equity funds for institutional and retail clients and was a member of the TMT sector team at Allianz Asset Management. He started his career in asset management in 1995 as a buy-side trader for equity, fixed income and derivatives at Allianz.
Simon Gleadhill
Corporate reporting & IFRS technical controller
Howden Joinery Group

Simon’s current role combines best practice corporate and ESG reporting with IFRS technical accounting and reporting. He leads the interpretation and implementation of new IFRSs across the group and makes sure that the Group stays ahead of new developments in corporate and ESG reporting.

In recent years, Simon has developed a specialism in ESG reporting, strategy, business model and culture reporting. He leads the process and development of the Howden Joinery Group Annual Report & Accounts and the Group’s Sustainability Report which have won several awards in recent years. He was a member of the Advisory Group for the UK Financial Reporting Council’s recent project on The Future of Corporate Reporting.

Before moving into industry, Simon qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, where he worked with a variety of consumer and industrial companies in London and Oman. He is a member of the Investor Relations Society and holds their Certificate in Investor Relations.
Tim Human
Senior reporter
IR Magazine

Tim Human is senior reporter at IR Magazine. He rejoined the publication in 2019 after two years working as a freelance journalist for a range of international publications. Previously, he was editor of IR Magazine between 2013-2017. He has also written for Corporate Secretary, IR Magazine’s sister publication, and CorpComms, the UK-based magazine for corporate communications professionals.
Caroline Le Meaux
Head of ESG engagement
Amundi

Caroline LE MEAUX joined Amundi on July 1st, 2019 and takes the responsibility of the ESG Research, Engagement and Voting team. She was previously head of the long-term investment department at the pension division of Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC) which is the fiduciary manager of several French pension funds including Ircantec and RAVGDT. She was notably in charge of the SRI strategy, ESG and climate policy. Before that, she was director of investment at FRR Fonds de Réserves des Retraites from 2011 to 2014. She was formerly fund manager at BNPPAM, managing Small and Mid Caps European equities and has been head of quantitative analysis for European equities.
Caroline Le Meaux began her career at Paribas Asset Management ; she is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) and is a graduate of Paris IX Dauphine University.
Madeleine Szeluch
Investor relations ESG director
Novartis

Madeleine Szeluch is the Investor Relations ESG Director at Novartis, where she specialises in advisory and communications on ESG topics. Previously, Madeleine was Head of Investor Relations at the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2015 – 2020). She led global engagement with foreign governments, industry and investors, addressing regulatory and business themes, with a focus on low-carbon energy, climate change and sustainability themes. Within the UK government, Madeleine advised ministers across departments on emerging global policy, market risk and public-private partnerships and developed thought-leadership research on market trends and policy impact for government, industry and investors.

Prior to joining the UK Government in 2015, Madeleine was Senior Manager at GLG, the largest global insights consulting firm, where she advised corporates and investors on primary research, compliance and business and regulatory risk. Madeleine grew the company’s Emerging Markets business and established the Sub-Saharan Africa practice. Madeleine has worked in Europe and North America, she has degrees in Commercial Law and International Relations, and is a Member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Gervais Williams
Head of equities
Premier Miton Investors

Gervais Williams is Head of Equities at Premier Miton Investors and manages a number of funds and trusts that aggregate to over £1.5bn, he joined the group in 2011. His fund management career extends over 30 years including 17 years at Gartmore Group Ltd, where he was Head of UK Small Companies investing in UK smaller companies and Irish equities. Gervais is a member of the AIM Advisory Council, and a board member of the Quoted Companies Alliance. He was a member of the Patient Capital Review panel with the Chancellor of the Exchequer two years ago where the recommendations were put into legislation in the subsequent budget. Gervais Williams has published three books, ‘Slow Finance’ in the autumn of 2011 (Bloomsbury), ‘The Future is Small’ published in November 2014 (Harriman House) and ‘The Retreat of Globalisation’ published in December 2016 (Harriman House).

Past attendees say

"Very well organized, focused and glamourous. Again, broadcasting the importance of the IR function in corporate governance, communication and reputation management. Further celebrating the winner companies/executives as it should. Congratulations!"

Mercuri Urval

"Very interesting event and pointing to the ever raising importance of the IR function. Congratulations!"

Eames Wyatt

"Excellent event under the circumstances and amazing how you got all the videos’ shot for the winners, made it feel very real and personal which was great."

IR Club Switzerland, supporting association

"The show and the entire process was fantastic. Your team does a great job bringing the IR community together to celebrate accomplishments and learn from each other, despite the unusual circumstances!"

MSA Safety

"It was fast paced and the platform interface seemed to flow seamlessly from presenter to presenter. I look forward to next year's event!"

Discovery

"Flawless! fun, great pace and all the hosts were amazing!!"

8x8

"Great execution, clear planning, and wonderful networking!"

Telsey Advisory Group

"Perfect: venue; speaker: mood; food"

Carlo Di Pierro - Banca Sistema

"Very well organised. Paul Sinha was an excellent host, who injected good amounts of energy into the evening. Food was excellent too!"

Charles Chalkly - Hays

"Excellent evening in the heart of London!"

Morten Buus - RD:IR

View our awards best practice guide for insights from our past winners and partnersAccess the guide

Awards by Research

Our awards-by-research nominees are determined by the input of hundreds of analysts and portfolio managers, who give their opinions on which companies provide them with the best IR service in Europe. Every year we invite any publicly listed company to submit their list of buy and sell-side analysts and portfolio managers, so that they have the opportunity to vote via our survey.

For the current research survey, the deadline to submit lists has now passed. If you have any questions on this process or wish to access our data sharing agreement, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. For any further queries about the research, please contact [email protected].

Please note that categories are subject to change based on the final votes received. Some categories may be split by market cap size.

Nominees announced: view the entire list here

Researched categories
How the winners are chosen

Best overall investor relations (large cap)

This category covers companies that have most impressed the investment community with their overall IR program. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Allianz
AstraZeneca
Iberdrola
Intesa Sanpaolo
Novo Nordisk
UniCredit

Sponsored by

Best overall investor relations (mid-cap)

This category covers companies that have most impressed the investment community with their overall IR program. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

CCC
Cyfrowy Polsat
LPP
Subsea 7
UDG Healthcare
X5 Retail Group

Sponsored by

Best overall investor relations (small cap)

This category covers companies that have most impressed the investment community with their overall IR program. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Aker Solutions
eDreams ODIGEO
Ocean Yield
Odfjell
Pegasus Airlines
Supermarket Income REIT

Sponsored by

Best investor relations officer (large cap)

This category is for individual IROs whose knowledge of their company and sector and whose ability to build relationships with members of the investment community and to be transparent, accessible and responsive, sets them apart. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over

Nominees

Allianz, Oliver Schmidt
AstraZeneca, Thomas Kudsk Larsen
Iberdrola, Ignacio Cuenca
Intesa Sanpaolo, Marco Delfrate & Andrea Tamagnini
Novo Nordisk, Daniel Bohsen
Novozymes, Tobias Björklund

Sponsored by

Best investor relations officer (small to mid-cap)

This category is for individual IROs whose knowledge of their company and sector and whose ability to build relationships with members of the investment community and to be transparent, accessible and responsive, sets them apart. Market cap breakdown: Small cap = below €1 bn / Mid-cap = between €1 bn - €7.5 bn / Large cap = €7.5 bn and over