Excellence in corporate communications and financial relations was celebrated last night, at the fifth annual Corporate & Financial Awards. Held at the Brewery, Moorgate, the event welcomed delegates from a variety of companies and agencies, with many heading to work today having claimed the top prize for their category.

The Corporate & Financial Awards benchmark communications in the financial space, an area of business that continues to grow in standard year on year. With 2016 marking half a decade of Corporate & Financial Awards, the talent was high and the competition fierce.

Simon Jack, BBC business editor, was on-hand to provide the evening’s entertainment. Dealing out anecdotes and quick-fire quips, Jack made sure the delegates were entertained while a variety of guest presenters announced the winners of 23 categories, ranging from ‘Best online report,’ to ‘Most innovative financial communications.’

The recipients of the evening’s most coveted awards, ‘Best in-house corporate & financial communications team,’ and ‘Best IR agency or PR consultancy,’ were granted to historic company Rentokil Initial plc, and communications and reputation consultancy, Instinctif Partners, respectively. Runners up were named as Direct Line Group and RedLeaf Communications.

Judges praised the quality of the entries and the dedication each company had put in to achieving excellence in the financial and corporate communications and relations space.

Andrew Thomas, publishing editor of Communicate magazine, says, “The quality of the 2016 shortlist and winners meant the competition stepped up another gear from previous years. The amount of submissions prove how important financial media relations and corporate communications are to the City and its influencers – the Corporate & Financial Awards continue to demonstrate the importance of benchmarking these achievements.”

Conran Design Group, Radley Yeldar and Black Sun were among the agencies going home with the most awards, for their work with a variety of clients including Thomas Cook, Coats Group plc, and SUEK. In-house, VTB Capital scooped an impressive seven awards, while Provident Financial and Halfords Group plc were among the companies achieving two or more honours.

Follow the action on Twitter with the #CFAwards hashtag.

For more information, call the Communicate magazine office on 0207 498 7008

The full list of winners is as follows:

 

BEST CORPORATE WEBSITE

 

FTSE 100

Gold – Informa plc and Comprend

Silver – Antofagasta and Emperor

Bronze – Provident Financial plc and Comprend

Highly commended – Anglo American and Investis

 

FTSE 250

Gold – SEGRO and Investis

Silver – Rentokil Initial plc and Investis

Bronze – Halfords Group plc and Jones and Palmer

 

AIM/Small cap

Gold – Picton Property Income Ltd and Jones and Palmer

Bronze – Enterprise Inns plc and Black Sun

Highly commended – Trifast plc and Jones and Palmer

 

International/unlisted

Gold – EuroChem Group AG and Instinctif Partners - content & creative

Silver – Pension Insurance Corporation and Emperor

 

BEST PRINTED REPORT

 

FTSE 100

Gold – ARM Holdings plc and Radley Yeldar

Silver – intu Properties plc and Conran Design Group

Silver – Provident Financial plc and Radley Yeldar

Bronze – The Sage Group and Black Sun

Bronze – WorldPay and Gather

 

Highly commended – Aviva plc and MerchantCantos

Highly commended – Experian plc and Accrue Fulton

Highly commended – Mondi and Radley Yeldar

 

FTSE 250

Gold – Hays plc and Conran Design Group

Gold – St. Modwen and Radley Yeldar

Silver – Berendsen and Radley Yeldar

Silver – The Go-Ahead Group and Black Sun

Bronze – Redrow plc and Accrue Fulton

Highly commended – Laird and Radley Yeldar

 

AIM/Small cap

Gold – IGas Energy and Carr Kamasa Design

Silver – McColl’s Retail Group plc and MerchantCantos

Bronze – Cambian Group plc and SampsonMay

Bronze – Coats Group plc and Conran Design Group

Highly commended – Premier Foods plc and Accrue Fulton

Highly commended – Skyepharma plc and Jones and Palmer

 

International/unlisted

Gold – De Beers Group of Companies and Conran Design Group

Silver – SUEK and Black Sun

Bronze – Cancer Research UK and Conran Design Group

Bronze – Temenos Group AG and Carr Kamasa Design

Highly commended – Channel Four Television Corporation and Emperor

Highly commended – EuroChem Group AG and Instinctif Partners - content & creative

 

 BEST ONLINE REPORT

 

FTSE 100

Gold – Barclays plc and FleishmanHillard Fishburn

Silver – Legal & General Group plc and Addison Group

Bronze – AstraZeneca and Conran Design Group

Bronze – Rolls-Royce Holdings plc and Conran Design Group

 

FTSE 250

Gold – Ocado Group plc and Jones and Palmer

Silver – Inchcape and Black Sun

Silver – Thomas Cook and Radley Yeldar

Bronze – Playtech plc and Carr Kamasa Design

Highly commended – EVRAZ plc and Zebra Corporate Communications

Highly commended – Halfords Group plc and Jones and Palmer

 

AIM/Small cap

Silver – Creston plc and Instinctif Partners

Silver – Flowtech Fluidpower plc and Jones and Palmer

Bronze – Henry Boot plc and Jones and Palmer

Highly commended – Trifast plc and Jones and Palmer

 

International/unlisted

Gold – SUEK and Black Sun

Silver – AGCO Corporation and Instinctif Partners - content & creative

Silver – BBVA, SA and Comprend

Bronze – Norilsk Nickel and Zebra Corporate Communications

Bronze – Telecom Italia and H-ART

Highly commended – China Unicom and EQS

Highly commended – Peroni and Lundquist

 

Best online corporate newsroom

Gold – Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and TheNewsMarket

 

Best meeting

Gold – Cisco

Silver – VTB Capital (Talk Show with Richard Quest in the framework of VTB Capital Investment Forum RUSSIA CALLING! 2015)

Bronze – VTB Capital (Meeting with Investors at WEF in Davos)

 

Most innovative financial communications

Silver – VTB Capital

 

Best ipo communications

Gold – Aldermore Bank and FTI Consulting

Silver – Metro Bank and Lansons

Bronze – CYBG and FTI Consulting

 

Most effective crisis communications

Gold – Government of Bermuda and Cubitt Consulting

Silver – Direct Line Group

Highly commended – VTB Capital

 

Best management of corporate & financial media relations

Gold – Rentokil Initial plc

Silver – The Co-Operative Bank and Lansons

Bronze – Begbies Traynor and MHP Communications

 

Best management of investor & analyst relations

Gold – Corero Network Security plc and Redleaf Communications

Silver – Shawbrook Group and Instinctif Partners

Highly commended – VTB Capital

 

Best communication with overseas investors &/or media

Gold – Coats Group plc

Bronze – BVCA and Friend Studio

Bronze – VTB Capital

 

Best sustainability campaign

Gold – Peroni and Lundquist

Silver – Marks & Spencer plc and Friend Studio

Highly commended – VTB Capital

 

Best in-house corporate & financial communications team

 

Winner – Rentokil Initial plc

Runner up – Direct Line Group

 

Best IR agency or PR consultancy

 

Winner- Instinctif Partners

Runner up – RedLeaf Communications