Based on data of the S&P 500 ( the index of the 500 leading companies in the US ) tangible assets (property, plants, equipment and inventory) account for under 25% of the value that investors place on a company. Intangible assets (such as skilled employees, patents, business systems and brands) account for the remaining 75%.

The "Global Brands" study conducted by Interbrand (¹) concludes that brands account for more than a third of shareholder value (on average), and in many cases, more than 70% of shareholder value.

A study by PIMS (²) Europe for the European Brand Association revealed that even in sectors that are driven largely by technology and research, brands play a vital role in translating a company's technical competencies into market success.  

For these reasons over the past few years we have invested in our brand in order to align it with our business strategy and to make it more relevant to our customers around the world.








(1) Interbrand is the US leading brand consultancy and authors of the annual ranking of "The Best Global Brands" in partnership with Business Week
(2) The PIMS (Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy) project was started by General Electric in the 1960s, then picked up by Harvard's Management Science Institute in the early 1970s, and has been administered by the American Strategic Planning Institute since 1975.