Winners of the coveted IR Magazine Awards in the US and Canada revealed
Hilton, Medtronic and Starbucks were among the corporate titans celebrated for their excellence in investor relations at the prestigious IR Magazine Awards – US 2023 on March 30.
Representatives from those companies joined IR peers from Axalta Coating Systems, Blackbaud, Boston Scientific, Coinbase, Danaher, Duolingo, DZS, First Horizon, Jushi Holdings, Philip Morris International and Safehold in taking home coveted trophies at the live and in-person black-tie event at Cipriani 25 Broadway in New York.
In a wide-open field with all prizes to play for, the $36 bn multinational hospitality empire Hilton Worldwide Holdings was presented with the best ESG reporting (large cap) award. Medtronic, the $105 bn medical device company, took home the best IR website trophy, while the $115 bn coffee chain Starbucks Corporation was recognized for best investor event in the large-cap category.
In a night featuring dozens of winners, Coinbase was awarded best crisis management and Blackbaud secured the best ESG reporting (small to mid-cap) prize. Philip Morris International won for IR during a corporate transaction, with Duolingo scoring best innovation in shareholder communications. Axalta Coating Systems took the best investor event (small to mid-cap) prize and Jushi Holdings took home the award for best use of technology & social media for IR.
Lauren Tengler of Boston Scientific was recognized with the rising star award, while Jane McCahon won the lifetime achievement award.
What made the differenceHilton, the first hospitality company to sign up to the US Department of Energy Better Climate Challenge, partnered with Ideas On Purpose to write, design and produce its award-winning 2021 ESG report, Travel with Purpose.
The document tracks progress against the company’s 2030 goals, which align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The report integrates the needs of GRI and SASB and includes detailed performance tables and an assurance statement. Judges were impressed by Hilton’s extensive use of infographics to facilitate communication and dynamic visuals to support the content, plus a ‘Highlights’ document and a PowerPoint presentation.
For its winning best investor event (small to mid-cap) submission, IR officers at Axalta Coating Systems, a NASCAR sponsor and supplier for decades, hosted an in-person immersive investor event at a working NASCAR garage, attended by top driver Jeff Gordon.
The day was divided into formal remarks and Q&A, hands-on experiences highlighting Axalta’s value proposition and optional time in a spray booth testing products with a trainer. The event successfully combined fun and focus with all but one of Axalta’s 19 sell-side analysts and 15 major shareholders that attended and were able to engage with the firm’s incoming CEO and executives.
Click here to see the full list of winners of the IR Magazine Awards – US 2023.
The festivities continued north of the border the following week in Toronto. Agnico Eagle Mines, TransAlta Corporation and WSP Global were among the investor relations champions celebrated at the glittering IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2023 on April 5.
Agnico Eagle Mines, the C$34 bn ($25 bn) Toronto-headquartered gold producer with operations in Canada, Finland and Mexico, won the awards for best IR during a corporate transaction and best ESG reporting (large cap) and was joint-winner with Alamos Gold in the materials sector category. Brian Christie, Agnico Eagle’s vice president of IR, was presented with the coveted lifetime achievement award.
TransAlta Corporation, a C$2.35 bn electric power generator and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, took home the prizes for best ESG reporting (mid-cap), best innovation in shareholder communications and the utilities sector category.
WSP Global, a C$21 bn management and consultancy service provider to the built and natural environment, was presented with trophies for best overall investor relations (large cap), best investor relations by a senior management team (large cap) and best investor event (large cap).
Charlotte Thuot Kucyi of Tricon Residential was recognized with the rising star award.
Making the mergerWhen considering the award for best IR during a corporate transaction, judges were impressed by the rapid, effective quality and number of actions taken by the IROs at Agnico Eagle Mines in its ‘merger of equals’ with Kirkland Lake Gold in late 2021 and early 2022.
A second phase of marketing was held in November 2021. Agnico organized follow-up meetings with institutional investors as well as more than 45 meetings focused on attracting new investors in Europe and North America. In addition, the company hosted retail marketing with 11 broker networks and retail presentations involving 200 participants.
Agnico entered a third phase of marketing between February and June 2022 after the deal closed. This phase consisted of six investor conferences, 13 non-deal roadshows and 11 sales desks presentations, focusing mainly on the merger, the strategy of the ‘New Agnico Eagle’ and management changes.
Full disclosureFor its best innovation in shareholder communications award, TransAlta set out to find a cost-effective way to help investment analysts get all the key relevant financial information across its two publicly traded companies – TransAlta Corporation and TransAlta Renewables – in a single standard usable format.
This format was tasked with enabling everyone to easily manipulate and reference all the information in order to ease the grunt work of manual typing and reconciling financial data for their financial models from existing printed documents.
The company leveraged its external reporting collaboration tool to create a repository file that integrated all of its financial statement tables, management discussion & analysis tables, key KPIs and other disclosures across its two companies in an Excel format. TransAlta added information to prior quarters to help in trending and historical analysis. The company then exported the file into Excel for uploading onto its website.
TransAlta’s new disclosure file format has been well received by its highly complimentary investors and analysts, with greater adoption into workflows and more consistency and productivity while minimizing effort.
The sold-out black-tie dinner and awards ceremony was held at the TD Tower, Toronto. Hundreds of IR professionals gathered to celebrate best practice, network with peers and enjoy being back together in person.
Click here to see the full list of winners of the IR Magazine Awards – Canada 2023.
The awards in both Canada and the US are split into two sections. The awards-by-research categories are decided by a survey of portfolio managers, buy-side analysts and sell-side analysts who cover US and Canadian companies. They select the winners for best overall IR, best IRO, best IR by a senior management team and best in sector.
The awards-by-nomination categories cover a range of investor relations practice areas, such as annual reports, ESG reporting, investor meetings, use of technology and crisis management. Companies are able to submit entries for the different awards, with the winners chosen by a panel of expert judges.
IR Magazine will celebrate outstanding achievement in European investor relations at the IR Magazine Awards – Europe 2023 on June 22. IROs on the other side of the world will not miss out, either – the IR Magazine Forum & Awards – South East Asia returns on December 5 followed by the IR Magazine Forum & Awards – Greater China on December 7.
