We want to hear about how you have found the past 12 months
If somebody could have plotted out the broad strokes of the past 12 months – ongoing international crises, political unrest, economic uncertainty to name but a few – I don’t think many of us would have believed what was in store.
But, as it is, the capital markets have experienced quite the rough ride in 2025 so far. For IR professionals, that’s meant an even higher burden when it comes to keeping their investors, analysts and other stakeholders informed.
You need look only as far as the IROs we have interviewed in recent months. Earlier this week, Garnet Roach caught up with Irina Zhurba, head of IR at German eyewear seller Mister Spex, who won the first-ever Best IR Impact award at this year’s European event on the back of a pretty tough year for the IR function.
During the space of a calendar year, Zhurba tackled a nightmare activist investor situation, which culminated in volatility, a management shake-up and a 13-hour AGM.
As Roach writes, it was a turnaround that was ‘nothing short of an investor relations telenovela’.
It made me reflect on recent years covering the IR profession. While the capital markets have provided plenty of twists and turns over the past few years – particularly from a macroeconomic perspective – it made me see the current climate as a particularly tricky one for IROs to navigate.
While it may seem like the tough times are when you might seek the most control over your company’s story, something in Zhurba’s interview stuck out to me: the fact that she saw her main role as being someone who was ‘replacing disappointment with confidence’.
‘Where I could make the most impact was in managing the storyline – what we said, when we said it and how,’ she tells Roach in the piece. ‘But also in being that anchor – the constant presence when everything else is shifting.’
Easier said than done, of course, but a good perspective to bear in mind the next time you find yourself facing a particularly worrying time.
With all that in mind, I’m intrigued by what we may learn from our readers as the latest edition of the world’s largest investor relations survey kicks off. IR Impact’s pioneering research can only happen due to the generosity of our readers: it’s only with insights directly from IROs that we can start to explore how the world of investor relations is changing.
It seems a good time to remind all our readers that the 2025 survey is open for responses now. The entire process is 100 percent anonymous and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. Once sent off, your answers will help shape our research and best practice guidance for the coming year.
Those who fill out the survey will also get instant access to our Global Investor Relations Practice Report – a deep dive into how your IR peers are adapting, innovating and leading through that aforementioned uncertainty.
So – what are you waiting for? Visit the survey microsite and shape the future of your profession now.
