Randstad has been recognized for the strength of its investor relations (IR) as it emerged as the overall winner at the 2014 Dutch IR Awards.

On the evening of January 9th 2014, in the Amsterdam Arena, Randstad received the award for Best AEX (Amsterdam Stock Exchange Index) Company while director of investor relations and chairman of the Dutch Association of IR (NEVIR) Jan-Pieter Van Winsen was awarded as best AEX Professional.

Nominations for the Dutch IR Awards, hosted by NEVIR, were compiled based on a survey from Thomson Reuters Extel alongside other research. This year marked the seventh edition of the awards.

The study was conducted by Citigate First Financial and asked analysts and investors which companies and professionals they believed had performed the best over the last year in the field of IR.

Nominees were divided into AEX, AMX (Amsterdam Midkap Index) and ascx (Amsterdam Small Cap Index). As well as the Best Company and Best Professional categories, there is also Debt IR categories for corporates and financials.

Companies and professionals that won in 2013 were not allowed to enter the awards for this year. After receiving the results, an independent panel of judges were asked to decide the winners. This team consisted of Rients Abma of Euromedion, Alex Otto from Delta Lloyd, Henk Slotboom of the Idea, Leen Verdonk of ING and Corne Van Zeijl of SNS.

Randstad and Mr Van Winsen were commended for their communication efforts and the management and IR departments' efforts to maintain a high level of transparency.

When commenting on Randstad receiving the Best AEX Company award, the panel of judges said: "Consistent for years, IR management is good and proactive. The management does many roadshows and is willing to invest in relationships with investors."

They commended Randstad for its willingness to put a week aside to meet potential investors from Asia and the west coast of the US, an unusual trend among Dutch companies.

The jurors added: "The company is accessible, open and willing to improve continuously. The communications means are of good quality and its disclosure is fine.

"The annual report was excellent and resulted in the Sijthoff Prize. In addition they received an honorable mention for the website. Clearly leading in transparency."

Randstad was awarded the Henri Sijthoff Prize for its Annual Report by the national Dutch newspaper Het Financiele Dagblad during November 2013. It was also nominated in the AEX Company category.

The Annual Report received the award based on the quality of its economic analyses, its clarity in explaining strategy, outlines of restrictions and opportunities, its risk section's explanation of limitations and its description of how Randstad manages in cyclical markets.

During the FD awards, juror Erik Van De Merwe said that transparency among Dutch companies had been improving within their accounting departments, particularly in relation to their surpluses and deficits within pension funds.

In the Best AEX Comany category for this year's Dutch IR awards, Randstad beat nominees Aegon and AML for the accolade.

This year was the second year in a row when Mr Van Winsen was nominated in the Best AEX Professional category, having come very close to winning in 2013.

Mr Van Winsen beat Henk Jan Ten Brinke of Ahold and Jonathan Atack of AkzoNobel for the award.

Speaking about the Best AEX Professional award, judges commented: "Jan-Pieter Van Winsen, who had only just lost last year, is a clear winner today. Randstadexcels in IR, but that's not just thanks to its management. They have a clear course and communication about it, but most certainly the skills and knowledge of the IR people also plays a role. They are highly attainable (24/7 even during travels) and they provide you with an answer within 24 hours. Jan-Pieter is seen as initiator of everything that's said in the company."

Other winners at the 2014 awards included Delta Lloyd for the Best AMX Company and Sligro Food Group for Best ascx Company. In the Best IR Professional category, John Eijgendaal of Aalberts Industries won the award for the AMX category while Tons Anbeek of Beter Bed took the award for ascx. Winners of the Best Company Debt IR awards were Ziggo for corporates and Aegon for financials.

The jury explained that particular traits they looked for when selecting the winners included how accessible they were, how proactive they were in communication, their levels of transparency and knowledge of the most important criteria for their business.

They noted that all of these aspects are highly prevalent among Dutch businesses but that the winners still demonstrated them to a considerably higher level, particularly in terms of accessibility for analysts and investors. International road shows and capital market days that these companies organized were found to have contributed significantly to relationships with investors and analysts. Winners were also commended for their openness and consistency even during times when they may have been faced with difficult challenges.

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