Investors were asked to rate named analysts and teams for the categories indicated. The credit research houses themselves nominated teams. Scores were given in the ratio 5:4:3:2:1 for first, second, third, fourth and fifth place nominations respectively, then summed and divided by the total score in each category to produce a percentage. The banks saw first, second and final drafts of the questionnaire before it went out.
Unfortunately it was found necessary to exclude some replies because of irregularities in data provided or withheld by respondees. Among the principal reasons for exclusion were:
Yahoo/AOL-type email addresses given;
people voting for just one person or one firm on the ballot;
private investors;
insufficient biographical details; and
correlated replies from, usually but not always, the respective asset management division, ie, five people from ABC Asset Management voting for only ABC plc on five separate ballots.
We received 975 valid replies in total.
If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Andrew Newby, head of research, on +44-(0) 20 7779 8694, or email him at anewby@euromoneyplc.com