Q- When is the best time to visit Europe on a roadshow? We are about to embark on our first European roadshow and it doesn’t seem obvious when the key time is to meet with the buy side there. Also, is it better to engage an IR firm on the ground or simply go through the sell side?
A – One thing is for sure, I wouldn’t recommend visiting Europe during any major sporting events – especially the World Cup. They take their football very seriously there. Thankfully, you won’t have to deal with that for another four years. I also would not recommend going during the peak summer holiday months of July and especially August (unless your company’s management team is more interested in touring Europe then meeting investors). The best times to visit Europe tend to parallel the US to a large extent; however, be aware of the national holidays of the specific countries you plan to visit.
As for the second part of your question, it depends on your options. If you can find quality assistance setting up meetings for free by utilizing your company’s covering analysts, that’s great. Many investment banks also have marketing specialists who assist in putting together non-deal roadshows on behalf of the firm’s corporate and non-corporate clients, both domestically and abroad. If these options are not available, however, engaging a local IR firm makes sense.
Q- I recently noticed that a few companies have decided to post earnings consensus estimates on their own web sites. They are clearly fed up with confusion being caused by different estimates and want to take control of the situation. The information includes a disclaimer and doesn’t violate disclosure rules, but I am a bit nervous about it. I don’t want to appear to endorse a consensus, but I am frustrated with the variance in estimates at times. Any advice?
A- You are quite correct in feeling a bit nervous about posting your company’s consensus earnings estimates on your web site, as we live in an increasingly litigious society. I would rely on the advice of SEC counsel, but my experience is that for every two SEC attorneys you speak with you will get three opinions on this issue. On the one hand, you could argue that the company’s disclaimer or safe harbor language would cover such situations. On the other, posting the analyst consensus numbers could imply a tacit agreement with them.
Your quarterly earnings releases probably include guidance and are most likely included on your site. These should serve as the company’s official position. Posting the consensus is less of an issue when the analysts and company are in agreement with financial expectations; when analysts get ahead of the company and produce a consensus that may be higher than the company’s official guidance, however, this can pose a greater challenge.
Hulus Alpay is senior vice president of New York-based IR and PR firm Makovsky & Company.
