Petrochemicals producer Sasol said yesterday that its 2004 annual report has been ranked fifteenth among the top 200 global annual reports, out of 1 100 listed companies surveyed in the 2005 Annual Report of Annual Reports, published by Report Watch of e.com.

Report Watch has conducted comprehensive surveys and ranking of international annual reports since 1997.

Sasol is the only South African company that featured in the top 20 companies on the list.

“We were surprised by a number of striking features in the Sasol annual report. These are things that many companies could emulate. Incidentally, it also proves that neither the company size nor its locations are decisive factors in the quality of reporting. You should be proud of performing so well at the southern tip of Africa. Both the e.com research staff and our international report rating panel reached the high marks because of the quantity and quality of information provided,” says Mike Guillaume, director and editor in chief of Report Watch.

The 1 100 listed companies surveyed represent a cross section of important stock markets and industrial and geographical diversity. The top rated annual report award went to Canadian Imperial bank of Commerce, while internationally renowned brands such as Danone, TNT, Philips, Woolworths and Electrolux featured among the top twenty.

Sasol was ranked eighth for its share and investor relations information and fourteenth both for financial and performance reporting, and for strategy, leadership and governance.

The Report Watch monitoring process is a joint initiative of US-based Corporate Essentials and its European office, enterprise.com.

Five sets of criteria were used to assess reports: company position; market financial and commercial performance (or problems); international presence; peer groups; and past reporting performance.