Our team at Sage Ventures have a particular love for providing specialist executive administrative support in Investor Relations, in particular providing the back office function preparing roadshows, capital raising's and IPO’s.
We have supported a large number of Investor Relations projects over the past 20 years with Public Listed companies as well as Investor Relations agencies.
Sage Ventures never tires of this exciting work – in fact we are energised by the buzz. No roadshow is ever the same. We thought we’d share some quick tips to help other support staff with running a smooth and efficient roadshow.
Definition: “Investor relations is a strategic management responsibility that integrates finance, communication, marketing and securities law compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company, the financial community and other constituencies, which ultimately contributes to a company’s securities achieving fair valuation.”
So… what are some of the roles and objectives of investor relations support functions?
There are many, but here are some of our first key tips:
An up to date share register – ensure your share register is up to date and download from your company share registrar – for example – Link Market Services or Computershare Registry.
Target List – One of the most important spreadsheets we prepare for our roadshows is our target spreadsheet. It should have a detailed list of past and future targets of investors, brokers, analysts, private HNWI’s. This list is detailed with all contact information as well as summary notes on past relationships, shareholdings as well as any comments and feedback they provided the management team in past roadshows or meetings.
The top of the range solution is to engage with a CRM platform provider such as Miraqle, AccessIR, MarketHQ, IRsight which are powerful platforms to assist with searching list of current major shareholders, their profiles and contact details, ability to set up distribution lists and record meeting notes. These are a paid service that can be relatively expensive, however, depending on your shareholder base, well worth it.
Your IR Consultant – for smaller listed companies, you may have engaged a specialist Investor Relations Agency that assists with introducing you to investors and pulling together meetings and presentations. IR Consultants are extremely well connected in the investor world and have inside access to the investor community through close relationships with brokers and analysts. As part of the support team for your roadshow, it is incredibly important to build a strong rapport with your IR agency - you are going to be a team. They can be invaluable in making your job easier.
Booking your meetings – it can often be a juggling act when it comes to lining up your meetings. Be aware that your Board and management team are going to be on the run every hour of each day they have presenting to potential investors. It’s an exhausting slog. It is incredibly important to ensure meetings are scheduled with time allowed for potential overruns, transiting between meetings and last minute rescheduling. If international travel is involved, a handy hint is to have your calendar also set on the destination of your roadshow so you have and easy tool for time zones. Be prepared also to work out of hours.
Profile of investors – We always prepare a run sheet and profile of meeting participants – this will include a short profile and photo. This provides invaluable preparation for your management team when they enter the meeting.
YOUR PRESENTATION
Facts are important. To be honest, facts can be pretty boring. They’re call road “shows” for a reason, so give the audience what it wants — to feel like their time was well spent. No-one likes a show that’s boring. A good show generates an emotional response. When you stir an investors emotions, you’ll boost your odds of a successful pitch. How do you do that?
Tell an engaging story. Support it with proof points and testimonials and you’ll earn investors’ attention more than facts and financial figures alone. A good place to start is “The Why.” the reason your company exists and why it does what it does; this has the power to inspire others to believe in your idea.
Sharpening your message also means skipping the boring parts and getting right to what investors care about. Don’t let details kill you — keep your message crisp, clear and concise. Starting with “Why” can help you avoid the pitfalls of boring and irrelevant minutiae. The sharper your message, the better it’ll reach investors’ emotional core.
Be Flexible
Be ready to deliver your presentation in a variety of formats, from short five-minute briefs to hour-long presentations, with or without a slide deck in case you run into technical issues.
Flexibility also allows you to adjust your presentation by tailoring it in real-time based on the feedback you receive at each stop.
Managing investor relations activities can be a logistical minefield. Sage Ventures Pty Ltd has extensive experience providing executive support for public listed companies and investor relations consultancies. We have provided energetic and dedicated support in investor relations coordination activities on numerous projects for companies assisting in IPO’s, investor roadshows and investor presentations. We have developed respected partnerships within the investor community.
If you are overwhelmed with a current or upcoming investor relations project and require administrative support, there is support available to help you manage the process and keep momentum flowing. We also partner with numerous IR agencies, media and PR consultancies.
Let us step in and manage the process for you.
Sage Ventures is a Sydney-based boutique executive support services consultancy.
We provide support for small to medium ASX-listed companies. We are an outsourced team supporting your strategy and execution. Our team are ethical and have a proven track record in the working with listed companies.
Contact us if you require an outsourced solution to assist you with your investor relations projects.
E: enquiries@sageventures.com.au
W: sageventures.com.au
