SOURCE: Marketwire
March 26, 2009 08:59 ET
Marketwire Partners With IR Magazine at 4th West Coast Think Tank; IROs Discuss Market Trends, Best Practices
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - March 26, 2009) - For the fourth year in a row, Marketwire
sponsored IR magazine's West
Coast Think Tank. This year, more than 50 senior-level investor
relations officers (IROs) gathered on March 19 in Palo Alto to discuss
trends in corporate governance, shifting sell-side and buy-side attitudes,
and regulatory risk. The invitation-only event also gave leading investor
relations professionals an opportunity to offer guidance and share best
practices during Marketwire's
"Investor Relations Ask the Expert" segment in which they discussed
strategies for investor communications and new media/online communication
and offered advice for the new IRO.
Think Tank Highlights / Key Facts
Several important predictions surfaced during a discussion on disclosure:
- It's anticipated, due to the new administration, that judges will pay
greater attention to shareholder lawsuits
- The SEC will be much tougher on those companies that don't provide
proper guidance and violate disclosure
- The combination of the new administration, the Madoff scam and other
similar scandals, and the bad economy will likely create a stricter
regulatory environment focused more on "protecting the little guy"
- IROs/executive teams need to be even more mindful of conversations and
meetings with the Street
- Companies need to be more careful providing guidance and focus on
annual, rather than quarterly guidance
Changes on the sell-side are impacting the quality and quantity of research
and coverage:
- Fewer analysts are covering more companies, and as a result, may not
be spending as much time as necessary to learn about those companies
- Sell-side influence on road shows and executive presentations is
waning
- IROs are now more careful with whom their executives speak, and in
what format
- Smaller companies are losing sell-side analyst coverage
A discussion on regulation risk focused on the SEC's rules agenda and proxy
season hurdles:
- eProxy is becoming much more common
- Annual reports are often being condensed to the 10K and the proxy with
a cover page; no more flashy graphics and full-color information
- Many companies, facing potential shareholder activism, are more
mindful of board composition and timing
The buy-side landscape is evolving:
- Hedge fund assets under management have shrunk dramatically in the
past couple years
- Investors are much slower to pull the trigger and take a position in a
stock -- in some cases months after initially contacting a company
- Due to the economic climate, investors are having a hard time
qualifying investments in terms of their portfolio requirements
"Investor Relations Ask the Expert" Quotes
Marketwire asked participants at IR magazine's West Coast Think Tank 2009
to offer their opinions on general business issues impacting the investor
relations officer:
Steve Austenfeld, vice president, investor relations, The Clorox
Company offered advice to the new IRO:
- "Have a number of different sources you can go to -- that's foremost to
staying close to the market activity at all times. There's a proliferation
of websites -- evaluate and follow online sources. Have a few key partners
on the Street -- buy-side or sell-side -- whose guidance and insight you
trust. They have contacts back to trading desks so you can find out what
may be moving your stock. Lastly, build contacts with IROs at peer
companies whose stock may be affected by the same news flowing on that
particular day as is your stock."
Robert Durstenfeld, senior director, corporate marketing (IR,
PR, brand), RAE Systems emphasized the importance of integrating the IR
function with other areas of the company:
- "Today, investor relations has to be integrated with public
relations... there has to be an integrated communication strategy so the IR
and PR and product messaging is all one. That's done when you've got PR
management cognizant of what IR has to do... that understands the
regulations and the regulatory reporting... and IR is supportive of the
rest of the business. You have to integrate all of that."
Lisa M. Chiorello, investor relations manager, Juniper Networks
shared one of her organization's best communication practices:
- "We proactively reach out to our shareholders and the sell side
community, so we feel we have a pretty good understanding of what the
Street is looking for and what their questions are going to be on the call.
Through our outreach we reconfirm that what we plan to address on the call
fits their needs, and by doing that we try to keep balance while addressing
the key three items we want the street to walk away with beyond just the
regular numbers and guidance."
Resources
Marketwire offers a variety of services to help IR
professionals communicate effectively with their audiences, including
the Social Media Plus full-disclosure press release, the Easy IR workflow
solution and Dashboard Mobile Financial for news distribution to the
financial community. For more information on all of Marketwire's
communication and news distribution solutions, please call 800-774-9473.
About IR Magazine and IR Magazine Conferences
Published in New York and London by its parent company, Cross
Border, IR magazine is the only global publication focused on the
interface between companies and their investors. IR magazine conferences
provide the worldwide IR audience with a forum for discussion, information
and communication. They are an opportunity for IR professionals to educate
themselves about new industry services, network with others in the
industry, and get practical advice from a wide range of experts. For more
information, please visit www.irmagazine.com.
About Marketwire
The only fully integrated North America-based global newswire, Marketwire,
Inc. is a full-service partner to IR, PR and MarCom professionals seeking
top-tier press
release distribution, media management, multimedia and monitoring
solutions. Marketwire's customer-centric corporate philosophy focuses on
being the best by infusing every aspect of its business with the following
core attributes: precision, adaptability, innovation and simplicity.
Marketwire delivers its clients' news to the world's media and financial
communities, fulfilling disclosure requirements in North America in
compliance with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), and serving as Primary Information Provider
(PIP) with the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA). With a reputation
for technology leadership, Marketwire offers innovative products and
services -- including Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, Dashboard
Mobile Financial, News Dashboard coverage reports, exclusive access to
networks such as the Canadian Press Wire Network, Easy IR and Easy PR
workflow solutions, and more -- that help communication professionals
maximize their effectiveness while ensuring accuracy and best practices.
Having merged companies (Market Wire and CCNMatthews) in April 2006, and
enjoying a combined history of 25 years of service, Marketwire is now
majority-owned by OMERS Capital Partners, the private equity arm of one of
Canada's largest pension funds.
Marketwire distributes the majority of press releases issued by publicly
traded companies in Canada and serves more than 8,000 clients worldwide
through 20 offices on four continents. For more information, visit us at
www.marketwire.com.