Global Investor Relations Practice Report Sample
Based on a survey of more than 800 corporate IR professionals, the Global Investor Relations Practice Report 2021 looks at how IR teams operate worldwide.
Global Investor Relations Practice Report 2021 Sample
The 2021 IR Magazine Global Investor Relations Practice Report is the 10th annual study of the resources dedicated to and practices of investor relations teams around the world. It is based on the responses of more than 800 IR practitioners to a global survey overseen by IR Magazine. The 2021 edition is unique in that it monitors IR practices and resources during a period entirely within the experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This report covers IR budgets and the level of spending on external services, as well as IR team sizes and the numbers of men and women working as investor relations professionals. We also monitor corporate meetings with investors, the level to which these are held virtually rather than in person and the level of senior management involvement in them. Senior managers’ engagement is also explored in the amount of time they spend on IR and which senior management members the IR team reports to.
The full report covers total global figures as well as data from the regions of North America, Europe and Asia. In each of these sections data is further broken down by company size into small cap, mid-cap, large cap and mega-cap groups. We also report on total figures for each of the 11 Bloomberg industry sector classifications.
The findings in this report are taken from the annual global IR practice surveys, carried out by IR Magazine and conducted electronically over the past year. Data for IR budget, team size, reporting structure and analyst coverage is gathered from survey responses between Q1 2021 and Q3 2021. All other data points are calculated from responses to our latest survey round, conducted during Q3 2021.
Thanks to the high response rate from the global IR community, we have been able to sub-segment the data in this report, splitting it by region and subsequently by market capitalization. This allows for the creation of meaningful peer groups, which provide a more sophisticated level of benchmarking. We have also been able to break down the data by market sector.
Most data in this report consists of mean average figures of specific classifications. The majority of these figures are adjusted to lessen the influence of mistyped responses or disproportionate values. The level of adjustment necessary involves excluding the highest and lowest five percentiles from the mean calculations. Whenever a mean average is the result of data from a pre-set scale, figures are not adjusted and all values are used in the calculations.
All monetary figures given in this report are in US dollars, with company market capitalizations classified as follows:
There has been a marginal increase in IR budgets this year, with the global average now standing at $335,000, up $6,000 from 2020. This represents a stabilization following the 16 percent reduction in IR budgets from 2019 to 2020.
While the fall in IR budgets at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic was considerable, it was also part of a long-term trend of decreasing budgets from just under half a million dollars in
2015. The broad maintenance of IR budgets during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic is notable in itself, but could also be an early indication of the end of the trend in IR budget reduction.
According to company size, both small-cap and large-cap IR budgets have fallen in the past year, by $12,000 and $22,000, respectively. During the same period, mid-cap IR budgets have increased by $9,000 and mega-cap budgets have increased by $43,000.
The proportion of IR budget spent on external services has dropped slightly, from 30 percent to 28 percent. This means the global average in real terms is now $93,800. The percentage of IR budget spent on outsourcing is highest among large and mid-cap companies.
Senior management IR days
Regional view: North America
Senior management IR days
North American senior managers spent an average of 38 days in total on IR in the past year, one day fewer than the number spent by senior management globally. This is three days more than they dedicated to IR in 2020 and represents a recovery toward pre-pandemic levels when the number of days North American senior management teams spent on IR was frequently in the low to mid-40s.
This year’s increase is due to the additional focus of North American CFOs on IR this year, with the typical CFO spending an extra four more days on IR than in 2020. In a reversal of the global trend, more time is spent on IR by senior management at smaller companies, with the fewest days being spent by large-cap senior managers.
Team size
Regional view: Europe
The average IR team in Europe now sits at 3.2 members, up 0.3 on 2020 and marginally down on the historical average of 3.3. As is traditional, European IR teams are larger than in other regions. All cap sizes have seen an increase in team sizes, apart from large caps where teams have shrunk by half a member. Mega-cap teams have increased by 0.4 bodies.
The gender ratio for European IR teams is 53 percent male to 47 percent female. This is a greater female representation than last year but is broadly consistent with the number of men and women working in IR over the past 10 years. Small-cap IR teams are the most heavily male while large-cap teams are evenly split between men and women.
Reporting structure
Regional view: Asia
Regionally, Asia has the lowest proportion of IR teams reporting to the CFO and the highest proportion reporting to the CEO. More than a quarter of Asian IR teams report directly to their CEO while 57 percent report to the CFO. The proportion reporting to the CFO has increased this year while the number reporting to senior management members other than the CEO or CFO has decreased.
Small-cap IR teams are the most likely to report directly to the CEO, while large-cap teams are the least likely. Almost a quarter of Asian large-cap IR teams directly report to a senior management member other than the CEO or CFO.
Consumer staples
Sector focus
