Sell side
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People moves: What’s that shiny thing? A new IR director at Umicore
Materials technology and recycling firm Umicore has named Maxime Lopes as its new director of investor relations. Announcing his move on LinkedIn, Lopes posted a picture of a mystery, shiny nugget of…something. ‘What’s this shiny thing?’ he asked his network on the site. ‘It’s one of several critical raw materials refined as part of Umicore’s closed-loop activities and something you might be hearing more about soon. Brownie points to anyone who guesses. ‘In fact – it’s just one of the many fascinating topics I’ve been diving into since joining Umicore as director of investor relations in July. A big thank…
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Your investors are asking AI about you. Is it telling the right story?
Increasingly, investors are using generative AI to conduct preliminary due diligence, compare companies, summarize earnings calls and understand unfamiliar industries. While large language models (LLMs) do not replace fundamental research, they are rapidly becoming the first stop for many investment questions. Reflecting this shift, 30 percent of US retail investors now use AI tools to help make investment decisions, up 75 percent from a year earlier. Unlike traditional search engines, LLMs synthesize information from a network of public sources – including SEC filings, company websites, earnings call transcripts, news coverage, executive interviews and investor presentations. The more consistently your company’s…
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The CFO: ‘The biggest lesson is not to overcommit; that’s a surefire way to lose credibility,’ says Hut 8 finance chief
Mark Eidelman, who joined energy infrastructure firm Hut 8’s IR team from NextEra Energy in June 2026, isn’t the first person to hold the head of IR position at the company. But, as CFO Sean Glennan explains, there was something of a gap between Sue Ennis’ leaving in March 2026 and Eidelman’s appointment. That’s because of how important IR is to the company, explains Glennan: management wanted to take their time to make sure the hire was just right. In the interim, Glennan himself dived right into the IR work. Here, he talks to IR Impact about taking the conservative…
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If AI cannot understand your equity story, then neither can the market
For decades, investor relations focused on one overarching objective: shaping market perception. Companies invested in perception studies to understand how investors, analysts and the financial media viewed their strategy, competitive positioning, and long-term value creation.
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‘It strengthens your credibility, reinforces you as a trusted source and makes you a go-to person internally’: Technip Energies’ Phillip Lindsay on winning two IR Impact awards
Vice president of investor relations at engineering and technology firm says that the key is to focus less on reporting activity and more on explaining the impact to investors For many IR teams, reaching the top of their profession can be a long process. For Phillip Lindsay, vice president of investor relations, Technip Energies. But for those who follow IR Impact, the ascent of Technip Energies – a French, Euronext Paris-listed engineering and technology company that services the energy industry and chemicals sector – to IR excellence has been a little swifter. Appearing on three shortlists at the IR Impact…
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People moves: New IR lead at Lincoln International as firm goes public on the NYSE
Alexandra Deignan has revealed her new role as chief marketing officer and head of investor relations at Lincoln International – a little over a week after the firm rang the bell at the NYSE to signal its market debut. ‘If you know me, you know I like taking on a new challenge,’ she writes on LinkedIn. ‘Last week I began a new chapter as chief marketing officer and head of investor relations at Lincoln International. Just before the NYSE bell ringing for Lincoln’s IPO was an exciting time to join! ‘This transition comes after nearly nine wonderful years at Lazard.…
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Standard Chartered taps IR for new group CFO role
Standard Chartered has named Manus Costello as its new group CFO, having joined the Hong Kong-headquartered, global banking group in 2024. Based in London, Costello had joined the bank as global head of investor relations, bringing with him more than two decades of experience in equity research. He now joins the management team and the board as an executive director, subject to regulatory approval. ‘I am delighted that Manus has agreed to take on the role of group chief financial officer,’ says Bill Winters, group chief executive, announcing Costello’s new role at the firm. ‘Since joining Standard Chartered two years…
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Long live the investor day! How dedicated websites are turning one day into a year-round engagement opportunity
When you have an event that might happen once every few years, that event must shine. For IR, investor days offer a rare opportunity to reset the narrative, deepen investor understanding and showcase long-term strategy beyond quarterly earnings cycles. And with all the effort that goes into an investor day, companies are realizing they can do more to make that day live longer. This was the topic of a recent IR Impact Briefing, sponsored by Equisolve, and titled Making your investor day work beyond the event. You can listen back online now to hear from Brad Burke, head of investor…
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Surviving the ‘agent AI vs agent AI’ paradigm in shareholder targeting
If you remember the 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix, humanity eventually realizes that to survive in a world governed by sentient machines, they must deploy their own autonomous programs to fight back. If you have been in investor relations long enough, you might feel as though we are waking up to a similarly stark reality in 2026. We have officially entered the ‘agent AI vs agent AI’ paradigm.
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How IR teams are driving value with market intelligence in an increasingly passive market
The structure of the global equity market has transformed dramatically over the last three decades – and investor relations teams now operate in a landscape where passive capital is not just influential, but dominant. Passive strategies represented only a sliver of US equity fund assets in the early 1990s. Today, they account for more than half of the investable market, and their share is still expanding.
