Can you think of anything the following countries all have in common? Abu Dhabi, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Dubai, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US. Aside from them all having a vast array of investors eager to meet with investor relations teams from around the world, they display few similarities when it comes to roadshow requirements.
Logistics for a roadshow can differ significantly depending on the location of a trip. A schedule in Frankfurt of four one-on-one meetings and a group lunch will cover the local investor base nicely. In London, however, many larger companies would struggle to meet their investor base effectively even over two days. Destinations like Edinburgh, Geneva and Helsinki can be covered in a half-day, with a couple of one-on-one meetings for core investors and a group meeting for the remainder.
A little local knowledge can go a long way. Arriving at Chicago O’Hare airport in rush hour means you could struggle to reach William Blair’s offices within two hours. But fly into Boston Logan with a fair wind and reasonable traffic and you could be sitting in the lobby of FMR within 30 minutes. Taking a train from Zürich to Geneva takes three hours but is the perfect way to end the first of two days in Switzerland. On the other hand, flying from Zürich to Lugano is worth the airport time – nothing makes you feel more like a secret agent than flying over the Alps at low altitude.
Same time zone does not equal same schedule. If the roadshow team is flexible with its alarm clocks, the start time of a day’s first meeting can also be adapted to geography. Neither New York nor West Coast investors balk at 7.30 am breakfast meetings, whereas starting the day before 9.00 am in certain countries (without naming any names) can often result in the first slot on a schedule being left empty.
In London there is a general preference for breakfast meetings in the West End rather than lunch meetings in the City, while Corporate Access Rule 101 dictates that you should avoid scheduling multiple transitions between the City and the West End. Efficient scheduling in cities like London and Paris can allow time for two extra meetings in a day, so it is something to push quite hard for if you are not a fan of the Victoria Embankment or the Boulevard Périphérique.
The rank of corporate attendees traveling on a roadshow can be received differently in various cities. While we would always advise matching the existing knowledge of an investor to the appropriate company representative, destinations like Dublin, Atlanta and Milan all generally welcome IR-only roadshows while London, New York and Frankfurt expect CEO or CFO representation, irrespective of the impressive knowledge held by an experienced IRO.
The style of meeting should also be adjusted to the region. West Coast investors (one of whom notoriously wears flip-flops to beachside meetings) welcome relaxed tieless corporates and like to dive straight into discussing the three-to-five year strategy for the company rather than turning presentation pages. This approach would not go down well in places like Frankfurt where formalities and structure to the meeting are keenly observed.
There is an increasingly strong correlation between the size of institutions in these major cities and those now running ‘no broker feedback’ policies. Interestingly, most will still respond positively to feedback requests received directly from a company, so IROs should never be afraid to ask for feedback in person, by phone or by email following the roadshow.
Ross MacKay is corporate access originator at Berenberg
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of IR Magazine.
