2

3

Introduction

AN OVERVIEW OF THE MAIN RISK FACTORS INHERENT IN TAJIK COMPANIES THAT

SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIR THEIR PERFORMANCE, MARKET VALUE AND ATTRACTIVENESS TO

INVESTORS IS POOR CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

When speaking about the current crisis and

its impact on Tajikistan, experts emphasize

that the country will have to face a

significant reduction in the inflow of hard

currency.

There are no doubts that today Tajikistan's

economy urgently needs investment more

than ever.

In turn, the activity of any company

depends not only on appropriately selected

strategy, but competent management,

availability of valuable resources and

markets. Successful development of any

business is impossible without access to

investment capital.

It is very important to understand that

investors will not invest significant amounts of

money in a company with no effective

management and control over its activities.

Investors want to:

Understand the specifics of

companies’ operations and the

extent of their transparency;

be able to assess their risks;

know how the company takes

account of the interests of all

shareholders, including minority

ones;

have more information when

adopting investment decisions;

compare corporate governance

standards in different companies.

In other words, the inflow of private

investment is only possible given that the

financial and managerial activity of the

enterprise is transparent.

Investors want to participate in real control

over the management process in order to

ensure efficient use of assets for exercising

their interests.

They want to see effective corporate

governance systems in the companies, in

which they have already invested or are

willing to invest their money.

This should be a system, which ensures

appropriate transparency and clarity in the

process of adopting corporate decisions

and thus provides investors with additional

guarantees.

Investors need the key corporate

governance procedures to comply with all

these requirements and adequately

secured in the internal documents of the

company.

A company willing to attract investment

must meet expectations of potential

investors / shareholders, primarily in terms of

transparency of information about the

business.

The benchmarks in this area are information

transparency standards developed under

the corporate laws of different countries, as

well as various codes and

recommendations.

4

Corporate governance is one of the

determining factors in adopting investment

decisions: “Over 80% of investors declare

their willingness to pay more for shares of

companies with good corporate

governance compared to companies with

poor governance”1(McKinsey & Co.,

Investor Opinion Study, June 2000).

Corporate governance:

increases investment attractiveness,

helps to attract long-term investors,

reduces the cost of loans,

increases the market value of a

company.

According to a research study, The

Emerging Market Investor Survey,

conducted by the IFC in 2010, 100% of

investors believe that:

Corporate governance is an important

factor for adopting investment decisions

and a part of the pre-investment audit of

the company.

50% emphasized that:

They would invest at least 10% more in

companies with better governance in the

emerging markets

40% stated that:

Well-managed companies can

compensate for some of their shortcomings

through corporate governance.

The corporate governance level in each

country is affected by its history, culture and

legislation.

The rate and level of development of

corporate governance practices in

Tajikistan are significantly different from

those observed in other countries of the

former Soviet Union including Russia,

Kazakhstan and Ukraine. This could be due

to specificity of the economic growth of the

country and current institutional reforms.

According to our observations during

investment forums in 2014, most potential

investors demonstrated no interest in

investing their resources in businesses in

Tajikistan due to risks associated with the

lack of openness and transparency of

companies’ activity.

Corporate governance is a relatively new

topic for Tajik companies. Starting from

market reforms, the vast majority of

companies preferred to develop exclusively

using their own funds.

At the same time, the political and

economic situation in the country and

underdeveloped securities market restricted

the ability of companies to attract

investment.

However, today due to dynamic

technological changes and intense

competition, the lack of companies’ own

funds became apparent.

The need for attracting external funds on a

regular basis and in large amounts is

inevitable. For this the companies must

demonstrate that they operate in line with

modern governance principles.

1(McKinsey & Co., Investor Opinion Study,

June 2000).

5

Summary

THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE

COMPLETENESS AND QUALITY OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE INVESTMENT COMMUNITY

THROUGH CORPORATE WEBSITES, AS WELL AS TO ANALYZE POSSIBLE DIRECTIONS OF

COMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT BY TAJIK COMPANIES

Currently, the channel for disseminating

information, which entails minor costs for

both joint stock companies and

stakeholders is the corporate website. It has

become one of the main sources of

information about the company.

In accordance with best practice,

companies with a “high” level of

transparency post all necessary internal

documents, news and publications about

the company on their corporate websites.

In turn, well organized corporate website

contributes to the formation of a favorable

image of the company, which is another

asset of the company for building effective

relationships with investors and shareholders.

