Moscow Exchange awards winners of XXIII Annual Report Competition

On 16 November 2020, Moscow Exchange and RCB Media Group held the XXIII Annual Report Awards ceremony. The event was held online for the first time.

Yury Denisov, CEO of Moscow Exchange, said at the ceremony:

"We are holding the Annual Report Contest for the twenty-third time as we believe it’s important to encourage quality disclosure by companies for their investors and other stakeholders. Indeed, transparency is the key measure of good corporate governance. More and more companies are focusing on sustainability. That is why, this year Moscow Exchange and Institutional Investor established a new award category for the best company in the area of ESG."

The Annual Report Contest has been held since 1997. This is one of the most prominent events of the year in the area of corporate governance and investor relations, serving as a venue for creating standards for representing a company’s business and development strategy for its shareholders, as well as finding recent trends and best practices for the content, structure and design of annual reports.

The contest helps improve transparency of public companies and strengthen disclosure to investors and clients.

111 companies, including 10 newcomers, applied to participate in the contest this year. The entry period was open from 1 June to 7 September 2020.

The judges at the contest were 15 experts including representatives of major investment funds, professional associations, not-for-profit organizations and regulatory agencies, leading financial analysts, corporate governance and communications experts.

The winners in the major categories are:

• Inter RAO UES for the best annual report by a company with a market cap of more than RUB 200 billion;
• Aeroflot for the best annual report by a company with a market cap of RUB 40-200 billion;
• Interregional Distribution Grid Company of Center and Volga Region for the best annual report by a company with a market cap of up to RUB 40 billion;
• Russian Railways for the best annual report by a non-public company.

The winners in other categories:

• Post of Russia for the best debut;
• KazMunayGas for the best annual report by a foreign company;
• Mail.ru Group in the category Best Annual Report: Effective Communication;
• Lenenergo for best corporate website design and navigation;
• Sistema for best disclosure on a website;
• SUEK for best presentation of the business model in the report by a non-public company;
• Inter RAO UES for the best presentation of the company’s strategy and investment case in the annual report;
• RusHydro for the best disclosure of information on corporate governance in the annual report;
• Severstal for the best ESG report;
• FSK UES for the best quality of disclosure with respect to sustainable development in the annual report.

Moscow Exchange and Institutional Investor Magazine also awarded winners of the independent survey among international investors regarding efforts made by Russian companies in the field of investor relations. Participants in the survey included 385 portfolio managers and analysts from 240 banks and funds across the globe. 

The winners of the Institutional Investor awards are:

• Polyus – Best IR by a Large Cap Corporate, Russia 2020;
• X5 Retail Group – Best IR by a Mid Cap Corporate, Russia 2020;
• Aeroflot – Best IR by a Small Cap Corporate, Russia 2020;
• X5 Retail Group – Best Corporate for ESG, Russia 2020;
• Victor Drozdov, Head of Business Communication and Investor Relations at Polyus – Best IR Professional Russia 2020;
• Svetlana Demyashkevich, CFO at X5 Retail Group – Best CFO, Russia 2020.