UK IR is in rude health. That’s if the opinion of UK investors is anything to go by – and, given that investors are fairly central to the idea of investor relations, it probably is. The praise meted out by the investment community suggests there’s much to be proud of and that timely, honest, open communication pays off. Of course, IR is an intrinsically forward-facing discipline and so it should be. But that’s not to say that you can’t look back on your achievements and indulge in a little back-slapping.
As ever, the Investor Relations Magazine UK Awards provide a forum for retrospection and celebration. In fact, it will be the lucky party-goers who will be the first people to read this. It’s little wonder this annual event is regarded as the Christmas Day of the UK investor relations calendar. Compared with the hardship-drenched, stress-strewn grind of investor relations, the awards must seem like a dreamlike bacchanalian whirl. So while they are having a ball in the Royal Albert Hall, these fortunate few (only a thousand or so can fit in the colossal building – the Millennium Dome was already booked, for use by the government as a landscape-blotting money pit) might like to take a moment to think of their hard work over the last twelve months. Whether they’re giggling in ecstatic pride at their numerous triumphs or feel they have been the subject of an organized snubbing, they have all made a contribution to the development of IR.
The phrase ‘everyone’s a winner’ might sound facetious to those not singled out as award recipients but there must be some consolation in being a player in a region that’s near the cutting edge of global IR. Take this month’s cover story. It looks at UK corporate governance and finds it in fine, almost enviable, fettle.
That’s not to say that IR in the UK has no room for improvement or that it smugly stands alone on the world’s IR stage. A quick look at the investment community’s comments in the UK Awards Research Report is enough to prove that gripes remain and that resting on laurels wouldn’t be prudent. Equally, IR around the world is moving on in leaps and bounds – Australasia for example has been snapping at the heels of the UK and US for some time and is now buoyed up by the guiding presence of its own IR association. Meanwhile a pan-Asian version is being mooted. Continental European IR, with France and Germany at its vanguard, is taken very seriously these days.
So the UK should allow no room for complacency but can still feel considerably chuffed at its well-respected status. Pride comes before a fall? Not if you’re watching where you’re going.
