What made the 2022 winners of the IR Magazine Awards in South East Asia and Greater China stand out?
PTT Exploration and Production, the Thai state-owned and Stock Exchange of Thailand-listed oil and gas company, and Thai petrochemicals producer Indorama Ventures took home three trophies apiece at the IR Magazine Awards – South East Asia 2022.
PTT Exploration and Production won for best overall IR (large cap) and for best IR in the energy sector. Thanat Thamrongsaksuvit saw off tough competition to win the best investor relations officer (large cap) award.
Not to be outdone, Indorama Ventures took the awards for best overall investor relations (mid-cap) and best IR in the materials sector. Vikash Jalan secured the best investor relations officer (mid-cap) prize.
Singapore was well represented, too, with Manulife US REIT winning the best-in-sector award for financials (including real estate) and Ascott Residence Trust – now known as CapitaLand Ascott Trust – winning the best annual report (mid-cap) award.
Congratulations were also due to George Aluwi, investor relations officer at holding company GoTo Gojek Tokopedia, for taking home the rising star award.
The largest technology group in Indonesia was further handed IR Magazine Awards for best investor relations during a corporate transaction and best ESG materiality reporting in the large-cap category.
Who DARES winsStarHub, one of the major telcos operating in Singapore, won the award for best investor event. Judges recognized the IR team’s success in communicating the outcomes of the S$1.8 bn ($1.4 bn) conglomerate’s three-year cost-transformation program – DARE 1.0 – as well as seeding the story of the next phase of StarHub’s growth transformation plans, called DARE+.
The IR team at StarHub had to contend with weak investor interest in Singapore telcos since 2020, given market competition and price dilution, not helped by the impact of Covid-19. Investors generally thought telcos would not be able to offer yield or growth given the lack of earnings visibility and near-term catalysts.
StarHub’s investor relations officers designed their investor day 2021 to be solely focused on communicating key DARE+ vision, financial guidance, timelines and key deliverables.
The mid-cap’s CEO and CFO opened the program, setting the tone for the firm’s business chiefs who elaborated on key business strategies, while its chief technology officer and chief investment officer shed light on StarHub’s major IT and network transformation plans, the backbone of DARE+, with sustainability as its guiding light.
The StarHub IR team noted the highest turnout ever for its investor day, reaching a record high of about 100 unique viewers, with both sell-side and buy-side analysts and fund managers forming the majority, among other partners and guests.
The IROs received overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees and continued to receive feedback and interest from the investment community after the event.
Materials were publicly hosted on SGXNet and StarHub's IR website, then amplified progressively on StarHub’s LinkedIn page. The IR team measured the investor day performance as part of its annual IR perception study, conducted by an independent third-party vendor on a no-name basis.
Positive interest was also evident in StarHub’s share price and trading movements. In the month leading up to its investor day, the company’s average closing price was about S$1.26 and average trading volume was about 1.57 mn shares daily. In the month after the investor day, the company’s share price reached S$1.40 and the highest daily volume was 6.2 mn shares.
StarHub’s average closing price during the period was S$1.36 and average daily volume traded for the month reached about 2.4 mn shares.
The IR Magazine Awards – South East Asia 2022 took place virtually on December 6, 2022. The full list of winners is here.
China Resources Beer and BC Technology Group came out on top at the IR Magazine Awards – Greater China 2022, picking up three prizes each.
The beverages firm walked away with gongs for best overall IR (large cap), best IR officer (large cap) for Leung Wai Keung and best IR in the consumer staples sector. BC Technology Group, the digital assets company, claimed best overall IR (small cap), best IR officer (small cap) for William Wang and best IR in the technology sector.
Several companies were close on their heels with two awards each: ESR Group, Kerry Logistics Network, Link Asset Management and Xtep International Holdings.
Other winners at the virtual event included ANTA Sports Products, BOC Aviation, China Unicom (Hong Kong), EC Healthcare, Far East Consortium International, Gigabyte Technology, Hon Hai Precision Industry, Hysan Development Company and Yum China Holdings.
Chris Fang, Brii Biosciences’ director of IR and capital markets, won the rising star award, which is handed to an individual who is relatively new to investor relations and brings an innovative approach to the profession.
Tech-smart engagementFar East Consortium (FEC) International was recognized by judges for its best use of multimedia for IR (small to mid-cap).
The Hong Kong-based international residential and mixed-use developer wanted to enhance its company recognition among existing and potential investors of all types worldwide, across multiple communication methods and devices. To drive greater content engagement, FEC decided to improve its written materials for IR by using multimedia, including the official company website, webcasts and WeChat.
FEC's IROs also wanted to create more opportunities to interact with their investors, such as a live webcast for the firm’s results release, official WeChat account, online live roadshows, online annual report and WeChat results presentations.
FEC officially launched its new website in early 2020, designed to be more user-friendly on all devices. A share function in Facebook, WhatsApp, WeChat, Twitter and LinkedIn was added so users could share website content immediately. A section was created specifically for ESG.
Photographs and videos about key development projects are regularly uploaded to offer more communication opportunities with investors and shareholders and show the building process of developments, as well as convey the group’s care for the communities it works in. FEC also created a social media section to update the latest company and industry news regularly and link to its WeChat and Weibo accounts.
The group’s embrace of multimedia for IR has paid off. FEC’s WeChat engagement increased 21 percent to 25,000 followers in August 2022. During the 2022 financial year, FEC published 310 articles. The highest readership for an official WeChat article was 3,000 in 2022. There are about 12,000 page views per month and 19 percent new visitors per month from users around the world. The FEC’s roadshow was webcast simultaneously in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
The firm’s IR team created sections for its financial calendar, analyst coverage, financial highlights and investor presentations on its website. The initial group online Q&A session engaged overseas and mainland China investors during the annual results presentation, both live and on demand. The entire suite of IR initiatives successfully increased FEC’s exposure to different investors around the world.
The IR Magazine Awards – Greater China 2022 took place virtually on December 8, 2022. The full list of winners is here.
