Profiling
New York-based IR firm Georgeson & Co has introduced its SynerG shareholder base management software into the UK. Designed in-house, the program draws on proprietary databases and external data feeds to provide current and historical ownership data on your screen. It currently covers 1,200 institutional profiles in the UK, continental Europe and the US, giving the time-starved IRO ready access to investment criteria, ownership trends and voting policies. The system also provides details of voting behaviour, targeting, screening policies and offers a contact and calendar management option.
Snappy Name 982
Argus Vickers has launched a UK share ownership data service similar to the product it has offered in the US for over three decades. UK plc Institutional Ownership Data aims to be just as thorough as its name suggests, with accurate information on nominees, beneficial owners and fund managers. The data covers all UK listed companies with the FT-SE 100 and utilities updated monthly. The next 350 largest companies according to market capitalisation are updated quarterly with the remainder being subject to an annual review. The service is available on a fixed monthly charge, per report fee or connect time basis, by modem, fax or in hard copy.
Index Partners 981
The Financial Times and the London Stock Exchange have announced the formation of a jointly owned company to manage and develop the FT-SE and FT-A indices. FT-SE International intends to develop and extend the use of its indices to provide investors worldwide with an improving range of international indices and supporting services.
Play the Game 980
London-based Merchant Corporate Design has published the first edition of a handbook providing 'essential information' about annual reports and accounts. The natty little reference guide includes articles by prominent people in the annual report world and a look at how the UK's top 250 companies are responding to disclosure issues.
Guiding the Way 979
Want to know who owns what in corporate Spain? Want to untangle the web of cross-holdings? Then the Maxwell Espinosa Spanish Shareholders Directory is for you.
Published by Madrid-based SPA, the directory lists shareholder information and contact details for approximately 2,000 companies in Spain. Each profile contains contact details and current and historical sales and profits information. Some listings also include corporate advisers and the name of the company's bank.
German Growth
The first German Mid-Cap Conference will take place on December 6-8 at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Hosted by the German Association of Investment Analysts and Managers, it will give board members of 20 German mid-cap companies the chance to make in-depth presentations to international fund managers and analysts. Presentations are expected to focus on the growth potential of their companies and markets. Attendance at the conference is free of charge and one-on-one meetings can be arranged. Contact: Haubrok Investor Relations Tel: +49 211 498 30 09.
Contact Book
The new version of the UK Hollis Press & Public Relations Annual has been published with a complete redesign. The updated directory has around 20,000 researched and updated information sources, claims Gary Zabel, managing director of Hollis. It is available from the publishers in London at 70 or at 92.50 with three update supplements.
Aiming Wider
The London Stock Exchange has launched an Internet service to promote and publicise the Alternative Investment Market (Aim). The Web site started in October and is intended to make Aim-listed companies more accessible to investors. It will include admission documents, annual reports and price-sensitive news. The LSE will also put background information on the market onto the site. The home page can be accessed on http://www.stockex.co.uk
Dividend Paying
How long do companies make their shareholders wait for their dividends? Figures released by Kleinwort Benson's Income Service in London reveal wide disparities between the announcement and the payment of dividends by UK listed companies.
The average gap is 60-90 days. But if you have a holding in the financial services group Union you will get your dividend cheque in just 28 days. No other companies manage to beat this speed, although contracting company Galliford treats its investors to a 34 day time-lag; and Cowie Group, the car leasing and bus operator, is quick off the mark with a delay of 37 days.
At the other end of the scale, Ransomes, the grass machinery manufacturer, will allow your lawn to go to seed with a delay of 157 days. Alternatively, you can twiddle your thumbs for 161 days while you wait for a cheque from BAT Industries. And Warnford Investments, the property company, tops the pile of slow payers with a whopping 173 day hold-up.
Robert Blowers, corporate communications manager at Cowie, says that the prompt payment of dividends is an extension of the company's culture of rapid payment of invoices. 'We pay our shareholders promptly because we think it engenders loyalty to the company in the same way as it does with suppliers,' says Blowers.
But there is no guidance from the law on the issue of when dividends should be paid following an announcement. The Department of Trade and Industry confirms that the time lag is not covered by the Companies Act. It adds that the bottom line is that shareholders do not have a right to a dividend so there is no need for legislation.
So why do some companies take so long to pay? Frank Martyn, financial director at Warnford, says that his shareholders don't see it as a problem as long as it is consistent.'I think that some of our shareholders would be angry if one year we changed the payment date and they found themselves subject to a higher level of tax,' says Martyn.
