Ranking the top 50 on webcasting archives

August 23, 2010

Here is an attempt to rank the 50 largest Australian companies for the quality and completeness of their AGM webcasting and archiving. They are ranked from best to worst.

Westpac: a comprehensive offering to shareholders. The archive goes all the way back to 2000. Questions are included in the webcasts, and they offer video, sound and slides, PDF files or word files to download. This shows a strong consideration of their shareholders and web users.

Leighton: a fantastic archive that extends as deep as 2001 that includes full meeting webcasts plus transcripts of the meetings.

Woolworths: excellent archive with webcasts of quality AGMs, financial meetings and announcements back to 2001.

IAG: an extensive archive that dates back to 2000, with webcasts that include formal business, beginning in 2002.

Macquarie Group: a comprehensive archive for shareholders. They offer pdfs and webcasts that are archived back to 2001. The archive extends to 1999 but only PDFs are on offer between 1999 and 2001.

Origin: a fantastic archive of webcasts that extends to 2003. They also include webcasts of the their financial reports. All webcasts include all facets of each meeting and is quite a comprehensive offering that should be a template for other companies.

Commonwealth Bank: broadcast their AGMs live and have 3 years of archived webcasts including questions from the floor. The webcasts are supported by results facts and figures which are also downloadable.

Telstra: have archived webcasts of AGMs back to 2004 including formal business, but after multiple checking, there is no sound supporting the videos for 2004 and 2005. From 2006 onwards everything is archived properly and working.

Newcrest: an extensive archive that goes back to 2003 with the webcast archive kicking in from 2006. The webcasts are comprehensive and cover all questions and formal business.

BHP Billiton: another company that webcasts their AGMs live. The 2008 and 2007 webcast is archived including all questions, and the 2006 and 2005 webcasts are archived as slides and audio only.

Westfield: they live webcast as audio and their archive goes back to 2005 and includes questions.

Santos: the archive extends back only as far as 2006, but at least what is on offer is video webcasts that include all aspects of each meeting.

Computershare: the archive goes back until 2002 but it is from 2006 onwards where they offer webcasts. The webcasts on offer are only sound files but they do include questions and formal business.

Brambles: archive includes webcasts that include questions, that goes back to 2006.

Lihir Gold: they live webcast and have an archive going back to 2006. Their webcasts are audio and video which include questions.

Woodside Petroleum: they webcast and the archive goes back until 2006, but that particular webcast link is broken.

Oil Search: they are into the swing of webcasting. The archive stops at 2003 and includes only audio, but AGMs and many other meetings are also webcast.

Suncorp: they offer webcasts including questions from the 2007 and 2008 AGMs only. The archive goes back to 2004 but the information is presented as PDF files only.

AMP: it is suggested on their website that the archive goes back to 2004, but the links for 2004/5/6 are broken. They do webcast audio and video live, and the archive of AGM webcasts of 2008 and 2007 are audio and video which include all questions and items of business.

AGL: a shallow archive of webcasts that only covers the previous year, but at least questions are included. The remaining years back to 2005 only are presented as pdf files.

NAB: The 2008 AGM is on offer as a video webcast and covers formal business, but they have no deeper archive of webcasts or past AGMs.

QBE: the archive goes back to 2004 and offers webcasts as audio and slides for the years up to 2007. Video webcasts are on offer from 2007 but they have been edited down to exclude all debate.

CSL: an archive that goes back to 2000 and webcasts that begin in 2002. This may seem a comprehensive archive, but the webcasts do not include any formal business or questions from the floor, which is self-defeating. Why go to the trouble of hosting and storing webcasts when the information is censored?

Transurban: their archive extends back to 2003 that includes a combination of pdf documents and audio webcasts from the AGM. Unfortunately in their wisdom, no questions or formal business is included in these webcasts.

Fosters: has an archive that goes back until 2003, but is only from 2006 onwards there are webcasts on offer. Each webcast since 2006 does not include and questions or formal business.

News Corp: they have webcast their AGMs live in the past, but archiving these webcasts is a foreign concept. Could not find an archive of any information for any past AGMs.

CFS Retail: the archive stops at 2004 but includes mp3, podcasts and webcasts coverage of their AGMs.

AMP: apart from the fact that information for shareholders is very difficult to find, they offer only the 2008 AGM as a webcast which includes questions. They have links to other years going back to 2004, but every one of those links simply says that no information is available. What's the point?

Amcor: they have an archive of webcasts that goes back to 2007 but questions from the meetings are not included.

Axa Australasia: the archive for AGMs goes back to 2000, but not a single webcast is on offer. All material is presented as PDF files.

ANZ: They have PDFs and an audio webcast with slides of of the previous AGM only.

Wesfarmers: they only archive PDF documents, but at least it goes back to 2003. They prompt users to download software to listen to webcasts, but after much checking, the links to webcasts are non-existent.

MIG: no webcasts available and the only information on offer is a collection of pdf documents that is archived back to 2001.

MAP: no webcasts available and the only information on offer is a collection of pdf documents that is archived back to 2002.

Fortescue Metals: an informative website but no offerings of any past AGMs, in the printed form or as webcasts. A poor effort considering everything else is covered in detail.

Rio Tinto: To access some of their media releases and webcasts, it requires the viewer to register. There are no AGM webcasts available on the website, but the two webcasts they do offer are annual results and for an investor seminar.

Crown: No offering at all for shareholders. There are financial reports but no mention of any current or past AGMs, including any printed information and webcasts.

Energy Resources: a lot of information on offer that stretches as far as 1997, but no webcasts on offer. Not a practiced they have explored.

Coal Allied: no webcasts on offer but an archive of PDF documents going back to 2004.

Coca-Cola: they offer no webcasts but an archive of PDF documents going back to 2005.

Orica: a very skinny archive that only goes back to 2008, but at least it includes formal business.

Lion Nathan: no webcasts at all on offer, only PDF documents going back to 2004.

ASX: looks like an in depth archive that goes back to 2000 and webcasts back to 2003, the problem is that the only available webcast is from 2008 as all the other links say that webcast no longer available.

Stockland: a confusing archive that dates to 2000 an includes some random audio files but predominantly PDFs. No webcasts are offered.

Qantas: there is minmal information on offer that spreads back to 2000. Only in 2008 did they begin webcasting their AGM.

Tabcorp: a confusing site with no webcasts and limited coverage of their AGMs.

Sonic Health: a hopeless offering of no webcasts and only the MD presentations and results from meetings going back to 2002.

Worley Parsons: a very slim archive with only results and notices of meetings on offer. Would not know what a webcast was.

Toll Holdings: the only offer PDFs and even doing that the archive goes only as far as 2005. No webcasts.

Sims Metal: very little investor information available including any AGM information. No webcasts.

Aus Foundation: no information at all regarding AGMs current or past. Definitely no webcasts.

Alcoa: no archive offered.