IR class acts in Canada

For the third year in a row, TD Bank Group swept aside the competition to be named the number one Canadian company in investor relations at the IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2013. The awards gala in Toronto was dominated by TD’s IR team, which, in addition to winning the large-cap grand prix for best overall IR program, took home seven more gongs, thus claiming a record-breaking trophy haul of eight awards in one evening. These included the large-cap awards for best IR by a CEO (Edmund Clark) and best IR by a CFO (Colleen Johnston).

In fact, if it hadn’t been for Rogers Communications’ enigmatic IRO, Bruce Mann, who won the large-cap award for best IR professional for the third time, TD would have won every award for which it was nominated. In the mid-cap range, Bombardier took the grand prix for best overall IR, as well as the best in sector – industrials award. Among the small caps, Genivar made a sparkling debut by picking up the best overall IR award, while its CEO, Pierre Shoiry, took home the best IR by a CEO trophy.

The award winners profiled in this feature were selected through an independent survey of 255 Canadian investment professionals.

TD Bank Group

RANK: 1

Awards
Grand prix for best overall investor relations program – large cap

Best investor relations by a CEO – large cap

Best investor relations by a CFO – large cap

Best financial reporting

Best investment community meetings

Best corporate governance

Best use of technology

Best in sector – financials

What the investment community says
‘It is not without good reason that TD Bank is a perennial winner. It is a well-oiled machine that provides great investor relations, year on year’ – buy side

What the company says
‘We clearly lay out our strategy and business model, our goals and our performance. We talk about our concerns but also our upside and I think our investors have certainly come to appreciate that level of candor, that level of openness’ – Colleen Johnston, CFO

CN

RANK: 2

Awards
Best IR by a Canadian company in the US market

Best in sector – transport

What the investment community says
‘Responsive and highly professional is how I’d sum up CN’s IR. That and the fact that the executive team is available six times a year for discussions’ – sell side

What the company says
‘You don’t need to have a middleman to come in and talk to the investor relations team. We really want to be directly accessible to the investment community and I think that accessibility allows us to make the information as digestible as possible’ – Janet Drysdale, head of IR

Rogers Communications

RANK: 3

Awards
Best investor relations officer – large cap

Best in sector – technology

What the investment community says
‘Rogers has a consistent approach to IR, and it works. Everyone in the team knows how to get things done’ – buy side

What the company says
‘All that planning and execution simply comes down to being good at your job, having the right people and the right relationships, and being obsessed about that last 10 percent of the executional detail. And, more than anything, being out there as much when the news is bad as when it’s good. There’s no magic’ – Bruce Mann, head of IR

Baytex Energy

RANK: 4

Awards
Best investor relations officer – mid-cap

Best in sector – energy

What the investment community says
‘There is consistent and engaging investor relations from Baytex, with comprehensive presentations on the website’ – sell side

What the company says
‘At Baytex, we pride ourselves on telling investors what we are going to do and how we are going to execute our capital program, and then we go out and do it’ – Brian Ector, head of IR

Bombardier

RANK: 5

Awards
Grand prix for best overall investor relations – mid-cap

Best in sector – industrials

What the investment community says
‘Regular meetings with the CFO, together with easy access to the IR people, make Bombardier easy to cover’ – sell side

What the company says
‘We are very transparent and spend a lot of time making sure we have a good MD&A at the beginning of the year that serves as a basis for us to have very clear communications with investors both in Canada and in the US, as well as on our roadshows to Europe and Asia’ – Pierre Beaudoin, CEO

PotashCorp

RANK: 6

Awards
Best in sector – materials

What the investment community says
‘Potash has the most robust IR program. It has a huge dataset on its website and holds quarterly webcasts where investors can submit questions outside of the conference-call format’ – buy side

What the company says
‘Our investor and public affairs strategy must support the broader company objectives and knit together our approach regarding shareholder engagement and communications’ – Denita Stann, vice president of IR and PR

BCE

RANK: 9

Awards
Best IR during a corporate transaction

What the investment community says
‘BCE is proactive and happy to get the chief executive and other managers out at regular intervals. It made it easy to follow the Astral acquisition’ – buy side

Cenovus Energy

RANK: 17

Awards
Best sustainability practice

What the investment community says
‘Cenovus delivers a clear message and we always know what to expect. The CFO is both accessible and articulate. And the IRO is top-notch, too’ – sell side

What the company says
‘At Cenovus we’re proud of the work we do and we’re committed to developing new ideas, new technologies and better approaches to producing energy resources safely and responsibly’ – Susan Grey, head of IR

Corus Entertainment

RANK: 19

Awards
Best in sector – leisure & media

What the investment community says
‘Corus does a great job of talking about both good news and bad’ – buy side

