The survey, which was carried out by Porter Research, ranked the FTSE-100 companies' corporate web sites using certain criteria, including overall design, navigation, technical performance, speed of loading and cross-browser compatibility.
The authors of the report claim that 28 sites rated in the "good or "very good" categories, against only nine in the previous survey. In spite of this, 72 sites are still having problems varying from "needing some substantial attention" to being "bad and in a state where they should be thrown away."
The survey also found that eight of the sites that were re-designed in the past year are worse than they were before. Among these, Schroder, Friends Provident, Granada and HSBC were the worst performers. Nevertheless, the report's authors point out that some of the re-designed sites are now "among the best."
The report also warns that an "alarming number" of the sites treat both investors and the media "appallingly", failing to provide adequate information such as easy access to their share price.
The best performing site of the year was, in the opinion of the authors, that of the National Grid, followed by Six Continents. The worst-performing site was Next, with Alliance UniChem rated second worst.
