Senior management stays at home while IROs hit the road
Roadshow activity in the past year has seen an increase in senior management staying at home while IROs hit the road on their own, according to the forthcoming IR Magazine Global Roadshow Report 2016.
Globally, IROs went on an average 2.4 roadshows on their own in 2016, compared with 1.9 in 2015.
Conversely, CFOs went on the road 3.7 times in 2016, attending one roadshow fewer than the previous year, while CEOs went on 2.8 roadshows compared with four in 2015.
This shift in the make-up of roadshow personnel is largely driven by changes in the activity of North American companies.
These companies have seen a drop of 12 percentage points in the share of roadshows attended by CEOs and a drop of 13 percentage points in those CFOs participate in.
Meanwhile, IRO-only trips account for nearly a quarter of roadshows among North American companies – up from 14 percent in 2015.
There has also been a sizable shift in the number of small-cap company roadshows attended by CEOs. In 2015 they went out on the road more than seven times in 10. This year, although a majority of small-cap roadshows had the most senior figure in attendance, the percentage with a CEO in tow dropped to 55 percent.
Similarly, the percentage of large-cap roadshows attended by CFOs has dropped from 54 percent in 2015 to four in 10 in 2016.
Among mega-cap companies, the proportion of IRO-only roadshows has grown to where it is just as likely for IROs to go on the road on their own as it is to have CFOs go with them – 43 percent.
The report will be published at the end of November.
