MIAMI, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU), a leading financial services provider for the global securities industry, is proud to announce seven of its clients have been awarded a prestigious Global Equity Organization (GEO) Award at a ceremony held at the Eden Roc Miami Beach during GEO's 15^th annual conference.

The GEO Awards celebrate excellence by recognizing companies from around the globe who demonstrate their leadership and dedication to employee stock plans. Award honors were presented in ten categories, each designed to highlight excellence in areas of the share plan industry such as communications, technology, innovative or creative plan design, plan effectiveness and financial education.

A record number of entries were received this year from a wide array of public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries headquartered in ten different countries, employing as few as 1,000 employees to more than 300,000 employees and offering equity in as many as 190 countries. An independent panel of judges carefully reviewed each submission and selected those that deserve to receive a prestigious GEO Award.

Computershare is a sponsor of the global conference and spoke at three panel presentations on employee plans, global experience with corporate actions and multi-layered communications. The full agenda for the panel presentations can be found here.

Computershare client successes included:

• Amadeus IT Holding S.A won the award for Best Plan Effectiveness
• Kofax won the award for Most Creative Solution
• Merlin Entertainments plc and Nokia received the award for the Best Use of an Employer Share Plan in a Corporate Action
• Rio Tinto took home two awards for Best Plan Communication and Best Use of Video Communications
• Royal Dutch Shell plc won the award for Most Innovative and Creative Plan Design
• Siemens AG won the award for Best Plan Communication

Winners represent both large multinationals as well as smaller companies from various industries and countries.

For further information, category descriptions and a full list of winners and finalists for the 2014 GEO Awards please visit: www.globalequity.org/geo/geoawards.

Editors Note: Quotes below from award winning companies:

Amadeus IT Holding S.A won the award for Best Plan Effectiveness. Ana Gonzalez, Group Reward Manager at Amadeus was delighted with the recognition: "We've worked hard to ensure the success of our plan and are absolutely thrilled to have been recognised for this through this GEO award."

Kofax won the award for Most Creative Solution. Reynolds C. Bish, CEO of Kofax, said, "We won the award for Most Creative Solution by achieving a Nasdaq listing in addition to our a pre existing London listing in a manner that defied all the skeptical experts who said it would never work, and realized a significant step up in value, a much higher trading volume and liquidity and a rapid transition of shareholder ownership from the UK to the US. This included using Computershare as our global registrar, who took our shareholder records and stock plan administration to the next level by providing a cohesive experience to our global shareholder and employee base. Employees can now receive equity compensation in their local currency, allowing us to better serve our valued employees."

Merlin Entertainments plc received the award for the Best Use of an Employer Share Plan in a Corporate Action. Fiona Rose, Deputy Group Secretary for Merlin Entertainments said: "We are thrilled that our efforts for our All Employee Sharesave Plan have been recognised with this GEO Award and that Merlin's hard work and commitment to our most important asset (our employees) has been acknowledged. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Computershare event delivery team for their support in delivering this well received plan."

Nokia received the award for the Best Use of an Employer Share Plan in a Corporate Action. James Roberton, Global Head of Equity Programs, Nokia said: "We are so pleased to be recognised for our share plan communications program by GEO. We work hard to ensure that our share plans operate at the best level they can and appreciate the industry's support and acknowledgement."

Rio Tinto scooped two awards in the Best Plan Communication and Best Use of Video Communications categories. John Beadle, Vice President, Performance and Reward, Rio Tinto said: "In the past, we have had many local plans that just reinforced our differences. We now have some 16,000 employees shareholders all investing in the success of the company through the same plan. This will help us attract and retain key talent and will encourage staff to act as owners."

Royal Dutch Shell plc took the award for most Innovative and Creative Plan Design. Pam Roffe, share plan manager of Shell said, "Our work over the years to ensure our share plans are simple, globally aligned and successful can be attributed to the link and use of the Vested Share Account product as part of the shareholder experience. I am very happy that GEO has acknowledged the VSA, we are proud and this award is gratefully received."

Siemens AG won the award for Best Plan Communication. Bettina Gohm, Vice President at Siemens AG said: "We are delighted that our efforts with our innovative culture enhancement communication strategy and empirical study have been recognised with this GEO Award. We are very proud to see that we have been able to contribute to global knowledge for the share plan industry."

For any media inquiries
Rachel Hamilton-Wilkes
Director, Public Relations
Tel: 310 751 1817
rachel.hamiltonwilkes@computershare.com

About Computershare Limited (CPU)
Computershare (ASX:CPU) is a global market leader in transfer agency and share registration, employee equity plans, proxy solicitation and stakeholder communications. We also specialise in corporate trust, mortgage, bankruptcy, class action, utility and tax voucher administration, and a range of other diversified financial and governance services.

Founded in 1978, Computershare is renowned for its expertise in high integrity data management, high volume transaction processing and reconciliations, payments and stakeholder engagement. Many of the world's leading organisations use us to streamline and maximise the value of relationships with their investors, employees, creditors and customers.

Computershare is represented in all major financial markets and has over 14,000 employees worldwide.

For more information, visit www.computershare.com

SOURCE Computershare Limited