By placing a web site on the Internet with

regular disclosure of information, a

company provides online access to

corporate information to any interested

party for free, which is an important

precondition for the formation of the image

and reputation of the company.

The lack of a section on disclosure of

corporate information on the website, or

failure to regularly disclose information in the

news column of the authorized information

agencies, makes it difficult to analyze

company’s activity and may indicate of a

high investment risk.

However, business practice shows that not

all companies have understand the

importance of this tool. There are a number

of typical shortcomings related to the

disclosure on company websites:

A formal approach to reporting;

Provided information is not systematized,

which does not allow an overall picture of

the company to become apparent;

A lack of clarity of methods for calculating

presented indicators;

The lack of description of the competitive

position and advantages of the business;

Risks associated with the company are

described using general wording;

A lack of information about the company's

social responsibility policy.

As practice shows, currently openness and

transparency of the business are intangible

assets that help companies maintain

continuous relationship with investors and

attract the required funds for the

development of the company.

6

Methodology

THIS SURVEY COVERED 32 COMPANIES FROM AMONG FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND

NON-FINANCIAL COMPANIES THAT HAVE CORPORATE WEBSITES AND ARE POTENTIALLY

ATTRACTIVE FOR INVESTORS

The obvious advantage of this approach to

assessment is that it enabled to conduct a

universal analysis of public data of the Tajik

companies. All these companies are

potentially attractive for investors.

Disadvantage of this approach is that it was

impossible for the research to cover several

large Tajik companies that either have no

corporate websites, or that have websites in

the process of development.

This research examined external attributes of

corporate governance that can be

meaningfully analyzed on the basis of public

information.

Our analysis is based solely on the

information provided on the corporate

websites of the companies.

Only information published by companies

before December 31, 2014 was used for the

analysis.

We assessed publicly available information

using 10-point scale, in the context of the

following information / sections:

1. A separate page for shareholders

(investors)

2. The minimum possible information for

shareholders (investors)

3. Financial information

4. Ownership structure

5. Corporate governance

6. Disclosure of information

7. Data on the issuer’s rating

8. Frequently Asked Questions / availability

of the corporate profiles in social

networks

9. Contact information for investors

10. Compliance with best international

practices

Each section was assessed by analyzing

certain groups of parameters and their

subgroups.

In the absence of information on the

parameter for assessment on the website,

the company was awarded 0 for this

parameter. In assessing the group

parameter, the total score for the group was

divided by the number of assessed

subgroups.

For example, to assess the availability of

financial information on the website, posting

of reports that are in line with IFRS,

availability of the audit reports and the

company's accounting policies, as well as

liquidity indicators were assessed.

7

Characteristics of the sample

OUR RESEARCH COVERED THE COMPANIES, FOR WHICH TAJIKISTAN IS THE MAIN

PRODUCTION BASE, REGARDLESS OF THE COUNTRY OF REGISTRATION AND AVAILABILITY

OF THE PARENT COMPANIES

As can be seen from the diagram, 32

companies from the following six sectors

were covered by the survey:

1. Finance - 18

2. Telecommunications - 5

3. Manufacturing - 5

4. Health Services - 1

5. Services - 2

6. Transport – 1

It is noteworthy that there were more

companies from the category “Financial

sector”, as implementation of the corporate

governance standards and principles in this

industry is regulated by the National Bank of

Tajikistan.

Corporate governance of companies from

other industries is regulated under the

legislation that is relevant and applicable to

their form of business.

Disclosure of the financial information is

mandatory for open joint stock companies

and is voluntary for closed ones.

This survey does not cover those joint stock

companies that do not have their corporate

websites, such as:

OJSC “Rogun HPP”

OJSC “Tajiktransgas”

OJSC “Chuan Tong Tajikistan”

OJSC “Shirin”

OJSC Plant “Torgmash”

OJSC “Nafisa”

OJSC “Todjhkabel”

OJSC “Barki Tochik”

OJSC “Kolinhoi Kayrokum”

OJSC “Tajikcement”

and others

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

ЗАО ОАО ГСБ

The structure of the respondents

CJSC OJSC SSB*

56%16%

16%

6% 3% 3%

Sectoral structure of respondents

Financial Telecommunications

Production Services

Transport Health Services

8

Criterion 1.

