Rio de Janeiro: Roberto Castello Branco, director of IR at Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD)
Being a player in the global mining industry and based in a non-investment grade jurisdiction like Brazil makes reduction of capital costs the main challenge for CVRD. Therefore, my main goal is to contribute to the elimination of discounts on market multiples in relation to our peers – which are all headquartered in developed countries – and improve our credit ratings.
I regularly perform an analysis of the price performance of our stock and bonds to help senior management understand movements of the global capital market and its impact on us. I also keep senior management up to date on market perceptions of our financial performance, policies and strategic decisions. This is an important IR role as it influences strategic planning and execution.
Doing IR in an emerging market means you have to pursue global exposure and value recognition because local capital markets are very small. This is one of the achievements senior management expects from us, so that we can maximize shareholder value.
Indianapolis: Douglas Hughes, VP of IR at Guidant
Guidant’s senior management team expects IR to provide unvarnished feedback from the Street and key investors including how management is viewed. Management wants to know if our key messages are resonating and that we’re viewed as credible.
It also wants IR to anticipate investors’ reaction to key disclosures and to understand what’s important to investors – what drives their investment decisions for Guidant, our peers and other competing investments.
Other expectations include educating management so they are well prepared and can optimize their time with investors. IR also provides employees with daily updates on key med-tech activities. In addition, we participate in key strategy decisions in order to represent shareholders’ views and provide counsel and due diligence around regulations pertaining to corporate governance.
Bagsvêrd: Peter Haahr, head of IR at Novo Nordisk
Senior management always expects us to fulfill two main tasks: ensuring compliance with the stock exchanges and providing an accurate picture of the company to the financial community. For instance, we are expected to be able to convert the company’s business case into an equity story and deliver it to the Street via stock exchange announcements, conference calls, investor conferences and roadshows. Senior management also expects us to participate in the strategic decision-making process.
Furthermore, it expects us to have an overview of investors’ and analysts’ key concerns and to keep on top of the competitive environment for our company. We are also expected to be highly accessible to investors, and with an international shareholder base such as ours, this is quite challenging. However, we do have a colleague working out of Princeton in the US to help us get the word [out] that we are accessible to members of the financial community and senior management 24/7.
Calgary: John Rogers, vice president of investor relations at Suncor Energy
I am not sure we should actually differentiate senior management from IROs – I think of IR as part of senior management. [And] it’s the IRO’s job to ensure an organization’s investment attributes are well understood within the market because that is the only way you can achieve the proper valuation in the market.
So, overall, the global goal is to achieve the most appropriate valuation for the corporation and it’s really the IRO’s job to ensure the story or the corporation’s plans are articulated correctly and clearly – so the investment community can actually see and understand the investment attributes of the company and value that correctly.
Dublin: Barry Walsh, head of IR at Irish Life Assurance
The most common question I get from our CEO or CFO in advance of an investor meeting or trip is, Who are these guys we are meeting and where are they coming from?
Senior management commits a significant proportion of time to IR and it wants to use that time efficiently and effectively. It wants to meet with investors who are professional and genuinely engaged and it wants those meetings to be productive. It looks to IR to generate meetings with quality investors and provide the necessary support for those meetings.
Of course management wants lots of other things from IR as well. A wide spread of sell-side coverage, preferably positive, is crucially important. For a mid-cap company, [sell-side coverage] is a good indicator of the level of market interest.
With the IR function directly communicating with and servicing investors and the market, senior management also wants to feel confident the IR team has the competence to undertake that job professionally and in a timely, responsive manner.
Finally, when you are commandeering a large amount of a CEO’s or CFO’s time on trips, conferences, meetings and so on, just don’t screw up on the logistics, whether it’s hotels, flights or technology. Their tolerance thresholds are low and memories are long!
Stavanger: Mari Thjomoe, VP of IR at Statoil
Statoil’s senior management expects IR to give investors and analysts a good overview of the company’s strategic and financial situation by providing consistent and transparent communication [to them]. IR officers must be flexible and have a broad overview and deep understanding of the company’s business and strategic challenges. This must also be communicated externally to ensure the market views IR officers with a similar level of credibility as Statoil’s senior management.
Another key role we have is organizing quarterly presentations and roadshows. Statoil’s management expects IR to ensure maximum exposure of top management, while prioritizing quality meetings and presentations to secure maximum mileage.
IR also manages the introduction of the new CEO, which is a current issue at Statoil. To ensure a successful introduction for our new CEO in August, we set up meetings with important stakeholders. Our objective was to have the capital markets meet and become familiar with new management as quickly as possible.
San José: Blair Christie, head of IR at Cisco Systems
Management expects investor relations officers to be experts on their company and to be extremely effective at relationship management. They also need to be viewed as a trusted resource by Wall Street and be proactive and confident in providing insight to the management team.
IROs should also be honest and possess the highest level of integrity. They are cross-function collaborators who can influence without always having authority. They also need to be the voice of calm in stressful times and be able to attract talent and build a strong IR team. Finally, management appreciates an IRO with a sense of humor; it helps to get through the tough times!
Round Rock: Lynn Tyson, VP of IR and corporate communications at Dell
I have direct accountability to the CEO and CFO for IR. This is important because it gets me fully connected to the company’s strategic direction, business performance and our financial condition. Being in the loop gives us credibility with the Street and demonstrates we’re more than just messengers.
Sharing information with employees is also a big part of the IR function. As the best performing stock of the 1990s and a company whose market cap dropped in 2000 from around $150 bn to around $40 bn and then up to around $80 bn, our employees have more than a passing interest in our stock. So we go to great lengths to educate them about how the company is viewed and valued by the Street, and more importantly how their decisions link to the behavior of our stock.
Also sharing and interpreting the investment community’s feedback is invaluable in deciding where to lead the company because, ultimately, senior management has to lead Dell in a way that drives sustainable, dependable shareholder value over time.
