The survey, undertaken by Swedish research company Hallvarsson & Halvarsson, compared websites of 483 of the FTSE 500 against a list of 101 criteria covering technology, functionality and content.
The survey was conducted in two steps. The first step is an international survey of how financial analysts, both sell- and buy-side, use the internet and what demands they put on a website of excellence.
A test protocol was then compiled from the results of this survey and earlier experience, producing a 101 point checklist against which the sites were evaluated. Technological and functional aspects make up 32.5% of the total score with content making up the remaining 67.5%. SABMiller scored 18.5 for technology and 37.5 for content, giving a total score of 56%. The web site may be visited at www.sabmiller.com.
The winning web site was that of SCA, a Swedish company, which scored a total of 80%, while the company coming last was BHW Holdings of Germany with 8.5%. Other South African dual listed companies on the list were Anglo American at 65, Old Mutual 172, BHP Billiton at 203, Lonmin at 221 and Liberty International at 270.
Commenting on the web site, Internet account director Jeanine Rademan from Graphicor, said that it demonstrated the sophistication of the South African market. "Corporate Web site standards locally are very high," says Rademan, "SABMiller has an awesome web site, but there are several local companies who would give them some good competition. Obviously the research could not cover the entire world, but there are local companies, not part of the FT500, who would certainly have made the top 100. Barloworld, for example, has a world class web site."
"We were also impressed with the methodology used to assess the various web sites. We are hopeful that similar methodology will be introduced in South Africa to assess local financial web sites, to determine best of breed and to enable us to benchmark ourselves against the world's best."
Top UK sites were: British American Tobacco - 1; Smith & Nephew - 2; Aviva - 3; Marks & Spencer - 4 and WPP Group - 5.
