A look back over last Thursday's IR Magazine Awards – US 2013
Let me start with a big thank you to everyone who attended our IR Magazine Awards – US 2013 last Thursday in New York and helped make it such a fantastic night.
Following on from that, I’d like to say very well done to all the winners and nominees for being selected for having exceptional IR. The awards were decided by a survey of almost 700 portfolio managers, buy-side analysts and sell-side analysts, so nominated companies know they are making a good impression on the key audiences that matter most to them (see below for more on the methodology behind the awards).
The big winners on the night include Covidien, the medical equipment maker, which picked up the double of best overall IR – large cap and best IRO – large cap for the third consecutive year. ‘With its consistency and helpful approach, Covidien has led the way in IR for some time,’ said one sell-side respondent in the awards survey.
Broadcom also made it a winning return: the chip manufacturer secured the award for best overall IR – mid-cap for the second year running, holding off competition from Kansas City Southern, Limited Brands and Wyndham Worldwide. One survey respondent praised Broadcom’s ‘good disclosure… timely updates and a consistent, clear message.’
In the small-cap category, by contrast, a newcomer to the US Awards stole the headlines. ViroPharma, a $1.7 bn market cap firm focused on rare diseases, went home with both best overall IR and best IRO, awarded jointly to Robert Doody, director of IR, and Will Roberts, vice president of IR and corporate communications.
One of the events that made ViroPharma’s IR stand out this year was a new analyst day it held last September, although the foundations were set in place way before that; as Doody pointed out on a NIRI webinar yesterday, the company has had to do plenty of handholding, including over a period when its main source of revenue could have been cut off at any time.
I can’t finish a summary of the awards without mentioning Ali Velshi, CNN’s chief business correspondent, who returned to host the event and kept everyone thoroughly entertained throughout. But perhaps he didn’t think we had enough awards, as he threw in an extra one for best transparency, awarding it to lululemon athletica, the yoga pants maker with a see-through problem.
Click here for a full list of winners at the IR Magazine Awards – US 2013.
Awards methodology
Our awards are determined solely by the opinions of the people that matter most to investor relations – investors and analysts, writes Lloyd Bevan, research manager at IR Magazine. We don’t delude ourselves that it’s our opinion that IR practitioners want to be judged on and so there is no editorial involvement in determining the results of our awards.
IR Magazine selects the awards categories to be researched. There is no pre-selected panel of investors that we canvas – all members of the investment community in that region are eligible to vote. There is no pre-approved list of companies from which to vote for – all listed companies in that region are eligible for the awards.
One area where we maintain vigilance is the fact that many investors themselves work for listed companies eligible for awards. It is a long-standing policy of our awards that no member of the investment community is allowed to vote for their own company’s IR. Were that ever to happen, the votes would be immediately discounted.
We believe that this whole process not only enhances the credibility of the awards, but also provides important insight into investor perception. It gives a valuable snapshot of what investors think about investor relations and each company’s conduct of it.
A more in-depth look at the results from this survey is available in the IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – US 2013. Pre-order a copy here: info@irmagazine.com.
