PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE EVENING ARE AVAILABLE HERE.
PHOTOBOOTH /ROAMING PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AVAILABLE HERE.
EVENT PROGRAMME IS HERE.
The Extel Europe & Emerging EMEA Equities Awards, often dubbed the Equities Oscars, returned to London on September 17, 2026, bringing together brokers, C-suite executives and IR professionals from mainland Europe, the Middle East and South Africa at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane. Over 200 guests attended, with the evening opening on a film created by media partner wtv. Host James Faulkner returned for a third year, keeping the energy high and the room entertained throughout.
The rankings behind the awards rest on an unusually deep voting base. For the sell-side categories, 155 firms submitted centralized votes drawn directly from their own research evaluation processes. On the corporate side, 1,964 buy-side and sell-side voters assessed 2,834 C-suite executives and IROs at 1,414 companies against more than 15 performance metrics. This year's Executive Team methodology moved to an attribute-led model, with nomination remaining entirely independent and unprompted. No pre-selected lists, no steer: the results reflect what voters actually think.
Awards were presented across six sections: Research & Corporate for Developed Europe, Most Honored Company Awards for Developed Europe, Research & Corporate for Emerging EMEA, Best Country Brokers, Most Honored Company Awards for Emerging EMEA, and Special Recognitions & Hall of Fame.
Among the guests, Stavros Anagnou of Ambrosia Capital called it a double celebration. "This is always a good night for Ambrosia Capital," he said, "and it's a double celebration as Greece imminently reclaims its developed market status."
Overall Best Analyst and Salesperson
Two special awards recognize the individuals with the highest overall points and market share across the entire 2026 survey.
Warren Ackerman of Barclays took Overall Best Analyst for Developed Europe. Ackerman heads Barclays' top-ranked European Consumer Staples team and has been the number one ranked analyst in his sector for three consecutive years, giving him seven first-place rankings in total. Extel's digital archive first records him in 2003, ranked 11th in Food Manufacturers.
Gerard Zaffran of BNP Paribas SA retained Overall Best Specialist Salesperson, a category he has now won in successive years. Zaffran joined BNP Paribas in 2015 and has collected Extel accolades consistently since.
Hall of Fame: Research
Induction requires ten number-one rankings from Extel or Institutional Investor, based on buy-side votes only, with double counting removed where an analyst held both in the same sector at the same time. Four analysts qualified this year.
Warwick Okines, BNP Paribas runs the European General Retail & Sporting Goods team, ranked number one for Retailing General in the Developed Europe survey. He has been individually top ranked for seven consecutive years and joined from Deutsche Bank in 2018, where he led the top-ranked General Retail franchise and covered Luxury Goods.
Stamatios Draziotis, Eurobank Equities is General Manager and Head of Equity Research, leading the firm's Greek equity product. He brings 19 years in financial services, including a period as an equity analyst at UBS Investment Bank in London, and covers gaming, consumer, retail, hotels, airlines and telecommunications.
Tim Jones, Deutsche Bank read Chemistry at Oxford and briefly pursued chartered accountancy before joining the sell-side in 1997. After a first stint at JP Morgan, he spent 23 years at Deutsche Bank, predominantly running European Chemicals while also managing teams across Healthcare and Basic Materials. Since leaving the sell-side in 2023 he has built a consultancy advising early-stage university spinouts in chemistry and materials.
Jose Asumendi, J.P. Morgan heads both the Global Automotive and European Autos research teams, having joined in 2012. His two decades in equity research span Germany and London, following four years as a financial analyst at Visteon Corporation's European headquarters working on cost optimization, strategy and business development.
Partners on stage
The IR awards were presented by representatives of four national IR societies: Kay Bommer, General Manager of the Deutsche Investor Relations Association (DIRK); Gianfranco Viao, Head of Investor, Co-investor & Rating Agencies Relations at CDP and Chair of the Italian IR Association; Debbie Millar, Chairman of the IR Society of South Africa; and Javier Rodrigo Vega, General Manager of AERI, the Iberian IR Association.
Piero Munari, Founder and Managing Partner of sponsor Arwin & Partners, presented awards to Italian winners Moncler and Intesa Sanpaolo. From media partner wtv, Amit Sanghvi and Katie Craske also took to the stage.
Many guests stayed on after the ceremony to try their luck at the Extel Casino, playing poker, blackjack and roulette into the night.
Extel thanks all guests for making the evening a success, and is grateful to Arwin & Partners and wtv for their support.
