ASOS capped a year of bumper profits and heady stock market performance by scooping five gongs at last night’s Investor Relations Society Best Practice Awards in London.
The online fashion retailer picked up awards including best communication of an investment proposition, best results presentations and best overall company IR in a section of the awards voted on by IR Society members, brokers and fund managers.
ASOS gave a taste of things to come last year when its head of IR Greg Feehely won best newcomer to IR at the same event. Feehely joined the IR profession only in March 2012, following 18 years on the sell side as a retail analyst.
In last night’s other voted awards, Halfords’ Craig Marks picked up best IRO, while Kingfisher’s Matt Duffy claimed this year’s best newcomer prize.
The annual bash – held once again in a marquee beside the Tower of London – also featured a set of awards focused on corporate reporting and online IR, which were decided by a panel of judges. Among the winners, British Land walked away with best corporate website in the FTSE 100 for the third year in a row.
Michael Mitchell, the IR Society’s former general manager who retired at the end of last year, received the IR Society Fellowship Award for his contribution to the profession.
His career in IR spanned more than a quarter of a century, beginning when he set up an IR department for Burton Group in 1986. He joined the IR Society’s board in 2005 and became general manager in January 2007.
Earlier in the evening, IR Society chairman John Dawson praised the audience for their work during a ‘testing year in which IROs have participated in debates on corporate access, research, governance, investor engagement and stewardship’.
A full list of winners is available on the IR Society’s website.
