How useful IR websites are for institutional investors – and what they want to see
IROs consider websites a useful tool for communicating with institutional investors, with 79 percent believing them to be effective for this purpose, compared with 8 percent who consider them ineffective. There is no major enthusiasm, though: just 14 percent consider them to be very effective.
There is little difference according to region, with slightly more Asian IROs believing them to be effective than North American or European IR professionals. The number of IROs who consider websites effective in communicating with institutional investors increases with company size.
When asked how useful they find IR sections on corporate websites, 65 percent of institutional investors give a high rating of 8+/10 for companies they are looking to invest in and 63 percent give the same rating for the websites of companies they already invest in.
Sell-side analysts tend to give higher ratings for the utility of IR web pages than buy-side analysts or fund managers. For companies they already invest in or recommend, 72 percent give a high utility rating, compared with six in 10 of the buy side.
North American investors are most likely to give a high rating. That said, a quarter of Asian investors and more than a quarter of European investors give a perfect 10 score to the effectiveness of IR web pages when seeking information on companies they are looking to invest in.
When asked which key features they look for on IR web pages, a schedule of upcoming events and reports is most mentioned by the institutional investment community, followed by corporate and regulatory press releases. These are the two features mentioned by IROs as most commonly made available on their IR web pages.
Four of the 10 features listed are mentioned by fewer than four in 10 institutional investors. They appear least interested in an FAQ section for investors, although this is one of the few features more commonly used by the buy side than the sell side.
Just under three quarters of companies get direct feedback from investors themselves when seeking to ensure the appropriateness of their IR website content to the needs of institutional investors. Peer website analysis is undertaken by more than seven in 10, while 28 percent get third-party help from external advisers.
The number of companies engaging in all three methods of ensuring website effectiveness for institutional investors increases with cap size. European companies are the most likely to consult with external advisers and analyze the websites of other companies, while North Americans are the most likely to get direct feedback from institutional investors.