There are corporate gains to be made from a long delay in payment, though. Advance corporation tax is payable on dividends a fortnight after the end of a company's quarterly accounting period. With careful planning - that is, scheduling dividend payment at the start of a quarter - a tax saving window of a possible three and a half months is opened up. Ralph Edmondson, investor relations manager at BAT, is upfront about the tax reasons for his company's delay in payments, but adds that the benefits are then passed on to shareholders. Accelerated reporting and cashflow are the two other reasons for BAT's tardiness.
Michael Daniels, who compiled the figures at Kleinwort's, believes that a long delay between announcement and payment is not necessarily a problem. 'What the institutions are concerned with - particularly the investment trusts - is that payment is made at the same time each year,' says Daniels. 'Some companies are efficient at reporting and then will have a long delay before their dividend is paid. With these figures they are then being penalised for their efficiency.'
UK Forges Ahead 978
The UK is the European leader in corporate governance, in the view of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS).
According to Lisa Gerson, a senior analyst at Maryland-based ISS, the UK continued to forge ahead with new governance structures in second quarter 1995. She says the findings are encouraging for shareholder activists throughout Europe, where UK moves are expected to lead the way.
Many see the new UK Pensions Act 1995 as a strong corporate governance vehicle. It will establish minimum funding rules, expanded roles for trustees, a pension regulator and a compensation scheme for pensioner victims of fraud.
Unfortunately, the parts of the act that are toughest on governance received a less than enthusiastic response in the House of Lords, which rejected Lord Haskel's call for an obligation for pension fund managers and trustees to vote their shares.
ISS says that the debate has at least shown that the British government recognises the importance of good corporate governance. And while it has yet to see eye to eye with shareholder activists, Lord Haskel concedes that at least the government agrees that institutional investors have a responsibility for good governance.
Fast Movers 977
These guys don't hang around. Less than a month after Maurice Barnfather and Christopher Joll announced the formation of a new London-based agency partnership, they have closed it down and moved in with The Communication Group.
Joll says that it was not a case of giving up the ghost, though. He explains that soon after forming Curzon, he and Barnfather were approached by several consultancies interested in expanding their IR and financial PR capabilities. The combination of Barnfather Associates and Joll's IR experience led to The Communication Group's offer which, as Joll puts it, 'We'd have been foolish to turn down. We basically did in two months what we'd hoped to do in two years.'
The Communication Group is merging Barnfather Associates and Joll into its financial and corporate division, effectively doubling the size of that operation. Barnfather has been made deputy chairman of the financial and corporate division and Joll has become managing director.
Learn and Look; Dublin Up 976
Niri has announced its fall programme of seminars as follows: Managing Shareholder Relations, Philadelphia, Nov 6; How Domestic Security Markets Work, Philadelphia, Nov 7; Financial Analysis Seminar, Philadelphia, Nov 8-9; Technology in Investor Relations, Waltham, MA, Nov 16; and The Nasdaq Stock Market Seminar, Dec 11, New York. Further information on these and other events can be obtained by accessing Niri's new Web site at: http://www.niri.org
It's all go in the Irish IR market. First there's talk of forming an official investor relations society and now a new consultancy specialising in corporate and financial communications has opened in Dublin.
Ita Gibney, formerly director of communications at Greencore, has launched Gibney Communications to service the growing financial PR and IR needs of Irish companies. Gibney has retained Greencore as a client and intends to expand her IR clients as the profession develops in Dublin.
'Irish companies have become more sophisticated in their approach to investor communications,' says Gibney. 'They can see the contribution it makes to the development of a loyal and stable shareholder base.' DESCRIPTORS: Region; europe
Powerful Stuff 975
Carl Thompson Associates is running three seminars for interested professionals from public companies entitled the Power of Shareholder Relations. The seminars are scheduled for: November 6 at the Marriott-Financial Center in New York; December 4 at the Ritz-Carlton in Aspen, Colorado; and December 11 at the agency's offices in Boulder, Colorado.
Higher Stakes 974
Canada Newswire has announced plans to enter into a strategic alliance with Darome Canada to provide their combined client bases with enhanced stakeholder communication services. CNW maintains that the alliance with Darome's teleconferencing capabilities will add an extra dimension to its corporate communications services. Likewise, Darome will benefit from CNW's communication services, including the online network to the Canadian media and financial community.