Geely Automobile Holdings, Kerry Logistics Network, Ping An Insurance and  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp ranked first in all categories in their sectors

 

HONG KONG, CHINA, - June 26, 2018 - Geely Automobile Holdings and Kerry Logistics Network, clinched the first-place slots in all four categories of Best CEO, Best CFO, Best Investor Relations Professional and Best IR Company rankings in their respective sectors of Autos & Auto Parts and Transportation in the 2018 All-Asia Executive Team survey announced today byInstitutional Investor.  

 

Only four companies in Asia accomplished this feat. The other two companies are Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., a personal financial services provider in the Insurance sector, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the world's largest semiconductor foundry. Last year, only one company captured first place in every single category, underscoring the intense competition for the mindshare of both buy-side investors and sell-side analysts.

 

With this year's record survey participation, Hong Kong and China listed companies have extended their lead in the minds of global investors for the second year in a row. Yet, the concentration of votes to the leading companies is more apparent with a decline of Honored Companies from 118 to 101, impacting particularly the Consumer / Staples and Property sectors.

 

A few key emerging trends are identified from the survey:

1.    China remains on top: Mainland Chinese companies have once again dominated the rankings, edging out a number of past winners from India and Australia. Chinese companies ascended, with ANTA Sports Products and Midea Group earning the highest weighted scores in the Consumer / Discretionary sector.

 

2.    The number of Indian companies has fallen to 12 from 27 .  For the first time, Indian companies are not ranked in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical sector -- a sector they dominated before 2017.

 

3.    Chinese firms will, however, need to improve their commitment to corporate governance and ESG to match the higher global standard: For the first time,Institutional Investor is awarding companies that deliver the best corporate governance and ESG insights in their sector. However, despite a strong overall performance of Chinese companies, only 30% of the top corporate governance and ESG insights leaders in the table are from China.

 

4.    Accessibility of senior executives: This continues to be valued by investors as evidenced by the strong performance of DBS Bank's climb to top spot in the Banks sector for the first time, a sector which has previously been dominated by Chinese and Indian banks. The strong accessibility of its senior executives in conference calls and meetings distinguished the bank from the pack.

 

Institutional Investor Research's Head of Asia, Cara Eio, said, "With the continued commitment to open the Chinese capital markets to outside investors from the government, and an ongoing commitment from companies to deliver transparency and accessibility to investors, we've seen another leap ahead in the minds of the investment community for Chinese listed companies, outstripping their rivals across the region. 

 

Additionally, we saw some good success stories from Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines and Thailand, which materially moved the needle year-on-year in the eyes of investors. This demonstrates that good governance and focused investor engagement can cut through the continued challenges that the investment community has around regulation and an uncertain geo-political outlook as they search for alpha."

 

Every year, Institutional Investor asks buy-side analysts, money managers and sell-side researchers at securities firms and financial institutions that cover the region to identify up to four companies that excel in investor relations in four categories -- Best CEO, Best CFO, Best IR Professional and Best IR Company.

 

This year a record total of 3,538 buy-side individuals and 982 sell-side analysts participated in the 2018 All-Asia Executive Team Honored Companies survey, representing 15.1% and 14.5% year-on-year growth respectively. Buy-side participation rose 28.5% while sell-side participation soared 42.7%. 

 

Participating buy-side voters together manage US$1.6 trillion in Asian equities, excluding Japan. The title of "Honored Company" goes to businesses earning a top-three position in one of the four categories, while "Most Honored Company" goes to companies that secure two or more top-three appearances.

 

Of the 18 sectors, Chinese companies dominated across half, in particular leading in the Internet sector. However, they fell in the Banks sector where Singaporean and Indian banks have gained ground, taking the lead. Chinese companies also continue to dominate in the Consumer / Discretionary and Basic Materials sectors. Hong Kong companies were spread out amongst the sectors but had good representation in the Telecommunications sector.

 

This year, 20 Hong Kong companies, along with another 100 companies across Asia, are celebrated as honored companies for their outstanding corporate governance standards and transparent, meaningful engagement with investors.

 

There are a number of Hong Kong companies which showed significant improvement in 2018, including China Gas Holdings and Geely Automobile Holdings. Regionally, the number of Indian companies declined more than 50% in the Honored Company list with 3 of the 12 Indian companies being recognized in the Autos & Auto Parts sector.

 

Daniel Dai, Vice President (International Business), Geely Automobile Holdings said, "It is our honor to learn that the portfolio managers and analysts from the capital market have cast a vote again this year in favor of the management team's achievements of Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. In the coming year, we will keep working hard with our company's traditions, to learn, to respect, and to be grateful."

 

William Ma, Group Managing Director of Kerry Logistics, attributed the company's Most Honored Company award in the Transportation sector to its ongoing focus on fair, open and timely disclosure of crucial financial information in its daily course of communication with investors. 

 

"In driving proactive and high-quality dialogue with the investment community, we closely follow changing global regulatory requirements and attach great importance to investors' feedback and suggestions to achieve continuous improvement with the goal to facilitate understanding of Kerry Logistics' strong fundamentals and promising prospects and to unleash our corporate value for shareholders," remarked Mr. Ma.  Kerry Logistics has been voted the Most Honored Company in the Transportation sector for the third year in a row.

 

The 2,368 companies nominated across 18 sectors this year were rated on ten core areas, including 'senior executives are accessible'; 'IR team is well informed and empowered to speak authoritatively on the company's behalf'; timely and appropriate level of financial disclosure; 'responds quickly and thoroughly to requests'; most constructive conference calls; high quality of meetings through road shows/reversed road shows/conferences; high quality of corporate documents and investor kit materials; commitment to corporate governance; 'delivers insight and useful reports on ESG/SRI metrics'; and website quality. (MO).