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Playbook: The value of IR in an increasingly passive investment landscape
ETFs, index funds and other ‘passive’ instruments are making up an increasingly large part of the investment universe. But such investors are far from passive in their appetite for engagement from IR teams and are increasingly demanding specialized attention from issuers. Understanding how fund flows are impacting companies – and turning that data into actionable, strategic intelligence – is a key challenge facing IROs in 2026.
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‘I had four meetings, one in a restaurant with great Texas steaks’: Inside Infineon’s IR-only day in Dallas
If you’re going to travel from Germany to the US to roadshow, what’s a few extra miles here or there? For Alexander Foltin, head of IR and group treasurer at Infineon Technologies, it makes sense to try to maximize the return on a transatlantic travel – which is what brought him to Dallas and Denver last year. Foltin shares his wider thoughts on Dallas in the IR Impact Roadshow Report 2026, where you can also find tips, tricks and roadshow commentary from other leading IR professionals. ‘Dallas was first put on the map for us from the debt side,’ he…
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People moves: Former summer sales intern promoted to lead IR at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co
Sara Walsh, who started her Arthur J. Gallagher & Co career as a summer intern, has been named as the global insurance brokerage’s new investor relations lead. She has been with the company for almost 20 years, holding positions of increasing responsibility in corporate finance and treasury. She became a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder in 2016 and was recognized by Business Insurance as a ‘woman to watch’ honoree in 2025. ‘With Sara’s strong financial background and understanding of the capital markets, she will be a terrific leader of our investor relations, corporate finance and treasury functions,’ says Douglas Howell,…
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How can IROs increase annual report visibility in generative AI?
Generative AI (genAI) has become a central gatekeeper between companies and stakeholders. A growing number of investors use large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT to research companies, challenge investment ideas and analyze financial and market information. But how visible are annual reports as sources in these systems? And how can IROs improve the visibility of verified financial disclosures? The shift in information usage creates new risks for IROs. LLMs can hallucinate or generate plausible but incorrect answers, especially when relying on third-party sources such as Reddit or Wikipedia, which are quite prominent in genAI. User-generated content often mixes facts…
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Why capital allocation is the new equity story in the AI era
A familiar pattern is dominating the current earnings season: companies deliver clean beats on revenue and earnings – then see their shares wobble or sell off as management outlines higher-than-expected capex and a longer-dated investment phase. Alphabet and Amazon are prominent examples, but the takeaway for CFOs and IROs is broader: capital allocation has become the equity story. In an AI-driven market, the debate is no longer simply about growth. It’s about how that growth is funded, how long elevated investment will persist and what returns the capex is expected to generate. Investors aren’t punishing ambition; they’re repricing capital intensity,…
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Managing expectations in 2026: Why valuation stability depends on perception, not just performance
As companies move through 2026, one lesson stands out clearly: delivering strong results is no longer sufficient to protect valuation. Across markets in 2025, share-price volatility was driven less by execution and more by misalignment between investor expectations and management’s forward-looking narrative. In this environment, the IR function has become a strategic discipline. Beyond communicating performance, IR teams are increasingly responsible for aligning market perception with a company’s long-term value creation path. When that alignment breaks down, even earnings beats can result in sharp corrections, elevated volatility and weakened investor confidence.
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Janet Craig: Ten things I am doing to up my IR game in 2026
Predictably, as I moved into the New Year, I thought about what I wanted to accomplish over the coming 12 months. There are many opportunities for professional development, but my focus is on areas where I can hone my craft, build relationships and pay it forward. Here are 10 IR things I want to do in 2026:
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Looking back at a year of ‘The CFO’: How finance chiefs measure IR success
We’re rounding up another year of IR Impact’s flagship interview series The CFO, where we talk investor relations with finance chiefs from around the world. January 2026 will mark two years of speaking to finance leaders about all things IR. Kurt Barton from Tractor Supply Company was first in The CFO seat two years ago and Dominique Barker, CFO and head of sustainability at Canada’s Lithium Royalties Corp, closed 2025. We always ask CFOs a question about how they measure the success of their IR program, as the nature of the profession makes it notoriously difficult to assess. But proving…
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The CFO: ‘Too much material can be a detractor to investment,’ says Lithium Royalty Corp finance chief
When she took the top finance role at Toronto-headquartered Lithium Royalty Corp, Dominique Barker brought her experience on the buy side, the sell side and in ESG advisory – all of which feeds into her approach to investor relations and sustainability. In the closing interview of our 2025 series of The CFO, Barker talks to IR Impact about finding a host of women in charge at a high-altitude brine, bridging the gap between mining and the energy transition, and the supper club she’s part of with multi-award winning IR Impact Awards judge Janet Craig.