A separate page for investors

IN CASE OF INVESTOR INTEREST, IN ADDITION TO A SEPARATE SERVICE OR SPECIALIST, THE

COMPANY SHALL HAVE AN INFORMATIONAL RESOURCE INTENDED FOR INFORMING

COMPANY'S INVESTORS

In accordance with best practice, a

separate page for investors shall include the

following:

A brief background of the company

Financial performance

Information on shares / bonds of

company

Its ratings

IR releases

Presentations for investors

IR contacts

In this survey, we followed the minimum

requirements to a separate page for

investors.

However, only 6 of the 32 respondents have

a separate page “For investors” on their

corporate website”.

The information provided on this web-page

is not in line with the corporate governance

principles.

Most companies have developed

interactive manuals and calculators on

products for clients. This interactivity is

intended exclusively for the clients.

In addition, the corporate websites of the

researched companies have no any special

services for on-line communications.

6

26

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

есть нет

"For Investors"

yes no

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

0

0,25

0,5

1

Respondents

Sc

ore

s

A separate page for investors

9

Criterion 2.

Minimum information for shareholders and

investors

INVESTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFICS

OF THE COMPANY’S OPERATION, ITS DEGREE OF TRANSPARENCY; BE ABLE TO ASSESS

COMPANY’S RISKS; KNOW HOW THE COMPANY TAKES ACCOUNT OF INTERESTS OF ALL

SHAREHOLDERS; AND HAVE MORE INFORMATION WHEN MAKING DECISIONS

In accordance with best practices, the

following information should be provided on

the corporate website:

A brief analytical memo on the

company’s position as at the current

date;

Information about the rights of

shareholders;

The structure of the share capital;

Information on the registrar;

Minutes of the general meetings of

shareholders;

Decisions of the Board of Directors

(Supervisory Board);

Decision of the management

boards;

Events calendar;

Press releases;

Investor calendar.

The use of corporate websites by Tajik

companies as a communication means not

only with the client base, but also with

shareholders and the investment community

shall be improved.

So, even those companies that have web-

pages “For investors / shareholders” do not

provide enough information.

None of the surveyed companies received

the highest score for this category.

1

6

11

16

21

26

31

0 0,1 0,3 0,5 1

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Scores

Existing minimum information

10

At the same time, the quality of the

provided information indicates of improper

attention to interested parties. The provided

information is either outdated or

fragmented, and is insufficient for decision

making.

None of the surveyed companies provided

information on the registrar. The structure of

the equity capital (without details) was

indicated by 7 joint-stock companies.

Decisions of the Board of Directors are

posted on the website by the two

companies and minutes of the general

meetings of shareholders - by only one

company.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Shareholding Structure

Decisions of the Board of Directors

Minutes of General Meetings of…

Brief analytical report on the state of…

Information about shareholders' rights

Information on registrar

Government solutions

Calendar of Events

Press Releases

Investor Calendar

Minimum information for shareholders and investors

11

Criterion 3.

Financial Information

FOR INVESTORS ACCESS TO FINANCIAL INFORMATION IS ONE OF THE MAJOR FACTORS

FOR INVESTMENT DECISIONS

Public financial statements are useful to a

wide range of users for adopting economic

decisions. Financial statements also show

the results of handling the resources

entrusted to the company’s management.

Financial statements enable to predict

future cash flows of the company and, in

particular, the timing and probability of their

occurrence.

Accordingly, if an investor is unable to

calculate his financial risks and capital flow,

he will not risk his funds.

Unfortunately, not all respondents covered

by this research share this information on

their corporate website.

For example, only 15 of the 32 respondents

provided this information on their website,

which is less than 50% of the sample.

Public posting of financial information was

assessed using as a minimum of four

indicators:

Reporting under IFRS

Audit reports

Accounting policies

Liquidity indicators

International financial reporting standards

(IFRS) are a structured reflection of the

financial position and performance of the

enterprise.

According to the Law on Accounting and

Financial Reporting of RT, all joint stock

companies must prepare IFRS compliant

financial statements.

IFRS compliant financial statements were

presented by only 14 companies.

For analyzing the reliability of the financial

statements of the company, the law obliges

joint stock companies to conduct audit

involving external independent auditor.

Only 8 of the 32 companies posted the

reports of independent auditors on their

websites.

Only 9 companies provided liquidity

indicators, while summarized financial

information provided by 15 companies is

outdated.

44%

56%

Financial statements

yes no

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

National standards…

IFRS statements

Auditor’s Report

Accounting policies

Portfolio credit…

yes no

12

Criterion 4.

