MG Rover, the Treasury and UBS prop up table

The firm came under further fire from the press when the Pensions Regulator was asked to step in and protect the pensions of Rover's 6,100 workers.

UBS sank to third from bottom after employee Laura Zubulake was awarded £15.6m in a sexual discrimination case against the firm.

The Treasury also fell more than 1,000 places down the table, after Marks & Spencer won a case in the European Court of Justice which could cost it billions of pounds in tax refunds. Wal-Mart is reported to be fighting back against recent allegations that the company exploits its workforce.

Boots fell 45 places in the table after it issued its second profit warning in five weeks, leaving it open to possible bids from venture capital firms.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury's was this week's highest riser, jumping 216 places to fourth spot. It overtook rival Asda in terms of market share gain for the first time in a decade.

Reputation Monitor is compiled from Thomson Intermedia's National News Index, a measure of media sentiment that excludes stock market reports and passing mentions.

REPUTATION MONITOR 5-11 April 2005

Ranking Rank last week Organisation NNI

Best performers

1 2 Tesco 198.2

2 1 Asda 114.3

3 10 BT Group 74.7

4 220 Sainsbury's 67

5 16 William Hill 57.8

Worst performers*

1 226 MG Rover -421.5

2 47 Boots -57.6

3 1,065 UBS -52.4

4 1,281 The Treasury -51.5

5 11 Morrisons -28

Source: www.newsmetrics.co.uk/Thomson Intermedia plc *Rank last week is

position from bottom of table