For most companies, webcasting is indispensable. Broadcasting earnings calls and analysts days is the preferred way to meet disclosure requirements – especially Reg FD – around the world, because the information is disseminated to all audiences simultaneously. Beyond that, the tool is popular because of investors’ big appetite for getting information via the net. According to the IR Magazine US Research Report 2004, over 80 percent of sell-side respondents use the IR web site to access webcast conference calls.
Easy access
Analysts tune into live webcasts or study archived ones on a daily basis, so supplying your audience with a link to your event in a timely and simple manner is a must. ‘I like it when the webcast is easy to log on to – some companies aren’t very good at making them accessible,’ notes Jacob Pedersen, an analyst at Aabenraa, Denmark-based Sydbank.
Pedersen describes a recent frustrating experience: ‘I wanted to attend a company’s webcast, which was scheduled to begin at 8:30 am but I didn’t receive the e-mail with the link to the webcast until 9 am. That’s just no good.’
Making sure your IR site is updated regularly and that links to webcasts are always in the same place is highly recommended. Analysts are big on knowing exactly where to go for information. ‘First, make sure you always put the technical items on your web site in the same place,’ explains Pedersen. ‘Don’t change it all the time. I like it when I know just where to go to find the webcast. And make sure the link is prepared well in advance.’
Jeff Saul, analyst with Stockholm-based Enskilda Securities, agrees. ‘Very often you find the ongoing conference call or webcast in a different place from the archived ones,’ he says. ‘It would be much easier if you just kept it all in one place on the web site, so people always know where to look.’
Constance Bienfait, executive director of corporate communications at New Jersey-based Kos Pharmaceuticals, ensures the firm’s IR site is well maintained by having the same service provider handle the webcast and the site. ‘We use Thomson Financial for both to maintain consistency and quality – and the link to the webcast is always in the same place,’ she says.
Visuals are key
While most firms webcast only the audio part of their announcement, having visuals that highlight speaking points is appreciated by participants. With advances in webcasting, companies can now choose to have PowerPoint slides and/or streaming video accompany the conference call.
‘I definitely like it when companies use a slideshow rather than just hearing someone talking,’ says Claus Bo Larsen, an analyst with Deutsche Bank in London. ‘I don’t really need to see the presenter speaking but I would like to see the slides that accompany what he or she is saying.’
Pedersen emphasizes that for companies targeting foreign investors, visuals are vital because they help people for whom English is not a first language. ‘Especially with American companies, speakers tend to talk very fast and for a Dane it is not always easy to understand everything that is being said on the conference call,’ Pedersen says. ‘So when the main points of the presentation are written on the slides, it’s very useful.’
Kos Pharmaceuticals uses slides to accompany its earnings release calls. Bienfait notes that when the company first started doing this in 2002, the Street appreciated the new development. ‘People were very excited about being able to see the statistics on the slide, so there was a very favorable reaction, though now it is considered the norm,’ she says.
Cemex, a Mexico-based cement manufacturer, also uses Thomson Financial for its webcasts but uses slides only to accompany annual investor and analyst presentations. ‘It is easier for the audience to keep track of what your message is when you have the audio complemented by slides,’ explains Javier Trevino, vice president for corporate communications at Cemex. The company also provides transcripts of webcasts in English and Spanish, on request.
Analysts, who pay particular attention to senior management’s body language, especially like companies to run a video stream of presenters during the call. ‘The video is very important; otherwise you might as well just listen to the conference call,’ says Saul. ‘The advantage of the webcast should be that you can watch the speakers and see their body language.’
Dell takes advantage of video streaming technology for its annual shareholder meetings. ‘As a technology company, we not only want to provide the latest and greatest technology to our customers, but also to our investors,’ explains Lynn Tyson, VP of investor relations and corporate communications at Dell. ‘Besides disclosure, the biggest benefit is that we gain a broader reach to a big audience – we have more than 45,000 registered shareholders – in a cost-effective manner, using the best technology.’ Dell uses Los Angeles-based service provider Interactive Video Technologies (IVT) for its video webcasts.
Post-webcast
Archiving your webcast properly is extremely important because analysts often seek archived webcasts for reference and peer comparison. ‘I look at archived earnings calls or any major news, such as M&As,’ says Larsen. ‘Firms should keep a rolling webcast archive of the four most recent quarters.’
In addition, if you want to make it easy for international analysts to cover your stock, provide a transcript of the webcast after the event. ‘IBM has the whole webcast in a script, so you can access its comments immediately after the conference,’ notes Pedersen. ‘If I were to try to confirm something that was said, I’d rather go through a script than through the audio webcast.’
Lastly, analysts like to have a hard copy of webcast presentations and make notes. Therefore, as Saul points out, ‘don’t have color slides with a dark background because you can’t print them off properly unless you own a color printer – this is a frequently made mistake.’
