LLORENTE & CUENCA presents Index of Online Presence - Colombia Stock Exchange

Bogotá DC, July 2009.- The use of Internet-based communication channels has yet to be exploited by the most important companies in Colombia. This is the main conclusion from the Index of Online Presence, an in-depth study carried out by the LLORENTE & CUENCE Observatory of Online Reputation analysing the Internet impact achieved by the 50 leading companies listed on the Colombia Stock Exchange (BVC).

The study analysed a total of 113 companies: the 50 BVC companies and 63 benchmarks or foreign competitors from each sector. Measured were the popularity and position of each company's two main assets: company name and its top executive.

This information was converted into indices of impact, presence and scope of the companies studied, which enabled an analysis of each company's Internet presence and position to be drawn up. The data then compared company presence in online media and platforms with the presence of their main competitors in the world.

The study findings can be summarised in 5 points:

• Of the 25 best-positioned companies on the Internet within the Index, only one comes from Colombia. Companies trading on the Colombian Stock Exchange have a far lower Internet presence than their international rivals. Of all the companies analysed, the Colombian organisation with greatest online popularity sits at position number 22. This shows the great opportunity for companies in Colombia to enter or boost their presence in online communication channels.
• The majority of BVC companies do not appear amongst the leading search engine results for keywords connected to their line of business. When searching for words connected to the lines of business of BVC companies on the Internet, in many cases it is not possible to find these organisations. 89% of keywords do not manage to place the company's main asset on the Internet.
• 69% of companies trading on the Colombian Stock Exchange disregard the presence of their top executive. The website of only 14% of companies studied appears as one of the top three results when their top executive’s name is entered into a search engine. On the other hand, 52.7% of companies do not even appear among the top 30 results.
• The popularity of BVC companies on the Internet is boosted by the online version of traditional means of communication. The leading listed Colombian companies concentrate their resources and attention on the digital versions of traditional means of communication, and devote less effort to Internet-based tools such as search engines, the blogosphere or social networks. This lack of presence has a negative impact on such important issues as corporate positioning by sector keywords.
• Telecommunications is the industry with most popularity on the Internet. This corresponds to the intense activity of the sector in the media. Another interesting fact is that the petroleum, gas and fuel industry has greater popularity than the traditionally more Internet-focussed finance sector.

“Companies in the Index must make up for lost time in order to compete in the international market and also to decisively lead this ranking in Latin America, as should a country with such economic potential as Colombia”, added Pablo Urrutia, CEO of LLORENTE & CUENCA Colombia.