European Corporate Survey 2010: what investors think today:CEOs and CFOs must dedicate more time to financial communications

[[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] announces the results of its [[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] [[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] , a survey of 370 institutional investors across Europe and the US on corporate access and financial communications. 76% of respondents were long-only investors and 11% were hedge funds.

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• [[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] due to management’s in-depth knowledge of strategy and decision-making power. This is a particularly strong trend with UK and US investors, over 50% of whom considered the probability of an investment decision after an IR meeting to be almost zero.

• [[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] believe that the best channels for meeting corporate executives are either through road-shows or conferences.[[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] value company management coming to their offices at their request. Hedge fund investors showed a clear preference for access to management, with [[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] . Site visits and investor days are the least sought-after means of access.

• [[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] , medium-term guidance is the key investment barometer, with sales, earnings and margins as the most sought-after metrics. However, 27% of investors do not attach any importance to short-term guidance, believing that these figures are already discounted in the share price.

[[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] “This survey demonstrates that in order to develop a supportive shareholder base, management must now commit more time to investor relations. Management presence on roadshows, at conferences and in face-to-face meetings with potential investors makes an investment decision four times more likely.”
[[ RichText template tag style is not configured ]] “A key finding in the survey is that investment-decision timeframes have also changed. In effect, 40% of investors now take their decisions more quickly, whilst only 8% take them more slowly. The constitution of their portfolio and the number of lines in the portfolio remain unchanged by the crisis.”