Go back 10 years and most winners at the IR Magazine Awards – South East Asia hailed from Singapore. Over the last decade, however, other regional markets have caught up and today IR leaders exist throughout the region – a fact highlighted by the winners of the 2016 awards.
KASIKORNBANK, the fourth-largest commercial bank in Thailand, won best overall investor relations in the large-cap category, while Metro Pacific Investments of the Philippines received the trophy for best overall investor relations for a small or mid-cap company. Both companies won a slew of other awards, too: KASIKORNBANK claimed six in total and Metro Pacific five. Thaioil Group and Siam Cement, meanwhile, walked away with two gongs each.
The awards research took place in the usual way: portfolio managers, buy-side analysts and sell-side analysts voted for the winners in a survey conducted by an independent research company. There was one important change to proceedings, however: a new location. For the first time, the South East Asia Awards took place in Bangkok.
Given the host city, the event included a special award for best investor relations by a company listed on the mai exchange, the Thai stock market’s junior segment. A panel of judges comprising an investor relations professional, IR Magazine journalists and members of the sell side selected Siam Wellness Group as the winner.
You can read the research behind the awards in the IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – Asia 2016/2017, which includes ranking positions for more than 50 companies in South East Asia across a range of IR practice areas.
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For all the photos from the night, see the gallery on our event mini-site.
South East Asia Awards
Best overall investor relations
Large cap: KASIKORNBANK
What the investment community says:
‘Great management access, very responsive. And it always keeps us up to date’ – Thailand, buy side
Small & mid-cap: Metro Pacific Investments
What the investment community says:
‘The IR at Metro Pacific shows deep knowledge of the business. And Albert Pulido is excellent’ – Philippines, sell side
Best investor relations officer: KASIKORNBANK – Dr Adit Laixuthai & Marisa Watthaphanich
What the investment community says:
‘KASIKORNBANK’s IR team is the best by far. It knows what we need and it gives it to us. The team has very good relationships with senior management, which is vital for its role’ – Thailand, sell side
Best IR by a senior management team: Thaioil Group – Pattaralada Sa-Ngasang, CFO
What the investment community says:
‘The new CFO understands IR; she used to be the IR manager so she knows what investors need’ – Thailand, buy side
Best financial reporting: Metro Pacific Investments
What the investment community says:
‘Metro Pacific’s reporting is consistently excellent. It provides timely disclosure and quick responses to investor queries’ – Philippines, sell side
Best use of technology: KASIKORNBANK
What the investment community says:
‘Kbank has easily the best website, with everything clearly laid out, making all the information so easy to access’ – Thailand, sell side
Best investor meetings: Metro Pacific Investments
What the investment community says:
‘We get very good meetings and access from Metro Pacific’ – Philippines, buy side
Most progress in IR: Global Power Synergy
What the investment community says:
‘Global Power Synergy’s website is now first class. It’s a really useful source of information’ – Singapore, sell side
Best corporate governance: Siam Cement
What the investment community says:
‘Of all the companies I cover, Siam Cement is definitely the best in terms of corporate governance. It takes it seriously’ – Thailand, sell side
Best sustainability practice: KASIKORNBANK
What the investment community says:
‘KASIKORNBANK is one of the few firms that really provides the sustainability data for us’ – Thailand, sell side
Best in sector
- Communications: Advanced Info Service
- Consumer discretionary & consumer staples: Minor international
- Energy: Thaioil Group
- Financials: KASIKORNBANK
- Healthcare: IHH Healthcare
- Industrials & materials: Siam Cement
- Real estate: Ayala Land
- Utilities: Metro Pacific Investments
Best in country
- Indonesia: Garuda Indonesia
- Malaysia: Malaysia Airports
- Philippines: Metro Pacific Investments
- Singapore: Singtel
- Thailand: KASIKORNBANK
Best IR by a mai companyWinner: Siam Wellness Group Highly commended: Jubilee Enterprise For 2016, IR Magazine introduced a new category that complemented our researched award categories. This award was presented to a company listed on Thailand’s Market for Alternative Investment (mai) that had made an outstanding contribution to the practice of investor relations and the community of IR professionals. The winners were decided by a panel of judges made up of IR Magazine editorial team members and investment professionals. |
Conference recap: Talking tactics
The Bangkok awards followed the IR Magazine Conference – South East Asia 2016, where speakers debated a range of topical investor relations issues.
Cyber-security is one subject at the forefront of many IROs’ minds, given the regular hacks affecting public companies around the world. In one session, Jeannie Ong, chief strategic partnership officer at Singapore’s StarHub, discussed how to stay up to date with your firm’s cyber-security measures and make sure they are communicated to investors.
In another session, four IR Magazine Awards nominees got together to discuss the perennial question: what makes good IR? Representatives from the C-suite, IR and treasury tackled issues such as measuring progress, setting an IR strategy and how to get buy-in from management.
The final talk of the day focused on ESG communications. Thailand was a fitting place to discuss this issue: the country provides more companies than any other ASEAN nation for the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. In the talk, audience members heard how they can tap into investors’ growing interest in ESG.
This article appeared in the spring 2017 issue of IR Magazine
