MIAMI, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Computershare
Limited (ASX: CPU), a leading financial services provider for the
global securities industry, is proud to announce seven of its
clients have been awarded a prestigious Global Equity Organization
(GEO) Award at a ceremony held at the Eden Roc Miami Beach during
GEO's 15th annual conference.
The GEO Awards celebrate excellence by recognizing companies
from around the globe who demonstrate their leadership and
dedication to employee stock plans. Award honors were presented in
ten categories, each designed to highlight excellence in areas of
the share plan industry such as communications, technology,
innovative or creative plan design, plan effectiveness and
financial education.
A record number of entries were received this year from a wide
array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a
variety of industries headquartered in ten different countries,
employing as few as 1,000 employees to more than 300,000 employees
and offering equity in as many as 190 countries. An independent
panel of judges carefully reviewed each submission and selected
those that deserve to receive a prestigious GEO Award.
Computershare is a sponsor of the global conference and spoke at
three panel presentations on employee plans, global experience with
corporate actions and multi-layered communications. The full agenda
for the panel presentations can be found here.
Computershare client successes included:
- Amadeus IT Holding S.A won the award for Best Plan
Effectiveness
- Kofax won the award for Most Creative Solution
- Merlin Entertainments plc and Nokia received the
award for the Best Use of an Employer Share Plan in a Corporate
Action
- Rio Tinto took home two awards for Best Plan
Communication and Best Use of Video Communications
- Royal Dutch Shell
plc won the award for Most Innovative and Creative Plan
Design
- Siemens AG won the award for Best Plan
Communication
Winners represent both large multinationals as well as smaller
companies from various industries and countries.
For further information, category descriptions and a full list
of winners and finalists for the 2014 GEO Awards please visit:
www.globalequity.org/geo/geoawards.
Editors Note: Quotes below from award winning
companies:
Amadeus IT Holding S.A won the award for Best Plan
Effectiveness. Ana Gonzalez, Group
Reward Manager at Amadeus was delighted with the recognition:
"We've worked hard to ensure the success of our plan and are
absolutely thrilled to have been recognised for this through this
GEO award."
Kofax won the award for Most Creative Solution. Reynolds
C. Bish, CEO of Kofax, said, "We won the award for Most Creative
Solution by achieving a Nasdaq listing in addition to our a pre
existing London listing in a
manner that defied all the skeptical experts who said it would
never work, and realized a significant step up in value, a much
higher trading volume and liquidity and a rapid transition of
shareholder ownership from the UK to the US. This included using
Computershare as our global registrar, who took our shareholder
records and stock plan administration to the next level by
providing a cohesive experience to our global shareholder and
employee base. Employees can now receive equity compensation in
their local currency, allowing us to better serve our valued
employees."
Merlin Entertainments plc received the award for
the Best Use of an Employer Share Plan in a Corporate Action.
Fiona Rose, Deputy Group Secretary
for Merlin Entertainments said: "We are thrilled that our efforts
for our All Employee Sharesave Plan have been recognised with this
GEO Award and that Merlin's hard work and commitment to our most
important asset (our employees) has been acknowledged. We would
also like to take this opportunity to thank the Computershare event
delivery team for their support in delivering this well received
plan."
Nokia received the award for the Best Use of an Employer
Share Plan in a Corporate Action. James
Roberton, Global Head of Equity Programs, Nokia said: "We
are so pleased to be recognised for our share plan communications
program by GEO. We work hard to ensure that our share plans operate
at the best level they can and appreciate the industry's support
and acknowledgement."
Rio Tinto scooped two awards in the Best Plan
Communication and Best Use of Video Communications categories.
John Beadle, Vice President,
Performance and Reward, Rio Tinto said: "In the past, we have had
many local plans that just reinforced our differences. We now have
some 16,000 employees shareholders all investing in the success of
the company through the same plan. This will help us attract and
retain key talent and will encourage staff to act as owners."
Royal Dutch Shell plc took
the award for most Innovative and Creative Plan Design.
Pam Roffe, share plan manager of
Shell said, "Our work over the years to ensure our share plans are
simple, globally aligned and successful can be attributed to the
link and use of the Vested Share Account product as part of the
shareholder experience. I am very happy that GEO has acknowledged
the VSA, we are proud and this award is gratefully received."
Siemens AG won the award for Best Plan Communication.
Bettina Gohm, Vice President at
Siemens AG said: "We are delighted that our efforts with our
innovative culture enhancement communication strategy and empirical
study have been recognised with this GEO Award. We are very proud
to see that we have been able to contribute to global knowledge for
the share plan industry."
For any media inquiries
Rachel Hamilton-Wilkes
Director, Public Relations
Tel: 310 751 1817
rachel.hamiltonwilkes@computershare.com
About Computershare Limited (CPU)
Computershare (ASX:CPU) is a global market leader in transfer
agency and share registration, employee equity plans, proxy
solicitation and stakeholder communications. We also specialise in
corporate trust, mortgage, bankruptcy, class action, utility and
tax voucher administration, and a range of other diversified
financial and governance services.
Founded in 1978, Computershare is renowned for its expertise in
high integrity data management, high volume transaction processing
and reconciliations, payments and stakeholder engagement. Many of
the world's leading organisations use us to streamline and maximise
the value of relationships with their investors, employees,
creditors and customers.
Computershare is represented in all major financial markets and
has over 14,000 employees worldwide.
For more information, visit www.computershare.com
