Globally, 57 percent of companies held an in-person roadshow in the 12 months from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023, continuing the post-pandemic trend noted last year, when 54 percent of companies did so. This is still some way short of pre-pandemic levels, however, when 93 percent of firms said they had gone on the road.
It seems companies around the world have embraced a return to the road, with the proportion of companies holding in-person events remaining consistent across cap sizes and regions. The most notable exception is large-cap firms, more than six in 10 of which have held a face-to-face event.
Of the 57 percent of companies globally that went on the road, the average number of roadshows they held was 3.7, up from the 2.7 average recorded last year, but still some way short of 2019’s average of 7.4. North American companies that traveled in the past year tended to go on the fewest roadshows (2.8) and European companies went on the most at 5.1.
Larger firms generally embarked on the highest number of in-person roadshows but small caps that went on the road held more roadshows than their mid-cap counterparts.
Companies that embarked on in-person roadshows in the year from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023 on average spent 10.8 days on the road, more than double last year’s average of 5.3 days.
Asian companies that went on in-person roadshows spent the longest time on the road at 12.4 days, perhaps reflecting pent-up demand for face-to-face meetings once local travel restrictions were lifted, while North American companies spent an average of just 9.2 days on the road.
Mega-cap companies that traveled spent more than twice as many days on the road (18.8) as their small and mid-cap contemporaries (8.4).
With the return of in-person roadshows came higher attendance from the C-suite. More than a quarter (27 percent) of in-person roadshows between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023 had a CEO in attendance, while 26 percent saw the CFO take part. Almost one in five in-person roadshows (18 percent) had both CFO and CEO participating.
Though corresponding numbers were not collected during the pandemic, this year’s figures still lag 2019’s pre-pandemic readings of 35 percent CEO attendance and 43 percent for CFOs. Other management figures attended just 10 percent of in-person roadshows in the past year, leaving IR teams to undertake just under one in five (19 percent) alone.
CEO attendance at in-person events was highest in North America and lowest in Asia, while CFO attendance was the reverse – highest on average in Asia and lowest in North America.
When viewed according to company size, the attendance of both CEO and CFO at in-person roadshows happened most often at small-cap companies. CEOs showed up alone most often for mid-caps, while CFO-only attendance was reported most by large-cap firms.
Companies holding in-person roadshows appeared to lean more heavily on brokers once again, seeking the help of an average of 3.8 brokers to help organize their events between Q3 2022 and Q3 2023. This is up from the previous year’s report, when firms used an average of 2.6 brokers.
North American companies used slightly fewer brokers than average (3.3) while European companies used them far more (4.8). The number used to organize in-person roadshows also grows in line with cap size, from an average of 2.6 at the smallest companies up to 6.4 for mega-caps.
