Our most searched for companies of the year
This week we take a look at what our readers were searching for most on our website this year and find out which companies were of greatest interest and most likely to be hitting the headlines, whether it be for all the right – or wrong – reasons.
Click here to search the HBI Intelligence operator database.
Our word cloud is a visual representation of our most common searches, where greater prominence is given to the most searched-for companies. The bigger the name, the greater the interest. Last year saw two labs top our list – Synlab and Unilabs, the former because of its IPO, the latter when it landed a rather unusual buyer.
But it’s all change at the top this year with Europe’s largest imaging services group by revenue Affidea taking the top spot. The group was acquired by Belgian investment firm Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) earlier this year, and announced CEO Giuseppe Recchi was stepping down in September.
Second most searched was France-based elderly care group Orpea, which has been hitting the headlines recently for mostly all thee wrong reasons. At the time of writing, its share price is over 90% down on this time last year.
Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of hospital groups like Ramsay and Elsan near the top of the search list. Many of these were either M&A targets, or heavily involved in M&A.
Most sectors are represented here, but Kry is the only telehealth company which charted. Given its recent staff restructuring, and employees being laid off, this too may have not been entirely for positive reasons.
By way of comparison, see below for how things looked towards the end of last year.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to David Farbrother or call 0207 183 3779.
