29 Nov 2016 20:41
“Alrosa’s commitment to best world practices of openness and cooperation with investors came under scrutiny this year when the company placed 11.9% of its shares on the exchange and it passed with flying colors. The competition jury, when assessing the company according to formal criteria, noted the prompt publication of financial statements, adherence to the principles and recommendations of the Corporate Governance Code and quality disclosure of information about compliance with these recommendations. The company’s website is very well organized: all the information that an investor needs can be accessed in one click. All of this taken together, in our view, demonstrates the company’s deliberate and proactive approach to issues of information transparency,” Interfax Group Executive Director Vladimir Gerasimov, the jury chairman, said.
“Acting as a national company, Alrosa is building its business in conditions of global competition. Therefore, we strive to observe high standards of corporate governance, of which information transparency is an integral part. The investment community’s high regard of our activities indicates that the company’s initiatives to increase the level of openness have achieved their goal,” Alrosa President Andrei Zharov said.
Alrosa is one of the first major public companies in Russia to disclose quarterly reports, the jury said. The company’s annual report for 2015 includes additional information in accordance with the recommendations of the Corporate Governance Code, and its reports describe the shareholder structure in detail.
Alrosa published 112 statements about material facts in the past year, data from Interfax’s Center for Disclosure of Corporation Information (www.e-disclosure.ru) show. Although issuers are not required to publish press releases about decisions made by the board of directors, Alrosa continues to do so voluntarily, which is particularly important in light of the upcoming transition to disclosure on the materiality principle.
The competition jury includes representatives of information agencies Interfax and AK&M, which are accredited by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to disclose the information of issuers on the securities market, as well as the CBR, Moscow Exchange, the Association of Independent Directors and Russian investor relations association ARFI.
The award for Active Corporate Policy on Information Disclosure was established by Interfax and AK&M in 2003 to recognize companies that have achieved the greatest success in prompt and complete disclosure of information for investors. When selecting the winner, the jury considers the completeness and timeliness of companies’ disclosure of financial statements, corporate events, information about ultimate beneficiary owners, corporate governance, timing of disclosure for Russian and foreign investors, and a general assessment of a company’s conduct in the information arena.
Past winners of the award are MTS (2015), Severstal (2014, 2006), Magnit (2012), Sberbank (2011), Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) (2010), Rosneft (2009, 2013), Lukoil (2008), TMK (2007), Russian Railways (2005), Mechel Group (2004) and Kalina (2003).
Accredited information agencies have been promptly disclosing information for participants in the Russian securities market since 2003. The agencies’ wires annually publish more than 200,000 statements from companies, and their websites have publicly accessible centers for disclosure of corporate information.
The Russian system of information disclosure meets all the basic requirements that are in place for similar systems in mature markets: it provides investors with broad, free and unrestricted access to company information through several channels, all information is provided in electronic form, and issuers can choose from among several agencies.
Alrosa named most transparent company in 2016
Alrosa, the Russian diamond miner, has won the competition for Active Corporate Policy on Information Disclosure, which recognizes the most transparent company of the year.
The award, a crystal symbolizing information transparency, was presented to a representative of Alrosa on November 29 at the Director of the Year awards ceremony in Moscow organized by the Association of Independent Directors and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).“Alrosa’s commitment to best world practices of openness and cooperation with investors came under scrutiny this year when the company placed 11.9% of its shares on the exchange and it passed with flying colors. The competition jury, when assessing the company according to formal criteria, noted the prompt publication of financial statements, adherence to the principles and recommendations of the Corporate Governance Code and quality disclosure of information about compliance with these recommendations. The company’s website is very well organized: all the information that an investor needs can be accessed in one click. All of this taken together, in our view, demonstrates the company’s deliberate and proactive approach to issues of information transparency,” Interfax Group Executive Director Vladimir Gerasimov, the jury chairman, said.
“Acting as a national company, Alrosa is building its business in conditions of global competition. Therefore, we strive to observe high standards of corporate governance, of which information transparency is an integral part. The investment community’s high regard of our activities indicates that the company’s initiatives to increase the level of openness have achieved their goal,” Alrosa President Andrei Zharov said.
Alrosa is one of the first major public companies in Russia to disclose quarterly reports, the jury said. The company’s annual report for 2015 includes additional information in accordance with the recommendations of the Corporate Governance Code, and its reports describe the shareholder structure in detail.
Alrosa published 112 statements about material facts in the past year, data from Interfax’s Center for Disclosure of Corporation Information (www.e-disclosure.ru) show. Although issuers are not required to publish press releases about decisions made by the board of directors, Alrosa continues to do so voluntarily, which is particularly important in light of the upcoming transition to disclosure on the materiality principle.
The competition jury includes representatives of information agencies Interfax and AK&M, which are accredited by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to disclose the information of issuers on the securities market, as well as the CBR, Moscow Exchange, the Association of Independent Directors and Russian investor relations association ARFI.
The award for Active Corporate Policy on Information Disclosure was established by Interfax and AK&M in 2003 to recognize companies that have achieved the greatest success in prompt and complete disclosure of information for investors. When selecting the winner, the jury considers the completeness and timeliness of companies’ disclosure of financial statements, corporate events, information about ultimate beneficiary owners, corporate governance, timing of disclosure for Russian and foreign investors, and a general assessment of a company’s conduct in the information arena.
Past winners of the award are MTS (2015), Severstal (2014, 2006), Magnit (2012), Sberbank (2011), Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK) (2010), Rosneft (2009, 2013), Lukoil (2008), TMK (2007), Russian Railways (2005), Mechel Group (2004) and Kalina (2003).
Accredited information agencies have been promptly disclosing information for participants in the Russian securities market since 2003. The agencies’ wires annually publish more than 200,000 statements from companies, and their websites have publicly accessible centers for disclosure of corporate information.
The Russian system of information disclosure meets all the basic requirements that are in place for similar systems in mature markets: it provides investors with broad, free and unrestricted access to company information through several channels, all information is provided in electronic form, and issuers can choose from among several agencies.