Communicating with investors

By Karen Oswald, Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

It’s coming up to the end of the year, AGM season is over and now’s the time for publicly listed companies to start focusing on their investor relation strategy for 2023 and beyond.

An effective IR plan needs to be well thought out and communicated. Boards and C-suite executives should collaborate to review its corporate strategy, see what areas of the business are least understood, what the value gaps are and find ways to create more value.

Companies also need to be in touch with market realities, ESG is well and truly part of investors’ consciousness - companies who are not only committed to ESG but fulfil its promises, to support the community and to actively contribute to society. As a result, clear communications with meaningful action are increasingly important.

So, it’s not surprising that trust and transparency is the number one driver for investors.

What was once all about delivering consistent messages across traditional media is now a question of demonstrating agility. Continuing a way of working because ‘this is how we’ve always done it’ will get mediocre results. Instead, companies should consider the influence and role social media platforms, networking and blogs play in communicating with investors.

What your IR plan needs:

• Plan your corporate forecasts and scenarios – ensuring to include any economic or industry assumptions

• Consider the market sentiment and investor activity – what has worked, what hasn’t

• Engagement opportunities – Cultivate and maintain relationships with targeted investor and analyst audience

• Develop messages that help target audiences gain a thorough understanding of the business model, past performance, prospects

• Competitive analysis - what set you apart from the competition

• A social media strategy

• A fresh look at where and how target communications are consuming information