Honeywell’s investor meeting in 2017 is a great example of a company providing an experience that was consistent with the company’s brand, helped change the narrative of the company performance and invited investors and analysts to have a good time.
In late 2016 investors in Honeywell were surprised by worse-than-expected performance from the firm’s aerospace division. Sales had fallen by 6 percent and analysts were bearish about the performance. In early 2017 an activist investor sent a letter to all Honeywell shareholders advocating the sale of the aerospace business.
The IR team wanted to correct some misconceptions about the aerospace division so it planned an investor day at Honeywell’s hangar in New Jersey, invited the company’s top 50 investors and analysts and livestreamed the event to other investors and analysts. The day focused on both on-the-ground and in-air demonstrations – more than 30 investors were taken on flights in a Gulfstream 650 aircraft, while helicopters whirled above the heads of those on the ground.
The goal was to demonstrate that the company had invested in R&D in its aerospace division and, according to feedback given after the event, the IR team was successful. One of the standout features was investors’ ability to FaceTime their family mid-air, using Honeywell’s new in-flight technology. The feedback was that the showcase demonstrated how, in the long term, the aerospace business could yield well for Honeywell, therefore successfully easing concerns about the need for a spin-off.
This article was originally published in the Award-Winning IR – US 2018 report. This report is available to all IR Magazine subscribers. Click here to find out more about the report or to subscribe.
