IR teams have upped their roadshow activities and are making more trips to Asia
This is an edited version of IR Magazine Week, IR Magazine's weekly newsletter. To receive the newsletter, please register here.
Many of us will be traveling to a galaxy far, far away this week as the highly anticipated new Star Wars film hits cinemas. The commitment to the force among some in the IR Magazine office is particularly strong: they plan to head straight from the office Christmas party to the 00.01 am showings taking place across London on Thursday. May the coffee be with you.
As we are close to the end of the year, many IR departments will be focused on travel of a more worldly nature as you firm up roadshow plans for 2016. Given this, I thought I’d share five findings from our recent Global Roadshow Report, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which surveyed more than 900 IROs to uncover the most popular cities and brokers among the worldwide IR community.
1. Companies are going on more roadshows. Since last year’s report, the average number of roadshows among our respondents has risen from 7.5 to 8.6. Europeans are the busiest: they went on an average of 13 roadshows in 2015.
2. Credit Suisse is keeping IROs happy. We asked respondents to name the broker that put on the most impressive roadshow over the last 12 months. Credit Suisse earned the most mentions.
3. Negative or neutral ratings are not a deal breaker. Wondering whether to travel with a broker that isn’t positive on the stock? Four-fifths of respondents have either already done this or would be happy to do so.
4. Asian money centers climb in importance. The report ranks the 20 most visited cities by IR teams. The most notable change in 2015 sees Singapore and Hong Kong rise to 15th and 16th place, respectively. If you haven’t already, perhaps it’s time you paid a visit.
5. Roadshows vs conferences – only one winner. As we have found in previous reports, a clear majority of respondents say roadshows are ‘more rewarding’ investor events than conferences. Remember this as you allocate your time.
The full report, which breaks down the results by region and market cap, is available to download for free here.
