An Post has overtaken Bord Bia to top the RepTrak study which ranks 50 of Ireland’s largest and most familiar companies and organisations in terms of reputation.

For the second year in succession, three indigenous Irish organisations occupy the top spots in the Ireland study. The survey, which presents an average measure across four emotional indicators, trust, esteem, admiration and good feeling, drew more than 4,500 responses.

An Post moves up from third to first place in the latest study. It is followed by Kerry Group, which reported the second-best improvement from 2016, and Bord Bia, which was ranked first last year.

The increase in popularity for An Post may be short-lived given it sparked criticism last month after increasing the price of a basic stamp by 28 per cent from 72c to €1 and boosted the cost of other postal services at a similar rate.

Rounding out the top 10 most reputable organisations are Aldi, Lidl, Google, Boots, Tourism Ireland, Aer Lingus and SuperValu.

Noticeable absentee

Eason, which was ranked second overall in last year’s survey, was a noticeable absentee in the latest rankings due to a decision to exclude a number of sectors from the latest survey, including general retail, media and automotive. The study cut the number of companies and organisations surveyed to 50 this year, half the previous number. The Reputations Agency, which commissioned the Ireland survey, said this was as a result of a decision to “deepen” the research, with respondents answering 100 questions compared to 25 previously.

The study shows the public feel more positive about firms in 2017 than last year

As with last year, Irish Water recorded the lowest score among organisations surveyed, with a rating of just 18.1 points. This compares to 79.5 for the highest-ranked company, An Post.

According to the study, 20 per cent of the firms included in the survey improved their scores significantly this year – by over 3.7 points. Just 10 per cent significantly declined.

Biggest improvement

Eir recorded the biggest improvement versus the prior year, up 8.3 points, followed by Kerry Group, Apple, AIB and Irish Distillers.

Overall, the study shows the public feel more positive about firms in 2017 than last year, when 27 per cent of firms’ reputations significantly declined.

Organisations operating in food-related sectors ranked best in terms of industries, followed by healthcare. The financial services sector polled worst in terms of reputation.

“From this year’s study, we can see that consumers in Ireland are 10 times more likely to purchase a product or service from a company and seven times more likely to work for a company with an excellent reputation than a company with a poor reputation,” said Niamh Boyle, managing director of the Reputations Agency.