What Makes for Effective Investor Relations Sites? Part 24: Let Investors See What You’ve Been Talking About
August 24, 2010
I was recently doing some research on company presentations and so I went out to the Internet to look for good examples of that staple of corporate communications, the PowerPoint slide show. If you go to investor conferences, almost every presenting company will accompany its speech with a slide deck illustrating their main points. As any investor can tell you, the slides are often full of very useful information. So when I wanted to look at how companies approached a particular communications issue, I thought it would be a relatively easy thing to go out and pull up the presentations of the various companies and analyze what I was interested in.
s so often proves to be the case these days, my initial presumption was incorrect. It’s not quite so easy to go out on the Internet and find a representative sample of corporate investor presentations. In fact, what I found was quite surprising: in a random sample of 20 U. S. companies, only five companies (25%) posted their investor presentations (excluding quarterly presentations).
This seems like a serious oversight. It’s not as if the companies don’t want to make the information public – it’s already been placed in the public domain at a conference. It doesn’t seem rational that company management would wish to limit the dissemination of the information on the slides only to those attending the investor conference where they were originally shown. I prefer to think that it is more likely to be oversight.
So here’s today’s thought for making your investor website more effective: place a history of your most recent investor presentations at investor conferences on your website. Not everyone can attend the conferences that you present at, yet this is information that you clearly think investors should know, otherwise it wouldn’t be in the slide deck. So let everybody see them. And keep them there for a while, as they serve as a good reference point to company operations and thinking at any particular point in time.
Above is a good example of a complete history of presentations placed in their investor section by Xstrata, the mining company.
This is a relatively simple thing to do and it helps investor transparency. It should be part of every well designed investor site.
In this series:
Previous post: Strategy
Is The World Bank Gaining An Ethical Tinge?
November 5, 2009
An interesting story from South Africa has caught my eye. It demonstrates how fraught the introduction of sustainability related legislation could be, and perhaps contains a signpost as to what the future may hold.
In an unprecedented move the International Centre for Investment Disputes (ICSID) at the World Bank has allowed non-disputing parties (NDPs) to give evidence at a tribunal and ordered the parties in dispute to reveal their evidence and conclusions to the NDPs.
This implies that while the ICSID may feel itself competent to rule on purely business grounds it needs additional input to ascertain the “softer” issues in the case: in this case, the human rights of South Africa’s long oppressed black majority.
Xstrata — Communicating Corporate Ethics
October 29, 2009
Xstrata is a major global diversified mining group, based in Switzerland and the UK, that knows how to communicate via its website. Take a look at the Homepage –
First the abstract image at the top changes; I had to mention this since I like abstracts. The Home page is loaded with information links, but is not overwhelming. The navigation on the upper left is good, the company prominently displays updates on its merger, the About quickly describes the company to new visitors. Finally, stock price and links to reports are available Nicely done.
The company also does a good job communicating the nature of the industries in which they compete. On the Commodity Businesses section you can use the links to more information–
Russia’s Norilsk Nickel
September 9, 2009
I’ve written reviews of many corporate websites around the world, but none in one of the largest countries–Russia. I found a worthy site in Norilsk Nickel –
While not as refined as many corporate websites, the Home Page has useful content. Some observations–
1. Quick access to equity information
2. Internet resources links to a nice site for young people (adults might find this useful) and a corporate blog (Russian only, perhaps they will add other languages in the future)
3. Updated News
4. Corporate presentations, current available in HTML
5. Upper right navigation includes Nickel Advantages, a series of videos that are very instructive.
Next navigate to the Operations section–
The company provides summary displays of where they have a presence. This section also includes information about production and quality.
A few more noteworthy features include –
- Norilsk displays extensive historical credit ratings
- On the bottom of the Downloads page, which contains access to many company reports, there are two videos: a movie about the company, and one about ecology.
In sum, what Norilsk Nickel website may lack in glitz, it more than makes up for in offering useful information content.
Vedanta — Using the Ws in About Us
August 12, 2009
Vedanta is a UK based diversified FTSE 100 metals and mining company. When I visited their website I found a unique and effective use of the Ws — Who, What, Where — in their About Us section.
The design is simple uncluttered and right to the point. First the Who We Are area has the essentials that should be included on an About Us section–
- The Group (This takes you to a graphic and description of the company’s businesses)
- Quick Facts
- Mission and Values (Definitely not typical)
- History (Very creative)
- Strategy (Accomplishments against strategy explained)
- Competitive Strengths (Many company websites lack this, Vedanta has a robust treatment)
- The Board (OK but not very unique)
- Management Structure
The What We Do section is comprehensive and you are able to drill down to more detail. The section is all text. The use of some graphics would be most useful since there is a fair amount of data to digest.
Where We Operate is basic and a bit sparse compared to the robust Who We Are. This section could be easily enhanced with maps and graphics.
Another well done section that is not in About Us but is included in this section by many companies — People and Employment. This section includes what Vedanta expects of its people –
Our expectation is that you will:
- work ‘hands-on’ within our organisations;
- help to bring in the significant operational gains that the Group has enjoyed;
- introduce best practices; and
- train and share knowledge with the existing operational team,
…all with an objective of achieving global-scale capacities in our companies.
So if you are:
- bubbling with energy, enthusiasm and creative ideas,
- ambitious to within your own career,
- willing to take on new challenges,
- in the habit of doing things in an unconventional way,
…we’d love to hear from you!
Nicely done.
Vedanta sets a good example for how to design an effective About Us section. With some enhancements explained above, it would be a great example.
Get our updates
 |