Mena companies are increasingly positioning themselves as investment propositions to a global audience, yet, the annual reports of many of these emerging corporate superstars are punching below their weight, according to a leading expert.

'An annual report should not be a mere statement of the past,' said Smart Media chairman Dr Vijith Kannangara.

'More importantly, it should capture the future. It should also bring out what the company stands for.'

'Pretty pictures and fancy words won't go very far unless companies make a genuine attempt to make themselves well understood.'

'Thus, companies must do a good job of explaining their strategy in the context of their operating environment and conclude by spelling out the outlook. Everything will never be as planned.'

Smart Media was hailed as the world's number one when it clinched the Platinum Achievement award at the 2010 International ARC awards - popularly dubbed the Academy Awards of annual reports - that concluded in New York a few weeks ago.

The company has been producing annual reports for companies in the south Asian region for more than 15 years and it is now looking to bring its expertise to the Middle East.

The first annual report in the Mena region was for Oman Air.

The company has produced well over a 1,000 annual reports and won for its clients more than 300 top regional and international awards and as part of this move it is hosting a Power Annual Report CEO Luncheon with TWI Bahrain at the Capital Club tomorrow at 11am.

Talking about his company's plans to offer their services in the Mena region, Dr Kannangara said Smart Media was not interested in volumes or simply collecting clients.

'Irrespective of whether they are large- or medium-sized companies, what we are going for is to build long-term relationships with a handful of companies in each of the countries in the region who have a burning desire to make their annual reports powerful marketing tools for them,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service