Small-cap IR: Firms held far fewer virtual meetings than larger peers

Small-cap companies held an average of just 64 virtual investor meetings over the last year – little more than half the number held by mid-cap firms and far below the 239 seen at mega-cap companies.

That’s just one of the findings from IR Magazine’s wide-ranging Global Investor Relations Practice Report 2021. But although small-cap companies held fewer virtual meetings, senior management at these companies attended a higher percentage than seen elsewhere, with attendance falling as cap size rises. Senior management was in attendance at 61 percent of small-cap virtual meetings over the past year, compared to a third of mega-cap meetings.

When it comes to in-person investor meetings – of which unsurprisingly few were held over the year – small-cap companies actually lead, though the average is just 15 physical meetings. This compares to a low of four at mid-cap companies. Forty six percent of in-person meetings at small-cap companies were attended by someone from the C-suite.

Recent research by Citigate Dewe Rogerson found that 69 percent of IR teams had adopted a hybrid working model and expected that to be a long-term solution.

Despite the higher levels of C-suite attendance at small-cap investor meetings, senior management actually dedicates fewer days to IR at these companies. Over the research period, CEOs, CFOs and other senior management at small-cap companies spent 33 days on IR activities. This compares to 38 at large caps, 41 at mid caps and 42 days at mega-cap companies.

Looking further into ties between IR and senior management, the research finds that the IR reporting structure is somewhat different at small-cap companies, where IR teams are more likely to report to the CEO. The norm across mid and large caps is for investor relations to fall under the remit of the CFO, while at mega-cap companies IR teams are more likely to report to another member of the C-suite.

As well as senior management involvement in IR, the research report covers everything from team size, salaries and budgets to analyst coverage and shareholder base composition.

The full IR Magazine Global Investor Relations Practice Report 2021 is available to Advanced subscribers of IR Magazine, while a global overview of the report is available to Essentials subscribers.