Case Study: Cousins Properties Incorporated 2004 Summary Annual Report
Spring is here – and that means shareholders are finding 2004 annual reports in their mailboxes. Financial reporting continues to evolve in transparency and thoroughness post-Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley. The biggest annual report design trends spotted this season include a moderate increase in the number of companies opting to produce summary annuals, as well as continued production of Wrap 10-Ks.
The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines and Outback Steakhouse International were among those see see eye clients that chose to produce a summary annual report in 2004. BellSouth Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor and Goodrich Corporation are among those see see eye clients that elected to produce Wrap 10-Ks.
Cousins Properties, a diversified real estate development company, REIT (real estate investment trust) and see see eye client, decided that a summary annual report would best meet its stakeholder information needs and budget requirements. Committed to providing shareholders with the best return on their investment, Cousins elected in 2004 to capture some of the value it had created in its portfolio of premiere office properties by selling flagship properties and paying out to shareholders a one-time special dividend of $7.15 per share.
The communications team challenged see see eye to find a creative way to highlight the REIT's decision to harvest the value of some of its properties, rather than develop new ones, in a year when the economy was recovering slowly.
Our Solution: Draw Readers in With an Engaging, Whimsical Concept
A surrealistic red tomato on the cover of a real estate development company's annual report is likely the last thing readers might expect to see – and was precisely why the Cousins team went for this concept when we presented it to them. A discussion of Cousins' cyclical strategy of developing and selling properties at opportune times to maximize shareholder value ensued. More tomato imagery kept the theme going and short stories about Cousins' progress in its four focus areas – retail, office, land and industrial – were featured in the narrative section.
Selected financial statements in the back of the annual report provided readers with key data, and the decision not to include full financial statements in the report kept the budget intact.
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