The number of European public companies that upgraded their corporate web sites jumped in the last half of 2013 as economic optimism increased, according to a study by Investis.
About 90 percent of the members of Austria’s ATX index showed improvement to their Investis IQ score, which is a measure of web site quality, as compared with just over 40 percent in the previous study done six months earlier, Investis said.
The number of FTSE 250 companies that showed site improvements at the end of 2013 compared with those that did six months earlier jumped to 60 percent from 40 percent, while improvements to MDAX company web sites rose to about 55 percent from just over 20 percent.
Those companies with responsive web sites – designed for viewing on different devices – grew by 62 percent in the second half across the indices measured through Europe, Investis says. The average Investis IQ rating for corporate mobile web sites increased 30 percent at the same time, while the quality of social media presence climbed 17 percent.
`Mobile and responsive web design in particular were the main areas of growth throughout 2013,’ Marcus Fergusson, Head of Research at Investis, says. `We have also witnessed a pronounced and encouraging increase in the number of companies investing in their overall digital corporate communications in the past half year. This trend appears to be following the global economic recovery – and looks set to continue throughout 2014.’
Nestlé lead the companies scored by Investis in the last quarter of 2013, with an overall score of 73 percent, followed by Credit Suisse at 71 and Halma, the health and safety technology group on the FTSE 250, with a score of 70. ABB scored 69 percent while Erste Group ranked fifth with 68 points and Catlin Group, UBS and Atkins all had 67 percent.
An Investis ranking of the S&P 100 found US companies lacking in terms of web site quality when compared to their European counterparts.
`The highest-scoring company in the S&P 100 is General Electric, with an average score of 68 percent,’ Investis’ reports reads. `However, this score would not be enough to rank in the top 10 of the FTSE 100.’
In the S&P 100 alone, Johnson & Johnson came second with 66 percent `thanks to its decision to start addressing its mobile audience’ while Microsoft came in third place with 65 percent. The overall average of the S&P 100 was 52 percent.
Investis did not rank individual companies in the FTSE 100 or other large-company indices such as the DAX 30 or CAC 40 in the fourth quarter. Overall, however, DAX 30 averaged 61 percent while the OMXH 25 scored 58 percent and the FTSE 100 came third with 55 percent.
In the first and third quarters of last year, Investis conducted analyses and comparisons of large-cap US and European indexes.
