«During its Annual Conference in Stockholm, the European Real Estate Association (EPRA), representing the European public real estate sector, granted the Dutch property investment fund Corio NV, the EPRA Award for the Best Annual Report (BAR). It is the seventh time in EPRA’s history this award has been given. As from the 2005 BAR Award onwards, the objective of the Award has changed. The objective of the BAR Award is to identify the participant that showed the highest consistent relative improvement in the quality of annual reporting as determined by its increase in ranking. The scores of the participants over the last three years are taken into consideration. The annual reports showing significant consistent improvements in providing quantitative and qualitative information over these years competed for the BAR Award 2007.
According to the jury, under chairmanship of Wibo van Ommeren (Deloitte The Netherlands), Corio NV showed over the last three years the best and most consistent improvement, for example in publishin
more extensively information on its development projects. Timeliness of the development pipeline is disclosed in depth including the gross development value and gross external area relating to development
projects. Furthermore, Corio has disclosed the net asset value, the diluted earnings per share and the triple
net asset value including the reconciliations.
In total, 92 European real estate companies competed for the Award. On the basis of various criteria – accounting principles and valuation issues relating to real estate as well as the extent of disclosure of additional information - the Accountant and Consultancy Firm Deloitte carried out the preliminary examination of all annual reports. Subsequently, five nominees were selected and presented to the ‘Best
Annual Report Committee’ of EPRA for their final judgement. Chairman of this five-headed European Jury is Wibo van Ommeren, Audit Director at Deloitte. The Committee decided Corio NV is the real estate company with the best improvement in its annual report of the past three years, while The British Land Company Plc scored the highest number of absolute points.
EPRA recently stated it will continue the competition for the best annual report. As in previous years the recommendations are the sole basis for the Jury to establish the extent to which an annual report fulfils the objectives of EPRA.
The Award, sponsored by Pension Fund and Institutional Investor PGGM, has as its primary goal to assist in pushing the industry forward by making the financial statements of public real estate companies in
Europe clearer, more transparent and comparable across Europe. The Award also contributes to facilitate insight in and comparison of European public real estate companies for interested investors in Europe and beyond».
(CS dell'Associazione)