After another eventful year, South African IROs were ready to kick back and relax on July 20 at the IR Magazine South Africa Awards 2005, the fourth awards event in the region. More than 200 IROs, service providers and company executives gathered at the Hilton Sandton hotel in Johannesburg to be entertained by the evening’s host, local TV business news presenter Lindsay Williams, while celebrating the best and brightest in South African IR.
The awards are based on the results of the IR magazine-commissioned Investor Perception Study, South Africa 2005, which interviewed 95 local and overseas sell-side and buy-side analysts and portfolio managers who cover South African shares. This year the survey shows that while IR standards at the nation’s large multinational companies are now as high as their US or UK-listed equivalents, standards have rapidly improved at smaller companies, too.
The evening’s biggest winner was South Africa’s largest banking institution, Standard Bank Group, which took home awards for best overall investor relations for the second year running, and for best investment community meetings and best black economic empowerment (BEE) program.
Kim Howard, who heads Standard’s three-person IR team, says the award is the culmination of five years’ work by the bank and its chief executive Jacko Maree, who has provided excellent support for the IR function. ‘Maree’s a great communicator who believes in dialogue with shareholders so you could say IR just follows on from his great communications style,’ she says.
Howard has also found her former job as a consumer analyst at HSBC tremendously helpful for her IR role. ‘Being a sell-side analyst helps you understand the importance of fund managers as clients,’ she explains. ‘In some ways I feel I’ve gone into a position where I have more of these clients.’
But while many South African companies have taken important steps to improve their corporate governance practices and are responding well to the rise in shareholder activism, some survey respondents also note the slow rate of progress made by others. Local companies clearly face key IR challenges in the near future and only those prepared to be candid and forward-thinking about disclosure will succeed.
Winners’ roundup
Grand prix for best overall investor relations
For a company in the JSE top 40 index:
Standard Bank Group
For a company not in the JSE top 40 index:
Metropolitan Holdings
Best investor relations web site
AngloGold Ashanti
Best annual report
Barloworld, Sanlam
Best investment community meetings
Standard Bank Group
Best use of virtual conferencing
Sappi
Best corporate governance
BHP Billiton
Best IR by a CEO or CFO
Bernard Swanepoel –Harmony
Best at BEE
Standard Bank Group
Best investor relations officer
For a company in the JSE top 40 index:
Belinda Williams – Telkom
For a company not included in the top 40 index:
Tyrrel Murray – Metropolitan Holdings
