“The distraction of outside stories such as the supply chain disruption has investors clamoring for color and context, making it harder to focus on company performance. These
stories are all interconnected." - Gregg LaBar, Senior Managing Director, Dix & Eaton
successfully interact with investors, they must spend considerable time and energy with sales, operations and finance colleagues. Building these relationships across the company will enable an IRO to build the company narrative, explain the business strategy and articulate drivers of value creation.” Tripp Sullivan, President of SCR Partners, ob-
serves, “IROs and the finger they have on the pulse of investment community sentiment are needed more than ever in periods of market volatility. In this profession, we must be front and center with our knowledge of strategy, sales and operations as well as the traditional disciplines of finance and communications. IROs are one of the more valuable resources company management and board of direc- tors possess in overcoming the challenges ahead and the daily competition for capital.” Quast adds, “The complexity of markets and
behaviors in them is turning more boards to consult their IROs for answers and input.”
ni ri .org/ irupdate
Proactive Outreach to the Buy Side IROs noted that large institutional investors are wielding much more influence. Tey expect man- agement and boards to be more responsive. “One of the biggest changes we’ve seen since
the adoption of MiFID II (the second iteration of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive) and particularly after COVID-19, is more direct contact from the buy side for meetings and calls,” says Ruth Venning, IRC, Executive Director, Investor Relations and ESG at Horizon Terapeutics. “It used to be you had to rely on targeting efforts or work through the sell side to get to the buy side, but this is not neces- sarily the case anymore.” “As the market absorbed the significant changes
brought about by MiFID II since 2018, we have seen a corresponding impact on how IR is conducted,” Stroud explains. “These regulatory changes have forced many IR teams to take a more proactive approach to engaging with investors – relying less on the sell-side (particularly for smaller-cap companies) and placing more focus on devising creative/innovative ways to have their story heard and understood by the investment community. We’ve also seen a shift in how IROs proactively gather intelligence from various data sources and then use that information to provide valuable insights which drive informed decision-making at the C-suite and board level.” Rebecca Koar, Senior Vice President, Investor
Relations at Ascend Wellness Holdings, adds, “One byproduct of virtual communications is increased management access. We’re seeing people that wouldn’t have management access before now have it because it’s easier on management as well. Tere are also more investor days, because you can hold short, more frequent investor days virtually, without feeling like you need to wait to do one every two years and only do it in person.” “Tere have been many more touch points with
investors during the past 12 months, but because of the ease of access, the expectation that they get the CEO or CFO on virtual meetings was somewhat lower,” says Colin Murray, IRC, Vice President, In- vestor Relations at PBF Energy. “Te IRO is taking on a larger role.”
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