What the company says
‘We couldn’t get enough depth on our story at the AGM so we decided to have an annual investor day. That let the investors see people other than just the top two executives in the organization. People need to see the strength and depth in management so they can feel comfortable that there are internal succession candidates for the CEO role’ – Thomas Peddie, CFO

Stantec

RANK: 20

Awards
Best investor relations by a CFO – mid-cap

What the investment community says
‘Stantec puts out the most information of any of my companies, and it also hosts great meetings’ – sell side

What the company says
‘Dan Lefaivre is a very capable successor. He has helped navigate our company through a number of complex projects, including the successful roll-out of our enterprise system, which has become one of Stantec’s competitive advantages in the industry’ – Tony Franceschini, former chief executive

Agnico-Eagle Mines

RANK: 23

Awards
Best investor relations by a CEO – mid-cap

What the investment community says
‘Agnico excels at informing the market about major events and news, regardless of whether the impact will be good or bad. In addition to its excellent disclosure, an IRO is always available when you need one’ – sell side

What the company says
‘I think I have been singled out due to how well our entire team responded to a very difficult year in 2011. Firstly, we delivered on our promises. Secondly, when we were having our challenges, we sought out our shareholders and openly explained our issues and our plan to get operations back on track’ – Sean Boyd, CEO

Shoppers Drug Mart

RANK: 26

Awards
Best in sector – consumer goods & services

What the investment community says
‘IRO John Caplice has been with the company a long while and his knowledge is so good that there is no need to speak to anyone else’ – sell side

Genivar

RANK: 30

Awards
Grand prix for best overall investor relations – small cap

Best investor relations by a CEO – small cap

What the investment community says
‘Genivar has really grown over the past year and as a result is now much more responsive’ – sell side

What the company says
‘IR has become an important component of our business as we seek to provide stakeholders with timely and appropriate disclosure on our operations, our markets, key trends and outlook’ – Pierre Shoiry, CEO

Canadian Pacific Railway

RANK: 33

Awards
Best crisis management

What the investment community says
‘The highly professional investor relations team dealt with the proxy battle, and the ensuing change of senior management, extremely well’ – sell side

What the company says
‘You cannot go through an experience like a proxy battle without picking up new skills and a strengthened appreciation of board governance and the proxy solicitation and voting process in Canada’ – Janet Weiss, vice president of IR

Enbridge

RANK: =35

Awards
Best in sector – utilities & pipelines

What the investment community says
‘Enbridge continues to offer a consistently solid IR program, and is the only firm in my sector to offer free transcripts of conference calls. Investor days are at the same time each year, so they’re easy to schedule’ – sell side

What the company says
‘Investor relations has been a successful department at Enbridge for many years because the executive team fully understands the importance of the role and has been very generous with time and resources to support its development’ – Jonathan Gould, director of investor relations

Aimia

RANK: =39

Awards
Most progress in investor relations

What the investment community says
‘Aimia’s IR is responsive and its presentations have improved considerably over the past year’ – sell side

What the company says
‘With nearly 20 years’ experience as an IR professional, I know how important it is to understand what the Street is saying and how to position key messages’ – Trish Moran, head of IR

Dundee REIT

RANK: 44

Awards
Best in sector – real estate

What the investment community says
‘What I like about Dundee REIT is that it is has a plan and it sticks to it. It measures its performance, so it’s easier for us to do that, too’ – sell side

What the company says
‘Over the last few years, we’ve had the opportunity to make substantial changes to our business and improve it significantly. This quarter, we have further strengthened our balance sheet, improved our debt profile and restructured our portfolio’ – Michael Cooper, CEO

WesternOne

RANK: =46

Awards
Best investor relations by a CFO – small cap (joint winner)

What the investment community says
‘WesternOne does a good IR job and has dedicated IR people, which is unusual for a company of that size. The press releases are timely and the announcements clear, with good, value-added information’ – sell side

What the company says
‘The solid growth WesternOne has achieved in the third quarter reflects our ability to execute growth in key strategic areas in the construction and infrastructure service sectors’ – Darren Latoski, chief executive

Descartes Systems Group

RANK: =68

Awards
Best investor relations by a CFO – small cap (joint winner)

What the company says
‘Stephanie [Ratza’s] credentials with leading Canadian technology companies made her a natural choice to lead our finance organization’ – Arthur Mesher, CEO

Dundee International REIT

RANK: =105

Awards
Best investor relations officer – small cap

What the company says
‘While we invest in real estate globally, our investor base is almost exclusively located in North America. Our executives have met with investors in Germany, the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands, but our investor focus remains in North America’ – Barbara Wallner, head of IR

Raging River Exploration

RANK: =125

Awards
Best IR by a TSX Venture Exchange-listed company

What the company says
‘Our IR department – me, the CFO and vice president of exploration – all have other full-time roles so our working relationships are founded on developing our business’ – Neil Roszell, CEO