Adapting to the post-pandemic new normal
Some might argue that the Covid-19 pandemic proved a boon for ESG roadshows by making it commonplace for these events to be conducted virtually. For many companies, the virtual format tipped the scales and made ESG roadshows seem doable. Asking a CEO to travel abroad is a much harder sell than having him or her block off a day on the calendar for back-to-back Zoom meetings.
In the first 18 months after lockdowns began, the overwhelming majority of companies suspended all types of in-person roadshows. In fact, just 7 percent of companies went on the road in the 12 months from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021, according to IR Magazine’s latest Global Roadshow Report.
This compares with 81 percent of companies that went on the road in person between Q3 2019 and Q2 2020, and 93 percent of companies that traveled the previous year.
With a virtual ESG roadshow, we can get the most bang for our buck in a short amount of time with a geographically dispersed group of investors
Not surprisingly, virtual roadshows took up much of the slack. IR Magazine found that more than 60 percent of companies held some type of virtual roadshow in the 12 months from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021 – almost nine times the number of companies that held in-person events.
Virtual ESG roadshows offer undeniable advantages. They allow a company to reach far-flung investors that previously may have been overlooked, and scheduling conflicts cease to be insurmountable. In the past, if a key investor couldn’t make the date when a company was coming to town, the company was out of luck. With a virtual roadshow, meetings can easily be postponed.
As Sean Kensil, director of investor relations for Annaly Capital Management, puts it: ‘With a virtual ESG roadshow, we can get the most bang for our buck in a short amount of time with a geographically dispersed group of investors.’
That said, Kensil believes Zoom should not replace face-to-face meetings, so his team plans to embark on the company’s first in-person, ESG roadshow in late 2022 or early 2023.