Ownership Structure

INFORMATION ON THE OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE OF THE COMPANY AND INFORMATION

ABOUT PERSONS (GROUP OF PERSONS) WHO DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY (THROUGH THIRD

PERSONS) SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE DECISIONS ADOPTED BY THE MANAGEMENT

BOARDS OF THE COMPANY MUST BE TRANSPARENT

In accordance with best practice,

corporate website should provide

information on the ownership structure,

including:

The structure of the share capital;

Information on ownership of shares

by the management and members

of the Supervisory Board;

The list of affiliated persons (owners

with more than 10% of shares)

The survey showed that only 7 (seven)

companies outlined the structure of the

share capital.

At the same time, we can state that it is

rather a formal disclosure of the structure.

Four companies did not fully present

information about ownership of shares by

the management and members of the

Supervisory Board.

Only 3 companies listed their affiliated

parties on the website.

The lack of this information or its incomplete

disclosure involves risks for both shareholders

and investors of the company, and clients.

For example, the depositor of a bank is

normally guided by information about the

actual owner in the mass media and

assumes the risks, the sources of which are

beneficiaries.

.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Affiliated Parties/Persons list (Beneficiary

Owner with more than 10 % shares)

Information about Shareholders of

management, members of Supervisory

Board

Shareholding Structure

Ownership Structure

13

Criterion 5.

Corporate governance

IN A COMPANY, IN WHICH THEY HAVE ALREADY INVESTED OR ARE WILLING TO INVEST

THEIR FUNDS, THE INVESTORS WANT TO SEE THE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE SYSTEM THAT

ENSURES AN ADEQUATE LEVEL OF INFORMATIONAL TRANSPARENCY AND CLARIFY OF THE

PROCESS OF CORPORATE DECISION MAKING AND THUS PROVIDE THEM WITH

ADDITIONAL GUARANTEES

The survey showed that Tajik joint stock

companies do not pay enough attention to

corporate governance issues.

In accordance with best corporate

governance practices, the level of

appropriate disclosure is assessed based on

the presence of the following documents /

information:

The Regulations on the

management board: GMS, SB, SC,

management Board, and etc.;

The Charter;

The dividend policy;

Data on the composition of

management;

Data on the composition of the SB,

including the presence of

independent directors;

Corporate Governance Code;

The Regulations on information

disclosure;

The procedure of informing

shareholders with information about

the company’s activity.

In our survey, we analyzed public

information about the corporate

governance structure compared to the

appropriate national and international

corporate governance practices.

Initially, the formation of the corporate

governance system was caused by the

requirements of the Law on Joint Stock

Companies of RT and the requirements of

the NBRT for financial institutions.

Subsequently, one of the benchmarks of

best practice for companies of RT were the

National corporate governance standards

of RT (Standards) developed by joint efforts

of the working group established by the

Agency for securities market development

and specialized registrar, and with technical

support from the IFC Corporate

Governance in Central Asia. The above

standards reflect both the requirements of

the current legislation of the Republic of

Tajikistan and best corporate governance

practice.

Joint-stock companies view disclosure of the

composition of management bodies as a

priority. The survey showed that 50% of

companies disclose composition of the

Board, 35% of the companies disclose

composition of the Supervisory Board, and

25% of the companies disclose information

about independent directors.

Good practice indicates that in most cases

information about members of the Board is

accompanied by a photo with the

Presence of documents

yes

no

14

description of the biography and

professional experience.

It should be noted that a positive fact is that

25% of companies have independent

directors in their boards.

The company's charter is posted by only 3

out of the 32 surveyed companies.

However, none of the companies has

posted the following documents on the

corporate website:

The Regulations on the

management boards: GMS, SB, SC,

management Board, and etc.;

The dividend policy;

Corporate Governance Code;

Data on the composition of the SB,

including the presence of

independent directors;

The Regulations on information

disclosure;

The procedure of informing

shareholders with information about

the company’s activity

The corporate websites of the surveyed

companies do not have any data on the risk

management system.

Websites of none of companies provide

corporate governance code.

There is also no information about the

committees established and functioning

under the companies’ boards of directors.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Corporate Governance structure

The Charter

The Regulations on the management…

The dividend policy

Data on the composition of management

Data on the composition of managemen

Corporate Governance Code;

The Regulations on information disclosure

Data on the composition of the SB,…

The procedure of informing shareholders …

Corporate Documents on the website

0 0,05 0,1Scores

15

Criterion 6.

