Strong participation in virtual conferences shown globally
The most common virtual investor events IR teams participated in are investor conferences. In the year from Q3 2019 to Q2 2020, IR teams attended an average of 3.4 virtual investor conferences, with 85 percent having attended at least one in this time.
Companies held an average of 2.2 virtual roadshows over this time period, which is just under two thirds of the number of virtual investor conferences attended. Virtual roadshows have become common practice, with six in 10 survey respondents having hosted at least one in the period Q3 2019 to Q2 2020.
Virtual site visits and investor days are far less common: just 16 percent of IR teams hosted an investor day and 8 percent hosted a site visit in this time.
Virtual investor conference participation is high in all regions, but highest in Asia where IR teams attended an average of 6.3 in the year Q3 2019 to Q2 2020. Fewer than half of Asian companies held virtual roadshows in this time, while 36 percent hosted virtual investor days – a far higher percentage than firms in other regions.
North American IR teams are more likely to participate in virtual roadshows and investor conferences but typically hold/attend fewer in number when they do. European IR teams hold almost as many virtual roadshows as they attend virtual conferences.
Virtual investor event participation tends to increase with company size, except with virtual investor days. Almost a quarter of small-cap companies hosted a virtual investor day in this year, twice as many as did large and mid-cap companies. The biggest increase in participation for virtual roadshows, site visits and investor conferences is found between large and mega-cap.
Roadshows and investor conferences are the virtual events most responsive to the Covid-19 pandemic. Three quarters of all virtual roadshows and 82 percent of all virtual investor conferences between Q3 2019 and Q2 2020 were held in Q2 2020, with just one in 50 virtual investor conferences held in the second half of 2019. Site visits are the least responsive, with 44 percent of all virtual site visits in this period held before April 2020.
Most IROs view investor conferences as the most rewarding virtual investor event, while just over a third favor virtual roadshows. Just 8 percent find investor days and 3 percent find site visits the most rewarding virtual events.
The low showing for virtual investor days and site visits is understandable given how few IROs have actually experienced them. But when analyzing the satisfaction rating of IR professionals, a third of IROs who hosted a virtual investor day in this time found them to be the most rewarding event.
While nearly as many North American IROs find roadshows the most rewarding as find investor conferences the most rewarding, there is a stark difference in the views of Asian IROs. More than two thirds of Asian IROs favor virtual investor conferences, compared with just 19 percent who favor virtual roadshows.
As many mega-cap IR professionals view roadshows as the most rewarding virtual event as favor investor conferences. The biggest difference is found among mid-cap IROs, where 61 percent favor investor conferences and just 32 percent favor roadshows.
Roadshows are the most common virtual event for investors to participate in, having attended an average of almost 17 in the past year. This is followed by an average of 12.4 virtual investor conferences, while the average virtual investor days and site visits are both in single digits.
Sell-side participation in virtual roadshows and investor conferences is the same, averaging 10.4 each in the past year. It is among the buy side where the differences occur. Buy-side fund managers and analysts typically attended in excess of 8.6 more virtual roadshows than virtual investor conferences. In fact, the buy side attended almost as many virtual investor days as investor conferences.
Virtual roadshows are most popularly attended in Europe, where investors typically attended more than twice as many virtual roadshows as investor conferences. Asian investors attended more virtual investor conferences than virtual roadshows.
Virtual investor events are generally rated lower by investors than in-person events. While a strong majority of investors give all virtual events a positive score of above five, notably fewer give scores of 8+ than do for in-person events.
Views on virtual site visits are the most polarized. While almost a quarter give a rating below the neutral score of five, 44 percent give a score of at least eight, the highest number for any virtual event. Virtual investor days have the highest number of investors giving an above-neutral score of five.
Unlike with in-person events, there are no great differences in how the sell side and the buy side rate virtual events. Generally the sell side is more favorably disposed toward them, with the exception of virtual site visits, which the buy side rates higher than the sell side. While the picture is less clear overall, the buy side distinctly rates the experience of virtual site visits above other virtual events.
