Rossiya (Moscow) - December 4, 2008

Gostiny Dvor hosts 10th awards ceremony for winners of the prestigious award recognizing leaders of the Russian economy

A total of 44 Russian companies were named as winners of the Company of the Year 2008 award. This ceremony will long be remembered not only for its number of awards – 10, but also for recognizing companies that survived during critical times. Among them are Russian Railways, Ingosstrakh, Uralsib, MegaFon, Bryansk Automobile Plant, and DON-Story, to name just a few. Meanwhile, TogliattiAzot’s representative pointed out that the award was especially dear for the company, as the company was not only struggling to survive, but also fending off attacks by raiders.

According to the organizer of the award – RBC group of companies – the main criteria for nominating companies for the award were high profitability, a stable position on the market, progressive development, transparent corporate policy, compliance with international reporting standards, and openness of information.

The expert council used to select the winners is comprised of nearly 100 prominent politicians, economists, businessmen, journalists, and investment analysts. Since 2002, the awards have been presented under the patronage of the Russian Economic Development Ministry, and the winning companies receive a ‘priority enterprise’ status for the implementation of investment programs.

The award’s philosophy, formed in the late ‘90s, remains virtually unchanged today: only the most outstanding and dynamic companies working on the Russian market are recognized. The main idea of the award is not only to name the best company, but also to form a positive image of Russian businesses, as well as the promotion of modern business ethics standards in the country.

Many nominees and winners of the Company of the Year award believe that there is no equal for the award in Russia in terms of both its nature and the resources that it attracts. Curiously enough, while in the late ‘90s the winners’ list was comprised mostly of companies that managed to successfully overcome the financial crisis, in the year 2000, the winners were mostly new companies that managed to become strong competitors for the former leaders in their industries.

In 2004, the award became an international venue. For the first time in its history, foreign companies working in Russia were admitted to the competition. This year, Samsung Russian Service Co Ltd was among the winners.

At the same time, beginning from 2006, a regional round of the competition is held for companies working in one or several federal districts. Among this year’s winners are investment and construction company Rosstro Group (Northwestern Federal District), Europlast (Volga Federal District), Reserve Energy (Urals Federal District), Info-Yu advertising agency (Central Federal District), and New Telephone Company (Far Eastern Federal District).

The number of nominees is growing from year to year. Representatives of the expert council admitted that it was becoming harder to make a decision: the work of rivals who are nearly equal has to be closely scrutinized. The competition between the contenders becomes tougher each year, and the victory, thus, more prestigious. Back in 1999, there were a total of only 7 nominations, and the number has climbed to 28 nominations this year, in addition to 20 special nominations.