M&S Tops Reputation Institute’s Rankings for Best Corporate Reputation

LONDON - Public Place Increasing Importance on Companies Behaving Transparently and Ethically

- High Street Retailers Prominent in the Ranking, Banks the Big Losers

Marks and Spencer has ranked at number one as the most reputable company in the eyes of British consumers in the UK rankings of the Global Reputation Pulse Study 2009 published by the Reputation Institute (RI). The retail and food outlet, topped the annual survey of 140 of the largest companies in the UK, in which over 5000 British consumers were surveyed. The study also identified Smith & Nephew and Cadbury’s Plc as taking the 2nd and 3rd slots respectively, with William Morrison and the Rolls Royce Group following closely in 4th and 5th positions. The results, dominated by consumer industries, show that faith in consumer products has not been dented by the current economic crisis. Banks make a poor showing in corporate reputation performance, with Nationwide Building Society being the only financial operation to feature in the top 50 index.

The Global Reputation Pulse measures the corporate reputations of the world’s 600 largest companies in 32 countries - based on consumers’ trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling about a company across seven dimensions of reputation.

“The results in the UK reflect the overall current mood among consumers globally, said Seamus Gillen, UK MD of the Reputation Institute. The most telling finding is that, next to delivering strong products and services, consumers want companies to act transparently and ethically, and to prove that they care about society. We are clearly seeing the reaction to the way in which banks in particular have let people down, and destroyed public trust.

“As the leading companies in the survey show, a good reputation is key for businesses to help them sustain support and come out on top with the consumer.”

Category Winners: Products and Services: Rolls-Royce Workplace Marks & Spencer Governance Marks &Spencer Citizenship: William Morrison Supermarkets Leadership: William Morrison Supermarkets Performance: Tesco Innovation: Inmarsat Definitions Products and Services - offers excellent products and reliable services; Workplace - an appealing place to work and treats employees well; Governance - a responsibly-run company, behaves ethically and is open and transparent in its business dealings; Citizenship - a good corporate citizen, supports good causes and protects the environment; Leadership - has strong and visible leaders and is managed effectively; Performance - delivers good financial results; Innovation - makes or sells innovative products or innovates in the way it does business.

The UK top 50 Rank Company Global Pulse Score 1 Marks & Spencer 78.23 2 Smith & Nephew 77.58 3 Cadbury PLC 77.58 4 William Morrison 77.16 Supermarkets 5 Rolls-Royce 77.09 6 Tate & Lyle 76.84 7 Sainsbury 76.43 8 Intercontinental Hotels 76.16 9 Thomas Cook 75.99 10 Inmarsat 75.31 11 PZ Cussons 74.66 12 SAB Miller 74.25 13 Next 73.77 14 Travis Perkins 73.75 15 BHP Billiton 73.69 16 Unilever 73.60 17 Dairy Crest 73.57 18 GlaxoSmithKline 73.16 19 Associated British Foods 72.81 20 The Game Group 72.69 21 WHSmith 72.43 22 Tesco 72.29 23 AstraZeneca 71.39 24 Diageo 71.33 25 WPP Group 71.29 26 Wood Group 71.14 27 GKN 71.04 28 Weir Group 71.02 29 Wolseley 70.72 30 Babcock International 70.67 Group 31 Rentokil Initial 70.38 32 Debenhams 70.31 33 Elsevier 70.09 34 Home Retail Group 70.04 35 Go-Ahead Group 70.03 36 Reckitt Benckiser 69.95 37 Xstrata 69.61 38 Johnson Matthey 69.49 39 Sage 69.47 40 Jardine Lloyd Thompson 69.45 41 Vodafone 69.45 42 Taylor Nelson Sofres 69.38 43 Nationwide Building 69.35 Society 44 Yell Group 69.20 45 British Airways 68.98 46 Inchcape 68.78 47 BAE Systems 68.66 48 Pearson 68.55 49 Tomkins 68.46 50 Avis Europe 68.41

About the Global Reputation Pulse 2009 Study

Reputation Institute’s 2009 Global Reputation Pulse is the largest study of corporate reputations in the world, identifying what drives reputation and covering more than 600 companies from 32 countries annually. A Pulse score is a measure of corporate reputation calculated by averaging perceptions of four indicators - trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling - obtained from a representative sample of at least 100 local respondents who were familiar with the company.

Reports on the 2009 Global Reputation Pulse findings, and the UK survey, can be downloaded at www.ReputationInstitute.com.

About Reputation Institute

Reputation Institute is the world’s leading reputation consulting firm. With a presence in more than 25 countries, Reputation Institute is dedicated to advancing knowledge about reputation and shares best practice and current research through client engagement, membership, seminars, conferences, and publications such as Corporate Reputation Review.

www.ReputationInstitute.com

Source: Reputation Institute

Media Contacts: Sandhya Shyam, T +44(0)20-7033-2660, sshyam at uk.peppercom.com