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‘We’re listed in the US but still haven’t had the chance to go to’: China’s ATRenew on engaging US investors when you can’t meet face-to-face
As a company that facilitates the buying, selling and recycling of pre-owned consumer electronics in China, ATRenew is counter-cyclical, with a model that stands to benefit when consumers look to save on that ‘new’ phone or tablet. Here, Xiaoyi (Jessie) Jin, financial communications and IR at ATRenew, talks to IR Impact about engaging local and international investors, ramping up analyst coverage and planning a trip to meet US-based shareholders – more than four years after listing on the NYSE. ATRenew is nominated in two categories at the IR Impact Awards – Greater China 2025: best buy-side management, best investor event…
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‘We have radically rethought how to look at sustainability’: Christian Granquist on AP7’s new outlook
Christian Granquist joined AP7, one of Sweden’s national public pension funds – into which some 6 mn Swedes pay – in August 2025. Working alongside Jessica Eskilsson Frank, Granquist is senior portfolio manager, impact investments, climate transition at the globally invested fund that has total assets of around $150 bn. Before joining AP7, Granquist – who has a master’s in economics from Uppsala University – had a 10-year stint at Lancelot and worked at Handelsbanken for 13 years in a number of roles including chief investment strategist and co-head, equities. He talks to IR Impact about how the fund is…
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How pre-IPO investor relations shapes long-term market success
The IPO journey doesn’t start on listing day. Companies that treat investor relations as an afterthought until the opening bell often find themselves scrambling to build credibility when it matters most. The statistics tell a sobering story: approximately only one third of newly listed companies outperform their already-listed peers over the long term. Poor financial communication sits at the heart of this underperformance. Building relationships before you need them Establishing an effective IR function well before your IPO creates something money can’t buy on demand: trust. When analysts and investors already know your story, understand your business model and have…
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The sell side talks IR – part four: analyst forecasts and negative ratings
How accurate do you find analyst reports on your company? And what do you do if you think there’s a mistake? How does a negative rating affect your relationship? We put these questions and more to hundreds of IROs around the world in a bid to craft a picture of the IR view on forecasts and ratings. Then, as with each of the themes in this sell-side-IR-relationship series, we put those findings to the analysts themselves in a series of in-depth, honest and anonymous conversations.
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Philosophy and numbers: IR Impact briefing explores how AI is – and isn’t – changing earnings
‘Investors, analysts – everyone in financial markets – is consulting a vast amount of increasing data sources to inform their investment decisions,’ said Laurie Havelock, IR Impact editor, kicking off the recent briefing that brought together Jesse Rose, head of IR at Reddit, Dave Bezanson, vice president of IR and pensions at EMERA and Christopher Napolitano, account executive at AlphaSense, the event partner. While data opens up a world of insights, Havelock pointed to the added pressure it brings when IROs must distil everything that is out there into something they can deliver to the board. This, said Napolitano, is…
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The CFO: ‘IR professionals are like Swiss Army knives,’ says Unite Group’s finance chief Mike Burt
The student accommodation finance chief on an exciting acquisition, why IROs need to be good listeners and why analysts are like sports commentators who never played the game For many students in the UK and further afield, your first year of study is spent in a halls of residence – or purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), as it’s known in the industry. Unite Students is the UK’s largest provider of this student accommodation, with flagship developments in Bristol and Edinburgh plus more locations throughout the country’s universities. For Mike Burt, the company’s CFO, there is plenty to be excited about. He…
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Building an IR function: a strategic roadmap to success
From getting management buy in to running an IR audit and building an investor pipeline – a break down of the essentials that elevate the IR program Investor relations has come a long way. What used to be a compliance checkbox is now a strategic discipline that directly impacts your cost of capital, liquidity and valuation. The question isn’t whether IR adds value anymore, it’s whether you’re building the function correctly. This evolution changes how you build your team for success – whether you are expanding the IR department, coming in fresh, building out the team from scratch or growing…
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‘I felt a mix of respect and fear’ going into IR, says Infineon’s multiple award-winning IR lead
German semiconductor firm Infineon Technologies has had a busy year. To start with, as revealed in the latest instalment of The CFO column, Dr Sven Schneider, the firm’s finance chief, told IR Impact about the 30 conferences and 20 roadshows the company has held this year. It has also been a year of huge success for the IR team, which took home some of the most prestigious IR Impact trophies at the Europe Awards in June, winning the best overall investor relations (large cap) category as well as the gong for best in sector, technology. The same night also saw…
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Finding out what the sell side really thinks about IR
Would you like to know exactly what your analysts are thinking? No, I’m not here to tell you about some new sell-side telepathy service – though I’m sure many of our readers would jump at the option and maybe that’s one for Elon Musk’s Neuralink to figure out – but rather some new research that exposes just how analysts think about IR.
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Why listed companies should engage with hedge funds
I have been working as an IR professional for almost 15 years. To my continued surprise, I still meet peers who remain negative around hedge funds. In fact, they actively seek to minimize interaction. And if they do allow such meetings, they squeeze hedge fund managers into large group meetings, normally led by IR rather than management. To me, this approach is counterproductive. The role of the IR department is to safeguard a fair valuation of the share by communicating correctly to all relevant corners of the financial markets. I strongly believe that open doors and strong relationships improve liquidity…
