New research from CIRI shows that the majority of Canadian companies host both site visits and investor days, with site visits offering the opportunity to showcase a company’s operational strength according to 82 percent of respondents, while 95 percent say investor days are more about strategy.
Looking at how often companies host these types of events, the Corbin Advisors-sponsored study shows that across Canada as a whole, 48 percent of companies host an investor day annually, though this rises to 60 percent when holding an investor day in Toronto.
While a focus on company strategy is key for those hosting an investor day, these events also offer a chance to highlight the depth of the leadership team, say 85 percent of respondents. Exactly three quarters note the opportunity of doing a ‘deep dive on the business units’, followed by discussing new company developments, cited by 68 percent of respondents.
‘To demonstrate the depth of the leadership team, a majority of issuers (93 percent) have management other than the CEO and CFO make presentations and provide attendees with an opportunity to network with management during registration/breaks,’ says CIRI in a press release announcing the findings.
Although a majority (82 percent) of firms say they offer site visits, these are more likely to be held on an ad hoc basis, according to two thirds [66 percent] of respondents.
The focus of site visits, which IROs say are generally held as a standalone event [70 percent], is as highlighted, mostly to showcase operational strength (82 percent) but also to deepen investors’ understanding of products or assets (75 percent); explain complicated or not well understood operations, products or assets (71 percent); provide access to other company representatives (65 percent) and to showcase a new facility or product (59 percent).
Part of this showcasing of operational strength also involves bringing operational staff out to meet investors and participate in the site tour, according to 86 percent of respondents.
Recent research by IR Magazine shows that the investment community finds site visits most valuable – more so even than roadshows and informal meetings.
In fact, 80 percent of the 446 portfolio managers and buy-side and sell-side analysts surveyed say company or site visits are the most valuable form of engagement, according to the Investor Engagement report, published in May.
However, just 24 percent of companies in the research said they planned to increase company and site visits in the coming 12 months, with more companies looking to increase the frequency of roadshows (28 percent) or investor days (26 percent).
