BMG is proud to introduce the Transparency Award to Saudi Arabia this year and is extremely positive about the medium to long term effects this can have on the Kingdom’s financial markets.
This initiative is aimed to enhance awareness, emphasize the importance, and encourage public companies to be forthcoming and open with market players. This will in turn lead to increased investor trust in the market and eventually a more efficient and stable financial environment.
The BMG Transparency Award finalists of 2008 (in alphabetical order) are:
- Al-Marai
- SABIC
- Arab National Bank
- SAMBA
- Bank Al-Bilad
- Saudi British Bank
- Banque Saudi Fransi
- Saudi Telecome
- Jarir
- SAVOLA Group
- Mobily
The Winners are:
Jarir was our first choice as in addition to scoring well on both the quantitative and qualitative criteria, (because of having a very intuitive and easy to navigate through website, etc..), has top management with extreme willingness to share information, including future strategy and respond to different queries by different investors in the best and most efficient possible way. We believe commitment to openness is a sustainable process that only the most professional and proficient management can control, and we believe Jarir did a most wonderful job on that, and therefore the first prize.
Savola scored perfectly well in all aspects. In terms of its website, it was equipped with the company’s latest news and up to date interim financial statements. They issue periodic newsletters on the company, and it is worth mentioning that their physical annual report was the best annual report we received, as it gives a direct insight into such a big and complicated group. Also, they were one of the first companies to respond to us, hence scoring high qualitatively. At this point, we highlight the importance of timeliness in the financial markets, and therefore give Savola most credit for this.
Arab National Bank also scored very well, its annual report had plenty of detail. It also scored well qualitatively. They were part of the 2nd group of companies to send us their annual report, communication and response to and from the company remained effortless throughout the transparency exercise. In addition, they properly archived past financials on their website, which was easy to navigate.
