Brazil has some of the largest IR teams and budgets in the world
As well as being from a BRIC country (Brazil, Russia, India and China) with strong growth prospects, Brazil’s IROs benefit from progressive regulation in the capital markets, which ensure that every listed company has a dedicated IR officer.
This is reflected in some large, well-resourced IR departments, and one of the world’s largest in terms of headcount at 16. Budgets at leading teams in Brazil compare favorably with the rest of the world: the modal average IR budget (excluding staff costs and the annual report) is considerably higher for respondents in Brazil than in the US and the UK.
Research highlights
• Brazilian companies enjoy strong buy-in from investors in the US and this is reflected in the typical roadshow profile of a listed Brazilian company, which tends to take in major US and European financial centers.
• Brazilian firms prefer London, New York and Boston for roadshows but several also take in San Francisco, Edinburgh, Paris and Hong Kong.
• Approximately half the leading firms surveyed had a sponsored depositary receipt program, with the most popular routes being the NYSE and the OTCQX.
• Leading IR teams in Brazil are well resourced when compared with their peers around the globe. They hold significantly more one-on-ones than companies from any other region surveyed.
• Brazilian companies enjoy more commitment from their senior management: CFOs at leading Brazilian firms spend, on average, three times more hours on IR than CFOs from companies in the rest of the world. They also enjoy strong support from other (ie, divisional) senior management.
This research was conducted as part of our global survey of investor relations practices, undertaken in May and June 2010, which garnered more than 200 responses from high-scoring IR departments around the world. The Brazil segment of the research polled nominated and short-listed companies from our IR Magazine Brazil Awards.
An executive briefing of IR Insight's Brazil research is available to read here.
