U.S. Analysts Rank Entergy as Top Company for Investor Relations in the Utility Industry

Investment experts have ranked Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) among the best companies in the United States – and the very best in the utility industry – for effectiveness of their corporate investor relations programs.

The market research firm Greenwich Associates, which provides research and consulting to global financial-services companies, conducted its annual survey in early 2007 of more than 700 investment analysts. The survey ranks a public company’s investor relations efforts against industry peers.

Entergy ranked at the top of the list in the utility industry and finished third of all the approximately 200 public companies across the country receiving 10 or more survey evaluations, the minimum number needed to be included in the rankings.

Greenwich interviewed portfolio managers and investment analysts at nearly 250 of the largest U.S. investing institutions in the first quarter of this year. Analysts evaluated large publicly traded companies they cover, based on 12 factors including capability and credibility of senior management, quality of the company’s written reports, accessibility of senior management, transparency of accounting information, quality of investor meetings, and overall performance of each company’s investor relations department.

In its announcement of the rankings, Greenwich said that effective investor relations programs depend in part on consistent participation and support of companies’ chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

“The best IR programs are true team efforts between these executives and the IR manager,” said Greenwich consultant Bill Bruno.
Others among the top 15 in the rankings included companies such as Burlington Northern Santa Fe, EOG Resources, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, J.C. Penney, United Technologies, Staples, AFLAC and Nordstrom.

The Greenwich results are consistent with other recognition received earlier this year, demonstrating Entergy’s commitment to the highest standards in conducting business. For example, Entergy is the only U.S. utility named to Forbes magazine’s list of America’s 100 Most Trustworthy Companies for its corporate governance practices and accounting transparency. Entergy’s corporate governance ratings assigned in the Institutional Shareholder Services U.S. Proxy Analysis also outperformed 99.8 percent of the companies in the S&P 500 and 100 percent of other companies in the utilities group.