DIRK conference honors Germany's top names in investor relations

Awarded by DIRK, Thomson Reuters Extel und WirtschaftsWoche

Frankfurt am Main (pts026/05.06.2012/14:30) Yesterday, Thomson Reuters Extel (a division of Thomson Reuters), WirtschaftsWoche business magazine, and DIRK (the association for Investor Relations (IR) in Germany) announced the winners of the "German Investor Relations Award 2012" during the gala dinner held in connection with DIRK's 15th Conference.

Experts from over 11,000 buyside and 2,500 sellside firms took part in the survey in more than 60 countries between early February and April this year.

The award winners in the various categories are as follows:

- BASF AG was the most highly regarded DAX30 company for IR, up from 4th in 2011. The leading DAX30 IR professional was Oliver Schmidt of Allianz SE, who was ranked 10th in 2011. 100 individuals received nominations.

- In the MDAX category, Continental AG moved up from 2nd last year to 1st. For the individual IR professional rankings in MDAX, Rolf Woller of Continental AG was ranked 1st again. Over 80 individuals received nominations.

- For TecDAX, Software AG came top, for the sixth time in the seven years of Extel/DIRK rankings, and Guido Pickert of AIXTRON SE stays the leading IR Professional in this category.

- VTG AG rose from 4th place last year to head up the SDAX ranking of companies, and Martin Praum of IVG Immobilien AG, 6th in 2011 of the MDAX-Ranking moved up to claim 1st place in the individual IR professional table for SDAX companies.

Steve Kelly, Managing Director of Thomson Reuters Extel, says that "for the seventh year we have had an extremely successful collaboration with DIRK. Today we present exclusively the data for Germany, before on 12th June, all European results will be published."

"Good capital market communication stabilizes the performance of shares, which are an important investment class for our readers. Therefore, it is our pleasure to award a prize to Germany's best IR managers together with DIRK", says Roland Tichy, editor in chief of the magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

Christa Scholl, General Manager of DIRK, adds: "As far as quality and independence are concerned, we are setting the standard for the appraisal of investor relations in Germany with our two widely respected partners, Thomson Reuters Extel and WirtschaftsWoche. We are delighted to celebrate a very successful seventh anniversary of our German IR Award."

The full ranking list for the different categories is now available from DIRK free of
charge (info@dirk.org; +49 (0)69.95909490); it can soon also be downloaded
from http://www.dirk.org .

For further information:
DIRK - Deutscher Investor Relations Verband e.V.
Reuterweg 81
60323 Frankfurt
Official seat: Baumwall 7, 20459 Hamburg
T. +49 (0)69.95909490
F. +49 (0)69.959094999
info@dirk.org
http://www.dirk.org

About DIRK
DIRK is the association for Investor Relations (IR) in Germany. As the organ of IR professionals, DIRK represents the concerns of its members in an active dialogue with interest groups and capital market stakeholders, political institutions and the general public. The association offers its members active, specific support and promotes regular exchange among its own ranks and with IR specialists from all over the world. In addition, DIRK sets standards in professional training and further education of IR juniors in Germany. With its more than 350 members, DIRK sets the standards of communication between companies and the capital market. The spectrum of companies organised within DIRK includes almost all DAX companies and the bulk of companies listed in the MDAX, SDAX and TecDAX as well as companies with a small market capitalisation and those which have not yet made their IPO or issue debt instruments. Increasingly, capital market oriented individuals are members of DIRK. For more information, go to http://www.dirk.org .

About Thomson Reuters Extel
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organisation.

Thomson Reuters is the leading provider of Investor Relations solutions in Europe. For clear visibility into market and trading activities, rely on our innovative IR solutions. Understand key factors impacting your share price, anticipate investor behavior and communicate with key stakeholders.
With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 55,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges (symbol: TRI). For more information, go to http://www.thomsonreuters.com .

About WirtschaftsWoche
WirtschaftsWoche is the big topical, market economy-oriented, liberal business magazine for management executives. Every week, an editorial staff of around 100 analyses the key developments in companies, politics, technology, management, the financial markets and the world of science.

The magazine and its online-team of wiwo.de can draw on the expertise of foreign offices in New York, Moscow, Silicon Valley, Peking, Tokyo, São Paulo, Brussels, London and Paris, providing readers in the major export nation of Germany with first-hand information on the most important supply and sales markets.

Furthermore the reporting of the WirtschaftsWoche is completed by the online authors of http://www.wiwo.de . They present daily events and analyse economical and political results.

Images for download: http://fotodienst.pressetext.com/album/3023

Aussender:	DIRK - Deutscher Investor Relations Verband e.V.
Ansprechpartner:	Christa Scholl
Tel.:	+49 (0) 69 959094 90
E-Mail:	info@dirk.org
Website:	www.dirk.org