In the 12 months from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, more than eight in 10 companies (84 percent) held a roadshow of some sort. This is higher than the 77 percent that did so last year – and continues an upward trend from 2020’s report – but is lower than the 93 percent that conducted in-person roadshows in 2019, the last time respondents were surveyed before the pandemic hit.
The proportion of companies holding roadshows remains highest in North America and Europe at close to nine in 10 (86 percent and 87 percent, respectively). Asian companies are increasingly heading back out on the road after local travel restrictions were relaxed more slowly there than elsewhere around the world: 76 percent of Asian firms held a roadshow in 2023, up from just 54 percent the year prior.
While mega-cap companies remain the most likely to have held a roadshow, mid-cap companies have overtaken their large-cap counterparts. Small-cap companies are the least likely to have held one but three quarters of small caps still held a roadshow in the past year.
On average, companies held slightly more roadshows (6.1) in 2023 than in 2022 (5.9). Asian companies typically held more than one and a half times that number (9.5), followed by European companies (7.9). North American firms held fewer roadshows (4.6) than the global average. On the whole, the number of roadshows held increases with cap size, though small caps held more roadshows than mid-cap firms in the 12 months to Q3 2023.
As travel restrictions were gradually eased around the world in the period Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, it is perhaps unsurprising that virtual roadshows have begun forming a smaller part of respondents’ plans. While exactly half of all companies are still holding a mix of in-person and virtual events, just over a quarter (26 percent) held face-to-face roadshows only while just 8 percent stuck to virtual only.
A higher proportion of small-cap companies held only virtual roadshows than did companies of other sizes, while large caps are the most likely to have held only in-person roadshows. The majority of mega-cap companies (70 percent) offered both in-person and virtual roadshows.
Globally, companies on average held almost as many virtual roadshows (3.4) as in-person ones (3.7).
