Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) has announced the winners of the excellence in investor relations (IR) award, which is the first of its kind in the Middle East region.
QNB was adjudged the best Qatari company overall for excellence in IR and also in the best large-cap company category.
Doha Bank bagged the award in the mid-cap company category and Mazaya Qatar under small-cap company.
In the best IR website category, Ooredoo, Al Khaliji and Vodafone Qatar were the winners.
The best chief financial officer award was bagged by Ramzi Mari of QNB while the best IR officer honour went to Andreas Goldau of Ooredoo.
The IR excellence programme is designed to recognise listed companies and individuals who display best practice in IR. Developed and executed by Iridium Investor Relations, an independent advisory firm, the programme surveyed the expert opinion of the domestic and international investment community.
“Our mandate is to support Qatar’s national economy by providing an exchange platform where investors can trade fairly and efficiently based on information that is essential to make intelligent investment decisions,” QSE chief executive Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori said.
This, he said, comes in the wake of many companies, especially family-owned, seeking listing in the bourse, which now has 43 constituents under seven broad categories of banks and financial services, industrials, consumer goods, transport, insurance, real estate and telecom.
Companies that adopt international standards in transparency and IR directly support this objective, he said, adding that the IR excellence programme rewards companies that work the hardest to support best practice in the area and encourages all listed companies to aspire to follow their example.
Highlighting that the methodology and all ranking criteria were made public via its website and other public channels, QSE said this enabled all listed companies to review categories and selection criteria, and gave them advance notice to adjust their IR efforts.
“The IR programme was not available for sponsorship to avoid any conflict of interest,” al-Mansoori said.
Abdul Aziz al-Emadi, director, Listing Department of QSE, urged the companies to undertake IR in their core strategies to better ensure transparency.
Oliver Schutzmann, chief executive of Iridium Investor Relations, said it witnessed a number of companies that upgraded their IR efforts as a direct result of the excellence programme. “This is a great result that we believe will benefit all participants in the QSE,” he added.