OHL ŽS Has Proven its Quality Once Again

14. 11. 2006

OHL ŽS, a.s. took first place in the Building Industry category of the prestigious competition for the Best Annual Report of the CR in 2005.

OHL ŽS, joint-stock company, traditionally proves the quality of its work in the projects it implements. The clearest evidence is naturally the quality of its construction activities, which is of course the most important thing for a building company. However, presentation of a company regarding its target groups is an important precondition of successful operation in the market, and publishing the annual report is a part of this.

It is the statutory obligation of every company, the financial report of which is reviewed by an auditor, to publish an annual report once a year. An annual report is a public document and is normally published in printed form as a brochure. It comprises particularly of the description of the company, a summary of financial indicators with comments, major events important for the company and the composition of its top bodies.

OHL ŽS does not consider publishing the annual report merely to be a necessity stipulated by law. For us, it is one of a number of opportunities we take advantage of to try to unify the presented content with the format since we realize that a high-quality annual report is a decisive way of highlighting the image of our company with respect to the key target group.

Such an approach was also rightfully appreciated in the traditional and prestigious competition for

the Best Annual Report of the CR in 2005  (announced by the CZECH TOP 100 Association) –

First place in the Building Industry category,
Eighth place in the Information Value category,
and also eighth place in the Total Rating..

Every November since 1994, the CZECH TOP 100 Association has annually compiled and published a list of companies in the Czech Republic successful in the preparation of their annual reports for the previous year. OHL ŽS, a.s. constantly takes the lead position on this level among the prestigious companies of our business sector. For example in the Total Rating category of the Best Annual Reports of the CR in 2005 the first eight places were held by such companies (including OHL ŽS) as:

• ČEZ Group
• Pražská energetika, a.s.
• ŠKODA AUTO a.s.
• Telefónica 02 Czech Republic, a.s.
• Komerční banka, a.s.
• České aerolinie a.s.
• Česká pojišťovna a.s.
• OHL ŽS, a.s.

The annual reports are evaluated in the following categories:

• Total Rating (information value and design, the level of linguistic and visual communication);
• Information Value (completeness and transparency of information, language and style);
• Graphic Design (visual scenario,  attractiveness, originality);
• Business Sectors (the place in the respective business sector according to the results of the total rating).

Besides annual reports, also evaluated is the level of Investor Relations on the websites of individual companies in the competition.

The juries of experts who evaluate all the aspects of an annual report have also included foreign experts since 2000. Jury members are professionals from a wide range of areas – financial analysts, auditors, graphic designers, economists, artistic photographers, and also experts in linguistics, printing and communication.

Jury members evaluate annual reports according to 35 criteria, such as

• correctness, completeness and  clear arrangement of presented data;
• description of and comments on a company’s activities in the previous period;
• artistic quality of photographs;
• graphic design and overall aesthetic  impression;
• linguistic and stylistic correctness; 
• interconnection of content and graphic design;
• print quality;
• structuring of an annual report, clear arrangement and comprehensibility, etc.

The excellent position of OHL ŽS, a.s. in the Best Annual Reports of the CR in 2005 is further evidence of the responsible attitude of the company’s employees to their work. It is also a challenge for us not only to maintain the quality of all our activities on the same level, but also to further improve it.