Disclosure of corporate information

ACCORDING TO THE CORPORATE GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES: STAKEHOLDERS OF THE

COMPANY SHALL HAVE FREE AND EASY ACCESS TO PUBLICLY DISCLOSED INFORMATION

AS NECESSARY FOR MAKING APPROPRIATE DECISIONS

The most common and familiar tools of

information disclosure for surveyed

companies are press releases and reports

on corporate events (75%).

Only 31% of companies post their annual

corporate reports and only 2% of

companies post presentations for investors.

This information is usually posted in the news

section along with other events of the

company.

Unfortunately, investors and shareholders

have to guess, where they can find

necessary data on the website.

There is virtually no information on general

meetings of shareholders in the form of both

separate messages, and downloadable

minutes of meetings.

A common practice is delayed updating of

data and no attention to ensuring website

operation (dead links, late reconstruction).

The company's emphasis on

communication through press releases and

reports on corporate events without

simultaneous development of new channels

indicates of outdated approaches to

communication with investors with no

account of changes in the requirements of

investors.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Presentations for

investors

Corporate reports Press releases Corporate events

Corporate information

16

Criterion 7.

Data on the issuer’s rating

THE ISSUER’S RATING CAN OTHERWISE BE SEEN AS THE BUSINESS PARTNER RATING.

THIS RATING MEASURES THE ABILITY OF THE COMPANY TO TIMELY DISCHARGE ITS DEBT

OBLIGATIONS AND IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT INDICATORS FOR INVESTORS

In deciding about investing capital, the key

references for investors are scores assigned

to the company by well-known rating

agencies.

Keeping this in mind, the company can use

paid services of one of the agencies and

get its credit rating and assessment of its

corporate governance level.

In its operations and disclosure of

information, the company may follow

standards that are considered to be most

important by the majority of the rating

agencies.

There is also the practice of developing and

implementation of the national rating, for

example, in countries such as Kazakhstan,

Ukraine and Russia.

Unfortunately, Tajikistan does not have any

national standards for debt assessment at

the moment.

Companies from non-financial sector do not

participate in ratings. In this case, the parent

company, for example, of the mobile

operators have rating from the international

rating agencies.

However, it should be noted that one of the

banks in Tajikistan for the three subsequent

years is rated by the international rating

agency Moody's.

Several companies operating in the

microfinance sector use services of the

Micro Finanza Rating, as well as Planet

Rating.

The three major international rating

agencies (Big 3) are:

Standard & Poor’s

Moody’s Investors Service

Fitch Ratings

These agencies assess credit ratings, assets

recovery ratings, financial sustainability

ratings, corporate governance ratings, and

many others.

The objects of the assessment are:

corporations, banks, insurance companies,

regional and local authorities, cities and

even countries.

17

Criterion 8.

Frequently Asked Questions / availability of

the corporate profiles in social networks

FEEDBACK AND VISIBILITY IN SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE IMPORTANT TOOLS FOR BUILDING A

MAXIMUM EFFECTIVE TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION CHANNEL BETWEEN COMPANIES

AND INVESTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, CLIENTS, PARTNERS AND COMMUNITIES

This section of the website with frequently

asked questions greatly facilitates the work

of those responsible for operation of the

website, since there would be no need to

repeatedly answer the same questions.

Only 6 companies or 19% of the surveyed

companies have this section on their

websites.

However, it should be noted that the

information in the Frequently Asked

Questions section often covers issues related

to products and services produced by

companies.

None of the surveyed companies posted

information about the elements in this

section of their websites.

The company's visibility in social networks

and regular publication of news on the

above communication channels allows the

company to be closer to the target

audience, create a certain level of

confidence and thus enhancing loyalty to

the company.

Following the global trend, companies have

begun to include social networks in their

communication channels (45%), the most

common of which is Facebook.

At the same time, in some cases, the

content of the information posted on the

corporate website is limited and it is

updated with delay, while there is a

constant news flow in the social network.

The research did not find any mobile

versions of websites of the surveyed

companies.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin

Presence in the Social Networks

18

Criterion 9.

Contacts for investors

HOW CAN POTENTIAL INVESTORS CONTACT THE COMPANY’S MANAGEMENT WITHOUT

UNNECESSARY DIFFICULTY?

