Best Overall Strategic Value Added

The four short-listed companies were the highest scoring in the FutureValue Strategic Value Ranking Index in the 2007/08 reporting cycle. Capita Group, showed a notable improvement of +0.4 on 2006/07 to achieve equal top score of 8.5. The transparency and clarity of the Capita Annual Report impressed the judges, as did the completeness of its strategy-related content. They felt that this was a narrative that offered its Report users, whether expert or novice, a truly instructive appreciation of the Company's strategic thinking, strategic management and underlying strategic capability. It is the 2009 winner of the top award.

Best Strategy & Objectives by a FTSE100 Company

Of the four companies short-listed for this award, the judges were of the opinion that National Grid presented the best strategy and objectives content of any FTSE100 company in the 2007/08 reporting cycle. They concluded that none of the others could quite match the well-articulated resource-based strategy and clear strategic intent at the heart of National Grid's 2007 narrative. They noted that the Company had cleverly managed the challenge of reconciling the immediate operational ethos and culture that is typical of a utility with effective long-term strategic thinking.

Best Strategy & Objectives by a FTSE250 Company

In the opinion of the judges Halma set a particularly high standard to edge ahead of the other two short-listed companies. The quality and depth of the strategy discussion in Halma's 2008 Annual Report conveyed both the clarity of its strategic thinking and the apparent effectiveness of its strategic management. Halma presents a strong strategic case at Group and segment level with a resource-based strategy, where the centre is quite clearly adding enough value to make the Group worth considerably more than the simple sum of its parts.

Most Compelling Narrative

This is about reporting narrative that tells a really good story that keeps reader interest and attention throughout, leaving them at the end with an intimate knowledge of the company and of its potential. Vodafone Group's 2008 Annual Report meets these exacting criteria. It is a distinct cut above its narrative of previous years. This is at last an effective piece of communication that begins to do justice to the Company. Arguably, the most compelling aspect is the comprehensive explanation of the Group's business at the heart of the narrative making the remainder of the narrative content that much more accessible and intelligible.

Most Improved Narrative since 2006/07

Improving substantially a company's reporting narrative presents a significant challenge to those who undertake it – a challenge that usually has as much to do with change in the business as a whole as it does with how the business is reported. Wm Morrison Supermarkets has grappled with that challenge over three years, improving the narrative step-by-step, year-by-year. Although not quite the biggest improver on the FutureValue Index over one year, it was the biggest improver over three years from the lowest score of 1.0 in 2005 to 7.0 in 2008. For Morrisons this has clearly been quite a journey. What made the difference in the 2008 narrative, bringing the Company to life, were the human capital input and the studied exposition of the supply chain and its management.

Best strengths and resources coverage by a FTSE100 Company

Strengths and resources coverage in an Annual Report is the simple expression of a Company's underlying strategic capability and the evidence of the Company's capacity to deliver strategy and achieve its goals. In its 2008 Annual Report Man Group presents its strategic capability in a manner that should now engage and even enthuse the least knowledgeable stakeholder. With over one hundred and twenty identified references over the fifty-three pages of relevant narrative this remarkably comprehensive and wide-ranging coverage of strengths and resources validates Man Group's resource-based strategy.

Best strengths and resources coverage by a FTSE250 Company

That two of this year's short-listed companies are now FTSE100 companies is perhaps an indication of just how important strengths and resources coverage in reporting narrative is as evidence of a company's underlying strategic capability. Serco Group is the judges' choice for the 2009 award, and one of those that has since achieved elevation to the FTSE100. What impressed the judges particularly was the spread of value adding information around its strengths and resources that the Group managed to cram into its relatively concise 2007 reporting narrative and with very little repetition or duplication. These well-placed wide-ranging references made the Report interesting and relatively accessible, despite weaknesses in some other aspects of Serco's strategic value adding factors.

Best Online Annual Reporting by a FTSE100 Company

A shift to the wider use of online annual reporting enabled by the Companies Act 2006 had created expectations of generally higher standards and more creative usage of the online medium. But few companies have aspired to excel in this newer medium. Of the three short-listed companies the judges felt that Legal & General Group had achieved the most. The 2007 Online Annual Report was not only very good in its own right, it was also part of an integrated communication strategy that linked the online to the offline. The judges felt that L&G was using the web here the way it should be used. The video interview with the five senior executive directors effectively extended the offline content, bringing the narrative to life. The 'Create your own charts' function made the hard data more accessible.

Best Online Annual Reporting by a FTSE250 Company

The use of online annual reporting by FTSE250 companies in this 2007/08 reporting cycle was less auspicious than the use made by FTSE100 companies. Few FTSE250s have made their online Annual Reports part of a concerted attempt to add strategic value, most preferring to use the online medium to focus solely on communication, not content. Premier Farnell is one of the exceptions to this and an exemplar. It has made its 2008 online Annual Report part of a cohesive plan to add strategic value, and it has succeeded both offline and online in this reporting cycle. The judges felt that Premier Farnell's online Annual Report combined accessibility, navigability, creativity and interactivity better than the other three short-listed companies.