IR Magazine Awards ‒ Europe
Celebrating IR excellence

Thursday, June 23, 2022

8 Northumberland Avenue, London

About the awards

The IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2022 took place on Thursday, June 23.

We were delighted to announce that the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2022 took place in-person on Thursday, June 23 at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London. This very special event honored excellence in the investor relations profession across Europe and we were excited to welcome everyone back for an evening of fine food and lots of celebrating!

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 presented 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.

Researched categories Nominated categories

In support of UNICEF

IR Magazine will be donating a portion of funds from this event to UNICEF Europe and Central Asia to protect children in Ukraine.

Children are the least responsible for war in Ukraine, but they suffer most from its consequences. Each donation will help UNICEF ensure that Ukraine’s children have access to safe water, nutrition, health care, education and protection.

Water and education systems have been and continue to be frequently targeted in attacks, and access to safe water and schooling is disrupted and remains limited as a result. Ukraine’s increasingly fragile health system continues to struggle to cover essential services. UNICEF provides critical support, particularly in the areas of childhood immunizations and HIV prevention.

All of these services and more are urgently needed as the situation in the country continues to deteriorate, posing an immediate threat to the lives and well-being of the country’s 7.5 million children.

To make a donation directly, click here. Donations are 100% tax-deductible and less than 3% of funds go to administrative costs.

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.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

To view the full list of 2022 nominees and winners click 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

Banco Santander

WINNER
Ocado Group
OMV
United Utilities Group
Vonovia
WPP

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

Aliaxis Group
Balfour Beatty

WINNER
Garanti BBVA
HUGO BOSS
Molten Ventures
NORDEN

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

AB Dynamics
EMIS Group
Halfords Group
Hollywood Bowl Group

WINNER
MADE.com Group
Naked Wines

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

Anglo American
Banco Santander

WINNER
Intesa Sanpaolo
Novartis
Repsol
Schneider Electric

Sponsored by

Best ESG materiality reporting (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
Barratt Developments
Biffa

WINNER
Britvic
IP Group
LANXESS

Sponsored by

Best ESG materiality reporting (small 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

Belvoir Group
CCC Group
Foresight Group Holdings
MJ Gleeson
Savannah Energy
Watkin Jones

WINNER

Sponsored by

Best innovation in shareholder communications

In this catch-all category, judges are looking for IR teams who have had to think out of the box in the past 12-18 months to update their shareholder communications campaign and keep up with the evolving needs and wants of the investor community. We’re looking for that tiny little spark of innovation that sets your company apart!

Nominees

Baloise Group

WINNER
Banco Santander
EDAG Engineering Group
Entain
Ocado Group
Shell

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

adidas
Infineon Technologies

WINNER
Schneider Electric
Severn Trent
Shell
Siemens Healthineers
Sonova Holding

Sponsored by

Best investor event (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

Endeavour Mining

WINNER
Helios Towers
HUGO BOSS
LANXESS
SACYR
TechnipFMC

Sponsored by

Best investor event (small 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

Augmentum Fintech
CCC Group
eDreams ODIGEO

WINNER
Renewi
RPS Group

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

CCC Group
Cellnex Telecom
Coloplast
Mercedes-Benz

WINNER
Moncler Group
Severn Trent

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

ABOUT YOU Holding
Banco Santander
BASF

WINNER
Bunzl
QIAGEN
Shell

Sponsored by

Best retail IR strategy

IR teams have recently started to pay attention to and service the traditional blind spot in their shareholder base – the retail investor block. In this category, we’re looking for IR campaigns that include a retail shareholder communication strategy, how it differed from the usual program and the results of these efforts.

Nominees

Augmentum Fintech
Banco Santander
BBVA
Galliford Try
Repsol
Valmet

WINNER

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

Augmentum Fintech
Banco Santander
Deutsche EuroShop
MBH Corporation
Mercedes-Benz
Ocado Group

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 10 years and has less than 15 years of professional experience.

Nominees

ABOUT YOU Holding, Julia Stoetzel
Endeavour Mining, Jack Garman
Galp, João Gonçalves Pereira
Novozymes, Carl Ahlgren
Ocado Group, Chandler Benet

WINNER
Technip Energies, Phillip Lindsay

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

We are delighted to announce our judging panel for the 2022 awards! Click on each photo 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
Director, Co-CIO German and European mid/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.

Simon has 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 and is a current member of the FRC Advisory Panel.

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.
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).
James Beech
Editor in chief
IR Magazine

James Beech joined IR Media Group as Editor in Chief in January 2022. He was a multimedia journalist, editor, client relationship manager, awards host and public speaker at Campden Wealth, for and about the global ultra-wealthy multigenerational family business and office community, in 2016-21.

The Englishman reported and photographed news and features for daily and weekly regional newspapers and websites, in New Zealand and Australia, including the Otago Daily Times and Canterbury-Bankstown Express, in 2006-15.

He wrote and edited market-leading consumer magazines and websites in Bournemouth then worked in public relations and media communications in London, in 1999-2006.

He graduated Bournemouth University with a BA (Hons) in Multimedia Journalism in 1999.

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.

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

To view the full list of 2022 nominees and winners click 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
ASML
Iberdrola
Intesa Sanpaolo

WINNER
Novo Nordisk
Vonovia

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

ASR Nederland
Barco
Eregli Demir
LPP

WINNER
MERLIN Properties
Nordic Semiconductor

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

Boozt Group
CTT – Correios de Portugal
Norske Skog

WINNER
Odfjell
SÜSS MicroTec
TAV Airports Holding

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
Banco Santander, Carlos Berastain & Begoña Morenés
Intesa Sanpaolo, Marco Delfrate & Andrea Tamagnini

WINNER
Novo Nordisk, Daniel Bohsen & team
Vonovia, Rene Hoffmann

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