Typically, contact information sections on

corporate websites provide phone numbers

of the call center and the address of the

company. Specialists from call centers have

no information that does not relate to the

company's products or services. For example

this includes the general meetings of

shareholders, contact details of corporate

secretaries, availability of press releases and

others.

One of the major mistakes in communication

policies of the Tajik companies is improper

understanding of the importance of having

an investor relations officer responsible for

communication with investors.

In accordance with best practices,

communication with investors must meet the

following requirements:

Ease of communication (usability);

Multilingual information for investors;

A feedback form;

IRO personal data;

A Subscription for updates, news RSS-

line.

99% of companies do not indicate on their

websites any contacts for communication

with investors. Only 1 company has

provided the contact details of an investor

relations officer.

This is in accordance with best practices,

communication with investors2 section on

investor relations officer.

2Richard Higgins. Investor Relations: best practices.

Towards the creation of shareholder value / Higgins

Richard; translated from English. - M .: Alpina Business

Books, 2005.

Tomas Ryan, M. Jacobs Chad. Using investor relations

for maximized evaluation of the equity capital / Trans.

The corporate website should provide a

feedback form that ensures on-line

clarification of questions and immediate

response. 69% of companies have a

feedback form on their websites, but there

was no opportunity to assess its efficiency

and response to questions. In modern

practice, in communicating with clients,

they use on-line consultants; this allows to

immediately get answers to their questions

for the clients.

Subscription to website updates allows on-

line and prompt access to information,

immediately after publication of news on

the website, and coverage of the whole

audience. Only two companies use this tool.

from English by A. E. Jibrova. - M .: Publishing house

“Gorodets”, 2009.

Organization of investor relations: Russian and foreign

practice. - M .: Alpina Publishers, 2010. – p. 230

IR Magazine Global Investor Relations Practice Report

2014 / IR Magazine. - London, 2014.

19

Criterion 10.

Compliance with best IR practice

CORPORATE WEBSITE SHOULD BE AIMED AT PRESENTING A POSITIVE IMAGE OF THE

COMPANY. THE QUALITY OF THE WEBSITE (AND ITS IR SECTION) SHALL BE CHECKED

USING A SIMPLE TEST: WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO INVEST IN COMPANIES BASED ON THE

DATA, WHICH YOU CAN FIND ON THEIR CORPORATE WEBSITES?

Given that the capacity of the internal

investment market is insufficient for capital

intensive companies, therefore, availability

of documents in English on the corporate

website enables it to reach a broader

audience of the website, a international

levels.

This approach allows significant

development of cooperation with the

international investment community,

increasing the level of transparency for the

purpose of positioning the company as a

market leader.

The majority, i.e. 18 of 32 (or 56%) of the

surveyed companies have an English version

of the website.

The option providing the possibility to

download documents is important so that

analysts of investors could have all the

necessary documentation for analyzing

company activity and receiving

performance indicators as necessary for

making appropriate decisions.

Only 8 companies provide the option for

downloading files from the website,

however, the files posted in only one format

are with no indication of the date and

name of the document.

Posting the documents in various formats,

such as, xls, pdf or doc simplifies analysis of

the documentation.

Almost all surveyed companies post

documents in pdf format, which does not

allow data processing using analytical

programs.

Most of the surveyed companies do not

provide marking of the documents, which is

important for the users so that they could

download the document, which they need.

In turn, marking of the documents makes it

easier to search the document using the

“website search” function.

Only 28% of companies indicate the size

and format of the documents, which is too

low compared to best practice.

At the same time, there is no information on

regular updating of the documents with the

date of the last update.

Decisions of the Board of Directors

(Supervisory Board) or the Management

Board and other documents of the surveyed

companies have no indications of the date,

making it difficult to search documents in

the list.

Switching from one section on the website

to another should normally be through no

more than three clicks, as for website visitors

it is often very difficult to understand the

logic behind the website structure and

intricacy of “dead ends” in sections.

However, in most of the surveyed corporate

websites one can switch from one section to

another through more than three clicks.

A short path to the information on the

website, such as “website map” or links to

information sections that are the most

important for investors on the main page of

the website helps to reduce the time for

searching necessary documentation or

information on the website.

20

This way, the company demonstrates

professionalism and commitment to

providing complete and reliable information

about its activities.

However, as was mentioned above, the

architecture of most websites is extremely

“sophisticated”.

Analytical market reviews enable investors

to see the company's position in the market,

its competitive ability and prospects of

development of both the company and the

market in general. Only one out of 32

companies posted analytical report on its

website.

