Winners of Investor Relations Award Walk the Talk

by Joyce Hooi, Apr 24 2009 Websites, emails, Q&A sessions, regular updates - these firms go the whole way to keep investors informed, says Joyce Hooi.

In an environment where disclosures are the new big concern, several firms have emerged as the benchmark for investor relations (IR) practices in a timely manner.

For this year's Best Investor Relations award winners, communication is the overarching theme. Across the board, winning firms maintain dedicated IR websites with frequent company updates and announcements.

Tat Hong Holdings, which won the Gold award for Best Investor Relations in the mid-cap category, is one such firm. 'Tat Hong's philosophy is to update the public on an ongoing basis about the company's latest development, irrespective of positive or negative information, on SGXNet as well as posting the updates on the company's IR page. In addition, the company also circulates them to institutional investors via email,' said Roland Ng, Tat Hong's president and group chief executive officer.

OKP Holdings - the Gold award winner in its category of firms below $300 million in market capitalisation - goes the extra mile to maintain open channels of communication with question-and-answer sessions online.

Questions from investors and participants are collated and answers are then posted on its website.

Wired Community
'Singapore being a 'wired' community, this is an excellent platform of communications, enabling us to deliver corporate information and relevant news and developments in a timely manner. 'The Singaporean investor is for the most part a tech-savvy one, and the response to our Internet Q&A sessions, for instance, has been encouraging,' said Daniel Or, OKP Holdings' executive director.

BH Global Marine, which earned a Silver award in the same category, believes in the personal touch as well. 'The management proactively meets investors via one-on-one discussions, results briefings, analysts' luncheons and road shows,' said Alvin Lim, the executive chairman of the supplier of marine and offshore products. Where disclosures are concerned, heavyweights like SingTel tread the fine balance between appropriate disclosure and guarding competitive information.

Despite this, it managed to clinch the Gold award for Best Investor Relations in the category for firms above the $1 billion market capitalisation threshold, by going beyond mandatory disclosure requirements.

'We have been announcing quarterly results since June 2000, three years before it became mandatory under SGX rules,' said Sin Yang Fong, SingTel's director of investor relations. Also, the remuneration of directors and senior management at SingTel are disclosed in the exact amount instead of in bands. On top of the numbers, SingTel also gives investors the facts. 'We provide a comprehensive set of guidance at the start of every financial year. The guidance is affirmed or updated each quarter to reflect the latest trading performance and outlook. 'In addition, when business developments are not fully appreciated by the market, we also make special announcements to guide the market on the financial impact of such business developments for example, the impact of weaker regional currencies on the associates' translated earnings,' Ms Sin added.

OKP Holdings, which also won the Silver Best Annual Report award for its category, uses a long-term approach to guide its philosophy on disclosures.

'It is said: 'The story is the business, not the stock price.' In these difficult times we think that is indeed a good maxim to follow.

'Where necessary, we will explain our business model simply, providing as much clarity as possible on the strategic direction the company is taking. We strive to share information in a timely and comprehensive manner so that investors and the market at large have sufficient intelligence to make informed investment decisions,' said OKP Holdings' Mr Or. While the various winners may differ in the ways in which they choose to engage investors, they are unanimous about the payoff from keeping investors in the loop.

'We believe all these measures have helped us to improve in terms of transparency and further enhance investors' confidence in our business,' said BH Global Marine's Mr Lim.