Introduction
Who would have thought, as we prepared for the 2020 Canada Awards, that a year later so much would have changed? Equally, we might ask, who would have thought, as we prepare for the virtual 2021 awards a year on, so little would have changed? Indeed, little has changed in terms of the awards. But investor relations has become a very different game. Who had ever held – or imagined – a virtual site visit before last year? A virtual investor meeting? A virtual AGM? Yes, there were always telephone calls, even video calls, but we didn’t call them ‘virtual’. The real thing was always happening as well. And had we been told that virtual events were going to become the norm, what would we have thought? Would the advantages have occurred to us? The saving in time and travel costs?
In the research for these 2021 awards our researchers asked the audience – Canada’s investors and analysts – what the impact of Covid-19 had been on investor relations. Here are some of their comments about the benefits. ‘We have been given easier access to management teams due to everyone being home’ – buy side ‘Better availability of senior management’ – sell side ‘Increased opportunities to speak to CFOs and CEOs as they are not traveling’ – buy side ‘Companies are more communicative and accessible. It is remarkable how smoothly things have evolved’ – buy side ‘It is impressive how communication has continued so effective-ly, including the switch to virtual marketing’ – sell-side ‘Improved technology communications’ – sell side That’s a selection of the positive comments. Just one of the observations, from a sell-sider, was genuinely nuanced: ‘Constant access to companies but no one has done anything new’.
On the other hand, there were negative views and some genuine regret about changes in response to the virus. Here’s what some of our respondents said about the downsides. ‘The lack of networking at conferences and events, as well as impersonal Zoom calls’ – buy side ‘I miss the face-to-face meetings, with coffee’ – sell side ‘The fact everyone is constantly reachable means there is little down-time’ – sell side ‘The rapid changes occurring since March 2020 – price wars, Covid-19, lockdowns – made reprioritizing difficult’ – sell side ‘The lack of informal face-to-face meetings – with coffee breaks – means it is harder to build relationships’ – buy side ‘I miss the person-to-person events, although Zoom has at least kept us pretty much in touch’ – sell side ‘Virtual events are less informative, though they are more frequent’ – buy side ‘IR professionals make themselves very accessible but the lack of site visits in the mining industry makes it hard for us’ – sell side ‘I miss traveling to conferences and meeting management face to face. Virtual conferences don’t work for me as I cannot make use of all my senses’ – buy side ‘Screen fatigue with Zoom and virtual conferences. And the lack of jollies!’ – sell side
Upsides and downsides notwithstanding, there’s plenty to mull over for investor relations officers reading the report of this year’s research. And there’s no doubt about the quality of Canadian companies’ IR offering. It’s a story of satisfaction on the part of the audience and hard work on the part of IROs. All the companies whose names appear in this report are entitled to feel satisfied with their achievements. Our congratulations to them all.