The option “website search” is linked with

the option of documents marking. Through

daily routine updating of information, the

web-resource becomes a massive source of

important documents, which in case of

incorrect work of the website can be hidden

from potential investors and affect the

correct judgment about the company. Only

18 companies provide the “website search”

option.

The companies also neglect visual display of

information, which is the best way to

communicate information and allows to

visually demonstrate performance of the

company using graphic image and thus

positively affect the decision-making by the

investor.

Only 6% of companies used this tool for

communicating information.

Below are key parameters of compliance

with the best investor relations practice in

the form of a diagram.

At this stage, we can not speak about

friendliness and maximum focus of the

surveyed companies on high quality two-

way communication with investors.

It seems that the companies are rather

“fenced off” from the investors.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

English site version

Ability of files download

Posting documents in different formats

Tagging documents: format, size

Regular updates with the date of last update

Goes among the blocks (documents) no more

than 3 clicks

Short path site location

Analytics market review (Statements’ Releases)

Site searching

Graphical Data visualization

Compliance with best IR practice

0,1 0,05 0

21

5,13

5,08

4,85

4,22

3,22

2,97

2,68

2,53

2,4

2,28

2,2

2,17

1,98

1,75

1,52

1,37

1,36

1,28

1,27

1,1

1,1

0,83

0,7

0,68

0,55

0,43

0,1

0

0

0

0

0

0 2 4 6 8 10

OJSC «Bank Eskhata»

OJSC «Sangtudinskaya GES-1»

CJSC «AccessBank Tajikistan»

CJSC «Spitamen Bank»

CJSC MDO «Bovari va Khamkori»

CJSC MDO «Imon International»

SSB RT «Amonatbonk»

OJSC «Orienbank»

OJSC «Agroinvestbank»

CJSC «Fononbonk»

CJSC «Kazkommercbank Tajikistan»

OJSC «Teleradiocom»

OJSC «Tojiksodirotbank»

CJSC «First Microfinancial Bank»

CJSC IB «Kont»

CJSC «Humo»

CJSC «Tajprombank»

OJSC «Sokhibkorbank»

OJSC «Tajik Air»

CJSC «Babilon-M»

CJSC «Indigo - Tajikistan»

CJSC «TelecommTechnology LTD»

IC IBN SINO

CJSC MDO «Samar»

OJSC «Neksigol»

OJSC «International Airport…

OJSC «Avicenna»

CJSC «Banki Rushdi Tojikiston»

OJSC «Mekhnonkhonai Tojikiston»

CJSC «Tajam» (Sim-Sim)

CJSC «TTmobile» MLT

OJSC «Fabrikai shirii Saodat»

The rating results

22

IMKON CONSULTING

IMKON CONSULTING OPERATES IN THE MARKET OF TAJIKISTAN SINCE 2007.

THE COMPANY SPECIALIZES IN A RANGE OF SERVICES IN MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

AND BUSINESS EDUCATION. IMKON CONSULTING ARE OFFICIAL PARTNERS OF IFC

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.

This report (or this publication) is produced in partnership with the IFC Central Asia

Corporate Governance Project, which is financed by the government of Switzerland and

the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Ukrainian

agency Investor Relations Agency.

PARTNERS

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL

CORPORATION

IFC Central Asia Corporate Governance

Project

The project helps local joint stock

companies and banks strengthen their

corporate governance practices to

increase their ability to attract financing

and manage risks. The project is made

possible with financial support from the

government of Switzerland and the

United Kingdom’s Department for

International Development (DFID).

IFC, a member of the World Bank

Group, is the largest global

development institution focused

exclusively on the private sector.

Working with private enterprises in about

100 countries, we use our capital,

expertise, and influence to help

eliminate extreme poverty and boost

shared prosperity. In FY14, we provided

more than $22 billion in financing to

improve lives in developing countries

and tackle the most urgent challenges

of development. For more information,

visit www.ifc.org.

INVESTOR RELATIONS AGENCY

"Investor Relations Agency – the first

national Ukrainian agency that

specializes in providing a full range of

financial analytics, information,

consulting and communication services

of the organization of investor relations,

corporate governance and sustainable

business development.

Investor Relations Agency operating in

Ukraine since 2008.

Company site – www.ua-ir.com.ua"

23

734002 Republic of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 45

M.Tursun-zade str., off 518

www.imkon.net; centre@imkon.net;

tel.: +992 372 218799; 992 372 218891