By Dennis Walsh, Senior Consultant & Director of Social Media
Last week, I attended the NIRI Annual Conference. It was very educational and an incredible opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with many of the approximately 1,300 investor relations professionals from more than 20 countries that attended the event in Seattle.
NIRI organized more than 45 informative panel sessions and workshops that were led by some of IR’s top influencers. While I wanted to attend each one, unfortunately I am not omnipresent. For those that I did attend, I left with several key takeaways that can benefit any IR program and wanted to share those with you here at The Podium.
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Investor Presentation,
IR Program Planning,
Board Packages,
Shareholder Surveillance,
Disclosure,
Targeting,
Board Communications,
Annual Meeting,
Corporate Governance,
Shareholder Activism,
SEC,
Proxy Season,
Board of Directors,
Proxy Access,
NIRI,
Disclosure Policy,
IRO,
CFO,
Social Media,
Investor Relations,
Activist Investors
By Jim Buckley
To kick off the New Year, we decided to renew an old Sharon Merrill tradition and take a lighthearted look at what’s in and what’s out in investor relations and related areas in 2012. Hope you enjoy, and have a happy and successful 2012.
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Hedge Fund,
Board Communications,
Annual Meeting,
Investor Relations Agency,
Proxy Access,
Crisis Communications,
Social Media,
Investor Relations,
Activist Investors
By Dennis Walsh, Senior Consultant & Director of Social Media
As another year comes to a close, two things are probably on every IRO’s mind: New Year’s resolutions and next year’s investor relations plan. Every year, one of the most common resolutions is to get fit. People spend a tremendous amount of time and money developing new health and fitness plans to achieve that goal. This year, apply the same techniques to your IR plan in order to have a successful 2012.
Establish Achievable Goals
You may not be ready to compete in the Arnold Classic body building competition next year, but fitting into that new bathing suit by summer is certainly a realistic goal. When developing your 2012 IR plan, set equally realistic expectations. For example, expecting to grow your capitalization from a mid-cap to a large-cap in just a few months is likely an unrealistic benchmark. Instead, focus on more achievable metrics, such as meeting with a greater number of investors, attending more conferences, or increasing trading volume. Meeting these goals will support your ultimate goal of maximizing shareholder value.
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Holiday,
IR Program Planning,
Board Packages,
Investor Relations Blog,
Board Communications,
Annual Meeting,
Sharon Merrill Associates,
Investor Relations Agency,
Investor Meetings,
NIRI,
Investor Conference,
IRO,
IR Budgets,
IPO,
Shareholder Communications,
Social Media,
Small-cap IR,
Investor Relations,
Investor Relations Firm
“Lie to Me.” The name of the prime time drama on Fox is a challenge. “Go ahead. I dare you to try to pull one over on me.” The show’s protagonist, played by Tim Roth, is an expert in detecting deception and is hired by corporations, government agencies and private citizens to analyze body language.
We’ve all heard about how valuable body language is in interpersonal communication, but is Lie to Me more fiction than fact? Not even close. The investment community is now using real-life consulting firms like the one in Lie to Me to analyze the truthfulness of corporate executives.
In his 2010 book Broker, Trader, Lawyer Spy, POLITICO White House Reporter Eamon Javers recounts stories of former CIA agents working with major hedge funds and bulge bracket investment banks. Boston-based Business Intelligence Advisors (BIA) is one firm mentioned by name in Javers’ book. BIA, which consults solely for the financial services industry, including institutional investors and venture capitalists, is comprised of former intelligence community agents.
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Investor Presentation,
Annual Meeting,
Investor Meetings,
Presentation Training,
Buy-Side,
Crisis Communications,
NIRI,
Sell-side,
Investor Relations
Hello again. We took a bit of a hiatus from blogging this summer, but we are now back to share a Halloween story sure to scare you straight!
Unless you are one of the 33 Chilean miners that were trapped underground for the past two months, you have likely been watching the drama unfold on Capitol Hill as the Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenged the legality of the SEC’s new proxy access rule 14a-11, which allows qualifying shareholders to nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings and requires the corporation to include those nominees in the standard proxy statement. The petitioners claim that the new rules are subjective and violate federal and state law and the United States Constitution, and that the SEC did not assess the effect of the rules on efficiency, competition and capital formation. As a result, implementation of the rule has been delayed pending a resolution of the Court of Appeals. So the new proxy access rules will most likely not be implemented until the 2012 proxy season, at the earliest. Upon hearing this news, public corporations across the nation let out a collective sigh of relief.
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Shareholder Meeting,
Board Communications,
Strategic Messaging,
Annual Meeting,
Shareholder Activism,
Investor Relations Agency,
Proxy Season,
Proxy Access,
Crisis Communications,
Board Structure,
Shareholder Communications,
Investor Relations,
Investor Relations Firm,
Activist Investors
The term “shareholder activism” can sometimes send a shiver down your spine and conjure up all kinds of unwelcome events – unhappy shareholders, proxy contests, shareholder proposals, 13D filings and withhold vote campaigns, to name just a few.
I recently moderated a NIRI Virtual Chapter webinar on “Shareholder Activism Trends.” The participants, consisting mainly of IROs at mid- and small-cap companies, were polled on several questions. The first question was, “Do you have a detailed plan in place for dealing with shareholder activism?” The majority answered “no.”
It may not be feasible to have a detailed plan for dealing with a threat that can take so many different forms. The lawmen and bandits who fought it out at the infamous O.K. Corral in 1881 had no idea how the showdown would play out – and neither will you if your company becomes an activist’s target. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be prepared. Here are four steps.
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Corporate Access,
Shareholder Meeting,
Board Communications,
Annual Meeting,
Shareholder Activism,
Proxy Season,
Proxy Fight,
Proxy Access,
Crisis Communications,
Board Structure,
Disclosure Policy,
Shareholder Communications,
Investor Relations,
Activist Investors
With proxy season on the horizon, a new SEC rule will be requiring companies to justify the structure of the board’s leadership. That could have some companies thinking about whether the roles of chairman and CEO should be separated – an issue that’s been hotly contested for years.
Proponents of taking an axe to the two positions contend that combining them puts too much power in the hands of one person and creates an inherent conflict of interest. Their preference is to seat an outside director as chairman to ensure the board stays truly independent from management. The CEO can then focus on running the business while the chairman is tasked with protecting the interests of shareholders, including evaluating management’s performance.
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Shareholder Meeting,
Annual Meeting,
SEC,
Proxy Season,
Board of Directors,
Crisis Communications,
Board Structure,
Investor Relations,
Activist Investors
