The annual document of St. Paul Cos. joined that of Ameritech (announced earlier) not only to attain score of a perfect 135 points, but achieve a completely positive rating of 100%, meaning it contains all three dozen elements advocated.

The dual honor was bestowed by Sid Cato, long-time annual report monitor and publisher of his self-named Newsletter on Annual Reports. The June issue marks 166 consecutive months since he began publication in September 1983.

He said that in the 14 years he has picked the world's best and worst for Chief Executive, magazine of corporate chieftains, St. Paul and Ameritech were the first to achieve perfect scores of 135 points. The 1996 report was St. Paul's second in a row to have a perfect, 100% "Cato Positive Index."

Also in the June issue, Cato cited 16 companies worldwide as "Elites" (Pg. 2); the 35 with the best-written letters to shareholders (Pg. 6), and a chief executive (Pg. 3)—Mike R. Bowlin, chairman of Atlantic Richfield Co.—who not only used eight first-person references but allowed use of "an equal number (eight) of vainglorious" photographs of himself to appear.