Company performance is normally judged on the basis of the bottom line. But Bank of Ireland and CRH will still be pleased with their nomination in this week's Financial Times/Price Waterhouse survey of the "Most Respected Companies".

The survey was based on the views of business people and analysts across Europe and the overall winner was ABB Asea Brown Boveri, the Swedish Swiss engineering group.

CRH's chief financial officer, Harry Sheridan, was lauded by one analyst as leading "a consistent investor relations effort, without the hype".